Speaker 1: Hi.
Speaker 2: I'm Tina, and I'm Rich. There's one thing we've learned
Speaker 2: it over twenty years of marriage.
Speaker 1: It's that some days you'll feel like killing your wife.
Speaker 2: And some days you'll feel like killing your husband.
Speaker 1: Welcome to love, Mary Kill, Hey Rich, Hey Tina.
Speaker 2: How are you?
Speaker 1: I am great. How are you doing.
Speaker 2: I'm doing pretty okay. Despite everything that's going on in
Speaker 2: the world.
Speaker 1: There's a lot going on in the world.
Speaker 2: It's still a million degrees here in.
Speaker 1: Michigan, close to a million.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and now we have this air quality alert
Speaker 2: because of the fires in Canada. I think the air
Speaker 2: quality is bad and a big part of the northern
Speaker 2: part of our country. And what else is going on.
Speaker 2: There's been some.
Speaker 1: Bad the cyclospora outbreak, which is bad. You can't eat
Speaker 1: any vegetables or anything.
Speaker 2: Oh so myself an eight year olds are really happy
Speaker 2: right now. I supposed to eat fruit or vegetables. I
Speaker 2: don't know how serious we're supposed to take that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it does sound pretty pretty bad. It is. Though.
Speaker 1: On a lighter note, it is National hot Dog Days,
Speaker 1: So happy National hot Dog Day to you.
Speaker 2: Same to you, And how did you celebrate?
Speaker 1: I had a hot dog?
Speaker 2: Did you what kind of hot dog? Did you have?
Speaker 1: Just a regular old hot dog bun? And yeah, pretty
Speaker 1: much brand deerborn brand hot dogs.
Speaker 2: Oh it was the deerborn kind. Okay, that's a Michigan.
Speaker 2: I knew that you had a hot dog because you
Speaker 2: left the pan in the sink.
Speaker 1: I did.
Speaker 2: And you prefer your hot dog to be boiled, which
Speaker 2: is the best way to get controversial. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Well, if you've ever been to a baseball game, that's
Speaker 1: how they make the hot dogs at the baseball game.
Speaker 1: Is there in a thing of hot water and they
Speaker 1: take it out of there, and it's just it's just delicious.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people prefer them grilled. I'm
Speaker 2: laughing because our cats. One cat is in the room,
Speaker 2: Cosmo is in the room, Clover is out of the room.
Speaker 2: You close the door, I can't.
Speaker 1: It's going to cause trouble, isn't it. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And there's like this black paw like completely underneath the
Speaker 2: door right now, and Cosmo is I don't know if
Speaker 2: he's happy or if he's like, let my sister in.
Speaker 1: I don't know. They're they're just special, that's all I
Speaker 1: can say.
Speaker 2: We're recording this on Wednesday, July fifteenth, late in the afternoon,
Speaker 2: and the World Cup game is currently on between England
Speaker 2: and Argentina. Who do you think who do you think
Speaker 2: will win the World Cup? Well, there's this game and
Speaker 2: then whoever this game goes.
Speaker 1: To the final against Spain.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I and the finals on Sunday. So this
Speaker 2: is our chance to be Yeah, like Nostradamis, I.
Speaker 1: Don't really know. I haven't watched any Argentina games. I
Speaker 1: have watched a game with England in it, and they
Speaker 1: looked amazing. So I'm gonna I'm gonna pick England. It's
Speaker 1: all the whole thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I am also going to predict the same thing.
Speaker 2: A lot of nice people in the UK that listen
Speaker 2: to us.
Speaker 1: I'm sure we have a lot of nice people in
Speaker 1: Argentina and Spain.
Speaker 2: Also true, but I don't talk to them as much
Speaker 2: as I talk to people from the UK. So I'm
Speaker 2: good luck to everyone. I hope everyone has it.
Speaker 1: I just hope everyone has a good time, right.
Speaker 2: I hope everyone leaves the game feeling good about themselves.
Speaker 2: One more thing before we get to snack, we have
Speaker 2: written an episode about the Nolan Wells case that has
Speaker 2: been in the News and we haven't recorded it yet
Speaker 2: because we're waiting for autopsy results. We don't want to
Speaker 2: put any false information out there. We want to put
Speaker 2: the most accurate information out that we can.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there's already a lot of speculation out there
Speaker 1: in social media about this case. It's a really sad
Speaker 1: and tragic case. It is taking a long time for
Speaker 1: the autopsy results to come back.
Speaker 2: Well, we are looking for the information and we're keeping
Speaker 2: an eye on the case. But I did bring you
Speaker 2: a snack last night. You messaged me. I think it
Speaker 2: was about eight fifteen and you said, will you What
Speaker 2: did you ask me?
Speaker 1: I said, would you please go to Culver's and get
Speaker 1: me a concrete mixer?
Speaker 2: Yes? And Culver's is I think there are a lot
Speaker 2: of places right now, but they are mostly in the Midwest.
Speaker 2: And what do they call them, a dq blizzards blizzard.
Speaker 1: That's right, I yeah, a lot of different places where
Speaker 1: they have like soft serve ice cream or custard mixed
Speaker 1: in with you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I would have gone to Olivers, but you
Speaker 2: go to bed at like nine thirty. Yeah, So I
Speaker 2: did go to the store and get you some ice
Speaker 2: cream today. Really, I bought you two varieties of Jenny's.
Speaker 2: I'll let you pick which one you want. I was
Speaker 2: going to get like the local, fancy brand, but I
Speaker 2: don't want to sample things that people aren't.
Speaker 1: Yeah, on Jenny's is awesome.
Speaker 2: So I got Blackout chocolate cake and Brambleberry crisp. I
Speaker 2: know which one you're going to.
Speaker 1: I'm going to take the chocolate the Blackout.
Speaker 2: We're going to taste our ice cream really quick and
Speaker 2: then put it in the freezer and then we'll be
Speaker 2: right back.
Speaker 1: Awesome.
Speaker 2: Did you like the ice cream?
Speaker 1: Oh? Man, that was amazing. It's about the chocolateest ice
Speaker 1: cream I've ever had.
Speaker 2: Have you had that one before?
Speaker 1: No? I don't think so.
Speaker 2: Okay, I've gotten that one before. The brambleberry crisp was
Speaker 2: pretty good. It wasn't as good as the Blackout, Oh really, No,
Speaker 2: it was good though. It was good though I don't
Speaker 2: think you would have liked it though. I don't like blackberries.
Speaker 2: I didn't realize that that was the fruit that was
Speaker 2: in there. They didn't read the fine print. But it
Speaker 2: was still really good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, thank you for that.
Speaker 2: You're very welcome. Was it as good as a concrete mixer?
Speaker 1: Though yeah, it was right up there, I'd say, Okay.
Speaker 2: Well, today we're going to tell you the tragic tale
Speaker 2: of Monique Bowl. Everyday, real estate agents around the world
Speaker 2: unlock the front doors of empty homes for people they've
Speaker 2: never met. They answer questions, point out a home's best features,
Speaker 2: and help prospective buyers imagine building a life there, all
Speaker 2: with little more than a name, a phone number, and
Speaker 2: the hope that the person standing beside them is exactly
Speaker 2: who they claimed to be. Most showings, and the same way,
Speaker 2: the buyers leave to think it over, the realtor turns
Speaker 2: off the light, locks the door, and moves on to
Speaker 2: the next appointment. On December thirtieth, twenty nineteen, twenty eight
Speaker 2: year old Minneapolis area reeltor Monique Boo expected her showing
Speaker 2: to end the same predictable way. The showing was at
Speaker 2: a vacant home on Niagara Lane in Maple Grove, An,
Speaker 2: a fluent Minneapolis suburb known for its quiet neighborhoods and
Speaker 2: repute as one of the safest communities in the state.
Speaker 2: It was a pretty two story yellow house, five bedrooms
Speaker 2: and four baths on a quiet residential street. The buyer
Speaker 2: cold called her and seemed very excited to see the house,
Speaker 2: but the prospective clients never showed up. Later that day,
Speaker 2: the buyer called to apologize and asked if they could
Speaker 2: reschedule for the following afternoon, New Year's Eve. Monique agreed,
Speaker 2: despite having plans with her family later that evening. Maybe
Speaker 2: there was still time for one last sale before the
Speaker 2: year came to an end. There was nothing about that
Speaker 2: location that suggested danger. Monique had no way of knowing
Speaker 2: that she wasn't walking into a routine home, showing she
Speaker 2: had been intentionally lured there. This wasn't a crime of
Speaker 2: opportunity or a chance encounter. Was the final step in
Speaker 2: a carefully planned revenge plot. When Monique arrived at that house,
Speaker 2: every piece was in place.
Speaker 1: You know, I never considered before that being a realtor
Speaker 1: could potentially be a dangerous job because you are, like
Speaker 1: you said, meeting people that you have no idea who
Speaker 1: they are, and usually you're meeting them in an empty home.
Speaker 2: Especially being a female, it makes you very vulnerable. Monique
Speaker 2: latrese Leanna Bao was born on October seventeenth, nineteen ninety one,
Speaker 2: in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Wanda and Frank Bao who divorced
Speaker 2: when she was young. Monique was their only child together,
Speaker 2: though her father, Frank, later had several more children. Wanda
Speaker 2: and Monique had a very close relationship. It was the
Speaker 2: two of them against the world. The rest of the
Speaker 2: family was close knit as well. Monique was also close
Speaker 2: to her cousins, who were more like siblings. After graduating
Speaker 2: from high school, Monique worked as a server at several restaurants.
Speaker 2: Her warmth and friendliness made her great at her job.
Speaker 2: When in twenty eighteen, she decided she wanted to build
Speaker 2: a new career, she enrolled in a real estate course,
Speaker 2: passed her licensing exam, and joined the Chris Lin Dall
Speaker 2: real estate group. She quickly discovered that she'd found her calling.
Speaker 2: Monique loved helping people find their dream homes, and those
Speaker 2: who knew her said she had a natural gift for
Speaker 2: the job. Clients were drawn to Monique's warmth, infectious smile,
Speaker 2: and easygoing personality. She had a way of making people
Speaker 2: feel comfortable almost instantly. More than anything, though, Monique was
Speaker 2: proud to be a mother. Her two young daughters were
Speaker 2: the center of her world, and she worked hard to
Speaker 2: build a career to make them proud and give them
Speaker 2: the best life that she could. Monique had been dating
Speaker 2: John Mitchell Momo, better known as Momo, a local rapper,
Speaker 2: since they were teens. They welcomed two daughters in twenty
Speaker 2: sixteen and twenty eighteen. Legacy and legend. Monique was a
Speaker 2: wonderful mother and always put the children first. She was
Speaker 2: working hard to build a future for them. As Monique's
Speaker 2: real estate career was burgeoning, Momo's rap career was flourishing.
Speaker 2: He'd collaborated with Little Baby, Rick Ross and the late
Speaker 2: Nipsey Hustle, and had played the south By Southwest Music
Speaker 2: Festival Rubbing Elbows with fifty cent.
Speaker 1: So he was pretty big time there.
Speaker 2: I mean I think he was getting miss gidding there.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: When he signed with the record Big Black, it was
Speaker 2: the break had been waiting for, with the promise of
Speaker 2: a million dollar deal coming soon. On December sixteenth, twenty nineteen,
Speaker 2: Momo twenty nine filmed a music video for one of
Speaker 2: his songs, in which he stood in a shower surrounded
Speaker 2: by stacks of cash, tossing bills into the air. Then
Speaker 2: he placed the bills into a dryer and watched them
Speaker 2: spin as an aspiring wrapper with a flashy image. He
Speaker 2: may have thought that it fit his persona, but the
Speaker 2: video didn't impress everyone. It infuriated his enemies, specifically one man,
Speaker 2: Lynden Wiggins. Wanda, Monique's mother, was hopping mad when she
Speaker 2: realized that he had filmed the video inside her home.
Speaker 2: She confronted him, warning Momo that flaunting that kind of
Speaker 2: money wasn't just reckless and was putting him, Monique and
Speaker 2: the two baby girls in danger. Wanda later told Monique
Speaker 2: his image will get us killed. For a love alike
Speaker 2: for a share. On the day before New Year's Eve,
Speaker 2: Monique was scheduled to show a home to two potential
Speaker 2: buyers in Maple Grove at a Level A. Maple Grove
Speaker 2: is an affluent, family oriented suburb about fifteen miles northwest
Speaker 2: of downtown Minneapolis, home to roughly seventy thousand residents. It's
Speaker 2: one of the fastest growing communities in the Twin Cities
Speaker 2: and is known for its highly rated schools, well kept neighborhoods,
Speaker 2: in abundance of parks, trails, and lakes. The city has
Speaker 2: a strong ecodomy centered around a busy shopping area and
Speaker 2: business district. Much of Maple Grove consists of quiet residential
Speaker 2: neighborhoods where many families choose to settle. Monique's potential new client,
Speaker 2: Lisa Polowski and her husband, planned to meet Monique at
Speaker 2: the vacant house the next day, on December thirtieth. Lisa
Speaker 2: was very persistent and even called Monique's personal cell phone,
Speaker 2: which surprised her. It made her question how she'd gotten
Speaker 2: her private number. A lot of realtors have two phones,
Speaker 2: their personal phone and their business funding, and she kept
Speaker 2: them very separate from each other. Here is a clip
Speaker 2: from Lisa's phone call.
Speaker 1: Hi, Monique, my name is Lee the Palowski and I'm
Speaker 1: interested in.
Speaker 3: The property night Agora, Wayne North in Maple Grove, Minnesota.
Speaker 2: Just give me a call. This is a property that
Speaker 2: I'm really interested in and I'm hoping.
Speaker 1: That after the walk through it, it is one that
Speaker 1: I decide to go with.
Speaker 2: Monique arrived first and let herself into the home so
Speaker 2: she could familiarize herself with the layout before her clients arrived.
Speaker 2: Another realtor was there showing the property to a couple.
Speaker 2: After her clients left, the realtor chatted with Monique while
Speaker 2: she waited for her own clients. Just then, Lisa called
Speaker 2: her with an unusual question. She asked whether the stove
Speaker 2: in the house was gas or electric. She and her
Speaker 2: husband had a bet, She claimed, it seemed like an
Speaker 2: odd thing to call about when they would know the
Speaker 2: answer as soon as they walked through the door minutes later.
Speaker 2: It was the second time that this prospective client had
Speaker 2: made Monique feel uneasy.
Speaker 1: That is a really bizarre thing that would definitely make
Speaker 1: my instincts on edge. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Sure, Lisa Pulawski and her husband never showed it happens,
Speaker 2: thought Monique. After she'd waited thirty minutes, she locked up
Speaker 2: the house and went home. Later that evening, Lisa called Monique,
Speaker 2: apologized profusely, and asked to reschedule the showing for the
Speaker 2: following day, New Year's Eve. Wenique agreed to meet her
Speaker 2: at three pm at the house in Maple Grove.
Speaker 1: The next day. Momo arrived around two fifteen to stay
Speaker 1: with Legend and Legacy while Monique went to the showing.
Speaker 1: It was about a thirty minute drive to Maple Grove
Speaker 1: from Minneapolis. Monique was looking forward to ringing in the
Speaker 1: New Year later with her daughter, cousins and their children.
Speaker 1: While Momo was playing a show. She made salsa their
Speaker 1: day before she left for the showing in Maple Grove.
Speaker 1: It would be a night filled with food, drinks, laughter
Speaker 1: and fun. As an only child, Monique's relationship to her
Speaker 1: cousins was very important to her. It was her idea
Speaker 1: to hold cousin Knight once a month so they could
Speaker 1: all have at least one night guaranteed together amid everyone's
Speaker 1: busy schedules. As Monique pulled up to the house on
Speaker 1: Niagara Lane, she was on the phone with her cousin, Josie.
Speaker 1: She told her that she had a bad feeling the
Speaker 1: clients weren't going to show up again. Monique said she
Speaker 1: would wait ten minutes then head home to get ready
Speaker 1: for their Cousin's Night. She unlocked the door using the
Speaker 1: realtor's lock box, leaving it open for the clients, and
Speaker 1: entered the house. Just then, as Monique peered out the window,
Speaker 1: a vehicle pulled into the driveway. The clients weren't driving
Speaker 1: a car or suv that Monique expected them to arrive in.
Speaker 1: They pulled up in a rented U haul truck. It
Speaker 1: was odd, but Monique thought that maybe they were in
Speaker 1: the middle of a move, and that explained their urgency
Speaker 1: in seeing the house. Relieved that they hadn't stood her
Speaker 1: up again, Monique told Josie that she'd talk to her
Speaker 1: later and ended the call. That was the last time
Speaker 1: anyone in her family heard Monique's voice. At about three
Speaker 1: point thirty, Josie called to see how the showing had gone,
Speaker 1: but Monique didn't answer. Maybe the client going to make
Speaker 1: an offer and that's why it's taking so long, Josie thought.
Speaker 1: Moments later, she received a text message that read, can
Speaker 1: I call you back? It may seem innocuous, but something
Speaker 1: about it immediately bothered Josie. It wasn't the way Monique
Speaker 1: normally talked to her. Fifteen minutes later, she texted Monique again,
Speaker 1: but got no response. Momo had also sent Monique several
Speaker 1: text messages. She hadn't answered him either. It just wasn't
Speaker 1: like Monique to let texts go unanswered. Nearly two hours later,
Speaker 1: at five point forty pm, Momo was sitting on the
Speaker 1: stairs at Wanda's house texting Monique when he heard a
Speaker 1: key inserted into the lock and saw the doorknob turn.
Speaker 1: Assuming it was Monique coming home, he stood up to
Speaker 1: greet her when a man dressed entirely in black wearing
Speaker 1: a ski mask with one wide eyehole, stepped inside and
Speaker 1: immediately opened fire. Momo ran up the stairs shouting, I
Speaker 1: am dead already. My babies are here. The man lumbered
Speaker 1: up the stairs, chasing us him. He was shot multiple times,
Speaker 1: suffering wounds to his groin, shoulder, back, and chest. One
Speaker 1: bullet missed his heart by less than an inch. Thankfully,
Speaker 1: despite the chaos unfolding in the house, Legacy and Legend
Speaker 1: were physically unharmed. Despite being shot, Momo managed to call
Speaker 1: nine one one at about five forty five pm. In
Speaker 1: the background of the call, one of the baby girls
Speaker 1: could be heard crying and asking for her mommy. When
Speaker 1: first responders arrived, they found Momo critically wounded but alive.
Speaker 1: As her shift at the hospital ended at five point
Speaker 1: fifty five, Wanda Bao saw a text message from one
Speaker 1: of her neighbors that simply read call me. When she
Speaker 1: returned the call, he told her that someone had been
Speaker 1: shot at her house and police had already responded. Stunned,
Speaker 1: Wanda immediately called Monique. After several unanswered calls and text messages,
Speaker 1: panics set in She rushed home to find police cars
Speaker 1: lining the street, their red and blue light flashing against
Speaker 1: the dark winter sky. Seeing her granddaughters sitting on the
Speaker 1: couch crying, Wanda was overcome with relief that Legacy and
Speaker 1: Legend were unharmed. Two of her babies were safe, but
Speaker 1: where was Monique? As she hugged her granddaughters tightly, Wanda
Speaker 1: continued calling her daughter repeatedly with no response. Her nightmare
Speaker 1: was just beginning. Wanda noticed something on the carpet in
Speaker 1: the living room, a single key, but it wasn't just
Speaker 1: any key. She recognized it instantly. She had special ordered
Speaker 1: a key to her house for Monique years earlier. It
Speaker 1: was purple with a green butterfly. Monique always kept it
Speaker 1: with her on her key ring. Seeing it by itself
Speaker 1: on the rug made no sense unless someone had taken
Speaker 1: it from Monique. Wanda quietly set a prayer for her daughter,
Speaker 1: holding the babies closely. As the scene unfolded at Wanda's house,
Speaker 1: the police were also worried that Monique was in real danger.
Speaker 1: Just after seven PM, a man called nine one one
Speaker 1: after hearing three gunshots in an alley in North Minneapolis
Speaker 1: at nearly the same moment Minneapolis shot spot or system
Speaker 1: alerted officers to the shooting. At the location, they found
Speaker 1: a young black woman lying face down in a snowbank.
Speaker 1: She had been shot twice in the torso and once
Speaker 1: in the face at close range. She had also suffered bruises, scratches,
Speaker 1: and a chipped tooth. Nearby her body were three spent
Speaker 1: forty five caliber shell casings and the bottom half of
Speaker 1: a realtor's lock box. The woman had been shot about
Speaker 1: six miles from Wanda Boo's house. Just as detectives were
Speaker 1: loosening their ties preparing to celebrate New Year's Eve with
Speaker 1: their friends and family, they suddenly found themselves dragged into
Speaker 1: work to investigate two violent crime scenes that might be related.
Speaker 1: Back at Wanda's house, one detective quietly asked her if
Speaker 1: Monique had any tattoos. She stared blankly at the officer
Speaker 1: as her heart set into her stomach. She knew exactly
Speaker 1: why he was asking. Yes, she answered shakily, Monique has
Speaker 1: a tattoo across her chest that says Heartbreaker. That was
Speaker 1: enough for investigators to identify the woman found in the snowbank.
Speaker 1: Monique Latrice Leanna Bao was dead at just twenty eight
Speaker 1: years of age. Across town, Monique's cousins had begun gathering
Speaker 1: for their New Year's Eve celebration. The news hadn't reached
Speaker 1: them yet. They were expecting her to walk in the
Speaker 1: door any second, with her bright smile and a funny
Speaker 1: story about why she was late. Soon their world would
Speaker 1: be shattered when they learned about her death. Oh, this
Speaker 1: is so so sad and tragic. I can only imagine
Speaker 1: what was going through her mom's mind, especially when they
Speaker 1: asked her about the tattoos.
Speaker 2: As a story unfold, you'll see what a great mom
Speaker 2: want it is. And she had such a special relationship
Speaker 2: with her daughter, and this is her only child, and
Speaker 2: just devastating. Yeah, Monique was just so young and beauty
Speaker 2: full and had so much life to live. Just a
Speaker 2: really sad situation.
Speaker 1: We'll be back after a break.
Speaker 2: With Monique dead and Momo fighting for his life, investigators
Speaker 2: began reconstructing her final hours by using green camera footage
Speaker 2: from the Maple Grove neighborhood as well as cell phone
Speaker 2: data to piece together the timeline. The surveillance footage showed
Speaker 2: the U haul pulling up to the house a little
Speaker 2: after three PM, a man got out of the passenger seat,
Speaker 2: walked at the front door, and entered the house. The
Speaker 2: driver of the truck turned the truck around, then backed
Speaker 2: it up closely to the garage and went into the
Speaker 2: house too. A minute later, the man walked out with
Speaker 2: his arms closed the abron Monique, dragging her to the
Speaker 2: back of the vehicle, putting her inside and closing the door.
Speaker 2: At three seventeen PM, they drove away from the house.
Speaker 2: Monique was likely attacked by the man after he entered
Speaker 2: the house. She was gagged and her hands were bound
Speaker 2: with thick layers of gorilla tape. As the truck pulled
Speaker 2: away from Maple Grove, Monique was still alive. What happened
Speaker 2: in the next two and a half hours between Monique
Speaker 2: being abducted and Momo being shot is harrowing to think about.
Speaker 2: Monique must have been terrified for herself and her family.
Speaker 2: Police believed that one of the kidnappers sat in the
Speaker 2: back of the ye haul and questioned her about Momo's
Speaker 2: whereabouts as they drove through the streets of the Twin Cities.
Speaker 2: When she refused to tell them, they continued driving through
Speaker 2: the snowy streets, looking for Momo's car. Investigators believed that
Speaker 2: Monique never gave them the answer they wanted, but they
Speaker 2: did find the key to Wanda's house in her purse.
Speaker 2: At five forty p m. We know the kidnappers got
Speaker 2: to Wanda Bao's house, where Momo was still with his daughters.
Speaker 2: He was sitting on the stairs texting Monique when the
Speaker 2: man dressed entirely in black wearing a ski mask, arched
Speaker 2: into the house with a gun poised at Momo and
Speaker 2: shot him before leaving in the U haul. Bullet case
Speaker 2: were later found in the home from a forty five
Speaker 2: caliber handgun. The kidnappers then drove to the north side
Speaker 2: of Minneapolis to the three hundred block of Russell Avenue,
Speaker 2: where they shot Monique three times and then left her
Speaker 2: for dead in a snowbank just before seven pm. One
Speaker 2: of her wrists was free from the gorilla tape. Monique
Speaker 2: had fought hard to save herself, So.
Speaker 1: It was really like three hours or so that Monique
Speaker 1: was tied up and held captive before they shot and
Speaker 1: killed her.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just riding around the streets of Minneapolis.
Speaker 1: That's just so so terrifying to think of.
Speaker 2: After Monique's body was found. Investigators realized that they now
Speaker 2: had two crime scenes to investigate, Wanda's house and the
Speaker 2: alley where Monique was found. It was not a great
Speaker 2: start to twenty twenty. They had the video surveillance from
Speaker 2: the house in Maple Grove, which had been very helpful.
Speaker 2: Without that, they wouldn't have known to look for a
Speaker 2: U Haul. From cameras a resident had mounted in the
Speaker 2: alley behind his house, they found footage that revealed a
Speaker 2: U haul had pulled out of the alley onto the
Speaker 2: street after Monique had been shot. Bingo just cemented the
Speaker 2: fact that these two events were linked, and while canvassing
Speaker 2: Wanda's neighborhood, police found an eyewitness who reported seeing a
Speaker 2: U haul near her house. Later, Monique's black BMW was
Speaker 2: found at the house in Maple Grove. When the police
Speaker 2: went to the door to search the house for evidence,
Speaker 2: the bottom half of the lock box was missing, and remember,
Speaker 2: part of a lock box was found near Monique's body.
Speaker 2: After they entered the vacant house, police found a pink
Speaker 2: acrylic fingernail tip that likely belonged to Monique, an indication
Speaker 2: that there had been a struggle. Investigators needed to find
Speaker 2: the U haul. They had the plate, so it shouldn't
Speaker 2: be too hard. They got lucky when they found that
Speaker 2: it had already been returned to a local dealer. On
Speaker 2: New Year's Eve around nine p m. The back of
Speaker 2: the truck was open to air it out. It reeked
Speaker 2: of bleach in ammonia. A closer look inside revealed four
Speaker 2: more pink fingernails that had been left behind that matched
Speaker 2: the one found in aple Grove. A wrapper from a
Speaker 2: roll of guerrilla tape was found in the door pocket
Speaker 2: that matched the tape that was used to bind Monique's hands.
Speaker 2: When police located the two men who had signed the
Speaker 2: rental agreement, they explained that they were both struggling with
Speaker 2: heroin addiction. They'd rented the truck for a man who
Speaker 2: offered to pay them in drugs. The man's name was
Speaker 2: Cedric Barry. When investigators processed the duct tape recovered from
Speaker 2: Monique's hands, they found six fingerprints. They were processed through
Speaker 2: the system and a match was found. The Prince belonged
Speaker 2: to Cedric Barry. Barry was a low level drug dealer,
Speaker 2: already known to police since the age of eighteen. Barry
Speaker 2: had spent much of his adult life in and out
Speaker 2: of jail for gang related violence, aggravated robbery, and other offenses.
Speaker 2: He had previously served five years in prison after pleading
Speaker 2: guilty to his second degree murder charge. Police were able
Speaker 2: to identify the second man, the driver of the U haul,
Speaker 2: as Barry's brother in law, Barry Davis, also a drug deaeler.
Speaker 2: Why did these men go after Monique and Momo?
Speaker 4: So?
Speaker 1: Just to be sure I have this right? The two
Speaker 1: guys won. His name Cedric Berry and the other is
Speaker 1: Barry Davis.
Speaker 2: I try to refer to them with their first and
Speaker 2: last name. It's kind of ironic that both of their
Speaker 2: names are spelt b E r r Y. Momo was
Speaker 2: in serious condition, but awake and able to speak with detectives.
Speaker 2: He asked about Monique. When they told him that she
Speaker 2: was dead, he was devastated. He blamed himself for not
Speaker 2: doing more to protect her. Detectives asked him who could
Speaker 2: have done this? Momo didn't hesitate. La La, whose real
Speaker 2: name is Lyndon Akeem Wiggins, was an aspiring rapper and
Speaker 2: drug dealer. He sold heroin, crack, cocaine, marijuana, and fentanel
Speaker 2: across Minnesota and Michigan's up La. Wiggins performed under the
Speaker 2: stage name Black Bag. He was also the founder of
Speaker 2: the independent record label Black Bag, where John Mitchell Momo
Speaker 2: had signed. He and Momo had become close friends, traveling
Speaker 2: and performing together to promote their music. They spent countless
Speaker 2: hours together. Monique was friends with Wiggins as well, and
Speaker 2: it's rumored that he had a crush on her. Although
Speaker 2: Momo generally kept his family separate from his music career
Speaker 2: for their safety, Wiggins was one of the few people
Speaker 2: he trusted enough to bring into his inner circle. Momo
Speaker 2: grew frustrated with Wiggins's management style and was wary of
Speaker 2: his involvement in the drug trade. Over time, the friendship
Speaker 2: deteriorated and Momo left Black Bag. As Momo's music career
Speaker 2: began gaining momentum, Wiggins grew resentful. When Momo landed an
Speaker 2: opportunity to collaborate with the more established rapper Nipsey Hustle,
Speaker 2: Wiggins was eager to be included. He recorded a verse
Speaker 2: and sent it to Momo, hoping that it would make
Speaker 2: the final track. It didn't. Momo saw it as a
Speaker 2: business decision, and Wiggins saw it as personal rejection. Things
Speaker 2: escalated after John Mitchell Momo left black Bag Records. Wiggins
Speaker 2: blamed him for his career not taking off, and accused
Speaker 2: Momo of stealing his music. In October twenty nineteen, federal
Speaker 2: agents raided properties connected to La Wiggins, seizing thousands of
Speaker 2: fentanyl leaced counterfeit OxyContin pills, hundreds of pounds of marijuana, firearms,
Speaker 2: and tens of thousands of dollars in cash. Prosecutors alleged
Speaker 2: he continued trafficking fentanyl even after the raids. He thought
Speaker 2: someone had tipped off the dea, and he was pretty
Speaker 2: sure that was Momo. Weeks earlier, Momo had been arrested
Speaker 2: on a weapons charge, but prosecutors dropped the case against him. Previously,
Speaker 2: Momo was twice arrested on drug charges in twenty fourteen
Speaker 2: and twenty eighteen. The charges also were later dropped. Wiggins
Speaker 2: interpreted the dismissed charges as proof that Momo had cooperated
Speaker 2: with police to save himself and throw La under the bus.
Speaker 2: From that point on, he publicly branded Momo as a snitch,
Speaker 2: But court records revealed that Wiggins had been under investigation
Speaker 2: for more than two years for drug trafficking heroin and fentanyl.
Speaker 2: By then, the friendship had completely unraveled. Prosecutors argued that
Speaker 2: Wiggins's resentment their failed business relationship, combined with his belief
Speaker 2: that Mitchell Momo had informed on him to law enforcement,
Speaker 2: eventually grew into a deadly grudge. Fearing for her safety
Speaker 2: and the safety of her children, Monique decided it was
Speaker 2: best to temporarily leave their home and Coon Rapids, Minnesota,
Speaker 2: with Momo until things cooled off with his business. She
Speaker 2: and the girls moved in with her mother, Wanda, in Minneapolis.
Speaker 2: The move wasn't the end of the relationship, however. Momo
Speaker 2: continued to see his daughters regularly and still took Monique
Speaker 2: out on dates. They were aware that they might be
Speaker 2: in great danger because of Momo's strained relationship with Lyndon Wiggins,
Speaker 2: and they took precautions that they'd hoped would keep their
Speaker 2: family safe. MoMA didn't realize that the music video he
Speaker 2: made of himself showering in cash would be the catalyst
Speaker 2: for Monique's murder. According to prosecutors, Wiggins's resentment reached to
Speaker 2: a boiling point after Momo released the music video. Wiggins
Speaker 2: believed that Momo had snitched to law enforcement about his
Speaker 2: drug operation and was blatantly flaunting his success in his
Speaker 2: face after he'd left his music label, fueling the revenge
Speaker 2: plot that ultimately led to Monique's murder.
Speaker 1: Both Barry Davis and Cedric Berry, the men from the
Speaker 1: U Haul, worked under La Wiggins as drug dealers. Police
Speaker 1: knew that La was behind the murder plot, but didn't
Speaker 1: yet have enough evidence tying him to the crime, but
Speaker 1: they believed that the music video with the shower of
Speaker 1: Cash was the final straw. LA perceived that as Momo
Speaker 1: rubbing his success in his face. Police knew that on
Speaker 1: December twenty sixth and twenty ninth that La had viewed
Speaker 1: the music video from Facebook. Cedric Berry was the first
Speaker 1: arrested at the Double Tree Hotel on January fifteenth, while
Speaker 1: Barry Davis was caught on surveillance footage escaping from a
Speaker 1: side door of the hotel. Once in custody, Cedric refused
Speaker 1: to talk, but after his car was searched, police found
Speaker 1: ample evidence, including thirteen pouches of heroin, black guerrilla tape,
Speaker 1: a black ski mask with one hole for the eyes,
Speaker 1: and two way radios. One of the detectives went to
Speaker 1: a nearby Walmart to see if anyone had purchased two
Speaker 1: way radios recently. He found that not only had someone
Speaker 1: purchased them, but they also purchased bleach and ammonia and
Speaker 1: a canvas tent. There was video of Barry Davis completing
Speaker 1: the sale and walking out of the store with the
Speaker 1: items at nine thirty pm on December thirtieth, alongside Cedric Barry.
Speaker 1: It took a couple of weeks to apprehend him, but
Speaker 1: eventually Barry Davis was in custody too. Investigators had possession
Speaker 1: of their cell phones and were able to tie them
Speaker 1: to the times and locations where the crimes had taken place.
Speaker 1: La Wiggins was already in jail. He had been there
Speaker 1: since October twenty nineteen on the drug charges we talked
Speaker 1: about earlier. Police were able to retrieve Monique's voicemails from
Speaker 1: her phone, including the message left by Lisa Paulowski. One
Speaker 1: of the detectives recognized the voice right away. The woman's
Speaker 1: name was Elsa Segura. She was a former Hennepin County
Speaker 1: probation officer who had been fired for lying about an
Speaker 1: inappropriate relationship with one of her clients. The client was
Speaker 1: none other than La Wiggins. As part of the case
Speaker 1: they were building against Wiggins, the detective had been listening
Speaker 1: in on their phone conversations.
Speaker 2: This is kind of crazy. This detective had heard so
Speaker 2: many of their phone conversations. When he heard this call
Speaker 2: from Lisa, he was like, Oh, I know that voice.
Speaker 1: I was going to say the exact same thing. Like,
Speaker 1: that's really wild that he would just recognize this voice
Speaker 1: right away. Police brought Elsa in for an interview and
Speaker 1: she admitted that she had made the call from a
Speaker 1: burner phone to Monique, but she insisted that she didn't
Speaker 1: know what would happen next. She had no idea that
Speaker 1: Monique would be murdered. The phone us used by Elsa
Speaker 1: to make the calls to Monique was purchased by Cedric
Speaker 1: Barry and became active at approximately four pm on December
Speaker 1: twenty ninth. Cedric Barry was captured purchasing the phone on
Speaker 1: video surveillance and cell phone records show he was talking
Speaker 1: to Elsa, Segura, and Barry Davis while at the cell
Speaker 1: phone retailer. When Elsa's personal cell phone was searched, police
Speaker 1: found incriminating Google searches such as anxiety, legal immunity, incinerator
Speaker 1: near me, and confession times for basilica of Saint Mary Church.
Speaker 2: Coogling anxiety is an incriminating but in relation to those
Speaker 2: other terms, it's a little linkaging.
Speaker 1: Yeah, very disturbing that she was searching for incinerator near me.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Chante Davis, the wife of Cedric Barry, was later arrested
Speaker 1: on the charge of aiding an offender. She pleaded guilty
Speaker 1: and was sentenced to ninety days in jail. Eight people
Speaker 1: were identified as having participated in the murder plot, but
Speaker 1: only five were inevitably arrested. After Monique's death, Momo posted
Speaker 1: on Facebook rip queen with a broken heart emoji. He
Speaker 1: faced backlash online from people blaming his flashy lifestyle on
Speaker 1: her death. When talking to the Star Tribune, he said,
Speaker 1: referring to the arrest of Cedric Barry, I've never seen
Speaker 1: that Cedric dude in my life. I don't know him.
Speaker 1: I really want to clear the air. They've got me
Speaker 1: looking like a monster. They have it like I'm in
Speaker 1: a gang. I don't have a gang life background. It's
Speaker 1: like I murdered her. This has really hurt my heart.
Speaker 1: I believe this is all because of jealousy and envy.
Speaker 1: There are people out there that would rather see me
Speaker 1: dead than successful, even if it means killing the mother
Speaker 1: of my children. I knew Monique since she was sixteen.
Speaker 1: She was in her prime. We were just getting started.
Speaker 1: Wanda Williams Bow was devastated by the loss of her
Speaker 1: only daughter. In the months that followed, a bitter custody
Speaker 1: battle unfolded between Monique's parents, Quanda and Frank Bau, and
Speaker 1: Momo over legend and legacy. The Bows argued that Momo's
Speaker 1: involvement in the drug trade had indirectly led to Monique's
Speaker 1: murder and that his lifestyle made him unfit to raise
Speaker 1: the girls.
Speaker 2: And I can totally see where they're coming from here.
Speaker 1: Eric, for sure, we'll be back after a break.
Speaker 2: The first trial began in May twenty twenty one. Cedric
Speaker 2: Barry and Barry Davis were tried together. Prosecutors argued that
Speaker 2: the murder plot involved poor people and that each played
Speaker 2: an essential role. According to the state, Elsa Segura and
Speaker 2: Lyndon Wiggins were just as responsible for Mornique's murder as
Speaker 2: the two men who carried it out. If Segura hadn't
Speaker 2: posed as Lisa Polowski and lured Monique to the vacant
Speaker 2: house under the guise of a fake real estate showing.
Speaker 2: Prosecutors argued she never would have been kidnapped and murdered.
Speaker 2: John Mitchell Momo was the prosecutions for witness. Wearing a
Speaker 2: hooded sweatshirt pulled tightly around his face, he was combative
Speaker 2: on the witness stand from the outset. He repeatedly interrupted
Speaker 2: the attorneys, asked them to repeat questions that had already
Speaker 2: been clearly asked, and even blurted out that he couldn't
Speaker 2: believe taxpayer dollars were being used to defend the suspects.
Speaker 2: After sending the jury out of the courtroom, the judge
Speaker 2: sharply reprimanded him, telling him you're not helping yourself here,
Speaker 2: and later warned you were about three inches from a
Speaker 2: jail cell right now. The judge caution that if his
Speaker 2: behavior continued, he would be arrested for contempt.
Speaker 1: What do you think was behind this attitude that he
Speaker 1: had on the face.
Speaker 2: Facing the people that murdered his girlfriend and the mother
Speaker 2: of his children. I think he was just really upset. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Wanda Williams Bow also gave emotional testimony, wiping away tears
Speaker 2: as she described the agonizing hours she spent trying to
Speaker 2: reach her daughter, and the devastation of learning that Monique
Speaker 2: had been identified by her heartbreaker tattoo, and the the
Speaker 2: impact Monique's murder had on her family. Barry Davis's attorney
Speaker 2: argued that his fingerprint on the U haul's gearshift was innocuous.
Speaker 2: He claimed Davis had driven the truck earlier that day
Speaker 2: while transporting large amounts of marijuana, not while kidnapping Monique.
Speaker 2: After about three and a half hours of deliberation, the
Speaker 2: jury found both men guilty on all counts. Wanda wept
Speaker 2: as the verdicts were read before thanking the prosecutors. Injurors quote,
Speaker 2: I couldn't be more happy, she said, I miss Monique
Speaker 2: every day. At sentencing, both Cedric Barry and Barry Davis
Speaker 2: received thirteen years for kidnapping, twenty years for the attempted
Speaker 2: murder of John Mitchell Momo, and life in prison without
Speaker 2: the possibility of parole for the murder of Monique. At
Speaker 2: the sentencing, Guanda Bau gave a victim impact statement that
Speaker 2: in part read, I can only imagine what was being
Speaker 2: said to her? How many times she begged for her life.
Speaker 2: My baby was so precious. How dare they these defendants
Speaker 2: treated my daughter as if she was less than human.
Speaker 2: My daughter came face to face with evil. On that
Speaker 2: New Year's Eve. Before he was sentenced, Cedric Barry apologized
Speaker 2: to a Monique's family for the pain they had endured
Speaker 2: and said that he prayed for them but admitted no guilt. Quote,
Speaker 2: my heart is pure. I pray the truth comes out
Speaker 2: to miss Wanda Bau. I hurt for you, but you
Speaker 2: did not receive justice today.
Speaker 1: It makes me really ang curating, isn't it. I Mean,
Speaker 1: it's so obvious that he did this and to try
Speaker 1: to put up this facade like, oh, totally.
Speaker 2: I'm so sorry for your pain, knowing that he had
Speaker 2: a lot to do.
Speaker 1: With it, and it was just adding to her suffering.
Speaker 2: Already before standing trial for Monique Bao's murder, Lynden Wiggins
Speaker 2: was convicted in federal court of possessing with intent to
Speaker 2: distribute more than thirty three thousand counterfeit oxycodone pills laced
Speaker 2: with fentanel. He was sentenced to nineteen years in federal prison.
Speaker 1: Lyndon Wiggins trial began in the spring of twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: Unlike Cedric Barry and Barry Davis, who were accused of
Speaker 1: carrying out the kidnapping and murder, prosecutors portrayed Wiggins as
Speaker 1: the master of the entire conspiracy. According to the state,
Speaker 1: he orchestrated the fake home showing, directed the others involved,
Speaker 1: and targeted Monique as a way to retaliate against John
Speaker 1: Mitchell Momo, whom he believed had betrayed him. Monique was
Speaker 1: never the intended target, prosecutors argued, she was simply the
Speaker 1: means of getting to Momo. The case against Wiggins was
Speaker 1: largely circumstantial. There was no DNA fingerprint evidence, eyewitness identification,
Speaker 1: or confession placing him at either crime scene. Instead, prosecutors
Speaker 1: relied on cell phone records, location data, surveillance footage, purchases
Speaker 1: made in preparation for the crime, and testimony showing that
Speaker 1: Wiggins directed the others involved. They argued that when viewed together,
Speaker 1: the evidence painted a clear picture of a carefully planned conspiracy.
Speaker 2: There is not a lot of evidence against la Wiggins here.
Speaker 2: It is all circumstantial.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is pretty crazy that he was able to
Speaker 1: get all these people to do the dirty work for
Speaker 1: him and really keep his hands completely off of it.
Speaker 1: The defense attacked those connections, arguing the States case relied
Speaker 1: on speculation rather than direct evidence tying Wiggins to the
Speaker 1: kidnapping or murder. Despite those arguments, the jury found Wiggins
Speaker 1: guilty on all major counts. He was sentenced to life
Speaker 1: in prison without the possibility of parole. Elsa Segura was
Speaker 1: tried separately. She admitted that she had posed as Lisa
Speaker 1: Pulowski and scheduled the fake real estate showing using a
Speaker 1: burner phone supplied by Cedric Barry. She testified that Wiggins
Speaker 1: often treated her like an assistant, directing her to make
Speaker 1: phone calls, arranged travel, and handle errands. She described their
Speaker 1: relationship as controlling and at times abusive. Segura insisted she
Speaker 1: did not know Wiggins intended to kidnap or murder Monique.
Speaker 1: She testified that she believed she was helping him with
Speaker 1: something related to his drug business, not luring an innocent
Speaker 1: realtor into a deadly trap. Prosecutors countered that the circumstances
Speaker 1: made that explanation impossible to believe Wiggins had instructed her
Speaker 1: to use a fake name call from a burner phone,
Speaker 1: stay away from her own home while making the calls,
Speaker 1: and even destroy the paper containing Monique's information after the
Speaker 1: appointment had been arranged. After just a few hours of deliberation,
Speaker 1: the jury found Segura guilty on all counts. She was
Speaker 1: sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I've said her age, but she
Speaker 2: was I think the same age as Monique. So she's
Speaker 2: twenty eight years old.
Speaker 1: Oh, she just threw away the rest of her life.
Speaker 2: Wanda again delivered a powerful victim impact statement at the sentencing,
Speaker 2: quote the defendant she actually could have been a hero.
Speaker 2: She could have warned Monique. She could have warned her
Speaker 2: that the showing was fake. The defendant had a choice,
Speaker 2: and she chose to please her boyfriend by sticking to
Speaker 2: the plan. The judge allowed a video presentation crafted by
Speaker 2: Monique's friends and family. Pictures of Monique's life scrolled by
Speaker 2: to the song I Was Here by Beyonce. In twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four, the Minnesota Supreme Court overturned the convictions of
Speaker 2: both La Your eyes are soaping right now of both
Speaker 2: La Wiggins and Elsa's Sigura ruling that in the case
Speaker 2: of Wiggins, jurors had received incorrect instructions from the judge
Speaker 2: before deliberations regarding the charge of accomplish liability. The justices
Speaker 2: did not find the evidence against him lacking. Instead, the
Speaker 2: concluded the legal heir may have influenced the verdict, entitling
Speaker 2: Wiggins to a new trial. His second trial began in
Speaker 2: October twenty twenty five and lasted three weeks. John Mitchell
Speaker 2: Momo again took the witness stand, wearing a hooded sweatshirt
Speaker 2: pulled tightly around his face. He glared angrily at Wiggins
Speaker 2: throughout his testimony and at one point called him a
Speaker 2: dusty bomb. Wanda Bou also testified. She candidly admitted that
Speaker 2: she had never been fond of Momo. She told jurors
Speaker 2: that he often used drugs, had been unfaithful too Monique,
Speaker 2: and failed to provide financial support for their daughters. Even so,
Speaker 2: she said she never wanted him dead. La Wiggins testified
Speaker 2: in his own defense. He denied any involvement in the murder,
Speaker 2: instead blaming Cedric Barry and Barry Davis. He claimed that
Speaker 2: Cedric Barry had planned to confess and tell authorities that
Speaker 2: La had nothing to do with the kidnapping or murder.
Speaker 2: I think that was true, but he never followed through
Speaker 2: with it. After about six hours of deliberation, the jury
Speaker 2: found La Wiggins guilty on all accounts. He was again
Speaker 2: sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole
Speaker 2: for Monique's murder. The judge also imposed a consecutive twenty
Speaker 2: year sentence for the attempted murder of John Mitchel Moomo
Speaker 2: and one hundred and eighty nine months for kidnapping. Wiggins
Speaker 2: continues to serve a separate federal sentence for fentanel trafficking.
Speaker 2: After the verdict, Momo told NBC affiliate Kairi eleven quote,
Speaker 2: I think it's unfair that I'm forced to come back
Speaker 2: and reopen wounds over and over again. The unspoken rule
Speaker 2: that everyone knows as women and children are off limits.
Speaker 2: I would have respected it if they would have killed
Speaker 2: me and left Monique alone. In Elsa Segura's case, the
Speaker 2: Supreme Court found there was sufficient evidence that she had
Speaker 2: aided and abetted the kidnapping and felony murder, but not
Speaker 2: enough evidence to support convictions for premeditated murder or attempted
Speaker 2: premeditated murder. Prosecutors had failed to prove Elsa knew the
Speaker 2: plan was to murder Monique Bao. Rather than face another trial,
Speaker 2: she pleaded guilty to kidnapping to commit great bodily harm
Speaker 2: and was sentenced to twenty years in prison. She could
Speaker 2: be out in as little as ten years or her
Speaker 2: plea deal. She was required to testify against Lais Wiggins.
Speaker 2: At Elsa's sentencing, Wanda again delivered a powerful, emotional victim
Speaker 2: impact statement. This was the fifth time that she delivered
Speaker 2: a statement. She said her daughter had been ambushed, kidnapped, tortured,
Speaker 2: and murdered because of a dispute between l A. Wiggins
Speaker 2: and John Mitchell Momo, a conflict Monique had no pardon.
Speaker 2: Wanda rejected the idea that Monique should be remembered in
Speaker 2: relation to Momo. Monique was not simply someone's girlfriend or
Speaker 2: the mother of his children. She said she was an
Speaker 2: innocent woman whose life was stolen because of other people's pride, rumors,
Speaker 2: and grudges. Wanda also spoke about the heartbreaking lass undered
Speaker 2: by Monique's two young daughters. She described how legacy and
Speaker 2: legends regularly visit their mother's grave, carefully cleaning her headstone
Speaker 2: a memorial bench, surround her photographs with rose petals, and
Speaker 2: become upset if they find ants crawling across her grave marker.
Speaker 2: Even at such a young age, she said, they fiercely
Speaker 2: protect the place where their mother rests. She ended her
Speaker 2: statement with raw emotion while asking God for forgiveness. She
Speaker 2: admitted she could not forgive the men responsible for Monique's staff.
Speaker 2: Her only wish, she said, was that each of them
Speaker 2: spend the rest of their lives behind bars before facing
Speaker 2: God's judgment. Here's a clip from Wanda's statement. It is
Speaker 2: very emotional.
Speaker 4: My name is Wanda, Wanda Wayne, spell wa and d e A.
Speaker 4: Do I have to spell it? Yes?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 4: We remember you from trial Handel thirtieth, twenty nineteen. I
Speaker 4: said good night and I love you to my daughter
Speaker 4: Monique Bell for the last time.
Speaker 3: This would always This would also be the last time
Speaker 3: her babies would sleep next to their mother.
Speaker 4: I still say good night to her and I tell
Speaker 4: her I love her. It's just to her picture and
Speaker 4: both of her girls. They say good night to her too,
Speaker 4: and they kiss and hug her pictures.
Speaker 3: And they sleep with her picture of their mommy under
Speaker 3: their pillow, and they both had to get each of
Speaker 3: their own because they would tussle over, so the director
Speaker 3: of the school was kind enough to make them each
Speaker 3: their own. Monique Glum being a mother, I tell her
Speaker 3: girls that often just how much she loved being their mommy.
Speaker 3: They have to take my word for it, because she's
Speaker 3: not here to tell them herself, and I know she
Speaker 3: would tell them every single day.
Speaker 4: I know she would.
Speaker 3: Legends money Monique's oldest daughter, Legend. She likes to pray,
Speaker 3: pretend and we had a little wand Princess wand and
Speaker 3: she turned me into a frog and I had to
Speaker 3: act like a frog. And then she turned me into
Speaker 3: her mommy and she said, I said, I'm sorry, Legend,
Speaker 3: I can't be your mommy.
Speaker 4: And she said, gim me do it, just do it.
Speaker 3: And then I put on my best Monique impression and
Speaker 3: I act.
Speaker 4: Like her mommy and said what Monique I thought Monique
Speaker 4: would say.
Speaker 3: And I picked her up and she whispered and hug
Speaker 3: me so tight and said, please don't leave me again.
Speaker 1: Well, that poor poor woman. My heart just breaks for her.
Speaker 1: And you could just hear it in her voice, how
Speaker 1: heartbroken she is, and the fact that she had to
Speaker 1: she had to deliver so many victim impact statements in
Speaker 1: all these different cases breaks my heart too, because for
Speaker 1: her it would it would be reliving this whole time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she did an amazing job. Each day she had
Speaker 2: a new statement prepared. They were all just heartbreaking. Wanda
Speaker 2: Williams Bao, her granddaughter's cousins, Momo, and the rest of
Speaker 2: Monique's family are left trying to make sense of why
Speaker 2: she was senselessly murdered, but she continues to live on
Speaker 2: through her daughter's legacy and legend. In twenty twenty three, Wanda,
Speaker 2: along with her granddaughters, wrote a book, Rubian Onyx and
Speaker 2: the Magical Pillow Adventure. Monique was known for her love
Speaker 2: of food, her infectious laugh, her kindness, her sweet personality,
Speaker 2: her sense of humor, and her beauty. Rest in peace, Monique.
Speaker 4: So.
Speaker 2: Monique used to read to her daughters at bedtime, and
Speaker 2: they had this purple pillow and they would all, like,
Speaker 2: you know, get together and snuggle together on this purple pillow.
Speaker 2: And Wanda still has the pillow and so the book.
Speaker 2: I bought it from Amazon dot Com on the cover,
Speaker 2: it shows like the little girls on the Purple Pillow
Speaker 2: with their mom. I'm going to have you read the
Speaker 2: dedication because I don't think I'll be able to get
Speaker 2: through it.
Speaker 1: I will just say before I read the dedication, this
Speaker 1: is it's a beautiful book. And on the dedication page,
Speaker 1: it's a beautiful picture of Wanda Monique and legend and legacy.
Speaker 1: Here's the dedication to the most beautiful and loving daughter
Speaker 1: and mother, Monique Latrice Leanna Bao. You will forever live
Speaker 1: on in our hearts. Therefore you are with us on
Speaker 1: this adventure. This book is also dedicated to the children
Speaker 1: whose parent or parents are in heaven and who are
Speaker 1: living this life's journey without them. We pray this book
Speaker 1: will fill you with joy and excitement as you read
Speaker 1: about the Adventure on the Magic Pillow.
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, Monique's daughters' names, legend and legacy,
Speaker 2: it just seems so prescient. Yeah, definitely, almost uncanny, Yeah,
Speaker 2: for sure, because they are her legend and her legacy.
Speaker 2: I'm happy they're fortunate that they have a loving family.
Speaker 2: They're surrounded by, you know, their grandparents and all their
Speaker 2: aunts and cousins and other people to support them. But
Speaker 2: no grandmother really wants to raise her grandchildren. Yeah, she
Speaker 2: wants to be able to see her daughter and you
Speaker 2: know do it and just breaks my heart.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can never replace her mom. But it is
Speaker 1: good that they have such a supportive environment around them.
Speaker 1: And the book is so beautiful. I love the illustrations
Speaker 1: in here of the two girls.
Speaker 2: Cute, those girls are precious.
Speaker 1: The how old are the girls now?
Speaker 2: I think they're seven and nine now. They were one
Speaker 2: and three when it happened, and I think the little
Speaker 2: one had just turned one a few days before Monique,
Speaker 2: yeah killed.
Speaker 1: It's so nice that I'm sure Wanda is doing everything
Speaker 1: she can to keep their mother's like, you know, memory
Speaker 1: alive for them because they were so young they wouldn't
Speaker 1: remember her themselves.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I think it's lovely. They kiss their picture, yeah,
Speaker 2: every morning and every night, and it is very sweet.
Speaker 2: Some people that blame Monique for her own death because
Speaker 2: she was with a rapper with a flashy lifestyle, what
Speaker 2: do you think about that?
Speaker 1: I think that's ridiculous to blame her for that. I
Speaker 1: can see blaming Momo a little bit, or being upset
Speaker 1: with Momo that he was involved in a lifestyle. Sounds
Speaker 1: like he was involved in drugs. It's definitely not his
Speaker 1: fault either, but I can't see blaming Monique at all
Speaker 1: for that. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 2: I think that the girls are being raised by Wanda
Speaker 2: and Frank, like they're not married, but you know they
Speaker 2: go back and forth.
Speaker 1: Okay, I was going to ask you about that. How
Speaker 1: that custody that.
Speaker 2: Momo is still involved in their life to some extent,
Speaker 2: but he doesn't know a lot about him. He hasn't
Speaker 2: made any new music in a while. Okay, this is
Speaker 2: going to make you really mad. He does have an
Speaker 2: Instagram and there were pictures of cash like that were recent, so.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, yeah, it gets me.
Speaker 2: It really bothers me because it's like, if you were
Speaker 2: going to take one thing away from this, you know,
Speaker 2: that's just.
Speaker 1: Not And he's still well known, I assume, like even if.
Speaker 2: He's well known, but you know, he's still I believe
Speaker 2: in the rapper community, Like I found his music on Spotify.
Speaker 2: What do you think about Elsa Segura's part in this plot,
Speaker 2: Like she was the one who made the phone call, Yeah,
Speaker 2: set up the realtor showings.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's one of the more intriguing parts in my mind. Well,
Speaker 1: a couple of things about Elsa that are intriguing. First, like,
Speaker 1: she you said she was a probation officer, right, so
Speaker 1: she had a legitimate job, and then kind of threw
Speaker 1: that away for kind of you know, going into a
Speaker 1: life where she was associated with criminals and you know,
Speaker 1: on the other side of the law. I guess, But
Speaker 1: I am curious about how much how deep her involvement
Speaker 1: went because I didn't hear any evidence showing that she
Speaker 1: definitely knew that Monique was going to be killed when
Speaker 1: by making this phone call. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: it feels like she must have known that, you know,
Speaker 1: something she knew.
Speaker 2: I think she must have known how mad La Wiggins
Speaker 2: was at MOMO and resentful of his success. I think
Speaker 2: she must have known to a certain extent what he
Speaker 2: was casing.
Speaker 1: So do you think that her sentence wasn't sufficient for
Speaker 1: kind of what she actually or her part in it?
Speaker 2: I question this all the time in these cases, like
Speaker 2: who is who is the guiltiest party, the one who
Speaker 2: shoots the trigger, mastermind or the people that are complicit. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I think she probably should have more time. Yeah, Unique's
Speaker 2: killers we apprehended so quickly in part because of the
Speaker 2: doorbell camera footage. Right, And this makes me question privacy
Speaker 2: versus safety. Do you feel like our desire for safety
Speaker 2: and security supersede our privacy?
Speaker 1: You know, it's a really good question, and I really
Speaker 1: have mixed feelings about this. Obviously, I'm so glad that
Speaker 1: they caught the people who were responsible for Monique's death.
Speaker 1: And I think in so many cases in modern society,
Speaker 1: it is the cameras everywhere that help apprehend killers.
Speaker 2: Or just feel like big brothers. Sometimes it does.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's sort of a conscious decision we've
Speaker 1: made as a society, which is maybe I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's the right decision or not, but it does
Speaker 1: feel like we've made this decision, like we do. We
Speaker 1: all want security, we all want to be safe, but
Speaker 1: really there is you know, we have sacrificed a lot
Speaker 1: of privacy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And they're saying now with AI that your face
Speaker 2: can be identified in almost any crowd that you well.
Speaker 1: I mean, I work in technology and I go to
Speaker 1: trade shows and there's you know, there's technology that you're
Speaker 1: walking around the floor of a trade show. You know,
Speaker 1: cameras can identify you immediately tell tell the people working
Speaker 1: who you are, go to your LinkedIn profile. So it's
Speaker 1: it's like it is scary how much information you have
Speaker 1: about anybody walking down.
Speaker 2: The street yew Before you go to the trade show,
Speaker 2: do you sign something that makes people aware that you
Speaker 2: know this technology is being used will be identified for
Speaker 2: sales purposes.
Speaker 1: I should say I don't know if this technology is
Speaker 1: being actively used. I have seen demonstrations of the technology,
Speaker 1: so I don't know if that is actually happening regularly,
Speaker 1: but it's it's out there, it's available.
Speaker 2: Do you think that the jury got it right with
Speaker 2: la Wiggins? I know you only know the information that
Speaker 2: I gave you of the evidence against him, but do
Speaker 2: you feel comfortable with him being convicted?
Speaker 1: I feel much more comfortable with him being convicted than
Speaker 1: I do about Elsa. I definitely have a few questions
Speaker 1: about the extent of her involvement, but with him, yeah,
Speaker 1: I have no doubts at all that he was the
Speaker 1: mastermind behind this.
Speaker 2: Before we wrap this case up, I wanted to mention
Speaker 2: shot Spotter, which we talked about, so we can ask
Speaker 2: you about that. I didn't want to stop the evolution
Speaker 2: of the story and talk about it. I had never
Speaker 2: heard of this technology before. The shot Spotter isn't an
Speaker 2: acoustic gunshot detection system used in more than one hundred
Speaker 2: and eighty major cities across the United States. It's installed
Speaker 2: in neighborhoods with higher rates of gun violence. The system
Speaker 2: uses a network of acoustic sensors mounted on rooftops and
Speaker 2: utility polls that detect when a gun is fired. Before
Speaker 2: police are notified, train analysts quickly review a brief audio
Speaker 2: clip to determine whether this sound is likely gunfire rather
Speaker 2: than fireworks or other loud sounds. The sensors are not
Speaker 2: continuously recording. However, they're not recording conversations, but they're activated
Speaker 2: when gunfire is detected. In Monique Bao's case, shot Spotter
Speaker 2: detected the three gunshots, directed officers to the alley within minutes,
Speaker 2: and helped investigators establish an exact timeline of the murder.
Speaker 2: The system helps officers to locate victims more quickly, recover
Speaker 2: shell pacings and other evidence before it disappears, establish accurate timelines,
Speaker 2: and identify areas experiencing repeated gun violence. Critics, however, argue
Speaker 2: that shot Spotter is expensive, can produce false alerts, and
Speaker 2: studies have shown mixed results on whether it reduces gun
Speaker 2: violence or increases the number of shootings solved. Several major cities,
Speaker 2: including Chicago, San Diego, Portland, and Seattle, have discontinued the service.
Speaker 1: Interesting.
Speaker 2: I feel as dumb that I've never heard of this
Speaker 2: technology before. But we do live in a rural community, right,
Speaker 2: you know, Yeah, we don't have it here.
Speaker 1: No of it either. It's interesting, and it is really
Speaker 1: interesting when you know, we were talking about privacy aspect,
Speaker 1: I was thinking, well, this is a really great application
Speaker 1: of technology because you're not really violating anyone's privacy with it.
Speaker 1: It's just detecting sounds and alerting someone, hey, something might
Speaker 1: have happened here. I don't know about like the expense
Speaker 1: of it and all that, but it's surprising that it's
Speaker 1: just surprising that some major cities have stopped using it
Speaker 1: because it seems like.
Speaker 2: It probably desensitizes police after a while too. You know,
Speaker 2: they have to go to these scenes and you know
Speaker 2: there's nothing there because all a lot of times too,
Speaker 2: like shots are fired, but yeah, no one is harmed
Speaker 2: and it's just someone shooting a gun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sure there are a lot of false positives
Speaker 1: with it, but that's really interesting.
Speaker 2: I do want to mention a show that I watched
Speaker 2: for this episode. I think that's where I came across it. Initially.
Speaker 2: It's called Me Hereafter. I found it on Hulu and
Speaker 2: there's only a handful of episodes, but it's one of
Speaker 2: the best true crime shows I've ever watched. It's just
Speaker 2: super thorough and it's also heartbreaking because it's Monique, you know,
Speaker 2: someone an actress who is posing as telling her story
Speaker 2: on the grave. Yeah. I highly recommended it's it's on
Speaker 2: our show notes here. But there's another case that I'm
Speaker 2: working on that I watched of this show, but highly recommended.
Speaker 2: It was beautifully done.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I haven't heard of that before.
Speaker 2: That's the heartbreaking story of Monique Bao. So at the
Speaker 2: beginning of the episode, we talked about the World Cup.
Speaker 1: Our predictions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we really screwed up because the England loss good.
Speaker 1: Loss to Argentina in the semi finals.
Speaker 2: So now it will be Argentina versus Spain.
Speaker 1: So I'm going with Argentina. I'm my new prediction with Spain.
Speaker 1: I knew it was I thought it was going to
Speaker 1: be Argentina all along, Oh did you?
Speaker 2: Oh, yes, all right, Well there is a new documentary
Speaker 2: that is going to be released on July sixteenth and seventeenth.
Speaker 2: It is a new Scott Peterson documentary airing a an e.
Speaker 2: It's called The New Evidence, and that is what we
Speaker 2: are going to be doing this weekend. Oh boy, because
Speaker 2: I am like, what new evidence? This is crazy.
Speaker 1: I didn't know about the documentary, but I did happen
Speaker 1: to see an article today that was quoting Lacey's mom,
Speaker 1: Sharon Rocha, saying there is no new evidence.
Speaker 2: Well, I think that article was in People magazine, correct,
Speaker 2: and that was she was responding to this new documentary.
Speaker 2: And I do feel so horribly for these families that
Speaker 2: are constantly pulled back into the spotlight, you know, you know,
Speaker 2: every time there's any new article or documentary or whatever
Speaker 2: it is, that they're pulled back out of their private
Speaker 2: lives and are forced to make these statements and be
Speaker 2: subjected to the new show.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure it makes it really hard to move on,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but of course we'll be tuning in.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I'm curious to see it.
Speaker 2: And if there is any one thing about the case
Speaker 2: that I'll say I think we did a pretty good
Speaker 2: job when we did our We did a three part
Speaker 2: series on it right back when. If there are things
Speaker 2: that weren't tested, I do believe that those things not
Speaker 2: in just Scott Peters, in any case, if there's evidence
Speaker 2: that could have potential, you know, ramifications of guilt or innocence,
Speaker 2: I do think that those things should be tested.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, And I know there are a lot of
Speaker 1: people out there who don't believe that he is guilty.
Speaker 1: I'm not one of them, but I certainly think that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like you said, anyone should have that opportunity to clear
Speaker 1: their name if there is evidence.
Speaker 2: But he has had so many opportunities, and it does
Speaker 2: feel like yeash, let let Lacy rest in peace, let
Speaker 2: her family move on with their lives. I've already started
Speaker 2: working on my next case, and it's a true Prime classic,
Speaker 2: and I'm really enjoying digging into all the research. But
Speaker 2: there's also a lot of shows and podcasts about it.
Speaker 2: And sometimes when I'm researching something, there's so much to consume,
Speaker 2: I will listen to it on one and a half
Speaker 2: speed or even double speed. I don't think you do
Speaker 2: that as well.
Speaker 1: I can't do that. I really I get the inpiration.
Speaker 2: Overload, cuckable, amazing brain.
Speaker 1: Yes, my brain is not good at processing information quickly,
Speaker 1: and so yeah, I have a hard time if I
Speaker 1: listen to something on one and a half speed, I
Speaker 1: just can't. I just can't process it.
Speaker 2: So I do all the time, and it takes me.
Speaker 2: I have to ramp it up, like I'll start at
Speaker 2: one point too, and then I'll gradually, you know, get
Speaker 2: to two point zero and it can't be everything, and
Speaker 2: I have to pause it a lot to take notes.
Speaker 2: But I'm curious if any of our listeners listen to
Speaker 2: us at double speed, or maybe you slow us down.
Speaker 2: I'm curious.
Speaker 1: I would think most people would speed us up rather than.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's get this over with. But I know some
Speaker 2: people listen when they sleep. Mm hmmm, well, not really listen,
Speaker 2: but use us to fall asleep.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and probably speeding us up wouldn't really be a
Speaker 1: good idea for that, I wouldn't think. Yeah, but I
Speaker 1: don't know. I'd be interested to hear what people how
Speaker 1: people listen.
Speaker 2: I also recently learned that most people who listen to
Speaker 2: podcasts I think it was eighty percent, say that they
Speaker 2: don't really aren't really listening, Like you're doing something else.
Speaker 2: You're you know, cleaning or doing your laundry or taking
Speaker 2: your dog for a while, and you're not really processing
Speaker 2: the information. A lot of people do say that they
Speaker 2: listen more than once.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can see that, but I think in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways, listening to a podcast or listening to
Speaker 1: an audiobook or whatever while you're doing something else. I've
Speaker 1: read that your brain actually can do two things at once,
Speaker 1: as long as those two things are very like different activities.
Speaker 1: Like walking on a treadmill and listening to a podcast,
Speaker 1: you can do both of those things, or driving a
Speaker 1: car and listening to an audio book.
Speaker 2: I'm a fidgeter. I like to have things in my hand,
Speaker 2: and I think that helps my attention span. It maintains
Speaker 2: my attention span.
Speaker 1: I can see that there are a lot of things
Speaker 1: when I do listen to podcasts or whatever. There are
Speaker 1: a lot of times when I realize I have not
Speaker 1: processed anything that I heard in the last five minutes,
Speaker 1: and I have to go back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do that, especially with like NPR is on
Speaker 2: the radio and like I didn't get anything from that
Speaker 2: at all. Yeah, So ice cream for dinner.
Speaker 1: I think that's my plan. Yeah, that your plan.
Speaker 2: Oh probably not. Actually, I'm not as big of an
Speaker 2: ice cream lover as you are.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know how ice cream is one of
Speaker 1: the greatest inventions of all time?
Speaker 2: Is it an invention or somebody? You know, invention and
Speaker 2: discovery are two different.
Speaker 1: I guess discovery.
Speaker 2: You're right, it is an invention because a discovery would
Speaker 2: mean that existed.
Speaker 1: It was sitting out in the forest somewhere and somebody.
Speaker 2: Oh look what's this stream of.
Speaker 1: Now whoever invention? It was a genius. I don't know
Speaker 1: who that was, but yeah, it's really brilliant.
Speaker 2: And what if your job was ice cream tester? Oh god,
Speaker 2: I got it work?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 2: Oh I cannot eat another because the whole idea of
Speaker 2: like being an ice cream tester would be like, well,
Speaker 2: they're not all keepers. Yeah, Like there was that gray
Speaker 2: poupone ice cream that right people were eating a couple
Speaker 2: of years.
Speaker 1: A restaurant I went to once then had like garlic
Speaker 1: ice cream. I don't think I tried it, but that
Speaker 1: sound awful. Yeah, being an ice cream tester that would
Speaker 1: be I don't know. I think I would enjoy it
Speaker 1: for the most part.
Speaker 2: You'd have to have a pretty rigorous workout routine.
Speaker 3: You would.
Speaker 2: Maybe you just you really don't eat the whole pint, no,
Speaker 2: you auful.
Speaker 1: The thing that I think about, though, is if you
Speaker 1: dedicated your life to being an ice cream tester and then,
Speaker 1: like what if you found out you were lactose intolerant, like,
Speaker 1: you know, twenty years into your career and you realize
Speaker 1: you couldn't do that job?
Speaker 2: You would just sit it out. Yeah, I feel like,
Speaker 2: you know, like wine tasters, you would have that ice
Speaker 2: cream spatoon.
Speaker 1: That just sounds sad though.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, thank you so much for listening. You have
Speaker 2: definitely wasted a good hour listening to us, but.
Speaker 1: We appreciate it. Find us on social media or on
Speaker 1: the web at lovemarykill dot com.
Speaker 2: Hey, thanks for all your great messages. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we love hearing the voice messages that you can
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Speaker 2: I don't kill your husband and don't kill your wife,
Speaker 2: but stay hydrated. It's hot out there.
Speaker 1: The leading to the companion of the comput