WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.480 --> 00:00:09.640 It's wild when you think of all the reasons and 2 00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:17.079 motivations behind murder. There's jealousy, rage, revenge, and money. People 3 00:00:17.079 --> 00:00:19.440 do some pretty desperate things when it comes to money. 4 00:00:20.120 --> 00:00:23.559 In today's case, a couple were brutally attacked as they 5 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:27.120 slept in the comfort of their own home, all because 6 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:32.200 of money. If that isn't crazy enough, the idea that 7 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:35.799 the murderer could have been their own son makes it 8 00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:40.359 all that much more disturbing. This is the story of 9 00:00:40.439 --> 00:00:42.280 the Porko family Axe Murder. 10 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:47.280 My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked 11 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:49.920 and Grim, a true crime podcast. 12 00:00:51.399 --> 00:00:59.600 The following podcast material for a mature audience listener discretion. 13 00:01:20.519 --> 00:01:22.159 It's kind of day. 14 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:25.840 We're both drinking tea. I'm drinking herbal tea, but you're 15 00:01:25.879 --> 00:01:27.359 drinking a twisted tea. 16 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:31.319 No free advertising on the show. Come on, no, it 17 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:34.920 is definitely twisted tea. We should do that, just like 18 00:01:36.040 --> 00:01:38.480 you know, instead of free advertising, just reach out to 19 00:01:38.519 --> 00:01:40.280 these brands and be like, yo, I'm going to drink 20 00:01:40.280 --> 00:01:44.200 a drink on our show. You should sponsor it. If not, 21 00:01:44.280 --> 00:01:45.319 we're not going to say your name. 22 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:48.000 Oh my goodness, I don't know if we've made it 23 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:49.439 quite that big extortion. 24 00:01:51.319 --> 00:01:53.599 No, I'm definitely not going to do that. But I'm 25 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:57.079 just I'm enjoying a tea and this is a case 26 00:01:57.680 --> 00:01:59.879 that a drink will sit good on. 27 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:03.120 Okay, especially now that it's I feel like a nice 28 00:02:03.159 --> 00:02:06.519 warm cup of tea though it also helps you know, 29 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:08.199 this kind of stuff. 30 00:02:07.959 --> 00:02:11.120 It definitely can I'm just saying for me, it takes 31 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:14.479 that edge off. Yeah, hey, sometimes a nice cold glass 32 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:15.560 of water takes the edge. 33 00:02:15.400 --> 00:02:17.879 Off too, right, Well, it's supposed to get cold as 34 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:23.479 hell here, so that's actually that doesn't make any sense. 35 00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:26.599 Cold as hell doesn't make sense. 36 00:02:26.680 --> 00:02:29.599 Honestly, most of the things when you say it's cold 37 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:32.639 as blank doesn't make sense. Yeah, cold as hell doesn't 38 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:35.439 make sense. Cold as balls doesn't make sense. 39 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:38.159 Like ball shiver shivery, Wow. 40 00:02:39.159 --> 00:02:42.960 Don't say that. Just just skip over it cold. 41 00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:46.080 I don't know. Just let's move on anyway. It's going 42 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:48.960 to be like minus twenty eight celsius, which is just 43 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:51.120 fucking frutal. 44 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:53.240 Our balls are going to be cold, is what Nicole's 45 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:55.080 trying to say. 46 00:02:55.159 --> 00:02:58.280 Okay, I am so tired, so just like, don't judge me, 47 00:02:58.439 --> 00:03:01.400 just don't judge. For this episode, I have been getting 48 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:05.039 like five hours of sleep a night for a few 49 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:08.280 too many nights, so fair enough, just bear with me. 50 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:11.479 Well, I do think that you need to buckle up, 51 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:14.000 whether you're tired or not, for this case. This is 52 00:03:14.039 --> 00:03:17.840 the story of the Porco family axe murder. Or is 53 00:03:17.879 --> 00:03:22.840 this is titled the Murder of Peter Porko because well, 54 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:26.520 he's the main victim. I get one of the main 55 00:03:26.599 --> 00:03:29.439 victims in this one. He is the one who gets killed. 56 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:34.319 And so yeah, I think we need to tell his story. Okay, 57 00:03:34.439 --> 00:03:35.159 you ready for it? 58 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:37.800 I am. I haven't no idea what's going to happen here, 59 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:38.439 but I'm ready. 60 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:43.120 Well, like I say, buckle up. So on the morning 61 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:46.400 of November fifteenth, two thousand and four, Peter Porko, a 62 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:50.280 law clerk from the New York State Supreme Court Applelit Division, 63 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:53.800 didn't show up for work in Albany like he normally did. 64 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:56.479 He hadn't called in or let anyone know that he'd 65 00:03:56.479 --> 00:04:00.319 be absent that day, which was very unusual. So earned 66 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:03.639 his colleague, since Court Officer Michael Hart, to check in 67 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:07.680 on him at his home at Broccoli Drive in Delmar. 68 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:12.560 Broccoli Drive, Brockley, Oh, Broccoli okay. I was like, I 69 00:04:12.599 --> 00:04:13.680 love that, I want to live there. 70 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:16.439 It's Brock, like the name Brock, and then l e 71 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:19.800 y brah Okay, broccoli not broccoli. 72 00:04:20.199 --> 00:04:22.120 Broccoli would be cool, would it? 73 00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:26.839 Well? When Michael arrived and walked up to the house, 74 00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:30.399 he glanced through the front door window and immediately he 75 00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:34.600 was met with a horrific sight. There was Peter's lifeless, 76 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:39.959 blood covered body sprawled across the floor without hesitation. He 77 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:43.079 called for emergency responders, who quickly arrived to the scene. 78 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:46.000 Now when they were there, they made their way inside, 79 00:04:46.040 --> 00:04:48.639 and they found fifty two year old Peter Porco dead, 80 00:04:48.920 --> 00:04:51.480 laying in a pool of his home blood. He had 81 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:56.240 suffered severe head trauma. His wife, sixty four, well not 82 00:04:56.360 --> 00:04:59.959 sixty four, fifty four year old my apologies, Joan Porco, 83 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:06.680 was discovered in bed, also brutally attacked. She though was alive, 84 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:11.279 barely clinging to life. She was unable to speak and 85 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:13.519 could barely move, but she managed to raise a hand 86 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:15.800 to signal that she was still conscious. 87 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:17.000 Holy okay. 88 00:05:17.720 --> 00:05:21.399 Beside her on the bed was the murder weapon, a 89 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:23.839 bloodied fireman axe. 90 00:05:26.199 --> 00:05:29.439 There are some weapons I feel like that just like 91 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:32.279 make you cringe. That someone would ever use that on 92 00:05:32.360 --> 00:05:33.560 another human being. 93 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:37.519 If there is a weapon that screams brutality, it's going to. 94 00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:41.800 Be an en. Oh gosh, yeah, that's scary now. 95 00:05:41.800 --> 00:05:45.759 The Court Medical Examiner, doctor Jeffrey Hubbard, later determined that 96 00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:49.800 Peter had been struck multiple times with the axe sixteen 97 00:05:49.879 --> 00:05:54.199 to be specific, one blow going straight through his skull 98 00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:57.759 and another slicing off part of his jaw. Joan had 99 00:05:57.800 --> 00:06:02.199 also been hit three times, cause devastating injuries. Her jaw 100 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:05.600 was shattered, her skull was split wide open, deep enough 101 00:06:05.639 --> 00:06:09.079 to expose her brain, and she lost an eye and 102 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:13.639 several teeth. No Investigators soon realized that the acts belonged 103 00:06:13.639 --> 00:06:17.279 to the Porco family, meaning the attacker had not brought 104 00:06:17.319 --> 00:06:19.839 a weapon with them to the home, but the used 105 00:06:19.879 --> 00:06:24.160 one that was already there. So this adding to the mystery. 106 00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:30.480 Something else. Someone had cut the phone lines, they'd disarmed 107 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:35.120 the burglary alarm, and sliced through a window screen. Peter 108 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:37.879 and Joan had been savagely attacked in their sleep, as 109 00:06:37.879 --> 00:06:41.800 far as police could determine, sometime between one thirty am 110 00:06:42.120 --> 00:06:46.279 and six thirty am, But what happened next made this 111 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:50.959 case even more chilling see, despite the massive injuries that 112 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:56.639 he suffered, Peter didn't die immediately. Incredibly, his brain injury 113 00:06:56.680 --> 00:07:01.199 caused him to go into a sort of autopilot. He 114 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:07.199 began performing routine tasks as if nothing went wrong. For 115 00:07:07.240 --> 00:07:12.160 what so after the attack on that morning, his alarm 116 00:07:12.199 --> 00:07:15.319 went off. Okay, police were able to follow the blood 117 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:17.879 trail through the house like the and I'm talking a 118 00:07:18.040 --> 00:07:21.879 blood trail, like there was blood everywhere. They went and 119 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:23.800 followed the blood trail, and they were able to retrace 120 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:26.199 his steps. They found he got out of bed and 121 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:29.839 began his usual routine, all while covered in blood from 122 00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:34.040 this catastrophic head trauma. They tracked his way through the 123 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:37.480 house and he went first to the bathroom, where it 124 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:41.720 appeared he attempted to try and shave, his daily routine. 125 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:44.759 He likely stared down his own reflection in the mirror, 126 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:47.680 unaware of the extent of his injuries. And I mean 127 00:07:47.720 --> 00:07:51.199 there's blood pooling in the sink beneath him. He had been, 128 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:54.240 as I mentioned, struck sixteen times in the head with 129 00:07:54.279 --> 00:07:57.160 an axe. A large section of his skull was missing, 130 00:07:57.199 --> 00:07:59.920 his brain was partially exposed, and most of his jaw 131 00:08:00.439 --> 00:08:04.879 was gone, and he stood in the mirror as if 132 00:08:04.920 --> 00:08:05.399 nothing was. 133 00:08:05.399 --> 00:08:09.600 Wrong, just like getting ready for the day exactly ho shit, 134 00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:13.759 His body kept moving, he kept going through the motions, 135 00:08:14.199 --> 00:08:17.600 and he made his way out of the bathroom dazed, 136 00:08:17.639 --> 00:08:19.879 and in this dying state, he made. 137 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:22.399 His way down to the kitchen. There he loaded the 138 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:25.720 dishwasher with the dishes from the last night's dinner and 139 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:28.160 even packed himself a lunch, getting ready for his day 140 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:32.320 at work, completely unaware of the horrific injuries he was 141 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:36.480 currently suffering. His body was running on nothing less than 142 00:08:36.519 --> 00:08:39.679 adrenaline and muscle memory at this point, and if it 143 00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:41.960 wasn't shocking enough, he then walked out to the front 144 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:46.240 door grabbed the morning newspaper, only to accidentally lock himself 145 00:08:46.279 --> 00:08:50.000 out of the house in the process. There, standing outside 146 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:54.039 the locked door, drenched in blood with severe brain trauma, 147 00:08:54.200 --> 00:08:58.200 Peter had enough awareness about him to remember they had 148 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:01.480 a spare key hidden under the front pot plant. He 149 00:09:01.559 --> 00:09:05.879 bent down, grabbed the key, unlocked the door, and stepped 150 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:12.720 back inside with the newspaper. But that was it. Whatever 151 00:09:12.840 --> 00:09:16.720 was keeping him going finally gave out. His body collapsed 152 00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:20.120 there in the foyer, face down in a pool of blood, 153 00:09:20.519 --> 00:09:23.279 and that's where he remained until he was found. 154 00:09:24.279 --> 00:09:29.000 Seriously, hey, yeah, the best way to describe it was 155 00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:33.399 he was a zombie. I almost have trouble just like 156 00:09:34.360 --> 00:09:37.559 comprehending that. I know, like there would have had to 157 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:41.919 been something I don't know, like seriously wrong with his 158 00:09:41.960 --> 00:09:44.320 brain kind of thing. Right. And then was it like 159 00:09:44.360 --> 00:09:50.399 the blood loss that made him eventually just collapse and 160 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:51.279 pass away? 161 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:55.960 Most likely? Most likely? Now the thing is like he 162 00:09:56.080 --> 00:10:01.320 was clearly in a massive amount of shock, right, Yeah. 163 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:05.120 And my assumption is when his alarm went off that morning, 164 00:10:06.600 --> 00:10:09.039 we just I mean, lots of us have had this 165 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:12.360 happen before we can even react. We're just so used 166 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:14.679 to that routine of getting up for work in the morning. 167 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:17.159 We reach over, turn our alarm, clock off, turn the 168 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:19.559 light on, or grab our phone. We have a routine 169 00:10:19.559 --> 00:10:21.399 that we immediately set into. 170 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:24.159 Well, gosh, you think he'd be like, well, I feel 171 00:10:24.200 --> 00:10:27.519 particularly sore this morning, Like that is crazy. 172 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:29.519 But with the adrenaline, he's numb. 173 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:31.399 I guess. Holy shit. 174 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:38.639 And he was quite literally operating on autopilot, not recognizing 175 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:43.519 anything around him, not even recognizing what was going on 176 00:10:43.799 --> 00:10:46.639 in the mirror in front of him. When he looked 177 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:48.480 at himself, like. 178 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:50.600 He literally went and loaded the dishwasher. 179 00:10:50.759 --> 00:10:54.360 He loaded the dishwaking in his lunch. Yes, now there 180 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:57.639 are crime scene photos and I saw photos of this dishwasher, 181 00:10:57.879 --> 00:11:01.320 and it is there's blood droplets all over it, there's 182 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:04.840 handprints on the dishes from him loading like it's bloody, 183 00:11:05.399 --> 00:11:08.720 and he doesn't see this. He's just loading the dishwasher. 184 00:11:09.559 --> 00:11:11.120 It's honestly kind of sad. 185 00:11:11.559 --> 00:11:14.120 It really is when you think about this, No, it 186 00:11:14.200 --> 00:11:14.919 really is. 187 00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:17.440 Like you wonder, well, I don't know. I'm just like, gosh, 188 00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:20.200 if you like realized what the hell had happened, like 189 00:11:20.279 --> 00:11:22.799 if his brain allowed him to do that and then 190 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:27.000 he's got help, would that have changed anything? But probably not. 191 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:27.879 I don't assuming. 192 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:31.200 I think the extent of his injuries were unfortunately too far. 193 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:36.159 But there is a very sad moral to that part 194 00:11:36.200 --> 00:11:38.320 of the story, if I may digress for a moment, 195 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:45.159 is he was so concerned with getting to work he 196 00:11:45.240 --> 00:11:47.879 had no idea of his own well being. And I 197 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:51.720 think that goes for many people today. Honestly, they're so 198 00:11:51.879 --> 00:11:54.720 consumed with the job they don't look at themselves and 199 00:11:54.759 --> 00:11:55.519 their own well being. 200 00:11:55.639 --> 00:11:59.960 But I digress, well, and I just have to say too. 201 00:12:00.120 --> 00:12:00.320 Though. 202 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:05.399 Imagine getting hit sixteen times by an axe and still 203 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:09.720 being able to crawl your ass out of bed. Yeah, 204 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:11.399 that is uncomprehendible. 205 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:13.639 Can you barely crawl my ass out of bed on 206 00:12:13.639 --> 00:12:14.480 the best of days? 207 00:12:14.759 --> 00:12:18.120 Like WHOA? Just like, I don't know, strength and our 208 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:20.600 bodies are just kind of incredible sometimes, I guess. 209 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:25.840 Now. The only surviving witness to this crime was his wife, Joan. 210 00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:29.879 Though she lived, the attack left her permanently disfigured. She 211 00:12:29.960 --> 00:12:32.919 lost an eye, her face was so badly damaged that 212 00:12:32.919 --> 00:12:35.720 it would never be the same, and when police arrived, 213 00:12:35.879 --> 00:12:38.279 they wasted no time trying to get answers from her 214 00:12:38.279 --> 00:12:41.240 because they knew that she might not survive these injuries, 215 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:43.879 so they had to act fast, being that this is 216 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:47.200 the only witness that they had right now. She couldn't speak, 217 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:49.759 but she was able to communicate by nodding or shaking 218 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:52.440 her head in response to yet or no questions. 219 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:54.759 Okay, the fact that she couldn't speak, because I was 220 00:12:54.759 --> 00:12:57.039 a bit concerned or confused. I was like, well, she's 221 00:12:57.080 --> 00:12:59.879 just talking to her husband and he was just going 222 00:12:59.879 --> 00:13:03.039 on is like day without I was just curious how 223 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:05.399 that went down. But Okay, that makes sense. Now. 224 00:13:05.480 --> 00:13:08.960 There is some debate among this. I saw a few 225 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:11.840 reports saying that she blinked in response instead of nodding, 226 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:14.799 blinking once for no and twice for yes or something 227 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:17.320 like that, but majority of sources that I found said 228 00:13:17.320 --> 00:13:21.440 that she nodded. Honestly, it's impressive if she was able 229 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:23.879 to do either, because hey, remember she lost an eye, 230 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:26.720 so blinking's impressive for one, and nodding being struck in 231 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:31.039 the head like that also think spinal injury again impressive. Yes, 232 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:33.000 But as far as I can tell, she was nodding, 233 00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:37.440 not blinking, and with that police would get their first 234 00:13:37.639 --> 00:13:40.759 suspect by getting her to answer these yes or no questions. 235 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:46.320 So their first suspect was an individual by the name 236 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:48.399 of Christopher Porko. 237 00:13:49.480 --> 00:13:51.279 Okay, I was gonna be like, was it the neighbor? 238 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:53.360 Nope, the sun? 239 00:13:53.639 --> 00:13:54.080 The sun. 240 00:13:55.120 --> 00:14:00.919 Now a detective on the scene, we're working as paramedics 241 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:03.679 were trying to stabilize Joan, and he was asking if 242 00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:07.279 she was able to identify the person responsible, and he's like, 243 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:09.240 was it a family member, which, of course is like 244 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:11.639 one of the first questions they always ask, right, Hey, 245 00:14:11.799 --> 00:14:16.080 family members statistically most likely those close to the victims, right, yep. 246 00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:19.080 She indicated yes, and he asked, He's like, was it 247 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:22.120 your older son, because he knew there's two sons here, right, 248 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:25.159 and she shook her head, No, was it your younger son? 249 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:31.960 And she nodded yes, younger son being christopher older son Jonathan. 250 00:14:32.519 --> 00:14:36.320 So she indicated it was Christopher, the younger son, and 251 00:14:36.360 --> 00:14:40.080 that was all investigators needed. Joan was rushed to the hospital, 252 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:44.120 where she underwent a grueling twelve hour surgery before being 253 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:49.039 placed into a medical induced coma. But the damage was done, 254 00:14:49.480 --> 00:14:52.960 and police considered her response as confirmation that Christopher had 255 00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:56.879 attacked his parents, killing his father and nearly killing his mother. 256 00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:59.279 Probably suspected that he did kill her. 257 00:14:59.720 --> 00:15:04.279 Yeah. Two hours later, an APB or an all points 258 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:09.360 bulletin was issued for Christopher Porko. Now to understand what 259 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:12.159 led up to the horrific events in the Porco family household, 260 00:15:12.200 --> 00:15:14.480 we need to take a closer look at the family itself. 261 00:15:15.159 --> 00:15:18.279 So we're going to reel it back just a little bit, okay, 262 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:21.440 back in time a bit so Peter Parko and Joan 263 00:15:22.120 --> 00:15:24.759 Belzano I believe how you say her name married in 264 00:15:24.759 --> 00:15:28.000 the mid nineteen seventies, eventually setting into a comfortable life 265 00:15:28.039 --> 00:15:31.000 in Delmar, which is located in New York. It's a 266 00:15:31.080 --> 00:15:35.720 quiet suburban neighborhood near Albany. They had two sons, Jonathan, 267 00:15:35.799 --> 00:15:38.440 born in nineteen eighty one and Christopher, who arrived in 268 00:15:38.519 --> 00:15:42.200 July ninth of nineteen eighty three. Peter worked as a 269 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:46.039 law clerk in the State Appellate Division, while Joan built 270 00:15:46.039 --> 00:15:49.559 a career as a children's speech pathologist. By two thousand 271 00:15:49.559 --> 00:15:52.279 and four, their eldest son, Jonathan, was twenty three years 272 00:15:52.279 --> 00:15:54.960 old who was an officer in the US Navy stationed 273 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:58.679 in South Carolina. Meanwhile, twenty one year old Christopher was 274 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:02.639 attending the University of about two hundred and thirty miles away. 275 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:06.919 There was no outright rivalry between the brothers, but it 276 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:10.519 was clear Jonathan followed a more disciplined, responsible path, earning 277 00:16:10.519 --> 00:16:14.519 the family's admiration for his dedication to the military. Christopher, 278 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:18.399 on the other hand, had a troubling pattern of deception, fraud, 279 00:16:18.679 --> 00:16:24.519 and reckless behavior at school. Christopher was known for being 280 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:27.720 tall and good looking and charismatic, but he was also 281 00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:32.480 a compulsive liar. He boasted about coming from an ultra 282 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:37.399 wealthy family with multiple properties and luxury vacation's home, luxury 283 00:16:37.480 --> 00:16:40.759 vacation homes and such. Though none of this was true, 284 00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:45.919 a former classmate recalled that some teachers considered him quote insane, 285 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:48.679 and as he grew older, his behavior became more concerning. 286 00:16:49.679 --> 00:16:53.679 Christopher had a history of staging fake burglaries in his 287 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:57.639 own home. At nineteen, he stole two of his parents' laptops, 288 00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:01.279 a Mac and Adele. Then on twenty first, two thousand 289 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:03.440 and three, while home for summer break, he sold yet 290 00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:08.000 another laptop and sold it on eBay. His dishonesty extended 291 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:11.359 beyond the home, though. While working at a veterinary clinic 292 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:16.039 during college, the facility experienced a string of burglaries involving 293 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:20.079 missing electronic equipment. Then in October of two thousand and four, 294 00:17:20.440 --> 00:17:23.799 just a month before the murders, both Jonathan and Christopher 295 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:29.839 froze their eBay accounts. Why because Christopher had scammed customers 296 00:17:29.880 --> 00:17:33.240 out of their money. See he had sold items online 297 00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:36.000 but never delivered the goods, and in a desperate attempt 298 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:39.680 to avoid accountability, he pretended to be his older brother 299 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:43.039 Jonathan on his account and emailed the victims claiming Christopher 300 00:17:43.079 --> 00:17:47.000 had suddenly died as a way to escape actually delivering this, 301 00:17:47.319 --> 00:17:49.599 and he's just like, yeah, sorry, my brother died, I 302 00:17:49.640 --> 00:17:53.440 can't deliver these items. Yeah. 303 00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:55.200 That is shady, isn't it. 304 00:17:56.240 --> 00:17:59.000 So this, of course paints a picture of a disturbing 305 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:02.160 young man willing to lie and steal for personal gain, 306 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:05.599 and investigators would later argue that this was just the 307 00:18:05.640 --> 00:18:11.319 beginning of a much more sinister plan. Authorities believe Christopher 308 00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:14.400 saw his parents as a solution to his financial problems, 309 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:17.960 but not in the way a struggling student might normally 310 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:20.720 turn to family for help. He had a site set 311 00:18:20.759 --> 00:18:25.880 on potentially their life insurance payout a sum of over 312 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:28.759 a million dollars, and the fastest way to access that 313 00:18:28.839 --> 00:18:32.160 money may very well have been murder. 314 00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:34.119 That. 315 00:18:34.680 --> 00:18:35.119 I don't know. 316 00:18:35.240 --> 00:18:39.039 I just feel like that doesn't work. No, it doesn't, 317 00:18:39.079 --> 00:18:41.839 Like you're just like an complete idiot. And also like, 318 00:18:41.880 --> 00:18:44.680 do your parents their life not mean anything to you? 319 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:49.599 I mean, clearly not, clearly not. It's funny. I just 320 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:51.839 realized I'm in the middle of researching another case for 321 00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:58.240 Patreon exclusive episode and it also involves a life insurance 322 00:18:58.279 --> 00:19:03.160 policy scandal. Just clued into that. But yeah, and again 323 00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:04.480 for that one, it didn't work either. 324 00:19:04.920 --> 00:19:07.400 Well, I just can't comprehend, like you're wanting this life 325 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:10.160 insurance of your parents and so you're gonna go and 326 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:14.079 kill them with like an axe. I just that just 327 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:18.319 isn't like, I don't know, that's just dumb. It's stupid, 328 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:19.240 it really is. 329 00:19:20.359 --> 00:19:23.720 But I mean, money does a lot of stupid shit 330 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:27.079 to people, debt, and especially when you're in debt, and 331 00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:29.880 Christopher had racked up a lot of debt, mostly through 332 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:34.839 reckless spending. See, he wasn't focusing on his studies because 333 00:19:34.839 --> 00:19:36.720 we know that he's in post secondary. 334 00:19:36.359 --> 00:19:38.359 Right right, which I was like, that's good. 335 00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:44.240 Yeah, No, he instead was basically he went to extreme 336 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:47.960 lengths to maintain the illusion of wealth this whole time, right, Like, 337 00:19:48.039 --> 00:19:50.559 for example, his most prized possession was a brand new, 338 00:19:50.599 --> 00:19:54.319 bright yellow Jeep Wrangler, which is an expensive, basically status 339 00:19:54.319 --> 00:19:56.400 symbol that he drove around campus. 340 00:19:56.519 --> 00:19:56.680 Right. 341 00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:01.039 No student going to college needs a brand new vehicle, 342 00:20:01.319 --> 00:20:03.960 let alone and jeep Wrangler. Not saying Wranglers are like 343 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:05.079 top tier, but they. 344 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:07.160 Ain't cheap, you know, well, yeah, a brand new vehicle 345 00:20:07.160 --> 00:20:07.680 ain't cheap. 346 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:11.000 Yeah. Now, his financial troubles combined with his obsession with 347 00:20:11.480 --> 00:20:14.799 appearing rich put a strain on his relationship with his parents. 348 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:18.400 There are email exchanges that were found between Peter, Joan 349 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:20.920 and Christopher in the months leading up to the attack, 350 00:20:21.240 --> 00:20:26.039 revealing increasing tension over money. His parents were frustrated. They 351 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:28.720 were worried and running out of patience with their youngest 352 00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:33.000 son's irresponsibility. But while they may have thought Christopher was 353 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:35.519 just a reckless spender, they had no idea how far 354 00:20:35.559 --> 00:20:38.960 he was actually really willing to go. Now, the tension 355 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:42.680 between them had reached I've been building, let's say that, 356 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:45.279 for a while, but the real breaking point seemed to 357 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:47.160 come at the end of the fall semester in two 358 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:50.039 thousand and three. At the time, Christopher was a student 359 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:53.319 at the University of Rochester, as I mentioned, but due 360 00:20:53.319 --> 00:20:57.759 to his consistently poor grades, school officials had to withdraw 361 00:20:57.880 --> 00:21:02.200 him from his courses. So instead of getting zac together, 362 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:07.119 he transferred to Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, New York. 363 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:11.240 But the change in scenery didn't help. He never even 364 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:15.039 completed a full semester. In fact, Peter and Joan eventually 365 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:17.279 learned that what was going on, and in March of 366 00:21:17.319 --> 00:21:19.240 two thousand and four, while Christopher was off on a 367 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:22.400 care free trip to England. Yeah, they sent him an 368 00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:27.319 email with a subject line failing grades. You did it again, huh. 369 00:21:27.319 --> 00:21:29.440 So basically he was forced out of the initial college 370 00:21:30.119 --> 00:21:32.920 because his grade sucked. Yea, went to a different one 371 00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:35.880 and his grade sucked again. And here he is off 372 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:37.880 in England and his parents are finding out about his 373 00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:38.400 bad grades. 374 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:40.599 Yeah, and he's just like, yeah, it doesn't give a shit, 375 00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:41.079 I guess. 376 00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:43.920 Yeah. So in this email, they were, of course very 377 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:47.880 disappointed and frustrated, and they wrote, quote, you just left 378 00:21:48.119 --> 00:21:50.160 and we can't believe our eyes as we look at 379 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:53.119 your interim grade report. You know what they say, three 380 00:21:53.160 --> 00:21:57.839 strikes and you're out. Explain yourself and explain he did. 381 00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:02.559 He wrote back, and explained by lying as usual. A 382 00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:04.640 few days later. In this email, when he wrote back, 383 00:22:04.680 --> 00:22:09.119 he blamed the school quote, Obviously they're incorrect. My lowest 384 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:11.799 grade on anything was a B on a physics test. 385 00:22:11.960 --> 00:22:14.920 Don't jump to conclusions. I'm fine. 386 00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:18.319 I don't even actually understand how they got his grades. Really, 387 00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:21.640 Like he's I feel like, when you're in post secondary 388 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:26.039 parents aren't really you know, privy to that sort of 389 00:22:26.039 --> 00:22:27.079 stuff necessarily. 390 00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:29.759 Well, I'm sure, Like they're kind of paying for his 391 00:22:29.799 --> 00:22:32.279 schooling and stuff, right, so they might have like signed 392 00:22:32.359 --> 00:22:34.920 up to get grades through their email or something too. 393 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:37.279 That might have been part of it, like yeah. 394 00:22:37.079 --> 00:22:40.000 We want I guess yeah they're paying now. 395 00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:43.160 Christopher also spun a story about one of his professors 396 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:46.359 losing his final exam in this email, claiming that the 397 00:22:46.359 --> 00:22:49.920 reason for his failing grade was this, basically saying like, yeah, 398 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:53.160 my professor lost my final exam, which resulted in me 399 00:22:53.240 --> 00:22:55.680 going from an A or a B to a failing grade. 400 00:22:56.119 --> 00:22:58.960 Okay, yeah that doesn't make sense at all. 401 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:02.079