Speaker 1: Sorry in British Columbia, sits just north of the Canada
Speaker 1: United States border. It was named after Sorry in England,
Speaker 1: and was incorporated in eighteen seventy nine, when it was
Speaker 1: little more than scattered farms, logging camps, and dense forest.
Speaker 1: But as Vancouver's population exploded in the decades that followed,
Speaker 1: Surrey became the natural destination for family seeking more affordable
Speaker 1: housing and open space. By twenty fourteen, it was home
Speaker 1: to nearly half a million people. It had become a
Speaker 1: patchwork of neighborhoods, ranging from industrial zones to quiet suburban enclaves,
Speaker 1: where families sought the promise of safety and community. South
Speaker 1: Surrey in particular had long been considered one of the
Speaker 1: more desirable areas, tree lined streets, worn and three gated
Speaker 1: communities where houses sat behind manicured lawns and tall fences.
Speaker 1: The area around Crescent Road was especially quiet, a network
Speaker 1: of called the Sacks, where the only regular sounds were
Speaker 1: the hum of lawnmowers in the summer and the rustle
Speaker 1: of leaves in the autumn. It was the kind of
Speaker 1: neighborhood where an unexpected knock on the door was unusual
Speaker 1: enough to be noteworthy, and on the morning of the
Speaker 1: tenth of December twenty fourteen, just after noon, Joan Cook
Speaker 1: heard that knock. She opened up her front door to
Speaker 1: find a woman standing on her doorstep, a woman that
Speaker 1: she didn't recognize. The woman's breath stank of alcohol. Her
Speaker 1: words came out frantic, disjointed, tumbling over each other in
Speaker 1: a way that made it hard to understand what she
Speaker 1: was saying. She said she had crashed her car. She
Speaker 1: said her baby was dead. She said to call nine
Speaker 1: one one. Within minutes, emergency vehicles descended on the quiet
Speaker 1: called the sack. Neighbors emerged from their homes, standing on
Speaker 1: porches and peering through windows, trying to understand what was happening.
Speaker 1: On their straight Officers approached the vehicles stuck in the
Speaker 1: ditch at the end of the street. The trunk was open,
Speaker 1: and what they found inside was worse than anybody could
Speaker 1: have ever imagined. In the autumn of twenty and fourteen,
Speaker 1: eight year old Tagan Aaron Batstone was a third grader
Speaker 1: at Rosemary Heights Elementary School in Surrey, British Columbia. Her
Speaker 1: teachers and classmates new as a girl who seemed to
Speaker 1: radiate kindness, the kind of child who made friendship look effortless.
Speaker 1: Those who knew Tagan described her as possessing an uncanny gift.
Speaker 1: She had this remarkable ability to make everyone she met
Speaker 1: feel better about themselves. Tagan had been born in white Rock,
Speaker 1: British Columbia, on the twenty seventh of June two thousand
Speaker 1: and six. White Rock was a seaside city just south
Speaker 1: of Surrey, known for its long pair and the massive
Speaker 1: white boulder that gave the town its name. For the
Speaker 1: first years of her life, she lived with both her parents,
Speaker 1: Lisa and Gabe Batstone. Her father, Gabe, was the CEO
Speaker 1: of a Vancouver based tech company, a position that required
Speaker 1: frequent travel and long hours. It was the kind of
Speaker 1: job that meant early flights, late nights, conference calls from
Speaker 1: hotel rooms, and weeks away from home. Her mother, Lisa,
Speaker 1: worked for some time as a whale trainer at the
Speaker 1: Vancouver Aquarium, but by two thousand and eight, when Tagan
Speaker 1: was just two years old, the march had fractured. Lisa
Speaker 1: gave divorce two years later in two thousand and ten.
Speaker 1: The separation carved Hagan's childhood into two distant geographies. Her
Speaker 1: primary home was with her mother in South Surrey, in
Speaker 1: a gated community. It was the type of neighborhood where
Speaker 1: people waved at each other from driveways but rarely knew
Speaker 1: what went on behind closed doors. Neighbors would later remember
Speaker 1: Lisa as super friendly and Tagan as a child who
Speaker 1: was always playing outside with her friends. She rode her bike,
Speaker 1: she played games. She was by all appearances, a happy child,
Speaker 1: and indeed Lisa seemed to be adapted well to being
Speaker 1: a single mother. On a photography website, she wrote that
Speaker 1: love was being a single mom nearly twenty four to
Speaker 1: seven and loving every single second, even the freaking exhausting
Speaker 1: ones he he taken is worth it. By the post,
Speaker 1: it seemed as though Lisa was embracing the chaos of parenthood.
Speaker 1: In another post on her social media she wrote, I
Speaker 1: love being a step at home mom and take but
Speaker 1: Tagan's life extended far beyond British Columbia's borders. Four times
Speaker 1: a year she would board a plane bown for Ottawa,
Speaker 1: where her father had relocated after the divorce. There waiting
Speaker 1: for her were two brothers, an eight year old stepbrother
Speaker 1: and a two year old half brother. Gbe had remarried,
Speaker 1: and his new wife, Stephanie, embraced Tagan as fully as
Speaker 1: her own children. The blended family dynamic could have been complicated,
Speaker 1: but by all the counts it wasn't. Tagan adored her
Speaker 1: brother's and they adored her. During those Autoa visits, Taken
Speaker 1: blended in seamlessly, as if she had always been there.
Speaker 1: She played with her brother, and she helped with the baby.
Speaker 1: She attended their school events and sat at the dinner table,
Speaker 1: and became, for those precious weeks, a constant presence in
Speaker 1: their lives. Her father would recall that she was a
Speaker 1: big sister in every sense of the word. There had
Speaker 1: been communication problems between Cabe and Lisa, however, the kind
Speaker 1: that crept in after divorce, when two people who once
Speaker 1: shared a life now shared only a daughter and the
Speaker 1: logistics that came with her. They enlisted the help of
Speaker 1: Vancouver based family counselor Michael Elderman. Gabe later said that
Speaker 1: he was pivotal in creating a strategy for meaningful communication
Speaker 1: that included emails once a week to discuss plans and childcare.
Speaker 1: Back in Sorry, Taken, through herself, went to life with
Speaker 1: the same enthusiasm that she brought to everything. She loved
Speaker 1: to play tennis, she performed gymnastics, and she loved to run.
Speaker 1: She and her mother, Lisa, were familiar faces at White
Speaker 1: Rock Baptist Church. Pastor Fey Puddikumbe described Hagan as an affectionate,
Speaker 1: vivacious little girl, loved by everyone who knew her, the
Speaker 1: kind of child who sat attentively during services. She participated
Speaker 1: in Sunday school. She loved her dog, bat and her
Speaker 1: cap beans. In December twenty fourteen, just a few weeks
Speaker 1: before Christmas, Gabe had traveled to Surrey to spend a
Speaker 1: few days with his daughter. The city would have been
Speaker 1: decorated for the holidays by then, light strung across storefronts,
Speaker 1: wraiths hanging on doors, the kind of season when everything
Speaker 1: feels hopeful. On the eighth of December, Gabe took his
Speaker 1: daughter taken to school. It was a routine morning breakfast,
Speaker 1: getting dressed, the drive through familiar streets. It stopped at
Speaker 1: the dentist appointment first, that made their way to Rosemary
Speaker 1: Heights Elementary. Gabe walk taken to her classroom. He later said,
Speaker 1: I remember the steps down the hallway holding her hand.
Speaker 1: Of course, she always loved to hold hands. It was
Speaker 1: such a small detail, the kind of thing apparent might
Speaker 1: not even notice in the moment. Just another morning, Just
Speaker 1: another walked on a school hallway. But it was the
Speaker 1: last time. Gabe then returned to Ottawa, back across the country,
Speaker 1: to his other children, to his work, to his life
Speaker 1: over there. He had no way of knowing those would
Speaker 1: be his last moments with his daughter. Taken. After Gabe
Speaker 1: arrived back in Ottawa, he received a text message from Lisa.
Speaker 1: It read, it seems you rather I just disappear. He
Speaker 1: didn't think it was out of the ordinary. Gabe and
Speaker 1: Lisa had a contentious relationship, and cryptic, passive, aggressive messages
Speaker 1: had become part of that pattern. It was the kind
Speaker 1: of text that could mean everything or nothing, depending on
Speaker 1: her mood that day. So Gabe filed it away mentally
Speaker 1: and moved on with his evening. The next morning, just
Speaker 1: after four am, Gabe received an email from Lisa. The
Speaker 1: timestamp alone was unusual, four am on a school day.
Speaker 1: It said that Tagan had the flu and wouldn't be
Speaker 1: going to school, and Gabe had no reason to doubt
Speaker 1: that children got sick. But somewhere across the country, in
Speaker 1: the darkness of that early December morning, something had already
Speaker 1: gone terribly wrong. Around four hours later, Pastor David Hogan
Speaker 1: at White Rock Baptist Church received a strange email from
Speaker 1: Lisa Batstone. It read Jackie is evil and she killed us.
Speaker 1: It's too late now I'm broken. He knew exactly who
Speaker 1: she was referring to. A Few months earlier, Lisa and
Speaker 1: another church member, Jacqueline Joseph, had a falling out. They
Speaker 1: had been scheduled to host a new life group, wherein
Speaker 1: members of the church gathered to study the Bible, but
Speaker 1: something had fractured between the two women, and Jacqueline got
Speaker 1: off contact with Lisa. Lisa didn't let it go. She
Speaker 1: continued to text her messages that grew increasingly hateful and nasty.
Speaker 1: The kind of messages the cross lines. I'm trying to
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Speaker 1: com and use promo code Morbidology. Pastor Hogan was made
Speaker 1: aware of the falling out when Jacqueline showed him the messages.
Speaker 1: She said that she didn't feel comfortable around Lisa anymore.
Speaker 1: The pastor decided it would be best if Lisa didn't
Speaker 1: attend the group. He was trying to keep the peace,
Speaker 1: to put some distance between the women, but Lisa didn't
Speaker 1: take that decision well. She texted when John ages, I
Speaker 1: pray he doesn't have to experience what Tagan is from
Speaker 1: adults at this church, it was pointed and bitter, a
Speaker 1: mother wielding her child as proof of injury. After that,
Speaker 1: Lisa Intagan stopped attending church altogether. But now Pastor Hogan
Speaker 1: was staring at the strange email from Lisa. Jackie is
Speaker 1: evil and she killed us. It's too late now I'm broken,
Speaker 1: He later recalled. It had a tone of finality to it,
Speaker 1: so we became concerned for Tagan's well being, and he
Speaker 1: had every right to be concerned. Shortly thereafter, a woman
Speaker 1: living in a quiet called the sack Off Crescent Road
Speaker 1: heard a knock on her front door. It was late
Speaker 1: morning on the tenth of December two thousand and fourteen.
Speaker 1: John Cook opened the door to see a woman she
Speaker 1: didn't recognize standing on her doorstep. The woman's stank of alcohol.
Speaker 1: Her words came out frantic and disjointed. She said she
Speaker 1: had crashed her car, that her baby was dead, and
Speaker 1: to call nine one one. Joan didn't hesitate. She called.
Speaker 1: Within minutes, emergency vehicles descended on the quiet street. Constable
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Cuckerran was the first officer to arrive. She saw
Speaker 1: the vehicle immediately, a car with its back half stuck
Speaker 1: in a ditch at an awkward angle, as if some
Speaker 1: one had lost control or given up trying to drive
Speaker 1: it properly. The trunk was open. She approached cautiously, the
Speaker 1: way officers are trained to do so when a scene
Speaker 1: doesn't make sense. Yet, as she got closer, she saw
Speaker 1: movement inside the trunk. Lisa was lying in there, curled
Speaker 1: up around something. It was taken, but taken was clearly dead.
Speaker 1: She hadn't died in the car accident either. There was
Speaker 1: no blood, no obvious injuries, no sign of trauma from
Speaker 1: the crash. She looked almost peaceful, as if she were
Speaker 1: her small body still, her face calm. It was the
Speaker 1: kind of image that would stay with the officer long
Speaker 1: after the scene was processed and documented. Lisa was ordered
Speaker 1: out of the trunk and was placed into handcuffs. She
Speaker 1: stank of alcohol, her movements were unsteady. The officer told
Speaker 1: her that she was under arrest for impaired driving. Trying
Speaker 1: to make sense of what she was seeing, a crashed car,
Speaker 1: a dead child, a mother who smelled like a bar
Speaker 1: at closing time, she then called for backup, knowing this
Speaker 1: was already far beyond a simple traffic accident, but before
Speaker 1: more officers arrived, before the scene could be secured and investigated,
Speaker 1: Lisa blurted out, I murdered her seeking Batstone's body was
Speaker 1: transported to the medical examiner's office. The autopsy would reveal
Speaker 1: what Constable Cocheran had suspected at the scene, that Tagan
Speaker 1: hadn't died in any car accident. It was discovered that
Speaker 1: she had been smothered to death. There were bruises over
Speaker 1: her body that indicated she had struggled for her life,
Speaker 1: and it was already clear who had killed her. Her mother,
Speaker 1: Lisa started talking at Peace Arch Hospital, where she had
Speaker 1: been transported following the car crash. The words poured out
Speaker 1: of our waves, unprompted and unstoppable. She kept repeating, I
Speaker 1: just want to die, please, there's nothing to live for.
Speaker 1: Lisa spoke with several psychiatrists when she was there, each
Speaker 1: conversation adding another piece to the horrifying puzzle. She said
Speaker 1: that she and Tagan had been having a campout in
Speaker 1: the living room the night before. It was supposed to
Speaker 1: be fun, sleeping bags on the floor or maybe snacks,
Speaker 1: the kind of thing that children begged their parents to do.
Speaker 1: Lisa said that she kept waking up throughout the night.
Speaker 1: She said, taking looks so peaceful sleeping, and I just
Speaker 1: wanted her to be with Jesus. She said that she
Speaker 1: grabbed a knife and held it over her daughter as
Speaker 1: she slept, but she said she couldn't bring the knife
Speaker 1: down on her. Something stopped her. Whether it was love
Speaker 1: or fear or the last shred of conscience, no one
Speaker 1: would ever know. Instead, Lisa said she got a plastic
Speaker 1: bag and then held it over Takan's face. Lisa said
Speaker 1: she had killed her daughter to protect her from her father,
Speaker 1: but she also said she had killed her because she
Speaker 1: didn't want her daughter to have her brain to inherit.
Speaker 1: Whatever darkness Lisa believed lived inside her own mind, according
Speaker 1: to Lisia, she planned on taking her own life so
Speaker 1: that she could die with her daughter. She said she
Speaker 1: tried to suffocate herself by wrapping two plastic bags around
Speaker 1: her head and securing them with duct tape, but she
Speaker 1: couldn't go through with it. The survival instinct apparently was
Speaker 1: stronger than her resolve. She claimed she planned on dropping
Speaker 1: her dog off at a sitter and then going somewhere
Speaker 1: to take her own life, but she got the car
Speaker 1: stuck in a ditch and a stranger opened their door,
Speaker 1: and suddenly police were there, and it was too late
Speaker 1: to finish what she'd started. On several occasions, Lisa mumbled,
Speaker 1: you win, Gabe. The words were chilling in their implication
Speaker 1: that this had been at least in part about Gabe,
Speaker 1: about hurting him in the most devastating way imaginable. After
Speaker 1: some time at the hospital, Lisa was transported to the
Speaker 1: police station. She was taken into the interrogation room, where
Speaker 1: her confession continued. The detectives asked her what she had
Speaker 1: used to some mother her daughter. She replied a bag
Speaker 1: before she fell out of her chair and curled into
Speaker 1: the fetal position on the floor, crying. After some time,
Speaker 1: she explained further, I just grabbed the bag from under
Speaker 1: the cupboard. I needed the pain to end. She said
Speaker 1: that Tagan looked so beautiful and peaceful, before adding I
Speaker 1: just didn't want her to have to live with what
Speaker 1: I have to live with. Lisa Bathstone was charged with
Speaker 1: the second degree murder of Tagan. She didn't say a
Speaker 1: word when she appeared in court, but she was crying.
Speaker 1: Her defense attorney Craig's Sout requested a psychiatric assessment. He said,
Speaker 1: it's a very serious concern. Miss Batstone's mental state is
Speaker 1: very fragile. Without an assurance that she's fit to stand trial,
Speaker 1: this can't proceed any further. It was soon discovered that
Speaker 1: Lisa had struggled with her men health since she was
Speaker 1: a teenager. The problems weren't new, they had been there
Speaker 1: for years. Looking beneath the surface of the cheerful social
Speaker 1: media posts, and the friendly waves to neighbors. She was
Speaker 1: involuntarily hospitalized in twenty twelve after she attempted to take
Speaker 1: her own life. Taken temporarily went to live with her father, Gabe,
Speaker 1: in Ottawa, but once Lisa was released, Taken was sent
Speaker 1: back to live with her. Gabe was worried. He didn't
Speaker 1: think that Lisa was capable of looking after Taking, he
Speaker 1: worried about her safety. He tried to get custody of
Speaker 1: his daughter, but his request was declined, so the court
Speaker 1: sent Taken back to Surrey, back to the gated community,
Speaker 1: back to her mother. After Lisa was arrested, detectives executed
Speaker 1: a search warrant at her home. They came across four
Speaker 1: letters that offered an insight into her state of mind.
Speaker 1: They had been clearly written after Taken was killed. In
Speaker 1: those rs between the smothering and the knock on Joan
Speaker 1: Cook's door, one read I can't believe I took my
Speaker 1: daughter's life. Another part read I deserve to go to
Speaker 1: jail or institution plus death penalty. Another was found on
Speaker 1: top of a garbage can, which read I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1: Two others were discovered attached to a closet door. One
Speaker 1: read you win, Gabe, the other you broke me. One
Speaker 1: of the letters read that Lisa had suffered relentless mental
Speaker 1: and emotional abuse. She also complained about how Gabe was
Speaker 1: putting Tagan first. Daily, she continued writing, I tried because
Speaker 1: Tagan deserved better. I just couldn't imagine leaving here and
Speaker 1: leaving her to Hymn. I loved her to the moon
Speaker 1: and back, and now she's in no pain. The letters
Speaker 1: painted a picture of a woman who believed she was
Speaker 1: simultaneously a victim and a savior, someone who had convinced
Speaker 1: herself that killing her daughter was an act of love
Speaker 1: of protection, that taking Tagan's life was somehow better than
Speaker 1: letting her live it. The news of the tragic discovery
Speaker 1: and the arrest of Lisa spread rapidly through Surrey and beyond.
Speaker 1: People were stunned. The gated community where Lisa and Tagan
Speaker 1: had lived was quiet, in the way that neighborhoods get
Speaker 1: when something unspeakable happens behind one of their doors. One
Speaker 1: local woman, who has not to be named, said, Lisa
Speaker 1: has always been a loving, devoted mother to her daughter.
Speaker 1: Everyone who knows Lisa is so shocked because she was
Speaker 1: a single mom whose life revolved around Taken in every way.
Speaker 1: It was the refrain that would echo through the community
Speaker 1: in the days to come. People couldn't reconcile the Lisa
Speaker 1: they knew, the super friendly neighbor, the woman who posted
Speaker 1: enthusiastically about loving motherhood with the woman now standing accused
Speaker 1: of killing her own daughter. Tigan's father, Gabe, was obviously
Speaker 1: distraught across the country in Ottawa, he was processing the unthinkable.
Speaker 1: He posted on Twitter, life will never be the same
Speaker 1: after losing my daughter to murder, Our family courts and
Speaker 1: thus we all failed. He said that he wasn't able
Speaker 1: to talk about his daughter without sobbing. He also posted
Speaker 1: photographs of Taken and a link to a video he
Speaker 1: had made six months earlier. It was a photo slideshow,
Speaker 1: a collection of moments from her short life. One photo
Speaker 1: contained the caption Taken will not be me, she will
Speaker 1: be better than me. Gabe made the video for an
Speaker 1: international campaign called Girls twenty under the title Father's Impowering Daughters.
Speaker 1: The campaign was created to encourage g twenty leaders to
Speaker 1: invest in girls and women now. The video stood as
Speaker 1: a haunting testament to a future that would never arrive
Speaker 1: Gabe spoke with the media and said he hadn't yet
Speaker 1: told the boys about Taking's death. His sons didn't know
Speaker 1: yet that their sister wasn't ever coming to visit again.
Speaker 1: He said that Grave councilors were going to help him
Speaker 1: deliver the news. He also asked for privacy, but said
Speaker 1: he hoped to speak more publicly about Taking in the future.
Speaker 1: He said, I don't want her to ever be forgotten,
Speaker 1: and the next day Gabe spoke further. He called for
Speaker 1: law reform when it came to custody cases. The grief
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Speaker 1: eighteenth of December, hundreds of people gathered for a memorial
Speaker 1: for Taking at White Rock Baptist Church. Pastor alis Andre
Speaker 1: addressed the congregation and said, to be clear, this is
Speaker 1: a celebration of life, pink, white, and purple balloons sat
Speaker 1: alongside matching arrangements of flowers. They sat at the front
Speaker 1: of the church, surrounding frame photographs of Taken, images of
Speaker 1: a smiling girl with her whole life ahead of her
Speaker 1: frozen noine time. People stood before a microphone and shared
Speaker 1: fond memories of Taken. Pastor Putticumb said the first thing
Speaker 1: Tagan did when she got to church was run and
Speaker 1: give certain people hugs. I was fortunate enough to be
Speaker 1: one of the recipients of those amazing hugs. The children's
Speaker 1: program coordinator at the church, Lisa Strue, said Tagan was
Speaker 1: an absolute delight and she blessed our livesin His maternal grandfather,
Speaker 1: Barry Hamilton, was there, along with the number of her classmates.
Speaker 1: Barry later said that his daughter was so remorseful and
Speaker 1: so sorry for what had happened. He said that Tagan
Speaker 1: was his daughter's only reason for being. He said, everyone
Speaker 1: that knew Taken and new Lisa knows that she was
Speaker 1: probably the best mother in the world and this never
Speaker 1: ever would have happened if she had been in the
Speaker 1: right frame of mind. According to Barry, bipolar disorder ran
Speaker 1: in the family. He said that he had been visiting
Speaker 1: his daughter in jail and that he loved her unconditionally.
Speaker 1: She was a good mom. He said. The words were
Speaker 1: complicated and painful, a father defending his daughter even as
Speaker 1: his granddaughter lay dead. It was the kind of situation
Speaker 1: where love and horror existed in the same place, where
Speaker 1: family loyalty collided with unspeakable tragedy. A few days later,
Speaker 1: it was announced that Lisa had received a full psychiatric
Speaker 1: assessment and was confident to stand trial. Her defense attorney
Speaker 1: said he was content with the finding. Lisa was ordered
Speaker 1: to remain held at a psychiatric hospital. Her father, Barry, commented,
Speaker 1: she needs to be in an environment where she can
Speaker 1: build up her strength and confidence. Her defense attorney remarked
Speaker 1: that Lisa was suffering from severe depression. The case continued
Speaker 1: to move through the court slowly. Months past seasons changed.
Speaker 1: The first anniversary of Tagan's death approached. Before that one
Speaker 1: year mark arrived, gab and his family established a national
Speaker 1: nonprofit advocacy organization. They named it Tagan's Voice, and it
Speaker 1: was focused on driving policy and procedural changes across federal
Speaker 1: and provincial boundaries to prevent violence against children. Gabe said
Speaker 1: he was pushing the federal government to appoint a national
Speaker 1: Children's Advocate whose focus was on the well being of children,
Speaker 1: not the financial aspect of childcare. He said he also
Speaker 1: wanted to see children have legal representation in custody cases,
Speaker 1: their own lawyers, their own voices, independent of their parents' battles.
Speaker 1: He felt that Tagan had been let down by the
Speaker 1: courts when they returned her to her mother's care after
Speaker 1: her suicide attempt. It was the kind of change that
Speaker 1: came too late for taking, but perhaps Gabe hoped it
Speaker 1: wouldn't be too late for someone else's daughter. The murder
Speaker 1: trial began on the fourteenth of November twenty to eighteen,
Speaker 1: nearly four years after Takan's death, four years of legal maneuvering,
Speaker 1: psychiatric assessments and a father waiting for answers, four years
Speaker 1: of a community trying to make sense of senseless The
Speaker 1: courtroom was filled with family members and friends. Members of
Speaker 1: White Rock Baptist Church were there as well, a show
Speaker 1: of support that spoke to the complicated nature of the case.
Speaker 1: Faiputticum was now retired as a pastor, but she said
Speaker 1: we're here to support her. I think it's important that
Speaker 1: people know that it was a statement that would sit
Speaker 1: uncomfortably with some supporting a woman accused of murdering her child,
Speaker 1: But for those who knew Lisa before that December morning,
Speaker 1: the woman in the courtroom seemed like a stranger wearing
Speaker 1: a familiar face. During opening statements, Prosecutor Fatima Negetale led
Speaker 1: out the central question whether Lisa had intended to kill
Speaker 1: her daughter. She stated miss Batstone made a decision to
Speaker 1: kill her daughter. It was the prosecution's belief that Lisa
Speaker 1: had killed Tagan despite Gabe, not out of love, not
Speaker 1: out of protection, not because of mental illness, out of
Speaker 1: a desire to hurt him in the most devastating way imaginable,
Speaker 1: to take away the purse and he loved the most.
Speaker 1: The courtroom got to hear about Lisa's behavior in the
Speaker 1: lead up to the murder, including her falling out with
Speaker 1: Jacqueline Joseph at the church. The defense said that Lisa
Speaker 1: felt as though she had been let down and ostracized
Speaker 1: by the church. This only added fuel to her mental
Speaker 1: health problems. They said she was spiraling, isolated, unraveling, and
Speaker 1: no one had seen it. In time. The court got
Speaker 1: to hear Lisa's comments after her arrest, wherein she confessed
Speaker 1: to killing her daughter. One psychiatrist testified she said she
Speaker 1: had killed Tagan despite her ex husband. They also got
Speaker 1: to see the four letters that were discovered in the home.
Speaker 1: You win Gabe, you broke me. Each won a piece
Speaker 1: of evidence, suggesting that this was as much about him
Speaker 1: as it was Tagan. The prosecution then called on Gabe.
Speaker 1: It was the first time he had seen Lisa since
Speaker 1: Teagan's death, the first time they had been together in
Speaker 1: the same room in four years. He didn't look at
Speaker 1: his ex wife as he took to the witness stand.
Speaker 1: He testified about the loving relationship he had with his daughter.
Speaker 1: He described the sometimes acrimonious and combative communication and costaly
Speaker 1: battle between him and Lisa. He spoke about the weekly
Speaker 1: emails they had, the structured communication that was supposed to
Speaker 1: keep things civil, but he said that in the lead
Speaker 1: up to Tagan's murder, Lisa was bombarding him with texts,
Speaker 1: phone calls, and emails. He said they were sent at
Speaker 1: such a rate that it would have been impossible to
Speaker 1: reply to all of them. Lisa's defense questioned Gabe on
Speaker 1: the type of language he used with Lisa, especially after
Speaker 1: she tried to take her own life. In twenty twelve,
Speaker 1: defense attorney Tony Passiana asked if he told Lisa she
Speaker 1: had abandoned taken by trying to kill herself. He also
Speaker 1: asked Gabe if he had ever mocked Lisa's intelligence. Gabbe
Speaker 1: said he couldn't recall, before adding, I think she took
Speaker 1: opportunities to make my life more difficult. He said he
Speaker 1: had noticed changes in Lisa's tone in the month's leading
Speaker 1: up to take It's murder. Something was off, something was building.
Speaker 1: It was revealed during trial that while Lisa had been
Speaker 1: very open and described in detail what she had done
Speaker 1: to take in that night while in the hospital, when
Speaker 1: she was interviewed by forensic psychiatrist Jeannette Smith in February
Speaker 1: and May of two thousand and fifteen, she seemingly couldn't remember.
Speaker 1: Doctor Smith said to the court she maintained that she
Speaker 1: had no recollection of smothering her daughter, no or little
Speaker 1: memory of the actual offense. She said that this raised
Speaker 1: red flags for her around the reliability of Lisa's statements
Speaker 1: during their interviews. She told the court that Lisa was
Speaker 1: likely unable to know that her actions were morally wrong,
Speaker 1: but it was apparent that she knew they were legally wrong.
Speaker 1: In other words, Lisa understood she would face consequences, She
Speaker 1: just didn't believe in her mind that what she had
Speaker 1: done was morally wrong. In later interviews, Lisa had said
Speaker 1: that she heard a voice telling her you have to
Speaker 1: save her, you have to protect her. However, Lisa never
Speaker 1: mentioned this voice during early interviews. It wasn't until the
Speaker 1: next year that she claimed she heard a voice. Another
Speaker 1: contradiction came when Lisa told the doctor that she didn't
Speaker 1: hold any anger towards Gabe, yet when she was first arrested,
Speaker 1: she kept blaming Gabe for what had happened. She said,
Speaker 1: you win, Gabe, over and over again. The suggestion was
Speaker 1: clear Lisa had killed Tagan to get back at Gabe,
Speaker 1: but later decided to try for an insanity defense to
Speaker 1: claim she heard voices and had no recollection of the murder,
Speaker 1: to reframe her actions as something she couldn't control, couldn't remember,
Speaker 1: couldn't be healthfully accountable for. Prosecutor Macpherson said Lisa's hallucination
Speaker 1: was perhaps directed at giving the impression to the assessing
Speaker 1: forensic psychiatrist that she had been psychotically ill at the
Speaker 1: time of the offense, and therefore eligible for a finding
Speaker 1: of not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder. In
Speaker 1: other words, the voices might have been invented, the memory
Speaker 1: loss might have been strategic, and if that was true,
Speaker 1: then Lisa Batstone had killed her daughter with full awareness
Speaker 1: of what she was doing and had spent years trying
Speaker 1: to construct a defense that would absolve her of responsibility.
Speaker 1: After that, the defense began their case. Yes. Lisa's defense
Speaker 1: team said that her level of intoxication may have limited
Speaker 1: her ability to gauge the consequences of killing Taken. They
Speaker 1: said that, combined with borderline personality trades, significant levels of
Speaker 1: depression and a cloud of stressors, these factors raised thoughts
Speaker 1: that Lisa had the intent to kill. The defense also
Speaker 1: suggested that Lisa had acted in an altruistic motive, in
Speaker 1: a distorted belief that she was saving or protecting Taken.
Speaker 1: It was the mercy killing argument that a mother, however misguided,
Speaker 1: however ill, believed that she was doing the right thing.
Speaker 1: On the seventh of December twenty fourteen, three days before
Speaker 1: Taken was killed, Lisa had brought a three liter box
Speaker 1: of wine and six mixed drinks please find the empty
Speaker 1: box of wine when they searched her home on the tenth. However,
Speaker 1: the defense admitted they didn't know how much alcohol she
Speaker 1: had drunk before killing her dog. They couldn't say if
Speaker 1: she had consumed it that night or over several days.
Speaker 1: The uncertainty was part of their argument that the exact
Speaker 1: state of Lisa's intoxication remained unknown. That was their entire case.
Speaker 1: During closing arguments, they said that Lisa fell asleep after
Speaker 1: killing Taken, and that she had memory problems, both consistent
Speaker 1: with excessive alcohol consumption, a blackout, perhaps a woman so
Speaker 1: intoxicated she couldn't form the intent necessary for murder. The
Speaker 1: prosecution fought back. They said that Lisa intended to kill
Speaker 1: Taken and had done it to Spike Gabe. The letters
Speaker 1: proved it, The hospital statements proved it. You win, Gabe,
Speaker 1: The words of a woman who knew exactly what she
Speaker 1: was doing, and why. The judge ultimately found Lisa Badstone
Speaker 1: guilty of second degree murder. In announcing the verdict, she said,
Speaker 1: the whole of the evidence points to only one inference,
Speaker 1: when the accused smothered her daughter, whatever the motive, the
Speaker 1: only possible inference is that her intent was to end
Speaker 1: Tacan's life. It was deliberate, it was purposeful, and it
Speaker 1: was murder. Lisa returned to court on the twelfth of
Speaker 1: June twenty nineteen for the sentencing phase. She was facing
Speaker 1: an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for
Speaker 1: at least ten years. The question was how many years
Speaker 1: beyond that minimum the judge would impose anywhere from ten
Speaker 1: to twenty five years before Lisa could even apply for parole.
Speaker 1: Gabe stood before the court. He tearfully said that a happy, empathetic,
Speaker 1: sensitive and loving child was taken away from the world
Speaker 1: for no reason. He said the worst part was seeing
Speaker 1: the impact on Tagan's two brothers, who now lived with
Speaker 1: profound grief. He said, the first questions that they asked
Speaker 1: shortly after her murder and many times since, offer a
Speaker 1: glimpse into their shattered innocence and raw emotional pain. Why
Speaker 1: is my sister in the ground when other kids have
Speaker 1: sisters at school? Is Tagan's mommy going to kill me too?
Speaker 1: Those questions were devastating children trying to make sense of
Speaker 1: something that made absolutely no sense. A little boy wondering
Speaker 1: if he was next. His wife, Stephanie, said that her
Speaker 1: oldest son had lost his ability to be a child
Speaker 1: because Lisa took his sister, his best friend, and his childhood.
Speaker 1: Lisa was given the opportunity to speak. She read from
Speaker 1: a prepared statement and said, I would give anything to
Speaker 1: go back and change what happened that day. She cried
Speaker 1: as she said she woke up each morning to an
Speaker 1: excruciating nightmare, and I don't know what happened. She apologized
Speaker 1: to Tagan's father, stepmother, brothers, and all who knew and
Speaker 1: loved her. She then said said Tagan loved all of you,
Speaker 1: and I know you loved her. I'm so very sorry.
Speaker 1: The words hung in the courtroom. For some, they may
Speaker 1: have seemed genuine. For others, they came far too late.
Speaker 1: Lisa Batstone was then sentenced to life in prison without
Speaker 1: the possibility of parole for fifteen years. In announcing the sentence,
Speaker 1: the judge said the killing was intentional, It involved choices
Speaker 1: and decisions, It involved effort. Miss Batstone's actions were purposeful
Speaker 1: and goal directed. She never wavered from that goal. The
Speaker 1: judge also said that although Lisa was suffering from depression, anxiety,
Speaker 1: and borderline personality disorder. Her mental issues did not significantly
Speaker 1: diminish her moral culpability, she said. Tagan relied on her mother.
Speaker 1: She trusted her more than anyone for good reason. Her
Speaker 1: mother took care of her. Her mother was her safety net.
Speaker 1: Her mother was her protect her until the end. That
Speaker 1: a parent could kill their own child rocks the foundation
Speaker 1: of societal values. When it's for a selfish reason, as
Speaker 1: it was here, it's all the more shocking. The message
Speaker 1: was clear. Mental illness might explain, but it did an excuse.
Speaker 1: Lisa had made a choice. She had held that plastic
Speaker 1: bag over her daughter's face and held it there until
Speaker 1: she stopped struggling. In the end, Lisa Batstone would serve
Speaker 1: a life sentence, but it would be much less than
Speaker 1: fifteen years. On the first of January twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: just over four years into her sentence, Lisa was found
Speaker 1: dead in prison. The cause of death was never disclosed,
Speaker 1: but one can only assume it was suicide. The same
Speaker 1: escape she had attempted that December morning in two thousand
Speaker 1: and fourteen, finally completed behind prison walls. Gabe said afterwards
Speaker 1: that a significant burden had been lifted with her death.
Speaker 1: He said, we no longer faced the daunting prospect of
Speaker 1: her potential release, an event that would have posed an
Speaker 1: undeniable risk to other innocent children. The safety of our
Speaker 1: family and community from a convicted child murderer is now assured,
Speaker 1: bringing a substantial relief amidstar enduring grief. There was no
Speaker 1: victory in her death, no celebration, just the cold certainty
Speaker 1: that the woman who killed Tagan would never walk free,
Speaker 1: would never have the chance to harm another child. Well
Speaker 1: that is it for this episode of Morbidology. As always,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening, and I'd like to
Speaker 1: say a massive thank you to my new supporters up
Speaker 1: on patroon Bean Karen, Angie, Gwen and Sarah. The link
Speaker 1: to patron is in the show notes if you'd like
Speaker 1: to join. And I upload Adfrey in early release episodes
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, and I also send out some merch
Speaker 1: along with a thank you card. I also do bonus
Speaker 1: episodes of Morbidology Plus that aren't on the regular podcast platforms,
Speaker 1: and these are also available over on Apple subscriptions for
Speaker 1: those who like to listen there. Remember to check us
Speaker 1: out at morbidology dot com for more information about this
Speaker 1: episode and to read some true crime articles. Until next time,
Speaker 1: take care of yourselves, stay safe, and have an amazing week.
Speaker 1: Tump