WEBVTT 1 00:00:06.839 --> 00:00:09.400 In two thousand and seven, a man in the checked 2 00:00:09.400 --> 00:00:12.839 town of Curim turned his baby monitor on, expecting to 3 00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:16.760 see his own sleeping child, and instead what he saw 4 00:00:16.839 --> 00:00:19.679 was a grainy feet of an unknown boy locked in 5 00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:24.760 a dark room, bruised and terrified. That accidental glimpse of 6 00:00:24.760 --> 00:00:28.440 horror pulled police into a secret world hidden behind an 7 00:00:28.519 --> 00:00:32.560 ordinary front door, and by the time investigators uncovered the truth, 8 00:00:33.240 --> 00:00:37.039 the case had spiraled into one of Europe's strangest stories 9 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:42.479 of abuse, deception, and calculated manipulation that no one could 10 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:47.159 have ever seen coming. This is the story simply known 11 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:49.200 as the Curum Case. 12 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:54.479 My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked 13 00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:55.320 and Grim, a. 14 00:00:55.200 --> 00:01:07.840 True crime podcasting following you more mature audience listener. It 15 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:30.239 is frosty and foggy out this morning, and oh man, 16 00:01:30.280 --> 00:01:33.159 it looks creepy. Did you notice that tree over there? 17 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:38.480 No, it's weird. We have the creepiest tree in the field, 18 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:41.239 like tree line that we've never noticed. But I think 19 00:01:41.239 --> 00:01:43.480 it's just being hit right right now with the light 20 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:45.159 and it's like very eerie. 21 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:47.640 Yeah, there's no leaves on it. It's like back lit 22 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:51.359 by white is white fog and then everything is like frosted, 23 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:54.159 so it's really standing out in like contrast, we didn't 24 00:01:54.200 --> 00:01:56.840 really notice how creepy it looked before. It's almost as 25 00:01:56.840 --> 00:01:58.640 creepy as the tree in our logo. It's the same 26 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:01.640 kind of tree, cottonwood tree. 27 00:02:01.799 --> 00:02:03.680 Yeah, it's just a little bit smaller, I would I 28 00:02:03.719 --> 00:02:04.519 would say it is. 29 00:02:04.599 --> 00:02:06.680 It's not as it's not as creepy as our our 30 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:09.919 logo tree, but it is. It is very akin to. 31 00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:13.360 Yes, and it's showing off today. 32 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:17.599 It is. Has anyone else started their Christmas shopping? Because 33 00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:20.159 I know Nicole has. She's been in like full Christmas 34 00:02:20.199 --> 00:02:22.680 shopping mode. And maybe it's all the frost that's hitting 35 00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:24.639 those trees that's getting you in that mood. I don't know. 36 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:28.159 Well really only since like Sunday, I feel. 37 00:02:27.879 --> 00:02:29.800 Like, yeah, and it's been full force. 38 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:32.840 Well, I think the reason behind this is because I 39 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:36.360 don't love how busy the shops get, Like the closer 40 00:02:36.439 --> 00:02:38.680 you get to Christmas, Yeah, and they're starting to get 41 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:42.280 really busy, and I'm just like already a little bit panicking, 42 00:02:42.520 --> 00:02:44.120 not panicking, but my. 43 00:02:44.199 --> 00:02:47.360 People anxiety levels. 44 00:02:47.479 --> 00:02:50.599 You're already spiked your people's skills, your so I'm like, 45 00:02:50.599 --> 00:02:52.680 I gotta get this shit done because I can't handle 46 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:54.759 this if it gets even more busy. 47 00:02:55.240 --> 00:02:56.800 There needs to be a word for that. You're you're 48 00:02:56.840 --> 00:03:00.400 peopling ability. I don't know. Yeah, I know you're saying, 49 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:00.639 but I. 50 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:03.159 Know what would be the word for that, Your. 51 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:05.120 Social level, your social media I don't know. 52 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:08.599 Yeah, something like that capacity. There you go. 53 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:11.719 I don't know. Anyways, Nicole may or may not be 54 00:03:11.800 --> 00:03:14.439 getting sick, so she might sound a little interesting today 55 00:03:15.319 --> 00:03:17.280 where we're still figuring out if it's just because she's 56 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:19.319 groggy because she just woke up, or if she's actually 57 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:22.080 getting sick. Hopefully it's not the latter. 58 00:03:22.439 --> 00:03:24.560 I know I didn't feel great last night either, so 59 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:26.759 I think it's something. But we'll just see if it 60 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:28.240 amounts to much. Hopefully it doesn't. 61 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:30.240 Well, fingers crossed for you. Maybe we'll make you some 62 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:32.439 tea and some hot chocolate and soup and stuff like 63 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:34.000 that and make you feel better. 64 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:36.240 Yeah, I'm about to go clean a chicken coop after this. 65 00:03:36.360 --> 00:03:37.639 You think that will that will help? 66 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:41.400 Probably not. Well, I don't know if this case will 67 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:44.080 help at all. But it is a dang interesting one, 68 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:47.199 that is for sure. It is known as the Curum case, 69 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:49.759 and it was requested on Patreon. 70 00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:51.520 So it sounds pretty interesting. 71 00:03:51.879 --> 00:03:54.719 So we did a whole like request feed we do frequently, 72 00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:56.479 like at least once a month, once a month or 73 00:03:56.479 --> 00:03:58.439 so like something like that. We do requests and stuff 74 00:03:58.520 --> 00:04:02.039 like that, and Julie actually requested this one. And Julie's 75 00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:04.240 been a part of our Patreon family and all that 76 00:04:04.319 --> 00:04:06.840 for a long time. And as soon as she drops 77 00:04:06.840 --> 00:04:08.520 a case, I know it's going to be a good one. 78 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:11.680 So right out of the gate it piqued my interests. 79 00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:14.719 I started digging into it and I was like, damn son, So. 80 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:18.040 Yeah, okay, and this is a two parters. 81 00:04:17.639 --> 00:04:21.279 It not it is going to be two part well 82 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:23.639 it's in the title on part ten. It is a 83 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:25.759 two parter, so if you miss it in the title, yes, 84 00:04:25.879 --> 00:04:29.199 this is the first part of the Kurum case. And 85 00:04:29.959 --> 00:04:32.720 I don't know if my English translations of many of 86 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:35.240 these names and locations are going to be all that great, 87 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:37.199 but bear with me. I will be doing my best. 88 00:04:37.240 --> 00:04:39.879 I have done like Google pronunciations and stuff on them, 89 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:44.040 so just an FYI own that, but even still, I'm 90 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:45.639 just gonna do my best. Let's pove it that way. 91 00:04:45.959 --> 00:04:48.079 Well, I know, we get we do get flat for 92 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:52.399 that sometimes and we literally do Google pronunciation just so 93 00:04:52.920 --> 00:04:53.959 everybody is aware. 94 00:04:54.199 --> 00:04:57.199 Yes, but it steers us wrong many a times. Other 95 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:00.279 other times it's it's like, oh, well that's obvious, see 96 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:02.839 how you pronounce it, and it's still just wrong, like yeah, 97 00:05:02.839 --> 00:05:04.959 you don't Google Google pronounce it because we're like, oh, 98 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:07.759 that's you know this, And then no, it's there's actually 99 00:05:07.800 --> 00:05:10.920 an accent or that's a silent l or who. 100 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:13.120 Knows right, So oh yeah, absolutely. When you don't live 101 00:05:13.160 --> 00:05:15.600 in the area, sometimes it's very hard to know how 102 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:16.959 some thing's pronounced. 103 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:18.720 Right or sure, there's a lot of places in British 104 00:05:18.759 --> 00:05:20.920 Columbia where we live that we know how to pronounce that. 105 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:25.800 I know people have pronounced horrifically wrong. Yeah, in podcasts. 106 00:05:25.879 --> 00:05:29.639 So it's just part of the nature of storytelling, it is. Yeah, 107 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:31.759 but I digress. I'm going to do my best, and 108 00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:33.319 I think it's time to get into this. 109 00:05:33.480 --> 00:05:34.480 O hey, let's do it. 110 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:37.839 So on May seventh, two thousand and seven, Kurum resident 111 00:05:38.199 --> 00:05:41.600 Edward Trida was standing in his living room doing something 112 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:44.519 patentfully ordinary. Honestly, he was trying to set up a 113 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:48.439 baby monitor that refused to cooperate. He flipped through the channels, 114 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:50.519 going through the manual, and he's expecting, you know, the 115 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:53.360 usual static sort of thing, maybe a faint signal from 116 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:55.639 his son's bedroom down the hall to finally show up 117 00:05:55.680 --> 00:05:59.439 as he's working on this, But instead of a picture 118 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:04.279 in from the familiar bedroom in his house, soon an 119 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:07.800 image sharpened that he didn't recognize. It was a small, 120 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:11.240 cramped space lit only by a harsh infrared light cutting 121 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:13.800 through the darkness. The picture was grainy, you know the 122 00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:16.959 way old security cameras look, but clear enough to make 123 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:21.079 out a boy sitting there. He was thin, naked and 124 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:24.199 lying on the floor with his wrists wrapped tightly in tape. 125 00:06:24.279 --> 00:06:28.360 He moved slowly, like every motion hurt, dragging himself inch 126 00:06:28.519 --> 00:06:33.199 at a time. Edward froze. This wasn't his house, this 127 00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:36.319 wasn't his son. It definitely wasn't a scene anyone ever 128 00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:39.319 would expect to pick up on a baby monitor. He 129 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:41.680 waited for the image to glitch away, thinking it was 130 00:06:42.040 --> 00:06:45.560 maybe a figment of his imagination, but it didn't. The 131 00:06:45.560 --> 00:06:50.079 boy stayed there, shifting, weak and clearly in distress, for 132 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:53.199 a few moments, Edward tried to convince himself it was 133 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:56.279 some kind of I don't know, test feed, accidental crossover 134 00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:58.800 from another device, like maybe a TV from you know, 135 00:06:58.839 --> 00:07:02.199 a neighborhood, a neighbor in the neighborhood. But nothing about 136 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:08.639 this footage looked stage, fake or harmless. The longer he stared, 137 00:07:09.079 --> 00:07:12.439 the more obvious it became that this child clearly needed help. 138 00:07:13.240 --> 00:07:15.639 So he did the only thing that made sense. He 139 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:19.759 called the police. Officers arrived quickly and watched the same 140 00:07:19.800 --> 00:07:23.399 disturbing image on the monitor, and based on short transmission 141 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:27.240 ranges of this device, they realized soon that the feed 142 00:07:27.240 --> 00:07:30.920 would have to be coming from somewhere extremely close. 143 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:33.720 A neighbor basically, which is terrifying. 144 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:37.680 Exactly most likely a neighbor on the street. So when 145 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:40.879 officers approached that home and knocked, a woman answered calmly, 146 00:07:41.319 --> 00:07:44.519 insisting that nothing was wrong. But at that same moment, 147 00:07:44.600 --> 00:07:48.240 back in Edward's living room, the feed, you know, it flickered. 148 00:07:48.279 --> 00:07:51.000 They could hear things that were happening in the house, 149 00:07:51.959 --> 00:07:56.480 and yeah, it was clear this was the place. It 150 00:07:56.519 --> 00:07:58.600 was enough for police to push past the front door, 151 00:07:58.920 --> 00:08:01.160 and they didn't know it yet, but they were about 152 00:08:01.160 --> 00:08:04.199 to uncover one of the strangest and most disturbing cases 153 00:08:04.199 --> 00:08:06.959 in modern Czech history, one that began with a baby 154 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:10.319 monitor as we all know, and a boy no one 155 00:08:10.360 --> 00:08:14.399 was supposed to see now before the investigation ever reached 156 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:19.240 that front door. Though the Minerva family seems unremarkable from 157 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:21.959 the outside, they were the kind of family people would 158 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:24.920 describe with phrases like quiet, you know, kept to themselves, 159 00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:28.959 that sort of thing. Clara Marnova was born on January thirtieth, 160 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:33.080 nineteen seventy seven, the middle of three sisters. She grew 161 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:36.720 up in Burnout, in the household defined by routine, strict 162 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:41.320 morals and a heavy dose of religion. Church wasn't an 163 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:45.399 option for them. It was an expectation. So were the commandments, 164 00:08:45.559 --> 00:08:48.200 you know, obedience and the idea that God had a 165 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:49.279 plan for everyone. 166 00:08:50.039 --> 00:08:50.200 Now. 167 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:52.799 Clara took that last part the most serious of all, 168 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:55.559 more serious than most do. In fact, her older sister, 169 00:08:55.639 --> 00:08:58.639 Katerina was born in nineteen seventy three, and she did too. 170 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:03.279 As teenagers, the girls started talking about visions, dreams where 171 00:09:03.320 --> 00:09:06.360 God actually showed up and singled them out, saying that 172 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:11.120 they were chosen for something far greater than most people. Now, 173 00:09:11.159 --> 00:09:15.960 teachers kind of started noticing these shifts in behavior, these dreams, 174 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:19.559 if you will, and before long social workers would get involved. 175 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:23.080 Now the girls weren't violent, but their grand ideas and 176 00:09:23.159 --> 00:09:26.480 intense religion fixations while it raised enough red flags that 177 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:31.440 officials suggested psychiatric evaluation, but nothing ever came of it. 178 00:09:32.039 --> 00:09:35.279 Their mother refused any treatment, saying instead that her daughters 179 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:38.879 were fine, effectively just turning a blind eye to the situation, 180 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:42.519 and so whatever was happening inside their heads was allowed 181 00:09:42.519 --> 00:09:46.960 to keep unfolding, unchecked. The sisters eventually grew up, They 182 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:50.000 moved on, and, at least on the surface, settled into 183 00:09:50.039 --> 00:09:54.039 adult life. Clara married a man whose name was Radic, 184 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:57.720 and for a while life was normal. She gave birth 185 00:09:57.799 --> 00:10:01.039 to her first son, Jacob, at twenty and two years 186 00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:05.720 later came Andre. She studied economics, worked in an office, 187 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:08.080 kept up with the bills in school schedules, just like 188 00:10:08.159 --> 00:10:11.960 any other young mother would. But the intensity she carried 189 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:15.120 as a teenager, while it never really faded, and by 190 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:18.200 her mid twenties, the stress of marriage, motherhood, well, they 191 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:22.240 were enough to crack whatever stability that she built. She 192 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:25.519 started to become a bit withdrawn convinced once again that 193 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:28.759 she was meant for something far bigger, some bigger mission, 194 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:31.720 and that her husband and children were distracting her from 195 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:36.480 this mission. Arguments followed radic while he eventually found for 196 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:39.320 divorce with their marriage crumbling, and Clara took the boys 197 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:42.440 and left. This should have been a turning point where 198 00:10:42.440 --> 00:10:45.759 she could potentially find balance or maybe you know, lead 199 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:49.600 on her wider family for support. Now she did lean 200 00:10:49.639 --> 00:10:52.919 on family, but instead she drifted back to the one 201 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:58.600 person whose worldview mirrored her own, her sister, Katerina. They 202 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:02.159 moved in together and shared an apartment, two sisters, two 203 00:11:02.200 --> 00:11:04.799 young boys, all under one roof, and for a short 204 00:11:04.840 --> 00:11:08.960 stretch of time it worked. For this stretch, the Minerva 205 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:13.600 household looked like any ordinary one. After the divorce and move, 206 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:16.919 Clara settled into routine, one that actually made sense from 207 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:19.919 an outside. She worked, she parented, and she leaned on 208 00:11:19.960 --> 00:11:22.159 her sister in any practical way that she needed to. 209 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:27.000 The two women lived in Burnho, sharing a modest apartment 210 00:11:27.159 --> 00:11:30.039 and carving out that life. By all accounts, it didn't 211 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:34.039 raise any alarms. Clara handled her office job and continued 212 00:11:34.039 --> 00:11:36.840 her studies, while Katerina worked as a manager at a 213 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:39.200 local youth center, the kind of place filled with you know, 214 00:11:39.240 --> 00:11:42.480 craft tables, noise, and the after school chaos of kids 215 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:45.600 who don't really want to sit still very well, and 216 00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:49.879 of course, the boys, Jacob and Andre, were thriving. Jacob 217 00:11:49.960 --> 00:11:51.519 was the older brother of the two, and he had 218 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:55.879 a gentle, thoughtful streak. He loved dinosaurs, books, and baseball. 219 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:58.720 He played the flute and was a kind of kid 220 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:02.639 that teachers described as being very polite. Andre, the younger 221 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:06.120 of the two boys, was two years younger, and he 222 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:09.399 had more energy than while their apartment could reasonably contain. 223 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:13.200 He liked hockey, running, and really anything that let him 224 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:15.480 burn through. All that restless enthusiasm. 225 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:18.519 That's probably most common really. 226 00:12:18.440 --> 00:12:21.679 Honestly, I think it, honestly is yes, that energy that 227 00:12:21.879 --> 00:12:24.679 oh my god, he never stops and just go, go, go. 228 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:26.440 I think that is something very common. 229 00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:28.720 I look at that often. I'm like, oh, I wish 230 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:30.000 I had that kind of energy. 231 00:12:31.159 --> 00:12:33.559 Yeah. Instead, I have the energy of, well, how our 232 00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:36.759 dog is laying right now, She's just belly up, just 233 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:37.960 live in her best life. 234 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:39.000 She is a good vibe. 235 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:42.120 She does now. Friends and co workers who knew Clara 236 00:12:42.200 --> 00:12:45.200 during this period. Remember her as a good mother. She 237 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:48.840 was a tentative, soft spoken, and reliable. She was someone 238 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:52.039 who asked questions at parent meetings, packed lunches, and genuinely 239 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:55.639 cared about providing stability for her two sons. If you 240 00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:58.679 looked at them then nothing would have stood out, no 241 00:12:58.759 --> 00:13:01.639 strange behavior warning, any sort of hints on what would 242 00:13:01.639 --> 00:13:03.919 eventually take place in the home. In fact, she might 243 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:06.320 even admire her for how she would be parenting. 244 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:07.759 Now. 245 00:13:07.799 --> 00:13:11.840 Even the dynamic between the sisters it seemed balanced. Clara 246 00:13:11.879 --> 00:13:13.600 was well. She was a bit of the emotional one 247 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:16.960 in Katerina, she was the organized one. But under that 248 00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:20.519 thin layer of normalcy, the old patterns were still there. 249 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:25.720 The grand beliefs, the unaddressed mental health issues, the religious intensity, 250 00:13:26.440 --> 00:13:29.720 all the things at once made their teachers uneasy. It 251 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:33.080 had simply gone dormant underground for a while, and it 252 00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:36.759 wouldn't stay buried for long, because in two thousand and five, 253 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:40.879 the sisters, while their quiet, predictable life changed moments a 254 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:45.879 new child entered the picture. It started with a conversation 255 00:13:45.960 --> 00:13:49.919 that didn't sound unusual. Katerina mentioned a new girl at 256 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:53.879 the youth center, a quiet, thirteen year old named Anika, 257 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:58.080 who had just arrived from Norway. Her story, however, was 258 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:01.960 not exactly what one would call or. According to Katerina, 259 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:04.919 the girl had endured more in her short life than 260 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:09.159 most adults could ever imagine. Both of her parents were dead, 261 00:14:09.320 --> 00:14:12.679 and she spent years drifting through harsh orphanage jiz and 262 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:15.720 the abuse was so severe it left her withdrawn and 263 00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:19.320 extremely skittish. As if that weren't enough, she was now 264 00:14:19.320 --> 00:14:23.000 supposedly battling leukemia on top of it all. 265 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:23.559 Are you kidding? 266 00:14:23.639 --> 00:14:27.960 And she's thirteen thirteen and doctors were unsure if she'd 267 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:30.159 even survived past sixteen years old. 268 00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:34.799 Holy shit, what a life? No kidding, that's really not fair. Now. 269 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:38.600 When Clara finally met the girl, every detail reinforced this impression. 270 00:14:38.600 --> 00:14:41.879 Annika appeared tiny for her age. She was unnervingly thin. 271 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:45.240 Her shaved head even explained the chemotherapy all of it. 272 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:48.519 She spoke softly, hiding her face. She clung to Clara 273 00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:51.799 more than anyone else in the room. Actually, her behavior 274 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:55.519 was actually a little odd, childlike at moments and strangely 275 00:14:55.559 --> 00:14:58.440 self aware the next. But trauma can warp a young 276 00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:01.120 person in all kinds of ways, and Clara saw this 277 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:05.639 frightened child who needed stability, needed help, needed someone who 278 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:11.080 could give affection in overwhelming doses. And when Anika leaned 279 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:15.120 towards her, seeking attention, comfort and everything that you know, 280 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:18.600 she needed, Clara responded instinctively. I mean she was a 281 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:23.080 mother after all. Right. Within weeks, the girl had become 282 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:25.840 a near constant presence in her home and in her 283 00:15:25.879 --> 00:15:30.200 thoughts too. What Clara didn't see, however, was how expertly 284 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:34.480 that girl adapted herself, how she shifted her behavior depending 285 00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:38.559 on what could draw Clara closer, how quick she was 286 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:42.519 to request help or praise or even physical closeness, and 287 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:45.039 how she began acting as though Clara was the only 288 00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:49.759 adult she fully trusted. It all worked exactly as this 289 00:15:49.879 --> 00:15:52.919 girl intended, and it set the stage for a decision 290 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:59.000 Clara believed was both compassionate and divinely meaningful. She agreed 291 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:03.000 to begin the lead process to adopt this fragile, unlucky 292 00:16:03.080 --> 00:16:04.480 child named Anka. 293 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:07.120 So I just have to say, like Honica has been 294 00:16:07.159 --> 00:16:11.440 living her life in foster care and has learned how 295 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:14.799 to just like adapt to what other people want and 296 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:17.519 need from her, is sort of what you're saying. 297 00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:23.480 Not quite. Let me explain. Okay, So what no one realized, 298 00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:26.000 not even Clara, not the YOU Center, or the officials 299 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.480 that worked with her, or even officials that signed the 300 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:31.320 later adoption papers, was that this girl in front of 301 00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:34.639 them was not a thirteen year old girl. She was 302 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:38.639 not a sick girl named Anica at all. Her name 303 00:16:38.919 --> 00:16:43.440 was actually Barbara Scarlova, a fully grown woman deep into 304 00:16:43.559 --> 00:16:48.200 her thirties, perfectly aware of the manipulation she was doing. 305 00:16:49.159 --> 00:16:54.480 Seriously, Yes, and she was under care though correct. Oh wow, 306 00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:58.600 okay I was. If I had a thousand guesses, I 307 00:16:58.600 --> 00:17:00.039 don't think I would have guessed that. 308 00:17:00.120 --> 00:17:01.120 I didn't think you would. 309 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:02.720 Now. 310 00:17:02.759 --> 00:17:06.079 Whenever something in Anica's story felt off, which that's what 311 00:17:06.119 --> 00:17:09.519 I'll be referring to her for for now, Anica, Clara 312 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:12.559 reassured herself that there was one thought in her head. 313 00:17:12.599 --> 00:17:16.119 A doctor was involved. And this doctor was a specialist 314 00:17:16.119 --> 00:17:18.839 in childhood trauma and also the same man treating her 315 00:17:18.920 --> 00:17:23.039 for leukemia, someone who supposedly understood the girl's pain better 316 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:27.119 than Clara ever could. But this doctor, well, he never 317 00:17:27.160 --> 00:17:31.480 appeared in person per se. Every instruction came through emails 318 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:34.400 and text messages, always late at night too. And always 319 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:39.200 written with a strangely commanding tone. He framed himself as 320 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:43.119 both a therapist and medical guardian, offering guidance that sounded 321 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:47.799 scientific enough to be believable, at least at first. Then 322 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:52.559 eventually the advice deepened into some more uncomfortable territory. He 323 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:56.839 encouraged Clara to give the girl long, full body massages 324 00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:02.400 under the guise of desensitization therapy. He insisted she keep 325 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:07.960 close physical contact, monitor the girl's reactions constantly, and maintained 326 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:14.200 relentless emotional reassurance. If Clara felt unsure, he shut down 327 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:21.960 any doubt immediately, saying, quote, trauma survivors deteriorate when challenged. Meanwhile, Anika, 328 00:18:22.119 --> 00:18:25.839 while she behaved exactly in ways that reinforce his claims, 329 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:30.160 she stopped walking, saying her legs hurt too much. She 330 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:34.440 refused to eat unless Clara fed her directly. She was 331 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:37.799 startled whenever Jacob or Andrea came into the room and 332 00:18:37.880 --> 00:18:41.920 whispered accusations that they teased her, they pushed her, and 333 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:45.759 scared her. Of course, no one ever witnessed these moments, 334 00:18:45.799 --> 00:18:49.519 though it was only her who had seen it happen, 335 00:18:49.799 --> 00:18:53.279 of course, and yet the fear she projected was so 336 00:18:53.559 --> 00:18:58.720 convincing that Clara reacted automatically, disciplining her boys and pushing 337 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:03.279 them away. At the same time, Little by little, Clara 338 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:07.240 began shaping her daily routine and life around the girl's moods. 339 00:19:08.039 --> 00:19:11.480 Outings were canceled, family routines shifted, and the boys found 340 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:15.000 themselves blamed for well a lot of things more often 341 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:17.559 than not, and they were watched a lot more closely too, 342 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:21.640 and punished even more severely for things. The doctor never 343 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:25.319 backed off either. Each message nudged Clara a little further 344 00:19:25.400 --> 00:19:29.160 towards the edge, and by then Clara was She was exhausted, 345 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:33.480 emotionally raw, and dependent on the two influences she believed 346 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:37.200 were guiding her, her sister and this unseen professional who 347 00:19:37.240 --> 00:19:41.599 claimed to know exactly what this child needed. The possibility 348 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:44.960 that she was being manipulated will it never even registered 349 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:48.559 to her, But the pattern forming around her was. While 350 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:52.279 it was not therapeutic, it was strategic. The household was 351 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:57.000 slowly being reorganized around Anica, turning Clara into a servant 352 00:19:57.039 --> 00:20:01.759 of someone she didn't actually understand, someone who had no 353 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:06.119 official identity. Actually, there were no documents that proved anything 354 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:09.240 about her past, no school file, no medical history, nothing 355 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:12.920 that tied Onnica to any sort of situation or institution. 356 00:20:13.799 --> 00:20:16.599 And instead of seeing this as a warning sign, Clara 357 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:20.039 interpreted it as evidence of her life of hardship. Now 358 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:23.400 this doctor reinforces the idea too, explaining that years of 359 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:28.039 mistreatment and displacement had erased much of the girl's recorded history. 360 00:20:28.359 --> 00:20:31.000 He insisted the only way to move forward was give 361 00:20:31.039 --> 00:20:35.039 her an entirely new beginning. Now, for the adoption process, 362 00:20:35.079 --> 00:20:38.680 authorities needed confirmation of the girl's age, So Clara brought 363 00:20:38.680 --> 00:20:43.599 Anica to a hospital for evaluation. What Clara didn't witness 364 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:48.119 or didn't understand, was that someone else accompanied her Onnica 365 00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:53.359 into the examination room. A genuine teenage girl stood in 366 00:20:53.400 --> 00:20:54.160 for Onnica. 367 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:57.519 What, Okay, this is the most messed up thing I've 368 00:20:57.519 --> 00:20:58.000 ever heard. 369 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:03.160 Yeah, So doctor's examine in this teenage girl as the substitute, 370 00:21:03.240 --> 00:21:05.480 and they reasonably concluded that she was around the age 371 00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:06.920 of thirteen or fourteen years. 372 00:21:06.759 --> 00:21:11.000 Old, which I could see happening quite easily. Definitely that 373 00:21:11.079 --> 00:21:13.200 you would just assume, oh, that's like her mom or 374 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:15.720 the one wanting to adopt her. This as the teenager 375 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:20.799 and Yeah, that could work. I mean, I'm probably did well. 376 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:24.000 Yeah, that assessment. It became the foundation of a completely 377 00:21:24.359 --> 00:21:28.160 legal new identity. Is so now they had a forged 378 00:21:28.200 --> 00:21:32.559 medical summary, a testimony from Clara and Katerina, and digital 379 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:35.519 correspondence from this so called doctor, and the court saw 380 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:38.400 no reason to doubt the case whatsoever. So judges and 381 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:41.680 social workers viewed Clara as a compassionate woman trying to 382 00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:46.079 rescue a child who had survived unthinkable circumstances, and so 383 00:21:46.200 --> 00:21:50.039 they approved the adoption and issued a birth certificate listing 384 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:55.599 the girl as Anica Mernova born December two, nineteen ninety three. 385 00:21:55.960 --> 00:21:58.880 The reality, of course, was she was nowhere near thirteen 386 00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:03.160 years old, was not exactly the person they thought she was. 387 00:22:04.279 --> 00:22:07.839 You see, Barbara Scerlova, who was pretending to be this 388 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:11.279 thirteen year old Onika, was a person with a long 389 00:22:11.400 --> 00:22:15.000 pattern of mimicking children in her history. She was actually 390 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:17.359 in her early thirties, mid thirties around there, and her 391 00:22:17.400 --> 00:22:22.640 small stature, her youthful face, and hormonal growth disorder made 392 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:26.720 her disguise unusually effective. But it was her ability to 393 00:22:26.759 --> 00:22:31.480 manipulate others that made the whole scheme possible. Once the 394 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:35.240 adoption was complete. Barbara didn't just have a place to stay, 395 00:22:35.640 --> 00:22:39.559 she had a legitimate identity she could use anywhere. It 396 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:42.240 gave her freedom, protection, and a level of control over 397 00:22:42.279 --> 00:22:45.880 Clara that went far beyond any sort of emotional dependence. 398 00:22:46.839 --> 00:22:49.559 So now with it all official, the atmosphere inside the 399 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:52.839 Menova home changed in ways. The boys were too young 400 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:57.440 to understand. What had begun as minor tension grew into 401 00:22:57.480 --> 00:23:02.000