S6 E9 - West Texas Psychopath - the murder of Ella Bennett, part 2 - A Nefarious Nightmare - True Crime

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
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(01:03):
and the various nightmare assumes all partiesthat are mentioned in these cases to be
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You can help us grow the showby leaving us a five star written
review on Apple podcast or Spotify,or you can join our Patreon for light
hearted bonus content with this Welcome toseason six. Last week, we discussed

(01:26):
the chilling case of Paris Lee Bennett, whose horrifying act of sooicide shocked Abilene,
Texas. Diagnosed with antisocial personality disorderor APD, Paris's upbringing, marked
by familial changes and untreated mental healthissues, took a tragic turn. On
February fourth, two thousand and seven, we delved into the alarming statistics on

(01:51):
sexual assault in America, highlighting thepervasive issue affecting millions. Paris's escalating aggression,
illustrated by a knife incident, hintedat a deeper psychological turmoil. Despite
Charity Lee his mother's efforts, alack of intervention allowed the situation to escalate,
culminating in Paris's brutal murder of hisfour year old sister, Ella.

(02:15):
The case underscores the urgent need formental health awareness and preventative measures to avert
such devastating outcomes. Today we willdiscuss the conclusion and aftermath. With that,
I'm Amanda Cronin and I'm Courtney Fennerand a Nefarious Nightmare presents West Texas

(02:35):
psychopath The Murder of Ella Bennett Parttwo. As we said, the case

(03:01):
underscores the urgent need for mental healthawareness and preventive measures to avert such devastating
outcomes. We talked about Charity,Paris and Ella's upbringing. Last week discussed
a bit about sexual assault and abusestatistics clued you into the personality of Paris,

(03:22):
and now we want to see himburn, but instead we want to
get through this and remember sweet babyElla Bennett, who did not deserve any
of this. Where we left offlast week was when the nine one one
call was made, only for everyoneto discover that he hadn't actually performed CPR,
but pretending for the nine one oneoperator. We will continue part two

(03:46):
from where we left off, findingParis in the interviewing room. During the
interview, Paris maintained his story,claiming to be hallucinating and he further claimed
that his baby sister was a quoteunquote pumpkinheaded him in on fire. He
added that he had been sleeping nextto her and then he woke up terrified
to the site, once again claimingof his four year old sister that she

(04:09):
was engulfed in flames. He blamedhis actions on all of this, saying
also that in his hallucination, shewas laughing at him. Guys, she
was a four year old, rememberingthat he lied about performing CPR, the
police did not believe his story.Another thing they noticed is that he was
fake crying. He would make thesounds, but absolutely no tears. Then

(04:33):
the autopsy report came back, servingeven more proof that Paris had been lying,
because, in addition to her stabwounds, the autopsy noted marx indicating
of a beating and strangulation. Investigatorsand forensic experts also found Paris's DNA by
the way of seminal fluids in Ella'sbed compared to the fluid found in the

(04:57):
shorts that Paris was wearing at thetime of the murder. Obviously, at
this point a search warrant was executedand the discovery was made that Paris had
been watching violent pornographic images including sand M, bondage and sadism, and
just hours before he murdered his sister, they found snuff films in his search
history. Essentially, the entire nineto one to one call, his mask

(05:21):
of sanity, and the fate cryingwere all indicative of a thirteen year old
psychopath. There was no denying,not by Charity, not by law enforcement,
nobody, that Paris had willingly murderedhis sister. When she confronted him,
he was quiet at first, thenhis demeanor went completely dark and coldly.

(05:44):
He said, quote, well ittook you fucking long enough end quote.
When Charity then confronted him about hisDNA being found, he completely lost
his shit in a blind rage,flipping a table, punching a wall all
before walking away. Paris faced legalproceedings after confessing to the murder of his

(06:06):
young sister during the nine to oneone call, which for those of you
just tuning in, was played inpart one, so if you missed it,
please go back and listen. Hethen was arrested on February fifth,
two thousand and seven, and laterwent to trial in two thousand and nine.
At the age of seventeen, wherehe would be charged with juvenile capital
murder. Opting for a guilty plea, he admitted to the crime, leading

(06:30):
to a forty year prison sentence withparole eligibility in twenty twenty seven by passing
a full trial. Later, Parisconfessed to premeditating the assault on Ella.
His sinister intentions extended beyond his sister'sdeath. He aimed to inflict anguish on
his mother by depriving her of bothchildren. While initially targeting his mother,

(06:55):
he ultimately chose to end Ella's life, recognizing it as the old time punishment
for his mother. In fact,in an interview conducted from prison, Paris
is quoted as saying, for manyyears, there was just this hot,
flaming ball of wrath in the pitof my stomach, and it was directed

(07:15):
at my mother. And one ofthe reasons why I chose to kill my
sister and not someone else is becauseI knew that by doing that, I
could hurt my mother in the worstpossible way. Because I'd always known as
a child that the most devastating thingto my mother would be the loss of
one of her children. And Ifound a way to take away both her
children and one fell swoop end quote, and during a documentary titled The Family

(07:42):
I Had, Paris is quoted saying, I chose to do my crime,
and I take full responsibility for mycrime, and I wouldn't say there was
a predeposition to what happened. Iam not insane and I don't suffer from
any mental illness end quotes. Eversince that track, Knight Butterflies hold a
poignant significance for Charity, tied toher late daughter Ella's final school painting.

(08:09):
In twenty twelve, she welcomed anew child into the world, named him
Phoenix. As far as Paris Bennett, he's currently incarcerated and will be eligible
for parole at the age of thirtythree years old in February of twenty twenty
seven, just three short years awayfrom this recording. If he is not

(08:31):
granted parole, he will be releasedin February of two thousand and forty seven,
and he will be fifty three.While this case is closed, this
episode, however, is not over. It's hold tight. Charity has visited
Paris multiple times in prison, encounteringhis persistent hatred. During their meetings,
he would coldly admit to the murder, taunting her with statements like quote,

(08:56):
you're right, I did kill herend quote, also expressing enjoyment and witnessing
her pain. In one chilling incident, Charity detailed in her journal that she
believes Paris would harm her if giventhe chance. Recounting a horroring episode,
she wrote, quote, he slammedthe table into me, pinning me against
the concrete wall behind me, cuttingoff my air. I was shocked,

(09:20):
paralyzed, thinking I was going todie. Then he pulled back the table.
I caught my breath, only forhim to slam it into me again
end quote. Despite the advised precautionsdue to the potential danger, upon Paris's
release, Charity allows her youngest son, Phoenix, to maintain limited communication with
his incarcerated brother. Her purpose isto instill the values of unconditional love and

(09:45):
forgiveness in her youngest child, evenin the face of the looming threat.
Reflecting on the unfathomable crime committed byParis, Charity has gained insights into the
factors that led her son down thisdark path. She recognizes her past drug
use as a contributing factor, giventhat the daring this time, Paris assumed

(10:05):
the responsibility of caring for his youngersister, Ella, and despite the overwhelming
emotions, Charity has consciously chosen toforgive her son and embrace him for who
he is. Acknowledging Paris's psychopathy inhis capacity for unspeakable acts, she candidly
states, quote, my son isa psychopath. I can't help him.

(10:26):
That may not matter in the longrun. What may matter is I can't
not at this point give up onhim. I love my firstborn with as
much intensity as I have since thatday I found out I was pregnant with
him. End quote. Charity knowsParis can be dangerous, believing he might
harm someone again without remorse. Shehopes that prison keeps him from causing more

(10:48):
harm, expressing worry about the humanrights situation in Texas prisons. Her introspection
aided her in grieving the loss ofwhom she calls her quote Guardian Angel,
also effectually referred to as Ella Bellasince the tragic incident. Charity connects Ella
with butterflies, which, like wementioned earlier, was the subject of her

(11:11):
final school painting. On the dayshe returned home after the murder, a
friend discovered a butterfly brooch in herbackyard, adding to the symbolism. After
that awful day, Charity moved toSan Antonio, got a crisis interventionist license
and founded the Ella Foundation, whichis not only the name of her late
daughter, but also an acronym forempathy, love, lessons, and action.

(11:35):
The Foundation focuses on those impacted bythe criminal justice system, mental illness,
and violence. It's also worth notingthat Charity's also an author, co
writing a book called How Now Butterfly? A Memoir of Murder, Survival and
Transformation with Brian Whitney. The bookdetails her journey overcoming the loss of her

(11:56):
daughter and dealing with her psychopathic sonsin Britain. Charity with over two thousand
hours of volunteer experience as a certifiedcrisis interventionist, anger management specialist, theft
addiction specialist, seeking safety facilitator,and has created evidence based programs for those

(12:16):
affected by violence. About two yearsago, Charity posted the following message on
Facebook. Phoenix, who is noweight, is still amazing, super smart.
Had his IQ tested. He's atone hundred and thirty two. He's

(12:39):
funny, moody, stubborn and veryattached to his mama. This spring he
was formally diagnosed with ADHD. Wemade the joint decision to try a low
dose medication regimen to see how itwent. Phoenix and I both are very
happy with the outcome. She wenton to say on this post quote.

(13:00):
I finally took the plunge and pulledPhoenix out of public school and began homeschooling
him again. Phoenix and I wereboth pretty damn happy with the outcome.
Online schooling was not for him,Trying to fit a square peg into a
round hole is not for either ofus. Where he's still in public school,
he would have entered third grade thisAugust. Homeschool is year round for

(13:20):
us, with a two week breakevery third month, and he just started
his fourth grade curriculum about two monthsago. I leased my city house out
and moved out to the country tobe closer to my mother, who was
still dealing with stage four cancer.At some point the cancer spread to her
brain, but being the badass thatshe is, she's still living the fullest

(13:41):
life she can. I just makesure she doesn't fall over doing it or
over exert herself, forget eaten bythe alligators in the lake that she feeds
every morning. She continues with quote, I completely walked away from my eldest
child and have not looked back.It is one thing to be a child
who makes horrible decision. It's anotherthing, altogether to be a twenty seven

(14:03):
year old man and keep making decisionsthat puts your's family at risk. The
final straw was learning that he wasinvolved with a woman who lived two hours
away from us and was out onbond for planning a mass shooting. Boundaries
had been crossed too many times.I bought a gun, learned how to
shoot it. I'm really good now, and said goodbye. I finally accepted

(14:26):
it. It's okay to love himas my son, but really disliked the
man he has become. I shutdown the Ella Foundation permanently after thirteen years
of processing my trauma by helping othersprocess their trauma. One movie, countless
interviews, countless classes, taught,one book, hundreds of speeches, in

(14:48):
the setting of so many examples oflove, empathy, and compassion for anyone
who looked to me as an example, I reached the point where I finally
felt I have kept my promise toElla to make something meaningful come from her
death. End quote. She thenproceeds with quote, Now I stay focused
mostly on the present. The pastis always with me. The future is

(15:11):
not mine yet to dwell on toolong, and the presence that I have
is a blessing. I've learned howto be truly at peace with my existence,
except for those days when homeschool isnot going well and I have to
remind myself I've already chosen to besterile in my next life. And everything
temporary is bearable, and it's alltemporary. And finally, she ended the

(15:35):
post with quote, So that's theshort version, I assure you. The
long version is a lot more complex, amusing, and absurd, because that's
how my life has always been.The long version will be booked to one
day as always, much love andso many hugs. To all end quote,

(15:56):
We're going to go ahead and reada letter that Charity wrote to Paris
his twentieth birthday, which was Octobertenth of twenty thirteen. This came from
a blog that she writes from whichwe will include under sources in the episode's
show notes. But listen as Amandareads, Dear Paris, twenty years ago
on the day you were born,I took one look at you, and

(16:17):
two things simultaneously occurred. A feelingof fierce love unlike any I ever had
experienced before, took root in myheart, and the realization and accompanying fear
finally hit my brain that I hadabsolutely no idea how to be a good
mother, which had been engaged untilI took that very moment in these blissful

(16:38):
fantasies of mom and baby always inperfect harmony, I had no good example
of how to be a good mother. But I figured I knew two things
I hoped would work in my favor. I knew what not to do,
how not to be, and Iknew what kind of mom I wished I
had. Armed with that knowledge,I set about making you too promises that

(17:00):
day, October tenth, nineteen ninetythree. One of the things I knew
not to do was make promises toyour child you never intended or could not
keep, so, in spite ofthe fact that you blissfully slept through me,
whispering my promises in your ear,I considered my promises the foundation of
the house of love I wanted tobuild for you to live in. The

(17:22):
First promise I made to you wasto love you always no matter what.
Unconditionally. I know too well whatconditional love feels like. What damage is
done to your heart and soul whenyou are judged unworthy because of your mistakes
instead of loved for your existence.We all make mistakes. We should all
be loved in spite of those mistakes. Then we should be loved even more

(17:47):
because we make mistakes. Being lovedthrough our mistakes is what gives us confidence
and will to learn from those mistakesto become a better person. I have
kept my first promise to you.You I can say with great certainty that
I will continue to keep this promiseto you for as long as I live.
I continue to hope that loving youunconditionally will give you the confidence and

(18:10):
will to be the best person youcan be. The second I've promise I
made to you was to be thebest mother I could be to you and
for you. This promise has alwaysbeen and still is a bit harder to
keep for many reasons. As aparent, it is hard to figure out
what is the best thing to dofor your child and or for your child

(18:33):
in normal circumstances. I think wecan both agree that many of the circumstances
that I have tried to keep thispromise in and about as far as normal
as one can be. At times, I know I have failed miserably in
keeping this promise, but I hopethe love I feel for you and have
shown you has or will trump anydamage my failures cause you to suffer.

(18:56):
There have been times I believe I'mdoing the best thing for you, and
you most likely think I'm full ofshit and wish I would just back off
or stop doing whatever it is I'mdoing that you disagree with. In these
times, please reflect back on allthe years I have kept my promise one
and try to love me unconditionally asyou can now that you are old enough

(19:18):
to understand this concept and the emotionsthat accompany in it better. We won't
always see eye to eye. Iwill never stop being your mom, but
I know I'm doing my best tomake the transition to being a true friend
to you now that you're growing up. It is confusing at times to determine
if your child needs a parent ora friend. So here we are,

(19:38):
on the cusp of your twentieth birthday. I can't even begin describe to you
how it is possible and how emotionaland overwhelmingly surreal it is for me to
look down on you and see boththe baby I held close to, whisper
my promises in his ear, andthe full grown, extremely easy on the
eyes, brilliant man who could ifif he was allowed to pick me up

(20:02):
as easily as I used to pickhim up. The best and simplest way
to sum up is just to tellyou that, in spite of the passage
of twenty years and all that hastranspired between us, I still look at
you and feel the same fierce,no fear, sir, love that swept
me away the moment I laid eyeson you. The Texas Department of Criminal

(20:23):
Justice would not let a mother helpher child celebrate and acknowledge the passage out
of his teen years and into hisyounger manhood. I can't bake for you,
send you a gift, see youon your birthday because it does not
fall on a normal visitation day.I can't sing to you have your birthday
unless you decide to call me onOctober tenth. So I'm left giving you

(20:45):
what I hope you consider as agift, and it is something that no
one, not you, not TDCJ, no one can ever take away from
you. For your twentieth birthday,I make you two more sacred promises.
Paris my first born, my firstlove. I promise I will always be
by your side as long as youare locked away from mine. No matter

(21:07):
where Texas sends you, no matterhow much time passes, no matter what
you have done to survive, nomatter what I have to do to get
to there to see you, Iwill never turn my back on you while
you are incarcerated. You will neverbe one of the forgotten ones. You
will always know that someone in thefree loves you, thinks of you,

(21:29):
and misses you. People often askme how I can continue to stand by
you after all that you did andall the suffering it causes me. I
always respond the same. I tellthem that when you were a toddler,
I had to take you to daycareso that I can get to class and
work. I hated to leave you. It was so hard to walk away,
and a part of my mind andheart always was with you in that

(21:51):
daycare. Every afternoon I would walkinto the classroom pick you up, and
you were fine, playing and content, so I would sit on the floor
and wait for you to notice me. As soon as you saw me,
your eyes would light up with alook of pure happiness. You would draw
what you were doing, run acrossthe room, and jump on me.
That was the best part of myday every day, almost every time I

(22:14):
have come to visit you since youhave been incarcerated. I still see that
look in your eyes when you firstsee me. It may be just for
a split second so quick I haveto really be paying attention to see it,
or it may linger the entire visit. Sometimes it has been replaced with
a look of anger, hatred,or contempt, but it has never been
entirely demolished. This is how Iknow that my Paris is still in there.

(22:40):
I promise I will never give upon my Paris, never give up
on my hope and belief that theParis who got locked up in the underground
room inside of you that night thatyou killed Ella will find a way to
survive both prison and that underground room. I know you're still in there.
You may forget sometimes your environment mayforce you to hide him away, but

(23:03):
when you are with me, youcan let that boy out without any fear.
I will love him the same wayI have loved every other boy that
lives inside of you. Unconditionally,no matter what. Happy twentieth birthday,
Paris Lee. Since I can't giveyou a cake, I guess you'll have
to settle for unconditional love a momwho tries her best to be a good
mom and a good friend, loyaltyand unwavering faith in the man I know

(23:29):
you can be end quote, andshe ends the letter with all in all,
not a bad gift to get.I think you know it's really hard
to know what she's going through.As the mother of a murder victim perpetrated
by her own son. It hasto be very confusing and also very difficult
to convey emotionally. And now shehas your youngest son born after all of

(23:51):
this to protect as well as herself. You would forever be at a crossroads
as to whether or not you couldtruly forgive, because the reminder year is
forever burned in your heart. Notonly that, but her own son wanted
to inflict the worst kind of harmon his own mom by taking away something
so precious Personally, I don't thinkI could function as a human if this

(24:15):
had happened to me. I mean, I admit that I don't know what
I would do. I'd feel extremesadness, anger, and loss for the
rest of my life. As areminder, Paris Lee Bennett is currently incarcerated
at the Ferguson Unit, Texas StatePrison. He will be eligible for parole
at the age of thirty three yearsold in February of twenty twenty seven.

(24:37):
As you all are probably aware,Ella's light continues to shine and we hope
that Charity and Phoenix remain safe andnever have to worry about Paris ever hurting
them. We avoid giving our opinionsand whatnot on these cases, as well
as family members of those who havemurdered. However, my opinion is that
this is an absolutely horrific way topunish your mother, and I just I

(25:00):
think that Paris is a piece offucking shit for all of this. I
wish he'd stay incarcerated for life.The streets are just much safer without him
free. We would really like tohear what you all thought of this case.
We'd like to maybe start a conversationon the role that our mental health
could play, how we could bemore vigilant in the moment when our kids

(25:23):
show any red flax, and really, if you have any opinions on anything
we'd like to hear all. Allof our lengths are listed in the show
notes, so feel free to reachout. Four year old Ella Bennett was
a bee, and don't you forgetit. In many ways, so is
Charity. Whether she made mistakes ornot. She is a surviving victim in

(25:45):
this because she lost something so preciousto something completely senseless and cruel. Let's
remember, no matter what everybody thinks, she's a mother first, and she
lost something so incredibly precious and innocent. Like all victims and survivors, Charity
and Ella are both bees. Beesare strong, resilient, yet vulnerable.

(26:11):
We must protect the bees at allcosts, for with all bees, we
as a human race cannot survive orthrive in life. So be vigilant,
for when you mess with the bees, you get the hive. Thank you

(26:33):
for listening to A Nefarious Nightmare.Music used in the theme was originally by
ghost Stories Incorporated, remixed by RyanRCX Murphy. Additional background music is provided
by Epidemic Sound. A Nefarious Nightmareis scripted, researched, and produced by
Courtney Fenner and Amanda Cronin. I'mLeani Hobbs and as always be vigilant for

(26:56):
when you mess with the bees,you get the hive.

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S6 E9 - West Texas Psychopath - the murder of Ella Bennett, part 2

Episode Transcript

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