The Death of Dick Long

Before he won his Academy Awards for the smash-hit Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), Daniel Scheinert directed the dark comedy The Dead of Dick Long (2019), inspired by the death of Kenneth Pinyan in 2005. This case, dubbed the “Enumclaw horse sex case,” went on to fascinate and deeply disturb society and led to Washington making bestiality illegal in 2006. As we will learn, sometimes reality truly is stranger than fiction.

Primary Sources:
The Seattle Times (2005)
Seattle Times (2010)
New York Daily News (2018)
Herald Net (2014)
The London Free Press (2016)
Zoo (2007)

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Music: He_s Changing The Game by Darren-Curtis _ https___soundcloud.com_desperate-measurez_Music promoted by https___www.free-stock-music.com_Creative Commons _ Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0)_https___creativecommons.org_licenses_by_3.0_deed.e

Episode Transcript

Ashley (00:08):
Welcome to Criminal Adaptations, the show where we
take a look at some of yourfavorite movies and the true
crime stories that inspired them.
I'm Ashley.
I'm a clinical psychologist andforensic evaluator in the state
of Oregon.

Remi (00:21):
And I'm Remy.
I spent over a decade workingin the film and television
industry in Los Angeles,California.

Speaker 4 (00:27):
Welcome back everyone .
Episode two of season four.
We are here with what is sureto be a controversial and
potentially disturbing episodefor some.
We are talking about the deathof Dick Long.
Before we get into it, a littleextra content warning here
today.

(00:48):
This episode is going to betalking a lot about bestiality
and specifically men having sexwith horses.
So if that is something thatleaves you with the ick factor,
as usual we are going to behandling it as respectfully as
possible.
We don't get too graphic orinto detail here, but there's no

(01:09):
way to skirt around it.
We are talking about bestialityand with that out of the way,
remy, how are you doing today?

Remi (01:16):
I'm doing fine.
Considering the subject matterwe are about to discuss, this is
sure to be a divisive episode.
We had this on the docket forthe past three seasons actually,
but after pitching this idea tosome close friends of ours,
they seemed pretty disgusted andrepulsed by the entire idea.

(01:39):
So we have continuously delayedand delayed and delayed this
episode.
But here it is, Episode two ofseason four.
We are finally going to tacklethe death of Dick Long.
But why are we trying to tacklethe death of Dick Long, Ashley,
I know this movie has somecinematic and legal significance

(02:00):
, believe it or not.

Speaker 4 (02:01):
It really does.
Not only are we feeling ballsyand brave now that we've been
doing this for several seasonsnow, I find this case very
interesting on my end because itactually led to bestiality
becoming illegal in Washington.

Remi (02:17):
And as far as a film aspect goes, believe it or not,
this film was directed by onehalf of the Academy Award
winning duo that directedEverything Everywhere All at
Once, and I know that is one ofour favorite movies, Ashley.
We've seen it quite a few times, I believe, but had no idea
that it was directed by one ofthe people who also directed

(02:40):
this movie.
We watched this how long ago?
It was several years ago anddidn't really know it was a true
story.
I can't really remember.

Speaker 4 (02:47):
We watched it before Everything, everywhere, all at
Once.
So it wasn't really until wewere diving into the IMDb that
we saw this guy's name linked toboth films and I think we might
have heard it was a true story.
I think we did know that, butwe didn't know where or when,
because I know it's not set inWashington.
The movie is not.

Remi (03:08):
And I remember we both found the movie unexpectedly
hilarious during certain parts.
It is a comedy, so we weren'tlaughing rudely at the situation
going on and it's not really ahumorous subject matter.
But the film does have a lot ofcomedy around it without
getting too graphic, which Ireally appreciated.

Speaker 4 (03:30):
Yeah, I remember we were very surprised by how much
we enjoyed the movie.
We kind of thought it was goingto be gross and weird, but it
was surprisingly good.

Remi (03:40):
And how would you describe the research we had to do for
this movie?
Would you describe it in asimilar fashion, as gross and
weird?
Because I sure would.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
There were definitely points where shit got real
weird, as I was diving down therabbit hole into uncovering the
lives of the men that this movieis based on.

Remi (04:00):
Well, with that, enough dilly-dallying, Shall we get
into the Death of Dick Long.

Speaker 4 (04:06):
Let's do it.

Remi (04:13):
Hey you motherfuckers wanna get weird.
The Death of Dick Long is a2019 A24 film directed by Daniel
Scheinert and written by BillyChu.
The film stars Michael AbbottJr, virginia Newcomb, andre
Haland, sarah Baker, jess Wexler, roy Wood Jr, sunita Mani and

(04:34):
Daniel Scheinert as Dick Long.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
That's a lot of names .

Remi (04:38):
And most of them you will probably never see in another
film again.
They are not well-known actors.
For the most part, I would sayI believe that Sarah Baker is
the only one in another film.
Again, they are not well-knownactors.
For the most part, I would sayI believe that Sarah Baker is
the only one in this film that Ihave seen in other comedies.
The film's director, danielScheinert, first met his
filmmaking partner, daniel Kwan,while they were both studying
film at Emerson College inBoston, along with actress

(05:01):
Sunita Mani, who laterco-starred in the 2013 music
video for DJ Snake and LittleJohn's smash hit Turn Down for
what, along with Daniel Kwan.
The provocative video, whichwas co-directed by the duo, who
are often referred to as theDaniels due to their shared
first name, went on to garnerover a billion views on YouTube

(05:23):
by late 2020, which is a veryimpressive feat, to say the
least.
Beyond the staggering amount ofviews, the video was able to
reach Turn Down For whatadditionally won the awards for
Best International Dance Videoand Video of the Year at the
2014 UK Music Video Awards, bestDirection at the 2014 MTV Video

(05:45):
Music Awards and earned anomination for Best Music Video
at the 2015 Grammys.

Speaker 4 (06:02):
Wow, that really is something.

Remi (06:05):
It is a raunchy video, like you said while we were
watching it a second ago, but itis really really really well
directed.
Did you have a part that reallystuck out to you while we were
watching it?

Speaker 4 (06:16):
I like just all the dance moves of the main guy,
which you told me is Daniel Kwan, the co-director.

Remi (06:23):
He really does give it his all.
He is dancing full force andbusting a move and not holding
back at all and he is definitelya highlight of the video.
But I don't know what part ofthe video personally sticks out
the most.
I really do enjoy the partwhere he picks up the telephone
to call someone and he yells,turn down for what?

(06:45):
Into the phone and the person'sface on the other end just
melts into a skeleton.
It's a very, very cool video,very original and, like most of
the Daniels projects, it'sprobably not for everyone, I
would say.
But if you're into some weirdshit, give it a watch.

Speaker 4 (07:01):
I do respect that these guys are willing to take
on the ridiculous roles in theirmovies.
Like I know, in everything,everywhere all at once.
Daniel Kwan is the guy thatruns and jumps on the dildo and
I can't remember who the otherDaniel is, but I know he's in
that same scene.

Remi (07:20):
The other.
Daniel plays the S&Mbusinessman and Daniel Kwan
plays the.
I think he's a security guardthat starts a kung fu fight and
he ends up with a dildo in hisbutt and fighting with another
dildo.
It's very memorable.
The Daniels had previouslydirected music videos for
artists such as Foster thePeople, the Shins and Tenacious

(07:42):
D since 2011.
And in 2018, kwan co-foundedthe group we Direct Music Videos
, or WDMV, which he hasdescribed as a global community
of music video directors who arecommitted to sustainable
directorial labor practices.
That's nice.
Yeah, it's pretty commendable.
By 2016, the Daniels hadexpanded into the realm of

(08:05):
feature films by writing anddirecting Swiss Army man for A24
, starring Paul Dano and DanielRadcliffe.
The film, which centers aroundthe story of a lonesome man who
befriends a flatulent corpse ona deserted island, only
continued to fuel the Daniels'momentum after being
well-received by both audiencesand critics alike, as well as

(08:27):
winning the duo the DirectingAward at the 2016 Sundance Film
Festival.

Speaker 4 (08:33):
Another very, very, very weird movie.

Remi (08:36):
All of their movies and music videos are pretty unusual,
but they are all exceptionallywell-shot and remarkably
creative.
For their next project together, the Daniels announced in 2017
that they would write, directand produce a science fiction
film that they had been workingon since 2010, based on the

(08:57):
multiverse concept.
Normally, the duo would writetheir screenplay concurrently
together, but after theexhausting experience of Swiss
Army man, it was decided thatKwan should work on the first
draft of their multiverse film,solo, while Scheinert went off
to decompress by directing asmaller film grounded in reality
, before returning to the duo'smuch more ambitious project.

(09:20):
Meanwhile, scheinert's collegefriend, billy Chu, had been
working at Panera Bread back intheir home state of Alabama,
working on his own script sincegraduation.
So when the opportunity finallyarose for Billy to turn his
original screenplay into afeature film, he called up his
old pal, daniel Scheinert to askif he'd be interested in

(09:40):
directing.
Since Kwan was still offironing out all of the plot
details of their multiverse filmand likely wouldn't be finished
with the first draft for quitesome time, scheinert gladly
accepted Chu's offer to direct,considering the project as a
welcome change of pace from theDaniels' previous cinematic
endeavors.
Supposedly when Scheinert firstrevealed his intention of

(10:03):
directing Chu's script.
Scheinert's manager wasvehemently opposed to his client
choosing this particular scriptas his next project.
I wonder why, in spite of this,scheinert still approached A24
to produce the film and,surprisingly, the company did
agree to finance the projectwith a $1 million budget, based

(10:25):
primarily on the goodwillScheinert had attained due to
the success of Swiss Army manWith the wheels now fully in
motion.
It was officially announced in2018 that Daniel Scheinert would
be directing his first and, todate, only solo film from an
original screenplay written byhis college friend, billy Chu.
The film is described as ablack comedy-drama with the

(10:49):
foreboding title the Death ofDick Long.
When asked if he was at allnervous about directing the film
without his partner, danielKwan, by his side, scheinert
jovially retorted Normally I getto work with my best friend,
daniel, but this gives me theopportunity to work with my
other best friend, billy.

Speaker 4 (11:08):
Aww, that's nice.

Remi (11:10):
Throughout the press tour, scheinert would also regularly
joke that the script Billy hadwritten was actually
autobiographical.
As far as casting goes,scheinert sought out actors with
southern origins forauthenticity, since the film
would be shot entirely onlocation just a few miles away
from Shynert's hometown ofBirmingham, alabama.

(11:31):
Because there was no castingdirector for the film, all of
the roles were filled throughlocal auditions and
recommendations from Shynert'smanager.
At one point, shynert eventried searching on IMDb Pro for
actors originally from the South, which led to Sarah Baker
landing the part of OfficerDudley.
Actress Virginia Newcomb, whois also from the South, later

(11:54):
stated in interviews that duringher audition, sheinert had her
read for every single characterbefore ultimately casting her as
Zeke's wife Lydia Olsen.
Before ultimately casting heras Zeke's wife Lydia Olsen
Because of the film's severesubject matter, shiner would
regularly have impromptu danceparties with the entire cast and
crew after shooting any scenehe felt was too emotionally

(12:15):
dramatic.
He did this in order to keep alight mood on set throughout the
duration of filming.

Speaker 4 (12:20):
Probably playing turndown.
For what?

Remi (12:23):
I can only hope so.
For the film's score, shinerenlisted the services of Andy
Hull and Robert McDowell, whoare both members of the band
Manchester Orchestra and hadcomposed the music for Shiner's
previous film, swiss Army man.
The remainder of the soundtrackis made up of songs that the
director referred to asemotionally masculine, and

(12:44):
includes music from StainedCreed, nickelback and Gucci Mane
.

Speaker 4 (12:50):
I do not think that is going to be a record that I
will be purchasing.

Remi (12:54):
I remember when we were going over the soundtrack to try
and find music for this episode, every song I was reading out,
you were just like nope, nope,like, nope, nope, nope, nope.
But enough pre-production.
Should we get into DanielSheinhardt's the Death of Dick
Long?

Speaker 4 (13:11):
let's do it.

Dick Long Scene (13:12):
The time has come break it to me gently To me
, gently, let me down the easyway.

Remi (13:31):
Our story begins in a cramped garage with a band
rehearsing a painfully off-keycover of Stain's 2001 hit song
it's Been A While while.
The band is composed of threemembers, including Zeke, played
by Michael Abbott Jr, earl,played by Andre Hyland, and, of
course, dick Long, played by thefilm's director, daniel

(13:52):
Scheinert.
The motley group of friendsappear to effortlessly exude a
naturally unpolished,lower-class southern redneck
charm as they continue tostumble their way through the
remainder of practice.
Watching from the sidelines isZeke's wife Lydia, played by
Virginia Newcomb, alongsidetheir young daughter Cynthia,
who both soon head off to bed,leaving the men free to indulge

(14:15):
in their own unique brand ofunsupervised shenanigans.
Once the coast is clear, dickturns to his other bandmates
with a mischievous grin etchedacross his face and asks y'all
want to get weird?
From there, the night spiralsinto a series of increasingly
rambunctious antics, whichinclude shotgunning beers,

(14:35):
smoking weed, using empty beerbottles as target practice and
setting off a few fireworks.

Speaker 4 (14:41):
Obviously, shooting fireworks while you're drunk is
not safe, but none of this seemstoo out of the ordinary yet.

Remi (14:48):
We'll see if that continues, as, once sufficiently
intoxicated, the trio staggersover to the barn, slipping
inside and shutting the doorbehind them, just as the film's
title appears on the screen.

Speaker 4 (15:01):
Ah, so that was like their pregame.

Remi (15:03):
Yes, you gotta get good and crunk before you proceed to
do what these guys do.
Later that same night we cut toZeke and Earl frantically
racing through the streets oftheir quiet little town under
the cover of darkness,desperately searching for a
hospital, while Dick laysincapacitated in the back seat.
The panic only intensifies asthe trio park on a secluded

(15:25):
street and clumsily attempt tocarry Dick towards the emergency
room, dropping him severaltimes along the way.
When they finally reach thehospital entrance, zeke removes
Dick's wallet while mutteringsomething about anonymity,
before abandoning him on thesidewalk moments before a
medical professional discoversDick and rushes him inside.

(15:46):
Shortly after sunrise, the tworeturn to Zeke's house, visibly
shaken by the impendingconsequences of their chaotic
night out with Dick.
After Earl heads home, zekeslips inside and notices that
his clothes have been stainedwith an alarming amount of blood
during the course of theirevening.
Panicking, zeke hurriedly hidesthe evidence by stuffing the

(16:07):
bloody clothing into the kitchentrash beneath a pile of empty
frozen meal boxes, then proceedsto take a shower to scrub
himself clean.
Once finished, zeke sneaks intobed next to his sleeping wife
as if he had been there allnight, just as the morning alarm
clock sounds, indicating thatit is time to get up and start
the day.

Speaker 4 (16:27):
If I were him, I'd be like honey.
I'm pushing snooze a couplemore times.
You start the day.
I'll be right behind you.

Remi (16:33):
He's trying to keep a low profile.
He's trying to act like he hada good night's sleep and nothing
suspicious has occurred.
That's the hand he's trying toplay right now.

Speaker 4 (16:43):
There's no way she didn't hear the shotguns and the
fireworks, so he could justchalk it up to a late night with
the boys.

Remi (16:50):
Despite being visibly drained from the previous
night's events, Zeke stillagrees to drive their daughter
to school that day, so downs acup of coffee in a futile
attempt to overcome hisexhaustion, before inevitably
realizing that he is still inpossession of Dick's wallet.

Speaker 4 (17:07):
This was a weeknight.

Remi (17:09):
Yeah, if he's bringing his daughter to school the next day
.
This was a weeknight, or atleast a Sunday.
Much to Zeke's dismay, hisdaughter, cynthia, immediately
notices that her father's walletis not the same one she had
gotten him as a gift some timeago.
So Zeke is forced to quicklyimprovise a lie by claiming that
he had found the wallet at abar the other night.
After his daughter's inquiryhas been adequately placated,

(17:33):
zeke instinctually keeps thewallet but discreetly removes
Dick's driver's license from itscontents.
Meanwhile, over at Earl'strailer, earl is in the midst of
frantically packing up nearlyall of his belongings into the
back of his pickup truck.
When a neighbor played by TurnDown for what's Sunni Dem Money
casually stops by to see whathe's up to.

(17:54):
Caught off guard, earl makes upa suspicious excuse that
there's been a family emergency.
So he'll be leaving town assoon as possible With all of his
belongings.
So he'll be leaving town assoon as possible with all of his
belongings.
Concurrently, zeke's graduallyescalating dilemma has only
continued to worsen afterrealizing that the backseat of
his car, which he had intendedon driving his daughter to

(18:15):
school in that day, is stillutterly doused in a staggering
amount of his friend's dark redblood.
Acting swiftly, zeke scramblesto conceal the blood-soaked
interior of his vehicle usingsome handy bedsheets, without
arising his daughter's suspicion.
Though not ideal, zeke'sslapdash crime scene cover-up

(18:36):
seems to be working well enoughfor the time being, with the car
appearing ready as it'll everbe to transport Cynthia to
school in.
In an effort to further diverthis daughter's attention, zeke
playfully suggests that she situp front with him during their
drive.
But ever the little stickler,cynthia still insists on sitting
in the back seat, afterreminding her father that it is

(18:59):
not safe for children to ride upfront.
Resigned to his fate, zeke cando nothing but watch as Cynthia
unwittingly settles into thesaturated linens in preparation
for their departure.
You didn't say it, so I willGross.

Speaker 4 (19:15):
I was thinking it.
I feel like it would feel weird, make some weird sound.
It would definitely smell.

Remi (19:21):
And there is of course, the issue of where this blood
had come from as well.
So it's all sorts of nastyAcross town.
The police have been calledinto the local hospital to speak
with the doctor who treatedDick for his injuries the
previous night.

Dick Long Scene (19:37):
You know, I normally don't call y'all about
minor shit, but this just.
This is a big deal, I get it.
This dude's suffering Spence,and I don't think that this
could have happened to himwithout the assistance of a
second party.
Well, what happened?
Well, severe peritonitis of thecolon.
For starters, we didn't evenrealize he was dealing with that
until he started bleeding allover the damn gurney.

(19:59):
Lord.
That's not even what did him in.
Here's what did him inRectohemorrhaging.

Remi (20:09):
Rectal hemorrhaging.
Rectal hemorrhaging.
The doctor continues byexplaining that Dick
additionally sustained severalcranial contusions that are
inconsistent with the rectalhemorrhaging, indicating that
Dick had suffered from some sortof a blunt force trauma to the
head during his attack.

Speaker 4 (20:22):
So probably being dropped.

Remi (20:24):
They did drop him several times on his way into the
emergency room, but for whateverreason.
I was assuming the horse kickedhim in the head, but it could
be just from them dropping himon the sidewalk three or four
times on the way into thehospital.

Speaker 4 (20:37):
Yeah, because if you're dead, wait, your head is
going to smack down unless it'sprotected.

Remi (20:42):
With the autopsy still unfinished, the doctor can only
assume at this point that Dickmust have been the victim of a
violent sexual assault, based onthe amount of semen discovered
in Dick's colon.
We then cut back to Zekegassing up his car on his way to
drop Cynthia off at school.
Officer Dudley, played by SarahBaker, just so happens to pull

(21:09):
up in her police cruiser andhead into the gas station
mini-mart where Cynthia iscurrently inside picking out
some snacks.
To make matters worse, Zekealso realizes that the blood he
had assumed was still hiddenfrom view in the back seat had
gradually managed to soakthrough the bedsheets he had
used as cover.
So Zeke rushes into the storeto retrieve his daughter before
Officer Dudley is able to noticethe red blood stains which have

(21:32):
been absorbed into the back ofCynthia's dress.

Speaker 4 (21:35):
Did he use, like, white bedsheets for this or
something?
What the fuck.

Remi (21:39):
It was just a lot of blood .
And his daughter was wearing alight dress.
Blissfully unaware of herfather's predicament, cynthia
begins chatting with OfficerDudley about the wallet her
father claimed he had found atthe bar last night.
Left with no other choice, zekereluctantly hands over Dick's
wallet to Officer Dudley, whilecarefully shielding Cynthia's

(21:59):
blood-stained backside from theofficer's line of sight in the
process.
And just a personal note herethis movie doesn't have any
famous people, but if it did, Ireally think that Wyatt Russell
should have played Zeke.
The actors both look verysimilar and this seems like the
type of role that he would bereally hilarious in.
With Dick's wallet now in policecustody, officer Dudley returns

(22:22):
to the local police stationwhere she is tasked with
investigating Dick's homicide,but only after she has logged in
the necessary informationregarding the missing wallet she
had been given by Zeke.
Down at the gas station, backwith Zeke, we see that rather
than bringing Cynthia to schoolclothed in her conspicuously
soiled attire, he has wiselychosen to bring his daughter

(22:44):
back home for a proper bath inorder to wash off the remaining
evidence.
Moments later, earl arrivesafter leaving work early to
assist Zeke in covering up theirtracks, only to learn that
Dick's wallet is now in thepossession of local police
officers after being voluntarilyhanded over to them by Zeke.
Earl is rightfully perturbed byhis friend's revelation, which

(23:07):
only worsens after Zeke receivesan unexpected phone call from
his wife, lydia, asking if hehad heard anything about the man
who was brutally raped andmurdered the other night.
With the news of Dick's death,along with the impending
investigation into a potentialhomicide, the gravity of the two
men's situation inevitablybegins setting in.
As Zeke justifiably starts tofreak the fuck out, it is

(23:32):
eventually decided that Earlwill drive Cynthia to school
that day, while Zeke staysbehind to continue the cleanup
effort.
After unsuccessfully attemptingto wash the bloodstains from
the bedsheets, zeke then triesburning the evidence in an
outside fire pit, but a lightrainfall foils Zeke's ill-fated
plans of incineration.

Speaker 4 (23:53):
I think at this point you just turn yourself in and
say that your friend did thisthing and you had no part in it
but witnessed it.

Remi (24:02):
Things just keep getting progressively worse and worse
and worse for Zeke throughoutthe movie, less so for Earl.
But yeah, zeke's life is inshambles by the end of this.
Elsewhere, while droppingCynthia off at school, earl runs
into an unanticipated encounteras he comes face to face with
Dick's wife, jane Long, playedby Jess Wexler who works as a

(24:25):
teacher at Cynthia's elementaryschool.
Jane is understandablyconcerned that she has not seen
or heard from her husband theentire morning and questions
Earl about Dick's whereabouts.
But Earl feigns ignorance likea preschooler under
interrogation.
Back at Zeke's, earl returns tolend a hand with scrubbing the
interior of Zeke's vehicle.
While remarking on thesimilarities between their

(24:47):
current situation and amemorable scene from the classic
Tarantino film Pulp Fiction.
Before long the two men come tothe conclusion that even if
they do manage to get every laststain out, the police would
still be able to test for DNA.
So the duo hastily devises abrand new scheme to dispose of
Zeke's vehicle and claim that ithad been stolen.

(25:09):
Do you think this is a goodidea, ashley?

Speaker 4 (25:11):
I don't.
I think they're just giving thepolice more crimes they can
charge them with in thiscover-up scheme.

Remi (25:18):
Well, we then watch as another series of unfortunate
events unfolds before our veryeyes.
As a failed attempt to sinkZeke's vehicle in a shallow lake
results in the car onlybecoming partially submerged.
With tensions running high, theordeal culminates with both
Zeke and Earl falling into themuddy water, resulting in a the

(25:42):
two friends out of sheerfrustration.

Dick Long Scene (25:45):
I'm already being a dickhole Fuck.

Announcer (25:55):
Stop it, dude, I'm fucking bleeding.

Dick Long Scene (25:58):
Yeah, that's what's up.
Sorry, Fuck dude, I think youmade me chew my tooth, oh,
seriously.

Speaker 4 (26:08):
The way that car just was going in the water and just
stopped was priceless.

Remi (26:13):
It was like a boot in mud.
It just stuck and was not goinganywhere, and I want to say
that the actor who plays Earl,andre Hyland, does an amazing
job playing this dumb redneckcharacter in this movie.
He is a standout performance inthe film.
Exhausted and now drenched inlake water, zeke and Earl trudge

(26:35):
back to their homes, with Zekediscreetly tossing his license
plate into the woods along theway.
Arriving back at his humbleabode, zeke finds Lydia already
inside rhythmically choppingvegetables for dinner.
On the counter directly next toher, glaringly out of place and
seemingly mocking Zeke with itsvery existence, was Dick's

(26:55):
driver's license.
Without even thinking, zekesuddenly blurts out that his car
was stolen, causing Lydia tobecome immediately concerned
that the vehicular theft had insome way been connected to the
murder she had heard aboutearlier.

Speaker 4 (27:10):
That's a leap.

Remi (27:11):
Despite Zeke's repeated attempts to downplay the
incident and dissuade his wifefrom taking any further action,
lydia promptly contacts thepolice to file a report on her
husband's stolen vehicle.
Given the proximity of Zeke'shome and the emergency room
where Dick had been abandoned,the police also begin to suspect

(27:32):
a connection between the twoincidents.
So Officer Dudley is soondispatched to question Zeke and
Lydia.

Speaker 4 (27:38):
I would never think these two things were related.
The car was stolen like thenext morning.

Remi (27:44):
It's a very small town.
It seems like the type of townwhere there really isn't much
crime in general on a dailybasis.
So two things happening in onenight.
I can understand why the policemay think there could be a
connection.

Speaker 4 (27:57):
I'm surprised they haven't said oh, that wallet you
found.

Remi (28:01):
During the interrogation, zeke tells the police that he
had gotten home at around fouror 5 in the morning, shortly
after the bar closed.
But the timeline instantlyraises a red flag, as most bars
are not legally permitted tostay open that late.
Lydia further complicatesmatters after mentioning that
she had heard a car peeling outof their driveway sometime

(28:23):
during the middle of the night.
Matters only get worse fromthere when Officer Dudley starts
to question Zeke about the carshe had seen him driving at the
gas station earlier that samemorning.
Clearly flustered Zeke fibs yetagain by claiming that he had
borrowed Earl's car to take hisdaughter to school that day.
Fully aware of just how poorlyall of his answers were going

(28:46):
over with the police officer,zeke excuses himself to the
other room in order to place anemergency phone call to his
cohort Earl and update him onthe dire situation currently at
hand.
I love that most of the humor inthis film is solely derived
from the perspective of howwould you handle it if you had

(29:08):
done something thisembarrassingly awful and it was
about to get out to the world.
And just how much Zeke isfreaking out knowing that it's
gonna happen.
There's nothing you can doabout it, and it's just the
worst thing for anyone to everfind out that you did yeah, yeah
, his life is over once peoplefigure out he's fucking barnyard

(29:29):
animals.
In a moment of fleeting goodfortune, zeke is granted a
temporary reprieve from hisinquisition when the police are
called back to the hospital foran urgent update regarding
Dick's autopsy results.
After the officers leave, Zekebreathes an unfounded sigh of
relief, just as Cynthia walksinto the room and proceeds to

(29:51):
totally contradict every singlestatement Zeke had just given.

Dick Long Scene (29:56):
Are you okay?
Yeah, I'm okay, are you gonnaget it back?
I don't know.
When was it stolen?
know when was it stolen lastnight?
no, yeah, huh no, you drove mein it this morning.
No, baby, that was earl's car.
No, before that, at the gasstation.

(30:17):
Yeah, this morning, before hecame and took a bath.
What is she talking about, z?

Announcer (30:22):
she's confused.

Dick Long Scene (30:24):
Maybe it's not stolen.
Sweetheart, did Daddy take youto school this morning?
No, I don't know why it did.
See.
There you go.
Daddy drove me to the gasstation in his car.
The rusty one Sweetheart.
Dinner will be ready in a bit.
Why don't you go run and playwith your playmobiles?

(30:45):
Did I get daddy in trouble?

Speaker 4 (30:49):
Yes, you did get daddy in trouble, you shut up.

Announcer (30:51):
Thank you, baby.

Speaker 4 (30:52):
This little girl is so cute and I bet Zeke is so mad
that he raised her so well.
And to tell the truth, and toobey front seat passenger laws,
she's a very honest, law-abidinglittle girl and, yeah, she's
adorable.

Remi (31:09):
Lydia continues to press Zeke for answers and after what
I can only assume was an intenseamount of shame-filled
self-deliberation, zekefalteringly reveals the
horrifying truth that his friendDick had died while having sex
with their family horse Comet.
As Lydia attempts to processthe barrage of emotions flooding

(31:31):
through her body, her initialshock rapidly deteriorates into
unmitigated disgust as Lydiasoon realizes that her husband,
zeke, has also repeatedlyparticipated in various sexual
encounters with Comet over thepast eight years.
Understandably distraught andunable to fully comprehend the

(31:54):
earth-shattering news she hadjust been given, lydia breaks
down into tears, vomits andvehemently banishes Zeke from
the property.

Speaker 4 (32:03):
Understandably so.

Remi (32:05):
Panicked that Lydia may now go to the authorities with
this new information, zeke triessneaking back into the house
through a kitchen window, butonly ends up badly injuring
himself along the way.
Contemporaneously, down at thehospital, the police have just
learned, after further DNAtesting, that the semen found in
Dick's colon had in factoriginated from a stallion.

(32:28):
Back at the Olsen home, lydiasilently bandages Zeke's injured
hand, still visibly shaken byher husband's sexual deviancy.
Once finished, zeke is expectedto leave again, but first Lydia
demands that he clarify a fewmore things before he finally
hits the road.
After some initial apprehension, zeke confesses that he and

(32:50):
Earl had both been involved in asexual relationship with Comet
long before Zeke had ever metLydia.
But he still insists thatneither of them had ever tried
anything like Dick had triedthat night.

Speaker 4 (33:06):
I'm calling bullshit.

Remi (33:07):
Despite his transgressions , zeke laments that he is still
in love with Lydia and Comet.
But Lydia has had enough andcannot bear hearing another word
, so storms out of the roomoverwhelmed by her feelings of
betrayal and heartache.
Despondent, and with his lifecrumbling all around him, zeke
says a painful goodbye to hisdaughter before setting off on

(33:28):
the long walk over to Earl'strailer.
On the way, earl meets Zeke ata bar where Zeke eagerly downs
six beers as Earl indulges in anorder of crispy onion rings
with a side of yellow mustarddipping sauce.
Meanwhile, the police havefinally deduced that the wallet
that Zeke had given to OfficerDudley belonged to a man named

(33:48):
Richard Long.
As Earl is driving Zeke back tohis trailer, zeke has a sudden
change of heart about fleeingtown and asks that Earl instead
drop him back off at home.
However, zeke isn't quite readyto face his family again just
yet, so quietly sneaks down tothe barn to have an intimate
reunion with his old friendComet.

Speaker 4 (34:09):
My god man.

Remi (34:11):
He is discovered there sometime later shirtless,
brushing Comet's mane, by Dick'swife Jane, who is still feeling
uneasy about her husband'smysterious disappearance.

Speaker 4 (34:22):
Did she not report him as a missing person?

Remi (34:24):
She has not.
No, it's only been a day, so Ithink that she hasn't thought of
something bad happening to himjust yet.

Speaker 4 (34:32):
I guess I forgot that .
This is all in a day.
This is a lot for 24 hours.

Remi (34:37):
Over a few beers.
Jane nervously asks Zeke ifDick might be cheating on her.
But Zeke reassures Jane thatshe has absolutely nothing to
worry about.

Speaker 4 (34:48):
She has a lot to worry about.

Remi (34:50):
Walking back from the barn , zeke and Jane spot Officer
Dudley returning to the housefor further questioning Inside.
Zeke, jane Lydia and OfficerDudley all sit around the
kitchen table engulfed in aruminating tension so thick that
it's nearly palpable.
Unbeknownst to Zeke, officerDudley is only there for a few

(35:12):
simple follow-up questionsregarding his stolen vehicle and
because of thismisunderstanding, zeke foolishly
ends up incriminating himselfwithout even realizing it it see
, why didn't you just call us?

Ashley (35:29):
mr olsen, I what I left his wallet here last night why
didn't you just give it back tohim tonight at practice then?

Dick Long Scene (35:53):
I don't know, I don't know anything.
I don't know anything.
For God's sake, mr Olsen.

Announcer (36:11):
Mr Olsen, lydia didn't know about any of this
until tonight.

Speaker 4 (36:22):
Know about any of what.
Mr Olsen, this is what happenswhen you come up with these
little lies to cover yourprevious little lies.
At some point they start tocontradict each other and you
are screwed.

Remi (36:31):
Especially if you're just lying off the top of your head
without giving any real thoughtinto the lie ahead of time.
This is the perfect example ofwhy just making up lies on the
fly is probably not the bestidea when you're dealing with
police officers.

Speaker 4 (36:48):
Or lying at all.
Just get a lawyer.

Remi (36:50):
Be like Cynthia, not like Zeke.
Realizing the jig is up, zekebolts from the house with
Officer Dudley hot on his heels.
In an act of sheer desperation,zeke runs to the barn and frees
Comet the horse, but ispromptly tackled to the ground
and placed under arrest byOfficer Dudley.
In the days that follow, thepolice recover Zeke's abandoned

(37:12):
vehicle and we learn that Zekehas been released from custody
after Dick Long's death is ruleda misadventure rather than a
homicide.
Due to neither family wantingto draw any media attention from
the incident, no furthercharges were filed, and I don't
know if I would have filed anycharges either.
This seems like the type ofthing you'd rather not have

(37:34):
other people know about.
Despite this, officer Dudley isstill awarded with a homemade
quiche for cracking her firstcase, so a bit of good came out
of this.
Lydia and her daughter move inwith Cynthia's grandfather,
while Zeke reunites with his oldfriend Earl at a motel
someplace outside of town withthe intention of relocating and

(37:55):
starting anew.
The film concludes with Zekeand Earl sitting in front of
their motel room haphazardlysinging off-key Nickelback
covers as the credits roll.
And that was the Death of DickLong.
What do you think, ashley?

Speaker 4 (38:10):
What a wild, wild ride.

Remi (38:13):
It is a good movie, in my opinion, and definitely not for
everyone.
But I am curious to see howmuch of this, if any, connects
to the real story, because inall of the research I did, they
did not ever acknowledge thatthis was based around a true
story and never discussed thetrue story at all.

Speaker 4 (38:32):
And for everyone who is a little hesitant about
watching this movie, one thing Ido remember from it is that
there's nothing shown about anyinappropriate sexual behavior
between the men and the horse.
It's all implied, but it's notgraphic or gratuitous or
anything like that.

Remi (38:49):
Yes, there's no nudity, and all of the horrific events
are in most cases just alludedto, except when the doctor is
describing what had happened toDick.
But everything else is kind ofleft to your imagination, and I
know that the way they werepromoting this film, they were
trying to keep it a secret ofhow Dick died.

(39:10):
So if you went into this movieblindly, you would slowly
realize he had died from asexual encounter with a horse,
and if I didn't know that, goinginto this movie I would be
pretty shocked.
But let's get into the releaseof this film.
The Death of Dick Longpremiered on January 26th at the
2019 Sundance Film Festival andreceived a limited release in

(39:35):
just 30 theaters on September27th of that same year.
So not a lot of confidence inthis movie.
The film would later receive anadditional theatrical release
in Japan during the summer of2020 under the alternate title
how Did Dick Long Die?
The Death of Dick Longcurrently has an approval rating
of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, witha critical consensus that reads

(39:58):
the Death of Dick Long mixesdark humor with provocative
ideas to produce a sharp blendthat is admittedly uneven but
uniquely satisfying, and, perusual, I agree with that.
Two years later, after reunitingwith his filmmaking kindred
spirit, daniel Kwan, the Danielsfinally unveiled their

(40:19):
multiversal magnum opus,everything Everywhere All at
Once, on March 25th 2022.
The film received widespreadcritical acclaim and was a
significant box office success,earning the duo several awards
and accolades, including BestPicture, best Original
Screenplay and Best Director.

(40:40):
At the 95th Academy Awards, thefilm received 11 Academy Award
nominations in total, which wasmore than any other film
nominated that year, and walkedaway with seven statues by the
end of the evening Prior to theOscars, the media website IGN
had calculated that EverythingEverywhere All at Once even
managed to surpass 2003's theLord of the Rings, the Return of

(41:04):
King, as the most awarded filmof all time.
Everything Everywhere All atOnce is also currently A24's
highest grossing film and iscommonly thought of as the
company's most successfulfeature to date.

Speaker 4 (41:19):
I would definitely agree with that.

Remi (41:21):
That same year, the Daniels signed a first look TV
deal with A24, as well as afive-year film deal with
Universal Pictures, and werefeatured on the 2022 Time 100
Next list, which recognizesleaders who are not waiting long
in life to make an impact andare not following the
traditional power structures andpathways that have determined

(41:44):
what influence looked like inthe past.
So they're doing something newand I like that.
Since their success, theDaniels have directed one
episode of 2024's Star WarsSkeleton Crew and in February of
2024, it was announced that theDaniels' next feature film
would be an event film releasedon June 12th 2026.

(42:06):
And that was Daniel Scheinert'sthe Death of Dick Long, a film
he seemingly made as just abreak from the crazy stuff he
was doing with the other Daniel,something where he got to go
back to his hometown see a lotof his old friends work with his
friend Billy.
And this film has no specialeffects.

(42:26):
It has no stunts.
It's very, very grounded, whichis a weird word to use with
this film, but it is asignificant change from the
films the Daniels usually make.
Most of their projects Iusually end up watching and I am
just in awe of how much effortwent into making it, especially

(42:46):
everything everywhere all atonce, the amount of cutaways,
the amount of costumes, theamount of planning that needed
to go into that film my brainbegins melting just thinking
about it.
So this tiny film about a manwho died while having sex with a
horse was the other Daniel'sway of taking a break from all
of that.
And then he went right back toit afterwards and made the

(43:08):
biggest film of his career.

Speaker 4 (43:10):
And I'm sure their 2026 blockbuster film is going
to be a great follow up to theirlast one.

Remi (43:19):
There has been literally no information released about it
.
As of this podcast, if I hadmore info I'd give it, but I
don't have anything.
They're keeping it a secret,and I am going to be there the
day it comes out, really lookingforward to it.
Can't wait to see what theseguys do next.
And.
I also can't wait to hear howmuch of the death of Dick Long

(43:39):
is actually true.
So, ashley, do you want to hitme with the true story?

Speaker 4 (43:44):
Yes, be prepared to be shocked.
The early morning hours of July2nd 2005 started out like any
other for the doctors atEnumclaw Community Hospital.

(44:05):
Enumclaw, by the way, is arural city in King County,
washington, about 40 miles southof Seattle and half that
distance from Tacoma.
Sometime around 5.30 in themorning, a man was dropped off
outside the hospital entrance.
The driver sped away and itwasn't until the man was wheeled
into a room that nursesrealized he was already dead.

(44:25):
According to the medicalexaminer's office, the man died
of extensive internal bleedingcaused by a perforated colon.
Although the death was ruledaccidental, law enforcement was
obviously contacted.
The driver's license in theman's pocket, which was used to
track down his family andacquaintances, identified the
decedent as 45-year-old KennethPinion.

(44:46):
Pinion worked as an engineerfor Boeing for the past eight
years, although from Seattle, herecently moved to Gig Harbor,
washington, a beautiful city 45miles south of Seattle.
He moved there to build a newhouse and barn Bank records
revealed he was about to beginmaking mortgage payments at the
time of his death.
He was divorced, but close tohis ex-wife and son whom,

(45:08):
according to the 2007documentary Zoo, were visiting
Seattle at the time of his death.
With the man identified,investigators turned to the car
that dropped Pinion off at thehospital.
Surveillance cameras capturedthe license plate number and led
authorities to 54-year-oldJames Michael Tate.
Tate was a truck driver wholived in a trailer next to a

(45:29):
40-acre ranch that bred Arabianstallions in an uncorporated
area five miles north ofEnumclaw.
It wasn't long beforeinvestigators learned that the
farm was known in zoophile chatrooms as a destination for
people wanting to have sex withlivestock.
A quick rundown on definitionshere.
Paraphilia is a term foratypical, intense and persistent

(45:51):
sexual interest, urges orfantasies.
Paraphilias can involve objects, activities or situations that
are not typically associatedwith sexual gratification from
inflicting pain, exhibitionismor flashing when someone gets

(46:14):
excited by exposing theirgenitals to unsuspecting persons
, and voyeurism or peeping,getting turned on by watching
others naked or having sexwithout their knowledge.
Zoophilia is a sexual disorderin which a person is sexually
aroused by animals.
Zoophilia refers to the actualsexual arousal, while bestiality
is the actual act of having sexwith an animal.

(46:36):
Given the tabooness of thissubject matter, it's hard to get
an accurate estimate on howcommon paraphilias are.
However, one study from 2021estimated the prevalence rate of
zoophilia to be about 2% of thepopulation.
Back to our story.
During a raid of Tate's trailer, police seized about 100 videos
amounting to hundreds of hoursof men engaging in bestiality.

(47:00):
One of the videos featuredPinion being penetrated by a
large stallion the night he died.
Tate Douglas Spink who I'll getinto much more later and an
unidentified man were believedto have been involved.
So what in the world happenedhere, and how did Pinion get to
the point of dying whilefornicating with a horse?
Well, several years prior, hereportedly lost the ability to

(47:23):
experience certain sensationsafter a serious motorcycle
accident.

Remi (47:28):
So he had a diminished sense of pain.
Reception.

Speaker 4 (47:33):
Yeah, and he couldn't experience sexual gratification
.

Remi (47:36):
Was he just numb from the waist down or something like
that?

Speaker 4 (47:39):
I'm not really sure, but the pursuit of getting his
rocks off led him toincreasingly extreme sex acts,
which culminated in anal sexwith horses, made possible by
the use of a horse breedingpheromone.
I don't want to get too graphicinto the other sexual escapades
he tried, but they becamegradually gradually more intense

(48:01):
and severe.
In the early 2000s he found agroup of men online who referred
to themselves as zoos and metat Tate's farm for communal
bestiality weekends.
These men filmed theirendeavors and posted the videos
online.
Tate was selective about whocould join the group, but about
a year before his death Pinionreceived an invitation to one of

(48:23):
these weekend parties.
When he was featured in thesefilms, he went by the alias Mr
Hands.
Pinion's family never suspectedhe was into bestiality.
In fact, they were surprised tolearn he purchased a stallion a
year earlier and was boardingit at a friend's farm in
Edomclaw until the constructionof his barn in Gig Harbor was

(48:44):
finished.

Remi (48:45):
I feel like if you have a family and you have these sort
of inclinations, unless theywere aware of it from day one,
this is not something you'regoing to say, you're getting
into later on.
You're probably going to keepthis a secret.

Speaker 4 (48:59):
And because he was divorced and his kid lived with
his mom out of state, it wouldhave been much, much easier for
him to hide this from others.
Although the men typically usedthe horses on Tate's property
for the sexual encounters, thechosen one on the night of
Pinion's death, according to lawenforcement, wasn't quote
particularly receptive.

Remi (49:20):
These poor horses.

Speaker 4 (49:21):
Since Tate just so happened to live next to a ranch
that bred Arabian horses, thefour men snuck into a barn to
film the encounter that killedPinion.
The Seattle Times was the firstto report on this case.
Two weeks later, the initialstory became the paper's most
read article of 2005.

Remi (49:40):
This may be a strange question, and if you don't know
the answer, that's fine, but doyou know the name of the horse?

Speaker 4 (49:47):
I do.
It's not as cute as Comet.
They just simply referred tothis horse as Big Dick.

Remi (49:54):
This horse was not being introduced to other people
around town.

Speaker 4 (49:57):
No, because this horse wasn't owned by Tate or
any of these men.
They snuck onto his neighbor'sproperty and just picked one of
the stallions there.
So that's kind of why theythink that this happened,
because, even though they hadhad sex with horses before, this
one was a Arabian stallion thatthey had no experience with.
So it sounds like they wereused to the horses, or at least

(50:19):
the one or two that they had onTay's property, but they
couldn't get the horses to mountthem.
So they snuck onto the propertyand just picked a random horse.

Remi (50:29):
That seems ridiculously risky.
Just going out and finding arandom horse to try this sort of
thing with.
Then again, all of it soundsunnecessarily risky.
So yeah, okay.

Speaker 4 (50:40):
The author of the Seattle Times article actually
respected the family's privacyand request to not include any
identifying details about Pinion, but his name and other
information about him that Isummarized previously leaked
after other news agencies pickedup on the story.
The news outstandingly outragedthe community of Enumclaw and

(51:02):
led to an investigation intowhether the other animals on the
farm were victimized.
The moral outrage created adesire to punish those involved,
but since there was no evidencethat any animals were injured
during vet checkups or on thevideos, animal cruelty charges
were off the table.

Remi (51:18):
Wait, wait, wait.
So the animal needs to beinjured for charges to happen.
It can't just be animal abusethat they are forcing animals to
participate in these acts thatthey clearly don't want to do.

Speaker 4 (51:30):
How it sounded to me is how that statute for animal
cruelty was written inWashington.
There had to be signs ofphysical harm and there were no
signs of physical harm.
Prosecutors also quicklydiscovered another legal
loophole Bestiality was notillegal in Washington at the
time.
In the 1970s, many statutesthat criminalized certain sex

(51:52):
acts in various states wererepealed, largely since they
made oral and anal sex, referredto as sodomy between consenting
adults, illegal.
Washington repealed theirsodomy law on September 1st 1976
.
Since bestiality was lumped inwith that statute, it meant in
Washington, along with 16 otherstates at the time, there was

(52:14):
nothing on the books that madesex with animals illegal in 2005
.
The Enumclaw horse sex caserapidly prompted the Washington
state legislator to take action.
Senate Bill 6417 passedunanimously on February 11, 2006
.
Unanimously on February 11th2006.

(52:36):
The Senate leader that wasbehind all this joked that it
was the easiest bill she everpassed, because who's gonna say
no?
It prohibited having sex withor videotaping sexual acts with
any animal dead or alive.

Remi (52:46):
And it's about time.

Speaker 4 (52:48):
The bill made bestiality a Class C felony,
punishable by up to five yearsin prison and a $10,000 fine.
After the law passed, manyzoofiles fled to other states
where the practice was not yetillegal, including Tate, who
moved to Tennessee for that veryreason.

Remi (53:04):
Is bestiality still legal in some states in America?

Speaker 4 (53:08):
Well, it took a while , but at the time of this
recording there is only oneholdout state without a
bestiality law on the books.
Can you guess what it is?

Remi (53:17):
Mississippi.

Speaker 4 (53:18):
West Virginia.

Remi (53:20):
Wow, I apologize to Mississippi.

Speaker 4 (53:22):
New Mexico and Connecticut were the last two
states to create their own lawscriminalizing the practice in
2023.
James Tate was the only personto be charged with the crime
following Pinion's death, sinceDoug Spink and the other
unidentified male weren'tactually seen on the video
showing how Pinion died.
However, since bestiality waslegal and there was no evidence

(53:44):
any of the horses werephysically harmed, the state
could only charge Tate with onecount of criminal trespass in
the first degree.
This charge was possiblebecause the owners of the farm
where Pinion died were not awarethe men entered their property
On November 29, 2005, tateentered an Alford plea, which is
like a guilty plea, but allowsthe defendant not to admit guilt

(54:06):
on record.
Instead, the defendant admitsthere is enough evidence to
likely convict them, but theymaintain the right to remain
silent while accepting whateversentence is determined by the
judge.
Tate received a one-yearsuspended sentence, which means
he would not have to serve anyjail time as long as he complied
with the other terms of hissentence paying a $300 fine,

(54:29):
completing one day of communityservice and never visiting his
neighbor's farm ever again.

Remi (54:35):
Wait, shouldn't he not be allowed 100 feet from a zoo or a
barn or any establishment thathas a variety of animals of any
sort?
This guy should be like bannedfrom animals.

Speaker 4 (54:57):
He's just charged with trespassing, which means
you illegally entered a placeyou shouldn't have.
That is crazy, and it seemslike it'd be easy for anyone to
never go onto that farm everagain, except for possibly Zeke
and the death of Dick Long.

Remi (55:03):
He didn't sneak onto someone else's farm.
This was his horse, comet, thathe had known for over a decade.

Speaker 4 (55:09):
A documentary about this case and bestiality more
broadly debuted at the 2007Sundance Film Festival.
Zoo was one of 16 documentariesselected out of 856 candidates
and was nominated for theDocumentary Grand Jury Prize.
The documentary was wellreceived, with Sundance critics

(55:30):
calling it quote a humanizinglook at the life and bizarre
death of a seemingly normalSeattle man who met his untimely
end after an unusual encounterwith a horse.

Remi (55:41):
Unusual, to say the least.

Speaker 4 (55:43):
Following Sundance, zoo was selected as one of the
top five American filmspresented at the prestigious
Director's Fortnight Sidebar atthe Cannes Film Festival, where
it was also nominated for theCICAE Award, a recognition
reserved for arthouse films.
I am shocked that thisdocumentary which, by the way I

(56:04):
have watched, was at bothSundance and Cannes.
More so Cannes.
That's crazy.

Remi (56:09):
Was it a good documentary?
I haven't seen it.

Speaker 4 (56:12):
I'm going to show you a bit of the trailer in a
minute, so I'll get yourthoughts on the trailer and then
I'll tell you my thoughts on it.
The directors became interestedin the subject matter after
Pinion's death became kind of ajoke in the media.
Their goal was to quote, revivethe humanity of self identified
zoo files and bring moreawareness to the topic.
Although Zoo was well-receivedat these prestigious film

(56:35):
festivals, it didn't really landwith all audiences.

Remi (56:39):
This is not a topic that people are comfortable with for
the most part.

Speaker 4 (56:44):
On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 36% audience rating
compared to a 60% rating bycritics with a consensus that
reads quote while a marginallyfascinating look at a taboo
subject Zoo is bogged by itsoverly artistic presentation.
So now, remy, I'll show you thetrailer.
We're not going to play thefull two minute trailer in this

(57:05):
video, but we'll clip it downand include some snippets from
it for you guys to listen along.

Dick Long Scene (57:12):
The owner died and the horse was left to fend
for itself.

Remi (57:16):
You don't know who else out there thinks how you think
or feels how you feel.

Dick Long Scene (57:20):
I just said, take me to the horse.
Stallions can be very dangerous.
Me personally.
I don't need a whole lot ofhuman contact, I'd rather just
be with our animals.
We didn't know what hisinteraction had been with humans
.
Was he going to try to mount me?

Announcer (57:34):
Someone actually stood there and gave me some
attention.

Dick Long Scene (57:37):
There was a kind of a rope thing with a
small noose and he said this iswhere he would work the horse.
And I thought, well, what do?
you mean.

Announcer (57:45):
It's a very intense, wonderful kind of feeling.

Remi (57:50):
I have actually seen this.
I must have blocked it out ofmy memory long ago.
But yeah, I saw this in filmschool.
One of my friends had it on DVD.
I don't think he owned it.
I think we rented it from theschool actually, and we watched
it for humor purposes.
We basically watched it tolaugh about the ridiculous story

(58:12):
which appears to be what thisdocumentary is trying to prevent
, and make people more aware ofthe real person behind this and
all of that.
But it is hard to sympathizewith someone that carried out
this sort of thing.

Speaker 4 (58:30):
It's a weird documentary.
If you want to watch it, it ison YouTube.
It's only an hour and 15minutes, I think.
It does have interviews withseveral people.
They're all under aliases andthey all knew Pinion and I don't
know if one of them is TateActually I do, because he talks
about how hard it was to move toa different state as a

(58:52):
54-year-old man, which is howold Tate was.
But it has interviews withseveral of them and then most of
it is just like reenactments ofit, which I didn't really enjoy
that much.

Remi (59:04):
That's the stuff I remember.
There's like slow motion shotsthat are really artsy fartsy,
looking of like people in thebarn doing things.
That's what I remember mostabout this movie.

Speaker 4 (59:16):
That's what most of it is, and there actually is a
10 second audio clip that isapparently taken from the video
with Pinion, and it's gross.

Remi (59:28):
We will not be playing that.

Speaker 4 (59:30):
But if you're interested, you can find it on
YouTube.
It's not one I would recommend,but if you're interested in
hearing about what people whoengage in this practice are like
and what their thoughts are,then you will get that.
James Michael Tate moved to afarm in Maury County, tennessee,
as soon as he was able.
On October 11, 2009, ananonymous source sent police a

(59:55):
picture of a man sexuallyabusing a Shetland pony on a
farm.
Two days later, tate, the farmowner, and a woman associated
with both of them were arrestedand charged with three counts of
animal cruelty.
So apparently, having sex witha horse is grounds for animal
cruelty in Tennessee and shouldbe everywhere.

(01:00:16):
Yeah, I wonder if it's becausetheir animal cruelty law had
bestiality written into it.

Remi (01:00:22):
That's the only thing that I can guess, because this seems
like a no-brainer.

Speaker 4 (01:00:27):
According to the arrest warrant, Tate had been
engaging in sex acts with a studhorse for several months,
Allegations both men admitted to.
Veterinarians were tasked withexamining the horses and other
animals on the farm, whichincluded pigs, goats and dogs.
In January 2010, Tate pledguilty and was placed on
probation.
And that's all you can findabout this guy.

(01:00:49):
I don't know if he's stillalive.
I don't know what he's beendoing since All you can find
about this guy.

Remi (01:00:52):
I don't know if he's still alive.
I don't know what he's beendoing since Keeping a low
profile, most likely, as anyonewho was caught doing this sort
of thing would be.

Speaker 4 (01:00:58):
And in my opinion, it sounds like this is the guy
that Zeke is based on, sincehe's the one that owned the car
and Tate's the one that droppedthe body off at the hospital.
But there's one more maninvolved in our story deserving
of attention Douglas Spink, oneof the men present the night of
Pinion's death, who I'm assumingis Earl.
He was born on March 17th 1971and grew up in Harmony,

(01:01:22):
pennsylvania.
He went to a private school,enjoyed fox hunting and showed
an early interest in horsejumping competitions, as well as
training and breeding horsesand dogs.
In a 2018 book written by KarenMaloney, spink claimed he
discovered his sexual attractionto animals when he was 12 years
old, as he preferred to spendnights alone wandering the

(01:01:43):
neighborhood with his goldenretriever.
He said he lived his childhoodin fear someone would discover
his predilections, but hedecided to embrace it after he
was outed in his 20s.
After learning about factoryfarming from PETA, he reportedly
became an intermittentvegetarian and self-proclaimed
animal advocate.
After Spink graduated highschool, he earned a Bachelor of

(01:02:05):
Arts in Cultural Anthropologyfrom Reed College and an MBA
from the University of Chicago.
He was married once and hadrelationships with both men and
women.
He began his career as ananalyst with the Boston
Consulting Group, where heconsulted with Fortune 500
companies.

Remi (01:02:21):
This character is definitely not Earl.
They must have made Earl up.

Speaker 4 (01:02:27):
In the mid to late 1990s, he helped develop and
support several early internettech companies in Oregon.
He became a multi-millionairethrough the sale of several
small businesses, but declaredbankruptcy in 2002.
After that, he startedsmuggling marijuana and cocaine
in and out of Canada for aregional drug lord, while also

(01:02:48):
working towards his PhD insystems science at Portland
State University.
In 2005, he was arrested whiletransporting nearly 375 pounds
of cocaine, estimated to beworth $34 million.

Remi (01:03:03):
This is an interesting human being.

Speaker 4 (01:03:06):
There were signs of Spink's deviant sexual interests
during this arrest.
First he was strangelyprotective of a female German
shepherd, so much so that heseemed completely unconcerned
about the legal predicament hefound himself in.
He also had bumper stickerswith some unknown initials on
his car.
Law enforcement did someresearch into the stickers, in

(01:03:27):
case they were involved withdrug smuggling in some way.
Instead, it led them to a groupdedicated to animal-human love.
While obviously concerning, lawenforcement was more interested
in the drug smuggling andcatching larger fish.

Remi (01:03:42):
So they were basically like well, that's weird.
Okay, moving on.

Speaker 4 (01:03:46):
Pretty much.
Yeah, they were like thisdoesn't really have anything to
do with the drug smuggling andwe don't really know what to
make of it at this point, soit's just kind of noise.
Since Spink cooperated with theinvestigation, he received a
lenient three-year prisonsentence, followed by five years
of parole.
In April 2010,.
The investigators assigned toTate's animal abuse case back in

(01:04:08):
Tennessee were informed bySpinks' probation officer that
he was involved with Tate in aprior case in Washington.
They also learned Spinkcontacted Tate in jail and was
speaking out about how hethought Tate was being
wrongfully prosecuted.
A Google search of his name ledinvestigators to a website for
Exit Point Stallions Limited, ahorse breeding company operated

(01:04:30):
by Spink.
The website contained thefollowing description Are we
unconventional in our approachto stallion care?
Absolutely.
We don't wall off sexual energyin our stallions as something
dangerous or inappropriate, butrather channel that energy
towards positive, safe,appropriate paths.
There's a proper time and placefor it and we work towards

(01:04:52):
those sorts of skills ratherthan fighting unwinnable fights
against deeply rooted instincts.

Remi (01:04:58):
What, the, what, the Fuck.

Speaker 4 (01:05:02):
It doesn't straight out say we have sex with horses,
but if you kind of knoweverything this man is into, it
is clear that that's what he iscommunicating there.

Remi (01:05:13):
It's pretty obvious.

Speaker 4 (01:05:15):
On April 14th 2010,.
Swat raided his compound nearthe Washington Canada border.
39-year-old Spink and a51-year-old Taurus from England
were arrested on the propertyand charged with animal cruelty.
Swat found thousands of imagesof bestiality and child sex
abuse material.
Seven large-breed dogs and fourstallions were seized by animal

(01:05:39):
rescue groups.
Most disturbingly, there were13 mice with their tails cut off
, covered in Vaseline withstrings tied around them.

Remi (01:05:49):
Lemmy winks no.

Speaker 4 (01:05:52):
They unfortunately had to be euthanized.
The evidence led investigatorsto conclude Spink was running a
full-on animal brothel and usingthem to produce bestiality porn
.
The judge also determined helied to his probation officer,
traveled across state lines andviolated Washington's animal
cruelty laws.
However, washington declined tofile charges for animal cruelty

(01:06:15):
, saying it was unnecessary inlight of the federal prosecution
for probation violations, eventhough if they would have
charged him with animal cruelty,it would mean he could never
own animals in the state everagain.
Spinks' lawyer tried to arguehis client never engaged in
bestiality, although a YouTubevideo where Spink references
being in love with several dogsand refers to his horse, capone,

(01:06:39):
as his long-term boyfriendwould beg to differ.
Although the typical sentencefor a first probation violation
was four to six months, thejudge sentenced Spink to three
years because he was anoutspoken advocate for zoophilia
, arguing that animals couldconsent to sex with animals.
During a subsequent interviewwith Vice, spink went as far as

(01:06:59):
to claim that if anyone believedanimals couldn't consent to sex
with humans, well then theycouldn't consent to sex at all,
which, quote means we live in aworld of unrelenting, unpunished
, unacknowledgeable rape.
End quote raising legal fundsfor defendants charged with

(01:07:20):
bestiality.
His attorney testified thatSpink thought zoophilia was
quote a sexual orientation andthat the arguments against it
are the same ones made againsthomosexuality and miscegenation,
which is sexual relationshipsbetween ethnic groups.

Remi (01:07:34):
So this guy became a zoophilia bestiality advocate
like an outspoken advocate.

Speaker 4 (01:07:42):
Yeah, he was very well known in this world.

Remi (01:07:46):
That is quite the life path to choose for yourself.

Speaker 4 (01:07:50):
The tourist who was also arrested with Spank pled
guilty to animal cruelty, spent30 days in jail and was deported
.
Spank was paroled in late 2012under the condition that he
quote shut down his websitespromoting zoophilia and
bestiality and that he notpossess, produce or distribute
any bestiality videos or photos.

(01:08:11):
He also had to agree to regularchecks of his hard drives for
inappropriate pornographicmaterial and could not have any
voluntary contact with animals.
Almost immediately after he wasreleased, he returned to a
bestiality website, bought a dogand boarded horses on a nearby
farm.

Remi (01:08:28):
Who could have seen that coming?

Speaker 4 (01:08:30):
The farm actually belonged to a dog breeder who
lived next door to a bank robberhe met in prison Not long after
Spink moved onto the property.
The man's dog went missingunder mysterious circumstances,
possibly due to him backing outon a deal involving him breeding
Spink's dogs.
The owner believed Spink hadsomething to do with the missing

(01:08:51):
dog, since there was a hole cutin the fence separating their
property.
A female witness even claimedshe once saw the dog in Spinks'
house after it went missing.
Although he filed a civil suitin December 2014, nothing ever
came of it, since all theevidence against Spinks was
circumstantial.
Spinks was arrested whilewearing a dog collar, I may add

(01:09:11):
for violating several conditionsof his parole on March 4th 2014
.
He was sentenced to nine monthsin prison in May, the longest
the judge could impose in thissituation.

Remi (01:09:21):
I just want to point out how ironic it is that the
sentence for trafficking drugsis much more severe than if you
literally rape an animal.

Speaker 4 (01:09:32):
It's because he wasn't charged with any new
crimes.
He was just charged with theprobation violations.

Remi (01:09:38):
I have a feeling that he was doing some stuff behind the
scenes.

Speaker 4 (01:09:43):
Around the time of the prosecution, he gave an
interview to Vice News duringwhich he had this to say a core
precedent was set no longer canzoophobes in the country batter
and coerce people like me intosilence with threats of violence
.
Spink was released four monthslater and immediately entered
Canada illegally by just walkingacross an unguarded section of

(01:10:04):
the border.
On August 9th 2015, canadianpolice responded to a call of a
man acting erratically outside aroadside business.
Three days later, spink wasdriven across the border and
handed over to US authorities,but he was back in Canada by
November when police received acall involving a house fire.
That ended with Spink's arrestfor combativeness.

(01:10:25):
He spent five months in jail,was deported in 2016, and told
he was never welcome back intothe country.
He died from cancer in hismom's Pennsylvania home at the
age of 48 on January 23, 2020.
And that is the true story ofDaniel Scheinert's the Death of
Dick Long.
What do you think, remy?

Remi (01:10:47):
What a crazy fucked up bunch of stories we have just
heard today.
Specifically, the life anddeath of this Spinks character
was just a fucking whirlwind.
Like my God, what a crazy,crazy existence that guy led.

(01:11:09):
But I'll save a lot of mythoughts about how well it
stacked up to the movie for ourverdict.
But it is a crazy, crazy storyfor our verdict.
But it is a crazy, crazy story.
And it seems like this was a lawthat accidentally got repealed
and, as a result, a few peoplegot away with some pretty

(01:11:30):
heinous acts.
And the fact that this sphinxguy was literally out there as,
like an advocate, like do youthink he had rallies?
Who's showing up to theserallies?
Like I don't think this issomething a lot of people want
to be out and proud about.
But yeah, I think that peoplecan have their kinks, they can

(01:11:51):
have their fetishes, they can beinto what they want to.
You know, you be you.
But there are certain linesthat must be drawn when it
starts to affect another livingbeing, and I think those lines
were grossly crossed by theindividuals in these stories.
And I will go on record sayingI do not think that an animal

(01:12:15):
can consent to sex with a human.
Call me crazy, but that's myopinion and I'm sticking to it.
What do you think, ashley?

Speaker 4 (01:12:23):
Yeah, there's a difference between a fetish and
a paraphilia.
So most of the paraphilias thatI described earlier pedophilia,
voyeurism, exhibitionism,sadism those are crimes because
they violate the autonomy ofanother person and in my opinion
, I think having sex with ananimal also violates the

(01:12:44):
autonomy of that animal.

Remi (01:12:46):
Sodomy is still illegal if it is non-consensual.

Speaker 4 (01:12:49):
Exactly so.
There is a fine line betweenhaving certain predilections
that sexually arouse you andhaving sexual predilections that
arouse you but end up harmingother people, and these are all
examples of just that.
But I agree with you.
I think the story of Spink wasthe craziest part of this whole

(01:13:13):
thing.
Just everything that this guygot into after the death of
Kenneth Pinion is justcompletely nuts.

Remi (01:13:22):
He was the Larry Flint for bestiality.

Speaker 4 (01:13:26):
Two men I would not want to be associated with, that
is for sure.

Remi (01:13:31):
Well, I think we have heard enough traumatic details
about these events, so let'sdive into the next portion of
the show, our objection of theweek.
Your Honor, I object.
And why is that, Mr Reed?

Announcer (01:13:48):
Because it's devastating, to my case,
overruled, good call.

Speaker 4 (01:13:52):
Okay, I'll kick us off with this one.
I have two that are contendersand I think I know why the
change was made for one, so Iwon't say that.
So the one I'm going to go withis that in the real story only
Tate dropped off Pinion at thehospital, and in the movie it
was both men that dropped himoff.

Remi (01:14:12):
That's pretty good, but let me first start off by saying
, before I do mine, that thismovie.
Clearly there were a lot ofchanges made between the real
story and the film, but the onethat I thought was the most
meaningless overall, which I doknow why the director chose to
do this, but for story purposesit was kind of pointless.

(01:14:35):
The relocation of the storyfrom Washington to Alabama,
which I understand why thedirector did this.
He is from Alabama and he had alot of his old friends work on
the film, but for the movie itdidn't really need to be Alabama
.
So, yeah, why change it?

Speaker 4 (01:15:01):
one I had.
I thought they changed it justto kind of protect the anonymity
of this guy, but then againthat wouldn't really make a lot
of sense, since it was all overthe news by this point.
So, yeah, I guess he probablydid do it just to be home.
So since we both had that oneon our list, that one can win.
And that leads us to ourverdict.
This is something I am excitedfor.

Announcer (01:15:20):
At the conclusion of each episode, our hosts will
deliver a verdict based on thefilm's accuracy.
If the film is an honestportrayal of the events, then it
will earn a not guilty verdict.
If the adaptation is mostlyfactual but creative liberties
were taken for the sake ofentertainment, the film will be
declared a mistrial.
But if the film ultimatelystrays too far from the
entertainment, the film will bedeclared a mistrial.

(01:15:40):
But if the film ultimatelystrays too far from the truth,
then it will be condemned asguilty and sentenced to a life
behind bars.

Speaker 4 (01:15:48):
Remy, since I kicked off with the objection, why
don't you take the verdict thistime?

Remi (01:15:53):
Let me hear your arguments , Okay my closing statements for
this film is as follows.
This film clearly was inspiredby the real events, but the
director used this project as anexcuse to kind of take some
time off, make a film with somefriends and go back home to

(01:16:15):
Alabama for a little while, andas a result, he didn't seem
really interested or concernedwith the details of the true
story.
This film seemed like somethinghe just did with his friends
for fun, in between these otherhuge projects that were winning
all these awards and getting somuch attention.
So the director made this asyou know, just something more

(01:16:39):
easy.
I can see the real story inthere.
There are aspects of it, but alot was changed and in that
respect I'm gonna go with amistrial for the death of Dick
Long.
I think that the story is thereand there are little details
that matched up and there arelittle details that matched up.
A lot of other stuff waschanged, including the omission

(01:17:03):
of a very crazy character inSpinks.
Because of all that, I'm givingit a mistrial.
But I will say it is on thevery big contingent that this is
not a story that you've heard alot.
This is not an incident thatyou hear in the news regularly
at all.
So in the fact that it is aboutthis specific topic is why it

(01:17:26):
is getting this pass in my mind.
Just that alone seems toconnect it enough.
There's not going to be moremovies about this.
There's probably not going tobe a lot more news stories about
this.
So it is the same story but alot was changed.

Speaker 4 (01:17:40):
I am actually very surprised you went with mistrial
.
I'm giving this movie a guiltyverdict.

Remi (01:17:46):
Okay, plead your case.

Speaker 4 (01:17:48):
So similar to our other guilty verdicts.
The one line synopsis of thetrue case is in the story.
If you had to sum up this case,you would say it was about a
group of men that had sex withhorses and one died.
That's what's in the movie, andhow he died is the same, but
everything else is completelychanged and unrecognizable.

(01:18:11):
This whole movie centers aroundreally not even necessarily the
death of Dick Long, but Zeketrying to get out of it and
cover his tracks, and none ofthe antics that he does which
makes up 80% of the moviehappened at all.
He doesn't even have a wife anda daughter.
Those characters are fake.
The only person that had afamily was Dick Long, and even

(01:18:34):
the little things like themremoving the driver's license
and handing it over to police Inreality, no, his driver's
license was in his pocket.
They had video surveillance ofthe car and they tracked it down
to Zeke very, very easily anduncovered this treasure trove
that no one would want to findof bestiality and this whole

(01:18:56):
zoophile sex ring that this guywas leading and putting on for
years.
So, in my opinion, just becauseyou can tell that this case is
in this story which, yeah, it'sthe only case I've ever heard of
and I think probably exists ofa man dying from a perforated

(01:19:16):
colon by being penetrated by ahorse.
I think just because you cansee the case in it doesn't
necessarily mean that itdeserves not to get a guilty
verdict.

Remi (01:19:26):
My counter argument for that would be what you said at
the very beginning was that ifyou were to describe both of
these stories, it would be thatsame sentence.
Three guys were gettingtogether to have sex with a
horse.
One of them died during theencounter and was dropped off at
the hospital.
Everything else is different,but because that main sentence

(01:19:49):
is the same that is why I'mgiving this a mistrial.
If it was completely out there,like if we said the plot of
Scream and the real person,they're not going to match up in
that sentence.
So because it's got that basic,basic, basic connection.
That is why I'm sticking with mymistrial.

Speaker 4 (01:20:09):
I think you need a little more than a one line
sentence to be able to get thetrue essence of the story in the
film.

Remi (01:20:18):
I rest my case.

Speaker 4 (01:20:19):
I rest mine too Guilty.

Remi (01:20:20):
Mistrial.

Speaker 4 (01:20:21):
But we're curious about what you guys think.
Why don't you send us an emailat criminaladaptations at
gmailcom, or comment on ourInstagram on the post about this
episode, which is just criminaladaptations, or comment on
TikTok, if the video of this isup, about what you think?
The verdict is on this film.

Remi (01:20:41):
I am a little behind on the TikTok, but I have time to
catch up, so there will beupdates in the future.
And speaking of the future,what do we have coming up two
weeks from now, ashley?

Speaker 4 (01:20:52):
We are covering a very fascinating case that I'm
pretty sure everyone who islistening will have heard of, at
least in some capacity.
It is going to be about MarkDavid Chapman, the man who
murdered John Lennon, and I havenever seen the movie Remy.
Why don't film school in LA?

Remi (01:21:12):
and it is a well-made movie, I guess.
But the standout of the film isJared Leto's performance as
Mark David Chapman.
He completely disappears intothe role and I remember me and

(01:21:36):
my film school friends likingthe movie.
But it didn't really get muchof a release because of the
controversy surrounding it and Ibelieve John Lennon's children,
or even Yoko Ono, were veryadamant that this not get a wide
release.
And I don't know all thedetails, that's just what I'm
remembering off the top of myhead.

(01:21:56):
But it should be a veryinteresting story and a true
story that I think most of ouraudience might be familiar with,
but maybe not all aspects of.

Speaker 4 (01:22:05):
Yeah, I knew that John Lennon was assassinated,
obviously, and that the guy wentto prison.
What I didn't know is how Idon't want to say insane that
this guy was, but he definitelyhad a lot of mental health
issues for years leading up tothis crime and for years after,

(01:22:26):
and he's actually still aliveand in prison today.
So it'll be interesting.
Usually when we talk aboutthese really high profile murder
cases, feel like the people aredead either from old age or
execution, so it'll be reallyinteresting to talk about
someone who's still alive andkicking.

Remi (01:22:43):
And been in jail for 40 years almost something like that
now.

Speaker 4 (01:22:48):
Yeah, since the early 80s.

Remi (01:22:49):
Well, with that, we will leave you with a trailer for
chapter 27, which we will bediscussing, and thank you all
very much for joining us thisweek and until next time, court
is adjourned.

Announcer (01:23:04):
I think tomorrow will be a very rough day for me.
When the time is right, it'llhappen.
You're not going to leave yet,are you?
We haven't even seen John,maybe some other time.
You're not gonna leave yet, areyou?
We haven't even seen John,maybe some other time.
I am the catcher in the rye.

(01:23:25):
Help me, devil, give me thepower.
One of these, mine, do it, doit, go, go, go, go, go go, mr
Lennon.