August 28, 2025 • 19 mins
In this episode, we look at the story of Mackenzie Anderson, a 21-year-old young Mother with her whole life ahead of her, who was brutally stabbed to death by her former partner, just days after his release. Despite an Apprehended Violence Order paired with his recent release from prison. Tyrone Thompson stabbed Mackenzie 78 times.
We walk through the failures that allowed her abuser back into her life, and the devastating impact her murder has had on her family and the community.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:17):
Welcome to Exhuming the Truth, the podcast where we delve into
the mysterious worlds of cold cases, missing persons, true
crime, and the fascinating science that is forensics.
I'm forensic scientist and criminologist Asha Walther, and
I am so thrilled to have you with me on this journey as we
dance in the shadows of the world of crime, shining a light
on scientific discovery while becoming another voice for those
(00:40):
who need it most. So grab a drink and get
comfortable while we jump into this episode together.
As always, this podcast is recommended for persons over the
age of 18 and contains explicit content not suitable for minors.
We will be covering sensitive content that ranges from sexual
assault, physical, mental, social, emotional and
(01:01):
psychological abuse, suicide, homicide, murder, attempted
murder, and other violent crimesincluding crimes involving
weapons and drugs. This often extends to drug
misuse and other harmful and illegal activity.
If you find any content to be distressing, I have listed a
number of resources that may be able to help you in the podcast
notes. I'd also like to finally remind
(01:22):
our listeners that all victims and all offenders are someone's
loved 1. So I ask that in any discussions
in our group or on our social accounts that you remain
respectful of that at all times.And by listening today, you also
acknowledge that all persons of interest remain innocent until
proven otherwise. Hey, guys, happy Thursday.
I gave you guys free reign basically to choose the topic
(01:46):
for tonight's episode because I had a couple of ideas lingering
and I, you know, put it out intothe universe, which is my first
mistake, jinxing myself, saying I've got the day to myself.
So, you know, you choose. And I am at your service
thinking that my children were actually going to survive the
day at school after having a couple of weeks off being
(02:09):
incredibly unwell. However, moments mere moments
after I posted that the school did call me to come and collect
my youngest son. So I got both of them at the
same time. So yeah, it's just not we're not
all healthy at the moment. He's otherwise fine.
He's kind of just recovering from his sickness, I guess.
(02:32):
But yes, I put this together anyway.
And this is, again, much like many of the other episodes, one
that I want to talk more about in later episodes.
This one that I have chosen or that you've chosen.
Essentially, this case is actually the case that gave me
(02:53):
the courage to branch out as exhuming the truth on my own.
When this all transpired in 2022, I had graduated and I was
working for an overseas company and a really great job.
But it was all this volunteer work, it was all unpaid and a
(03:15):
lot of my time and effort. And I kind of had been hoping to
go off and do my own thing, but just didn't have the confidence
in myself, I guess, or know how to execute it.
Anyway, come this case, and it really got me.
The story really, really got me.I think there's always a story
(03:38):
or a situation, you know, like these, that there's always that
one that people get stuck on. And this was that one for me.
It really upset me. It inspired a lot of the
advocacy work that I do around family and domestic violence.
Without going into too much detail, I am a victim survivor
of family and domestic violence,as are so, so, so many people in
(04:02):
this country. So this is, I am going to give a
trigger warning because this is really, really awful.
I mean, every story that I tell of other people, it's their
story, I suppose. But I always like to tell it
respectfully. And you know, you do jump on
here knowing that things are going to be obviously a bit
(04:24):
uncomfortable. But if for me, this case hits
home and I know there are a lot of victim survivors of family
domestic violence. So I just want to give that
little extra warning in case youneed it.
But thank you for requesting this and I am I'm glad you chose
(04:45):
this one. And it's also fresh in the news
again, just due to the court proceedings.
So we'll get into that. So welcome to the fight is not
over. That's right.
We are talking about Mackenzie Anderson.
She was the victim in this case.She was aged 21.
(05:06):
The offender was her ex-boyfriend Tyrone Thompson,
who was aged 25 at the time. Mackenzie and Tyrone were
actually a couple on and off between 2019 and 2021 and at the
time of her death, Mackenzie didhave a toddler.
Now a bit of context. So we're going to Mayfield and
(05:29):
I'll take you back to March 20, 2216, days after Tyrone Thompson
was released on parole for previously abusing Mackenzie.
Despite having a court issued AVO, which is apprehended
violence order, Tyrone began consistently and immediately
communicating with Mackenzie upon his release.
(05:53):
So Tyrone was, of course, bannedfrom contact with Mackenzie, but
the court revealed he didn't last a single day.
I have in quotations. As soon as the offender was
released, he called the deceased.
He said that he was coming for her and he loved her.
Now. McKenzie had taken to social
(06:13):
media the day of his release, which was March the 9th in 2022.
And saying I quote I'm OK. My ex Tyrone just got out of
jail from what he did to me and is still being weird and
harassing me. He couldn't even last 24 hours.
Now, just while we're on that, after this had happened and we
(06:33):
all knew the names of the victimand the offender, you were able
to sort of do a bit more independent research.
Whether you did or you didn't, Idid, so I can give you some
insight. Mackenzie is absolutely
gorgeous, gorgeous young lady. She appears to be a very happy,
bright, great mother. And she did post quite a few
(06:54):
videos and photos. And when I say videos, I mean
not really her sitting there talking to the camera, just like
Tiktok kind of videos where she would show the injuries that she
had received from Tyrone, which obviously warranted his jail
time for that abuse. So there is quite a bit out
there. Whether it's still there or not,
(07:15):
I'm not sure. But I do remember looking at the
videos and it really, really broke my heart.
Now come the evening of that date, so March the 9th, he
became volatile. Now, I'm not entirely sure.
There's a couple of conflicting dates around the actual date
that this happened, so I'm not going to give you an exact date.
(07:36):
He was released on the 9th of March, but I'm just going to say
in March of 2022, he became volatile.
Now this is obviously after his release.
He reportedly used a ladder to gain entry into Mackenzie's
home. So Mackenzie lived with her
child. So he got a ladder, used that to
gain access to the home and thatsparked A distressing 000 call
(08:00):
from Mackenzie. So once he had entered her
residence, Tyrone took Mackenzie's phone and he had
actually text her mother Tabithasaying and I quote I'm with her,
she wants me to talk to you. Now she has phoned 000 and she
has said my ex-boyfriend has broken in.
I have woken up to him in my house like I have an AVO on him
(08:24):
now. During this call Tyrone could be
heard in the background saying hang up Mackenzie, to which she
she responded sorry no, stay away from me, stay away from me
she replied twice telling him toleave.
He then grabbed the keys from the internal deadlock on the
front door and he ran from the complex with the keys.
(08:45):
Mackenzie proceeded to yell for someone to get to him and get
her keys off him. She's still on the phone at this
point and she had told the operator that he had stolen the
keys and that he had come at herwith a knife and he'd actually
taken knives out in the kitchen and laid them on the table.
Prior to this and during this time, Mackenzie had also text
(09:06):
one of her female friends sayingthat Tyrone had come at her with
a knife. Now by 10:48 PM he had returned
again, so Mackenzie text the same friend and had alerted them
that he had returned. The friend then decided to run
back to the unit as they had previously been with Mackenzie
that night. So this female friend ran back
(09:26):
to the unit and attempted to open the front door and when she
did manage to get in and open the door, she found Mackenzie
laying on the ground covered in blood with Tyrone standing over
her and stabbing her. Now Mackenzie had injured 78
stab wounds in this brutal attack by Tyrone and the police
arrived on scene at 10:53 PM. So that was about 14 minutes
(09:49):
after Mackenzie had made that 000 call.
And then we have in quotations here of what Tyrone said to the
police in again, in quotations. It took us many times to stab
her till she fucking stopped. He told police that was the end
of it. Now I'm gonna get into the
legals here. Tyrone did plead guilty to
(10:09):
murder, obviously, and Mackenzie's friend obviously was
there to act as witness. Mackenzie's loved ones delivered
incredibly emotional victim impact statements, as you can
imagine. Her mother was obviously beside
herself and she tearfully revealed that the knives that we
used to kill Mackenzie were those of a Christmas gift to
(10:31):
Mackenzie. So she's very emotional as we
can all understand or imagine. The victim impact statements
also basically told the court ofthe really disgusting history of
the prolonged abuse that Mackenzie endured from Tyrone.
And they emphasized the deep andincredibly emotional toll that
(10:52):
that had on their family and obviously the events of her
murder have had on the family. Now in recent events, in the
last few days, the NSW Court of Appeal refused.
That's right. The NSW Court of Appeal refused
to increase the sentence of Tyrone Thompson.
OK. His original sentence was 22.5
(11:14):
years for murder, 22.5 years. How embarrassing.
And that would be with eligibility for parole after
serving just 15.5 years, you guys.
So the New South NSW Director ofPublic Prosecutions or the DPP,
he appealed seeking a harsher penalty.
(11:36):
Which is why it's coming back inthe news again, because they
have appealed that decision and the appeal judges upheld the
sentence, which is just disgusting actually.
And that ruling basically implies that the legal system
values Thompson's future more than Mackenzie's life.
So Mackenzie, heartbroken motherTabatha.
(11:58):
She described the day of the appeal decision as deeply
painful and expressed overwhelming outrage,
disappointment, sadness and all of those horrible, horrible
emotions of being let down by the system once again, feelings
that that she said words cannot capture.
Despite the set back, she remains resolute in saying that
(12:19):
she's not going to stop. She tells everybody that the
fight is not over and she vows to continue to advocate not just
for Mackenzie, but for women allacross Australia.
She's obviously in the face of this incredible injustice.
How can you? And it's not even just take into
account, you know what I mean? He had been serving time for
(12:42):
abusing her. He had a restraining order there
and that did absolutely nothing.He's then come and gone and
contacted her straight away. He stabbed her to death.
She got 78 stab wounds. This is a psychopath. 25 years
or sorry, 22.5 years? What?
(13:02):
What the hell is that going to do?
And like I said, he'll be eligible for parole at 15.5
years, which likely because he is a young man, they will turn
around and say, oh, he's got so much life ahead of him.
Yes, we'll make him eligible when you know, he his period
comes up and it goes to the parole board, which is like it
just the thought of it just infuriates me.
(13:26):
Now, this case, basically my little rant, it's about the case
highlighting the perceived failures in the justice system
regarding femicide sentencing. It's just not enough.
I I cannot give you more words than that.
This is not enough. The leniency of this sentence
and its preservation on appeal under score the systemic issues
(13:49):
around accountability for violence against women in this
country. Like how, how more like we just
can't be any more clear. Like I'm losing my own words
because I'm so passionate about this and it makes me sick.
It makes me sad and it makes me mad.
Mackenzie's child's going to grow up without a mother and
(14:09):
grow up knowing that their mother was brutally murdered.
This is lifelong grief. Grief doesn't just go away.
Tabitha Mackenzie's mother, like, she's never going to
recover from this. This is a life sentence for her
and it needs to be a life sentence for him.
He knew what he was doing. I'm sorry, this is just not good
(14:33):
enough. It's not acceptable.
And I read today in this awful but insightful document from the
femicide watch in Australia thatthe deadliest place for a woman
to be is at home. The deadliest place for a woman
to be is at home. We can't be OK with this.
(14:59):
And because this story hits homefor me and and for our country,
because it is such a crisis, I want to share with you something
a little bit different. And it is a bit of a, it's a
writing piece that you could maybe classify as a bit of a
poem. But it is a letter that I have
(15:22):
written on behalf of me and the the system and our injustices in
the country. And, you know, on behalf of
anyone with a heart to Mackenzieand all of the other sisters who
have endured this, whether they have come out the other side or
not. But more so, this is something
(15:46):
I've put together for Mackenzie,and I would really love to share
it with you. A letter to the sisters.
My dearest sisters, though you are scattered now across the
silent constellations, I write to you as one still tethered to
the earth's ugliest side. The courts may have reduced you
(16:06):
to footnotes, the headlines may have hollowed your names into
single lines, but in the marrow of my bones I carry your pain.
Every breath I take is a witness, every scar a testimony.
You lived inside storms no one else could see.
Love promised to you with one hand, while the other hand drew
(16:30):
blood. And when you cried out for
refuge, the walls of the system answered with silence, a silence
so heavy it turned your hope into lead.
But know this, your voices did not vanish into the air.
They became roots beneath us, pushing up against the soil,
reminding those of us still walking that truth does not die.
(16:54):
It grows wild. I imagine you not as a victim,
but as a secret historian of heartbreak, as a keeper of the
unspeakable. Your absence is not an
emptiness. It's a cathedral.
And in its stained glass windows, I see the faces of
children who will someday speak your name with reverence, not
(17:16):
pity. They will learn that love should
never wear a blade as a crown, that devotion should never carry
the stench of fear. Tonight I place my hand on the
cold stone of this world's injustices, and I whisper, I
will not let you be forgotten. Your stories are the river I
(17:37):
walk beside, sometimes gentle, sometimes flooding.
And though the law may have measured your worth in years too
small to count as justice, we measure you in galaxies.
We measure you in poems, and in the trembling breath of every
survivor who still finds the strength to stay.
(17:58):
So rest, my sisters. Wherever you are, in the hush of
the earth, in the hush of the sky, know that your fight did
not end in your final hour. We carry it forward, ragged but
unyielding. And when they tell us to quiet
down, to forgive, and to forget,we will answer with your names
(18:19):
as if they were battle hymns. Because the fight is not over.
And because of you it never willbe.
With love from one who is surviving but who will never
stop mourning. Thank you so much for joining us
on this new episode. You can subscribe to stay up to
date or you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, and
(18:41):
YouTube. You can help us out by
subscribing to our paid episodeson Spotify or making a donation
to allow us to help more families.
You can also join in on the casediscussions and make case
requests in our Facebook group. You can find the link to in our
podcast notes. You can also take a look at our
current cases on our website. But as always, stay curious,
(19:02):
stay informed, and until next time, trust your instincts and
keep seeking the truth.
Welcome to Exhuming the Truth, the podcast where we delve into
the mysterious worlds of cold cases, missing persons, true
crime, and the fascinating science that is forensics.
I'm forensic scientist and criminologist Asha Walther, and
I am so thrilled to have you with me on this journey as we
dance in the shadows of the world of crime, shining a light
on scientific discovery while becoming another voice for those
(00:40):
who need it most. So grab a drink and get
comfortable while we jump into this episode together.
As always, this podcast is recommended for persons over the
age of 18 and contains explicit content not suitable for minors.
We will be covering sensitive content that ranges from sexual
assault, physical, mental, social, emotional and
(01:01):
psychological abuse, suicide, homicide, murder, attempted
murder, and other violent crimesincluding crimes involving
weapons and drugs. This often extends to drug
misuse and other harmful and illegal activity.
If you find any content to be distressing, I have listed a
number of resources that may be able to help you in the podcast
notes. I'd also like to finally remind
(01:22):
our listeners that all victims and all offenders are someone's
loved 1. So I ask that in any discussions
in our group or on our social accounts that you remain
respectful of that at all times.And by listening today, you also
acknowledge that all persons of interest remain innocent until
proven otherwise. Hey, guys, happy Thursday.
I gave you guys free reign basically to choose the topic
(01:46):
for tonight's episode because I had a couple of ideas lingering
and I, you know, put it out intothe universe, which is my first
mistake, jinxing myself, saying I've got the day to myself.
So, you know, you choose. And I am at your service
thinking that my children were actually going to survive the
day at school after having a couple of weeks off being
(02:09):
incredibly unwell. However, moments mere moments
after I posted that the school did call me to come and collect
my youngest son. So I got both of them at the
same time. So yeah, it's just not we're not
all healthy at the moment. He's otherwise fine.
He's kind of just recovering from his sickness, I guess.
(02:32):
But yes, I put this together anyway.
And this is, again, much like many of the other episodes, one
that I want to talk more about in later episodes.
This one that I have chosen or that you've chosen.
Essentially, this case is actually the case that gave me
(02:53):
the courage to branch out as exhuming the truth on my own.
When this all transpired in 2022, I had graduated and I was
working for an overseas company and a really great job.
But it was all this volunteer work, it was all unpaid and a
(03:15):
lot of my time and effort. And I kind of had been hoping to
go off and do my own thing, but just didn't have the confidence
in myself, I guess, or know how to execute it.
Anyway, come this case, and it really got me.
The story really, really got me.I think there's always a story
(03:38):
or a situation, you know, like these, that there's always that
one that people get stuck on. And this was that one for me.
It really upset me. It inspired a lot of the
advocacy work that I do around family and domestic violence.
Without going into too much detail, I am a victim survivor
of family and domestic violence,as are so, so, so many people in
(04:02):
this country. So this is, I am going to give a
trigger warning because this is really, really awful.
I mean, every story that I tell of other people, it's their
story, I suppose. But I always like to tell it
respectfully. And you know, you do jump on
here knowing that things are going to be obviously a bit
(04:24):
uncomfortable. But if for me, this case hits
home and I know there are a lot of victim survivors of family
domestic violence. So I just want to give that
little extra warning in case youneed it.
But thank you for requesting this and I am I'm glad you chose
(04:45):
this one. And it's also fresh in the news
again, just due to the court proceedings.
So we'll get into that. So welcome to the fight is not
over. That's right.
We are talking about Mackenzie Anderson.
She was the victim in this case.She was aged 21.
(05:06):
The offender was her ex-boyfriend Tyrone Thompson,
who was aged 25 at the time. Mackenzie and Tyrone were
actually a couple on and off between 2019 and 2021 and at the
time of her death, Mackenzie didhave a toddler.
Now a bit of context. So we're going to Mayfield and
(05:29):
I'll take you back to March 20, 2216, days after Tyrone Thompson
was released on parole for previously abusing Mackenzie.
Despite having a court issued AVO, which is apprehended
violence order, Tyrone began consistently and immediately
communicating with Mackenzie upon his release.
(05:53):
So Tyrone was, of course, bannedfrom contact with Mackenzie, but
the court revealed he didn't last a single day.
I have in quotations. As soon as the offender was
released, he called the deceased.
He said that he was coming for her and he loved her.
Now. McKenzie had taken to social
(06:13):
media the day of his release, which was March the 9th in 2022.
And saying I quote I'm OK. My ex Tyrone just got out of
jail from what he did to me and is still being weird and
harassing me. He couldn't even last 24 hours.
Now, just while we're on that, after this had happened and we
(06:33):
all knew the names of the victimand the offender, you were able
to sort of do a bit more independent research.
Whether you did or you didn't, Idid, so I can give you some
insight. Mackenzie is absolutely
gorgeous, gorgeous young lady. She appears to be a very happy,
bright, great mother. And she did post quite a few
(06:54):
videos and photos. And when I say videos, I mean
not really her sitting there talking to the camera, just like
Tiktok kind of videos where she would show the injuries that she
had received from Tyrone, which obviously warranted his jail
time for that abuse. So there is quite a bit out
there. Whether it's still there or not,
(07:15):
I'm not sure. But I do remember looking at the
videos and it really, really broke my heart.
Now come the evening of that date, so March the 9th, he
became volatile. Now, I'm not entirely sure.
There's a couple of conflicting dates around the actual date
that this happened, so I'm not going to give you an exact date.
(07:36):
He was released on the 9th of March, but I'm just going to say
in March of 2022, he became volatile.
Now this is obviously after his release.
He reportedly used a ladder to gain entry into Mackenzie's
home. So Mackenzie lived with her
child. So he got a ladder, used that to
gain access to the home and thatsparked A distressing 000 call
(08:00):
from Mackenzie. So once he had entered her
residence, Tyrone took Mackenzie's phone and he had
actually text her mother Tabithasaying and I quote I'm with her,
she wants me to talk to you. Now she has phoned 000 and she
has said my ex-boyfriend has broken in.
I have woken up to him in my house like I have an AVO on him
(08:24):
now. During this call Tyrone could be
heard in the background saying hang up Mackenzie, to which she
she responded sorry no, stay away from me, stay away from me
she replied twice telling him toleave.
He then grabbed the keys from the internal deadlock on the
front door and he ran from the complex with the keys.
(08:45):
Mackenzie proceeded to yell for someone to get to him and get
her keys off him. She's still on the phone at this
point and she had told the operator that he had stolen the
keys and that he had come at herwith a knife and he'd actually
taken knives out in the kitchen and laid them on the table.
Prior to this and during this time, Mackenzie had also text
(09:06):
one of her female friends sayingthat Tyrone had come at her with
a knife. Now by 10:48 PM he had returned
again, so Mackenzie text the same friend and had alerted them
that he had returned. The friend then decided to run
back to the unit as they had previously been with Mackenzie
that night. So this female friend ran back
(09:26):
to the unit and attempted to open the front door and when she
did manage to get in and open the door, she found Mackenzie
laying on the ground covered in blood with Tyrone standing over
her and stabbing her. Now Mackenzie had injured 78
stab wounds in this brutal attack by Tyrone and the police
arrived on scene at 10:53 PM. So that was about 14 minutes
(09:49):
after Mackenzie had made that 000 call.
And then we have in quotations here of what Tyrone said to the
police in again, in quotations. It took us many times to stab
her till she fucking stopped. He told police that was the end
of it. Now I'm gonna get into the
legals here. Tyrone did plead guilty to
(10:09):
murder, obviously, and Mackenzie's friend obviously was
there to act as witness. Mackenzie's loved ones delivered
incredibly emotional victim impact statements, as you can
imagine. Her mother was obviously beside
herself and she tearfully revealed that the knives that we
used to kill Mackenzie were those of a Christmas gift to
(10:31):
Mackenzie. So she's very emotional as we
can all understand or imagine. The victim impact statements
also basically told the court ofthe really disgusting history of
the prolonged abuse that Mackenzie endured from Tyrone.
And they emphasized the deep andincredibly emotional toll that
(10:52):
that had on their family and obviously the events of her
murder have had on the family. Now in recent events, in the
last few days, the NSW Court of Appeal refused.
That's right. The NSW Court of Appeal refused
to increase the sentence of Tyrone Thompson.
OK. His original sentence was 22.5
(11:14):
years for murder, 22.5 years. How embarrassing.
And that would be with eligibility for parole after
serving just 15.5 years, you guys.
So the New South NSW Director ofPublic Prosecutions or the DPP,
he appealed seeking a harsher penalty.
(11:36):
Which is why it's coming back inthe news again, because they
have appealed that decision and the appeal judges upheld the
sentence, which is just disgusting actually.
And that ruling basically implies that the legal system
values Thompson's future more than Mackenzie's life.
So Mackenzie, heartbroken motherTabatha.
(11:58):
She described the day of the appeal decision as deeply
painful and expressed overwhelming outrage,
disappointment, sadness and all of those horrible, horrible
emotions of being let down by the system once again, feelings
that that she said words cannot capture.
Despite the set back, she remains resolute in saying that
(12:19):
she's not going to stop. She tells everybody that the
fight is not over and she vows to continue to advocate not just
for Mackenzie, but for women allacross Australia.
She's obviously in the face of this incredible injustice.
How can you? And it's not even just take into
account, you know what I mean? He had been serving time for
(12:42):
abusing her. He had a restraining order there
and that did absolutely nothing.He's then come and gone and
contacted her straight away. He stabbed her to death.
She got 78 stab wounds. This is a psychopath. 25 years
or sorry, 22.5 years? What?
(13:02):
What the hell is that going to do?
And like I said, he'll be eligible for parole at 15.5
years, which likely because he is a young man, they will turn
around and say, oh, he's got so much life ahead of him.
Yes, we'll make him eligible when you know, he his period
comes up and it goes to the parole board, which is like it
just the thought of it just infuriates me.
(13:26):
Now, this case, basically my little rant, it's about the case
highlighting the perceived failures in the justice system
regarding femicide sentencing. It's just not enough.
I I cannot give you more words than that.
This is not enough. The leniency of this sentence
and its preservation on appeal under score the systemic issues
(13:49):
around accountability for violence against women in this
country. Like how, how more like we just
can't be any more clear. Like I'm losing my own words
because I'm so passionate about this and it makes me sick.
It makes me sad and it makes me mad.
Mackenzie's child's going to grow up without a mother and
(14:09):
grow up knowing that their mother was brutally murdered.
This is lifelong grief. Grief doesn't just go away.
Tabitha Mackenzie's mother, like, she's never going to
recover from this. This is a life sentence for her
and it needs to be a life sentence for him.
He knew what he was doing. I'm sorry, this is just not good
(14:33):
enough. It's not acceptable.
And I read today in this awful but insightful document from the
femicide watch in Australia thatthe deadliest place for a woman
to be is at home. The deadliest place for a woman
to be is at home. We can't be OK with this.
(14:59):
And because this story hits homefor me and and for our country,
because it is such a crisis, I want to share with you something
a little bit different. And it is a bit of a, it's a
writing piece that you could maybe classify as a bit of a
poem. But it is a letter that I have
(15:22):
written on behalf of me and the the system and our injustices in
the country. And, you know, on behalf of
anyone with a heart to Mackenzieand all of the other sisters who
have endured this, whether they have come out the other side or
not. But more so, this is something
(15:46):
I've put together for Mackenzie,and I would really love to share
it with you. A letter to the sisters.
My dearest sisters, though you are scattered now across the
silent constellations, I write to you as one still tethered to
the earth's ugliest side. The courts may have reduced you
(16:06):
to footnotes, the headlines may have hollowed your names into
single lines, but in the marrow of my bones I carry your pain.
Every breath I take is a witness, every scar a testimony.
You lived inside storms no one else could see.
Love promised to you with one hand, while the other hand drew
(16:30):
blood. And when you cried out for
refuge, the walls of the system answered with silence, a silence
so heavy it turned your hope into lead.
But know this, your voices did not vanish into the air.
They became roots beneath us, pushing up against the soil,
reminding those of us still walking that truth does not die.
(16:54):
It grows wild. I imagine you not as a victim,
but as a secret historian of heartbreak, as a keeper of the
unspeakable. Your absence is not an
emptiness. It's a cathedral.
And in its stained glass windows, I see the faces of
children who will someday speak your name with reverence, not
(17:16):
pity. They will learn that love should
never wear a blade as a crown, that devotion should never carry
the stench of fear. Tonight I place my hand on the
cold stone of this world's injustices, and I whisper, I
will not let you be forgotten. Your stories are the river I
(17:37):
walk beside, sometimes gentle, sometimes flooding.
And though the law may have measured your worth in years too
small to count as justice, we measure you in galaxies.
We measure you in poems, and in the trembling breath of every
survivor who still finds the strength to stay.
(17:58):
So rest, my sisters. Wherever you are, in the hush of
the earth, in the hush of the sky, know that your fight did
not end in your final hour. We carry it forward, ragged but
unyielding. And when they tell us to quiet
down, to forgive, and to forget,we will answer with your names
(18:19):
as if they were battle hymns. Because the fight is not over.
And because of you it never willbe.
With love from one who is surviving but who will never
stop mourning. Thank you so much for joining us
on this new episode. You can subscribe to stay up to
date or you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, and
(18:41):
YouTube. You can help us out by
subscribing to our paid episodeson Spotify or making a donation
to allow us to help more families.
You can also join in on the casediscussions and make case
requests in our Facebook group. You can find the link to in our
podcast notes. You can also take a look at our
current cases on our website. But as always, stay curious,
(19:02):
stay informed, and until next time, trust your instincts and
keep seeking the truth.
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