Episode 73 🎪: Parenting, True Crime and Choas: Peep Jousting, Playlist Chaos, and the Disappearance of Kyle Fleischmann

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Hosts: Stefanie Navarro & Meredith Hill

Theme: Easter chaos, hilarious AITA drama, a haunting true crime case, TikTok spirals, and the reality of being a not-so-perceptive witness.

🎧 In This Episode:

From exploding Peeps to wild Easter baskets and nostalgic playlists, Stefanie and Meredith cover all the chaotic corners of life—including an unsolved local mystery. This week, they take a deep dive into the disappearance of Kyle Fleischmann, a case that’s haunted Charlotte for nearly two decades. Plus, they roast brunch culture, judge a mother-in-law with main character syndrome, and reveal way too much about their witness potential (or lack thereof).

💬 Topics Covered:

🐣 Easter Basket Survival & Peep Jousting
– DIY basket inspo, candy chaos, and a microwave battle tradition you’ve never heard of but will try.

💄 TikTok Skincare + Googly Eye Crimes
– From unblended hyaluronic acid to prank-level petty dreams, the girls spiral with laughter (and ideas they definitely shouldn’t follow through on).

🎧 Playlist Names & Roadtrip Memories
– Ridiculous Spotify titles, shared sibling playlists, and club bangers from their party days.

🧠 AITA: My MIL Rolls In Like She Pays Rent
– One woman’s fight to keep her bonnet, fridge, and dignity intact when her mother-in-law treats her house like a reality show.

🔍 True Crime Deep Dive: The Disappearance of Kyle Fleischmann
– Vanished after a night out in Charlotte, 24-year-old Kyle left behind unanswered calls, eerie theories, and a devastated family still seeking truth.
– Timeline breakdown, theories (accident? foul play?), and connections to other missing men cases.

📚 Next Week’s Book: The Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Greene
– A dual-timeline thriller involving cold cases, podcast sleuthing, and a lake that holds terrifying secrets.

🧠 Quote of the Week:

“Am I the a-hole for telling my mother-in-law to stop rolling up to my crib like she pays bills?”

Answer: Absolutely not. 😂

📢 Announcements:

• No book this week—but true crime fans, you’re in for a twisty ride.
• Coming Up: Full book review 

💥 Don’t Forget:

• Subscribe to the podcast
• Leave a review (it means the world!)
• COMING SOON! Join the VIP Circus Crew for full video episodes, bonus content & behind-the-scenes antics
• Follow us on TikTok & Instagram @thisismycircuspodast

🎪 Until next time, keep the s’mores creative, the playlists chaotic, and the kids only mildly feral.

This is our circus—and these are definitely our monkeys. 🐒

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to, this is my circus,the podcast where we embrace the
chaos and keep it real aboutparenting, pop culture, true
crime, and the books we can'tput down because let's be
honest, life is one big circusand we're just trying to survive
with caffeine, sarcasm, and alittle true crime obsession.
So if you love unfilteredconversation, questionable
parenting hacks, and deep divesinto the things that keep us up

(00:21):
at night, you're in the rightplace.
Buckle up, grab your popcorn,and let's get into the chaos.

Stefanie (00:27):
I'm Stephanie.

Meredith (00:27):
I'm Meredith.

Stefanie (00:28):
And welcome to, this is my circus.

Meredith (00:29):
Or you have a hundred percent of our attention a
hundred percent of the time.

Stefanie (00:32):
Absolutely not.

Meredith (00:35):
None of those statements were true.

Stefanie (00:38):
It is a circus.

Meredith (00:39):
Yeah,

Stefanie (00:39):
that was true.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Meredith (00:41):
But not the attention part.

Stefanie (00:43):
No,

Meredith (00:44):
zero.
I mean, I'm gonna try, I'll giveyou my best effort, but my best
effort's very lacking.
I'm so out of it.

Stefanie (00:52):
The squirrels will try to be contained.
Maybe.

Meredith (00:55):
Maybe.
I don't know.
Our squirrels like to playtogether.
They do.
Oh, everything is so busy.
I'm enjoying being outside, butI got a lot.
I'm doing work is really, reallybusy right now.
I'm going outta town a couple ofdays next week, so I'm trying to
get ahead of the game for thatand just going outta town

(01:18):
produces so much anxiety for me.
Does it you?

Stefanie (01:20):
Yeah.
Well'cause you gotta geteverybody ready.

Meredith (01:21):
Everybody ready.
And I want the house ready.
I want the house clean and Iwant all the garbage out and I
want all the things done.
So just trying to get mentallyprepared for that and get like,
my list together or whatever.
I don't know, I'm just stressedout, how about you?

Stefanie (01:35):
good.
just trying to get ready forEaster.
Mm-hmm.
Not that we do anything forEaster, but mm-hmm.
Getting Dylan's basket andruthie's basket ready for
Easter.

Meredith (01:43):
Mm-hmm.
What are you getting in Dylan'sbasket?

Stefanie (01:45):
he's going to the beach in.
May or June be mm-hmm.
End of May, beginning of June.
So just like new swim trunks.
Yeah, towel.
Like stuff like that.
Useful stuff.

Meredith (01:55):
Is he going with Ruthie?

Stefanie (01:56):
No, Reagan is gonna bring

Meredith (01:58):
Oh, nice.

Stefanie (01:59):
It's like she is brave.

Meredith (02:00):
She is a brave soul.
I need to get Jackson a couplemore things for his Easter
basket and same for Valentine'sDay.
I've never been like an over theboard, over the board ever.
Over the board over, what am Itrying to say?
Uhhuh overboard.
I usually just get practicalthings like a couple of new
shirts or like, he needs newCrocs now, so I've got those.

(02:22):
How am I gonna put size 14 Crocsin an Easter basket?

Stefanie (02:25):
It's gonna be bunny ears.

Meredith (02:26):
Yeah.
Oh, that's cute.
I should have got pink ones.

Stefanie (02:28):
Perfect.

Meredith (02:30):
But just get some practical things, you know, to,
to throw in there just so he'llhave something, but Yeah.

Stefanie (02:34):
Well then I'm like, I don't have a girl, so

Meredith (02:37):
Yeah.

Stefanie (02:37):
I'm like, what do I do for a girl Easter basket?
But yeah, I think I'm just gonnado like a new, Stanley.
Mm-hmm.
And a gift card and candy.

Meredith (02:46):
Perfect.
I think that's great.

Stefanie (02:48):
Like a beach chapel or whatever.

Meredith (02:49):
Yeah.
I think that's perfect.
I always see, a lot of thesesocial media pages I follow,
they're like gifts for tweengirl and everything is always
for girls.
Nothing is ever for boys that Isee.

Stefanie (02:59):
What I do see for boys is like nothing Dylan would use.

Meredith (03:02):
A hundred percent.
Yep.
Legos is always something onthere.
And I know a lot of kids loveLegos.
That is not Jackson's thing.
He would just look at me like.
What am I supposed to do withthis?

Stefanie (03:10):
Dylan loved Legos.
Yeah.
Up until, I mean, a couple yearsago.
He's obviously huge, but, um, wehave, and it's not even the
regular, Rubbermaid bin things.
It's the ginormous ones.
Oh, like the, 70 gallon.
Yeah.
Like the big

Meredith (03:23):
body

Stefanie (03:24):
contractor ones.
Yeah.
Blend, um, full of Legos andthey're just In the garage.

Meredith (03:31):
One day they'll get used again somewhere.

Stefanie (03:33):
My nephew who, now in his twenties, had sent Dylan all
of his Legos so we had, plus allthe ones he accumulated.
a million Legos.

Meredith (03:41):
It's so funny that you say that because Jackson's thing
was trains.
He loved Thomas the train andhis cousin, my nephew Jordan,
who just recently got marriedwas a train kid and he gave
Jackson all his trains.
So I have got them in totes andI've got'em by wooden metal, you
know, all different kinds.
And I planned to get those backto Jordan when they have kids.

(04:03):
And he can have that mess.
But, Jackson loved Thomas thetrain.

Stefanie (04:07):
So Dylan went into, like towards the end, they just
loved the little Lego people.

Meredith (04:13):
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
I think Lego people is thecorrect term.

Stefanie (04:17):
I randomly like, I, I guess from unpacking still, like
for finding.
Random things in places.
Um, I just found a buzz lightear.

Meredith (04:27):
A little buzz.
Where'd you put little buzz?

Stefanie (04:29):
I think I put it in Dylan's room.
Okay.

Meredith (04:31):
That's a good spot.

Stefanie (04:31):
I was like, oh, here's buzz.

Meredith (04:34):
Have you ever seen those tiktoks where people order
off of Timo machine or whatever,like 500 little baby Jesus's and
they leave them everywhere?
I think that is hilarious.

Stefanie (04:45):
do you ever see where the people put the googly eyes?

Meredith (04:47):
Yes, yes, yes.

Stefanie (04:50):
I do that.

Meredith (04:50):
Let's do that.

Stefanie (04:51):
And I'm like, I'm so afraid to get in trouble.

Meredith (04:53):
We'll have to tag team it.
We'll have to figure it out.

Stefanie (04:56):
Well then there's like all the security cameras and
then we're ourselves on the YorkCounty page.
Does anybody know these?

Meredith (05:00):
Oh yeah.
And everybody be like, I do.
Here's their podcast pagetagging us.

Stefanie (05:06):
They talked about it.
Yeah.
We can't deny it.

Meredith (05:09):
No, we can't, man.
That would've been great.
Oh, well

Stefanie (05:12):
Try Google it

Meredith (05:13):
on everything.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
The little things keep usentertained.
I still laugh at that.
Am I the a-hole where the dudetook the buggy?
And like ran from the people inWalmart.
That's still a dream of mine todo that to somebody.

Stefanie (05:27):
I am so scared of people now though.

Meredith (05:29):
I probably should be more scared of people.
People are crazy.
But.
I don't think about that in themoment.
I'm just like, cool.

Stefanie (05:36):
He, he, he

Meredith (05:38):
pushing the buggy away.

Stefanie (05:40):
Don't get me wrong.
I love petty.

Meredith (05:42):
Yeah.

Stefanie (05:42):
But,

Meredith (05:44):
but you also love your life and people are crazy..
Oh my goodness.

Stefanie (05:47):
So we know in Kendrick's song.

Meredith (05:48):
Yes.

Stefanie (05:48):
DJ Mustard.
Did you know his first name?
DJ Mustard's.
First name is Dijon.

Meredith (05:56):
So, is his last name Mustard or is he DJ Mustard?
'cause his name is Dijon.

Stefanie (06:00):
I think it's

Meredith (06:00):
Dejan.

Stefanie (06:01):
Think it's DJ Mustard.
'cause of Dijon.
'cause it's not his mustard.

Meredith (06:03):
Dejan.
I'm, I feel like I'm saying itwrong.
How do you say it?
Dijon?
Mm-hmm.
Dijon.
Dijon mustard.
I think I say Dijon.

Stefanie (06:12):
I dunno why I thought that was so funny.

Meredith (06:13):
That is hilarious.

Stefanie (06:15):
I saw a TikTok and they were like, it, the girl was
giggling

Meredith (06:19):
it's funny.
What if he had siblings and theywere like, um, yellow poppy
seed.

Stefanie (06:25):
P coupons.

Meredith (06:25):
Honey.
Honey mustard.
Honeywood.
Oh, some of the bearded duckpeople, they, one of the
grandchildren is honey.
Mm-hmm.

Stefanie (06:36):
It sounds like a stripper name.

Meredith (06:37):
It does.
Like what about when you're 17or 25 and you're trying to get
it, they're not getting jobs.
Be kidding.
You said y'all aren't doinganything for Easter.
Y'all going like brunch or doanything?
I don't know why I used to.
Brunch always sounds nice.

Stefanie (06:50):
It's always just been like me, Dylan, you know, like
there's just a couple of us inYeah.
So we'll do something with mymom, but like

Meredith (06:57):
nobody's dressing up like a bunny or, I'm just
kidding.

Stefanie (07:02):
No.

Meredith (07:04):
I see all these restaurants though right now
that have like the brunch menusfor sundaes and always sounds so
nice.
And I never make it.

Stefanie (07:11):
No, I am not a brunch or

Meredith (07:14):
not a brunch or, I love breakfast on vacation.

Stefanie (07:16):
Okay.

Meredith (07:18):
On vacation.
Going and having like a littlediner.

Stefanie (07:21):
Oh, I love being a good diner.

Meredith (07:22):
Yeah.

Stefanie (07:23):
But I can't eat a lot of things so food just does
isn't like that.
It doesn't, I don't get, doesn'thave the,

Meredith (07:29):
yeah.

Stefanie (07:29):
I think more like to go because it's,

Meredith (07:31):
you don't get,

Stefanie (07:31):
I have to really like work out the menu.

Meredith (07:34):
Yeah.
Well they usually have goodcoffee too.

Stefanie (07:38):
They do.

Meredith (07:38):
Do you drink coffee still?

Stefanie (07:39):
I, yeah.
Just one cup a day.

Meredith (07:41):
Yeah.
That's what I have.

Stefanie (07:42):
Like, and I don't do it for the taste, it's just to
ward off the headache.

Meredith (07:45):
I think I, mine is more of a habit than anything.

Stefanie (07:48):
If I don't like, I get a headache.

Meredith (07:49):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's headache medicine.
Mm-hmm.
Pre headache medicine.

Stefanie (07:54):
Preventative.

Meredith (07:54):
Yeah.
That's, I am struggling evenworse than I normally am.
It's okay.
We're gonna make it through.
Yeah.

Stefanie (08:02):
We got this.

Meredith (08:03):
We, we sure do.
we are 12 minutes in and eightof that's gonna have to be
clipped.
Whoops.

Stefanie (08:09):
Okay.
So Dylan, he sends me like,tiktoks

Meredith (08:13):
of course,

Stefanie (08:13):
He sends me what he thinks is funny.
And most of the time I alsothink it's funny, but sometimes
I'm just like, bro.

Meredith (08:17):
Yeah.
Yeah.

Stefanie (08:18):
This is not funny.
Yeah.
Um, but Snoop Dogg did country acountry song.
I don't know if he's doing awhole album, but he did a
country song.

Meredith (08:27):
Okay.
A remake or an original,

Stefanie (08:28):
I think it's a, it's an original, I think.

Meredith (08:31):
Okay.

Stefanie (08:31):
And I was like, is this a joke?
Mm-hmm.
Is this.
Ai.

Meredith (08:37):
Yeah,

Stefanie (08:38):
because I'm like, Snoop.
You got some explaining to do.
Right?
I know Beyonce tried it

Meredith (08:43):
did not go well in my opinion.
Take that out.
I don't want Jay-Z to come fromme.
So what is the name of the song?
Do you know?

Stefanie (08:53):
Yeah, let me pull up the video.
I was just like, Snoop.

Meredith (08:56):
No, dude, you're, there's no need

Stefanie (08:59):
that bad though.
he's got that voice, like,that's close.
Yeah.
And it's not even that bad.

Meredith (09:03):
I watched an interview the other day, just a little
clip and they were interviewingEminem and, and they were
talking about how he rhymes andI love how Eminem will like,
change the pronunciation ofstuff to make it rhyme.
And he was like, I get so madwhen people say there's nothing
that rhymes with orange.
I could think of so many thingsthat rhyme with orange.
And he was like, door hinge, youknow, he was going, I was like,

(09:26):
oh.
He's a master.
Yes, he's an artist.

Stefanie (09:30):
He definitely does his thing.
Okay,

Meredith (09:33):
Oh my gosh.
That is funny.
I I've heard much worse.
I've heard much worse.

Stefanie (09:43):
Snoop doing his country thing.

Meredith (09:46):
Don't do it though, Snoop.
Stick with what you do.

Stefanie (09:49):
Listen, I'm almost here for it.

Meredith (09:51):
Okay, I'll let, I'll let you enjoy it.

Stefanie (09:54):
I would, I would watch the whole video.

Meredith (09:56):
Oh, I would definitely watch it, but it would not be on
my, um, it wouldn't be on

Stefanie (09:59):
my playlist.

Meredith (10:00):
No, how many playlists do you have on your phone?

Stefanie (10:02):
Too many

Meredith (10:03):
do you?
So I just separated like some ofour Apple IDs, so I'm rebuilding
mine right now.
I have, tell me some of thenames of your playlist.
Are they just like normal names

Stefanie (10:14):
Hold on.
Okay.

Meredith (10:15):
Give me a couple.

Stefanie (10:16):
Sisters because my sister and I, I keep adding
funny stuff.

Meredith (10:19):
Uhhuh.
Okay.
So it's just funny stuff.

Stefanie (10:21):
Yeah.

Meredith (10:21):
Or ridiculous stuff.

Stefanie (10:23):
And then we have a different playlist that is just
songs that we actually both like

Meredith (10:27):
Okay.
that we add.
Or if I find a new song, I thinkshe'll like, I'll

Stefanie (10:30):
add it to there.
Okay.
I have got, um, I hate him.

Meredith (10:34):
I have big, big energy.
That's one of mine.

Stefanie (10:37):
Dylan's a whole, like he just keeps one playlist.

Meredith (10:40):
That's so, I, I, I can't do that.

Stefanie (10:43):
So he shared it with me.
Yeah.
And his is called Big Truck Guyand it's got like 2000 songs,

Meredith (10:51):
but like, I need Okay.
This is my big energy.
You'll never guess one.
This song just when I need alittle pick up.

Stefanie (10:58):
on the same playlist, we also have, I Fing Hate You.

Meredith (11:02):
Oh yeah.

Stefanie (11:02):
There's another,

Meredith (11:03):
who was that

Stefanie (11:03):
by?
Uh, gods.
Oh, Godsmack.

Meredith (11:06):
There's another one.
It's called something Similar.
And Jackson was listening to it.
I said, this is like the samething as, I hate everything
about You by Ugly Kid Joe Uhhuh.
And he was like, who?
And I was like, Google it.
Yeah.

Stefanie (11:19):
But we also have another one that is super funny
songs and they're AI songs thatare on Spotify.

Meredith (11:24):
Random.
It's crazy.
When my family and I have goneon vacation, we've kind of made
a group playlist.

Stefanie (11:30):
I've had a road trip playlist for when my sisters and
I went

Meredith (11:33):
Yeah.

Stefanie (11:34):
Together.

Meredith (11:34):
And I like listening to'em now.
'cause it's like, I can rememberlike being at the beach and all
of us being on the beach andlistening.

Stefanie (11:39):
Well it was like all of our club songs.
Like when we used to all

Meredith (11:42):
Oh yeah.
Together.
The three of y'all would club atthe same time y'all.
Well, I didn't know the agedifference there was Oh my gosh.
I bet y'all were,

Stefanie (11:52):
yeah, we had fun.

Meredith (11:54):
Oh, no.
Zero doubts in my mind thaty'all had a good time.

Stefanie (11:57):
Was a good time.

Meredith (11:58):
I also, you still are, I still, I also have a day back
in your prom,

Stefanie (12:04):
moody shaker

Meredith (12:05):
again.
I have zero doubts.
And, and that times three forthe three of you.
I bet y'all were, are a goodtime.

Stefanie (12:13):
The sister that you met mm-hmm.
We would go in together and thebouncers would say, oh, double
trouble.

Meredith (12:19):
Mm-hmm.
And you were like, yeah, there'salready, there's another one
coming or there's already

Stefanie (12:24):
no cover charge.

Meredith (12:26):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Sometimes it's so nice to be agirl.

Stefanie (12:31):
that was the best bar ever.
'cause on Friday, oh wait, soThursdays was nickel Malibu
drinks.
Mm-hmm.
Midnight and Friday was quartermixed drinks.
And Saturday was dollar beers.

Meredith (12:42):
Oh my gosh.

Stefanie (12:44):
Yeah.

Meredith (12:45):
I don't know if they do it anymore, but there used to
be bars Yeah.
Where it'd be like a$20 cover

Stefanie (12:49):
mm-hmm.

Meredith (12:51):
For everything.

Stefanie (12:52):
Mm-hmm.

Meredith (12:52):
And you, it's like when you go to an allyou can eat
buffet, you get your money'sworth.

Stefanie (12:56):
Mm-hmm.
With alcohol for

Meredith (12:58):
Yes.
You make sure that you areleaving in the black, not the
red.

Stefanie (13:03):
Um, So I was scrolling.
One, I couldn't sleep.

Meredith (13:08):
You just like to scrolly?
Scrolly.
Scrolly.

Stefanie (13:11):
Have you heard of Peep Jousting?

Meredith (13:13):
Jousting?
Mm-hmm.
Uhuh?

Stefanie (13:15):
I never had either, but apparently it's this big
thing.
And they do like brackets ofcolors of peeps.
Like the marshmallow Peeps.

Meredith (13:22):
Peeps?

Stefanie (13:23):
Yeah.

Meredith (13:23):
Okay.

Stefanie (13:24):
Marshmallow chicks.

Meredith (13:25):
Yeah, I'm with you now.
I'm sorry.

Stefanie (13:26):
they put two on a plate.

Meredith (13:28):
Okay.

Stefanie (13:28):
At different colors.
Mm-hmm.
And they stick a toothpick ineach of them.
And you stick it in a microwave.
And as they blow up, whoevergets poked first loses.
People do like these wholebrackets of like all the colors.

Meredith (13:42):
That is hilarious.

Stefanie (13:44):
And that's like their traditions.
Like on Easter of Peep jousting.

Meredith (13:49):
I've never heard of it.
One up to it though.
I'll be buying all the peeps,making extra special peeps
special colors with some foodcoloring.
Jackson had this thing where heused to, um, he had this.
Place it in the backyard and ithad a slide on it.
Mm-hmm.
And we would dye the eggs and dothe things and then he would

(14:10):
roll them down one at a time andwe would bet on which one was
gonna last the longest.
So I can a hundred percent feelthis peep jousting.

Stefanie (14:20):
I've never heard of it.

Meredith (14:21):
Never.

Stefanie (14:22):
I was like, what the, somebody was like, if you not
heard of Peep Joss, search itnow.
And I was like, okay.
Yes sir.
I will search it now.

Meredith (14:29):
Yes.
That is great.
I'm, we're gonna have to dothat.

Stefanie (14:34):
Do you like peep?

Meredith (14:34):
No.
How about you?

Stefanie (14:36):
I can do like one and then mm-hmm.
It is too much.
Yeah.
But have you ever made, do youlike s'mores?

Meredith (14:42):
Love'em.
Never tried peeps on'em, but Iheard that was the, on like the
only way to eat'em.

Stefanie (14:47):
So Good.

Meredith (14:47):
Makes sense.

Stefanie (14:48):
but the sugar on the outside

Meredith (14:50):
mm-hmm.
To get hard.

Stefanie (14:52):
No, it gets like a little bit I mean, depending on
how long you roasted

Meredith (14:55):
forever, can

Stefanie (14:57):
you just do'em in the microwave?
Yeah.
It works perfect.

Meredith (14:59):
Yeah.
Yeah.

Stefanie (15:00):
Or in the air fryer.

Meredith (15:02):
I've never done marshmallows in the air fryer.

Stefanie (15:04):
Totally do it.

Meredith (15:05):
Okay.

Stefanie (15:05):
Yeah.

Meredith (15:06):
I love finding new uses for my air fryer.

Stefanie (15:09):
Just put down like, um, wax paper.
Not wax paper, but parchmentpaper.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
'cause it gets sticky.

Meredith (15:14):
Yeah.
I've got some of those linerthings that I always, I'm the
only one that uses them.

Stefanie (15:20):
Yeah.

Meredith (15:20):
I appreciate the other dudes cooking, but I need them
to follow up.
Yeah.
Up

Stefanie (15:25):
game.

Meredith (15:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
Oh my gosh.
Peep jousting though.
That's cute.

Stefanie (15:31):
Right?
I also saw s'mores made withlike other candies, like, so not
just chocolate, but like peanutbutter cups or Snickers or
whatever.

Meredith (15:40):
I'm here for it.

Stefanie (15:41):
Yeah.
And instead of the grahamcrackers, like Oreos, I've had
it.
Don't knock it till you try.

Meredith (15:50):
Okay.
And don't get me wrong, I loveOreos, don't get me wrong, but
there's something about thegraham cracker.
Because that's, trust me, I'dtry it I would try the Oreo any
color except for the ones thatlook like, and I love Mint.

Stefanie (16:06):
I do too,

Meredith (16:06):
but a mint Oreo.
Is it not like toothpaste?
No.
Okay.

Stefanie (16:09):
It's like a Andy's mint,

Meredith (16:10):
okay.
I was thinking like toothpaste.
Mm-hmm.

Stefanie (16:13):
So good.
You

Meredith (16:13):
like mint and chocolate?

Stefanie (16:15):
I do.
I do

Meredith (16:15):
too.

Stefanie (16:16):
But again, like I, not too much.

Meredith (16:18):
Yeah.

Stefanie (16:19):
Yeah.
But I don't turn it down.

Meredith (16:23):
That's, that's good that you're, uh, so kind and
sensitive to everybody'sfeelings that you don't want to
turn that down.

Stefanie (16:28):
No.
I'm, I, yeah.

Meredith (16:30):
So how do you ever, Totally changed the subject
because that's what we do.
Have you heard of the SeniorAssassin Game?

Stefanie (16:37):
Yes.
I had never heard of it until Isaw something on one of the mom
groups.

Meredith (16:41):
Yes.
It's a thing right now inClover.
So the way that it works,'causeI did not know how it worked, is
it's you, there's a buy-in.
So you buy your spot and thenthe, there's a winner and the
winner gets the whole pot.
So you're assigned a person, andI'm sure it works different in
different schools, but you'reassigned a person that you have
to get within this timeframe.
And by get, I mean, squirt'emwith the water gun and then

(17:02):
somebody is assigned to you.
It's not like I have you and youhave me.
It's like, I have you, you haveDylan, Dylan has Jackson Jack,
like it's a big, huge, you don'tknow who's where, like Yeah,

Stefanie (17:12):
but it can't be during school hours,

Meredith (17:14):
right?
Not on school property.
like you can't go to their workor something about their work
too.
They try to be, mindful of that.
Like they can wait for themafter their shift ends, but.
So I didn't know how this workedwhen this first started a few
weeks ago.
I knew it was a thing'cause somefriends in Gastonia had played
it a couple years ago, and I waslike, oh, that's cute.
Again, no idea the concept.

(17:36):
so I asked Jackson when it firststarted, I said, Jay, the senior
assassin thing.
I was like, yeah, it's prettycool.
I said, am I, what do I do?
He was like, nothing.
I was like, I'm not involved atall.
Like, they're not.
I was like, they're not gonnacome get me.
He was like, no, mama, you'renot, you're not involved at all.

(17:56):
Like, you're not playing.
You're not.
I said, I'm, I'm safe.
He said, yes.
Couple of days later, I can'tbelieve I hadn't told you this.
I'm on our dirt road.
I took Jackson to an earlymorning workout at school.
So I'm, it's like 7:00 AM andI'm on the road and you know,
their school doesn't start tillnine.
And I see a couple young girlson our, our road, in their car.

(18:16):
And if there's ever anybody,especially like a young kid that
I don't know on our road, that'sa dead end, I'm gonna check on
'em.
so I was like, Hey, are y'allokay?
And they're like, yeah, we'replaying a game.
And I was like, they were like,can you get her?
So a senior lives on our road?
They're like, can you get her tocome out and trying to get me
in?
Told Jackson.
I was like, you said I wasn'tinvolved.

(18:38):
You told me I was not involved.
It's like, okay, mama, whatever.
So last week I get a call from,a mom friend.
And she's like can so and sopark in your road now he's got
her and can he park?
And he's trying to get up thereto get her.
And I'm like, well, yeah, Idon't care.

(19:00):
And then I'm, I ran into theother mom and,'cause there
nobody's supposed to know whohas who.
And so I ran into the other momand she was like, do you know
who's got her?
And I'm like, I don't know.
And I'm like, Jackson, you toldme I am not involved.
But they are having the most funwith this.
Like they're hiding in truckbeds and like popping out when

(19:21):
like first thing in the morning.
They're getting kids whilethey're like walking to their
vehicles if they're not in thegarage.
like.
It is, they're having the mostfun with this.
Yeah.

Stefanie (19:29):
So how do they prove it?

Meredith (19:30):
So they have to video it.
Oh, there's an Instagram page.
Okay.
And, they, there's two people incharge, a girl and a guy, and
they can't participate becausethey're almost like the game
masters or whatever.
but they have to send them avideo of proof that they got
them.
So usually there's two people,one person doing the shooting,
then the one doing the video,and they have to send it in and

(19:51):
then they post it.
There's an Instagram for it.
Mm-hmm.
And they post it all on thereand they'll say who's out and
who's in.
and it was so funny thatneighbor, there was a situation
the other night where theythought they got the guy, but
they, I don't know if they didor they didn't, but they didn't
record it.
Like it didn't record.
It was too dark.
And they said, sorry, like,you've got to have the video.

(20:11):
If you don't get your person bythe deadline of that round,
you're out.
And they said, we'll just letall of you go forward to the
next slide.
That's the best we can do.
So it's like they are.
It's

Stefanie (20:22):
like a fish.

Meredith (20:22):
It is.
So I think there's like under 10people left.
That's it.
they have like a purge roundwhere it's just like, I know, I
know.
It was scary, but it's just socool.
It's so cool.

Stefanie (20:35):
That sounds like Oh yeah.

Meredith (20:37):
A hundred percent.
A hundred percent.

Stefanie (20:38):
They made it into a like club song,

Meredith (20:40):
Oh yeah.

Stefanie (20:41):
And I was like, okay, I can get down with that

Meredith (20:42):
and I need that.
'cause when did you see themovie?

Stefanie (20:45):
Yeah.

Meredith (20:45):
The per, yeah.
Yeah.
Um, yeah.
'cause as soon as I hear thatsong I'm like, who are we
getting?

Stefanie (20:50):
Did I tell you this?
I was in the car with Dylan.
We had a drop as truck off toget something done to it, and we
were driving back and I had onmy Spotify playlist.

Meredith (20:57):
Mm-hmm.

Stefanie (20:57):
It was like a clubby song, but it's like a song
that's on TikTok.

Meredith (21:01):
Okay.
And he's like, mom, what do youthink we are like at a rave?
And I was like, first of all,what do you know about raves?
Right.
One, because that was my life.
Because I can tell you somethingabout a rave

Stefanie (21:13):
and two, like.
This is a TikTok song.

Meredith (21:16):
Bless you.
Oh my gosh.
That was the cutest little snee.

Stefanie (21:19):
And so as we got to like the chorus, he was like,
oh, I do like this song.

Meredith (21:24):
Oh, you are my child.

Stefanie (21:26):
But he, he is also the same kid and like second grade,
third grade came home and he'slike, mom gotta listen to this
music.
And he pulls up YouTube andplays, DJ marshmallow.
Oh my God.
I'm so scared.

Meredith (21:40):
That kid.

Stefanie (21:41):
He is my child.

Meredith (21:41):
Yes, he is your child.
Yes.
He is your child.
yeah.
So I wonder if they'll do that.
Did they do that at, DylanSchool?
Have you heard anything aboutit?

Stefanie (21:50):
Our school's so small.

Meredith (21:52):
But it'd still be fun.

Stefanie (21:53):
Yeah.
I don't, you know, he's like,just not like into the school
stuff.
Like, I get it.
There's no desire to, he's just

Meredith (21:58):
ready for the, for what's next.
He's

Stefanie (22:00):
like, done.

Meredith (22:01):
Yeah.
I get it.
I get it.

Stefanie (22:03):
Well, did you, I, this is like kind of gross and like I
Okay.
I was going like a little dark,but I saw a video on TikTok.
Okay.
And it was about North FoxIsland in Michigan.

Meredith (22:14):
Okay.

Stefanie (22:14):
Have you ever heard of this?

Meredith (22:14):
Mm-hmm.

Stefanie (22:15):
I have.
Never either.
But apparently it was apedophile island and it was
owned by a man, his name wasFrancis Sheldon.

Meredith (22:24):
Okay.
I do feel like I might haveheard this.

Stefanie (22:26):
You've never heard of this?

Meredith (22:27):
Or maybe I saw a show about it or something,

Stefanie (22:29):
it's a documentary apparently on Netflix.
And I don't remember what thename of it was, so this dude,
his TikTok account is theparanormal files.

Meredith (22:37):
Okay.

Stefanie (22:37):
So he wanted to go there and see what was left of
the island.

Meredith (22:40):
So it is, it is not housing pedophiles currently?

Stefanie (22:43):
No.
Okay.
It was like where they They didbad things there.
so this dude wanted to, wastrying to go out there, I guess,
and just see what was there.
Mm-hmm.
This is what he does for hisYouTube channel.
Mm-hmm.
Like he goes to all these.
Weird Places.
So the first, he was supposed tofly out there, like on one of
those little planes.
And he had hired somebody andthe guy canceled twice and he

(23:04):
was like, oh, the runway's gonnabe muddy.
Or,'cause there's like a wholerunway there.
Like there's a whole place toland planes on this island.

Meredith (23:11):
Okay.

Stefanie (23:12):
it was set up for transportation.

Meredith (23:15):
Mm-hmm.

Stefanie (23:16):
So the plane canceled twice and he finally got
somebody with a boat to take himthere.

Meredith (23:19):
Okay.

Stefanie (23:20):
There was no mud, there was nothing.
Nobody wants to go to thisisland because it's,

Meredith (23:23):
yeah.
Yeah.

Stefanie (23:25):
and the cabins were all set up, like with bunk beds
and all the things.
It was gross.

Meredith (23:32):
Yeah.

Stefanie (23:33):
so Francis Sheldon, who owned this island apparently
caught wind that there was gonnabe the raid, and he flew on his
private plane from his littlerunway mm-hmm.
This island and went toAmsterdam and was never
apprehended.
Mm.
but there was one person thatdid get arrested in connection

(23:53):
with this ring, and he onlyserved two years, and as soon as
he got out, he, assaultedanother child.
Why is, I know it's gettingbetter now, but I've never
understood why you can get moretime for selling marijuana
mm-hmm.
Than you can get for hurting achild.
Mm-hmm.

Meredith (24:12):
It, it makes zero sense.
It makes zero sense.
Not even selling marijuana, butjust having it on you at the
time of, whatever.
I don't know.
I'm not, I don't know all therules obviously take all this
out.
but I don't understand thateither.
It makes zero sense andespecially because studies have
shown that when you hurt a childin that way, I.

(24:37):
That's a pattern.
Yeah.
Like that You are so likely to,to do that continuously.
Um, it's not like a one and donekind of thing.
Yeah.
So I don't know why,

Stefanie (24:51):
but I was like, this island should be lit on fire.

Meredith (24:54):
Mm-hmm.

Stefanie (24:55):
Like everything should be burned.

Meredith (24:56):
Did he ever make it to the island?
He did.
He did by the boat.

Stefanie (25:00):
But I mean, like the Yeah.
Was like a 32nd blip orwhatever.
Yeah.
But like, it just went into likeone of the That

Meredith (25:05):
is so disturbing.

Stefanie (25:07):
I know.
And that is not a job I wanna dois go to like these weird
places.

Meredith (25:12):
No,

Stefanie (25:13):
I mean, give me like a good haunted house.

Meredith (25:15):
no.
I will say there's so much justlike morbid curiosity about
different things.
Um, like Chernobyl.

Stefanie (25:22):
Yeah.

Meredith (25:23):
that explosion is just crazy.
If you don't know what it is,just read about it.
But seeing pictures of that,there is just a fascination with
things that are just terriblesometimes, I guess.
Yeah.
I'm so dark.

Stefanie (25:36):
I don't, nothing with kids.
No

Meredith (25:38):
kids were off limit.
No.

Stefanie (25:40):
Um, speaking of a serial killer.

Meredith (25:43):
Yeah.

Stefanie (25:43):
How did you like Happy Face.

Meredith (25:45):
It was so good,

Stefanie (25:46):
right?

Meredith (25:47):
Was that it though?
Was there more episodes?
I think there was only five.

Stefanie (25:50):
Yeah, it comes out once a week.

Meredith (25:51):
Oh.
Well then I got a couple more tocatch up on I guess.
It was so interesting.

Stefanie (25:56):
It's such a good perspective, right?

Meredith (25:58):
It is.

Stefanie (25:59):
So there was another show a couple of years back
called the Prodi Pro Pro Pro

Meredith (26:04):
Prodigal

Stefanie (26:05):
Pro.
Yeah.
That's it.
I can't say that word.

Meredith (26:06):
It's okay.
No judgment

Stefanie (26:08):
son.
Uhhuh.
And it was about a serialkiller's son.
Okay.
Who was like this, like genius.
And he worked for with

Meredith (26:15):
the FB or whoever.

Stefanie (26:16):
Yeah.
One, one of the agencies.
Yeah.
And it was really good too,'cause like his dad wanted a
connection, you know, have aconnection.

Meredith (26:22):
Uhhuh, true story.
I don't, or not?
Or just a TV show.
It

Stefanie (26:25):
might just be a show.

Meredith (26:26):
Okay.
Okay.

Stefanie (26:27):
But yeah, this is based off of the heavy Facebook.

Meredith (26:29):
Yes.

Stefanie (26:30):
A true story.

Meredith (26:31):
It.
Is it, if you haven't watched itand you're into True Crime,
watch it because it is such adifferent spin on just her going
back in some of her, so her, hisdaughter, going back in some of
her memories and looking andseeing blood in places or
whatever.

(26:51):
It's just fascinating.

Stefanie (26:54):
Yeah.
I thought it was so good.

Meredith (26:55):
It was, it really was.
I didn't realize, I thought thatwas it.
So I'll have to see how, ifthere are more episodes that I
can binge, it's, yeah,

Stefanie (27:03):
see like a, it's not like Netflix where it all drops
at the same time.

Meredith (27:06):
Yeah.
Oh, give it for me.
Yeah.
Did you watch, Reacher on Prime?
It was like that, where it woulddrop, like, mm-hmm.
Yeah.
No,

Stefanie (27:17):
I don't, I forget on Prime.
I don't know why

Meredith (27:19):
I get hooked on like one service and then I'm like,
oh, well let's go see what'sover here.
So I, I'm on a Hulu kick lately,

Stefanie (27:27):
so I.
Bought the year's worth ofstars.
Yeah.
Because I wanted to watch oneseries, but it was cheaper.
It was like$5 more to do thefull year.
I thought it was based off of abook mm-hmm.
That I had read that it wasreally good.
It wasn't, it was somethingtotally different.

Meredith (27:42):
They got you with the name, huh?

Stefanie (27:43):
I guess.
And, it ended up being aboutlike swinger, A swinger couple.

Meredith (27:48):
Oh, really?

Stefanie (27:49):
Um, and the couple that moved in next door and, you
know, the whole dynamic of

Meredith (27:54):
Yeah.

Stefanie (27:55):
The couple next door.
So I thought it was the book,the couple next door.
Yeah.
Which was awesome.

Meredith (28:00):
Right.

Stefanie (28:00):
And

Meredith (28:01):
it is not,

Stefanie (28:03):
it was way different.
Not what I was expecting.

Meredith (28:07):
So did you read, the Hunger Games books?
Yeah.
So they had a new one come out.
That was the story of thePresident Snow.
Did you read that?

Stefanie (28:18):
No, I haven't read

Meredith (28:18):
it.
Um, I've got it.
You can borrow it if you wantto.
It was really good.
But then they, they justreleased another one.
This is called Sunrise at theReaping.
And I haven't started it yet.
I've got it on order, but it'sabout Hamit.
Oh.
And his story.
I know.

Stefanie (28:36):
did you see on.
I think it's HBO Max.
It's coming out.
They're doing a Harry Potterseries.
Oh yeah.
The only reason I saw it isbecause people are so upset,
because Professor Snake, theycast with a black guy.

Meredith (28:51):
A lot.
Do people get so mad about

Stefanie (28:52):
that stuff?
Well, I think it's because ifyou, the books are so
descriptive.

Meredith (28:55):
Yeah.
That's true.
That's true.
That's true.

Stefanie (28:57):
And actually, it was a black guy that did the video
that I, I had seen it.

Meredith (29:00):
Okay.

Stefanie (29:00):
And he was like, as a millennial.

Meredith (29:03):
Mm-hmm.

Stefanie (29:03):
And as a black man.

Meredith (29:05):
Yeah.

Stefanie (29:06):
I do not, I'm doing this.
Yeah.

Meredith (29:08):
In the

Stefanie (29:08):
book.

Meredith (29:09):
Right.
He's got the greasy hair and thehe's, he

Stefanie (29:12):
follows, he's a greasy US black folk.
Can't do that.

Meredith (29:17):
Speaking of, I don't know.
Speaking of what, I don't know,but I went and saw the COE's
performance this weekend.
I saw your post.
Oh my.
I will never miss a show again.
You couldn't tell who the kidswere.
'cause the makeup and costumeswere so amazing.
There were a couple of the kidsI could pick out because they
were either really tall or Iknew like they, what kind of

(29:39):
yeah.
What kind of hat they had on.
But they all looked like ghosts.
Mm-hmm.
And from where we were sittingup in the nosebleed section, you
really, you couldn't identifyanyone.
It was, I mean, I've seen showsnot like Broadway, but, you
know, but, you know, I mean,I've been to, you know,
Charlotte Cosms and stuff andwhatever the Blumenthal and, and

(30:00):
amazing.
Yeah.
I could not believe that manytalented kids are in one

Stefanie (30:07):
school.

Meredith (30:07):
Yeah.
They could sing better than I'veever even dreamed.
Uh uh, amazing.
I will, I, yeah.

Stefanie (30:15):
Listen, I can give a, on a road trip, right?
You don't wanna miss thisconcert.

Meredith (30:19):
No.
And if there's a song that's twopart and I've got my partner in
there singing with me.

Stefanie (30:24):
Yes.

Meredith (30:26):
Anyway.
Yeah.
Those kids are, when we go on

Stefanie (30:30):
tour, we're gonna have to do karaoke.

Meredith (30:32):
Okay.
But, I can't wait to see himagain.
I'm not gonna lie.
Like, it was amazing.
So I,

Stefanie (30:38):
and every year I've heard the same thing.
I've never,

Meredith (30:41):
I was, I was blown away.

Stefanie (30:43):
I, when I subbed, we,

Meredith (30:45):
yeah,

Stefanie (30:46):
we went with the class trip

Meredith (30:48):
Yeah.
To see him.

Stefanie (30:49):
It was just like a, an hour of

Meredith (30:50):
like singing Christmas girls or something.
Amazing.
When I'm telling you like,they're standing on the risers.
Okay.
That in itself, like, I'dprobably fall now, but they're
like dancing and doing thethings and you know, you and I
know they trout for this and Iknow that it's like, it's, it's
a huge deal for them to be apart of this.
But they are all into it.
Like, you know, it's not likethe dudes are sitting there.

(31:11):
They're sitting, yeah.
Yeah.
The dudes aren't like doing likethe little whatever.
The dudes are like jazz handsand they're all, and I blown
away.

Stefanie (31:19):
Yeah.

Meredith (31:20):
Blown away.

Stefanie (31:20):
I just, I saw a video not like, a couple weeks ago of
Dylan when he was inkindergarten at like, they were
little.
Whatever, like

Meredith (31:27):
spring performance, whatever.

Stefanie (31:28):
It was one of his little friends at the time, I
still friends with the mom, butlike they were, but neither of
them had the attention span todo what they were supposed to be
doing on stage.
And they were supposed to belike doey ding or something.
I don't know what they weresupposed to be doing, but
neither.
But they were like,

Meredith (31:43):
they did not doey Doy dough.
Aw.

Stefanie (31:48):
It was like, they went like, wherever not supposed to
go.
Oh

Meredith (31:51):
my gosh.
That's adorable.
Oh, adorable.

Stefanie (31:54):
Um, would you like to do, am I the A?

Meredith (31:55):
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Okay.
Am I the a-hole for telling mymother-in-law to stop rolling up
to my crib like she pay bills.

Stefanie (32:04):
I just like the title

Meredith (32:05):
I do too.
I 27 Female live with my fiance,31 Male.
We got our own spot.
Chill Vibes Grown folks.
Only Life was cruising smoothuntil his mama started acting
like she's on the lease.
This person's hilarious.
I like it.
She got a key big mistake.
I know.
And she began popping upunannounced like it's a damn

(32:26):
drive through.
I'll be in a hoodie bonnetminding my business, and here
she comes, swinging the dooropen like it's her house.
She dead ass.
Start reorg.
Mm she dead ass.
Start reorganizing my kitchen.
Talk about this is how I woulddo it.
And once had the audacity to saymy couch gave cheap influencer
energy.
Like, girl, it's West Elm, notCraigslist.

Stefanie (32:48):
Oh,

Meredith (32:49):
I told my man to check her and he hit me with the weak
ass.
That's just how she is.
Naham.
That ain't gonna fly.
So last week she pulled up againwhile I was on a work call,
started cleaning out my fridgewhile I was talking to my boss
and I hit my limits.
I told her straight up, thisain't your spot.
You don't pay rent, you don'tpay utilities, and you sure as
hell don't run nothing here.
So if you're gonna keep poppingup, start sending Venmo.

(33:12):
She looked, shook, packed up herpurse and dipped.
Now she's telling the whole fam,I disrespected her in her son's
house, LMAO, our house, ma'am.
And his sister texted me sayingI got too much mouth fiance
stuck in the middle, but low-keyagrees because she doing too
much.
So for real, was that out ofpocket or was it time somebody

(33:33):
told her This ain't motel six.
Am I the A-hole or nah, nah,nah, I like the way she wrote
the story though.
It's funny.

Stefanie (33:41):
I do too.

Meredith (33:42):
No, I can't imagine my, so my in-laws are very.
Respectful of our space, evenwhen we live beside each other.
And they travel a lot too, butthere was like a football size
field between the two of us.
They were never like peeking inour windows, like, Hey, what are
you doing?
Like, they were always waitingfor an invitation and to the
point where we would just likego up to their house.
Like, come on, hang out with us.

(34:03):
Um, so Hi.
That just gives total bad Nopoor girl.
yeah.
You did the right thing.

Stefanie (34:11):
Yes.
Agree.

Meredith (34:12):
I mean, you're an almost 30-year-old woman with
the

Stefanie (34:14):
fiance should have handled that.

Meredith (34:16):
He should have.
He should have.

Stefanie (34:18):
Like, she shouldn't not have had to handle that.

Meredith (34:20):
No.
But men are so terrible at that,like trying to stand up to their
moms when they are.

Stefanie (34:26):
Yeah.
But like

Meredith (34:28):
I know, I, I know.

Stefanie (34:30):
Yeah,

Meredith (34:32):
I know.
But they're terrible at it.
And Jackson, don't you even getany ideas'cause you're not going
to be standing up.
To me, it's the end of thestory,

Stefanie (34:40):
Dylan YouTube.

Meredith (34:42):
Right.

Stefanie (34:42):
I just don't feel like I would do that.
Like, I think I would try to bevery respectful.

Meredith (34:45):
I would think so too.

Stefanie (34:46):
I don't wanna organize my own shit.

Meredith (34:48):
Right.

Stefanie (34:49):
Like why I

Meredith (34:49):
hate cleaning up my own fridge, clean up my fridge
when there's a smell and I gottaget to the bottom of it.

Stefanie (34:54):
I don't want, I wanna do my own things.
I'm not go to somebody else's

Meredith (34:57):
makes make clean up somebody else's stuff.
Well, mine's a mess.

Stefanie (35:01):
My a DD is so bad.
I don't notice other people'sstuff.
Like, you do not have to worryabout me coming to your house
and like worrying about puttingstuff up.
Yeah.
I'll not notice it.
I promise you.

Meredith (35:10):
Yeah.
I'm just glad that I'm notstaring at my stuff all over the
place anymore,

Stefanie (35:16):
be honest to God.
Do not.
Yeah.
Like I'm so not perceptive.
I would be the worst witness ina crime

Meredith (35:23):
I probably would be too.
Or I think we'd probably noticedthe most random things.
Yes.
Like did were, did you see TheMurderer?
No.
But can you believe that, youknow, red Hot Chili Pepper song
was on.
That sounds like something wewould, don't you remember what's
the name of that song?
Like we would all those thingswould start happening.

(35:46):
Pretty much.
Pretty much.
Yeah.
Not paying attention.
Circle back, circle back.

Stefanie (35:51):
Be the worst witness.
Yeah.
I said this to something not toolong ago.
I'm like, I am so not perceptiveof my surroundings.
Me

Meredith (35:57):
neither.
I'm very organized and likedetail oriented where I have
things where I want them, butwhen I'm looking at everybody
else's stuff, like I honestly,like I couldn't even tell you
what's over there other than Isaw some chocolate and I mean,
hello.

Stefanie (36:10):
I have like a legit, like

Meredith (36:13):
anything.
No, no.

Stefanie (36:17):
At a grocery store.
I'm like, I am like, I, Icouldn't tell you what I saw
when I walked out.
I could not tell you nothing.

Meredith (36:24):
Yeah.
Don't, don't ask us to be awitness to something.
'cause we won't remember itunless you want witnesses that
don't remember anything and thenthat should be us.

Stefanie (36:32):
Well,

Meredith (36:33):
I mean, sometimes you'd be wanting that.
People that don't pay attention,

Stefanie (36:38):
I don't remember.

Meredith (36:39):
Yes.
I can honestly say I don't.

Stefanie (36:41):
Yes, that.
What do you mean on stand?
I don't remember.
I

Meredith (36:44):
don't remember.
I don't remember.
Don't I'm, I just, I don't, Idon't remember.
Mm-hmm.
What are we talking about?
Oh,

Stefanie (36:49):
well, we, um, are not doing a book this week again.
Okay.

Meredith (36:53):
Yeah.
No book this week.
So if you're not a bookie,you're Yeah.
Stay because there's no book andyou have no reason to leave, so
Ha ha.

Stefanie (36:59):
You're in, you're in it for long haul people.

Meredith (37:02):
Yep.

Stefanie (37:03):
Um, we are doing a another crime story missing
person.

Meredith (37:09):
Yes.
So this is another one.
Local to, um, Charlotte.
His name is Kyle Fleischman.

Stefanie (37:17):
I'm so glad that you said that last name.
Mm-hmm.
Butchered it.

Meredith (37:22):
Yeah.
Um, do we wanna jump into this?
Okay.
So this has haunted theCharlotte North Carolina
community for years, and again,it's the disappearance of Kyle
Fleischman.
So it remains unsolved to thisday, and his family has never
given up on finding answers.

Stefanie (37:39):
So Kyle was 24 years old, recruitment executive
living in Charlotte on the nightof November 9th, which is only
three days after Dylan'sbirthday, like the day he was
born.
Like

Meredith (37:51):
his little birthday.
Yep.
Yeah.

Stefanie (37:53):
Like his, his birth birthday.
so on the night of November 9th,2007, Kyle went out with some
friends to attend Dane CookComedy Show, and afterward they
went to Buckhead Saloon, Apopular Uptown bar.

Meredith (38:07):
Exactly.

Stefanie (38:09):
Have you been to that bar?

Meredith (38:10):
I have.

Stefanie (38:10):
I've never,

Meredith (38:11):
I have, yeah, that's, and it, I remember going, so I
probably went.
A couple years after.
Yeah.
It's crazy.
Crazy vibe.
Crazy vibe.
Just knowing that, I mean, theplace was fine, but yeah so
after a night of drinking, Kylewas last seen, leaving the bar

(38:32):
alone at around 2:20 AMsurveillance footage shows him
exiting, but he wasn't wearing acoat and it was chilly out.
It's the last known footage ofhim.
And after that, there's nothing.

Stefanie (38:44):
And what makes it even more mysterious is that Kyle
made several short calls to hisfriends and family between 2:42
AM and 3:28 AM but none of themwere answered.
His phone activity was stillactive around 4:00 AM but no one
knows what happened to him afterthat.

Meredith (38:59):
Those short calls get me.

Stefanie (39:01):
Yeah,

Meredith (39:01):
there's some theories on those.

Stefanie (39:03):
Yes.

Meredith (39:03):
so one of the key moments in the case is the taxi
driver's account.
This, this taxi driver saw a manmatching Kyle's description
walking alone on North DavidsonStreet, and that was about a 10
minute walk from the bar,

Stefanie (39:19):
right?
And he appeared disoriented,walking without a coat.
The taxi driver said he didn'tseem to be in any immediate
distress, but after thatsighting, Kyle seemed to just
disappear.
That's where the mystery reallydeepens.

Meredith (39:31):
And remember, this was early in the hours of the
morning in uptown Charlotte, anarea that's usually pretty busy,
but no one seems to have noticedhim, is like he vanished without
a trace.

Stefanie (39:44):
So the investigation got underway and one of the
first things they looked at wasKyle's cell phone records.
They tracked the last calls, andhis phone was still in the
uptown area during his finalcalls, but when they checked the
footage from the bar and thesurrounding area.
There were no more sightingsafter that brief moment.

Meredith (40:02):
Mm-hmm.
And it's just not the cell phoneactivity that they were
analyzing.
But tracking dogs were also usedto try to locate Kyle's scent.
Um, the dogs followed it forseveral blocks and it led them
to a construction site nearNorth Davidson and 16th Streets.

Stefanie (40:19):
That's where it gets real eerie.
The scent stopped there, whichled the, LED some to believe
that Kyle might have wanderedinto the construction site and
somehow ended up hidden there.
But no concrete, no punintended.
Yeah.
Evidence was ever found.

Meredith (40:34):
And then it gets even more interesting because there's
several theories about whatcould have happened to Kyle that
night.
The first one is.
The idea that Kyle met with anaccidental death.

Stefanie (40:44):
Yeah.
Some people believe that hemight have wandered into the
construction site whileintoxicated and fallen, possibly
fatally.
Since the site was still beingdeveloped, it's possible his
body was accidentally coveredup, making it a difficult find.

Meredith (40:59):
Uh uh.
I mean, I get that.
Yeah, I really get that.
It's a plausible theory, butthen also others believe that
foul play was involved.
Kyle was alone, intoxicated, andin a vulnerable state.
Some believe he could have beentargeted by someone who took
advantage of a situation, maybeeven robbed or assaulted him.

Stefanie (41:18):
There's also the theory of a coverup.
Something that people working ator near the construction site
might have known more thanthey're letting on.
Maybe they're covering somethingup to protect themselves, but
with no real proof.
The theory remains justspeculation.

Meredith (41:33):
But the one thing that hasn't stopped is the search for
Kyle, his family, especially hisfather.
Dick Fleischman has neverstopped looking for answers.
Dick believes Kyle was murderedand that his body somewhere in
that construction site.
Oh

Stefanie (41:46):
yeah.
It's been over a decade sinceKyle disappeared and.
Mm, so 17 years.
Yeah.
And, um, sorry, I was justthinking of diligence.
Yes.
Yeah.
Uh, and his family is stillholds out hope that some kind of
closure will happen.
The Charlotte Mecklenburg PoliceDepartment has kept the case

(42:06):
open, but the lack of evidencehas made it difficult to make
any real progress.

Meredith (42:10):
So there's still a $50,000 reward for information
leading to Kyle's whereabouts,and his family just continues to
appeal to the public for anyleads that could help solve the
case.

Stefanie (42:21):
So what really happened to Kyle?
Did he suffer in an unfortunateaccident that night, or was he a
victim of something far darker?
The back remains that no onereally knows.
All that is certain is thatKyle's family deserves answers
and Kyle deserves justice.

Meredith (42:35):
So if you happen to have any information on the
case, just contact CrimeStoppers.
7 0 4 3 3 4 1600 and the rewardstill stands.

Stefanie (42:44):
So doesn't this also remember, like not too long ago,
I think a year ago, there was,the guy that went missing in
Nashville.

Meredith (42:51):
Okay.

Stefanie (42:51):
by the river, and they think it could have been a,

Meredith (42:54):
yeah.
Yeah.

Stefanie (42:55):
So this sounds like

Meredith (42:57):
there was another guy in Ohio.
I was listening to one of thepodcasts that, we had shared
back and forth, I think, I thinkon this.
and there was a, the podcastmissing in the Carolinas that we
talked about.
There's one on Kyle Fleischmanthat I'd listened to, and she
also talks about a dude in, inOhio, same set of circumstances.

(43:19):
This is so crazy to me.
This is, I mean, I, it wasalways interesting to me before,
because Charlotte been to someof these places, et cetera, but.
Those short calls get me everytime.
Yeah.
So what I gathered was thosecalls are, were something that
he was just, let me see, let me,how, how did he phrase it?

(43:41):
Trying to get somebody or leavea message somewhere.
'cause one of'em was his dad'swork number and it was the
middle of the night.
His dad's like an accountant.
He knew he was not gonna bethere.
But he was trying to getsomewhere where he could leave a
number or I'm sorry, leave amessage.
Or it was something where nowagain, 2007 phones are

(44:01):
different.
Um, was it like a speed dialnumber that he was just trying,
you know, to get mm-hmm.
Like pound one or whatever youdid back then to try to, I don't
even remember.
My bail put me through.

Stefanie (44:12):
I didn't speed dial.

Meredith (44:13):
I didn't either because those three people that
I wanted to talk to, I knewtheir numbers couldn't remember
now, but

Stefanie (44:19):
we actually knew numbers.

Meredith (44:21):
Right.
the other thing I heard is, didyou hear the part about the
pizza place,

Stefanie (44:25):
Uhhuh f Empire Pizza?

Meredith (44:26):
Yeah.
Which I love.

Stefanie (44:28):
I

Meredith (44:29):
only

Stefanie (44:29):
been like once before I became gluten free.

Meredith (44:34):
I feel like I've talked about food tonight and
you're just like, yeah, I don'tknow.
I don't food.
I'm just kidding.
Um, but yeah, so he went to thepizza place, but he had
forgotten his wallet at the bar.
Oh.
So I'm, yes, yes.
So I'm thinking, okay, so whyare we saying we're robbing him
when his stuff was at the bar?

Stefanie (44:51):
Yeah.

Meredith (44:52):
Um, but he went to the Empire Pizza, tried to get some
pizza, didn't have the money.
He tried calling the bar andlike, Hey, I'm coming right back
to get my ID or what, orwhatever the card.
'cause he had a tab, whatever itis.
I don't know.
Um, his pesos, sorry that waswrong.
Um,

Stefanie (45:11):
again,

Meredith (45:14):
his rupe were at the bar.
Um, so anyway, he tried callingthem, nobody picked up and he
was like, I'm just gonna walkback and get it.
And, but no video of that.
Not confirmed other thaneyewitness stories, but I mean.
Yeah.

Stefanie (45:28):
So I think like now I feel like everything, there's
like surveillance everywhere.

Meredith (45:32):
Everywhere.
Yeah.
And if

Stefanie (45:33):
you watch like SVU

Meredith (45:35):
mm-hmm.

Stefanie (45:35):
Like they can track it block by block, by block.
It's

Meredith (45:38):
crazy.

Stefanie (45:40):
But I feel like, and maybe it is more like
sophisticated in Charlotte, likethere's like none of that here.
No,

Meredith (45:46):
no.
Like there's not,

Stefanie (45:49):
do you have doorbells?
Maybe.
And

Meredith (45:51):
if they're connected, you happen to, they were Right.
If maybe, if, I know there's nota lot of,

Stefanie (45:59):
yeah.
But they didn't have all thatsurveillance back then?
No,

Meredith (46:04):
they didn't.
I also heard that his parentstruly believed that he's in that
construction site somewhere.
Yeah.
First somehow, whether it be, I.
His own stumbled and fell andwhatever, or foul play that,
that's where he is.
Yeah.
Well, yeah, but I don't thinkthat What, so what do you think

(46:24):
happened?

Stefanie (46:25):
It just really like reminded me of the

Meredith (46:28):
Nashville one.
Mm-hmm.
Or

Stefanie (46:29):
the dude, the young guy.
Yeah.
Disappeared.
Yeah.
Like out of thin air.

Meredith (46:33):
I just don't think this is a case of them wanting
to, just him wanting to just upand leave his life.

Stefanie (46:39):
No,

Meredith (46:39):
this did not seem like that.
I did not get that vibe betweenhis job and his, he bought the,
condo and the good things in hislife.
I, this just didn't seem like hewas just up and leaving.
No, I

Stefanie (46:50):
don't believe that at all.
Um, and you know, he was outwith his friends at night,
right?
They went home earlier, butRight.
He decided to hang out orwhatever, but I 100% don't
believe.

Meredith (47:00):
Right.
It

Stefanie (47:01):
was an up and leave situation.

Meredith (47:02):
Yeah.
So

Stefanie (47:04):
if you guys happen to know anything

Meredith (47:06):
Yep.
Would love for them to, uh, getsome kind of.
Definite answers.
Mm-hmm.
Just to be able to have that.
Alright, well I think that doesit for today.
Oh.
Are we reading anything nextweek?
Do we want to?

Stefanie (47:19):
We should,

Meredith (47:21):
should we?
I'm gonna read again.
Okay.
You wanna do whatever's next?
do we wanna skip to l, the Lakeof Lost Girls.
By Catherine Green.
Okay.
Link of the Lost Girl.

Stefanie (47:39):
Yep.
All right.
Borrow.

Meredith (47:42):
Borrow.

Stefanie (47:43):
All right.
So the blurb told in alternatingtimelines, the Lake of Lost
Girls.

Meredith (47:48):
Oh, great.
Here we go.
No, I'm just kidding.
Sorry.

Stefanie (47:51):
What did I do?

Meredith (47:51):
No, the alternating timelines get me sometimes

Stefanie (47:54):
The Lake of Lost Girls is a haunting novel that will
thrill fans of all good peoplehere.
And we are all the same in thedark.
Actually, we both liked all goodpeople here.
I think

Meredith (48:03):
we, we did,

Stefanie (48:04):
yeah.
using Suspenseful podcast clipsto weave a twisty tail of
missing student and her sister,who is desperate for answers,
the Lake of Lost Girls isperfect for fans of, I have some
questions for you.
In 1998, the female students aregoing missing in Southern State
University in North Carolina,but freshman, Jessica Faley,
once a bright and responsiblestudent is going through her own

(48:26):
struggles, just as her lifeseems to be careening,
dangerously out of control, shesuddenly disappears.
24 years later, Jessica's sisterLindsay is desperately searching
for answers and uses themomentum of a new chart topping
True Crime podcast.

Meredith (48:42):
It's us.
This is real life

Stefanie (48:45):
hot twist.
is desperately searching foranswers and uses the momentum of
a new chart topping True Crimepodcast.
This is my circus, to focus oncold cases to guide her own
investigation.
Soon interest reaches feverpitch when the bodies of long

(49:07):
missing women begin turning upin the local lake, which leaves
Lindsay down a disturbing roadof discovery.
In the present.
One sister searches to untanglea complicated web of lies in the
past.
The other diss descends everdeeper into the darkness that
will lead to her ultimate fate.
The propulsive and chillingsuspense is a sharp examination

(49:28):
of sisterhood and culture oftrue crime.
It sounds good.

Meredith (49:32):
Sounds really good.
I've got high hopes.

Stefanie (49:35):
I do too.
Let's not disappoint us.

Meredith (49:37):
Right, right.
Okay, cool.

Stefanie (49:39):
Alright, well we appreciate you guys listening.
Thank you friend.
We love you.
Uh, like listen and give us afaster review.

Meredith (49:47):
Please love you.
Bye.

Stefanie (49:48):
Love you.
Bye.

Meredith (49:50):
It was nice.

Stefanie (49:51):
I try.
Alright, that wraps up anotherepisode of, this is My Circus.
If you survive this episode andsomehow still like us, make sure
to subscribe, leave a review,share it with your friends, or
just send us caffeine.
And don't forget, you can joinour VIP circus crew for the full
video version of each episode.
Also exclusive bonus content,access to merch, and so much

(50:12):
more Until next time, keep thedrink strong.
The book's coming, and the kidsonly mildly Ferrell because this
is our circus and these are ourmonkeys.
Love ya.