June 18, 2024 • 32 mins
Can you imagine the horror of losing loved ones due to someone's reckless behavior? Brace yourself as we uncover the devastating case of Rebecca Grossman, a wealthy socialite who took the lives of two innocent children while driving under the influence. We'll discuss the trial, her recent conviction, and reflect on the dire need for responsible behavior to prevent such irreversible tragedies.
Next, we journey through the tragic story of Deja Maldondo, who found herself entangled in a nightmare after the death of her husband, Eli Dominguez. Brandon Toseland, a supposed friend, offered solace but soon turned manipulative and abusive, isolating Deja and controlling every aspect of her life. This episode sheds light on the red flags of toxic relationships and the immense difficulties victims face when seeking help. We'll also share personal anecdotes about interactions with law enforcement and the crucial role of a supportive network. The episode culminates with the gut-wrenching revelation of the abuser's role in the death of Deja's child, a stark reminder of the urgent need to recognize and act upon signs of abuse.
https://www.ktnv.com/news/crime/attorney-shares-timeline-leading-up-to-murder-of-a-4-year-old-boy
Contact us at: whatweloseintheshadows@gmail.com
Background music by Michael Shuller Music
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Good morning and welcome to what we Lose in the
Shadows a father-daughter truecrime podcast.
My name is Jameson Keys.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm Caroline.
Good morning Caroline.
How are you?
I'm good.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I'm very good.
It's a bright, sunny day herein the Northeast.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yes, it is Very sunny , very hot, very humid.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
It's supposed to be up to 95 tomorrow, which is a
little much for me.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I'll be in the pool.
Oh wait, no, actually it'sMonday.
I have to go to work.
Working is the worst.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Worst, but necessary.
Working is the worst, worst,but necessary.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Definitely necessary, but, oh my gosh, sometimes it's
like just one more.
One more weekend day would beso nice, you know.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Right Next week I get to go to San Diego.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I know that'll be nice, San Diego land of the
lesbians?
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I've never been, but I'm trying to go A lot of things
but none as good as lesbians,maybe biased.
Maybe Did you notice out ofspeaking of California?
Did you notice that RebeccaGrossman trial?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I didn't.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Okay, so Rebecca Grossman in 2020, she was a
socialite.
She was married.
She had a couple of children aswell.
What is a socialite?
Socialite?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
So she was married she had a couple of children as
well.
And what?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
is a socialite socialite.
So she was a wealthy her.
Her husband was a doctor andshe you know around the social
circles and you know she was ashe was just a rich woman, right
basically, I think that's anice, that's the nicer term for
a rich woman.
She's just a popular, richwoman but she does things like
she, you know, raise money fordifferent causes that's good, I
mean.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
If mean, if you have money, you should be raising
money, I think.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I agree, I totally agree.
But she was having problems, Iguess, in her marriage and she
was having an affair with thisex-baseball player and they were
having a lunch at, I think,uncle Julio's or someplace like
that and they had been drinkingquite a bit.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
And so they get the bright idea in the middle of the
afternoon to race.
Oh my god back home.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
So they're both in their mercedes and they're
screaming they're driving,they're driving, oh my god no,
yeah.
So they're racing down thestreet trying to get home and,
for whatever reason lack ofattention, slowed reflexes,
because of the alcohol orwhatever she plows through an
intersection and hits, uh, twosmall young children, oh my god
(02:32):
and kills them.
Oh, and the mother and herother two children were watching
in horror as this all happened.
So, yeah, that is horrible whendid this?
happen recently this happened in2020, but it takes a while for
trials to you know.
Oh so she was just convicted.
She was just convicted, wow,but she tries.
(02:53):
She tried to uh at then at onepoint during the trial.
Blame it on the boyfriend whathey he would?
He was guilty of racing too.
I'm not sure if he struck oneof the children or not.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
But my thing is drinking and driving is never
okay.
There is a legal limit fordriving, and even that is too
high.
If you have one drink and youwait hours and then you drive,
okay For the most part dependingon your, your tolerance.
Yes, exactly yeah, it's just.
(03:24):
I mean most part, depending onyour, your tolerance.
Yes, exactly yeah, it's just.
I mean I never, ever drink anddrive, because I've just I've
had friends who have lost familymembers because of it, and it's
just, it's so upsetting andit's so simple not to like.
Yeah, ubers cost money, butlike ubering, lifting, like the,
(03:45):
the ride share apps, likethat's why they're there for the
most part, is like to decreasethat well, that's one reason why
they're there.
And you know it's, even if you,even if you leave your car and
it gets towed, that's stillworth way more sure than
accidentally hitting.
You know what I mean Hittingsomeone.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I think there were eight and 11 or something like
that.
So the trial just ended up lastweek and she was convicted.
She received a sentence between15 years to life, so a minimum
of 15 years, and who knows howmuch that actually connects out
to be yeah, typically they canget like down to like seven,
which is sad.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Still, it's still sad .
Speaker 1 (04:24):
And then the mother of um, the mother of the
children, was at the trial thewhole time.
And then she, she had a pressconference, I think one friday,
and she said she feels reallykind of she's happy that the
woman was, you know, brought totrial and convicted, but she
thought that 30 years would be amuch more at least, yeah, at
(04:45):
least, at least, at least 30years, because I don't know, I'm
not sure how old rebeccagrissman is, if she's in her 30s
or 40s or whatever, but youknow, I mean 15 years.
Let's say she's out in seven andsure that that the whole thing
is gonna have a detriment on herlife, but it should.
You killed two young childrenfor a stupid reason.
Racing a, racing a car in acity.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Well, it doesn't even matter if you're.
I mean, racing in the city isstupid, but like driving drunk
is the real.
I mean racing is bad too, butdriving drunk is such an issue
For sure.
It's unacceptable behaviorreally.
I mean walk, literally, walk,walk somewhere.
Go sit at another like bar oranother like restaurant and have
some water Right, sit there,just there.
(05:26):
Just.
I mean you have your phone, youhave your phone.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Go to a bookstore, get a book, just relax for two
hours, it's fine absolutely goto a bookstore and get a book
right and while you're gettingthat book, look for my book.
Just kidding, no you shouldlook.
You should look for thevanishing ballerina by jameson
keys which you can find on allthe major retailers and on my
website at jamesonkeyscom.
(05:49):
And you can even get pastepisodes of this program also on
my website, but what else isgoing on?
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, no, that was tough.
Wow, that's just.
That's so sad.
I am happy that she is you.
She is getting um a coupleyears, but I really it should be
more.
I feel so bad for that family.
That is so tragic, especiallyfor the children who had to
witness their siblings rightgetting hit.
Oh my god, right.
I hope that they are on the thejourney to healing and I wish
(06:22):
them the best, and that that isso scary.
So don't drink and drive, guys.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Um, I also wanted to bring up.
I wanted to say happy pride toall my fellow LGBTQ people and I
wanted to say, if anyone islooking for a way to celebrate
pride in a really sweet way,there's an organization in the D
of B area called Smile.
(06:48):
It's S-M-Y-A-L and it's their40th anniversary actually this
year, and so basically whatSmile does is it raises money
and it has other services forchildren who are LGBTQ, so it's
from six to 24.
And they give housing, theygive mental health services,
(07:12):
they give like little craftsessions for the kids and they
do like book readings and yeah,and they just do a whole range
of different things.
So if you're interested, youcan go and donate like five
bucks or volunteer if you're inthe area or whatever you'd like.
But this is like one of myfavorite new like they're not
new, but they're new to me um,organization that I just think
(07:35):
is so sweet and yeah, it's just,it's super, super sweet.
It's called Smile, S-M-Y-A-L,or if you know someone in the
area, they also have onlinethings going on.
So if you know like a youngperson who needs services, who
is queer, you can also reach outto them because they are free
(07:57):
services for queer youth,especially like the youth that
you know maybe was kicked out ormaybe is like struggling or
they need mental health servicesfor free, because that is not
cheap nowadays it's really not,but you can, they can get that,
the resources that they needthrough this organization.
So, yeah, I wanted to mentionSmile, love them.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Fantastic.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Trigger warnings today are domestic violence,
captivity, child abuse andmurder wow yes, um, brace
yourself.
So if, if you're not someone wholike is, if you get nervous and
like anxious about likechildren, then maybe this one's
not for you, but trigger warningthere.
(08:40):
So and I apologize for name Ido my best, y'all.
Um Deja Maldono and her husband, eli Dominguez, met and fell in
love a few years ago.
They lived in LA and Californiaand they had two children and
were happily together for manyyears.
It was a beautiful love story.
Unfortunately, eli became sickwith pneumonia and he struggled
(09:09):
to heal from this.
In January 2021, eli died ofpneumonia, leaving his widowed
wife and two children without afather two children without a
father.
Um eli had a friend, brandontoesland, and he swooped in and
was trying to help the family.
Uh, yeah, but not in the bestway.
(09:30):
He wanted to help herfinancially at first and you
know she was just struggling.
She was young, she was a youngmother, now single, widowed
mother.
You know she's going through alot.
Obviously I mean, like her, herpartner, love of her life,
literally just died and now shehas two kids.
I can't imagine very, verytough situation.
So two months later, march 2021,she's really down on her luck.
(09:53):
She doesn't know what to do so.
She moves her children intobrandon's house, which is eli's
friend.
So he starts being weird.
He starts alienating her fromher family and friends, which,
I'd like to point out, is a hugered flag in any relationship,
romantic or not.
Um it's, if you notice thatback away, give it some space
(10:18):
and, uh, probably just run away.
Just don't be friends with thatperson or date that person.
After he felt like she wasisolated from her support system
, he told her to quit her job.
What?
Which is a huge red flag aswell.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
So he wanted her to be completely and 100% dependent
upon him.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Exactly, and that's just never healthy.
You know what I mean.
That is never healthy.
He told her to quit her job andyou know, if a family decides
that one partner can stay home,mind you, they're not partners.
If a family decides that onepartner can stay home, wants to
stay home take care of kids orthe house, or whatever, that's
(10:58):
totally fine, um, as long asit's like consensual.
But trying to convince someoneto do that, um, it's, it's
controlling, right, exactly, andborderline abusive, because
it's like, why are you trying to, you know, control their life
and like what they're doing andlike their income, because
income is everything.
(11:18):
Honestly, I hate to say it, butlike, having money is the
difference between, like youknow, surviving and not,
sometimes, or being able toleave a bad situation and not
Right.
Money gives you options,exactly, and you know it's
frustrating, you know, when youdon't have the money to to hear
it, but it's, it's importantthat you know people are
(11:40):
independent on their ownfinancially, as long as they can
be, you know, or workingtowards it.
He started to tell her whereshe should or shouldn't spend
her money.
So again, he's like, you know,trying to dictate what she's
doing with her money.
And so he was like well, I'mjust better with money, I'll
just take over your accounts.
It's so bad, right, and againshe's grieving her husband,
(12:02):
she's trying to get her lifeback together Like she's young.
She's, like you know,unfortunately, when we're young,
everyone typically is like justeasier to manipulate because
they don't have the thetraumatic experiences of being
manipulated or, like you know,the lived experience of seeing
other people you know bemanipulated.
(12:22):
So it's unfortunate, and thisdid you know happen to her, and
so he would claim then that shewas talking to other men.
So they're like starting toblur the lines of their
relationship.
It's becoming more romantic atthis point and you know I don't
blame her.
It happens often, actually, ifa spouse dies and then the
friend steps in to like supportthem, it's easy to fall for
someone who's been supportive ofyou, right.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
White knight again.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Exactly yeah, and so that happened.
And then he's starting to likeagain, be manipulative and she I
just feel so bad for her.
You know, it's like yeah, likeit's easy to like blame her for
being like, oh, just acceptinganything, but at the same time,
like she's in a very bad,vulnerable state, right.
So it's so sad You're trying toheal emotionally.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
You're trying to figure out how am I going to
take care of these kids.
Someone offers to house you.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yep, a friend of your late husband.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Who, you might think, is doing so because of only
your best interest, in theinterest of the children,
because they were friends, butunfortunately, it's not always
the case.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Nope, nope.
So he claimed that anytime shewould leave the house to do
anything, that she was meetingup with guys which is so creepy
and like, oh, I just I can'timagine like not being able to
leave the house in peace.
It's no longer at home, youknow, it's a prison which you'll
(13:47):
see.
Um, he then confiscates herphone oh man and she's not
working right, so the situationhas become potentially very
dangerous for her at this point,because she's basically in
captivity.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Right right.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Her family and friends now are not used to
hearing from her because she'sbeen isolated from them and she
doesn't have a job to go to andno way to communicate with
others now.
So she's completely alone withan abusive man and she has her
children to take care of andthink about.
Wow, all under his roof, wow,no, no contact to the outside
(14:26):
world and no one's looking forher, because they assume this is
like normal.
Now, right, right, oh, it's soscary, it does get worse.
He starts telling her that shebabies her son too much and
wanting them not to be aroundeach other as much.
And he told her that boys aresupposed to be tough and she's
just babying him too much.
Mind you, he's four, he's four.
(14:47):
Yeah, this is not a 20-year-oldchild.
He starts restricting how muchshe can hug him and how often
they can be around each other.
Wow, it's really bad.
This guy's a sociopath for sure.
I mean, it's weird.
Then he starts physicallyabusing her, which you know, we
saw this coming.
Not that she should have sawthis coming, but, like I'm
(15:09):
saying, we did just based on,like, what I'm telling you.
Right, yeah, it's like achecklist it is.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
We've done so many cases.
At this point, it's just likecontrolling the money, you know,
making them feel bad,controlling their access to
friends and family.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
It's like you could just see it, each domino falling
as it does and it's easy to dothat, like from a distance, of
course, and reading througharticles like, yeah, we see this
happening, but it's verydifficult when you're like on a
day-to-day, like going back andforth with this person.
Like you know they there arealways good parts of people too
which is tough to, like, youknow, talk about in these
(15:42):
situations.
So, like she's, like you know,thinking like, oh, am I just
being dramatic?
Or like you know what I meanand so super important to you
know, learn from thesesituations, which is another
reason why I do like true crime,because it kind of gives you
like a warning on, likedifferent relationship dynamics
that you should be aware of and,you know, learn from.
Or, especially even for yourfriends.
(16:03):
Like you know, you gotta watchout for your friends too.
If they start isolatingthemselves, you know, talk to
their other friends, is it?
You know what I mean?
There's a lot of things that wecan learn from these situations
.
So he would scream at her andpush her around and choke her,
choke her.
Yeah, very abusive he made her,withdraw her son from school.
(16:28):
Uh-oh yeah, he starts installinglocks on the bedroom doors from
the outside.
Oh my God, it's scary,imprisoning them now it's scary,
yeah, so he locks her in andputs motion sensors around the
house and finally duct tapes herto the bed while he's away.
Wow, it's very scary.
(16:49):
I know, this is over months.
This is over months and I'mjust kind of like listing it out
.
It's very scary, very seriousstuff.
If they need to go out inpublic and she needs to be there
, she would be handcuffed to theinside of the car.
What the?
Yeah, he's insane, insane.
Mind you, this is like a friendof well, not really a friend,
right.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
No, apparently not.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
He was supposed to be a friend of her husband.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
I wonder if this guy had any kind of history of doing
crap like this.
Probably I wonder if this guyhad any kind of history of doing
crap like this Probably.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
But that's another thing with their justice system
is that it doesn't reward peoplefor, you know, coming to the
police and telling them you knowthat someone has been abusive,
because it's like, ok, well, doyou want to file a report?
We have to go and do this.
And we have to like, go takehim to court and this and that,
and it's just like it's hard tocreate a paper trail as someone
(17:38):
who's been through it, just noton abuse, but on stalking, which
is, I guess, technically abuse.
But um, you know it's, it's notrewarding.
Everyone second guesses you.
You have to go to the policemultiple times just to file a
report and then they laugh youoff most of the time.
So you know not that she wasable to do that anyway, he had
to kept her like under wraps.
(17:59):
But I'm saying like this isprobably progressed behavior
from like when he was younger,because this is not like,
obviously it doesn't just happenone night.
For the most part no.
And so, yeah, there weredefinitely red flags before.
I'm assuming at this point, but, like you know, from learning
from other true crime and otheryou know experiences I've seen
(18:19):
myself and my friends go through.
Uh yeah, like I, I believe thatthere were definitely other
victims of his that have, um,weird experiences, abusive
experiences with him, and youknow I I'm it's tough to go and
report, it is really tough, um,and it's tough to get it
actually taken seriously andfiled.
(18:40):
Report Right.
To be fair though.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah, the police.
It has to be exculpatory.
It has to be something thatthey can act on, right?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
That's another tough part of it.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yeah, because so and so if you get someone, and
that's I personally think thatthere should be if it's a, if
it's a woman that's reporting acrime, all police should take it
seriously.
But I think maybe a woman wouldbe more empathetic in terms of
that sort of thing, and that'ssad, it is.
I mean, every everyone shouldbe empathetic.
They should, um, but maybe I itmay be easier for more people
(19:14):
would come forward if theydidn't have to face a room of
men.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
A room of men, yeah you know, maybe something that
could be, so it's interestingactually that you bring that up,
because I went when I was beingstalked, kind of diverting from
this story, but when I wasbeing stalked by a random
stranger, terrifying, who justcaught an obsession bug, I don't
know, and so I went to thepolice in two times before and
(19:41):
the men were like, okay, butwhat, what do you want us to do?
Like, what do you want us to do?
And then finally they called awoman and she was like you need
to go right now to thecommissioner and get a, um, a
peace order right.
And I'm so glad I did, becausethat did end up stopping it
right.
So, you know, and there waseventually, and there was a
whole long legal blah, blah,blah, blah not as long as it
(20:03):
could have been, of course, butyou know, two months of like
legal blah, blah, blah, whatever, and like it was humiliating
and it was scary and it wasshitty, uh, and I just got lucky
with the fact that I had thatwoman tell me to do that.
And then then the first judgewas horrible, horrible, but the
(20:24):
second judge, after he appealed,after the like person who was
stalking me appealed, um, thesecond judge decided to, you
know, keep the peace order inplace.
So you know it's, it's toughand I think a lot of people
don't want to go through thatand that's fair and it's just
it's so shitty.
(20:44):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
I don't know the answer on how to fix it, but in
this woman's case I'm not sureshe couldn't have at this point.
I don't know how she canextricate herself.
Sure she could say, no, I'mdone with this.
But then what?
Where are you going to go?
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Where he is not even letting her see her children.
Right, for the most part,they're locked away in different
rooms, right, so you know shehas her children to think about.
She's in a very horrible likebacked into a corner at this
point, right, so he startedkeeping the children away from
her while they were at home, sokeeping them all inside the
house.
They would be locked inseparate rooms most of the time.
(21:19):
Wow, yeah, so this most of thetime, wow, yeah, so this has all
happened over months.
She moved in in march, december.
Same year, 2021, same year, herhusband died.
This is all one year, horrible,horrible year.
I mean, oh, I feel so bad forher.
Yeah, her husband died.
Her husband died in um january.
She moves in with his friend inmarch and then december 21.
(21:42):
Now mason, her four-year-oldson, becomes ill.
Brandon takes mason into themaster bedroom and keeps him
there.
Days go by, desha has beenconfronting him and he's been
screaming and hitting her,trying to derail the
conversation, not giving heranswers on what's happening.
Finally, she just keeps pushingand pushing him until he breaks
and he tells her that masondied died died the four-year-old
(22:06):
child.
She was sobbing and you know, heliterally put her hand, his
hands, over her nose and mouth,telling her that she was being
too loud and the neighbors weregoing to hear her if only yeah,
exactly honestly, and it breaksmy heart to think that all of
this change happened to her in ayear.
You know, she would have had ahappy life with her husband and
(22:28):
pneumonia of all things, and hedies tragically.
And then this sociopath who washis friend, takes advantage of
the situation to the point where, I mean, it convinces her to
move in, traps her, controls herlike, keeps her like a pet.
It's, it's insane, it iskeeping away a pet.
It is I know it's scary, andand and a poorly a like an
abused pet.
(22:48):
You're right, an abused, yeah,it's, it's horrible, um, and I
want to press it, preface thisby saying you know, no blame
goes to her husband, of course,um.
However, I think this situationshows us how important it is to
have good-hearted people aroundour loved ones, like we really
do need to, and I'm not sayingthat in this situation, he could
have, like you know, seeneverything, but I think it is
(23:09):
important to like, not introduceshitty people to our like loved
ones right have good peoplearound you right.
Everyone needs a support systemyes, everyone needs a support
system, but a good supportsystem that, like you know, is
not going to be dangerous to ourloved ones.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Does she?
Does she have family, a mother,a father?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
She does.
But remember she was isolatedfrom them.
She stopped talking to them, sothey think this is normal.
They have no idea what's goingon.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Oh, I know, but my goodness, I mean you couldn't be
isolated enough that I wouldn'tbe going.
I need to.
I need to see her.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
I need to talk to caroline today yeah, I mean
there's different right, noblame on them, but there is
different like family dynamicstoo.
Like we're close, but like ifthey're not close they don't
live close.
Like right you know, sometimesit's tough to keep in contact.
I know some people who liketalk to their parents once a
month and so if they miss amonth it's like oh you know, or
they think she's, she's gettingover it, exactly she's grieving
right exactly and like that's.
(24:06):
That's really not their fault,but it is important to check in
on family and friends for sure,even if they're trying to push
you away.
As long as you know it's, it'sa tricky line right.
Sometimes you need to have anuncomfortable conversation with
someone so at this point, sheknows she needs to find a way
out of this horrible situationfor her and her daughter before
he kills them all, becauseobviously that's the way it's
(24:26):
looking.
What did he do with the body,incidentally?
So I'm getting there.
Be patient.
She finds a sticky note in apen in the car one day and, you
know, decides to like put thisrisky plan in place.
She writes out a note that saysher mother was being held.
So her she was like sending itby the girl.
(24:48):
So her mother's being heldagainst her will and needs help
immediately.
So this is now a full year umlater from after the death.
So it's after the death of herhusband, only a few months after
the death of her son.
So it's the 22nd of february2022.
Dasha slips the note into herdaughter's sock before she goes
to school.
One day, this brave little girlgoes to school and gives a note
(25:12):
to her teacher.
Thank god yeah, and the staff atthe little girl's school
contacts the authoritiesimmediately brandon was arrested
.
It's not clear if it was thesame day or like a few days
after, but he was like arrestedpretty quickly, thankfully.
Authorities went through hishouse looking for evidence and
any trace of the little boyMason.
Unfortunately, they did findthe remains of the four year old
(25:34):
boy in the freezer in hisgarage.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Oh, my God.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Yeah, it's so sad.
So at this point, brandon hasbeen charged with the murder and
kidnapping of um all of them,really.
Uh, and march 31st 2022, agrand jury convenes and daisha
tells her story.
Of course, brandon wants topull her into this horrible shit
(25:59):
storm that he has created andclaims that she knew her son was
dead and they agreed to keephim in the freezer until they
had enough money to bury him ohmy god which is illegal, totally
illegal.
Yeah, that's not the way itworks, right?
Um, he started trying to excusethe claim, saying she was
dramatic about everything andlying and you know whatever.
Just anytime she would bring upsomething like oh, he choked me
(26:20):
and he'd be like oh, but it waslike it was, we were just like
having like sexy time, what?
That's not true.
If someone's crying, no rightit's, it's like he was just
lying, um, trying to dismiss her.
However, when they did theautopsy of the little boy, they
found that he had been abused inseveral areas of his body.
They found injuries to his face, his arms, his stomach, his
(26:42):
head and internal damage to hissmall intestine that led to rips
in his small intestine.
From what?
Abuse?
From a beating, yes.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Oh my.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
God, yeah, so he remind you, he's four.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
It takes a special kind of monster to manhandle and
beat up a four-year-old.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
A four-year-old child .
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Of your friend, yep, oh what who just died it's
horrible.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Brandon is currently being held without bail,
thankfully, in the clark countydetention center in las vegas.
Prosecution is consideringgoing for the death penalty for
him and no charges have beenbrought to um daisha, thankfully
, even though he was like makingclaims, but I think they saw
through it.
Hopefully that like she was avictim in all of this as well.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
For sure, um, yeah yeah, I mean, if you've been, if
you're duct taped to the bed,yep.
Handcuffed in the car, yep, Imean.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
No way are you culpable for no you know and and
it's just, it's reallyupsetting that he's like oh, but
she also knew that he was there.
It's like, yeah, she knewbecause you told her after she
pushed you, but then shecouldn't do anything about it
because you took her phone andshe can't talk to anyone.
So you have her restrained andlocked in a house, yeah, and he
wants to blame her.
I mean, it's of course he does.
It's crazy.
(28:01):
So that is the update.
That that's all that's beenupdated so far, but it it was.
It's.
It's so sad and I just I hopethat daisha and her daughter
have like a lot of healing inthe journey after this.
It's hopefully they're back withher family and I hope so too or
(28:22):
some kind of support system,friends, anything but you know
it's sad how common abuse is inrelationships and abuse of
children.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
First of all, I'm amazed that this monster let the
little girl go to school.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Me too.
I'm really amazed by that.
I think it was some kind ofgender or something, because he
didn't like the little girl goto school.
Me too, I'm really.
I think he, he, I.
I think it was some kind ofgender or something because he
didn't like the little boyapparently right, but he was
competing for her.
I think that's it.
But then the the girl was fineto him for the most part, so
it's just, it's interesting.
I think he just didn't thinkthat, like women, I think he
(29:01):
thinks he could control women,but he felt threatened by the
little boy, which is insane.
But you know how, that's howsome people are.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
I mean, well, hey, you know, thank you, thank god
that, uh, she came up with thisplan, but honestly quick
thinking honestly it was quickthinking, but honestly I mean,
what a gamble.
Yep, if he found the note, ohmy god.
Probably daisha and herdaughter would probably be dead
also yeah, and we wouldn't evenknow anything about this, but
it's a Hail, mary, you've got todo something.
What a brilliant plan and whata brave little girl.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Brave little girl, yeah, for going to her teacher,
and thank God for the teachers Iknow, and thank God for the
systems in place that actuallyworked that day.
And I know I've talked aboutthis case before, um, for I
think it's Gabriel and I forgotthe last statement.
Maybe, uh, it's GabrielFernandez.
So in that case, uh, it was.
(29:52):
It was both parents abusing um,abusing him, and he was a young
boy and he would go to schoolwith all these cuts and bruises
and burns and stuff and it wasjust horrible.
And his teacher kept calling,cpsps kept calling, kept calling
because she was like what inthe hell, like you know?
And he would even say like,yeah, like my parents did this
to me and yeah, and it'sunfortunate because cps just
(30:16):
they didn't do their job likethey they were, they claimed
they were too overworked by thispoint or whatever and they
didn't have enough evidence orthis or that, I don't know how.
But, um, and it's interestingbecause the mother of that case,
of gabriel um fernandez, usedto go to the school and yell at
the teacher for calling, so sheknew who called.
It was bad, it was a very badsituation and the teacher kept
(30:39):
calling and and he did end updying.
So I know it's very sad, yeah,and but I'm happy that in this
situation the teacher was ableto contact the authorities
justice was done and, yeah, thesystems actually work to protect
, um, the victims of thesecrimes.
So the national domesticviolence hotline is 800-799-7233
(31:06):
, and you're going to alwayscall and speak to someone.
It uh, it doesn't mean that youneed to file reports and it can
be completely anonymous.
They have english, spanish and200 other language interpreting
services.
That's fantastic.
Yep, it is.
It's really good, um, and it'sthey.
They just play a really pivotalrole in helping people, even if
(31:28):
they have smaller questions.
It doesn't have to be asituation like this for you to
call, even if it's justsomething that you feel weird
about and you want to talk tosomeone about.
And you know, you know you'vetalked to your therapist or you
don't have access to therapy.
You know this.
This, this is a great way toget some information.
It's completely anonymous, um,if you so wish.
(31:49):
It wish it to be, it's a placewhere you can get support and
help and you know some clarity.
Perhaps, if you're feelinguncomfortable in situations.
Again, the number is800-799-7233.
And it also is text for peoplewho are deaf or hard of hearing,
or if you just want to text,and you can text BEGIN,
(32:11):
b-e-g-i-n.
Begin to 88788.
Follow the show on whateverstreaming site you're listening
on.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
And remember.
All of the source material willbe available in the show notes.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
And follow us on Instagram at
Whatweloseintheshadows, and letus know if you want to hear a
specific case.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Or if you just want to give us some feedback.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Okay, join us in the shadows next Tuesday.
Bye.
Good morning and welcome to what we Lose in the
Shadows a father-daughter truecrime podcast.
My name is Jameson Keys.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm Caroline.
Good morning Caroline.
How are you?
I'm good.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I'm very good.
It's a bright, sunny day herein the Northeast.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yes, it is Very sunny , very hot, very humid.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
It's supposed to be up to 95 tomorrow, which is a
little much for me.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I'll be in the pool.
Oh wait, no, actually it'sMonday.
I have to go to work.
Working is the worst.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Worst, but necessary.
Working is the worst, worst,but necessary.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Definitely necessary, but, oh my gosh, sometimes it's
like just one more.
One more weekend day would beso nice, you know.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Right Next week I get to go to San Diego.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I know that'll be nice, San Diego land of the
lesbians?
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I've never been, but I'm trying to go A lot of things
but none as good as lesbians,maybe biased.
Maybe Did you notice out ofspeaking of California?
Did you notice that RebeccaGrossman trial?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I didn't.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Okay, so Rebecca Grossman in 2020, she was a
socialite.
She was married.
She had a couple of children aswell.
What is a socialite?
Socialite?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
So she was married she had a couple of children as
well.
And what?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
is a socialite socialite.
So she was a wealthy her.
Her husband was a doctor andshe you know around the social
circles and you know she was ashe was just a rich woman, right
basically, I think that's anice, that's the nicer term for
a rich woman.
She's just a popular, richwoman but she does things like
she, you know, raise money fordifferent causes that's good, I
mean.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
If mean, if you have money, you should be raising
money, I think.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I agree, I totally agree.
But she was having problems, Iguess, in her marriage and she
was having an affair with thisex-baseball player and they were
having a lunch at, I think,uncle Julio's or someplace like
that and they had been drinkingquite a bit.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
And so they get the bright idea in the middle of the
afternoon to race.
Oh my god back home.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
So they're both in their mercedes and they're
screaming they're driving,they're driving, oh my god no,
yeah.
So they're racing down thestreet trying to get home and,
for whatever reason lack ofattention, slowed reflexes,
because of the alcohol orwhatever she plows through an
intersection and hits, uh, twosmall young children, oh my god
(02:32):
and kills them.
Oh, and the mother and herother two children were watching
in horror as this all happened.
So, yeah, that is horrible whendid this?
happen recently this happened in2020, but it takes a while for
trials to you know.
Oh so she was just convicted.
She was just convicted, wow,but she tries.
(02:53):
She tried to uh at then at onepoint during the trial.
Blame it on the boyfriend whathey he would?
He was guilty of racing too.
I'm not sure if he struck oneof the children or not.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
But my thing is drinking and driving is never
okay.
There is a legal limit fordriving, and even that is too
high.
If you have one drink and youwait hours and then you drive,
okay For the most part dependingon your, your tolerance.
Yes, exactly yeah, it's just.
(03:24):
I mean most part, depending onyour, your tolerance.
Yes, exactly yeah, it's just.
I mean I never, ever drink anddrive, because I've just I've
had friends who have lost familymembers because of it, and it's
just, it's so upsetting andit's so simple not to like.
Yeah, ubers cost money, butlike ubering, lifting, like the,
(03:45):
the ride share apps, likethat's why they're there for the
most part, is like to decreasethat well, that's one reason why
they're there.
And you know it's, even if you,even if you leave your car and
it gets towed, that's stillworth way more sure than
accidentally hitting.
You know what I mean Hittingsomeone.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I think there were eight and 11 or something like
that.
So the trial just ended up lastweek and she was convicted.
She received a sentence between15 years to life, so a minimum
of 15 years, and who knows howmuch that actually connects out
to be yeah, typically they canget like down to like seven,
which is sad.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Still, it's still sad .
Speaker 1 (04:24):
And then the mother of um, the mother of the
children, was at the trial thewhole time.
And then she, she had a pressconference, I think one friday,
and she said she feels reallykind of she's happy that the
woman was, you know, brought totrial and convicted, but she
thought that 30 years would be amuch more at least, yeah, at
(04:45):
least, at least, at least 30years, because I don't know, I'm
not sure how old rebeccagrissman is, if she's in her 30s
or 40s or whatever, but youknow, I mean 15 years.
Let's say she's out in seven andsure that that the whole thing
is gonna have a detriment on herlife, but it should.
You killed two young childrenfor a stupid reason.
Racing a, racing a car in acity.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Well, it doesn't even matter if you're.
I mean, racing in the city isstupid, but like driving drunk
is the real.
I mean racing is bad too, butdriving drunk is such an issue
For sure.
It's unacceptable behaviorreally.
I mean walk, literally, walk,walk somewhere.
Go sit at another like bar oranother like restaurant and have
some water Right, sit there,just there.
(05:26):
Just.
I mean you have your phone, youhave your phone.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Go to a bookstore, get a book, just relax for two
hours, it's fine absolutely goto a bookstore and get a book
right and while you're gettingthat book, look for my book.
Just kidding, no you shouldlook.
You should look for thevanishing ballerina by jameson
keys which you can find on allthe major retailers and on my
website at jamesonkeyscom.
(05:49):
And you can even get pastepisodes of this program also on
my website, but what else isgoing on?
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, no, that was tough.
Wow, that's just.
That's so sad.
I am happy that she is you.
She is getting um a coupleyears, but I really it should be
more.
I feel so bad for that family.
That is so tragic, especiallyfor the children who had to
witness their siblings rightgetting hit.
Oh my god, right.
I hope that they are on the thejourney to healing and I wish
(06:22):
them the best, and that that isso scary.
So don't drink and drive, guys.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Um, I also wanted to bring up.
I wanted to say happy pride toall my fellow LGBTQ people and I
wanted to say, if anyone islooking for a way to celebrate
pride in a really sweet way,there's an organization in the D
of B area called Smile.
(06:48):
It's S-M-Y-A-L and it's their40th anniversary actually this
year, and so basically whatSmile does is it raises money
and it has other services forchildren who are LGBTQ, so it's
from six to 24.
And they give housing, theygive mental health services,
(07:12):
they give like little craftsessions for the kids and they
do like book readings and yeah,and they just do a whole range
of different things.
So if you're interested, youcan go and donate like five
bucks or volunteer if you're inthe area or whatever you'd like.
But this is like one of myfavorite new like they're not
new, but they're new to me um,organization that I just think
(07:35):
is so sweet and yeah, it's just,it's super, super sweet.
It's called Smile, S-M-Y-A-L,or if you know someone in the
area, they also have onlinethings going on.
So if you know like a youngperson who needs services, who
is queer, you can also reach outto them because they are free
(07:57):
services for queer youth,especially like the youth that
you know maybe was kicked out ormaybe is like struggling or
they need mental health servicesfor free, because that is not
cheap nowadays it's really not,but you can, they can get that,
the resources that they needthrough this organization.
So, yeah, I wanted to mentionSmile, love them.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Fantastic.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Trigger warnings today are domestic violence,
captivity, child abuse andmurder wow yes, um, brace
yourself.
So if, if you're not someone wholike is, if you get nervous and
like anxious about likechildren, then maybe this one's
not for you, but trigger warningthere.
(08:40):
So and I apologize for name Ido my best, y'all.
Um Deja Maldono and her husband, eli Dominguez, met and fell in
love a few years ago.
They lived in LA and Californiaand they had two children and
were happily together for manyyears.
It was a beautiful love story.
Unfortunately, eli became sickwith pneumonia and he struggled
(09:09):
to heal from this.
In January 2021, eli died ofpneumonia, leaving his widowed
wife and two children without afather two children without a
father.
Um eli had a friend, brandontoesland, and he swooped in and
was trying to help the family.
Uh, yeah, but not in the bestway.
(09:30):
He wanted to help herfinancially at first and you
know she was just struggling.
She was young, she was a youngmother, now single, widowed
mother.
You know she's going through alot.
Obviously I mean, like her, herpartner, love of her life,
literally just died and now shehas two kids.
I can't imagine very, verytough situation.
So two months later, march 2021,she's really down on her luck.
(09:53):
She doesn't know what to do so.
She moves her children intobrandon's house, which is eli's
friend.
So he starts being weird.
He starts alienating her fromher family and friends, which,
I'd like to point out, is a hugered flag in any relationship,
romantic or not.
Um it's, if you notice thatback away, give it some space
(10:18):
and, uh, probably just run away.
Just don't be friends with thatperson or date that person.
After he felt like she wasisolated from her support system
, he told her to quit her job.
What?
Which is a huge red flag aswell.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
So he wanted her to be completely and 100% dependent
upon him.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Exactly, and that's just never healthy.
You know what I mean.
That is never healthy.
He told her to quit her job andyou know, if a family decides
that one partner can stay home,mind you, they're not partners.
If a family decides that onepartner can stay home, wants to
stay home take care of kids orthe house, or whatever, that's
(10:58):
totally fine, um, as long asit's like consensual.
But trying to convince someoneto do that, um, it's, it's
controlling, right, exactly, andborderline abusive, because
it's like, why are you trying to, you know, control their life
and like what they're doing andlike their income, because
income is everything.
(11:18):
Honestly, I hate to say it, butlike, having money is the
difference between, like youknow, surviving and not,
sometimes, or being able toleave a bad situation and not
Right.
Money gives you options,exactly, and you know it's
frustrating, you know, when youdon't have the money to to hear
it, but it's, it's importantthat you know people are
(11:40):
independent on their ownfinancially, as long as they can
be, you know, or workingtowards it.
He started to tell her whereshe should or shouldn't spend
her money.
So again, he's like, you know,trying to dictate what she's
doing with her money.
And so he was like well, I'mjust better with money, I'll
just take over your accounts.
It's so bad, right, and againshe's grieving her husband,
(12:02):
she's trying to get her lifeback together Like she's young.
She's, like you know,unfortunately, when we're young,
everyone typically is like justeasier to manipulate because
they don't have the thetraumatic experiences of being
manipulated or, like you know,the lived experience of seeing
other people you know bemanipulated.
(12:22):
So it's unfortunate, and thisdid you know happen to her, and
so he would claim then that shewas talking to other men.
So they're like starting toblur the lines of their
relationship.
It's becoming more romantic atthis point and you know I don't
blame her.
It happens often, actually, ifa spouse dies and then the
friend steps in to like supportthem, it's easy to fall for
someone who's been supportive ofyou, right.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
White knight again.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Exactly yeah, and so that happened.
And then he's starting to likeagain, be manipulative and she I
just feel so bad for her.
You know, it's like yeah, likeit's easy to like blame her for
being like, oh, just acceptinganything, but at the same time,
like she's in a very bad,vulnerable state, right.
So it's so sad You're trying toheal emotionally.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
You're trying to figure out how am I going to
take care of these kids.
Someone offers to house you.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yep, a friend of your late husband.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Who, you might think, is doing so because of only
your best interest, in theinterest of the children,
because they were friends, butunfortunately, it's not always
the case.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Nope, nope.
So he claimed that anytime shewould leave the house to do
anything, that she was meetingup with guys which is so creepy
and like, oh, I just I can'timagine like not being able to
leave the house in peace.
It's no longer at home, youknow, it's a prison which you'll
(13:47):
see.
Um, he then confiscates herphone oh man and she's not
working right, so the situationhas become potentially very
dangerous for her at this point,because she's basically in
captivity.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Right right.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Her family and friends now are not used to
hearing from her because she'sbeen isolated from them and she
doesn't have a job to go to andno way to communicate with
others now.
So she's completely alone withan abusive man and she has her
children to take care of andthink about.
Wow, all under his roof, wow,no, no contact to the outside
(14:26):
world and no one's looking forher, because they assume this is
like normal.
Now, right, right, oh, it's soscary, it does get worse.
He starts telling her that shebabies her son too much and
wanting them not to be aroundeach other as much.
And he told her that boys aresupposed to be tough and she's
just babying him too much.
Mind you, he's four, he's four.
(14:47):
Yeah, this is not a 20-year-oldchild.
He starts restricting how muchshe can hug him and how often
they can be around each other.
Wow, it's really bad.
This guy's a sociopath for sure.
I mean, it's weird.
Then he starts physicallyabusing her, which you know, we
saw this coming.
Not that she should have sawthis coming, but, like I'm
(15:09):
saying, we did just based on,like, what I'm telling you.
Right, yeah, it's like achecklist it is.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
We've done so many cases.
At this point, it's just likecontrolling the money, you know,
making them feel bad,controlling their access to
friends and family.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
It's like you could just see it, each domino falling
as it does and it's easy to dothat, like from a distance, of
course, and reading througharticles like, yeah, we see this
happening, but it's verydifficult when you're like on a
day-to-day, like going back andforth with this person.
Like you know they there arealways good parts of people too
which is tough to, like, youknow, talk about in these
(15:42):
situations.
So, like she's, like you know,thinking like, oh, am I just
being dramatic?
Or like you know what I meanand so super important to you
know, learn from thesesituations, which is another
reason why I do like true crime,because it kind of gives you
like a warning on, likedifferent relationship dynamics
that you should be aware of and,you know, learn from.
Or, especially even for yourfriends.
(16:03):
Like you know, you gotta watchout for your friends too.
If they start isolatingthemselves, you know, talk to
their other friends, is it?
You know what I mean?
There's a lot of things that wecan learn from these situations
.
So he would scream at her andpush her around and choke her,
choke her.
Yeah, very abusive he made her,withdraw her son from school.
(16:28):
Uh-oh yeah, he starts installinglocks on the bedroom doors from
the outside.
Oh my God, it's scary,imprisoning them now it's scary,
yeah, so he locks her in andputs motion sensors around the
house and finally duct tapes herto the bed while he's away.
Wow, it's very scary.
(16:49):
I know, this is over months.
This is over months and I'mjust kind of like listing it out
.
It's very scary, very seriousstuff.
If they need to go out inpublic and she needs to be there
, she would be handcuffed to theinside of the car.
What the?
Yeah, he's insane, insane.
Mind you, this is like a friendof well, not really a friend,
right.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
No, apparently not.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
He was supposed to be a friend of her husband.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
I wonder if this guy had any kind of history of doing
crap like this.
Probably I wonder if this guyhad any kind of history of doing
crap like this Probably.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
But that's another thing with their justice system
is that it doesn't reward peoplefor, you know, coming to the
police and telling them you knowthat someone has been abusive,
because it's like, ok, well, doyou want to file a report?
We have to go and do this.
And we have to like, go takehim to court and this and that,
and it's just like it's hard tocreate a paper trail as someone
(17:38):
who's been through it, just noton abuse, but on stalking, which
is, I guess, technically abuse.
But um, you know it's, it's notrewarding.
Everyone second guesses you.
You have to go to the policemultiple times just to file a
report and then they laugh youoff most of the time.
So you know not that she wasable to do that anyway, he had
to kept her like under wraps.
(17:59):
But I'm saying like this isprobably progressed behavior
from like when he was younger,because this is not like,
obviously it doesn't just happenone night.
For the most part no.
And so, yeah, there weredefinitely red flags before.
I'm assuming at this point, but, like you know, from learning
from other true crime and otheryou know experiences I've seen
(18:19):
myself and my friends go through.
Uh yeah, like I, I believe thatthere were definitely other
victims of his that have, um,weird experiences, abusive
experiences with him, and youknow I I'm it's tough to go and
report, it is really tough, um,and it's tough to get it
actually taken seriously andfiled.
(18:40):
Report Right.
To be fair though.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah, the police.
It has to be exculpatory.
It has to be something thatthey can act on, right?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
That's another tough part of it.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yeah, because so and so if you get someone, and
that's I personally think thatthere should be if it's a, if
it's a woman that's reporting acrime, all police should take it
seriously.
But I think maybe a woman wouldbe more empathetic in terms of
that sort of thing, and that'ssad, it is.
I mean, every everyone shouldbe empathetic.
They should, um, but maybe I itmay be easier for more people
(19:14):
would come forward if theydidn't have to face a room of
men.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
A room of men, yeah you know, maybe something that
could be, so it's interestingactually that you bring that up,
because I went when I was beingstalked, kind of diverting from
this story, but when I wasbeing stalked by a random
stranger, terrifying, who justcaught an obsession bug, I don't
know, and so I went to thepolice in two times before and
(19:41):
the men were like, okay, butwhat, what do you want us to do?
Like, what do you want us to do?
And then finally they called awoman and she was like you need
to go right now to thecommissioner and get a, um, a
peace order right.
And I'm so glad I did, becausethat did end up stopping it
right.
So, you know, and there waseventually, and there was a
whole long legal blah, blah,blah, blah not as long as it
(20:03):
could have been, of course, butyou know, two months of like
legal blah, blah, blah, whatever, and like it was humiliating
and it was scary and it wasshitty, uh, and I just got lucky
with the fact that I had thatwoman tell me to do that.
And then then the first judgewas horrible, horrible, but the
(20:24):
second judge, after he appealed,after the like person who was
stalking me appealed, um, thesecond judge decided to, you
know, keep the peace order inplace.
So you know it's, it's toughand I think a lot of people
don't want to go through thatand that's fair and it's just
it's so shitty.
(20:44):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
I don't know the answer on how to fix it, but in
this woman's case I'm not sureshe couldn't have at this point.
I don't know how she canextricate herself.
Sure she could say, no, I'mdone with this.
But then what?
Where are you going to go?
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Where he is not even letting her see her children.
Right, for the most part,they're locked away in different
rooms, right, so you know shehas her children to think about.
She's in a very horrible likebacked into a corner at this
point, right, so he startedkeeping the children away from
her while they were at home, sokeeping them all inside the
house.
They would be locked inseparate rooms most of the time.
(21:19):
Wow, yeah, so this most of thetime, wow, yeah, so this has all
happened over months.
She moved in in march, december.
Same year, 2021, same year, herhusband died.
This is all one year, horrible,horrible year.
I mean, oh, I feel so bad forher.
Yeah, her husband died.
Her husband died in um january.
She moves in with his friend inmarch and then december 21.
(21:42):
Now mason, her four-year-oldson, becomes ill.
Brandon takes mason into themaster bedroom and keeps him
there.
Days go by, desha has beenconfronting him and he's been
screaming and hitting her,trying to derail the
conversation, not giving heranswers on what's happening.
Finally, she just keeps pushingand pushing him until he breaks
and he tells her that masondied died died the four-year-old
(22:06):
child.
She was sobbing and you know, heliterally put her hand, his
hands, over her nose and mouth,telling her that she was being
too loud and the neighbors weregoing to hear her if only yeah,
exactly honestly, and it breaksmy heart to think that all of
this change happened to her in ayear.
You know, she would have had ahappy life with her husband and
(22:28):
pneumonia of all things, and hedies tragically.
And then this sociopath who washis friend, takes advantage of
the situation to the point where, I mean, it convinces her to
move in, traps her, controls herlike, keeps her like a pet.
It's, it's insane, it iskeeping away a pet.
It is I know it's scary, andand and a poorly a like an
abused pet.
(22:48):
You're right, an abused, yeah,it's, it's horrible, um, and I
want to press it, preface thisby saying you know, no blame
goes to her husband, of course,um.
However, I think this situationshows us how important it is to
have good-hearted people aroundour loved ones, like we really
do need to, and I'm not sayingthat in this situation, he could
have, like you know, seeneverything, but I think it is
(23:09):
important to like, not introduceshitty people to our like loved
ones right have good peoplearound you right.
Everyone needs a support systemyes, everyone needs a support
system, but a good supportsystem that, like you know, is
not going to be dangerous to ourloved ones.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Does she?
Does she have family, a mother,a father?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
She does.
But remember she was isolatedfrom them.
She stopped talking to them, sothey think this is normal.
They have no idea what's goingon.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Oh, I know, but my goodness, I mean you couldn't be
isolated enough that I wouldn'tbe going.
I need to.
I need to see her.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
I need to talk to caroline today yeah, I mean
there's different right, noblame on them, but there is
different like family dynamicstoo.
Like we're close, but like ifthey're not close they don't
live close.
Like right you know, sometimesit's tough to keep in contact.
I know some people who liketalk to their parents once a
month and so if they miss amonth it's like oh you know, or
they think she's, she's gettingover it, exactly she's grieving
right exactly and like that's.
(24:06):
That's really not their fault,but it is important to check in
on family and friends for sure,even if they're trying to push
you away.
As long as you know it's, it'sa tricky line right.
Sometimes you need to have anuncomfortable conversation with
someone so at this point, sheknows she needs to find a way
out of this horrible situationfor her and her daughter before
he kills them all, becauseobviously that's the way it's
(24:26):
looking.
What did he do with the body,incidentally?
So I'm getting there.
Be patient.
She finds a sticky note in apen in the car one day and, you
know, decides to like put thisrisky plan in place.
She writes out a note that saysher mother was being held.
So her she was like sending itby the girl.
(24:48):
So her mother's being heldagainst her will and needs help
immediately.
So this is now a full year umlater from after the death.
So it's after the death of herhusband, only a few months after
the death of her son.
So it's the 22nd of february2022.
Dasha slips the note into herdaughter's sock before she goes
to school.
One day, this brave little girlgoes to school and gives a note
(25:12):
to her teacher.
Thank god yeah, and the staff atthe little girl's school
contacts the authoritiesimmediately brandon was arrested
.
It's not clear if it was thesame day or like a few days
after, but he was like arrestedpretty quickly, thankfully.
Authorities went through hishouse looking for evidence and
any trace of the little boyMason.
Unfortunately, they did findthe remains of the four year old
(25:34):
boy in the freezer in hisgarage.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Oh, my God.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Yeah, it's so sad.
So at this point, brandon hasbeen charged with the murder and
kidnapping of um all of them,really.
Uh, and march 31st 2022, agrand jury convenes and daisha
tells her story.
Of course, brandon wants topull her into this horrible shit
(25:59):
storm that he has created andclaims that she knew her son was
dead and they agreed to keephim in the freezer until they
had enough money to bury him ohmy god which is illegal, totally
illegal.
Yeah, that's not the way itworks, right?
Um, he started trying to excusethe claim, saying she was
dramatic about everything andlying and you know whatever.
Just anytime she would bring upsomething like oh, he choked me
(26:20):
and he'd be like oh, but it waslike it was, we were just like
having like sexy time, what?
That's not true.
If someone's crying, no rightit's, it's like he was just
lying, um, trying to dismiss her.
However, when they did theautopsy of the little boy, they
found that he had been abused inseveral areas of his body.
They found injuries to his face, his arms, his stomach, his
(26:42):
head and internal damage to hissmall intestine that led to rips
in his small intestine.
From what?
Abuse?
From a beating, yes.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Oh my.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
God, yeah, so he remind you, he's four.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
It takes a special kind of monster to manhandle and
beat up a four-year-old.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
A four-year-old child .
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Of your friend, yep, oh what who just died it's
horrible.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Brandon is currently being held without bail,
thankfully, in the clark countydetention center in las vegas.
Prosecution is consideringgoing for the death penalty for
him and no charges have beenbrought to um daisha, thankfully
, even though he was like makingclaims, but I think they saw
through it.
Hopefully that like she was avictim in all of this as well.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
For sure, um, yeah yeah, I mean, if you've been, if
you're duct taped to the bed,yep.
Handcuffed in the car, yep, Imean.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
No way are you culpable for no you know and and
it's just, it's reallyupsetting that he's like oh, but
she also knew that he was there.
It's like, yeah, she knewbecause you told her after she
pushed you, but then shecouldn't do anything about it
because you took her phone andshe can't talk to anyone.
So you have her restrained andlocked in a house, yeah, and he
wants to blame her.
I mean, it's of course he does.
It's crazy.
(28:01):
So that is the update.
That that's all that's beenupdated so far, but it it was.
It's.
It's so sad and I just I hopethat daisha and her daughter
have like a lot of healing inthe journey after this.
It's hopefully they're back withher family and I hope so too or
(28:22):
some kind of support system,friends, anything but you know
it's sad how common abuse is inrelationships and abuse of
children.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
First of all, I'm amazed that this monster let the
little girl go to school.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Me too.
I'm really amazed by that.
I think it was some kind ofgender or something, because he
didn't like the little girl goto school.
Me too, I'm really.
I think he, he, I.
I think it was some kind ofgender or something because he
didn't like the little boyapparently right, but he was
competing for her.
I think that's it.
But then the the girl was fineto him for the most part, so
it's just, it's interesting.
I think he just didn't thinkthat, like women, I think he
(29:01):
thinks he could control women,but he felt threatened by the
little boy, which is insane.
But you know how, that's howsome people are.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
I mean, well, hey, you know, thank you, thank god
that, uh, she came up with thisplan, but honestly quick
thinking honestly it was quickthinking, but honestly I mean,
what a gamble.
Yep, if he found the note, ohmy god.
Probably daisha and herdaughter would probably be dead
also yeah, and we wouldn't evenknow anything about this, but
it's a Hail, mary, you've got todo something.
What a brilliant plan and whata brave little girl.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Brave little girl, yeah, for going to her teacher,
and thank God for the teachers Iknow, and thank God for the
systems in place that actuallyworked that day.
And I know I've talked aboutthis case before, um, for I
think it's Gabriel and I forgotthe last statement.
Maybe, uh, it's GabrielFernandez.
So in that case, uh, it was.
(29:52):
It was both parents abusing um,abusing him, and he was a young
boy and he would go to schoolwith all these cuts and bruises
and burns and stuff and it wasjust horrible.
And his teacher kept calling,cpsps kept calling, kept calling
because she was like what inthe hell, like you know?
And he would even say like,yeah, like my parents did this
to me and yeah, and it'sunfortunate because cps just
(30:16):
they didn't do their job likethey they were, they claimed
they were too overworked by thispoint or whatever and they
didn't have enough evidence orthis or that, I don't know how.
But, um, and it's interestingbecause the mother of that case,
of gabriel um fernandez, usedto go to the school and yell at
the teacher for calling, so sheknew who called.
It was bad, it was a very badsituation and the teacher kept
(30:39):
calling and and he did end updying.
So I know it's very sad, yeah,and but I'm happy that in this
situation the teacher was ableto contact the authorities
justice was done and, yeah, thesystems actually work to protect
, um, the victims of thesecrimes.
So the national domesticviolence hotline is 800-799-7233
(31:06):
, and you're going to alwayscall and speak to someone.
It uh, it doesn't mean that youneed to file reports and it can
be completely anonymous.
They have english, spanish and200 other language interpreting
services.
That's fantastic.
Yep, it is.
It's really good, um, and it'sthey.
They just play a really pivotalrole in helping people, even if
(31:28):
they have smaller questions.
It doesn't have to be asituation like this for you to
call, even if it's justsomething that you feel weird
about and you want to talk tosomeone about.
And you know, you know you'vetalked to your therapist or you
don't have access to therapy.
You know this.
This, this is a great way toget some information.
It's completely anonymous, um,if you so wish.
(31:49):
It wish it to be, it's a placewhere you can get support and
help and you know some clarity.
Perhaps, if you're feelinguncomfortable in situations.
Again, the number is800-799-7233.
And it also is text for peoplewho are deaf or hard of hearing,
or if you just want to text,and you can text BEGIN,
(32:11):
b-e-g-i-n.
Begin to 88788.
Follow the show on whateverstreaming site you're listening
on.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
And remember.
All of the source material willbe available in the show notes.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
And follow us on Instagram at
Whatweloseintheshadows, and letus know if you want to hear a
specific case.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Or if you just want to give us some feedback.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Okay, join us in the shadows next Tuesday.
Bye.
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