Episode 299

Ashley Bocanegra told everyone the attack was random, but deep down, she knew it wasn’t. Hours later, she was dead, and her attackers were on the hook for murder. What no one realized was that Ashley had been hiding a secret, and it was one she was determined to take to her grave.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is
not intended for all audiences.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Listener discretion is advised.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
I will murder you.

Speaker 4 (00:15):
I will murder you.

Speaker 5 (00:17):
I will murder you.

Speaker 4 (00:18):
I will murder you.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
I will fucking murder you. Why don't we play this
dumb music at the beginning of a show about murder?
I don't know, Karen, why do you listen to murder
for entertainment? It's a contradiction, isn't it. This is episode
two ninety nine of Sword and Scale.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
You know that you're all.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
It was a busy August evening at a hospital in Georgia.
Julian Reyes was sitting in a waiting room in his
gray sweatsuit. His fiance, thirty year old Ashley Bocnegra, had
suddenly died. Detectives had just arrived at the hospital and
sat down across from Julian.

Speaker 5 (01:51):
Are you going, sir?

Speaker 6 (01:54):
I think what I had Detective Black Firm.

Speaker 7 (01:56):
First, I just want to say I'm really sorry for
your loss.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Sure, we're going to do it.

Speaker 8 (02:00):
I think we can to try to keep a response.

Speaker 9 (02:01):
Form, you know, please, Oh man, I know it's really
difficult right now.

Speaker 10 (02:14):
Doesn't even seem real, his wife, Oh my god, every day,
a normal day.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
It doesn't even seem real.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Of course, it didn't seem real. When Julian left the
house that morning, his fiance was in good spirits. Ashley
was an active, thriving working mom of their seven year
old son. Now she's dead. A few hours earlier, Ashley
had called Julian for help, telling him that she had
been jumped.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
You know, she called me and she was just like
really out of brush.

Speaker 6 (02:48):
So she's trying to get it out.

Speaker 10 (02:52):
She can tell me, Henry, I like to come up, laughing, laugh,
and how'd you jump?

Speaker 2 (03:02):
I can't read? All right, I'm on the way. I
don't my job.

Speaker 11 (03:07):
He left.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
I came home. She was on the bed just like
gasping for air.

Speaker 7 (03:12):
And when she called me on the phone, does she
tell you who did.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
This to her?

Speaker 9 (03:17):
She told me to you know, she recognized them, No,
did she descry them.

Speaker 6 (03:23):
One was a dark skinned.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
H heavy set woman.

Speaker 6 (03:30):
And then one was a life kin And that's all
she said.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
I asked her, who are do you know them?

Speaker 6 (03:36):
Have you seen before?

Speaker 10 (03:37):
No, I've never seen the fo I have no clue
who they are.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
During her labored breaths, Ashley described the woman who jumped her.
She was shaken up, exhausted, and kind of embarrassed. She
had been beaten up very badly, barely able to defend
herself against two other women. Still, she swore she didn't
know who they were, not a clue.

Speaker 7 (04:01):
When you got home, it didn't appear that maybe she
had cleaned her wounds up or anything like that.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Take a shower, then the wash cloth, and might bom fresh.

Speaker 7 (04:10):
Fresh like like I mean, did you see any paper
towels or like rags on the firemen where you know?

Speaker 12 (04:16):
Or when I got home I opened the door, I said,
where I'm in here should be a bedroom.

Speaker 6 (04:25):
My turn of light.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
She took off the cloth off to.

Speaker 6 (04:28):
Completely naked a little bit.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
Ashley looked awful. Her skin was raw and red in
places where she'd been hit, Her hair was tangled and matted,
and one side of her face was straight, leaving angry
marks that told the story of what she'd been through.
Ashley tried to sit up and talk to Julian, but
vomit spewed out of her mouth instead.

Speaker 7 (04:52):
Once she threw off did you look at it?

Speaker 2 (04:54):
It looked like it was red.

Speaker 10 (04:59):
When I gave her a black back to throw up,
and I didn't see it, said, I think I'm throwing
a blood.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
I got a dressed leave and go straight to forth Ice.
They are doing pro They scanned.

Speaker 10 (05:14):
Her oxygen, IVY and all your medicine, whatever they could
do make her feel better.

Speaker 6 (05:22):
And then the doctor told.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Me that she was like they did a scan they
had held.

Speaker 10 (05:28):
By her kidney, you know, and that's when they decided to.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Fly her out here.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
When Ashley arrived at the hospital, she had severe internal bleeding.
She couldn't breathe and was put on a ventilator. When
the doctors discovered all the blood was pooling around her kidneys,
they decided to airlift her to another hospital for surgery.
She died en routed.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
She would banged up.

Speaker 5 (05:56):
She banged up for what got her was because she
told me she had gotten a bit on her cheek.
She like, she bit me on my cheeks, She bave
me on my arm, she did, kicked me in my
rib while the big heavy set one was on top
of her, the father one was kicking her.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
On her root cage. Okay, and obviously that's what cost it,
you know.

Speaker 8 (06:21):
And she said that they were using any weapons.

Speaker 5 (06:23):
She didn't say, any of our weapons they were fighting.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
She said, it happened so fast.

Speaker 10 (06:30):
That she didn't have.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
A chance to do anything. It was just they just
gave up on her.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
Before she died, Ashley had been able to describe the
woman who attacked her, as well as some of the beating.
It was all melting into fragments as she lay dying
on the hospital stretcher. Now, Julian was left to try
to make sense of it all.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
And I just don't know why. I just don't know why,
you know, because we only been back in Georgia. We
Reefly just moved back, well lasted a year ago. When
was it?

Speaker 10 (07:06):
We moved back in December of twenty twenty one, okay,
after my mom passed.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
My mom passed in November.

Speaker 10 (07:12):
Right beforeteenth. We moved back in December to be a
close p panie. Eight months later, and nine months later
this happened.

Speaker 12 (07:21):
Kind of life did no reason life, I don't even
get anything, you know, why would anybody.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Want to do that? You know? It was like random.

Speaker 10 (07:31):
She was going out to give me a birthday cake,
so then my fucking birthday, she's not giving.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Me a birthday case.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yes, it was Julian's birthday, and instead of enjoying a
delicious cake with frosting and candles and maybe a birthday
card and some balloons, maybe a couple of pictures with
the fiance and the sun. Yeah no, no, no, Now
he's sitting in the hospital waiting room talking with a
detective about Ashley's Now that's a twist. Ashley and Julian

(08:04):
were both from New York City, the projects to be exact,
they met in middle school.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
We've been together ten years. We've known each other in
fucking eighth grade.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
So they met in school. Julian and Ashley didn't start
dating until years later when they reconnected.

Speaker 12 (08:22):
Until two doAnd twelve is when we finally kind of
reconnected on Facebook.

Speaker 6 (08:28):
You know, I finally as ahead enough I had.

Speaker 12 (08:32):
The courage around, you know, to come up with me
with my birthday, and she came home with before my birthday.

Speaker 6 (08:42):
Eight days later p together.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
So not only was it Julian's birthday, but today also
marked ten years since their first date. The timing couldn't
be any more cruel. A milestone meant for celebration was
now twisted into a gut wrenching loss. Julian and Ashley
had grown up together, but they'd always dreamed of leaving
New York City. Julian's family started trickling down to Georgia

(09:09):
and they followed That same year their son was conceived.
But the couple had gone back and forth between New
York and Georgia for about a decade, never really able
to cut ties with the Big Apple. As crime rates
rose and the constant chaos of New York seemed unavoidable,
they said goodbye to the North and called Georgia their home.

Speaker 12 (09:32):
We were both New Yorkers, so we always wanted to
eventually go back.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
So we decided to go back last year.

Speaker 12 (09:39):
We moved in January, being back and growing back.

Speaker 6 (09:45):
To where you know.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
To her mom, it was design we forgotten what we
left on Englishit like it was just.

Speaker 6 (09:53):
So much and we seemed to move by all these.

Speaker 12 (09:56):
Random shootings and beatings and stabbings.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
And they moved to escape the violence of New York.
But mostly they wanted a better life for their son.

Speaker 4 (10:07):
That's where, you know.

Speaker 12 (10:10):
So when my mom passed away, we decided, you know,
the ship and going back to Georgia where we.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Don't have to deal with this match. And then we
come back to Georgia and deal with the same ship,
and we tried to leave.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
The irony was chilling. This young couple, raised in the
unforgiving sprawl of New York City's projects, had chased a
dream of a better life in the suburbs of Georgia.
But it was as if the darkness they left behind
had tracked them down, kind of like what's that movie
Final Final Destination? The Final Destination franchise is what I'm

(10:49):
thinking of. It's as if when death comes you have
to hurry up and set the place matts out because
they ain't leaving.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
So like you, you're not anywhere, you know.

Speaker 6 (11:02):
But I try to do the best I can to.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
Give my family the best that.

Speaker 12 (11:06):
I can, you know, because' you know, the best chan
possible and it's not giving me your fucking.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
Work, you know.

Speaker 7 (11:16):
Like I said, we went to everything we can to
find these people. Make sure the paper what they took
to you and your family.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
Julian supported the family on his income. Ashley had taken
a job at Florin decor to bring a little extra
money in and give her some independence outside of her
role in the home. She'd been promoted to night manager
and was working the overnight shifts, which had put a
strain on the couple.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
I started with a six. She gets how I fought her.

Speaker 12 (11:47):
She's right next door, so as soon as she gets home,
II by I go work, you know.

Speaker 2 (11:55):
And that's just how it's always been.

Speaker 13 (11:57):
You know.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
The couple started bickering. Julian supported her desire to work,
but kept reminding her that they didn't need the money. Plus,
she didn't like working overnight shifts. It just seemed unsafe.
Ashley was adamant about keeping her job and making time
for one another. Became really hard. There's only so many

(12:19):
hours in the day.

Speaker 13 (12:20):
You know.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
They'd been fighting for the last week.

Speaker 6 (12:24):
It was so heady and like the.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Last few days we were fighting about pumping that.

Speaker 6 (12:30):
Didn't matter, and now you eve may hear and like
I could.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
Have spend the last few days.

Speaker 5 (12:38):
Rekindling and saying I'm sorry, you know, I'm sorry for
starting some bullshit, you know, and now whenever that.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
Can be again.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
Julian sat there, baffled as to how this happened to
his wife.

Speaker 5 (12:54):
She even though she told the nurse is just came
out of the like, I can't even tell you why,
you know, I have no clue.

Speaker 6 (13:06):
You know, I go to work every day. All I
do is work, can come home, you know, That's all
I do.

Speaker 5 (13:12):
So if I had any slight idea of.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
What could have caused this, I would definitely say something.
But it's like I don't even know.

Speaker 6 (13:25):
I don't even know.

Speaker 2 (13:26):
And like I said, we'd only been back.

Speaker 6 (13:28):
In Georgia nine months and we don't do anything.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
We literally work and go home every day.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
This attack did not feel random. Ashley was not robbed.
In fact, she didn't even have her purse on her.
Two women had brutally beaten her, working together to hold
her down, kick her, punch her, bite her, and scratch her.
They left her gasping for air and bleeding from the head.
It was savage, like an animal. But Ashley swore she

(13:58):
didn't know them, and Julie believed her. Julian believed a
lot of things to detectives. It felt like there was
more to the story. Maybe, just maybe Ashley had taken
a dangerous secret to her grave in the quiet city

(14:41):
of Buford, Georgia, Ashley Bocanegra's life ended violently. She told
everyone she was ambushed by two strangers. It happened in
the middle of the afternoon. As Ashley walked to pick
up a birthday cake for her fiance Julian, out of nowhere,
two girls sprang out of the bushes outside her apartment
complex and pounced in broad daylight. They beat her mercilessly,

(15:04):
leaving her gasping for air, barely holding herself together. Ashley
stumbled back to her apartment and called Julian for help.
At the hospital, things only got worse. Her breathing faltered,
her lungs started to collapse, and her body started to
shut down. Slowly, piece by piece, it gave out. By

(15:26):
the end of the day, Ashley was gone. She was
only thirty years old. It was her fiance's birthday and
the ten year anniversary of their first date. Now, Julian
was left heartbroken and puzzled as to why this happened.
The more he talked with detectives, the more he questioned

(15:48):
what Ashley had told him before she died.

Speaker 6 (15:52):
You know how the camera at home, so all I
see is like the tip of the neighbors. We had
wanted a dog when we read.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
There's nobody in the front.

Speaker 12 (16:04):
There's really nobody ever walking around, Nobody ever really walking around.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
Everybody's just getting in the car, and.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
Julian and Ashley had a ring camera on their front door,
so their daily movements were tracked. The apartment complex they
lived in was one of those cookie cutter apartment communities
with a gym, a pool, a little park, and plenty
of green space between the buildings. People keep to themselves,
shuffling to and from the parking lot to their own

(16:35):
suites after work. Ashley had described her attackers as a
young Hispanic female and a heavy set black woman. That
was all she knew.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
With that description.

Speaker 5 (16:47):
I can't even put a faith to it, Like I
don't even have a clue, Like I don't know if
they lived there.

Speaker 6 (16:54):
I don't know if they just have to stumble in there.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
I don't know if there was an attack reason so
taking her, I don't know.

Speaker 7 (17:05):
The way she's explained and what all the injuries you observed,
it seems personal, so maybe it was something very little
to her, little to you, like you're overseeing and.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
Go back to him.

Speaker 7 (17:16):
It's like, oh, like for example, with my girl, if
some girl like smiles at me right and she's like
all rows out about right she if she you know, yeah,
she gets extremely jealous about it.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
Or whatever.

Speaker 7 (17:28):
Do you think of any situation where like maybe some
guy was being friendly, she just was being friendly back,
she said, be friendly. I didn't know the mean that
guy had like a girlfriend, and then this girl now retaliating.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
Julian shook his head.

Speaker 13 (17:40):
No.

Speaker 1 (17:41):
Then, after a long pause, he admitted something. Remember how
he said they'd been fighting earlier that week. What he
hadn't mentioned was why it all started with a suspicion
that he could not shake the suspicion that Ashley may
have been cheating.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
I don't know.

Speaker 12 (18:00):
It's like I give you little moments where any thing
you do would make me believe.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
That you cheated.

Speaker 7 (18:08):
Did you just have like a feeling that she was
doing it?

Speaker 6 (18:12):
I have no type of proof.

Speaker 7 (18:14):
Just do you guys have each other's past cost to
each other's phones?

Speaker 6 (18:20):
She doesn't have mine, Okay.

Speaker 13 (18:21):
You have hers.

Speaker 14 (18:22):
I know hers.

Speaker 7 (18:25):
Never found anything on her.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
Look, you know I boundaries. You know what I mean.

Speaker 6 (18:31):
I don't care if you give me your code.

Speaker 7 (18:33):
I don't look any like weird behavior like me with
a ring camera. You've noticed her going in and out
of the house, Okay, it's normal.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
Julian said that jealousy had been an issue for both
of them over the years.

Speaker 7 (18:49):
Was it just you guys just talking or was there
actually we never really argue, you know what I mean, like.

Speaker 6 (18:56):
Like the cheating.

Speaker 7 (18:56):
Was it just saying it just because it just jealousy?
Or did actually something I had previously in our earlier years.

Speaker 6 (19:05):
We've been together ten years. In our earlier years, I
did fuck up and.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
She in New York.

Speaker 6 (19:12):
In New York, okay, nothing here another year, okay, this
was in New York.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
That wasn't that day? It was he already had heard
doubt about me, gotcha.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
Maybe Julian had his suspicions due to his own guilt
about his own past. Teachers often accused their spouses of cheating,
but the bottom line was that he had no proof.
Ashley never went anywhere without him. It seemed logistically impossible
for her to manage an affair. All she did was

(19:42):
take care of their son and go to work. The
ring camera proved it.

Speaker 8 (19:47):
I'm not trying to get your personal business or anything,
but I mean, you weren't talking to.

Speaker 7 (19:51):
Any female on the side, like does this mat Like
these females that no them, I would.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
Say, maybe I've gotten jealous or I know nobody here,
you know.

Speaker 12 (20:01):
Surprisingly, I've been on Georgia, you know, almost eight years totally.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
I don't know anybody.

Speaker 8 (20:10):
So the description that she gave, they're not nothing film
and familiar.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
The police were getting nowhere. There was no shady business
on Julian's end that could have provoked this deadly midday attack.
Keep in mind, Ashley died late in the evening, but
she'd been attacked around one pm in the afternoon. Around
that time, a nine to one one call came in
from Ashley's apartment complex.

Speaker 14 (20:36):
Hi, I've worked here at the apartment complex and there
was two girls fighting and she's really bloody. I can
see the blood from where I'm at. Where you're fighting
in the apartment complex, in the parking lot, I mean
on the street.

Speaker 4 (20:51):
What did the anners say?

Speaker 14 (20:52):
Two crosstreets.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
The woman who called nine one one worked at the
leasing office in the apartment complex and had seen the
fight on her way to work.

Speaker 14 (21:01):
Anything one of them is bleeding. Yeah, I can see
her poor head from down here is leaving the girl
head on the ground. It's a black girl, and I
can't show up with two white girls of two Spanish girls,
three of them three girls three years well, together made
three girls.

Speaker 4 (21:16):
Okay, have you seen any weapons?

Speaker 14 (21:19):
I have been there arguing right now. They stop fighting,
but they're arguing now.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
The leasing manager watched from her car down the road
as Ashley's attackers screamed at her while she was on
the ground. Ashley hugged her knees to her chest, flipped
back her curly mess of hair, and suddenly sprung up
to her feet.

Speaker 14 (21:40):
I think they might lead to you because the girl
who got beat up. There's follow on now.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
Ashley was following her attackers. The leasing manager watched intently,
trying to piece together exactly what was happening as she
trailed the two women her unknees set in as to
where this strange pursuit might end.

Speaker 14 (22:00):
They were tight from what it was they saw. Watch
according me some I'm driving away, Okay, that's fine, but
I'm trying to see what building they goes. Who they're
going to? Building three hundreds, the high end of three hundreds.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
According to the leasing manager one witness to the fight,
Ashley had followed the girls who attacked her into the
three hundred building, but that is not where Ashley and
Julian lived. In fact, at the hospital, the nurse who
tended to Ashley, had also reported the assault to the police.

(22:32):
When the cops called to talk to Ashley before she died,
the cops were able to get her side of the story.

Speaker 15 (22:40):
So what happened, Well, I because right now it's my birthday,
so I want to gross of Paris to go, you know,
grabbing the cake and stuff like that.

Speaker 4 (22:52):
So I was outside way for my OBErs walking around say.

Speaker 14 (22:58):
The kind of history like they was, you know, and
think anything of it.

Speaker 4 (23:03):
And then they started me.

Speaker 14 (23:05):
All I hear is.

Speaker 3 (23:08):
She got the description and that I don't know if it's.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
Reason just came in and tacked me out.

Speaker 4 (23:13):
I don't hope like that unless they were looking for
somebody or what.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
But sorry, Ashley said, the women called out she matches
the description before they attacked her. She said she was blindsided.
Yet she was adamant she did not want to pursue charges.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
And but once again, you don't want the place involved,
you want anything, You don't want anything document.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
You just wanted to go about your way. Okay.

Speaker 1 (23:47):
Ashley's refusal to press charges just didn't add up. This
was an unprovoked attack. According to her, Her hesitation made
no sense. Something about the situation just helt off. The
police didn't have to look very far to find Ashley's attackers.
The witness who called nine one one led them straight

(24:08):
to a building in the same complex where Ashley lived.
Apparently her attackers were her neighbors. Two officers knocked on
the door and a young man answered, which.

Speaker 3 (24:22):
Want to make sure everyboy's good.

Speaker 11 (24:23):
So that's why we're here, that's what.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
But we'd rather y'all come out here.

Speaker 4 (24:28):
Can they come out.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
The females that are in there. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
At this point, all that officers knew was that a
fight between three women had been reported. They had no
clue that Ashley had been sent to the hospital. They
just needed to get details about this assault. The young
man at the door stepped aside, and a heavy set
black woman walked to the open breezeway. She was breathless

(24:57):
and sweaty, wearing a white T shirt and yoga pants.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
This girl, she came to the house.

Speaker 4 (25:03):
She's love sleep with my fiance.

Speaker 14 (25:05):
She works over there.

Speaker 16 (25:06):
She's his manager, and she keeps on forcing him to
have sex right her.

Speaker 14 (25:10):
After he'd then cut it off or she was going
to fire him, and.

Speaker 4 (25:13):
We ended up fighting right there.

Speaker 14 (25:15):
She approached my home.

Speaker 4 (25:16):
This is my home.

Speaker 16 (25:17):
She lives all the way over the end, and everybody
in the house right now, Oh, just me, I'm the.

Speaker 11 (25:21):
Only one I fought, Just me, the girl she left.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
The woman who fought Ashley was twenty seven year old
Antanetta Stevens. Though she was shaking with adrenaline, she claimed
that Ashley had confronted her at her front door. That
means there was no street brawl, no random attack. Then
they fought. Apparently, Ashley had been sleeping with Antonetta's fiance, Daniel,

(25:51):
who was the one who answered the door. Antonetta claimed
that Ashley was Daniel's boss at Floor and Decor and
she had been forcing him to have sex with her.

Speaker 5 (26:04):
How about that.

Speaker 4 (26:05):
I'm very heartbroken, Tommy Bury and.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
Female.

Speaker 1 (26:11):
So we're to make sure everybody's okay, because the third party,
you call a noble woman. Antonetta let officers inside. In
the living room, Danielle and Antonetta's toddler was watching TV.
Antonetta's sister in law, Janine Gonzalez, was there too. She
admitted that she had also been a witness to the fight.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
All right, so kind of slow it down. You were
going the female that he's going sleeping with him.

Speaker 11 (26:40):
Yes, my guess.

Speaker 4 (26:41):
And I've known for.

Speaker 14 (26:41):
Five years and you're together from up nor So.

Speaker 11 (26:45):
He has worked, he's worked, he works a.

Speaker 4 (26:47):
Floor in the core.

Speaker 16 (26:48):
He's been sleeping with his manager.

Speaker 4 (26:50):
And that's who is here.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yeah, okay, and I've been feeling it for some time now.

Speaker 4 (26:54):
Okay, Yesterday I'm.

Speaker 16 (26:55):
Walking to the quick trip. I see them walking together,
and you're a woman.

Speaker 4 (26:58):
You know our intuition, I know that's the girl. I
seen her. We argue yesterday.

Speaker 13 (27:03):
He broke it up.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
It was fine.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
According to Antonetta, she had caught her fiance Daniel walking
to the corner store with Ashley. This was all the
confirmation she needed to secure her feeling that Daniel had
been sleeping with Ashley.

Speaker 4 (27:20):
This morning.

Speaker 11 (27:21):
Now she's calling tests on testing tests on her, saying that.

Speaker 4 (27:24):
She's going to be coming here.

Speaker 11 (27:25):
I waited for her and then I thought her because
I'm just enraged.

Speaker 4 (27:30):
I'm very heartbroken.

Speaker 16 (27:31):
You see, I started packing myself yesterday.

Speaker 2 (27:33):
Nothing is even in bags.

Speaker 17 (27:34):
I'm just mentally out of it right now because this
is a person that I wanted to grow old with.

Speaker 18 (27:39):
This is a person I want to share my life with.

Speaker 11 (27:41):
And I feel dirty.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
I feel disgusting, I feel heartbroken, and I feel Santa Man.
Antonetta was fired up clearly. She alleged that Ashley had
shown up at her front door asking for a fight,
so they duped it out. Then Ashley left.

Speaker 4 (27:59):
But I'm okay right now, I'm not going to be
going out with here anybody. I'm not a mess of society.

Speaker 13 (28:03):
I'm just very hard bro.

Speaker 14 (28:04):
We just had to make sure everybody was good because
we got a call.

Speaker 1 (28:09):
The adrenaline was raging through Antonetta and she couldn't stop talking.

Speaker 18 (28:13):
She's actually cheating on her feeling to go figure, you know,
the husband, and she drives off of no, she walked.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
I don't know if she has on card, but you know,
I don't know.

Speaker 11 (28:22):
I hope her husband finds the hell out from puddles laugh.

Speaker 4 (28:24):
I be the only one in shambles of my life.
But what was her name? I have no idea.

Speaker 17 (28:31):
You don't know her name.

Speaker 3 (28:32):
I'm assuming he's not going to tell me her name, probably.

Speaker 16 (28:35):
Not because he probably wouln't want me to finale.

Speaker 7 (28:37):
How old is she?

Speaker 4 (28:38):
Thirty? Thirty?

Speaker 16 (28:39):
What's she look like?

Speaker 4 (28:42):
Hispanic?

Speaker 7 (28:43):
From them?

Speaker 4 (28:43):
Yeah, black hair, we're kind of like highlights, curly.

Speaker 11 (28:50):
Stuft really big jaw.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
Of course, the man who this fight had erupted over Daniel,
you know the prize. He just sat there quietly while
his angry fiance rattled off. Caddy remarks about his mistress
just sitting there like a grown baby. It's amazing.

Speaker 16 (29:10):
But I'm not going over there.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
Just like guys.

Speaker 4 (29:12):
Now, am I going to go on a manhunt looking
for her?

Speaker 11 (29:15):
I don't care. I already handled my business.

Speaker 19 (29:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
Like I said, it's not considered domestic violence. Y'all went
at it together, so it would be if you want
to prosecute, she wants to prosecute, then technically both of
y'all will go to jail. So well, if you're not
wanting to worry about it and then fading.

Speaker 4 (29:32):
Your separate ways and not worry.

Speaker 11 (29:34):
About it, thanks appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (29:37):
You want anything done to her?

Speaker 1 (29:38):
Nope, nope, And she's got enough, you know, Like Ashley,
Antonetta was firm she did not want to press charges.
This was street justice. She didn't need no cops, you know.
Her claim that Ashley had shown up at her door
only deepened the confusion, and none of it it up

(30:01):
buried within the strategic white lives of both Ashley and
Antonetta's stories was a truth. Neither woman seemed to be
willing to share.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
I'm guys in your own path. All your crop, folks
get here, That's why your clothes are on the couch.

Speaker 6 (30:14):
Or y'all gonna try to work this out.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
If y'all have a kid, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (30:18):
What he works right there?

Speaker 16 (30:20):
So would I be a horrible woman and.

Speaker 4 (30:21):
Tell you to quit your job?

Speaker 16 (30:23):
And then you had to work with this woman?

Speaker 4 (30:24):
And I had to stay here?

Speaker 14 (30:25):
I work from home.

Speaker 11 (30:26):
I mean twenty four seven, I put clean work as
ali all days. How do I lost my mind like that?

Speaker 1 (30:32):
Antonetta worked from home while Daniel did overnights at Florin
Decor with Ashley. Their fair grew in the shadows of
the home renovation depot, hidden under stacks of tile and
carpet swatches. Through long nights stalking shelves, Daniel and Ashley
fell hard for one another. Their shifts became an escape,

(30:55):
a stolen chance to leave their other lives behind and
be together in secret. It was kind of the perfect affair.
No CD hotel meetups were required, all sex was maintained
at work. But once Antonetta figured out what was happening.
The party was over. Now she was livid and threatening

(31:17):
to leave.

Speaker 17 (31:18):
So I don't really know, but I think I want
to leave though, so I, as I did say, I'm
from up North.

Speaker 16 (31:24):
I don't really have family out.

Speaker 17 (31:26):
Here, you know, and so on one basket just for
this happened.

Speaker 16 (31:31):
I want you to fascinating for a weekend. I don't
need a break from this in his house?

Speaker 13 (31:36):
Well, did you ever what he wish for there?

Speaker 11 (31:39):
Yeah, you went for.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
As officers prepared to leave, Antonetta joked as she wished
that they could take her away for the weekend, Well
they can, She had no idea. At that very moment,
Ashley was being admitted to the hospital, and by the
time the night was over, she wouldn't be leaving on

(32:03):
her own two feet. She'd be leaving in a body bag.
Text between Daniel and Ashley from the morning of the
attack showed that they'd been swooning over each other. They
were falling in love since.

Speaker 20 (32:17):
I've met you. You've made everything so much better and bearable.
I don't know how to explain it.

Speaker 13 (32:23):
Wow, Ashley, you really make it hard not to want
you or keep falling for you.

Speaker 20 (32:30):
I can tell you how I feel and not worry
about your reaction. I feel secure around you. I don't
know why, but I just do.

Speaker 13 (32:37):
Just know it's going to be like that. Be yourself, Ashley.
I want Ashley, not someone else.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
The conversation ended up with Ashley telling Daniel to get
some rest. He signed off saying he was about to
have a nap. An hour later, he started texting Ashley again,
where you at?

Speaker 13 (32:57):
I need to see you well. I'm in bed. I
want you to hear so bad. Meet me please, I'm
going through it. I got kicked out.

Speaker 20 (33:08):
Are you serious? Let me put on something real quick.
All right, I'm outside, Okay, about to come out now.

Speaker 1 (33:16):
Not only did Ashley and Daniel work together at Florid
de cor but they lived in the same apartment complex.
Ashley's husband, Julian, was at work when she allegedly left
to get his birthday cake, but really she was rushing
out to meet Daniel because he had texted her saying
that Antonetta had just kicked his cheating ass out of

(33:37):
the house. Ashley put on her green leggings and crocs
as you would, and left the house with only her iPhone.
The ring camera on her front door was the only
witness to her leaving. She walked around looking for Daniel,
texting him as she searched. He said he was on
his way, that Antonetta was furiously packing, that she was crazy.

(34:02):
Ashley texted back how sorry she was as she crossed
the road towards their meeting spot, and that's when it happened.
Antonetta and her sister in law, seventeen year old Jeanine,
came storming onto the street. Janine had her phone recording
the only truthful witness.

Speaker 11 (34:20):
To the fight, Litle, that was me, you know, yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
Antonetta sprang into action. Perhaps that's a bit hyperbolic. She
was a very big girl regardless. She tackled Ashley to
the ground. She grabbed fistfolds of her hair, smashed her
head into the pavement, and punched her repeatedly. Her sister
in law, seventeen year old Jeanine, egged her on like

(34:54):
a deranged cheerleader. Let's not pretend that world star hip
hop was not day cultural phenomenon.

Speaker 13 (35:02):
Is what we do.

Speaker 11 (35:03):
Savages for savages. You're gonna get fucked up. Off my hair, bitch,
Get the fu fro off my hair, bitch, Off my hair.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
Ashley's small body was powerless against Antonetta, after all, she
was twice her size. Consumed by rage and jealousy, Antonetta
straddled her, fists crashing down as she unleashed everything she
had on Ashley.

Speaker 4 (35:31):
Say hi to Daniel.

Speaker 11 (35:32):
You know, Daniel, you know he said, I could come
out here, fuck you up, right, you're not that right.
He's in the house with our son bench. He said,
I could fuck you up.

Speaker 14 (35:41):
Yeah, this is what we do if I get.

Speaker 11 (35:43):
Mad, if he knows I'm leaving, he so said.

Speaker 14 (35:45):
He said, you fucking up. That's what I'm doing, fucking
you up.

Speaker 11 (35:49):
You're ready by over dick, real crazy yap.

Speaker 15 (35:52):
You are.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
At this very moment in the video, the leasing manager
drove by. She stopped when she saw Antone on top
of Ashley, using handfuls of her curly hair to keep
her skull pinned to the pavement.

Speaker 17 (36:06):
Right his manager, I'm getting you fire, bitch, that's bias
has come of interest.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
I'm showing us at a job.

Speaker 17 (36:12):
You're fucking my nigga while he's on the clock, fucking
my nigga, going.

Speaker 4 (36:16):
Here trying to ruin his family.

Speaker 13 (36:17):
Bitch.

Speaker 14 (36:17):
He had the whole son, you're mad at him.

Speaker 1 (36:20):
Ashley was losing strength. She put up a fight, but
now her breathing was slowing as Antonetta sat on top
of her stomach, crushing her and banging her head. Then
Antonetta pushed herself up and started whipping Ashley across the
pavement like a rag doll.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
I will murder you.

Speaker 4 (36:42):
I will murder you.

Speaker 13 (36:43):
I will murder you.

Speaker 4 (36:45):
I will murder you.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
I will fucking murder you, Antonetta and Ashley's rail thin
body twisted over itself like a wire hanger, bent beyond recognition.
She shook her, punched her, and screamed in her.

Speaker 4 (37:00):
Stop you so lucky.

Speaker 11 (37:01):
My nouse is hunksus. Really do worse to you right now.

Speaker 14 (37:04):
I will do worse to you.

Speaker 13 (37:05):
I will do worse to you.

Speaker 11 (37:07):
I will do fucking worse to you. That's why I
was trying to protect you.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
But now you don't care to you.

Speaker 11 (37:10):
For you to get your ass beat he let me
do this.

Speaker 13 (37:13):
Do you love me?

Speaker 11 (37:15):
You're getting fired. You're getting fucking fired.

Speaker 1 (37:18):
You're getting fucking fired.

Speaker 11 (37:19):
You can get I'm done. I'm getting fucking I'm fucking good.

Speaker 4 (37:23):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
The fight was completely one sided. Antonetta dominated Ashley, punching
her over and over with hard, angry fists. Well, Janine
held the camera and continued cheering on her sister in law.
Janine was giddy, like the bad teenager that she was
completely devoid of morality. Then, when Antonetta was done beating Ashley,

(37:49):
she held her in place and called to Janine, you
want some of this. That's when Janine backed up, took
a running start, and drove her foot in to Ashley's
side with brutal force. Over and over she kicked her mercilessly,
cackling and screaming like a deranged wild animal, like something

(38:15):
with rabies. She wanted to show her beloved sister in
law exactly how tough she really was, so she killed someone.

Speaker 17 (38:26):
Bitch, I want to jump her now, Yeah we could
do that.

Speaker 15 (38:33):
You done?

Speaker 11 (38:34):
You tapping out?

Speaker 4 (38:34):
Yeah, I'm done?

Speaker 15 (38:35):
I'm gay?

Speaker 16 (38:37):
What's she?

Speaker 4 (38:39):
Her?

Speaker 11 (38:40):
Crazy ass bitch.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
When Antonetta and Jeanine were satisfied, she took Ashley's crocs
and her cellphone, leaving her sitting on the blacktop trying
to fix herself up and salvage what little pride she
had left.

Speaker 11 (38:54):
And he knows, I'm crazy. Cut her face looking dumb
bitch at us.

Speaker 17 (39:00):
Again because you're gonna have to make me find another page.

Speaker 11 (39:04):
That's what I haven't said at all.

Speaker 13 (39:06):
Let's go.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
But Ashley needed her phone back and she wasn't going
to let Antonetta and Janine take it. And so, even
though she had been shamelessly beaten, she followed them back
to their front door. She was woozy and breathless as
she trailed them. Antonetta and Janine screamed at her to
go home, but she didn't relent. The screaming between the

(39:29):
three women was so loud it woke up Daniel, who
had been asleep the entire time. Can you imagine that
this is all your fault and you're just sleeping through it?
Unlike Antonette had Professor and her brutal beating of Ashley,
he had not okayed any of this. As he walked
into the living room, Antonetta burst inside, yelling, yeah, let

(39:56):
me repeat what Antonetta said in case you missed it.

Speaker 13 (39:59):
Good, your bitch is outside. I just fucked her up.
I used your phone to write her and I recorded it.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
There.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
It was, this fourteen minute video held it all, a motive,
a plan, the murder, and a confession, all recorded by
Antonetta's trusty seventeen year old accomplice. What a fucking idiot.
When Daniel figured out what was going on, he opened
the front door and saw Ashley there, bloody and shaken up.

(40:32):
Stunned to find his boss and his secret girlfriend at
his front door, he quickly slammed it in her face,
then found her phone and gave it back to her.
She snatched it and scurried home. Daniel was overcome with guilt.
He immediately started texting Ashley from the privacy of another room.

Speaker 13 (40:52):
Ashley, Please are you okay?

Speaker 20 (40:55):
Nah, I'm good, leave me alone.

Speaker 13 (40:57):
Please talk to me.

Speaker 20 (40:59):
I can't breathe and my heart is skipping a beat.
I'm about to go to urgent care.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
By no way.

Speaker 20 (41:05):
Please, Your fucking sister kicked me in my back.

Speaker 13 (41:09):
I was good until she did that, Ashley. I really want,
with all my good intentions, I want to see you
and check on you. I feel sad. I can't believe
your face and body are hurt. Talk to me here,
let me see you. Fuck I'm sorry sorry I wasn't there.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
In the light of truth, Ashley's secrecy at the hospital
made sense why she never told Julian or the police
that she knew her attackers. She couldn't risk her husband
discovering the affair, especially not with their tenth anniversary and
his birthday on that day. Antonetta refused to press charges,

(41:49):
knowing full well she had set this storm in motion,
luring Ashley out with a message from Daniel's phone. It
wasn't like she claimed, Ashley didn't come to her looking
for a fight. But as the chaos simmered, one fact remained.
Ashley was still alive when they left her. Neither Antonetta

(42:11):
nor Janine realized that their cruel plan to teach Ashley
a lesson about infidelity had already spiraled into something that
they couldn't lie their way out of, something that they
wouldn't be confronted with until hours later, after the adrenaline
rush had subsided and their kids had fallen asleep. It
was about four am when the police came back to

(42:33):
Antonetta and Daniel's house and knocked on the door.

Speaker 18 (42:40):
Hey, I'm the type of Carl Bonnette County Police and
your incident. Yes, Hey, this is Detective Poppy. You're such
a poppy in highness. We know that there was like
an incident that happened earlier today. Has anyone called you
about it since with somebody, so we'll see.

Speaker 3 (42:56):
Well, we just got another call about it.

Speaker 11 (42:59):
So I guess the girl went to the hospital and
she died.

Speaker 7 (43:04):
She died, she.

Speaker 14 (43:04):
Did so, but we know that there was like an.

Speaker 18 (43:08):
Altercation that happened beforehand.

Speaker 7 (43:10):
I was usual, she came here.

Speaker 16 (43:12):
Yeah, we understand that because of it and going secure. Yeah,
I'm not that verse I did it.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
The lack of remorse here is astounding. It truly says
something about the state of our society today. What exactly,
I'm not really sure. I'm not a sociologist. Is that
who does things like that? I don't even really know,
but I can tell you that as a human being,

(43:39):
it feels disgusting. Antonota sounds like she's just been told
her pizza delivery will be late, not that the girl
she beat up, another human being, has died. I don't
think I could ever fully understand the complete lack of
empathy and sympathy that it takes to do something like

(44:01):
this and then be so cold and callous about it.

Speaker 18 (44:06):
But because of that, we have to kind of talk
to you guys and get a more formal statement.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
Sure, whun, I'm so sorry about that.

Speaker 14 (44:14):
Yeah, that was not my intention.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
I've been mentally going through a lot. I have bipolar depression,
and I'm just going through a lot right now.

Speaker 14 (44:24):
And you know, I came here from up North with
my fiancee without him.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
Of course she has bipolar depression. Of course, right, who doesn't.
It's twenty twenty five. Everybody has mental illness. You're not special.
She's mentally been going through a lot. As if this
fucking matters, seeing as she's just murdered someone with her
bare hands. But sure, it's all about guns.

Speaker 17 (44:53):
I came here with my fiance to start in life
by a house, everything like that, and I never expected
him to.

Speaker 20 (45:01):
Basically cheat omni with someone at the work the autos.

Speaker 8 (45:06):
So we would like to get like a formal statement.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
So we're going to ask these from up to our
headquarters and brought fit.

Speaker 14 (45:11):
It's just right up the street.

Speaker 4 (45:12):
I hear kids, is there someone else here that? Yeah,
there's someone here with them?

Speaker 15 (45:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (45:18):
Okay?

Speaker 4 (45:18):
Were they were they involved at all?

Speaker 13 (45:20):
No?

Speaker 4 (45:20):
Okay, all right, so it was just you too, guys.

Speaker 18 (45:23):
Let me if you don't mind, we could just do
some shoes.

Speaker 7 (45:25):
It'll be quick if you get an ounch.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
Okay, but their time at the police station wouldn't be quick.
Antonetta and Janine's reckless decision to film their assault had
already set the stage for disaster. But it wasn't just
the evidence that left investigators disgusted in the interrogation room.
Something unexpected emerged, something that would shift the entire case

(45:50):
and reveal a darkness no one could see coming. Thirty

(46:24):
year old Ashley Bocanegra had been attacked by Antonette Stevens
and Janine Gonzalez in their apartment complex. Ashley was having
a secret affair with Antonette's fiance, Daniel. You see, she
was his manager at the floor in Decor, a place
that sells a bunch of tiles and flooring and shit.

(46:44):
When Antonette discovered the affair, she used her fiance's phone
to lure Ashley to a meetup spot, where she and
her sister in law, Jeanine, beat Ashley up until she
had to be hospitalized. Hours later, Ashley succumbed to her
injuries and died. Now Antonetta and Jeanine were on the
hook for her murder, not just a malicious cat fight.

(47:08):
They were taken down to the police station, and the
officers finally got Daniel alone, so they could talk with
him about what had happened.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
How long have you looked? About like a year? About
a year? Yeah, you know, you know, relationship see.

Speaker 1 (47:30):
Daniel admitted that he'd found out about the fight after
Ashley showed up at the door looking for her phone.
He felt terrible for slamming the door in her face,
but he was stunned to see her there.

Speaker 4 (47:42):
How did she look when you when she opened the door?

Speaker 21 (47:47):
Yeah, my.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
Up?

Speaker 14 (47:51):
Yo, okay, I mean when you say.

Speaker 8 (47:54):
She you're talking about Ashley, And when you said they
took her phone.

Speaker 2 (47:59):
Takes so they detect her whatever she got.

Speaker 3 (48:05):
How does your sorry, how do you know that they
took her phone?

Speaker 7 (48:08):
Does she tell you she's.

Speaker 4 (48:09):
She's not gonna don and yelled please, I just want
my friend.

Speaker 1 (48:14):
Daniel explain that he and Antonetta had been having relationship
problems long before his affair with Ashley. He'd wanted out
of that relationship and he was preparing his Exitetta.

Speaker 8 (48:26):
Having a relationship problems already.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
Yeah, No, it's it's deep, Like it's deep.

Speaker 8 (48:30):
We got a kid and everything, so it's like it's
some more.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
I'm I've been I go off with respect. I have
a kid with you I'm going to respect you, regard this. Yeah,
if I'm not with you, then I don't have to.
I don't have to like I don't.

Speaker 4 (48:42):
I don't have to do that part anymore.

Speaker 16 (48:44):
I just take care of my kid and if you need.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
Help, I'll hopefully.

Speaker 11 (48:48):
Like it's not like this is first like.

Speaker 8 (48:50):
I'm over here cheating on this woman.

Speaker 15 (48:52):
I'm not.

Speaker 7 (48:53):
We've been like this has been a tastic environment and
she's just been trying to figure out what you're doing.

Speaker 2 (48:58):
I've been trying to figure out what to do.

Speaker 8 (49:00):
But but she doesn't want nobody to leave.

Speaker 16 (49:03):
I'm telling it, I'll leave, I'll live in my car,
I'll do whatever.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
But Daniel had made it clear that he wanted to leave,
even if it meant living in his car. What is
it with these grown adults that can't get their ship together? Anyway,
Antonetta refused to let him go, because that's how it works.

Speaker 16 (49:24):
This shocks manes. She hurts.

Speaker 4 (49:30):
Real bad.

Speaker 8 (49:32):
So honestly, I'm not going to make a show.

Speaker 16 (49:35):
I'm not going going yell.

Speaker 8 (49:36):
And I never got call there.

Speaker 14 (49:37):
I just just wanted to know, Well, you know, we
got a call.

Speaker 7 (49:41):
From the hospital a while ago, and she actually passed
away from stop.

Speaker 3 (49:45):
Playing now, please saw please stop.

Speaker 7 (49:53):
Breath.

Speaker 1 (49:56):
Daniel broke down in uncontrollable sobs when the offic sirs
told him Ashley was dead. He was panicking, and it
seemed like he was the only one who had been
truly devastated by her sudden death.

Speaker 16 (50:10):
The baby, the babies, the babies, babies.

Speaker 13 (50:17):
O fuck.

Speaker 1 (50:32):
Daniel was shattered. The woman he loved was gone, murdered
by the very person he'd been trying to escape. Every
breath felt heavy, weighed down by the cruel truth. Ashley
was dead because of him.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
So wow, now you know while.

Speaker 6 (50:52):
We're here, it's more than just a little fire.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
Wow, I felt. I felt the hole in my heart
as so that she left.

Speaker 16 (51:03):
I really fucking.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
Oh am, I gonna fucking houes. Listen, you just gotta
take a breath and give yourself some time.

Speaker 1 (51:27):
The officer left Daniel with his thoughts and his son
to keep him hopeful. They had two murderers waiting for
them at the police station. The ringleader, Antonetta, was first.
After having her rights read to her, she did the
smart thing, sort of how these rights.

Speaker 8 (51:46):
In mind, you wish to talk to us now?

Speaker 17 (51:49):
Lies you want to speak with the lawyer, just because
of how cenative the situation is. I will say that,
you know, I don't go out looking to harm anybody.
That's not my intention. I do feel, you know, very
remorseful about anything that has happened with that that young lady.

Speaker 4 (52:12):
I'll also say that, you know.

Speaker 17 (52:15):
It wasn't my intention to even get into an altercation
with her. Today she came over to my place of
residence looking for my fiance. We argued, I was hit,
we fought.

Speaker 4 (52:34):
I feel really.

Speaker 17 (52:34):
Bad, but you know, I really.

Speaker 4 (52:37):
I don't know. I just know it's just it's just
too much.

Speaker 1 (52:43):
It's just too much. She really trails off there, doesn't
She real? Low energy, low confidence. Biace Antonetta clung to
her story, ignoring the damning video evidence on Janine's phone.
Maybe she was dumb enough to think that the cops
would never find it.

Speaker 7 (53:01):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
I wouldn't put it past her. But because she wasn't
willing to talk, she was thrown in jail. Seventeen year
old Jeanine wasn't as sharp as her sister in law.
She'd stayed quiet when the police first showed up, but
the moment a female detective strolled into the interrogation room,
mirroring her tone and attitude. Janine's face lit up. All

(53:24):
it took was a little imitation for her to believe
she'd found a friend.

Speaker 14 (53:29):
Hey, at least it's.

Speaker 16 (53:31):
Not a blazon Hatten here, right, you look, COMPLI where's
the ryot?

Speaker 4 (53:42):
I swear, I swear it was just.

Speaker 16 (53:46):
I know I mess you at at your apartment. I'm
a textive party. This is a detective, a riot.

Speaker 4 (53:51):
He's still trying to get builled in on everything.

Speaker 18 (53:54):
So basically, her sister in law, there was a situation
with her, her brother, there's a whole situation whatever.

Speaker 16 (54:02):
We just got through talking to answer it. So I said,
we should got to get your side now because you
are in here.

Speaker 2 (54:08):
He has to read some stuff to you.

Speaker 16 (54:11):
So he's he's going to be the lead detective, so it's.

Speaker 4 (54:13):
Going to do most of talking.

Speaker 16 (54:14):
But I wasn't here because I'm kind of familiar with it.

Speaker 1 (54:16):
But I'm here too, So Janine smiled at her falling
for the trick that this cop was somehow in the
room for her benefit.

Speaker 22 (54:25):
Just go through basically, since I was in there and
I'm playing castule, basically, so happened, So like, let me
start to we're elited, Okay, We're all okay.

Speaker 21 (54:38):
So, like since I've been down here, they have been
on good terms, so, you know, arguments back to back.

Speaker 1 (54:48):
Janine confirmed that Danielle and Antonetta were on the rocks.
Things were bad, so like you know.

Speaker 16 (54:56):
They're arguing or whatever.

Speaker 19 (54:58):
So my brother, him being a man, jeeps is you know,
he's feeling less than he things so catchy, so you know,
he tells me, he tells me who's he cheating?

Speaker 2 (55:14):
Way and stuff.

Speaker 21 (55:16):
Now me and my stepsister, I mean, now my sister
are lat We're very close, like so close, but you understand.

Speaker 16 (55:24):
Like she's more of a sister to me than my
brother's and brother to.

Speaker 21 (55:27):
Me, you know.

Speaker 16 (55:28):
Yeah, so like we're very close.

Speaker 1 (55:31):
Antonetta was the sister Janine never had. She had visited
her every summer. So when Daniel admitted he was seeing Ashley,
Janine couldn't wait to share the juicy gossip.

Speaker 2 (55:43):
So once he told me, I was just like, oh,
what a fella.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
Yeah, right to teenage Jeanine, this was all a game.
The fact that Daniel and Toonetta and their son were
a family meant nothing. She was riding high on the
thrill of being the gate keeper of his secret. In
case you haven't figured it out, kids are dumb, especially teenagers,

(56:10):
if you're looking for them to guide you, boy, or
you lost.

Speaker 16 (56:13):
Two days prior before this day, where's chilling? She was
working and Daniel moved to something.

Speaker 4 (56:22):
To her to make her upset.

Speaker 16 (56:23):
So we were just talking or whatever, and I was
just saying, oh, I forgot to tell you move you.

Speaker 8 (56:27):
No, I didn't forget, but that's too Yeah.

Speaker 4 (56:30):
So I was like to her, what happened.

Speaker 8 (56:34):
He explained what she did or whatever.

Speaker 16 (56:36):
She's like, oh, really, she's what I'm saying with her.

Speaker 4 (56:38):
I was like, don't tell him diving.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
Or if you're gonna be that right.

Speaker 21 (56:42):
He explained how the girl looked to me though, and
you know earlier put her reading Skinny Girl.

Speaker 16 (56:48):
So I was like, oh, so that I explained it
to not if. So the next day after that, we
went to the store. Last night last night, we went
to the story last night and we were walking.

Speaker 4 (57:05):
That was you.

Speaker 8 (57:07):
Okay?

Speaker 16 (57:07):
So we walked to Trip as we're weal kind of cryptrip.

Speaker 21 (57:11):
Both fight all are walking together from crypt Troop. So
they're just not leaving and we're just not coming. So
Inetta is like, is that Daniel walking to that?

Speaker 4 (57:20):
She runs then like who is this?

Speaker 1 (57:24):
The feud had been boiling for twenty four hours. Janine
told Antonetta about Ashley, and then Antonetta and Jeanine caught
Daniel and Ashley walking to the corner store on their
work break. Janine kept talking to officers as if she
was gossiping with her girlfriends on FaceTime. Her story was
a far cry from the truth. She lied and said

(57:45):
Ashley came to the door looking for a fight, and
she come to the house.

Speaker 4 (57:50):
You know, big fight, big fight. So after their fight,
we took her phone.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
We're gonna call her husband to let her know.

Speaker 4 (58:05):
That, you know, just just thirt loud.

Speaker 16 (58:08):
So does she knock on the door at first, or
you guys just saw her outside outside? She ain't.

Speaker 2 (58:12):
She didn't know cause she didn't get to cancer.

Speaker 16 (58:14):
Okay, cause they own god the bitch coming whom about
to beat her?

Speaker 8 (58:19):
She yeah, you guys start yelling at her before and
you guys approached her or h how that going down?

Speaker 4 (58:23):
Yeah, yeah, tell us about that.

Speaker 16 (58:28):
It wasn't really all bitch you.

Speaker 23 (58:30):
It was just like young you came to see my
neighbor and then it's just fight at that. She knew
what it was cause she she got ready to you know,
and then d it was just fighting?

Speaker 4 (58:41):
Who was fighting?

Speaker 16 (58:44):
The girl's note everybody, no care youna get out of here?

Speaker 4 (58:47):
No A, yeah, I court you did?

Speaker 13 (58:50):
I know you did it?

Speaker 16 (58:51):
Just just just move you guys, just cause just like
you said.

Speaker 4 (58:54):
That's your home girl.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
It's amazing how this detective just mirrors Jeanine's style of
talking right back at her, and every time she falls
for it, she relaxes her body and slips up again.

Speaker 16 (59:06):
Tell me about that.

Speaker 4 (59:08):
I didn't I didn't go to I didn't go create though.

Speaker 16 (59:10):
Because she's small, sow like, you're enough already. I don't
need to be punch or draggon her. I don't need
to out that I'm good and doom I get my
little hit.

Speaker 4 (59:20):
And then where'd you get in in it? I don't know?

Speaker 16 (59:26):
I know edter though.

Speaker 1 (59:28):
Janine kept changing her story. First it was Ashley who
woke Daniel up. Then wait, it was Antonetta who woke
him up. Her lines were getting tangled and afraid as
she tried to keep her story straight.

Speaker 16 (59:42):
Did you guys text her? M?

Speaker 4 (59:45):
What do you mean?

Speaker 16 (59:46):
Did you guys send messages to her. No, we don't
get her number, you know, I mean from his phone? Oh,
from his phone?

Speaker 2 (59:51):
M No, I don't think so.

Speaker 8 (59:53):
No, okay mm hmm you sure.

Speaker 16 (59:58):
Yeah, because you you messed up your story on little.

Speaker 8 (01:00:02):
I already read the messages.

Speaker 16 (01:00:03):
You messed up a little bit. What was the messages?

Speaker 8 (01:00:05):
He wasn't getting kicked out?

Speaker 21 (01:00:07):
Oh?

Speaker 13 (01:00:09):
Yes he was.

Speaker 4 (01:00:11):
I don't know, you know.

Speaker 8 (01:00:15):
Are you sure it was text messages to fight or
was it something else?

Speaker 4 (01:00:19):
I don't know. You don't know what. You don't want
to tell me during my honest, the whole time.

Speaker 16 (01:00:24):
It's fine since you straight up.

Speaker 18 (01:00:28):
Smart, smart move because you know he's actually come over
and she's not gonna come over like that.

Speaker 16 (01:00:34):
You know, y'all were smart. Y'all finess the hell out
of that girl. Of course she know, no, she was
non confined regardless, Sydney Honest.

Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
Janine's lies were like a bad high school rumor, spreading
fast but falling apart under the slightest scrutiny. She was
too oblivious to grasp the fact that she wasn't walking
out of this police station scott free with her cell
phone in her jeane shorts.

Speaker 8 (01:01:02):
Earlier today, she didn't know that she was walking into
a fight.

Speaker 13 (01:01:06):
Good.

Speaker 8 (01:01:08):
You know she's dead, that's do you know?

Speaker 4 (01:01:12):
How she did like.

Speaker 16 (01:01:15):
Fighting the injuries of her dead, so they had to
go as a result of the injury she sustained her
in the fight. How does make you feel this ship?
If feel like I'm going to hell, that I'm not
gonna lie and her, she's pretty fucked up. I don't know, Dan,

(01:01:38):
I want to open the door.

Speaker 4 (01:01:39):
I saw her.

Speaker 16 (01:01:40):
I was like, oh, ship, and I had to slam
the door because she was so fucked up he did.

Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
The careless and sinister nature of her affect is terrifying.
People like this actually exist in society, and sometimes they vote.
This girl has absolutely no remorse for the fact that
she helped murder someone, nor does she even really care
that Ashley was being an alleged home wrecker trying to

(01:02:09):
ruin break.

Speaker 8 (01:02:10):
Up your family. Should that made you upset?

Speaker 4 (01:02:16):
I wasn't upset.

Speaker 13 (01:02:18):
No. No.

Speaker 16 (01:02:21):
They've been on a rocky road for a minute, like
I knew I've been, and he was chieving when he
when he.

Speaker 4 (01:02:26):
Told me so, I was just like, what I expect
from this? Is there? Her first word?

Speaker 7 (01:02:31):
You know.

Speaker 8 (01:02:33):
He was gonna go off with her.

Speaker 4 (01:02:37):
Well that scaring.

Speaker 16 (01:02:37):
He was gonna go off for her, to be honest,
when me and my brother isn't really that close. We
were trying to work on it.

Speaker 4 (01:02:45):
So it's just like.

Speaker 8 (01:02:47):
I'm just makes it easier when families together. You got
your sisters.

Speaker 4 (01:02:50):
You're gonna hate him, yeah, but we.

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
I don't live with the role.

Speaker 16 (01:02:54):
Yeah, I don't really feel that stare the connection and
just like near her close and I.

Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
Car and he's just like.

Speaker 13 (01:03:04):
With that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
They left Jeanine alone in the interrogation room. She laid
her head on the desk and slept on it like
a pillow, like little kids do in preschool. She played
with the scrunchy around her wrist. Then the detective came
back in.

Speaker 8 (01:03:21):
It's all right, so we're gonna have to book him
into the jail.

Speaker 24 (01:03:30):
The charge is gonna be bag battery, pull the fight, okay,
aggavated battery. Yeah, so it's just basically there's a little
more serious than just a regular battery.

Speaker 8 (01:03:43):
When we had to take the phone for evidence.

Speaker 1 (01:03:46):
Ah, Janine's phone the only character in this entire story
capable of telling the truth.

Speaker 8 (01:03:52):
So what happens We're gonna go to the general. Get
you booked in fingerprinted photo?

Speaker 16 (01:03:58):
That don't what else?

Speaker 8 (01:04:02):
Wait for the court so you clean your charges? Yeah,
guess yeah, it's robbery.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
Robbery? What robbery?

Speaker 16 (01:04:17):
Yeah, we didn't steal her phone.

Speaker 4 (01:04:19):
We took that she could come to.

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
You took it.

Speaker 16 (01:04:22):
Yes, she got her phone back. I told you she
wasn't leaving unless she got We gave her back her phone.
We just didn't we call her husband when we turned
her out.

Speaker 8 (01:04:31):
Okay, jail, she sails. Okay for your taking it? No, okay, Yeah,
that's a robbery.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
The other charge is murder.

Speaker 16 (01:04:41):
Murder to be in charge with murder me, that's that's
too bad. That yeah, that's that's fucking insane.

Speaker 4 (01:04:52):
Yeah no, no, no, no, what murder?

Speaker 16 (01:04:58):
I couldn't playing hands on her.

Speaker 4 (01:05:01):
She wants some.

Speaker 13 (01:05:08):
Bitch.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
It was Janine's foot that delivered the fatal blows, the
ones that pushed Ashley past the point of no return,
the sheer force of them big ass hams, as those
final kicks caused bleeding in Ashley's lungs, sealing her fate
in a brutal, merciless instant. Though it would take hours

(01:05:34):
for Ashley to actually die, Janine's part in this beating
was the nail and her coffin. Antonetta and Janine were
charged with felony murder, robbery, and aggravated battery. They waited
in jail for their day in court. When it was
Janine's turn, she sat beside her court appointed lawyer, tears

(01:05:56):
streaming down her acne splotched face as she argued she
was just a bystander and deserved a manslaughter charge instead.
But the video MM disagrees. There was no spinning the truth.
That was all caught on ten eighty p Actually it

(01:06:17):
could have been seven to twenty or four to eighty
who knows. This ain't a camera course. But after weeks
of wrangling, both Antonetta and Janine took their plea deals
twenty years for voluntary manslaughter and robbery by force. Two
decades in Arundale State Prison will do things to you.
There's plenty of time to relive every reckless second, every

(01:06:42):
cruel decision, every moment of that recording is on Janine's phone,
plenty of time to regret it all microsecond by microsecond.
But would either of these women be capable of such introspection?

Speaker 2 (01:06:59):
I doubt it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
After all, it takes a little bit of intellect to
have a conscience. It's ironic. Ashley and Julian came to

(01:07:26):
Georgia from New York searching for a better life, a
fresh start from the chaos of the projects and their
tangled past. Antonetta and Daniel came for the exact same reason,
even from the same state, but neither couple was truly
in a good place. Your geographic location doesn't really matter

(01:07:46):
much if the core of who you are is all
fucked up. The trouble they tried to escape followed them
across state lines, growing into an unstoppable force when Daniel
and Ashley started falling for each other during their night
shifts at Floor and Decor. Daniel and Ashley found one
another because they weren't happy in their own relationships. They

(01:08:09):
wanted something more, and when a new town, a new house,
and a new life wasn't enough to fill the void,
what they wanted was a new person to be with,
not a change of scenery. Daniel was a man trapped
with a woman he didn't like, bound by a sense
of duty to their son. His affair with Ashley was

(01:08:30):
a spark of hope in a life that felt dim
and joyless. Every moment with her was electric, and Ashley
felt the same. We all heard Daniel sobs when she died.
Who knows what they talked about in those quiet moments together.
Maybe they dreamed of turning their affair into something real

(01:08:51):
and long lasting. Maybe they even imagined leaving their partners
and starting fresh together. But those dreams die the minute.
Daniel confided in his teenage sister Janine was the little
piece of the past that came down to Georgia that
summer and threw gasoline on the fire. A child who

(01:09:16):
didn't create the situation, but she surely made it go
from bad to fatal and pretty fast. For Julian, for
their son, for Daniel, and for all of those who
loved Ashley. When heartbreaking reality remains, Sometimes a fresh start
isn't enough to leave the troubles of the past behind.

(01:09:39):
And if you find yourself being miserable and you want
to just patch it up instead of discovering and fixing
the actual problem, well then don't worry, because the problem
will eventually find you. Episode fifteen, titled Burn of Swordan

(01:10:43):
Scale Television is out now at Swordanscale dot com. It's
a harrowing tale of a couple of teenagers that just
wanted to buy some pot, and bad things happen. State
of the world these days, I swear it's like parenting
took a decade off once they invented the iPad. I'm
gonna go record some more. Maybe you should try being

(01:11:04):
a mom.