August 7, 2025 • 68 mins
Young lovers Toby Lowry and Morgan Leppert dreamed of escaping their small-town Florida lives, vanishing in the spring of 2008 to chase freedom at any cost. As they raced across state lines, stealing and hiding, authorities uncovered a chilling reality that pointed back to a small house in Melrose and the man left behind. Soon it became clear: this wasn’t just teenage rebellion—it was something far darker.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is
not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Charge looking who win by the shoes.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
This is episode three ten of Sword and Scale. You
know that already, but uh, I'm not gonna waste your
time with that. Before you go ahead and hit skip
to the meat of the show, let me tell you.
If you're not gonna watch episode seventeen of Sword and
Scale Television, you are truly missing.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
One hell of a nightmare. Let's go. I mean, I'm
(01:08):
not even kidding.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I couldn't sleep for three days after finalizing that episode.
And if you're gonna fully watch one episode of Sorts
Scale Television, that one should be in.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Not that you have to stop one.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
I mean, if you sign.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Up for the super Supporter here, you can get access
to all seventeen episodes and ongoing episodes monthly.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
We're working on getting you some.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
More content on top of that.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
It's uh labor of love people. This is what the
dipshits on Reddit called begging, which is actually just marketing. Yeah,
we created a product, we want you to consume it.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Duh.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Anyway, go check it out.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
If you like true crime and if you want to
support Sword and Scale.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Love takes sacrifice.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
That's what I've heard, and I've also found it to
be true in my own life.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
There's a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
You give up when you're truly in love. Sometimes you
give up your time, or your money, or your freedom
to go to a diddy party, for example. A lot
of things, but your humanity shouldn't be one of them.
(03:12):
Putnam County, Florida, is a stretch of land between Gainesville
and Saint Augustine, where dirt roads wind through the pine
forests and the air is as humid is well. It's
like walking through the bottom of a pool. It's a
place of small towns and long stretches of country in between.
(03:34):
The poverty rate is higher than the rest of the
state because of the remoteness. Inside Putnam County is Melrose,
a small, quiet community that barely makes a blip on
the map. This is the kind of place where people
still leave their doors unlocked, believe it or not, and
where Friday night football and Sunday morning church have become
(03:56):
just a thing on the calendar that doesn't change. This
is a Ernie Bradley Waldrop, a native of the area.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
I am a former prosecutor. I've worked in Putnam County
and Saint John's County from about two thousand and six
to twenty ten. I'm currently in private practice in Saint Augustine, Florida,
do criminal defense and do family law as well. But
I'm a lifelong residence of Saint Augustine, Florida. It's so
(04:25):
very familiar with the area and really cut my teeth
as a prosecutor in Putnam County, which is where this occurred.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Down a dead end road in Melrose sat a modest
home built in nineteen eighty five. It was now more
than two decades old, a single story house with a
yard that stretched into the woods. It wasn't much, but
it was home to fifteen year old Morgan Leopard, her
older brother, and her forty eight year old mother, Jerry.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
Melrose is a beautiful community. Like I said, it's very
laid back, rural. It's one of those towns that you
passed through on the way to Gainesville. Just a lot
of beautiful scenery there. It's kind of like one of
those one red light towns, or you stop at the
red light and there's everything. A general store, a restaurant,
a gas station, but it's a very laid back town,
(05:18):
very tight knit community.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Jerry Leppert was the kind of mother who had lived
enough to see trouble. If you don't know what that means,
you will, Let's give it time. She tried to steer
Morgan in the right direction, tried to set rules, and
tried to keep her daughter close. She even picked her
battles with Morgan, letting her see boys at an early
age in order to keep an eye on things. She
(05:43):
had an open door policy, preferring that Morgan socialize where
her mom could see her, an interesting parenting style which
some people employ to their detriment, but just like typical teens,
arguments took place over space, choices and the kind of
people Morgan was bringing into her life. Her mother saw
(06:04):
the warning signs. She knew what was coming. It was
obvious that Jerry cared about and loved her daughter, but
Morgan didn't see that. She saw a cage instead, built
to stifle her cravings for independence. I've said it a
couple times on this program, but I'll say it one
(06:24):
more time.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Kids are dumb. They really really are.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
So if you're an old person and you see a
bunch of kids at a protest, Maybe think twice before
joining in, because he might be supporting really bad shit. Anyway,
Morgan was desperate for her independence, as most teenagers are,
and one day she found it in the form of
a man named Toby Laurie. She fell in love with them,
(06:53):
and love meant freedom.
Speaker 6 (07:00):
Okay, did you just sleep on accounts at the house
or your mom?
Speaker 5 (07:07):
And that?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
So Toby moved in right away. You know, parenting isn't easy,
and Toby needed a place to stay. Jerry was picking
her battles with Morgan and was already prepared for the
day when Morgan became interested in boys. Well, that day
came early, and her mom had already brought in reinforcements
(07:29):
as in contraception.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
Let me ask you a personal questions. Are y all
having things?
Speaker 7 (07:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (07:38):
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
It's all.
Speaker 8 (07:44):
It's all when your will. He'd not forced himself on anything. No, well, okay,
how many time do you think you may have had
thick y'all dated from the very beginning until now? Just yeah,
I know it's embarrassing, but yeah.
Speaker 9 (08:04):
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.
Speaker 8 (08:08):
Ten No twenty no, uh am I going too high too?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Lew glue uh, sickly.
Speaker 6 (08:18):
Probably probably are.
Speaker 8 (08:20):
You all using protection? You were?
Speaker 6 (08:24):
Who got that forty?
Speaker 10 (08:26):
I got on birth control on my.
Speaker 6 (08:30):
Fourteenth birthday in January.
Speaker 10 (08:33):
I think it's sporty.
Speaker 6 (08:34):
Two early girl.
Speaker 10 (08:37):
Oh my mom, she's done, my sage. You're gone on
birken Shaw fourteenth.
Speaker 11 (08:41):
And the thing, if they're using protection, you're not present. Okay,
So your mom know that you are having fixt and
she finally she was.
Speaker 10 (08:55):
Whenever he was living with that I had. I had
no idea.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Now, at first, Morgan's mom didn't ask too many questions.
Teenagers push boundaries, and that's just part of raising one.
If giving Morgan a little space kept the peace, maybe
it was worth it. But Toby wasn't just some boyfriend.
He was twenty two, unemployed, and guess what, he had
(09:21):
a criminal record. Young girls love bad boys, you know,
so naturally he was the perfect guy to move in
with a fifteen year old.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
That was sarcasm.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Some of you don't understand sarcasm, so I guess I
got to point it out. Terry would soon find out
exactly who she let into her home.
Speaker 6 (09:45):
Well, at least i'll use the protection and you're not pregnant.
That's the big thing. You all need no kids right now,
because nay, he's still in school. How old was he?
Speaker 10 (09:54):
Twenty two?
Speaker 8 (09:55):
And you're.
Speaker 6 (09:57):
You old me to tell you how old you are, ma'am.
Don't you think that's kind of a big age?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (10:08):
Yeah, was still you're still in school and he's out
and got a job.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
And Toby was out of school and unemployed when he
wasn't behind bars, that is charismatic and conventionally good looking.
He'd fallen through the cracks, fallen out with his parents,
and started breaking the law. And Morgan wasn't just rebelling.
She was running toward a person who made her feel
like an adult, even if he was the worst possible choice.
(10:36):
If you only heard of this conversation, you'd think this
was a dad having the talk with his gigly teenage daughter,
a patient, experienced voice trying to steer her back onto
the right path. But this was not her father. This
was a detective sitting across from Morgan in a concrete
(10:57):
interrogation room, hours after she and Toby were found in Texas,
one thousand miles away from home, burning through stolen gas
and borrowed time. And all of it started when Jerry
Leppert learned the truth. She had no idea that Toby
had a criminal record with burglary, theft and drugs under
(11:19):
his belt. She certainly had no idea that he was
an adult male almost eight years older than her daughter.
But once she found out, she did what any sane
mother would do. When she kicked him out, She told
him he was done, gone, no more playing house with
a fifteen year old child. For a minute, that might
(11:42):
have seemed like the end of it, but Morgan wasn't
letting go that easily. Just a few days later, on
April twenty second, two thousand and eight, she was gone too.
Her mother searched, she filed reports. She even broke into
Toby's trailer, hoping to find some kind of sign, some
trace of her daughter. But Morgan wasn't there. This is
(12:05):
Morgan talking about the early days with Toby leading up
to her disappearance.
Speaker 8 (12:11):
All right, are you willing to speak to me about
the anthing about you decided to run away? So he
got a boyfriend, and your mom found out he'd been
in some trouble with the law, and something come up
missing in the neighborhood, and he knew kid on the block.
So he got blamed and you should have was back
(12:32):
in January this year, he.
Speaker 12 (12:34):
Had January living. He got to David for my birthday
when he came back two months later.
Speaker 11 (12:39):
And yeah, so he came back in March and all
got back together in March.
Speaker 8 (12:44):
That you're saying.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Ye, the reason Toby was basically homeless was because he
had been living in a camper and then went to prison.
While he was living in the camper, he proved his
devotion to Morgan before moving into her bedroom.
Speaker 10 (13:01):
And he to come down my street, heat the.
Speaker 12 (13:03):
Walk all the way from Paulaka to the other the bridge.
Speaker 10 (13:08):
Always see on the table.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Are you thereous every day?
Speaker 8 (13:13):
That's what that's a good talk every day and you
know the bridge just deep.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Fast forward.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Toby moves in and stays for a few months, but
things come up missing. Morgan's mom finds out about his
age and background and she kicks him out, and in April,
Morgan disappears with Toby, leaving her mom to contact the police.
Speaker 10 (13:36):
Three month that is.
Speaker 12 (13:37):
Lift he didn't mind the back that I was with them,
and I think I was going to be with him
no matter what, and I ended up.
Speaker 8 (13:45):
Did you go to school with all the day you
left or you just left the house, What day you
let the house?
Speaker 6 (13:52):
Where'd you go when you let the house? Were there
the economy? And how many days these day were there?
Speaker 10 (13:59):
We left that day?
Speaker 6 (14:00):
He did, and he started where'd y'all go when you left?
Did you?
Speaker 7 (14:06):
Did you?
Speaker 6 (14:06):
Did you go back to your house?
Speaker 8 (14:08):
Or did that?
Speaker 6 (14:08):
When y'all started driving? Well, look hard, how did you
get out of here?
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (14:13):
That truck truck over.
Speaker 10 (14:16):
The Dakota or not Dakota, that Toyota, Dacoma or whatever.
Speaker 6 (14:20):
Oh did he buy a truck from working?
Speaker 13 (14:23):
I have no idea. And he showed up in the truck.
I don't know where you got it from.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, I have no idea.
Speaker 6 (14:28):
Where I think over not at all.
Speaker 8 (14:34):
So when you got there, the truck was already there,
and then y'all just hopped in it and took all
the time.
Speaker 6 (14:39):
Did you take any bring the clothes legit?
Speaker 10 (14:42):
Oh my well, we had to be bought clothes like
do traveler and stuff. But I don't know if they're
going to give me my clothes back.
Speaker 12 (14:49):
They're all in that truck with my wallet and everything.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Maybe Toby rode in like a knight in shining armor. Literally,
the truck was so new and gleaming, ready to whisk
Morgan away to freedom, to adulthood, to adventure, and to Morgan,
barely fifteen and desperate for something bigger than the life
she knew. It might have felt like a rescue, but
(15:17):
to Toby it was never about saving her. He was
merely pulling her deeper into his world, where love was
just another tool of manipulation. And that shiny new truck
it carried Toby and Morgan away on an adventure while
it left its owner behind, broken and bleeding. It was
(16:16):
April two thousand and eight in San Mateo, Florida. Jerry
Leppert lived in a three bedroom home on the end
of a rural street with her son and her daughter, Morgan.
The kid's father was no longer in the picture, and
her oldest daughter had moved out. Morgan was a good kid,
but Jerry always knew she needed to keep an eye
(16:38):
on her. Morgan was feisty, somewhat immature, and crazy about boys.
One boy in particular, whose name was Toby. Toby had
been living in a camper, so when Morgan begged her
mom to let him move in with them, she reluctantly conceded,
sensing they were already sexually active.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Jerry would I'd rather have.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Them fooling around under her own roof than in a
camper somewhere remotely. I guess the sentiment sort of makes sense,
but I don't know. Try parenting instead. It works better.
You can't actually say no to your children every now
and then. But instead of doing this, Jerry put Morgan
on birth control at age fourteen to ensure that there
(17:24):
would be no accidental pregnancies. She didn't realize that Toby
was an adult male with a criminal history and his
site set on Morgan. So when she kicked him out
of her home and her daughter's life, Morgan had already
fallen for him.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
It was too late, way too late.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
They were about to take off and make a life
of their own, at least that's what Morgan thought. They
simply disappeared in a silver truck. No one knew where
they were going or what they'd already done. But what
started as an escape, as chance at the big road
trip and a new life together, would soon unravel into
(18:06):
something far more horrible. Because the truck they were driving
didn't just belong to anyone. It belonged to a dead man.
After they were picked up in El Paso, Texas, Morgan
was interviewed. She wasn't interested in talking about the truck, though, truck,
what truck. All she could think about or talk about
(18:30):
was how great Toby was and how he'd do anything
for her. She talked about leaving Florida, about sleeping in
the woods, showering at gas stations, and about what it
felt like to be free. If that sounds a little immature, it's.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Because it is. It is.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
But you know how detectives are. They don't just ask
you a question and take your first answer at face value.
Now they ease in slowly, like a fisherman letting out
a line, waiting for the right moment to reel you
back in.
Speaker 8 (19:06):
And that was on the twenty second, the day all left.
Did he tell his parents where he was going? No,
just that he's gonna leave town a little bit.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
And and.
Speaker 8 (19:18):
Did that his friend's truck.
Speaker 6 (19:19):
Or anything that, y'all r I really have no idea
you ever seen a minute before? He didn't have to
love it was.
Speaker 10 (19:27):
I really didn't care at the movement. I was glad
to get out of here.
Speaker 8 (19:32):
So well, he didn't think, Hey, this was my buddy
Jim's truck, or this.
Speaker 12 (19:37):
Is you know, I didn't you worry that I didn't
jump in two off?
Speaker 10 (19:42):
Was he so happy as you get out of there?
Speaker 6 (19:44):
Yeah? Okay, how did y'all eat? Did y'all just buy food?
Speaker 8 (19:50):
Did you know that the whole country was looking for
your sweet little self? No, you didn't know that.
Speaker 10 (19:57):
I know I heard about it. I figured, like because
I was walking into every walmart we went to travel
in the cold time. Now I'll look on the midden
old people thing. I didn't even see.
Speaker 12 (20:09):
My book on this.
Speaker 10 (20:10):
I've then whatever.
Speaker 6 (20:12):
You know, you know what Florida does? Yeah?
Speaker 8 (20:14):
You know what ambroller?
Speaker 10 (20:15):
It is nationwide?
Speaker 6 (20:17):
Yeah, I just found that out.
Speaker 10 (20:19):
Yeah did that Tali farm me?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (20:23):
And what they did is because your mom almost worried
about you because she ain't seen so long as they
sent it ambrolert out.
Speaker 10 (20:30):
I haven't bought sure something day on it in those
two weeks.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
But Jerry wasn't the only one wondering where their loved
one was. James Stewart lived alone, but his cousin had
spoken to him on the morning of April twenty fifth,
two thousand and eight, after that, the calls went unanswered.
A neighbor also noticed that James hadn't left his house
in a while. His beloved tomato plants weren't thriving anymore,
(20:55):
and they wondered if he was away on vacation, but
his truck was still there. James's family wasn't alarmed for
the first few days. It was just a miscall, maybe
just bad timing. But when the days started to add up,
so did the miscalls. By May first, another cousin couldn't
(21:18):
shake the feeling that something was wrong, so.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
He called the police.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Deputies went to the house for a welfare check, and
when they opened the door, the truth hit him in
the face, a wall of decay and death. James Stewart
wasn't missing. He was lying on the floor, rotting. He'd
been dead for nearly ten days, murdered and left to bloat, stiffen,
(21:48):
and seep into the floorboards of his own home. Morgan
claimed that Toby picked her up in a silver truck
and she had no idea who the owner was. Maybe
she was right that Toby would do anything to be
with her.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Maybe she was right.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Indeed, who do.
Speaker 8 (22:08):
You think that truck belonged to.
Speaker 6 (22:10):
He didn't tell me belonged to you? Yeah, he just
get you, don't You didn't worry about who it was
at the moment. You know, he didn't make enough money
to buy that truck, right, I.
Speaker 8 (22:22):
Mean, like, like, Toby, do you think he made enough
money washing cars to buy that truck? Honestly?
Speaker 5 (22:28):
I know?
Speaker 8 (22:29):
Yeah, So what do you kind of you think he
got it, barred it, or it stole it, or I
am you had to get No, I'm just saying if
he had to get how did he come about this truck?
Speaker 6 (22:41):
Because it's not registered to him.
Speaker 8 (22:43):
We don't know who the guy is registered to.
Speaker 14 (22:45):
Annoying me, you would you tell me if he did, Brom,
I'm just making sure we're trying to find out whose
truck it is.
Speaker 6 (22:56):
If not Toby's, I don't know.
Speaker 12 (22:58):
You picked me up in it and we just run
on someone that I didn't care at the moment who
were what was going on around or anything.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Okay, she didn't care who it was or what was
going on because she was in love.
Speaker 10 (23:13):
Did anybody care to be with me?
Speaker 13 (23:15):
Most likely?
Speaker 12 (23:17):
Yeah, but you know what I mean, you were gonna
do whatever he had the duty to be with me,
but I didn't know he wasn't think.
Speaker 6 (23:24):
That far and the like he did, like what he
did that trip was going.
Speaker 5 (23:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 13 (23:34):
It was, and the whole we talked about running delay,
but I didn't know that he even got furious about it.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
And then he actually did it and kind of scared
you a little bit.
Speaker 10 (23:45):
I didn't know he was like I thought, you know,
he was joking around and going along to God.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
I was staying, Well, he didn't force you to run away,
did it? I wouldn't believe me. I went well with me.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Morgan had no problem talking about running away, and she
certainly had no problem talking about Toby, the man who
would do anything to be with her. But detectives weren't
here to talk about young love. They were here for murder,
just like you. They just hadn't revealed that secret to
(24:18):
Morgan just yet. The tone in the room shifted. The
detective stepped out for a moment and came back with
a picture.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
Do you reckon?
Speaker 10 (24:28):
I just go Morgan.
Speaker 6 (24:30):
Have you ever seen him before?
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Where?
Speaker 7 (24:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (24:36):
I had no idea, never.
Speaker 15 (24:38):
Seen him before his his own Toby ever talked about
yet an older friend in.
Speaker 13 (24:44):
Rooth and never seen him being out with an order
guy like the only guy that he hang out with,
this Scott and every time I went to the trunk
or I thought he would live.
Speaker 8 (24:56):
Yeah, well I talked to him and he said that
he had mentioned this guy to you. Do you remember
mentioned it to him at tea at all? Not at all?
Don't recognize him at all.
Speaker 15 (25:07):
He never said he I got this guy the friend
of mine that's older or nothing like that, ever seen him.
Speaker 13 (25:12):
That guy before.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Morgan wasn't budget either.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
She was telling the truth, and her innocence was just
that an innocent young girl in love taking advantage of
by an older boy, well, an older man or there
were many more layers to Morgan.
Speaker 6 (25:30):
Well, I'm getting a queen plate near that.
Speaker 8 (25:33):
You knew what would going on in that truck?
Speaker 6 (25:35):
To tell me and you won't get any trouble.
Speaker 10 (25:40):
Sure, now?
Speaker 15 (25:42):
Was that fond of Yeah?
Speaker 10 (25:48):
Okay, it's dubbed it, but I'm cool.
Speaker 6 (25:50):
You want to put that jacket on.
Speaker 10 (25:52):
I don't want to click a banana.
Speaker 6 (25:55):
So you pick on that because we were this kind
of jacket when we were, you call it banana. I
have a question, Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 15 (26:04):
Toby is in a holding celle, waiting to be processed
in the jail.
Speaker 10 (26:08):
What he come back for me?
Speaker 6 (26:10):
Yes, ma'am, you know what jail Puttnam County.
Speaker 15 (26:16):
Why you weren't out seeing Well, you'll give him a
Putnam County jail.
Speaker 10 (26:23):
Put any show, as your mom willert. That's when I'm
hold up.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
I can be honest with you.
Speaker 8 (26:31):
If you were my daughter, I wouldn't let you go
no place for you.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
It was early in the morning and the interview was
winding down. As it was looking like Morgan wasn't going
to give in, the detective gave it one last shot.
Speaker 14 (26:46):
Well, I'm gonna be honest with you, okay, because I've
been because you've been honest with me the whole time.
Speaker 8 (26:50):
So I'm gonna be honest with you.
Speaker 15 (26:52):
If the truck comes back not belonging to Toby and
it's stolen, he gonna be in a little bit of trouble.
Speaker 6 (26:57):
Okay.
Speaker 15 (26:58):
My name is your boy friend. Wanted to tell you that,
just that you know. And the other thing is that
if Toby tells us that you knew the trouble was
the one, or he knew that there was in his
then you might be a little bit of trouble too.
You see, what I'm saying, Well, I mean, you could
you know it's there, you know what I mean. So,
I mean, I'm just saying, if he honestly didn't tell you,
(27:20):
that's fine, and I completely believe you. But if he
did tell me, now and we can bypack the issue
of you get in trouble or anything that I know of.
Speaker 10 (27:27):
I mean, we've been traveling this whole.
Speaker 8 (27:30):
Time in that truck.
Speaker 7 (27:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
The detective tried the soft approach by giving Morgan an
Out a clean slate, but when she stuck to her story,
he switched gears. This wasn't just about a stolen truck anymore.
He reminded her of how dangerous this all was. A
teenage girl running away from home, sleeping in cars, hitchhiking
(27:54):
across state lines, sleeping in the woods with rattlesnakes and
only Toby to protect her. She could have been kidnapped, assaulted,
or left for dead in the middle of nowhere, but
somehow she was still here there far.
Speaker 8 (28:10):
I mean, y'all could easily got in a car accident
and you could have been hurt, and no one knows
where you're at.
Speaker 13 (28:14):
You know, I heard my mom thought I was dead.
Speaker 8 (28:19):
Really, why did you with that the friend you called
that told us that, why does she think you were dead?
Speaker 7 (28:25):
Oh?
Speaker 12 (28:25):
No, she because I guess my mom kept on calling
him seeing fever anything from me, and she said she,
I guess she told him.
Speaker 7 (28:33):
That she thought I was dead.
Speaker 6 (28:35):
A lot of people, Falk you were seriously hurt because
they ain't heart from me a while.
Speaker 10 (28:40):
Yeah, I heard a lot of people have been looking
for me out.
Speaker 11 (28:42):
Do you know?
Speaker 6 (28:43):
Do you know you've been on national television. You've been
on Napty Grays, she's the top show host. Don't see him?
You know what that TV channel? You've been You're famous girl.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
By now, Morgan's face was on the news. What appeared
to be a missing or runaway teen was turning out
to be much more of a complicated story. Morgan was
still holding on to her version of the story, insisting
that she had no idea where this truck came from
and that she'd gone with Toby willingly. But detectives weren't
(29:22):
just getting one side of the story, because just down
the hall, in another room of the El Paso Police Department,
they had already sat across from Toby Laurie and sent
him back to Putnam County jail. By then, they already
knew where he and Morgan had been. On April twenty second,
(29:43):
a friend of Morgan picked her up and took her
to Toby's trailer at the Economy n RV Park.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
How romantic.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
That night, they showed up at Toby's parents' house, hoping
for a place to stay, but his parents refused to
take them in. Now they were on their own. Toby
was a drifter, a thief, and a predator, and like always,
he was looking for someone to take along for the ride.
It gets lonely out there, predating by yourself.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Is that a word?
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Anyway, Together they broke into a concession stand, stealing candy,
drinks and whatever food they could find. They slept wherever
they could, in the woods, behind homes, even on old
mattresses they found abandoned.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
In the yard.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
It was like a modern day Bonnie and Clyde adventure.
And along the way Toby started looking for something bigger,
something like a getaway truck.
Speaker 7 (30:44):
We're twenty four, Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
What do I want you to do though? Is I
know he kased out some counting houses over there in
the Melrose area, and I want you to tell them
what if anyone on the entering the houses and I
need to tell me, you know, he did, not that
(31:06):
we're gonna start back off onto the kind of when
we were laying in was.
Speaker 9 (31:14):
Okay, you don't make you like maybe, oh yeah, by
I don't mean necessary.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
He immediately inculpated Morgan as the voice that drove him,
but neither he nor the officer was ready for the
climate shift about to hit them. He paused, shifted in
a seat, He rubbed his arms and ran his hands
through his blonde hair. The room went quiet, A chill
(31:48):
settled into the space between them, and then finally Toby
leaned in.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
React and I'll tear it down. You will relaxed before
I don't know, I kind of gold hold one, okay.
Basically I was saying, there in your own life, go
out there, knocked on the doors.
Speaker 7 (32:11):
What time was this Toby?
Speaker 2 (32:14):
For the darks in their end of the day life, okay,
And they assured the twenty four years okay.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Even though Toby didn't know the occupant of the house,
James Stewart, he knew a little about the house itself.
He used to live directly behind it, and a friend
of his lived in the house James was in.
Speaker 5 (32:32):
Now, what they did is they decided to run away
together and they were basically casing different houses to look
for appropriate victims. Miss Leopard earlier in the day that
the day of the murder, knocked on mister Stewart's door
around one pm and asked to use his phone. He
(32:56):
gave her access to use his phone, and she actually
called her own cell phone and had an opportunity at
that time to basically do some reconnaissance on his residence
that he did live alone.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
So Toby sent Morgan directly to James's front door on
this reconnaissance mission.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
We went out, knock on door and I was like,
go there and ask if you can use phone.
Speaker 7 (33:20):
Okay, call on your cell phone.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
No one's going to answer your cell phone.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Toby waited in the woods close by and he could
see what was happening. After about ten minutes, Morgan came back.
This was getting real.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
I'm kind of pushing it on the fucking thoughts right now.
As you can tell, I'm kind of psychotic.
Speaker 7 (33:42):
Keep my mind.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Well, you're thinking survival, bro, I'm thinking survival. I'm trying
to get it where we ain't nowhere around this fucking
place at all. Right, I'm trying to get the fuck
out of there, you know.
Speaker 7 (33:55):
Sure, So she's telling me.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
And he just he looks like he's kind of moving, yeah,
kind of a little bit, but he's look at you
know that because of some of the stuff was in
the house. Yeah, I'm gonna wait, wait, equipment or feel
like that. Yeah, it looks like like partially of his fingers,
like right here got cut off some weird ship. I
don't know what it is, brough And I was.
Speaker 8 (34:22):
Like, what the fuck?
Speaker 9 (34:24):
And she was like this hand over here.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
All the fingers were gone and there was just a
round hand guy out there.
Speaker 13 (34:31):
You know.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
I was like, kind of fum freaking a ship all right.
Speaker 7 (34:36):
I was like, can you be honest with me. Tell
me you never know this guy before.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
I've never met her take a guy, Okay, he just
picked hiss like how to ran him that day?
Speaker 7 (34:44):
And I thought her. I was like, maybe that's fucking
freaking me out.
Speaker 16 (34:47):
He didn't touch it or nothing to do, because usually
people like that are fucking predators.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Sure, And I was like like, maybe he didn't touch
you didn't.
Speaker 7 (34:57):
And she was like she didn't answer me, my baby,
and she was like.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
They'd opened the door to the home of a disabled man.
James Stewart lived a quiet life, tucked away in his
modest house in Melrose, Florida. He wasn't a predator. Where
did Toby get the idea that disabled people are predators?
Speaker 1 (35:26):
I have no idea.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Here's Toby, someone who just entered adulthood with all his
faculties and appendages, ready to do the unthinkable to a
disabled man, and he's calling the victim a predator. James
wasn't wealthy, he wasn't famous, but he was independent. He
took care of himself, tended to his tomato plants in
(35:50):
his backyard, and kept his truck in pristine condition. What
he didn't have, what he had never had, or finger.
He was born with a congenital defect that left him
with hands that he could grasp with but never fully close.
The simplest tasks like buttoning a shirt, tying a knot
(36:14):
holding a pen had been lifelong challenges, but he'd learned
to manage.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
He had adapted.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
It's amazing how humans can adapt to almost anything. He'd
found ways to live in a world that wasn't built
for him. But there are some things that no amount
of adaptation could prepare him for, and all Toby was
concerned about was whether James had touched his precious girlfriend
(36:42):
with his stubby hands, in Toby's words, fingerless stumps. But
there was some information Toby hadn't revealed yet that would
lead this cold hearted thief and murderer feel just a
little more protective of his girlfriend Morgan than usual.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
What do you want to do? I don't know, maybe
like a million times into my head right now. The
whole thing's a bible. Yeah, And she's like maybe you know,
I'm bringing it, you know, when I get out of here, atuator.
I'm like, yeah, I'm like, well, here in the truck,
(37:25):
all right, I'll walk up a little bit. I'm thinking,
I'm like, what the hell to do?
Speaker 5 (37:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (37:29):
What am I going to do?
Speaker 3 (37:30):
All they could think about was how to get out
of the state and start building life together, because, after all,
their baby was technically going to be the product of
statutory rape according.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
To the law.
Speaker 9 (37:42):
She was like, honestly, I'm like yeah, honestly, She's like,
I say, we.
Speaker 17 (37:48):
Grew up in this fucking house, always in there, fucking
beat the shit out of there.
Speaker 7 (37:54):
Do what we gotta do it.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Like, maybe I'm like, don't about that ship, I gets the.
Speaker 10 (38:00):
Heart of that.
Speaker 7 (38:04):
And how will help it.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
It was easy to think that Toby was the one
lying and trying to pin this on Morgan, but for
the fact that he was the one laying out the
painstaking details while Morgan had sat in a chair across
from another detective, lying and giggling. On the other hand,
Morgan claimed she went willingly. Maybe she believed that at
(38:28):
the time, maybe she still does, but willingly or not,
she was a fifteen year old child who followed Toby
all the way to murder. Next, Toby goes to the
door of the house by himself.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
He knocks.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
James comes to the door and has met with Toby,
asking him if he'd seen a young blonde girl earlier.
James tells him yes, she just left and went down
the street. Toby answers really. At this point, Toby says
that James gets starky with him and asks if he's
stupid because he just told him she left and went
(39:08):
down the street. That response sat with Toby about as
well as the thought that a man with fingerless hands
would dare touch his woman. According to Toby, he gave
him an evil look and walked away.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Well that's pretty shaken on it.
Speaker 16 (39:26):
Sorry, I'm sure his nervous nerve condession like this ever, okay,
wait time minutes and she was like, baby killing this.
I'm like, I'm all right, man, I can't.
Speaker 7 (39:39):
I can't do this ship. I don't even know.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
I ain't got the hard to do a ship. I can't.
Speaker 7 (39:43):
I can't do it.
Speaker 18 (39:45):
She was, baby, I'm pregnant. There's nothing you can do
else enough, no money or not. If we ain't got
no money, I mean't got no transportations. I'm pregnant, there's nothing.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
We can do it.
Speaker 8 (39:58):
Okay.
Speaker 7 (40:00):
And I asked her. I was like this she really
too her one. She's like, yeah, state something. I can't
leave you again.
Speaker 13 (40:16):
I'm like, well, you know what you got?
Speaker 7 (40:19):
You know this is we're a long done.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
And you're like, we ain't gonna get caught.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Here was a seasoned criminal looking to a fifteen year
old girl on what to do when she had never
committed a crime before meeting him. This wasn't two kids
who believed it was them against the world. It was
an adult and a naive girl.
Speaker 7 (40:42):
She's right now, she don't like to I guess.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
So now the couple was heading back into the house.
The doors were all unlocked. Remember it's some little ship
town in Florida. Nobody locks their doors. This time, they
had with them two copper pieces of pipe tucked into
their backpacks, and they wouldn't be knocking on the door,
they'd be sneaking in through the side door.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
So I'm standing there, I'm like, I don't want to
do door here.
Speaker 7 (41:14):
Yeah, house, if he comes up that room, hent to
do something.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
That's worth repeating in case you didn't understand. Morgan says,
you have to do something. Now we're in the house
and they'll call the law on us, to which Toby replies,
how's he gonna call the fucking law. He ain't got
no fingers.
Speaker 7 (41:51):
In the room in the corner, So I think you
in the computer.
Speaker 17 (42:00):
Started thinking like there turns towards.
Speaker 7 (42:05):
She's like, the go in there, he's.
Speaker 17 (42:09):
Gonna say, ship, I'm scared you count him prison life
for She was like, there, you've got this, You've got
to do this.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
So you guys are kind of arguing back and argue,
but kind of got disgusting it and like how you
read I'm.
Speaker 8 (42:30):
About to go right in.
Speaker 19 (42:31):
I'm like, man, I took I took over my sweater,
my shirt, and I put it in chair.
Speaker 7 (42:38):
You know, I didn't have no shirt on all right?
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Why I didn't want to get blood? And I don't
know that, So I was like, fuck it.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
Yeah, it seemed like the adult in the pair was
the only one thinking of consequences. Toby didn't want to
get blood on his shirt, and he reminded Morgan of
what could happen.
Speaker 7 (42:59):
Don't want to fucking do this ship.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
By this time, my MoMA was in tears. Maybe you
just don't know how long I will go away from it.
She was like, fucking fucking see me again.
Speaker 19 (43:14):
She was like, hide.
Speaker 7 (43:23):
This and that's word in my mind.
Speaker 6 (43:26):
And I wouldn't.
Speaker 7 (43:27):
I wouldn't confess this ship and nobody but see what
I did.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
Apparently so little did Toby know that Morgan either because
she had too much faith in her partnership, or because
she was immature and naive, or maybe because she was
smarter than he was and not said one word and
would not confess until the next day, and she loves
(43:52):
best for me.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
So probably fuck it.
Speaker 19 (43:56):
I jumped into the fucking room. I'm like, listen here,
mother partner you know, around and he got his shocked
as I'm like, I wasn't playing and I was just like,
whatever money he hadn't leave him?
Speaker 7 (44:10):
You know, what'd you say?
Speaker 2 (44:11):
He was like, motherfucker outtakesk have a call wall Oh,
like you meant me and you don't want to.
Speaker 7 (44:18):
Function to do that? Do you want to stay?
Speaker 3 (44:20):
At that point, James was still sitting down, His back
had been turned to Toby and Morgan. He hadn't noticed
them yet, but when he heard them, he swiveled around
and put his arms up. He was wearing a T shirt, underwear,
and socks in the comfort of his own living room,
where he'd been playing a game on the computer. When
he started to stand up, Toby grabbed a nearby knife
(44:45):
and started threatening him. All he wanted was keys to
the truck and cash, but for some reason, James kept
repeating that he couldn't even afford the truck, and this
made Toby angrier because that didn't make any sense to him,
being an idiot, of course, So I.
Speaker 7 (45:02):
Was like, mother, give me a fuck g's right fucking now,
you don't give me a fucking keys and fucking cut.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
You wide open.
Speaker 8 (45:10):
He was like man, we're look here, look here.
Speaker 7 (45:12):
I can't afford that trout. I was like, I don't
give a fuck. Are you gonna afford the trunk or not?
Give me the good damn keys, and I'll be eye
to your motherfucking hair.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
James was getting closer.
Speaker 20 (45:23):
Like if he wanted to, he could grab that fucking
knife or how are you holding that something like or
something I'm holding.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
A knightel like this, tell down like yeah.
Speaker 19 (45:30):
And I'm like I'm trying to keep it away from
you so you don't try to fucking grab or nothing.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
But then Toby looked at him, and remember but I'm
looking at his hands.
Speaker 19 (45:38):
I'm like, man, this motherfucker can't grab the ship, right,
He's got a phone.
Speaker 7 (45:41):
On one hand.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
I'm like, God damns, the big guy. Just fucking give
me the box for Jimmy's right. Look here, you give
me a fucking g's and we're out of your hair
and whatever money you fucking got, or I'm just gonna
take here in business right here.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
According to Toby, James fought back with everything he had,
but Toby had already decided how this was going to end.
Toby answered with a punch in the face. Breaking James's
glasses and puncturing his eye with a piece of the lens, and.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
I'm like, god damn it.
Speaker 7 (46:21):
They and Morgan's like, fa fucking you the top of it,
fucking kiling right now?
Speaker 2 (46:26):
Did he followed the round yet?
Speaker 3 (46:28):
The two got into a physical brawl on the floor,
and James defended himself fairly well, despite his limitations, maybe
a little too.
Speaker 20 (46:37):
Well, I don't cut the mother clean to the fucking bone,
and yeah, okay, cut clean the fucking bone, like.
Speaker 8 (46:46):
Was going everywhere.
Speaker 2 (46:47):
My god, damn, I can I can see the fucking
bone in the fucking arms. It was a bitch, just like, yeah,
it was out sharing, it was sick.
Speaker 19 (46:58):
It was like but once I've seen that bullet, all
like fucking out, I'm did and now was late, you know,
like I know, like, god damn, I'm fucking freaking out.
Speaker 7 (47:05):
Now, Okay, I'm like.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
Baby something, she's staying the right side and she's still
over aa and the I'm.
Speaker 7 (47:13):
Like, fucking something.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
Do you understanding there?
Speaker 1 (47:18):
Do you hear how excited this idiot is. You can't
wait to tell his story?
Speaker 3 (47:23):
Even the cops like gets a promo for some stupid
made for TV movie some people be dumbing. I'll bet
my cyber truck this retard watches a lot of wrestling,
and she.
Speaker 18 (47:35):
Hit him with the pipe and baby, but he like
one time, he's like, he's fucking laying five and the four.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Yeah, he's laying five and the four. Now I'm fucking
the shoes I had on. I have some rewalked soldiers on,
but the fucking last strap going across the top. Okay,
and I got.
Speaker 7 (47:54):
Fucking neck like this, I'm trying to choke him.
Speaker 2 (47:56):
I'm saying, you're fucking I'm trying to fucking break his
wimpipe jumping on it. Yeah, I kept stumbling on a
fucking windpipe.
Speaker 7 (48:03):
Player, I got damn you still.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
Yeah, he's still trying to fight me off of it. Okay,
I'm like, man, fucking this man. I'll freaking out, man,
because I'm like, man, this motherfucker's close to dining already.
Speaker 7 (48:14):
Man, and leaned the dead.
Speaker 2 (48:15):
I was fucking arm, you know, fucking still struggling him.
Speaker 20 (48:18):
Yeah, I fliced him on this arm and I know
that fucking vein right there, straight lead and key to
your heart.
Speaker 7 (48:23):
Yeah, and he's gonna bleed.
Speaker 9 (48:24):
Like a motherfucker.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
Okay, I'm damn ba man, I'm fucking kicking and fucking
faith into the wall. You kicking kicking the neck, Yeah,
I'm kicking the neck. I'm trying to fucking classes wind pipes,
all right, I can't do it.
Speaker 7 (48:36):
He's still fucking moved.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
Sometimes sometimes you kicked.
Speaker 7 (48:39):
Him twenty five times, Like that's right.
Speaker 9 (48:42):
I'm fucking I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
I an't fricking No, I'm fucking kick people a lot.
Speaker 9 (48:46):
Just kept stopping there, telling him, damn.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
I just kept doing to stop this because I didn't
know what the fuck to do.
Speaker 7 (48:51):
I'm like, I'll freaking out by this time.
Speaker 2 (48:53):
I'm gonna drop the fucking knife.
Speaker 7 (48:54):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
I'm like, I ain't got ship in my hand now, Okay,
I wor here.
Speaker 7 (49:00):
She's standing right beside me.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
Still imagine bragging about getting the better of a man
with no fingers. I mean, seriously, she was standing right
beside him because they never left each other's sides. According
to Morgan, did Toby.
Speaker 7 (49:16):
With Oldheim or did you go somewhere else and leave there?
Old He must he want me in my fight for sure.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
He wouldn't let me out of the side.
Speaker 13 (49:26):
Out want my hair out of my side. He was like,
dead on, You're like.
Speaker 7 (49:30):
Baby baby killing.
Speaker 20 (49:32):
I'm like sea still kidding you, man, Oh my god, daring.
Speaker 2 (49:40):
Fucking charm SMaL bitch.
Speaker 7 (49:44):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
Watching the lad he was sucking win.
Speaker 15 (49:46):
By my shoes.
Speaker 3 (49:48):
It was like they were stamping out a bug or
a deadly snake, or like World of t Shirts stomping
on a fish. And there was Toby in his orange jumpsuit,
reliving it all with disturbing enthusiasm. I don't know about you,
but this is kind of a nauseating to me hearing
him so excited about telling the story. He was standing
(50:12):
now animated, his hands waving through the air as he
re enacted every brutal strike for a few minutes. It
wasn't a confession, it was a performance. Toby looked less
like a man haunted by what he'd done and more
like one who still felt the thrill of it.
Speaker 5 (50:30):
This is the worst case that I have encountered as
far as brutality and the circumstances surrounding the passing and
the killing of mister Stewart. I can't think of anything
in my eighteen years of practicing law that's that's been
(50:50):
this brutal.
Speaker 3 (50:51):
Toby lifted his boot and brought it down hard on
James Stuart's neck again and again, Die, son of a bitch.
But James didn't die. He was fighting as hard as
he could. This man who had endured a life of
(51:12):
trying to adapt, was desperately trying to survive, fighting as
hard as he could despite his physical disabilities. For all
the blood, all the blows, and all the ways his
body had been broken, he was still alive. And there
was still time for Toby and Morgan to leave with
James's soul still intact. But that wasn't part of the plan.
(51:39):
What came next wasn't just brutal, It was absolutely merciless.
(52:11):
In April of two thousand and eight, fifteen year old
Morgan Leopard and twenty two year old Toby Laurie vanished
from Melrose, Florida, in a stolen silver Toyota Tacoma Great Truck.
By the way, it's one of our sponsors anyway. Days earlier,
Morgan had been reported missing, and investigators soon discovered she
(52:31):
wasn't just a runaway.
Speaker 1 (52:33):
She and Toby had.
Speaker 3 (52:34):
Been involved in a violent crime, and that's quite an understatement.
Their trail led back to the home of sixty six.
Speaker 1 (52:43):
Year old James Stewart, a disabled.
Speaker 3 (52:46):
Man who was found murdered in his own home. His
pristine truck was missing, and the suspects were nowhere to
be found. As authorities pieced together this timeline, they realized
this wasn't just a case of teenage rebellion. That was
something a lot darker. Sitting in an interrogation room over
(53:08):
one thousand miles away, Toby Laurie was recounting every last detail,
each thought and each action. Even detectives were mortified at
the number of times Toby stomped on James's neck while
he was on the floor, But what he had to
say next was far worse than anyone expected.
Speaker 2 (53:30):
I get down on the grounds, grandon knife now fucking chairs.
Speaker 9 (53:33):
How many times?
Speaker 2 (53:35):
Well, the Knight woudn't going At first.
Speaker 19 (53:37):
I tried to fuck to put the knife on the
chest and pushed down it, but he kept trying to
fucking for the book.
Speaker 2 (53:43):
He was still alive.
Speaker 9 (53:44):
He just throw up in the chest right here.
Speaker 7 (53:49):
I know how many.
Speaker 2 (53:52):
No, I'm tried to standing once.
Speaker 7 (53:53):
I know that in con I'll touched down. And when
I came to, when I was his face, his whole
face was fucking purple. Yep, bloody yep.
Speaker 19 (54:06):
Fucking there was chunks of brains coming out of his
fucking nose.
Speaker 7 (54:09):
Cartilage coming out of his fucking nose.
Speaker 2 (54:11):
Not moving, He's not he he he, He's still moving
a little bit. It's like twitching order.
Speaker 7 (54:15):
And he's like, he's he's trying to fucking breathe.
Speaker 2 (54:19):
Sure, I done fucking broke his nose and shit, and
probably too.
Speaker 9 (54:22):
Yeah, he's trying to breathe. I still see his fucking
heart beating in his fucking chest.
Speaker 2 (54:27):
He's done pisted on himself. He pissed blood out of
his state.
Speaker 9 (54:32):
Their blood everywhere, blowing the wall and shit. I'm like, god, damn, God, damn,
God damn, God damn bringing out breaking out, fucking up
FoST markets.
Speaker 2 (54:41):
And she's like, she's like, make me move, Hey me
move move.
Speaker 7 (54:45):
I'm like, why the fuck you wanna move?
Speaker 20 (54:47):
I fucking m I moved because I don't out of breath.
I couldn't fucking breathe in the office, it was just
it was burning right here. You don't you, Yeah, it
was just fucking burning. I then there was nothing I
could do, but it was just fucking burning and I
woke in the other section of the house for a minute.
Speaker 2 (55:05):
And I here, I threw it around the morning if
I beat the ship into the pipe to beat the
shadow where and face the sheet hit him in face.
Speaker 19 (55:19):
Hord.
Speaker 3 (55:21):
Toby had stepped away from the scene for just a
minute to use his inhaler, which is fucking hilarious A
killer with asthma. All that action had left him breathless
and he had plenty of life left done like James
his victim, it was struggling with everything he had to
stay in the.
Speaker 1 (55:39):
Fight, but he was losing.
Speaker 3 (55:43):
And then through the wheeze and the chaos, Toby saw
something that he wasn't prepared for.
Speaker 7 (55:49):
I'm my baby, I gotta get the shower.
Speaker 19 (55:51):
I can't have the fucking bottle and the other I'm
about to cry out, get in the shower.
Speaker 2 (55:57):
Shower, Yeah, which one.
Speaker 7 (56:00):
I went right there and he was lag and I
took a shower right there.
Speaker 19 (56:06):
And as I'm taking the shower, I've seen Morgan.
Speaker 2 (56:11):
I'm not sens and honor, I'm not understand. Don't get
your own I understand. Just just finish it out there
because the heros are with You're nine a half cents there.
I seen Morgan stabbings and test at least twice. There
was three stabbed his chest.
Speaker 6 (56:29):
The airms like bam, bam bam.
Speaker 3 (56:31):
There were three stab wounds because Toby had just finished
stabbing him once and then Morgan took over. When Toby
got out of the shower, he realized that James was
still alive.
Speaker 6 (56:45):
He's still time I talk.
Speaker 17 (56:46):
You can't ask him to play round me.
Speaker 21 (56:49):
So being yeah, the fucking I went and got a
gars back, right where'd you get it from?
Speaker 7 (56:55):
And the uh canon?
Speaker 2 (56:57):
And so he went, yeah, okay, I throw he got
his head uh twins some designs, I come, We're gonna
with that little bit. It's mostly by hand with a
problem bag, right, I fell ever bring her hand? Where
you handling it?
Speaker 7 (57:10):
Okay?
Speaker 10 (57:11):
And I didn't.
Speaker 17 (57:14):
I lost the beginning and started beating the faith.
Speaker 2 (57:16):
Then I said, okay, bird his nose the nose was
like you beat your beat?
Speaker 8 (57:22):
Is you hold up packet?
Speaker 19 (57:23):
Yeah, he's still trying to breathe.
Speaker 7 (57:24):
I can like to see like a bubble.
Speaker 2 (57:26):
Come up from Orizond's move.
Speaker 21 (57:27):
I still see the heart, the heart beating all right,
and I'm like.
Speaker 9 (57:34):
Lost.
Speaker 7 (57:40):
I felt it was no to.
Speaker 2 (57:41):
Break three times. It's a pocket bag on his head.
Speaker 20 (57:43):
Yeah, they just I s I felt it was nae
to break three times when they nose bird three times
and stats winning.
Speaker 8 (57:48):
Fucking that was it.
Speaker 2 (57:50):
That's when he passed. Cause I think I I pushed
the thune up into his brain or something. You at
least it was made of a surfer though.
Speaker 7 (57:57):
Yeah, I was.
Speaker 21 (57:57):
Fucking not pretty mud as far as the misery.
Speaker 5 (57:59):
And m.
Speaker 8 (58:09):
Right, So all I do is like you.
Speaker 2 (58:12):
Can justify, you can juify to yourself. There was reasons
why he did it, and I think you did it.
Speaker 7 (58:16):
You just he did it for me.
Speaker 21 (58:18):
You justified that you were in a hard times already
trying to help out your wife or your wife could
be I should say, and.
Speaker 22 (58:23):
Your baby in that building, and you know what could be. Unfortunately,
you still have to provide to him. So do you
understand that, Right, he's supposed to be there, then he
supposed to be a cooler, He's still going to be
a husband figure.
Speaker 2 (58:35):
Tour can I as a batter?
Speaker 3 (58:38):
Toby had just described James's final moments in chilling detail,
saying he had to put him out of his misery
like a lame horse or an injured animal, but somewhere
in his core he was finally feeling remorse and it
was visible to detectives. It seems like sympathizing with a killer.
(58:58):
This technique that detectives used to keep a suspect talking
to stop them from shutting down. But in this moment,
after the sheer horror of what Toby had just described,
it felt grotesque because what had just happened wasn't about love.
It wasn't about love at all, and no words, no
(59:21):
justification could change that. At the murder scene, just before
they left, this is what Morgan said that She told me.
Speaker 2 (59:30):
She was like, we just took a human life, Like,
no shit, I wanted did it?
Speaker 7 (59:39):
You mean you held doubt but.
Speaker 2 (59:44):
He should.
Speaker 18 (59:50):
And eating at me and I wanted to come clain
so bad, but I didn't want to get prison for the.
Speaker 2 (59:57):
Rest of my part of life.
Speaker 3 (59:59):
Was he really morseful or did he just fear the
consequences of being in prison for life and being without
the love of his life. Prison, of course, is exactly
where he landed. In twenty ten, both Toby Laurie and
Morgan Leppert stood trial for the murder of James Stewart.
(01:00:19):
Prosecutors argued that this wasn't the spontaneous act of violence.
It was calculated, cold and relentless. Toby, the adult of
the couple, pleaded guilty to first degree murder and was
sentenced to life without parole. During the trial, Morgan's defense
team painted her as a naive, manipulated teenager under the
(01:00:43):
control of an older, violent man. Courts love it when
women get off on the same crime that a man committed.
Not exactly sure why, maybe some of that old chivalry
from the dark Ages. They argued that Toby Laurie was
the mastermind, that he orchestrated the attack, that Morgan was
(01:01:04):
just following orders. Too young, too impressionable. Do you understand
the weight of her actions?
Speaker 13 (01:01:11):
They're always gonna call the cops. Toby said, no, the
hell you wait and Boom.
Speaker 8 (01:01:17):
Pushed him right in the face.
Speaker 13 (01:01:19):
Man, I just go away.
Speaker 12 (01:01:20):
I was about to cry Totob.
Speaker 20 (01:01:22):
I was about a tetobia.
Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
I don't want to do this.
Speaker 10 (01:01:25):
But Toby just already hit him, and he's like, come on, baby,
come on and hit him.
Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
Hit him.
Speaker 1 (01:01:31):
But the prosecution had a different take on it.
Speaker 5 (01:01:35):
I mean as far as like, who was the ringleader?
I mean, the only people who know what happened in
that house are Morgan, Toby, and mister Stewart. So what
the jury found was that she was guilty of first
degree murder because she participated in the in the murder
exactly what she did. Really, the only people alive who
(01:01:58):
know are Toby and Morgan. But the jury did find
that she intended to commit premeditated murder and in fact
killed mister Stewart.
Speaker 3 (01:02:09):
Morgan, just fifteen at the time, was convicted of first
degree murder and armed robbery under Florida law. She received
a mandatory life sentence without parole, a punishment usually reserved
only for adults.
Speaker 1 (01:02:24):
But and here we go.
Speaker 3 (01:02:26):
In twenty twelve, the US Supreme Court ruled that mandatory
life sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional, despite what monsters they
could be. That decision gave Morgan a second chance, at
least in the courtroom. In twenty twenty, she was re
sentenced to forty years in prison, a reduced sentence but
(01:02:50):
still long enough to make sure she won't walk free
until she's well into her fifties. I'm sure forty years
in prison will rehabilitate her.
Speaker 8 (01:03:00):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (01:03:00):
Morgan claimed that she was pregnant, but miscarried in jail,
so probably no kids in her future. James Stewart lived alone.
He was disabled, he'd already proved to the world that
he was stronger than his disabilities. In fact, he was
so strong that Toby and Morgan could have walked away
more than once while he was still alive, but they
(01:03:23):
decided not to. James's family will miss him dearly. This
is a statement from his nephew. My uncle was the
type of man that anyone around him who was ready
to take life head on should have had the opportunity
to meet or speak with those who were lucky enough
(01:03:44):
to spend time with. My uncle soon learned that there
was nothing that he could not do. The man was
truly amazing. Things that I hear people young and old
say that they can't do are things he called speed
bumps or obstacles. Not having hands did not slow him
down one bit. The thing is he did things most
(01:04:08):
people don't dream of accomplishing in their lifetime.
Speaker 7 (01:04:12):
He was a master.
Speaker 3 (01:04:13):
Carpenter, a professor, He skied, played tennis, bold He was
a commercial fisherman. The list goes on and on. Most
of the cars he owned were stick shifts with no
power steering. My uncle taught me that the word can't
is for cowards, losers, and people that see hard times
(01:04:35):
or difficult tasks and give up. I was lucky enough
to be able to spend time with this amazing man
and have some of that greatness rub off on me.
But my son and future children will only be able
to hear stories of this great man that I have
called uncle. For centuries, velosiphers have pondered what love is.
(01:05:01):
They've done it for as long as there have been philosophers.
Speaker 7 (01:05:06):
But what do they know?
Speaker 3 (01:05:08):
People with nothing but the luxury to sit around thinking
all day and ponder things, those are usually the people
that are most disconnected from reality. Hey, I'm describing myself,
all right, so let's give it a shot.
Speaker 13 (01:05:24):
Love is.
Speaker 1 (01:05:27):
Fuck?
Speaker 3 (01:05:27):
I don't know, but I'm sure Morgan doesn't know either.
Speaker 19 (01:05:35):
Too much.
Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
Morgan had an obsessive, all consuming type of quote unquote
love for Toby, the kind that rewired her dumb little
brain and twisted whatever immature concept stood in for logic.
This obsession drowned out all reason and convinced her that
nothing else mattered. It's a kind of thing you see
(01:06:04):
in movies, bad ones. Morgan was fifteen, reckless, desperate for freedom,
and convinced that Toby Laurie was the answer. He made
her feel untouchable, like the world belong just to the
two of them. A lot of people don't realize that
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, not a romance. I,
(01:06:27):
on the other hand, treat it like a comedy, because
if God gave you a brain, then you have the
responsibility to use it every now and then. And for Toby,
Morgan was also an obsession. She was something to possess,
to run away with, to kill for because he was
lonely and wanted a hole to put his dick in.
(01:06:50):
That's it, That's what she was for Toby. Real love
doesn't ask for everything you have. Oh why anyone has
to actually say that out loud. It doesn't demand a
sacrifice in blood. It doesn't turn a teenage girl into
a murderer, or leave an innocent disabled man gasping for
(01:07:14):
his final breath on the floor of his own living room.
Speaker 22 (01:07:18):
That I do know.
Speaker 3 (01:07:20):
Even dumb old me James Stewart didn't know Morgan and Toby.
He wasn't part of their stupid fantasy or their twisted rebellion.
He gained nothing from being in the proximity of Dumb,
but unfortunately for him, he ended up being part of
(01:07:41):
their sacrifice and quote unquote love. Anyway, well, I'm not
(01:08:05):
going to beg you to watch SMSTV again.
Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
You're an adult.
Speaker 3 (01:08:10):
You go figure out what to do, at least I
hope so otherwise, go find your parents. What the fuck
are they doing. I shouldn't be listening to this swordscale
dot Com.
Speaker 1 (01:08:18):
Stay safe,
Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is
not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Charge looking who win by the shoes.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
This is episode three ten of Sword and Scale. You
know that already, but uh, I'm not gonna waste your
time with that. Before you go ahead and hit skip
to the meat of the show, let me tell you.
If you're not gonna watch episode seventeen of Sword and
Scale Television, you are truly missing.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
One hell of a nightmare. Let's go. I mean, I'm
(01:08):
not even kidding.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I couldn't sleep for three days after finalizing that episode.
And if you're gonna fully watch one episode of Sorts
Scale Television, that one should be in.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Not that you have to stop one.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
I mean, if you sign.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Up for the super Supporter here, you can get access
to all seventeen episodes and ongoing episodes monthly.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
We're working on getting you some.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
More content on top of that.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
It's uh labor of love people. This is what the
dipshits on Reddit called begging, which is actually just marketing. Yeah,
we created a product, we want you to consume it.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Duh.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Anyway, go check it out.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
If you like true crime and if you want to
support Sword and Scale.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Love takes sacrifice.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
That's what I've heard, and I've also found it to
be true in my own life.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
There's a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
You give up when you're truly in love. Sometimes you
give up your time, or your money, or your freedom
to go to a diddy party, for example. A lot
of things, but your humanity shouldn't be one of them.
(03:12):
Putnam County, Florida, is a stretch of land between Gainesville
and Saint Augustine, where dirt roads wind through the pine
forests and the air is as humid is well. It's
like walking through the bottom of a pool. It's a
place of small towns and long stretches of country in between.
(03:34):
The poverty rate is higher than the rest of the
state because of the remoteness. Inside Putnam County is Melrose,
a small, quiet community that barely makes a blip on
the map. This is the kind of place where people
still leave their doors unlocked, believe it or not, and
where Friday night football and Sunday morning church have become
(03:56):
just a thing on the calendar that doesn't change. This
is a Ernie Bradley Waldrop, a native of the area.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
I am a former prosecutor. I've worked in Putnam County
and Saint John's County from about two thousand and six
to twenty ten. I'm currently in private practice in Saint Augustine, Florida,
do criminal defense and do family law as well. But
I'm a lifelong residence of Saint Augustine, Florida. It's so
(04:25):
very familiar with the area and really cut my teeth
as a prosecutor in Putnam County, which is where this occurred.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Down a dead end road in Melrose sat a modest
home built in nineteen eighty five. It was now more
than two decades old, a single story house with a
yard that stretched into the woods. It wasn't much, but
it was home to fifteen year old Morgan Leopard, her
older brother, and her forty eight year old mother, Jerry.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
Melrose is a beautiful community. Like I said, it's very
laid back, rural. It's one of those towns that you
passed through on the way to Gainesville. Just a lot
of beautiful scenery there. It's kind of like one of
those one red light towns, or you stop at the
red light and there's everything. A general store, a restaurant,
a gas station, but it's a very laid back town,
(05:18):
very tight knit community.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Jerry Leppert was the kind of mother who had lived
enough to see trouble. If you don't know what that means,
you will, Let's give it time. She tried to steer
Morgan in the right direction, tried to set rules, and
tried to keep her daughter close. She even picked her
battles with Morgan, letting her see boys at an early
age in order to keep an eye on things. She
(05:43):
had an open door policy, preferring that Morgan socialize where
her mom could see her, an interesting parenting style which
some people employ to their detriment, but just like typical teens,
arguments took place over space, choices and the kind of
people Morgan was bringing into her life. Her mother saw
(06:04):
the warning signs. She knew what was coming. It was
obvious that Jerry cared about and loved her daughter, but
Morgan didn't see that. She saw a cage instead, built
to stifle her cravings for independence. I've said it a
couple times on this program, but I'll say it one
(06:24):
more time.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Kids are dumb. They really really are.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
So if you're an old person and you see a
bunch of kids at a protest, Maybe think twice before
joining in, because he might be supporting really bad shit. Anyway,
Morgan was desperate for her independence, as most teenagers are,
and one day she found it in the form of
a man named Toby Laurie. She fell in love with them,
(06:53):
and love meant freedom.
Speaker 6 (07:00):
Okay, did you just sleep on accounts at the house
or your mom?
Speaker 5 (07:07):
And that?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
So Toby moved in right away. You know, parenting isn't easy,
and Toby needed a place to stay. Jerry was picking
her battles with Morgan and was already prepared for the
day when Morgan became interested in boys. Well, that day
came early, and her mom had already brought in reinforcements
(07:29):
as in contraception.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
Let me ask you a personal questions. Are y all
having things?
Speaker 7 (07:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (07:38):
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
It's all.
Speaker 8 (07:44):
It's all when your will. He'd not forced himself on anything. No, well, okay,
how many time do you think you may have had
thick y'all dated from the very beginning until now? Just yeah,
I know it's embarrassing, but yeah.
Speaker 9 (08:04):
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.
Speaker 8 (08:08):
Ten No twenty no, uh am I going too high too?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Lew glue uh, sickly.
Speaker 6 (08:18):
Probably probably are.
Speaker 8 (08:20):
You all using protection? You were?
Speaker 6 (08:24):
Who got that forty?
Speaker 10 (08:26):
I got on birth control on my.
Speaker 6 (08:30):
Fourteenth birthday in January.
Speaker 10 (08:33):
I think it's sporty.
Speaker 6 (08:34):
Two early girl.
Speaker 10 (08:37):
Oh my mom, she's done, my sage. You're gone on
birken Shaw fourteenth.
Speaker 11 (08:41):
And the thing, if they're using protection, you're not present. Okay,
So your mom know that you are having fixt and
she finally she was.
Speaker 10 (08:55):
Whenever he was living with that I had. I had
no idea.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Now, at first, Morgan's mom didn't ask too many questions.
Teenagers push boundaries, and that's just part of raising one.
If giving Morgan a little space kept the peace, maybe
it was worth it. But Toby wasn't just some boyfriend.
He was twenty two, unemployed, and guess what, he had
(09:21):
a criminal record. Young girls love bad boys, you know,
so naturally he was the perfect guy to move in
with a fifteen year old.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
That was sarcasm.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Some of you don't understand sarcasm, so I guess I
got to point it out. Terry would soon find out
exactly who she let into her home.
Speaker 6 (09:45):
Well, at least i'll use the protection and you're not pregnant.
That's the big thing. You all need no kids right now,
because nay, he's still in school. How old was he?
Speaker 10 (09:54):
Twenty two?
Speaker 8 (09:55):
And you're.
Speaker 6 (09:57):
You old me to tell you how old you are, ma'am.
Don't you think that's kind of a big age?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (10:08):
Yeah, was still you're still in school and he's out
and got a job.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
And Toby was out of school and unemployed when he
wasn't behind bars, that is charismatic and conventionally good looking.
He'd fallen through the cracks, fallen out with his parents,
and started breaking the law. And Morgan wasn't just rebelling.
She was running toward a person who made her feel
like an adult, even if he was the worst possible choice.
(10:36):
If you only heard of this conversation, you'd think this
was a dad having the talk with his gigly teenage daughter,
a patient, experienced voice trying to steer her back onto
the right path. But this was not her father. This
was a detective sitting across from Morgan in a concrete
(10:57):
interrogation room, hours after she and Toby were found in Texas,
one thousand miles away from home, burning through stolen gas
and borrowed time. And all of it started when Jerry
Leppert learned the truth. She had no idea that Toby
had a criminal record with burglary, theft and drugs under
(11:19):
his belt. She certainly had no idea that he was
an adult male almost eight years older than her daughter.
But once she found out, she did what any sane
mother would do. When she kicked him out, She told
him he was done, gone, no more playing house with
a fifteen year old child. For a minute, that might
(11:42):
have seemed like the end of it, but Morgan wasn't
letting go that easily. Just a few days later, on
April twenty second, two thousand and eight, she was gone too.
Her mother searched, she filed reports. She even broke into
Toby's trailer, hoping to find some kind of sign, some
trace of her daughter. But Morgan wasn't there. This is
(12:05):
Morgan talking about the early days with Toby leading up
to her disappearance.
Speaker 8 (12:11):
All right, are you willing to speak to me about
the anthing about you decided to run away? So he
got a boyfriend, and your mom found out he'd been
in some trouble with the law, and something come up
missing in the neighborhood, and he knew kid on the block.
So he got blamed and you should have was back
(12:32):
in January this year, he.
Speaker 12 (12:34):
Had January living. He got to David for my birthday
when he came back two months later.
Speaker 11 (12:39):
And yeah, so he came back in March and all
got back together in March.
Speaker 8 (12:44):
That you're saying.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Ye, the reason Toby was basically homeless was because he
had been living in a camper and then went to prison.
While he was living in the camper, he proved his
devotion to Morgan before moving into her bedroom.
Speaker 10 (13:01):
And he to come down my street, heat the.
Speaker 12 (13:03):
Walk all the way from Paulaka to the other the bridge.
Speaker 10 (13:08):
Always see on the table.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Are you thereous every day?
Speaker 8 (13:13):
That's what that's a good talk every day and you
know the bridge just deep.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Fast forward.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Toby moves in and stays for a few months, but
things come up missing. Morgan's mom finds out about his
age and background and she kicks him out, and in April,
Morgan disappears with Toby, leaving her mom to contact the police.
Speaker 10 (13:36):
Three month that is.
Speaker 12 (13:37):
Lift he didn't mind the back that I was with them,
and I think I was going to be with him
no matter what, and I ended up.
Speaker 8 (13:45):
Did you go to school with all the day you
left or you just left the house, What day you
let the house?
Speaker 6 (13:52):
Where'd you go when you let the house? Were there
the economy? And how many days these day were there?
Speaker 10 (13:59):
We left that day?
Speaker 6 (14:00):
He did, and he started where'd y'all go when you left?
Did you?
Speaker 7 (14:06):
Did you?
Speaker 6 (14:06):
Did you go back to your house?
Speaker 8 (14:08):
Or did that?
Speaker 6 (14:08):
When y'all started driving? Well, look hard, how did you
get out of here?
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (14:13):
That truck truck over.
Speaker 10 (14:16):
The Dakota or not Dakota, that Toyota, Dacoma or whatever.
Speaker 6 (14:20):
Oh did he buy a truck from working?
Speaker 13 (14:23):
I have no idea. And he showed up in the truck.
I don't know where you got it from.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, I have no idea.
Speaker 6 (14:28):
Where I think over not at all.
Speaker 8 (14:34):
So when you got there, the truck was already there,
and then y'all just hopped in it and took all
the time.
Speaker 6 (14:39):
Did you take any bring the clothes legit?
Speaker 10 (14:42):
Oh my well, we had to be bought clothes like
do traveler and stuff. But I don't know if they're
going to give me my clothes back.
Speaker 12 (14:49):
They're all in that truck with my wallet and everything.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Maybe Toby rode in like a knight in shining armor. Literally,
the truck was so new and gleaming, ready to whisk
Morgan away to freedom, to adulthood, to adventure, and to Morgan,
barely fifteen and desperate for something bigger than the life
she knew. It might have felt like a rescue, but
(15:17):
to Toby it was never about saving her. He was
merely pulling her deeper into his world, where love was
just another tool of manipulation. And that shiny new truck
it carried Toby and Morgan away on an adventure while
it left its owner behind, broken and bleeding. It was
(16:16):
April two thousand and eight in San Mateo, Florida. Jerry
Leppert lived in a three bedroom home on the end
of a rural street with her son and her daughter, Morgan.
The kid's father was no longer in the picture, and
her oldest daughter had moved out. Morgan was a good kid,
but Jerry always knew she needed to keep an eye
(16:38):
on her. Morgan was feisty, somewhat immature, and crazy about boys.
One boy in particular, whose name was Toby. Toby had
been living in a camper, so when Morgan begged her
mom to let him move in with them, she reluctantly conceded,
sensing they were already sexually active.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Jerry would I'd rather have.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Them fooling around under her own roof than in a
camper somewhere remotely. I guess the sentiment sort of makes sense,
but I don't know. Try parenting instead. It works better.
You can't actually say no to your children every now
and then. But instead of doing this, Jerry put Morgan
on birth control at age fourteen to ensure that there
(17:24):
would be no accidental pregnancies. She didn't realize that Toby
was an adult male with a criminal history and his
site set on Morgan. So when she kicked him out
of her home and her daughter's life, Morgan had already
fallen for him.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
It was too late, way too late.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
They were about to take off and make a life
of their own, at least that's what Morgan thought. They
simply disappeared in a silver truck. No one knew where
they were going or what they'd already done. But what
started as an escape, as chance at the big road
trip and a new life together, would soon unravel into
(18:06):
something far more horrible. Because the truck they were driving
didn't just belong to anyone. It belonged to a dead man.
After they were picked up in El Paso, Texas, Morgan
was interviewed. She wasn't interested in talking about the truck, though, truck,
what truck. All she could think about or talk about
(18:30):
was how great Toby was and how he'd do anything
for her. She talked about leaving Florida, about sleeping in
the woods, showering at gas stations, and about what it
felt like to be free. If that sounds a little immature, it's.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Because it is. It is.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
But you know how detectives are. They don't just ask
you a question and take your first answer at face value.
Now they ease in slowly, like a fisherman letting out
a line, waiting for the right moment to reel you
back in.
Speaker 8 (19:06):
And that was on the twenty second, the day all left.
Did he tell his parents where he was going? No,
just that he's gonna leave town a little bit.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
And and.
Speaker 8 (19:18):
Did that his friend's truck.
Speaker 6 (19:19):
Or anything that, y'all r I really have no idea
you ever seen a minute before? He didn't have to
love it was.
Speaker 10 (19:27):
I really didn't care at the movement. I was glad
to get out of here.
Speaker 8 (19:32):
So well, he didn't think, Hey, this was my buddy
Jim's truck, or this.
Speaker 12 (19:37):
Is you know, I didn't you worry that I didn't
jump in two off?
Speaker 10 (19:42):
Was he so happy as you get out of there?
Speaker 6 (19:44):
Yeah? Okay, how did y'all eat? Did y'all just buy food?
Speaker 8 (19:50):
Did you know that the whole country was looking for
your sweet little self? No, you didn't know that.
Speaker 10 (19:57):
I know I heard about it. I figured, like because
I was walking into every walmart we went to travel
in the cold time. Now I'll look on the midden
old people thing. I didn't even see.
Speaker 12 (20:09):
My book on this.
Speaker 10 (20:10):
I've then whatever.
Speaker 6 (20:12):
You know, you know what Florida does? Yeah?
Speaker 8 (20:14):
You know what ambroller?
Speaker 10 (20:15):
It is nationwide?
Speaker 6 (20:17):
Yeah, I just found that out.
Speaker 10 (20:19):
Yeah did that Tali farm me?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (20:23):
And what they did is because your mom almost worried
about you because she ain't seen so long as they
sent it ambrolert out.
Speaker 10 (20:30):
I haven't bought sure something day on it in those
two weeks.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
But Jerry wasn't the only one wondering where their loved
one was. James Stewart lived alone, but his cousin had
spoken to him on the morning of April twenty fifth,
two thousand and eight, after that, the calls went unanswered.
A neighbor also noticed that James hadn't left his house
in a while. His beloved tomato plants weren't thriving anymore,
(20:55):
and they wondered if he was away on vacation, but
his truck was still there. James's family wasn't alarmed for
the first few days. It was just a miscall, maybe
just bad timing. But when the days started to add up,
so did the miscalls. By May first, another cousin couldn't
(21:18):
shake the feeling that something was wrong, so.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
He called the police.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Deputies went to the house for a welfare check, and
when they opened the door, the truth hit him in
the face, a wall of decay and death. James Stewart
wasn't missing. He was lying on the floor, rotting. He'd
been dead for nearly ten days, murdered and left to bloat, stiffen,
(21:48):
and seep into the floorboards of his own home. Morgan
claimed that Toby picked her up in a silver truck
and she had no idea who the owner was. Maybe
she was right that Toby would do anything to be
with her.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Maybe she was right.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Indeed, who do.
Speaker 8 (22:08):
You think that truck belonged to.
Speaker 6 (22:10):
He didn't tell me belonged to you? Yeah, he just
get you, don't You didn't worry about who it was
at the moment. You know, he didn't make enough money
to buy that truck, right, I.
Speaker 8 (22:22):
Mean, like, like, Toby, do you think he made enough
money washing cars to buy that truck? Honestly?
Speaker 5 (22:28):
I know?
Speaker 8 (22:29):
Yeah, So what do you kind of you think he
got it, barred it, or it stole it, or I
am you had to get No, I'm just saying if
he had to get how did he come about this truck?
Speaker 6 (22:41):
Because it's not registered to him.
Speaker 8 (22:43):
We don't know who the guy is registered to.
Speaker 14 (22:45):
Annoying me, you would you tell me if he did, Brom,
I'm just making sure we're trying to find out whose
truck it is.
Speaker 6 (22:56):
If not Toby's, I don't know.
Speaker 12 (22:58):
You picked me up in it and we just run
on someone that I didn't care at the moment who
were what was going on around or anything.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Okay, she didn't care who it was or what was
going on because she was in love.
Speaker 10 (23:13):
Did anybody care to be with me?
Speaker 13 (23:15):
Most likely?
Speaker 12 (23:17):
Yeah, but you know what I mean, you were gonna
do whatever he had the duty to be with me,
but I didn't know he wasn't think.
Speaker 6 (23:24):
That far and the like he did, like what he
did that trip was going.
Speaker 5 (23:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 13 (23:34):
It was, and the whole we talked about running delay,
but I didn't know that he even got furious about it.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
And then he actually did it and kind of scared
you a little bit.
Speaker 10 (23:45):
I didn't know he was like I thought, you know,
he was joking around and going along to God.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
I was staying, Well, he didn't force you to run away,
did it? I wouldn't believe me. I went well with me.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Morgan had no problem talking about running away, and she
certainly had no problem talking about Toby, the man who
would do anything to be with her. But detectives weren't
here to talk about young love. They were here for murder,
just like you. They just hadn't revealed that secret to
(24:18):
Morgan just yet. The tone in the room shifted. The
detective stepped out for a moment and came back with
a picture.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
Do you reckon?
Speaker 10 (24:28):
I just go Morgan.
Speaker 6 (24:30):
Have you ever seen him before?
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Where?
Speaker 7 (24:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (24:36):
I had no idea, never.
Speaker 15 (24:38):
Seen him before his his own Toby ever talked about
yet an older friend in.
Speaker 13 (24:44):
Rooth and never seen him being out with an order
guy like the only guy that he hang out with,
this Scott and every time I went to the trunk
or I thought he would live.
Speaker 8 (24:56):
Yeah, well I talked to him and he said that
he had mentioned this guy to you. Do you remember
mentioned it to him at tea at all? Not at all?
Don't recognize him at all.
Speaker 15 (25:07):
He never said he I got this guy the friend
of mine that's older or nothing like that, ever seen him.
Speaker 13 (25:12):
That guy before.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Morgan wasn't budget either.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
She was telling the truth, and her innocence was just
that an innocent young girl in love taking advantage of
by an older boy, well, an older man or there
were many more layers to Morgan.
Speaker 6 (25:30):
Well, I'm getting a queen plate near that.
Speaker 8 (25:33):
You knew what would going on in that truck?
Speaker 6 (25:35):
To tell me and you won't get any trouble.
Speaker 10 (25:40):
Sure, now?
Speaker 15 (25:42):
Was that fond of Yeah?
Speaker 10 (25:48):
Okay, it's dubbed it, but I'm cool.
Speaker 6 (25:50):
You want to put that jacket on.
Speaker 10 (25:52):
I don't want to click a banana.
Speaker 6 (25:55):
So you pick on that because we were this kind
of jacket when we were, you call it banana. I
have a question, Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 15 (26:04):
Toby is in a holding celle, waiting to be processed
in the jail.
Speaker 10 (26:08):
What he come back for me?
Speaker 6 (26:10):
Yes, ma'am, you know what jail Puttnam County.
Speaker 15 (26:16):
Why you weren't out seeing Well, you'll give him a
Putnam County jail.
Speaker 10 (26:23):
Put any show, as your mom willert. That's when I'm
hold up.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
I can be honest with you.
Speaker 8 (26:31):
If you were my daughter, I wouldn't let you go
no place for you.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
It was early in the morning and the interview was
winding down. As it was looking like Morgan wasn't going
to give in, the detective gave it one last shot.
Speaker 14 (26:46):
Well, I'm gonna be honest with you, okay, because I've
been because you've been honest with me the whole time.
Speaker 8 (26:50):
So I'm gonna be honest with you.
Speaker 15 (26:52):
If the truck comes back not belonging to Toby and
it's stolen, he gonna be in a little bit of trouble.
Speaker 6 (26:57):
Okay.
Speaker 15 (26:58):
My name is your boy friend. Wanted to tell you that,
just that you know. And the other thing is that
if Toby tells us that you knew the trouble was
the one, or he knew that there was in his
then you might be a little bit of trouble too.
You see, what I'm saying, Well, I mean, you could
you know it's there, you know what I mean. So,
I mean, I'm just saying, if he honestly didn't tell you,
(27:20):
that's fine, and I completely believe you. But if he
did tell me, now and we can bypack the issue
of you get in trouble or anything that I know of.
Speaker 10 (27:27):
I mean, we've been traveling this whole.
Speaker 8 (27:30):
Time in that truck.
Speaker 7 (27:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
The detective tried the soft approach by giving Morgan an
Out a clean slate, but when she stuck to her story,
he switched gears. This wasn't just about a stolen truck anymore.
He reminded her of how dangerous this all was. A
teenage girl running away from home, sleeping in cars, hitchhiking
(27:54):
across state lines, sleeping in the woods with rattlesnakes and
only Toby to protect her. She could have been kidnapped, assaulted,
or left for dead in the middle of nowhere, but
somehow she was still here there far.
Speaker 8 (28:10):
I mean, y'all could easily got in a car accident
and you could have been hurt, and no one knows
where you're at.
Speaker 13 (28:14):
You know, I heard my mom thought I was dead.
Speaker 8 (28:19):
Really, why did you with that the friend you called
that told us that, why does she think you were dead?
Speaker 7 (28:25):
Oh?
Speaker 12 (28:25):
No, she because I guess my mom kept on calling
him seeing fever anything from me, and she said she,
I guess she told him.
Speaker 7 (28:33):
That she thought I was dead.
Speaker 6 (28:35):
A lot of people, Falk you were seriously hurt because
they ain't heart from me a while.
Speaker 10 (28:40):
Yeah, I heard a lot of people have been looking
for me out.
Speaker 11 (28:42):
Do you know?
Speaker 6 (28:43):
Do you know you've been on national television. You've been
on Napty Grays, she's the top show host. Don't see him?
You know what that TV channel? You've been You're famous girl.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
By now, Morgan's face was on the news. What appeared
to be a missing or runaway teen was turning out
to be much more of a complicated story. Morgan was
still holding on to her version of the story, insisting
that she had no idea where this truck came from
and that she'd gone with Toby willingly. But detectives weren't
(29:22):
just getting one side of the story, because just down
the hall, in another room of the El Paso Police Department,
they had already sat across from Toby Laurie and sent
him back to Putnam County jail. By then, they already
knew where he and Morgan had been. On April twenty second,
(29:43):
a friend of Morgan picked her up and took her
to Toby's trailer at the Economy n RV Park.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
How romantic.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
That night, they showed up at Toby's parents' house, hoping
for a place to stay, but his parents refused to
take them in. Now they were on their own. Toby
was a drifter, a thief, and a predator, and like always,
he was looking for someone to take along for the ride.
It gets lonely out there, predating by yourself.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Is that a word?
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Anyway, Together they broke into a concession stand, stealing candy,
drinks and whatever food they could find. They slept wherever
they could, in the woods, behind homes, even on old
mattresses they found abandoned.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
In the yard.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
It was like a modern day Bonnie and Clyde adventure.
And along the way Toby started looking for something bigger,
something like a getaway truck.
Speaker 7 (30:44):
We're twenty four, Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
What do I want you to do though? Is I
know he kased out some counting houses over there in
the Melrose area, and I want you to tell them
what if anyone on the entering the houses and I
need to tell me, you know, he did, not that
(31:06):
we're gonna start back off onto the kind of when
we were laying in was.
Speaker 9 (31:14):
Okay, you don't make you like maybe, oh yeah, by
I don't mean necessary.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
He immediately inculpated Morgan as the voice that drove him,
but neither he nor the officer was ready for the
climate shift about to hit them. He paused, shifted in
a seat, He rubbed his arms and ran his hands
through his blonde hair. The room went quiet, A chill
(31:48):
settled into the space between them, and then finally Toby
leaned in.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
React and I'll tear it down. You will relaxed before
I don't know, I kind of gold hold one, okay.
Basically I was saying, there in your own life, go
out there, knocked on the doors.
Speaker 7 (32:11):
What time was this Toby?
Speaker 2 (32:14):
For the darks in their end of the day life, okay,
And they assured the twenty four years okay.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Even though Toby didn't know the occupant of the house,
James Stewart, he knew a little about the house itself.
He used to live directly behind it, and a friend
of his lived in the house James was in.
Speaker 5 (32:32):
Now, what they did is they decided to run away
together and they were basically casing different houses to look
for appropriate victims. Miss Leopard earlier in the day that
the day of the murder, knocked on mister Stewart's door
around one pm and asked to use his phone. He
(32:56):
gave her access to use his phone, and she actually
called her own cell phone and had an opportunity at
that time to basically do some reconnaissance on his residence
that he did live alone.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
So Toby sent Morgan directly to James's front door on
this reconnaissance mission.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
We went out, knock on door and I was like,
go there and ask if you can use phone.
Speaker 7 (33:20):
Okay, call on your cell phone.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
No one's going to answer your cell phone.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Toby waited in the woods close by and he could
see what was happening. After about ten minutes, Morgan came back.
This was getting real.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
I'm kind of pushing it on the fucking thoughts right now.
As you can tell, I'm kind of psychotic.
Speaker 7 (33:42):
Keep my mind.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Well, you're thinking survival, bro, I'm thinking survival. I'm trying
to get it where we ain't nowhere around this fucking
place at all. Right, I'm trying to get the fuck
out of there, you know.
Speaker 7 (33:55):
Sure, So she's telling me.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
And he just he looks like he's kind of moving, yeah,
kind of a little bit, but he's look at you
know that because of some of the stuff was in
the house. Yeah, I'm gonna wait, wait, equipment or feel
like that. Yeah, it looks like like partially of his fingers,
like right here got cut off some weird ship. I
don't know what it is, brough And I was.
Speaker 8 (34:22):
Like, what the fuck?
Speaker 9 (34:24):
And she was like this hand over here.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
All the fingers were gone and there was just a
round hand guy out there.
Speaker 13 (34:31):
You know.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
I was like, kind of fum freaking a ship all right.
Speaker 7 (34:36):
I was like, can you be honest with me. Tell
me you never know this guy before.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
I've never met her take a guy, Okay, he just
picked hiss like how to ran him that day?
Speaker 7 (34:44):
And I thought her. I was like, maybe that's fucking
freaking me out.
Speaker 16 (34:47):
He didn't touch it or nothing to do, because usually
people like that are fucking predators.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Sure, And I was like like, maybe he didn't touch
you didn't.
Speaker 7 (34:57):
And she was like she didn't answer me, my baby,
and she was like.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
They'd opened the door to the home of a disabled man.
James Stewart lived a quiet life, tucked away in his
modest house in Melrose, Florida. He wasn't a predator. Where
did Toby get the idea that disabled people are predators?
Speaker 1 (35:26):
I have no idea.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Here's Toby, someone who just entered adulthood with all his
faculties and appendages, ready to do the unthinkable to a
disabled man, and he's calling the victim a predator. James
wasn't wealthy, he wasn't famous, but he was independent. He
took care of himself, tended to his tomato plants in
(35:50):
his backyard, and kept his truck in pristine condition. What
he didn't have, what he had never had, or finger.
He was born with a congenital defect that left him
with hands that he could grasp with but never fully close.
The simplest tasks like buttoning a shirt, tying a knot
(36:14):
holding a pen had been lifelong challenges, but he'd learned
to manage.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
He had adapted.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
It's amazing how humans can adapt to almost anything. He'd
found ways to live in a world that wasn't built
for him. But there are some things that no amount
of adaptation could prepare him for, and all Toby was
concerned about was whether James had touched his precious girlfriend
(36:42):
with his stubby hands, in Toby's words, fingerless stumps. But
there was some information Toby hadn't revealed yet that would
lead this cold hearted thief and murderer feel just a
little more protective of his girlfriend Morgan than usual.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
What do you want to do? I don't know, maybe
like a million times into my head right now. The
whole thing's a bible. Yeah, And she's like maybe you know,
I'm bringing it, you know, when I get out of here, atuator.
I'm like, yeah, I'm like, well, here in the truck,
(37:25):
all right, I'll walk up a little bit. I'm thinking,
I'm like, what the hell to do?
Speaker 5 (37:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (37:29):
What am I going to do?
Speaker 3 (37:30):
All they could think about was how to get out
of the state and start building life together, because, after all,
their baby was technically going to be the product of
statutory rape according.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
To the law.
Speaker 9 (37:42):
She was like, honestly, I'm like yeah, honestly, She's like,
I say, we.
Speaker 17 (37:48):
Grew up in this fucking house, always in there, fucking
beat the shit out of there.
Speaker 7 (37:54):
Do what we gotta do it.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Like, maybe I'm like, don't about that ship, I gets the.
Speaker 10 (38:00):
Heart of that.
Speaker 7 (38:04):
And how will help it.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
It was easy to think that Toby was the one
lying and trying to pin this on Morgan, but for
the fact that he was the one laying out the
painstaking details while Morgan had sat in a chair across
from another detective, lying and giggling. On the other hand,
Morgan claimed she went willingly. Maybe she believed that at
(38:28):
the time, maybe she still does, but willingly or not,
she was a fifteen year old child who followed Toby
all the way to murder. Next, Toby goes to the
door of the house by himself.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
He knocks.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
James comes to the door and has met with Toby,
asking him if he'd seen a young blonde girl earlier.
James tells him yes, she just left and went down
the street. Toby answers really. At this point, Toby says
that James gets starky with him and asks if he's
stupid because he just told him she left and went
(39:08):
down the street. That response sat with Toby about as
well as the thought that a man with fingerless hands
would dare touch his woman. According to Toby, he gave
him an evil look and walked away.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Well that's pretty shaken on it.
Speaker 16 (39:26):
Sorry, I'm sure his nervous nerve condession like this ever, okay,
wait time minutes and she was like, baby killing this.
I'm like, I'm all right, man, I can't.
Speaker 7 (39:39):
I can't do this ship. I don't even know.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
I ain't got the hard to do a ship. I can't.
Speaker 7 (39:43):
I can't do it.
Speaker 18 (39:45):
She was, baby, I'm pregnant. There's nothing you can do
else enough, no money or not. If we ain't got
no money, I mean't got no transportations. I'm pregnant, there's nothing.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
We can do it.
Speaker 8 (39:58):
Okay.
Speaker 7 (40:00):
And I asked her. I was like this she really
too her one. She's like, yeah, state something. I can't
leave you again.
Speaker 13 (40:16):
I'm like, well, you know what you got?
Speaker 7 (40:19):
You know this is we're a long done.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
And you're like, we ain't gonna get caught.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Here was a seasoned criminal looking to a fifteen year
old girl on what to do when she had never
committed a crime before meeting him. This wasn't two kids
who believed it was them against the world. It was
an adult and a naive girl.
Speaker 7 (40:42):
She's right now, she don't like to I guess.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
So now the couple was heading back into the house.
The doors were all unlocked. Remember it's some little ship
town in Florida. Nobody locks their doors. This time, they
had with them two copper pieces of pipe tucked into
their backpacks, and they wouldn't be knocking on the door,
they'd be sneaking in through the side door.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
So I'm standing there, I'm like, I don't want to
do door here.
Speaker 7 (41:14):
Yeah, house, if he comes up that room, hent to
do something.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
That's worth repeating in case you didn't understand. Morgan says,
you have to do something. Now we're in the house
and they'll call the law on us, to which Toby replies,
how's he gonna call the fucking law. He ain't got
no fingers.
Speaker 7 (41:51):
In the room in the corner, So I think you
in the computer.
Speaker 17 (42:00):
Started thinking like there turns towards.
Speaker 7 (42:05):
She's like, the go in there, he's.
Speaker 17 (42:09):
Gonna say, ship, I'm scared you count him prison life
for She was like, there, you've got this, You've got
to do this.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
So you guys are kind of arguing back and argue,
but kind of got disgusting it and like how you
read I'm.
Speaker 8 (42:30):
About to go right in.
Speaker 19 (42:31):
I'm like, man, I took I took over my sweater,
my shirt, and I put it in chair.
Speaker 7 (42:38):
You know, I didn't have no shirt on all right?
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Why I didn't want to get blood? And I don't
know that, So I was like, fuck it.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
Yeah, it seemed like the adult in the pair was
the only one thinking of consequences. Toby didn't want to
get blood on his shirt, and he reminded Morgan of
what could happen.
Speaker 7 (42:59):
Don't want to fucking do this ship.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
By this time, my MoMA was in tears. Maybe you
just don't know how long I will go away from it.
She was like, fucking fucking see me again.
Speaker 19 (43:14):
She was like, hide.
Speaker 7 (43:23):
This and that's word in my mind.
Speaker 6 (43:26):
And I wouldn't.
Speaker 7 (43:27):
I wouldn't confess this ship and nobody but see what
I did.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
Apparently so little did Toby know that Morgan either because
she had too much faith in her partnership, or because
she was immature and naive, or maybe because she was
smarter than he was and not said one word and
would not confess until the next day, and she loves
(43:52):
best for me.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
So probably fuck it.
Speaker 19 (43:56):
I jumped into the fucking room. I'm like, listen here,
mother partner you know, around and he got his shocked
as I'm like, I wasn't playing and I was just like,
whatever money he hadn't leave him?
Speaker 7 (44:10):
You know, what'd you say?
Speaker 2 (44:11):
He was like, motherfucker outtakesk have a call wall Oh,
like you meant me and you don't want to.
Speaker 7 (44:18):
Function to do that? Do you want to stay?
Speaker 3 (44:20):
At that point, James was still sitting down, His back
had been turned to Toby and Morgan. He hadn't noticed
them yet, but when he heard them, he swiveled around
and put his arms up. He was wearing a T shirt, underwear,
and socks in the comfort of his own living room,
where he'd been playing a game on the computer. When
he started to stand up, Toby grabbed a nearby knife
(44:45):
and started threatening him. All he wanted was keys to
the truck and cash, but for some reason, James kept
repeating that he couldn't even afford the truck, and this
made Toby angrier because that didn't make any sense to him,
being an idiot, of course, So I.
Speaker 7 (45:02):
Was like, mother, give me a fuck g's right fucking now,
you don't give me a fucking keys and fucking cut.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
You wide open.
Speaker 8 (45:10):
He was like man, we're look here, look here.
Speaker 7 (45:12):
I can't afford that trout. I was like, I don't
give a fuck. Are you gonna afford the trunk or not?
Give me the good damn keys, and I'll be eye
to your motherfucking hair.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
James was getting closer.
Speaker 20 (45:23):
Like if he wanted to, he could grab that fucking
knife or how are you holding that something like or
something I'm holding.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
A knightel like this, tell down like yeah.
Speaker 19 (45:30):
And I'm like I'm trying to keep it away from
you so you don't try to fucking grab or nothing.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
But then Toby looked at him, and remember but I'm
looking at his hands.
Speaker 19 (45:38):
I'm like, man, this motherfucker can't grab the ship, right,
He's got a phone.
Speaker 7 (45:41):
On one hand.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
I'm like, God damns, the big guy. Just fucking give
me the box for Jimmy's right. Look here, you give
me a fucking g's and we're out of your hair
and whatever money you fucking got, or I'm just gonna
take here in business right here.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
According to Toby, James fought back with everything he had,
but Toby had already decided how this was going to end.
Toby answered with a punch in the face. Breaking James's
glasses and puncturing his eye with a piece of the lens, and.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
I'm like, god damn it.
Speaker 7 (46:21):
They and Morgan's like, fa fucking you the top of it,
fucking kiling right now?
Speaker 2 (46:26):
Did he followed the round yet?
Speaker 3 (46:28):
The two got into a physical brawl on the floor,
and James defended himself fairly well, despite his limitations, maybe
a little too.
Speaker 20 (46:37):
Well, I don't cut the mother clean to the fucking bone,
and yeah, okay, cut clean the fucking bone, like.
Speaker 8 (46:46):
Was going everywhere.
Speaker 2 (46:47):
My god, damn, I can I can see the fucking
bone in the fucking arms. It was a bitch, just like, yeah,
it was out sharing, it was sick.
Speaker 19 (46:58):
It was like but once I've seen that bullet, all
like fucking out, I'm did and now was late, you know,
like I know, like, god damn, I'm fucking freaking out.
Speaker 7 (47:05):
Now, Okay, I'm like.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
Baby something, she's staying the right side and she's still
over aa and the I'm.
Speaker 7 (47:13):
Like, fucking something.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
Do you understanding there?
Speaker 1 (47:18):
Do you hear how excited this idiot is. You can't
wait to tell his story?
Speaker 3 (47:23):
Even the cops like gets a promo for some stupid
made for TV movie some people be dumbing. I'll bet
my cyber truck this retard watches a lot of wrestling,
and she.
Speaker 18 (47:35):
Hit him with the pipe and baby, but he like
one time, he's like, he's fucking laying five and the four.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Yeah, he's laying five and the four. Now I'm fucking
the shoes I had on. I have some rewalked soldiers on,
but the fucking last strap going across the top. Okay,
and I got.
Speaker 7 (47:54):
Fucking neck like this, I'm trying to choke him.
Speaker 2 (47:56):
I'm saying, you're fucking I'm trying to fucking break his
wimpipe jumping on it. Yeah, I kept stumbling on a
fucking windpipe.
Speaker 7 (48:03):
Player, I got damn you still.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
Yeah, he's still trying to fight me off of it. Okay,
I'm like, man, fucking this man. I'll freaking out, man,
because I'm like, man, this motherfucker's close to dining already.
Speaker 7 (48:14):
Man, and leaned the dead.
Speaker 2 (48:15):
I was fucking arm, you know, fucking still struggling him.
Speaker 20 (48:18):
Yeah, I fliced him on this arm and I know
that fucking vein right there, straight lead and key to
your heart.
Speaker 7 (48:23):
Yeah, and he's gonna bleed.
Speaker 9 (48:24):
Like a motherfucker.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
Okay, I'm damn ba man, I'm fucking kicking and fucking
faith into the wall. You kicking kicking the neck, Yeah,
I'm kicking the neck. I'm trying to fucking classes wind pipes,
all right, I can't do it.
Speaker 7 (48:36):
He's still fucking moved.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
Sometimes sometimes you kicked.
Speaker 7 (48:39):
Him twenty five times, Like that's right.
Speaker 9 (48:42):
I'm fucking I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
I an't fricking No, I'm fucking kick people a lot.
Speaker 9 (48:46):
Just kept stopping there, telling him, damn.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
I just kept doing to stop this because I didn't
know what the fuck to do.
Speaker 7 (48:51):
I'm like, I'll freaking out by this time.
Speaker 2 (48:53):
I'm gonna drop the fucking knife.
Speaker 7 (48:54):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
I'm like, I ain't got ship in my hand now, Okay,
I wor here.
Speaker 7 (49:00):
She's standing right beside me.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
Still imagine bragging about getting the better of a man
with no fingers. I mean, seriously, she was standing right
beside him because they never left each other's sides. According
to Morgan, did Toby.
Speaker 7 (49:16):
With Oldheim or did you go somewhere else and leave there?
Old He must he want me in my fight for sure.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
He wouldn't let me out of the side.
Speaker 13 (49:26):
Out want my hair out of my side. He was like,
dead on, You're like.
Speaker 7 (49:30):
Baby baby killing.
Speaker 20 (49:32):
I'm like sea still kidding you, man, Oh my god, daring.
Speaker 2 (49:40):
Fucking charm SMaL bitch.
Speaker 7 (49:44):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
Watching the lad he was sucking win.
Speaker 15 (49:46):
By my shoes.
Speaker 3 (49:48):
It was like they were stamping out a bug or
a deadly snake, or like World of t Shirts stomping
on a fish. And there was Toby in his orange jumpsuit,
reliving it all with disturbing enthusiasm. I don't know about you,
but this is kind of a nauseating to me hearing
him so excited about telling the story. He was standing
(50:12):
now animated, his hands waving through the air as he
re enacted every brutal strike for a few minutes. It
wasn't a confession, it was a performance. Toby looked less
like a man haunted by what he'd done and more
like one who still felt the thrill of it.
Speaker 5 (50:30):
This is the worst case that I have encountered as
far as brutality and the circumstances surrounding the passing and
the killing of mister Stewart. I can't think of anything
in my eighteen years of practicing law that's that's been
(50:50):
this brutal.
Speaker 3 (50:51):
Toby lifted his boot and brought it down hard on
James Stuart's neck again and again, Die, son of a bitch.
But James didn't die. He was fighting as hard as
he could. This man who had endured a life of
(51:12):
trying to adapt, was desperately trying to survive, fighting as
hard as he could despite his physical disabilities. For all
the blood, all the blows, and all the ways his
body had been broken, he was still alive. And there
was still time for Toby and Morgan to leave with
James's soul still intact. But that wasn't part of the plan.
(51:39):
What came next wasn't just brutal, It was absolutely merciless.
(52:11):
In April of two thousand and eight, fifteen year old
Morgan Leopard and twenty two year old Toby Laurie vanished
from Melrose, Florida, in a stolen silver Toyota Tacoma Great Truck.
By the way, it's one of our sponsors anyway. Days earlier,
Morgan had been reported missing, and investigators soon discovered she
(52:31):
wasn't just a runaway.
Speaker 1 (52:33):
She and Toby had.
Speaker 3 (52:34):
Been involved in a violent crime, and that's quite an understatement.
Their trail led back to the home of sixty six.
Speaker 1 (52:43):
Year old James Stewart, a disabled.
Speaker 3 (52:46):
Man who was found murdered in his own home. His
pristine truck was missing, and the suspects were nowhere to
be found. As authorities pieced together this timeline, they realized
this wasn't just a case of teenage rebellion. That was
something a lot darker. Sitting in an interrogation room over
(53:08):
one thousand miles away, Toby Laurie was recounting every last detail,
each thought and each action. Even detectives were mortified at
the number of times Toby stomped on James's neck while
he was on the floor, But what he had to
say next was far worse than anyone expected.
Speaker 2 (53:30):
I get down on the grounds, grandon knife now fucking chairs.
Speaker 9 (53:33):
How many times?
Speaker 2 (53:35):
Well, the Knight woudn't going At first.
Speaker 19 (53:37):
I tried to fuck to put the knife on the
chest and pushed down it, but he kept trying to
fucking for the book.
Speaker 2 (53:43):
He was still alive.
Speaker 9 (53:44):
He just throw up in the chest right here.
Speaker 7 (53:49):
I know how many.
Speaker 2 (53:52):
No, I'm tried to standing once.
Speaker 7 (53:53):
I know that in con I'll touched down. And when
I came to, when I was his face, his whole
face was fucking purple. Yep, bloody yep.
Speaker 19 (54:06):
Fucking there was chunks of brains coming out of his
fucking nose.
Speaker 7 (54:09):
Cartilage coming out of his fucking nose.
Speaker 2 (54:11):
Not moving, He's not he he he, He's still moving
a little bit. It's like twitching order.
Speaker 7 (54:15):
And he's like, he's he's trying to fucking breathe.
Speaker 2 (54:19):
Sure, I done fucking broke his nose and shit, and
probably too.
Speaker 9 (54:22):
Yeah, he's trying to breathe. I still see his fucking
heart beating in his fucking chest.
Speaker 2 (54:27):
He's done pisted on himself. He pissed blood out of
his state.
Speaker 9 (54:32):
Their blood everywhere, blowing the wall and shit. I'm like, god, damn, God, damn,
God damn, God damn bringing out breaking out, fucking up
FoST markets.
Speaker 2 (54:41):
And she's like, she's like, make me move, Hey me
move move.
Speaker 7 (54:45):
I'm like, why the fuck you wanna move?
Speaker 20 (54:47):
I fucking m I moved because I don't out of breath.
I couldn't fucking breathe in the office, it was just
it was burning right here. You don't you, Yeah, it
was just fucking burning. I then there was nothing I
could do, but it was just fucking burning and I
woke in the other section of the house for a minute.
Speaker 2 (55:05):
And I here, I threw it around the morning if
I beat the ship into the pipe to beat the
shadow where and face the sheet hit him in face.
Speaker 19 (55:19):
Hord.
Speaker 3 (55:21):
Toby had stepped away from the scene for just a
minute to use his inhaler, which is fucking hilarious A
killer with asthma. All that action had left him breathless
and he had plenty of life left done like James
his victim, it was struggling with everything he had to
stay in the.
Speaker 1 (55:39):
Fight, but he was losing.
Speaker 3 (55:43):
And then through the wheeze and the chaos, Toby saw
something that he wasn't prepared for.
Speaker 7 (55:49):
I'm my baby, I gotta get the shower.
Speaker 19 (55:51):
I can't have the fucking bottle and the other I'm
about to cry out, get in the shower.
Speaker 2 (55:57):
Shower, Yeah, which one.
Speaker 7 (56:00):
I went right there and he was lag and I
took a shower right there.
Speaker 19 (56:06):
And as I'm taking the shower, I've seen Morgan.
Speaker 2 (56:11):
I'm not sens and honor, I'm not understand. Don't get
your own I understand. Just just finish it out there
because the heros are with You're nine a half cents there.
I seen Morgan stabbings and test at least twice. There
was three stabbed his chest.
Speaker 6 (56:29):
The airms like bam, bam bam.
Speaker 3 (56:31):
There were three stab wounds because Toby had just finished
stabbing him once and then Morgan took over. When Toby
got out of the shower, he realized that James was
still alive.
Speaker 6 (56:45):
He's still time I talk.
Speaker 17 (56:46):
You can't ask him to play round me.
Speaker 21 (56:49):
So being yeah, the fucking I went and got a
gars back, right where'd you get it from?
Speaker 7 (56:55):
And the uh canon?
Speaker 2 (56:57):
And so he went, yeah, okay, I throw he got
his head uh twins some designs, I come, We're gonna
with that little bit. It's mostly by hand with a
problem bag, right, I fell ever bring her hand? Where
you handling it?
Speaker 7 (57:10):
Okay?
Speaker 10 (57:11):
And I didn't.
Speaker 17 (57:14):
I lost the beginning and started beating the faith.
Speaker 2 (57:16):
Then I said, okay, bird his nose the nose was
like you beat your beat?
Speaker 8 (57:22):
Is you hold up packet?
Speaker 19 (57:23):
Yeah, he's still trying to breathe.
Speaker 7 (57:24):
I can like to see like a bubble.
Speaker 2 (57:26):
Come up from Orizond's move.
Speaker 21 (57:27):
I still see the heart, the heart beating all right,
and I'm like.
Speaker 9 (57:34):
Lost.
Speaker 7 (57:40):
I felt it was no to.
Speaker 2 (57:41):
Break three times. It's a pocket bag on his head.
Speaker 20 (57:43):
Yeah, they just I s I felt it was nae
to break three times when they nose bird three times
and stats winning.
Speaker 8 (57:48):
Fucking that was it.
Speaker 2 (57:50):
That's when he passed. Cause I think I I pushed
the thune up into his brain or something. You at
least it was made of a surfer though.
Speaker 7 (57:57):
Yeah, I was.
Speaker 21 (57:57):
Fucking not pretty mud as far as the misery.
Speaker 5 (57:59):
And m.
Speaker 8 (58:09):
Right, So all I do is like you.
Speaker 2 (58:12):
Can justify, you can juify to yourself. There was reasons
why he did it, and I think you did it.
Speaker 7 (58:16):
You just he did it for me.
Speaker 21 (58:18):
You justified that you were in a hard times already
trying to help out your wife or your wife could
be I should say, and.
Speaker 22 (58:23):
Your baby in that building, and you know what could be. Unfortunately,
you still have to provide to him. So do you
understand that, Right, he's supposed to be there, then he
supposed to be a cooler, He's still going to be
a husband figure.
Speaker 2 (58:35):
Tour can I as a batter?
Speaker 3 (58:38):
Toby had just described James's final moments in chilling detail,
saying he had to put him out of his misery
like a lame horse or an injured animal, but somewhere
in his core he was finally feeling remorse and it
was visible to detectives. It seems like sympathizing with a killer.
(58:58):
This technique that detectives used to keep a suspect talking
to stop them from shutting down. But in this moment,
after the sheer horror of what Toby had just described,
it felt grotesque because what had just happened wasn't about love.
It wasn't about love at all, and no words, no
(59:21):
justification could change that. At the murder scene, just before
they left, this is what Morgan said that She told me.
Speaker 2 (59:30):
She was like, we just took a human life, Like,
no shit, I wanted did it?
Speaker 7 (59:39):
You mean you held doubt but.
Speaker 2 (59:44):
He should.
Speaker 18 (59:50):
And eating at me and I wanted to come clain
so bad, but I didn't want to get prison for the.
Speaker 2 (59:57):
Rest of my part of life.
Speaker 3 (59:59):
Was he really morseful or did he just fear the
consequences of being in prison for life and being without
the love of his life. Prison, of course, is exactly
where he landed. In twenty ten, both Toby Laurie and
Morgan Leppert stood trial for the murder of James Stewart.
(01:00:19):
Prosecutors argued that this wasn't the spontaneous act of violence.
It was calculated, cold and relentless. Toby, the adult of
the couple, pleaded guilty to first degree murder and was
sentenced to life without parole. During the trial, Morgan's defense
team painted her as a naive, manipulated teenager under the
(01:00:43):
control of an older, violent man. Courts love it when
women get off on the same crime that a man committed.
Not exactly sure why, maybe some of that old chivalry
from the dark Ages. They argued that Toby Laurie was
the mastermind, that he orchestrated the attack, that Morgan was
(01:01:04):
just following orders. Too young, too impressionable. Do you understand
the weight of her actions?
Speaker 13 (01:01:11):
They're always gonna call the cops. Toby said, no, the
hell you wait and Boom.
Speaker 8 (01:01:17):
Pushed him right in the face.
Speaker 13 (01:01:19):
Man, I just go away.
Speaker 12 (01:01:20):
I was about to cry Totob.
Speaker 20 (01:01:22):
I was about a tetobia.
Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
I don't want to do this.
Speaker 10 (01:01:25):
But Toby just already hit him, and he's like, come on, baby,
come on and hit him.
Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
Hit him.
Speaker 1 (01:01:31):
But the prosecution had a different take on it.
Speaker 5 (01:01:35):
I mean as far as like, who was the ringleader?
I mean, the only people who know what happened in
that house are Morgan, Toby, and mister Stewart. So what
the jury found was that she was guilty of first
degree murder because she participated in the in the murder
exactly what she did. Really, the only people alive who
(01:01:58):
know are Toby and Morgan. But the jury did find
that she intended to commit premeditated murder and in fact
killed mister Stewart.
Speaker 3 (01:02:09):
Morgan, just fifteen at the time, was convicted of first
degree murder and armed robbery under Florida law. She received
a mandatory life sentence without parole, a punishment usually reserved
only for adults.
Speaker 1 (01:02:24):
But and here we go.
Speaker 3 (01:02:26):
In twenty twelve, the US Supreme Court ruled that mandatory
life sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional, despite what monsters they
could be. That decision gave Morgan a second chance, at
least in the courtroom. In twenty twenty, she was re
sentenced to forty years in prison, a reduced sentence but
(01:02:50):
still long enough to make sure she won't walk free
until she's well into her fifties. I'm sure forty years
in prison will rehabilitate her.
Speaker 8 (01:03:00):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (01:03:00):
Morgan claimed that she was pregnant, but miscarried in jail,
so probably no kids in her future. James Stewart lived alone.
He was disabled, he'd already proved to the world that
he was stronger than his disabilities. In fact, he was
so strong that Toby and Morgan could have walked away
more than once while he was still alive, but they
(01:03:23):
decided not to. James's family will miss him dearly. This
is a statement from his nephew. My uncle was the
type of man that anyone around him who was ready
to take life head on should have had the opportunity
to meet or speak with those who were lucky enough
(01:03:44):
to spend time with. My uncle soon learned that there
was nothing that he could not do. The man was
truly amazing. Things that I hear people young and old
say that they can't do are things he called speed
bumps or obstacles. Not having hands did not slow him
down one bit. The thing is he did things most
(01:04:08):
people don't dream of accomplishing in their lifetime.
Speaker 7 (01:04:12):
He was a master.
Speaker 3 (01:04:13):
Carpenter, a professor, He skied, played tennis, bold He was
a commercial fisherman. The list goes on and on. Most
of the cars he owned were stick shifts with no
power steering. My uncle taught me that the word can't
is for cowards, losers, and people that see hard times
(01:04:35):
or difficult tasks and give up. I was lucky enough
to be able to spend time with this amazing man
and have some of that greatness rub off on me.
But my son and future children will only be able
to hear stories of this great man that I have
called uncle. For centuries, velosiphers have pondered what love is.
(01:05:01):
They've done it for as long as there have been philosophers.
Speaker 7 (01:05:06):
But what do they know?
Speaker 3 (01:05:08):
People with nothing but the luxury to sit around thinking
all day and ponder things, those are usually the people
that are most disconnected from reality. Hey, I'm describing myself,
all right, so let's give it a shot.
Speaker 13 (01:05:24):
Love is.
Speaker 1 (01:05:27):
Fuck?
Speaker 3 (01:05:27):
I don't know, but I'm sure Morgan doesn't know either.
Speaker 19 (01:05:35):
Too much.
Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
Morgan had an obsessive, all consuming type of quote unquote
love for Toby, the kind that rewired her dumb little
brain and twisted whatever immature concept stood in for logic.
This obsession drowned out all reason and convinced her that
nothing else mattered. It's a kind of thing you see
(01:06:04):
in movies, bad ones. Morgan was fifteen, reckless, desperate for freedom,
and convinced that Toby Laurie was the answer. He made
her feel untouchable, like the world belong just to the
two of them. A lot of people don't realize that
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, not a romance. I,
(01:06:27):
on the other hand, treat it like a comedy, because
if God gave you a brain, then you have the
responsibility to use it every now and then. And for Toby,
Morgan was also an obsession. She was something to possess,
to run away with, to kill for because he was
lonely and wanted a hole to put his dick in.
(01:06:50):
That's it, That's what she was for Toby. Real love
doesn't ask for everything you have. Oh why anyone has
to actually say that out loud. It doesn't demand a
sacrifice in blood. It doesn't turn a teenage girl into
a murderer, or leave an innocent disabled man gasping for
(01:07:14):
his final breath on the floor of his own living room.
Speaker 22 (01:07:18):
That I do know.
Speaker 3 (01:07:20):
Even dumb old me James Stewart didn't know Morgan and Toby.
He wasn't part of their stupid fantasy or their twisted rebellion.
He gained nothing from being in the proximity of Dumb,
but unfortunately for him, he ended up being part of
(01:07:41):
their sacrifice and quote unquote love. Anyway, well, I'm not
(01:08:05):
going to beg you to watch SMSTV again.
Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
You're an adult.
Speaker 3 (01:08:10):
You go figure out what to do, at least I
hope so otherwise, go find your parents. What the fuck
are they doing. I shouldn't be listening to this swordscale
dot Com.
Speaker 1 (01:08:18):
Stay safe,
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