Case 331: Girl Meat Hunter

In 2010, a user known as Girl Meat Hunter joined The Fetish Network, a website where people with extreme sexual fetishes could connect and interact. On their profile, Girl Meat Hunter described their interests as the “easy A.B.C” – Abduction, Bondage, and Cannibalism.
What was only meant to be an online safe space for creative roleplay soon took a dark turn, as Girl Meat Hunter’s deadly desires began to blur the line between fantasy and reality.
---
Narration – Anonymous HostResearch & writing – Milly RasoCreative direction – Milly RasoProduction & music – Mike MigasAudio editing – Anthony Telfer
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Episode Transcript

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Imagine how you would feel if the whole weight of
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Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If
you feel at any time you need support, please contact
your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers, for confidential support,
and for a more detailed list of content warnings. Please
see the show notes for this episode on your app
or on our website. Please note that the names of

(01:49):
several individuals in this episode have been changed. In two
thousand and nine, with the help of two Russian national
Sergei Marankov co founded a website called the Dark Fetish Network.
The trio had identified a niche market of people with

(02:10):
sexual fetishes and fantasies outside the mainstream, and they set
out to create a social media platform where those individuals
could connect and interact. It was essentially a clone of Facebook,
featuring personalized profiles, public chats, private messages, groups, and the
ability to publish photo albums. Sergei took on the role

(02:33):
of webmaster, overseeing the administrative side of the website and
providing technical support. He also wrote all of the descriptive
text on the site's homepage. About a quarter of the
way down Under the heading Welcome to the Dark Fetish Network,
Sergei had written welcome to the social network where you

(02:56):
won't feel like an outcast because of your dark FETI
Why because this place is created by people like you,
for people like you. So feel free to look around,
meet some crazy in a good way people, and become
part of our growing adults only eighteen plus community. The

(03:19):
welcome message ended with a disclaimer. Please also remember that
this place is about fantasies only, so play safe. To

(03:53):
use all of the site's features, viewers of the Dark
Fetish Network had to sign up to become members. They
needed was an email address and a username. Unlike competing
websites with a similar theme, such as fat Life, which
had nearly two million uses worldwide, the Dark Fetish networker
massed a much smaller community of about thirty eight thousand members.

(04:18):
Once registered, members were able to create a personalized profile
that could be viewed by other users. Filling it out
was optional, but doing so was considered essential if you
wanted to easily connect with like minded people. A profile
was divided into three main sections. The first section covered

(04:39):
basic personal information, including the members first and last names,
country of origin, gender, and age. The second section, titled
about Me, allowed members to write autobiographical summaries about themselves.
The third and most important section was titled about my Fetie,

(05:00):
where members could describe their sexual preferences. The Dark Fetish
Network encompassed all types of fetishes. The most popular was
sexual asphyxiation, but other common ones featured on the site
included bondage, voyeurism, exhibitionism, humiliation, and objectification. There were body

(05:22):
focused fetishes centered on feet, stomachs, and hair, and others
involving supernatural law mythical themes. At the extreme end of
the spectrum were fetishes pertaining to excrement, torture, var necrophilia,
and cannibalism. Users interacted through consensual roleplay scenarios, following storylines

(05:45):
they devised and assuming roles much like actors in a movie.
For site co creator Sergey Merenkov, the fantasy aspect of
the Dark Fetish Network was paramount. He claimed to terminate
the accounts of of anyone who violated the site's terms
of service, including those engaging in conversations that, in his words,

(06:07):
could have led to something bad. Sergey stressed that the
fantasies discussed on his site should never spill over into
real world criminal activity. In twenty ten, a new member
joined the Dark Fetish Network under the username girl meat Hunter.

(06:31):
While he withheld any identifying details, his profile revealed that
he was a man from the United States. His profile
picture depicted a woman with a large red apple stuffed
in her mouth, accompanied by the quote tonight, my dear,
you are the main course. In the about my fetish section,

(06:52):
girl meat Hunter listed what he called the easy ABC abduction, bondage,
and cannibalist. While others enjoyed fantasies of women willingly submitting
to torture, death, or being eaten, Girl meat Hunter dismissed consent,
saying it ruined the whole thing. I am a little different,

(07:15):
he wrote, I am a little more sadistic. I would
want her to suffer. I would want to see her suffer.
Not long after signing up to the Dark Fetish Network,
girl meat Hunter followed a trend that had unfolded on
the site by uploading a photo album titled what would

(07:35):
You Do with Her? The trend involved users compiling photos
of women they claimed to know in real life, typically
lifted from their social media accounts. Other members than commented
on the photos reflecting their own sexual fetishes. For example,
those interested in BDSM might ride about hog tying the

(07:58):
women and forcing abmission, while those drawn to sleep play
might describe drugging the women and engaging with their unconscious bodies.
One Friday, a girl meet Hunter uploaded images of ten
different women, labeling them girl number one, Girl number two,
and so on. By the time a Girl mate Hunter

(08:21):
logged back in on Sunday night, his album had received
approximately fifty comments out of courtesy. Most of the comments
were tailored to indulge his passion for bondage and cannibalism.
Damn she looks tender, one user wrote. Another left a
comment urging rape and mutilation. Delighted girl meet Hunter referred

(08:47):
to the women as quote extremely rapable, outlining how he
wanted to tie them down and assault them before escalating
into the MoU macabre said that he would trust one
up like a turkey and place her into an oven
while she was still alive. Once dad, he would butcher

(09:08):
her body, cook the meat, and quote the sounds of
her screams will be the sweetest music to my ears.
By January twenty eleven, Girl meat Hunter was well known
on the Dark Fetish Network for his group chat contributions
and for sharing large amounts of hardcore pornography, though his

(09:32):
real world identity remained hidden. Whenever users praised his posts
or shared an interest in his fetishes, he reached out
to them privately. Over time, he established a close knit
circle of around twenty people with whom he kept a
regular contact, some more frequently than others. Their conversations were

(09:55):
far from casual small talk. Hey got some time to
play around a bit, they asked one another before beginning
or continuing a role play scenario. Others enjoyed role playing
with Girl Meet Hunter because he was a decent writer.
He also catered to their fetishes rather than focusing solely

(10:16):
on his own, crafting in depth stories that spanned a
wide range of kinks, even after his own needs were met.
If Girl Meet Hunter wasn't satisfied with how things were
progressing with a role play partner, he abandoned them. Meticulous
and detailed oriented, he preferred partners who were equally graphic

(10:37):
and explicit. Scenarios couldn't be rushed, They could last weeks,
with role play sessions lasting for several hours at a time.
While he wasn't online every night. He typically appeared three
or four times a week, and sometimes throughout the day.

(10:58):
Girl Meet Hunter was often invited to role play as
the captor of fictitious women in peril, but those scenarios
didn't excite him. What aroused him were fantasies involving the
ten women he allegedly knew in real life. He continued
to share their photos online, along with their names, ages,

(11:18):
physical descriptions, occupations, and relationship statuses. He imagined them chloroformed
and kidnapped, stripped, naked, bound, and displayed on a platter
with an apple in their mouths. He fantasized about slit throats,
de capitations, and making bacon strips from belly flash. When

(11:41):
a user asked if he would ever actually eat human
flesh if the chance presented itself in real life, Girl
Meet Hunter bluntly replied yes. Over time, his fantasies grew
to include almost one hundred women, each one described as
someone he longed to kidnap and to cook. One of

(12:04):
the downsides of the dark Fetish network was that it
could be slow to load. Eventually, Girl Meet Hunter and
his core group of role players shifted their conversations to
Yahoo Messenger. The free platform offered features the Dark Fetish
networker didn't, including instant messaging, file sharing, and the ability

(12:25):
to see when others were online. While girl meet Hunter
remained active on the Dark Fetish Network, if he connected
with a role player he particularly enjoyed, he shared his
Yahoo Messenger handle to continue the scenario there. Instead. While
he used multiple usernames across different websites, for the sake

(12:46):
of clarity, case File will refer to him exclusively as
girl meet Hunter. Around June twenty twelve, about two years
in to girl meet Hunter's online presence, he began receiving
messages from a member of the Dark Fetish Network named
meat market Man based in England. The only other thing

(13:08):
Girl meet Hunter knew about him was that they shared
a mutual lust for cannibalism. Meat market Man claimed he
had killed and eaten two women in real life. Their
conversations soon moved to Yahoo Messenger, where meat market Man
went by the name Moody Blues. The two chattered almost

(13:30):
non stop and often late into the night. By July,
their conversations had taken on a more purposeful tone as
they began plotting ways to make their fantasies a reality.
Moody Blues assumed a mentor like role, helping brainstorm methods
to tor man to Girl meat Hunter's intended victims. In

(13:52):
one exchange, Girl meat Hunter described a softball player he
knew as quote, the most desirable piece of meat I've
ever met. Moody Blues suggested knocking her out with a
baseball bat, calling it poetic justice. In another conversation, Girl

(14:13):
meet Hunter proposed that Moody Blues traveled to the Uas
so they could kidnap one of the ten women he
was infatuated with. Moody Blues agreed, How big is your oven?
He inquired, big enough to fit one of these girls
if I folded their legs. Girl mate Hunter replied. They

(14:35):
ultimately settled on a woman named Charlotte, who Girl meet
Hunter described as one of his favorite victims. He had
phantasized about her for ten years, relishing the idea of
slaughtering her and noting she had quote good meat on
her arms. When Moody Blues suggested they eat Charlotte alive,

(14:56):
Girl meet Hunter replied, I'm not really in to raw meat.
The men proceeded to discuss staging a cookout with Charlotte
as the main cause. I have a place up in
the mountains. Girl meat Hunter wrote, no one around for

(15:17):
three quarters of a mile. Maybe we'll tie her to
the rotisserie and to cook her outside. Middy Blues questioned
how they would get Charlotte over the fire, noting that
a spit would kill her quickly. He suggested she'd be
confined in some kind of cage instead. Girl meet Hunter

(15:37):
considered securing her body to an apparatus and cooking her
slowly over a low flame, deliberately keeping her alive for
as long as possible. He said he was in the
process of building a pulley system in his basement to
hang victims by their feet. That's where she will be
held captive and raped, he explained, adding that once Charlotte

(16:00):
was dead, should be taken down and properly butchered before
being put in the oven. Moody Blues noted that if
they didn't waste any of her, they would have nearly
seventy five pounds of food. What do you want to
do with the head, he asked. Girl Mate Hunter replied
that when they sat down to eat, he wanted Charlotte's

(16:23):
head displayed as a gruesome centerpiece fixed in her final
expression of terror. Moody Blues expressed doubt about Girl Mate
Hunter's commitment, saying I've been let down before. Girl Mate
Hunter confidently explained that he had the entire event planned
in his mind, though he was still working out the

(16:45):
final details of the abduction, which needed to be flawless.
He intended to show up at Charlotte's home unannounced so
she would never see it coming. He would then knock
her out with chloroform and wait until dark before taking
her away. When Moody Blues suggested it might be better

(17:06):
if they targeted a stranger to avoid suspicion, Girl Meet
Hunter responded her family is out of state, convinced that
no one would connect him to the crime. As the
pair continued to devise their plan, Moody Blues mentioned he
had anesthetic gases, while Girl Meete Hunter would make the

(17:27):
chloroform using a recipe he had found online. They grew
giddy at the thought of Charlotte sleeping peacefully elsewhere, completely
unaware of what they were preparing for her. Her days
are numbered. Girl Meet Hunter exclaimed he intended to do
a dry run, showing up unannounced in Charlotte's neighborhood under

(17:49):
the pretense of a casual hello. Though one sure how
the plan might eventually unfold, he insisted that his intention
of kidnapping Charlotte and getting away with that was the
absolute truth. On Thursday July nineteen, twenty twelve, Girl meat

(18:10):
Hunter informed Moody Blues that he had arranged to meet
Charlotte in person for brunch that coming weekend. He then
emailed through a document he had prepared titled Abducting and
Cooking Charlotte a Blueprint. The document contained personal details about Charlotte,

(18:30):
including her name, date of birth, height, weight, and brass eyes.
In a section titled Materials needed, Girl meat Hunter had
listed the tools required to carry out his fantasy, including
his car, a plastic tarp to line the trunk, chloroform
to render Charlotte unconscious, the strongest kind of rope to

(18:52):
bind her, duct tape for gagging, plastic bags for her clothes,
and a pair of cheap sneakers to wear. I'll be
eyeing her from head to toe and licking my lips,
he wrote, adding that he longed for the day he
could render her unconscious with chloroform. Moody Blues joked that

(19:14):
girl Mate Hunter would be more focused on eating Charlotte
than his branch. After the Weakend, girl Mate Hunter immediately
messaged Moody Blues commenting on how mouth watering and delicious
Charlotte was. By late August, his fixation had switched to
two other women on his top ten list, an eighteen

(19:36):
year old high school senior named Lily and another woman
named to Georgia. He spoke of his desire to capture
and kill Georgia, saying he wanted her to absolutely suffer,
and claimed it was personal. If a Georgia lived near me,
he wrote, she would be gone by now. Even if

(19:56):
I get caught, she would be worth it. While Girl
Meat Hunter remained primarily dedicated to abduction, bondage, and cannibalism,
he also developed a fascination with slavery scenarios in which
kidnapped women were sold to the highest bidder. Combining this

(20:18):
new interest with his existing fetishers, he created a new
feto album on the Dark Fetish Network titled Cook Her
or Sell Her. Starting in late January twenty twelve, he
confided in another slavery fetish enthusiast known online as Mike
van Hires eighty one about plans to also turn these

(20:39):
fantasies into reality. Girl meat Hunter offered to abduct a
woman off his list to sell to Mike van Hires
for five thousand dollars. Her name was Marissa, and she
was an elementary school teacher whom a girl meet Hunter
knew in real life. He sent Mike van Hires for

(21:00):
the photos of Marissa taken from her Facebook page, warning
she is kind of feisty and no nonsense, not sure
how soon she would submit. Certain he could break Marissa
in more ways than one, Mike van Hires eagerly envisioned
turning her into his slave quote sex maid, and otherwise,

(21:24):
if she tried to escape, he would beat her. If
she tried again, became pregnant, or was unfaithful, he would
kill her. Girl meat Hunter's tone grew grisly and mechanical
as he outlined his plan to stalk Marissa. He knew
she had a week off work coming up, and suggested

(21:46):
abducting her then, as this would give him more time
before anyone realized she was missing. He described rendering Marissa unconscious,
placing her in a large suitcase, and willing it to
his van to liver to Mike van Heuser's home in
New Jersey. She would remain fully dressed so that Mike

(22:07):
could have quote the pleasure of unwrapping his gift. The
pair even discussed raping Marissa together before going their separate ways.
Girl meat Hunter demanded the full five thousand dollar payment
upon delivery. When Mike tried to haggle, Girl meat Hunter

(22:28):
refused to accept any less, insisting he needed the money
and emphasizing the very risky nature of the job, which
could ruin his life if he were caught. He wrote,
I am putting my neck on the line. If something
goes wrong somehow, I am in deep shit five thousand

(22:48):
dollars and you need to make sure she is not found.
She will definitely make the news. He added that he
aspired to become a professional kidnapper, framing the price strictly
as business. When Mike van Hires expressed the doubt that
Girl Meet Hunter was going to follow through, Girl Meete

(23:10):
Hunter replied, I am just afraid of getting caught. If
I were guaranteed to get away with it, I would
do it. When asked, are you sure, he answered firmly definitely.
Then on the night of Saturday, September nine, twenty twelve,

(23:31):
something unexpected happened. After two years of consistent activity on
the dark fetish network, Girl Meete Hunter abruptly closed his account.
He immediately informed Moody Blues on Yahoo Messenger, who wanted
to know why. Girl Meete Hunter explained, less of a

(23:52):
chance of getting caught. Case File will be back shortly.
Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode.
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Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting
our sponsors, you support case File to continue to deliver
quality content. In mid twenty twelve, elementary school teacher turned

(25:26):
stay at home mother Jackie Valley, was growing increasingly concerned
about her husband's unusual behavior. Twenty eight year old Gilberto Valley,
known to friends and family as gil had recently been
spending much more time on their computer in the living room.
He had always been a night hour as he worked

(25:46):
late and struggled to go straight to sleep. He typically
stayed up for a couple of hours, playing video games,
watching television, or browsing the internet, but after Jackie became pregnant,
his behavior worsened. He started staying up until three, four
or even five am. Sometimes he wouldn't come to bed

(26:08):
at all. Jackie had met Gilberto about three years earlier
on a dating website. He sent the first message, and
when she viewed his profile, his occupation immediately caught her eye.
He was an officer with the New York Police Department.
Jackie's father had been a police officer, and she thought

(26:30):
the job sounded so cool. She replied to Gilberto, and
the two arranged to meet for dinner. Their first date
went exceptionally well. They shared laughs, enjoyed dessert, and cuddled
together at the movies. The night ended with a passionate
kiss and the shared sensation that something special had just begun.

(26:55):
Things moved quickly after that. Within weeks, Jackie and Gilberto
were officially a couple. A year later, they moved into
a New York apartment together and got a puppy. Then,
in January twenty eleven, Jackie discovered she was pregnant. Gilberto's
initial reaction was one of shock and uncertainty. He didn't

(27:19):
feel they were ready, but after long discussions, he seemingly
embraced the idea of becoming a father. Their daughter was
born that September. Five months later, Gilberto proposed. The couple
celebrated with a small but lovely wedding soon after. Life

(27:41):
as new parents started off happily enough, but Jackie gradually
felt that she and Gilberto were drifting apart. As their
intimacy faded, Gilberto immersed himself for deeper online. Whenever Jackie
caught a glimpse of the computer screen, it appeared he
was browsing innocuous sites like ESPN, major League Baseball, and

(28:04):
a message board for New York cops. It wasn't until
Gilberto started regularly deleting his Internet search history that Jackie
began to suspect he was hiding something, possibly an affair.
When the computer stopped working in mid twenty twelve, Gilberto
began using Jackie's laptop. He created his own account on

(28:29):
the device, secured with the password. One night in August,
as Gilberto slapped Jackie saw that he had forgotten to
log out. At the bottom of the home screen were
two small image files. She clicked on them, but the
pitchers wouldn't load. However, she could view the file information,

(28:51):
which revealed their source, a website called the Dark Fetish Network.
Jackie typed the website's URL into a browser and discovered
it was a pornographic forum for hardcore fetishists. Its homepage

(29:11):
displayed a naked woman, hog tied and covered in blood.
To Jackie, she appeared to be Dad. The discovery left
her stunned. Gilberto was a kind, baby faced man who
some likened to a teddy bear. Sensitive, patient, and respectful.

(29:32):
He was the perfect gentleman, opening doors for Jackie and
pulling out the chair for her at dinner. He supported
the family on his single income while treating them to
special joys such as meals out or trips to the zoo.
Gilberto had never faced any misconduct complaints as a police officer,

(29:52):
nor had he been involved in criminal activity or substance abuse.
Though he and Jackie sometimes disc agreed, he had never
shown aggression, anger, or any inclination to harm women a
virgin when they met. His intimacy with the Jackie had
never involved anything resembling the content on the dark fetish network.

(30:17):
Gilberto was still asleep at eight a m. When Jackie
tapped him on the shoulder. Nervous, she tried to meet
his gaze but couldn't quite manage it. She told him
he had left his account open on her computer. She
hadn't meant to pry, but when she clicked on an image,

(30:37):
it took her to a website showing a woman tied up.
Jackie's tone wasn't angry or accusatory, yet Gilberto looked frightened.
He quickly apologized, insisting he hadn't meant for her to
see it and explaining that it was nothing. Sometimes, after
late shifts, he said, he came home wound up, and

(31:00):
instead of waking Jackie, he watched pornography instead. Most of
it was normal stuff. Though occasionally he looked at bondage content.
Jackie relaxed slightly. She told Gilberto she understood, and even
suggested the experiment together as a way to reconnect. She

(31:22):
proposed that he stopped by a sex shop the next
day to pick up a few items for them to try.
Gilberto seemed both relieved and enthusiastic. For Jackie, the exchange
offered a flicker of hope, the first since before her pregnancy.
She later recalled, I thought maybe we had a breakthrough,

(31:44):
that we were communicating, that he was going to be
honest and talk to me. Despite Jackie's optimism, the discovery
changed both her and Gilberto irrevocably. Jackie couldn't stop thinking
about what she'd seen. While Gilberto seemed increasingly suspicious of everything,

(32:06):
Jackie did, overcome with a growing sense of dread and
feeling she had no choice. On Sunday, September ten, twenty twelve,
Jackie installed spyware on her laptop. The program recorded every keystroke,
tracked every website visited, captured screenshots every five minutes, and

(32:27):
monitored all emails sent and received. The spyware revealed that
Gilberto was still secretly visiting fetish websites. Jackie later reflected,
I know S and M is kind of popular, like
fifty Shades of Gray, but this seemed different. When she

(32:50):
came across images of feet detached from bodies, Jackie realized
her husband's interests went far beyond just bondage content. The
following morning, Jackie once again tapped the shoulder of the
sleeping Gilberto, waking him. I logged into the computer just now,

(33:10):
she immediately told him, and I saw everything. Gilberto tried
to feign ignorance, but Jackie laughed sarcastically, Oh, so you're
going to deny it. When he tried to speak, Jackie
cut him off. Cook women grill them. That's what we

(33:31):
are to you, she said. She intended to take that
baby and to get away for a while. Desperate, Gilberto
pleaded Jackie, what you saw is not who I am.
He professed his love for Jackie, insisting she knew him,
while apologizing and begging her not to leave. Tears streaming

(33:54):
down her face, Jackie went to the bedroom and began packing.
She had comed down slightly. She told the anguish to Gilberto.
I'm just a little freaked out. I need to get away.
She gathered their daughter and left for the airport, heading
to her parents home into state in shock and to

(34:19):
grappling with a whirlwind of emotions. Jackie sent a text
to Gilberto shortly after leaving that said I do love you. Later,
she messaged him again, saying that she wasn't giving up
and that they would work through this together. Jackie suggested
he schedule a couple's therapy appointment in a few weeks.

(34:43):
Sounds great, Gilberto replied, I'm happy to hear that. When
you come back, we start over. That's it. I never
want to see you like that again, and I won't
let it happen again. Jackie had taken her laptop with her.

(35:04):
Days later, she logged into the spyware program again to
further inspect the data it had collected. Among the screenshots,
she noticed an unfamiliar Yahoo email address. Curious, she went
to Yahoo's website and entered the sign in details. Although
she didn't know the password, she tried one that she

(35:26):
and Gilberto used for everything else. It worked. Jackie was
confronted with thousands of disturbing messages and images Gilberto had
sent under the alias of Girl Meet Hunter and others.
The lurid messages detailed his desires and plans to abduct, rape, kill,

(35:48):
and eat women. Even more horrifying, his targets included ten
women they both knew in real life whose photos he
had taken from their Facebook pages and shared online. Among
them was an old friend from Jackie's workplace, Gilberto supervisor
at the precinct, his high school crush, an eighteen year

(36:11):
old graduate from his former high school, and several of
his college friends. Overcome with equal parts repulsion and terror,
Jackie clicked on the inbox's search bar and typed in Jackie.
There were countless hits In messages. From early twenty twelve,

(36:33):
Gilberto had corresponded with someone using the name Ali Khan.
Ali said he had been banned from the Dark Fetish
Network for trying to turn his fantasies of buying and
killing women into reality. This peaked Gilberto's interest, given his
growing fascination with the idea of selling women. The two

(36:55):
men quickly struck up an online friendship. Gilberto suggested taking
his wife on a trip to India, where they could
meet with Ali Khan. The two men would then take
turns raping Jackie before Gilberto planned to hang her by
her feet and slit her throat, then cook and consume

(37:16):
her remains. He shared a photo of Jackie in a bikini,
noting that she had a lot of meat on various
parts of her body. Ali Khan said he would enjoy
watching her blood gush, adding that if she cried, they
should show no mercy. Gilberto replied, it's OK, we will

(37:39):
just gag her. For Gilberto, the live cooking of Jackie
was solely for his own entertainment and her suffering. He
said he wanted Jackie to experience as much pain as
possible through her ordeal, insisting that the rape would be
the easy part for her. Upon uncovering this horrifying information,

(38:03):
Jackie message to Gilberto, I need to know who you
really are right now. I'm betrayed and terrified. I need
the truth about everything. She asked whether he had ever
shared pictures of her or their daughter on the websites
he frequented or in the emails he sent. Gilberto replied

(38:27):
absolutely not, I promise. Jackie knew Gilberto was lying. While
she hadn't found any pictures of their now one year
old daughter, in his correspondence, he had shared plenty of
images of her and much more. In an e mail
titled fourth of July Menu, Gilberto listed the personal details,

(38:52):
physical descriptions, and photos of several women he knew. Woman
number six was described as twenty six years old, five
feet seven inches tall, weighing one hundred and fifty to
one hundred and sixty pounds, married and with a baby daughter.
The name given was Jackie and the accompanying photo was

(39:15):
of her. Gilberto asked to Jackie when she would be
coming back, but she refused to answer. Instead, she demanded
that he be completely honest. Gradually he began to confess everything.

(39:36):
By Wednesday, October twenty four, twenty twelve, and Jackie had
been gone for six weeks. Gilberto had the day off
from work and was alone in their New York apartment
watching a movie when around two pm a knock sounded
at the door. He didn't move. He wasn't expecting anyone

(39:57):
and was not in the mood for visitors. The knocking
eventually stopped, but minutes later his cell phone lit up
with a call from unknown. He ignored it, only for
the phone to ring again five minutes later. This time
he answered. A male voice asked, hello, is this officer, Valley, Yes,

(40:23):
Gilberto replied, who's this. The caller identified himself as a
police officer from the one hundred and twelfth precinct. He
explained that Gilberto's parked car had just been hit and
suffered pretty bad damage. He asked Gilberto to come outside
so they could file a report. Gilberto got dressed, holstered

(40:47):
his work issued handgun, and headed for the door. Gilberto
stepped into the hallway. As he rounded the corner toward
the stairwell, he was met by six police officers with
their guns trained on him. Put your hands up, one ordered.
Gilberto raised his hands, protesting that it was all a misunderstanding.

(41:13):
Within moments, his wrists were cuffed behind his back and
his service weapon taken. Among the officers stood an FBI
agent named Anthony Photo. Everything is going to be all right,
Agent Photo told him. Gilberto shook his head and said,

(41:33):
I don't think so. Gilberto Valley was taken into custody
and placed in an interview room with Agent Photo, who
explained that this was Gilberto's one chance to get ahead
in the game by sharing his side of the story.
Gilberto declined the offer of a lawyer and began speaking.

(41:58):
He started quite literally from from the very beginning his childhood.
Gilberto grew up in a quiet, uneventful neighborhood in New York.
He was well liked in school, had plenty of friends,
earned good grades, and stood out as a talented baseball player.

(42:18):
The only shadow over his childhood was his parents troubled marriage.
They argued often, and when they weren't fighting, they tended
to ignore each other. By the time Gilberto was five,
his parents had separated. Both remained devoted to him, with
his father pushing him to work hard and aim high,

(42:39):
while his mother nurtured his kindness, generosity, and love for animals.
In two thousand and two, Gilberto left for college, where
he shared an apartment with three roommates. He threw himself
into campus life, parties, and social activities. Midway through his
senior year, he decided to pursue a career in law enforcement.

(43:04):
He passed the admission task with ease and completed the
sixteen hundred question long multiple choice psychological evaluation, probing everything
from racial attitudes to finances, relationships, and even bed wedding.
Gilberto claimed he answered truthfully and no red flags were raised.

(43:26):
He then completed a thirty minute face to face examination
with a psychologist covering his upbringing, relationships, education, and lifestyle.
The only issue he admitted to was trying cannabis three times.
He was cleared to begin training and progressed smoothly through
the academy. His first posting was to one of New

(43:49):
York's most violent precincts, but he handled the pressure well
and found it less intimidating than expected. Afterward, he was
reassigned to the Quiet Ear twenty sixth precinct, where he
still worked six years later. Gilberto loved his job, but
the long, irregular hours made it difficult to maintain a

(44:10):
social life. When a colleague suggested online dating, Gilberto decided
to give it a try. He met Jackie, became a father,
got married, and settled into family life. Telling all this
to FBI agent Anthony Photo, Gilberto said he had nothing

(44:32):
more to add. Agent Photo was incredulous he knew of
some very serious allegations against Gilberto that were deliberately omitted
from his otherwise flawless backstory. Determined to uncover the truth,
Photo spent the next two hours questioning Gilberto about the

(44:55):
dark fetish network, Girl Meet Hunter and the ten women
at the center of it all. Gilberto admitted to everything,
though he struggled to explain why he did it. He
claimed he didn't particularly enjoy the experience and acknowledged that
it was destroying his personal life. The long nights in

(45:17):
front of the computer left him exhausted, created distance and
suspicion in his marriage, and eroded any desire for intimacy
with his wife. Recognizing his online life was beginning to
damage his real one, Gilberto said he'd started taking steps
to change In what he insisted was pure coincidence. The

(45:40):
night before Jackie uncovered everything, he logged into the Dark
Fetish Network for the last time and permanently deleted his account.
Gilberto was resolute that while his online conversations about harming
women might have sounded realistic, they were nothing more than
make believe sexual role. He was adamant that he had

(46:03):
never hurt anyone and that no one was ever in
any real danger. Despite the thousands of gruesome messages in
which he discussed the abduction, rape, and murder of several
particular women, all of them were found safe and completely
unaware of Gilberto's online activities. Many hadn't spoken to or

(46:26):
thought about him in years. Others maintained only casual contact,
exchanging birthday wishes or brief life updates. The eighteen year
old on Gilberto's list didn't even know him. It seemed
to Gilberto was telling the truth that everything he did
was confined to cyberspace. At least that's what he said.

(47:00):
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During his interview with Gilberto Valley, agent Anthony Photo revealed
that the FBI had made a major discovery in their

(48:20):
investigation of Girl meat Hunter. One of the women on
his list was a New York resident named Marissa. She
was an old friend and former colleague of Jackie Valley
from when she worked as an elementary school teacher. Online,
Gilberto had schemed to abduct and sell Marissa to a

(48:41):
user he interacted with known as Mike Vanheis eighty one.
On Thursday, March one, twenty twelve, the day after a
round of these discussions, the GPS in Gilberto's cell phone
traced him to the block where Marissa lived. The implication
was chilling. Gilberto hadn't merely fantasized about stalking women, but

(49:06):
had seemingly carried out the behavior in the real world.
He insisted it was a coincidence or misunderstanding, but struggled
to offer a fully credible explanation as to why he
had been in the area. This discovery led to Gilberto's
first chargeable offense, conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Yet that wasn't

(49:29):
the only piece of evidence authorities found that suggested Gilberto
had taken steps to turn his fantasies into reality. While
on duty, Gilberto had access to a restricted law enforcement
database containing sensitive information such as individuals, addresses, dates of birth,
license plate numbers, and other personal details. Officers were permitted

(49:53):
to use it strictly for official police work. Records showed
Gilberto had conducted unauthorized searches on multiple women from his
list during his time as girl Mate Hunter. This discovery
led to Gilberto's second and final charge, unauthorised access to

(50:13):
a law enforcement database. On the conspiracy charge alone, he
was facing a potential life sentence. Gilberto was denied bail
and remained in prison until his trial began nearly four
months later in February twenty thirteen. By then, the case

(50:34):
had become a headlined staple, with the horrific and grotesque
nature of Gilberto's online messages filling tabloid pages. The idea
that an apparently normal, functioning member of society spent his
nights talking about slitting women's throats and roasting them alive
was made even more frightening by the fact that he

(50:56):
was an active police officer sworn to protect the community.
Dubbed by the media as the cannibal cop, Gilberto was
likened to the fictional cannibalistic serial killer doctor Hannibal Lecter
from the horror thriller novel The Silence of the Lambs.
Even more darning were comparisons to real life serial killers,

(51:18):
including the infamous Milwaukee cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer, who murdered seventeen
men and boys, and, like Gilberto, harboured disturbing fascinations with
human flash. For that reason, Gilberto was widely perceived as
a deviant monster and a danger to society. That was

(51:40):
right up until his trial began. As Gilberto's trial day loomed,
the evidence supporting his charge of conspiracy to commit kidnapping weakened.
The police had initially claimed that GPS data placed a
Gilberto on the same as the home of one of

(52:01):
his intended victims, but this was then reduced to in
the vicinity, and later to being within five hundred yards. Finally,
the morning that Gilberto's trial was set to begin, the
prosecution conceded that they would not be using the GPS
evidence at all. While the charge remained, the evidence now

(52:23):
relied solely on the content of Gilberto's online activity. Make
no mistake, the prosecution asserted Gilberto Valley was very serious
about these plans. They contended that Google searches he had
carried out demonstrated intent. Gilberto had searched for such things

(52:46):
as how to make homemade chloroform, the best rope to
tie someone up with the world's largest baking dish, and
even how to prepare human meat. He had even searched
how to kidnap someone. The prosecution stated that while Gilberto
might not have purchased or prepared anything by the time

(53:07):
of his arrest, the fact that he had researched these
things indicated he was taking steps toward carrying out an abduction.
In their view, it was fortunate that law enforcement intervened
before anything could be carried out. Yet it was the
absence of any physical evidence that formed the crux of

(53:28):
the defense's case. They posited that Gilberto was being accused
of a crime he didn't commit. Searches of his apartment, car,
and work locker uncovered nothing of importance. According to his
own so called blueprints for abductions, he lacked the tools
and materials necessary to execute his plans. He had no rope,

(53:53):
duct tape, or tarps, no chloroform ingredients, and no payments
from wannabe slave owners. Contrary to Gilberto's claims, he didn't
have a van to transport victims, a remote house in
the mountains to hold captives, or a large enough oven
to fit a person. The basement of his apartment complex

(54:14):
contained a communal laundry room, not the pulley system he
said he was constructing to restrain women. The defense pointed
out that Gilberto might have thought about it, he might
have talked about it, but he hadn't done anything offline
that demonstrated actionable intent to kidnap anybody. While acknowledging that

(54:36):
Gilberto's online writings were scary and the stuff of horror movies,
the defense maintained that it was pure fiction pretend. They
argued that if having disturbing thoughts or writing violent content
were a crime, then horror movie directors and author Stephen
King would be in prison. In the lead up to

(55:01):
his trial, Gilberto Valley was interviewed by doctor Park Deats,
a world renowned forensic psychologist and criminologist who had provided
expert opinions in numerous high profile cases, including that of
real life cannibal Jeffrey Darmer. Gilberto told doctor diets that
once he reached puberty, he immediately sensed he was different

(55:23):
from the other boys. He discovered that he was turned
on by bondage and sadomasochism, as sexual practice in which
pleasure is derived from inflicting or receiving pain and humiliation.
There was nothing in particular that led to these feelings,
with Gilberto explaining it was just there. He didn't worry

(55:47):
about it, as it was just something in his head
that no one else knew about. In every other respect,
he considered himself a normal, successful and good person. In
the late nineteen nineties, Gilberto went online for the first time,
describing it as love at first sight. Over time, he

(56:09):
discovered instant messaging and realized he could chat with strangers
pretending to be any one he wanted. He also came
across pornography, including images of women in bondage. While these
images weren't particularly violent or graphic, his desires grew. He
explored more websites and increasingly diverse and to boo fetishes.

(56:34):
He first encountered cannibal related pornography in college. One site
led to another until he found the Dark Fetish Network.
Gilberto explained that the quote weird stuff took over when
he was at the computer, but he never brought his
sinister thoughts into his daily life, nor did he ever

(56:56):
experiment with his fetishes or speak about them to others.
Although he enjoyed fantasizing about brutal scenarios involving women, Gilberto
insisted he had no desire to harm them in real life.
He didn't fear any real Walt consequences, saying why would I,

(57:16):
I wasn't doing anything illegal. Gilberto claimed that his time
as Girl meat Hunter on the Dark Fetish Network was
a safe and contained way to explore his fetishs with
like minded people, not to plan crimes, adding they are
called fantasies for a reason. In his report on Gilberto Valley,

(57:41):
doctor Parker Deet stated that, in his opinion, Girl meat
Hunter was a role lonely, an exercise in sexual imagination
and collaborative creative writing, and that there was no reliable
evidence to suggest that his erotic conversations could reasonably be
instrued as conspiratorial plans rather than conversations that were an

(58:05):
end in themselves. Doctor Deets ultimately concluded I found no
evidence whatsoever that mister Valley ever harmed or actually intended
to harm any woman. In Gilberto's words, the whole thing

(58:26):
was like this big fantasy group, like a group of
guys getting together to play Dungeons and Dragons or World
of Warcraft, except in our case, we weren't talking about
rogues and mages and the spells they could cast. We
were talking about kidnapping women and sometimes killing them too.

(58:48):
Examination of Gilberto's extensive online correspondence showed that he frequently
reminded those he engaged with that his messages were fiction.
His profile on The Day Fetish Network even included the
disclaimer I liked to press the envelope, but no matter
what I say, it is all fantasy. When he shared

(59:11):
photos of women he knew in real life, he told
recipients they were for fantasy only. When plotting the supposed
abduction of Charlotte, Gilberto reminded Moody Blues, if you're wondering,
it's all fantasy. Likewise, when Mike Vanhires eighty one asked

(59:31):
if he would actually kidnap Marissa, Gilberto admitted he didn't
think so. I'm just talking fantasy, he wrote. No matter
what I say, it's make believe. Gilberto had exchanged thousands
of emails and instant messages with around two dozen people

(59:53):
in which he discussed kidnapping, rape, murder, and cannibalism. The
FBI divided them chats into two groups, ones they felt
were fake and ones that they thought were real. In
twenty one out of twenty four of these cases, the
FBI had no choice but to conclude the exchanges were

(01:00:14):
clearly fictional roleplay. For instance, Gilberto told others that he
had a woman from his top ten list named Amanda
bound and gagged in his basement and that he planned
to sell her for three and a half thousand dollars.
This wasn't true at all. In fact, the only real

(01:00:34):
world event mentioned in Gilberto's fictional chats was his brunch
with Charlotte. Everything else he discussed had no direct links
to reality. Still, the FBI concluded that Gilberto engaged in
three real exchanges aimed at conducting criminal behavior with Moody
Blues Mike Vanheires eighty one and Ali Kahan, targeting Charlotte,

(01:00:59):
Marissa and j Jackie, respectively. The defense emphasized that the
chats Gilberto had with these men contained the same language
as the fictitious conversations, sometimes word for word. Additionally, the
so called real chats were filled with plenty of fictitious

(01:01:19):
content as well, such as Gilberto's claims that he had
a human sized oven and a remote house up in
the mountains. During the year long communication, none of the
men involved ever took any serious steps to meet up.
They never tried to uncover each other's real identities either.

(01:01:41):
Gilberto routinely lied to the others about his age, marital status,
job work hours, and where he lived. Their communication was sporadic,
often with months passing between chats, causing them to forget
what had previously been discussed. Although they sometimes set dates

(01:02:02):
for kidnappings, Gilberto never took any action on those days.
One time, he made separate plans with each of the
men to abduct three different women on the same day.
One was from Manhattan, one from Ohio, and the third
from Pakistan. Not only did he not follow through on

(01:02:22):
any of these plans, the dates passed without comment, explanation,
or follow up from the others. Gilberto even fabricated details
about the women on his list. While he did give
out their first names, every other detail such as their
last names, addresses, occupations, and dates of birth were false.

(01:02:46):
Despite repeated requests, he never provided identifying information that would
allow anyone to actually find the women. The trial's first
witness was Gilberto's wife, Jackie. Her appearance on the stand
marked the first time the two had seen each other

(01:03:06):
since Jackie left their apartment in tears after discovering Gilberto's
secret life. Jackie avoided making my contact with Gilberto as
she explained how she accidentally uncovered a girl meet hunter.
She also described strange behaviors Gilberto exhibited in the months
leading up to the discovery. She said he became angry

(01:03:30):
when she threw away an old suitcase of his, raising
questions about whether it was the one he intended to
use to abduct Marissa from Mike Vanhuires eighty one. Gilberto
claimed he never got angry or really cared about the
discarded suitcase. He merely found it odd that Jackie got
rid of it. She said that Gilberto encouraged her to

(01:03:54):
start jogging at night and began asking questions about her route,
including where exactly she went, whether it was well lit,
and if there were people around. Although there was nothing
in his online communications to support it, it was speculated
that Gilberto had been gathering information about his wife's movements

(01:04:15):
for a co conspirator. Gilberto said he was only ever
curious to know about Jackie's jogging route to see if
she was challenging herself by running up steep inclines in
their neighborhood or sticking to flat ground. Jackie painted Gilberto
as a disengaged father who rarely helped with their baby

(01:04:36):
and often appeared despondent, sighing in a way that made
her feel as though she was wasting his time. Overall,
she described their marriage poorly. Gilberto felt the opposite. To him,
the year that they had a child and tied the
knot was a good one, full of love and celebration.

(01:04:59):
He said he loved his daughter and described to Jackie
as his best friend. Text messages Jackie sent Gilberto throughout
twenty twelve showed affection and care. She wrote about how
much she loved him, how he made her smile, excitedly,
planned family activities, called him good to her, and referred

(01:05:19):
to him as the best when he agreed to bring
home ice cream and cookies. While Gilberto acknowledged that his
computer use and hidden sexual proclivities had created some distance
and a lulling intimacy. Things were overall good at home,
with plenty of great moments, and it wasn't until Jackie

(01:05:39):
discovered a girl meat Hunter that she began to view
their time together differently. It was Jackie who turned Gilberto
into the FBI. She handed over her laptop and authorized
agents to copy its hard drive. She also gave them
keys to the couple's apartment and consented to the seizure

(01:06:00):
of another computer Gilberto had used before it malfunctioned. When
the defense asked to meet Jackie before the trial, she snapped,
you're representing the man who wants to kill me. No,
I don't want to talk to you. Jackie was the

(01:06:21):
only woman on Gilberto's top ten list who had anything
bad to say about him at his trial. While all
the other women whom Gilberto fantasized about were disturbed to
learn about what he'd done, none of them reported ever
feeling threatened or uneasy around him. In real life. During
his time as girl Meet Hunter, he'd stopped by one

(01:06:42):
of the women's workplaces to say hello, had seen others
in passing at social events, and visited another in the
hospital after she had a baby. At those times, he
was typically accompanied by his wife for a colleague, and
nothing sinister had ever occurred. The prosecution placed significant emphasis

(01:07:03):
on the brunch meeting Gilberto had with Charlotte in July.
Charlotte was a former college classmate of Gilberto's who lived
in Maryland. The two had kept in touch over the years,
and it was Charlotte who had asked to meet up.
According to Charlotte, the branch had been pleasant and entirely normal.

(01:07:26):
Gilberto had even brought his wife and daughter. In her opinion,
he was a doting father who appeared to have a
good relationship with the Jackie. She didn't get any sense
that he was plotting anything nefarious. When Gilberto returned home,
he immediately rushed to his computer to message his friend

(01:07:48):
Moody Blues that Charlotte looked mouth wading. Gilberto explained, this,
as much as a fantasy like this may not be
normal and my be shocking to many, it is no
different than if I were to see a woman I
knew for lunch and told a buddy of mine men
she looked hot. He didn't speak with Moody Blues for

(01:08:11):
a month after this exchange, at which point the pair
never mentioned Charlotte again. The defense claimed that Gilberto used
his wife and their friends as the objects of his
fantasies because sexual fantasies often include those we know or
find attractive, not because he actually intended to harm these

(01:08:32):
specific women. As Gilberto's trial neared its conclusion, public perception
of him had shifted. The prosecution's lack of concrete evidence
led many to label the case a sham. Newspaper reports
criticized the FBI for cherry picking statements to construct a

(01:08:55):
narrative that ultimately amounted to nothing. In the of many,
the defense had successfully underscored the absurdity of the chargers.
For example, why would an experienced police officer need to
google how to kidnap someone if he were truly intent
on doing so. At times, the courtroom even broke into

(01:09:18):
laughter at the sheer implausibility of the evidence being presented.
The second charge, unauthorized access to a law enforcement database,
had also lost traction. Gilberto admitted to making unauthorized searchers,
calling them stupid, reckless, and wrong. He said he had

(01:09:38):
run many names over the years, including members of his
own family. He explained that he sometimes entered a random
name into the database when turning on the mobile data
computer in his patrol car just to test if the
device was working. He had developed to this habit after
an NYPD officer was shot when approaching a sus specked vehicle.

(01:10:01):
The officer hadn't been able to run the license plate
beforehand because his mobile data computer wasn't working. Aside from Jackie,
the only other person from Gilberto's list that he had
actually looked up on the database was his high school crush, Chloe.
It was found that he had only searched her name

(01:10:22):
once during his time as girl meet hunter, but he
didn't do it to gather intelligence. Chloe testified that she
had reached out to Gilberto after getting into a car
accident because she needed the report number. Although Gilberto wasn't
technically supposed to do this, it wasn't uncommon for officers

(01:10:44):
to misuse the system, and he had run Chloe's name
through the database to get the number for her. The
defense moved to have the case dismissed, arguing that the
government had fallen far short of meeting its burden of proof. However,
the judge allowed the trial to proceed in full, while

(01:11:04):
underscoring one critical point to the jury there is almost
no evidence of action by Gilberto Valley beyond computer based activities.
In their closing arguments, the prosecution contended that Gilberto's fantasies

(01:11:25):
were unacceptable and that the pornography he indulged in was
quote not normal pornography for any human being. They argued
that the defense was attempting to convince the jury of
ideas that defied common sense, including that it was acceptable
for an armed police officer to go about his day

(01:11:47):
making detailed plans about killing real women. In their closing statements,
the defense compared the case to the nineteen thirty eight
CBS radio broadcast of The War of the World Worlds,
which was presented as a series of realistic news bulletins
about a Martian invasion of Earth. Many listeners who turned

(01:12:09):
in late missed the opening disclaimer that it was a dramatization,
resulting in widespread panic. They also drew parallels to George
Orwell's dystopian novel nineteen eighty four, specifically the thought police,
whose role was not just to punish crimes, but to
detect and eliminate thought crime, any thinking that contradicted the

(01:12:32):
state's ideology. The defense argued, you can't convict people for
their thoughts, even if they're sick. The jury deliberated for
more than two full days before returning a verdict. They
found Gilberto Valley guilty of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, as

(01:12:56):
well as guilty of the unauthorised use of a federal database.
The decision sent shockwaves through the courtroom and beyond. Despite
personal opinions of Gilberto's disturbing fantasies, the prevailing belief among
the press, the public, and trial observers was that the

(01:13:17):
defense would win. Instead, Gilberto received the maximum penalty life
in prison on the kidnapping conspiracy charge, along with a
concurrent twelve month sentence for database misuse. Speaking to the
press after the verdict, lead defense attorney Julia Gatto remarked,

(01:13:40):
obviously the case involved thoughts that were unusual and bizarre
and frankly, very ugly. We think that the jury just
couldn't get past that. Defense attorney Robert Baum added, we
were always worried that that thought would prevail over an
object active, rational, non emotional view of the evidence. People

(01:14:05):
can be prosecuted for their thoughts and convicted, which is
even sadder to think about. One juror later spoke anonymously
for the HBO documentary Thought Crimes, The Case of the
Cannibal cop. They said the entire jury had immediately agreed
that Gilberto was guilty of the unauthorized database usage. It

(01:14:29):
was the kidnapping conspiracy that required longer deliberation. While all
the jurors acknowledged that Gilberto had problems, some felt more
strongly than others that he was guilty of that charge.
For the jura being interviewed, the fact that Gilberto had
shared photos of real women he knew was what made

(01:14:52):
his actions more than just fantasy. However, it was Gilberto's
discussions with Moody Blue about Charlotte that truly shifted the
jury's perception. According to the jura, his trip to Maryland
to visit Charlotte, along with the document titled Abducting and
Cooking Charlotte a Blueprint, made it very real to the

(01:15:16):
jury that any one of the women could have wound
up a murder victim. Gilberto Valley appealed his conviction, with
the case heard in July twenty fourteen. In delivering his findings,
the presiding judge described Gilberto's online communications as deviant, depraved,

(01:15:39):
and misogynistic, but noted that they contained a veritable avalanche
of false, fictitious, and fantastical information concerning himself and the
steps he had allegedly taken to facilitate a kidnapping. The
judge ruled that, based on the evidence, it was more

(01:15:59):
likely than not that all of Gilberto's online communications about
kidnapping were just fantasy role play. His chats and emails
about these topics by themselves were not enough to prove
the legal elements of a conspiracy to commit kidnapping. The
conspiracy charge was overturned, while the charge for unauthorized the

(01:16:23):
use of a federal database was upheld. By that point,
Gilberto had already spent twenty one months in solitary confinement
due to his protective status as a former police officer.
He was sentenced to time served and promptly released under
the conditions of one year of probation, ongoing mental health treatment,

(01:16:45):
and various restrictions, including no contact with the women involved
in the case and no Internet use. He remained in
home confinement at his mother's house while the prosecution pursued
their own appeal. The matter was fully resolved in the
second U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December twenty fifteen,

(01:17:09):
in a two to one ruling, the court rejected the
prosecutor's arguments and upheld Gilberto's appeal. While the decision acknowledged
that fantasies of violence against women contribute to a culture
of exploitation and are a massive social harm that demeans women,
the court emphasized that not every harm is meant to

(01:17:31):
be addressed with the federal criminal law. The Second Circuit
also reversed to Gilberto's unauthorized database usage conviction. Outside the courtroom,
Gilberto Valley offered a formal apology to everyone who had
been hurt, shocked, or offended by what he described as

(01:17:51):
his infantile actions. Speaking to the women involved, he said,
I just hope they know they were never in danger.
I would never do the things I talked about on
the internet.

Speaker 2 (01:18:06):
Never.

Speaker 4 (01:18:08):
He reiterated that he was incapable of violence, while acknowledging
that his words alone wouldn't mean anything unless he rebuilt
his life. Taking full responsibility, he added, it was my
fault for doing all this. That's not who I really am.
People who know me never believed the allegations Gilberto's co conspirator,

(01:18:35):
Moody Blues was later identified as fifty seven year old
Dale Bollinger, a nurse from Canterbury, England. He also faced
conspiracy charges related to the Girl Meet Hunter case, as
well as additional charges for separate offenses, including grooming an
underage girl and possession of child abuse images. Bollinger was

(01:18:58):
convicted on eleven charges and sentenced to nine years in prison,
though he was released after roughly three years for good behavior.
He relocated to the American state of Nebraska, but when
local residents raised concerns about him living near a playground,
he was taken into custody and transferred to a treatment

(01:19:19):
facility for sex offenders. Gilberto's second co conspirator, Mike van
Hires eighty one, had used his real name as his
online username. Van Hires was a twenty three year old
mechanic from New Jersey. He was also charged and found
guilty of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and sentenced to seven

(01:19:42):
years in prison. His reduced sentence reflected his cooperation with authorities,
a troubled childhood, and the court's determination that he was
less culpable than Gilberto. The third co accused, Ali Kahan
was identified as a min from Pakistan, though his full

(01:20:02):
identity remains unknown. Gilberto Valley has spoken publicly about his
experience through various media interviews and engagements. He was featured
in the HBO documentary on his case and author a
memoir titled Raw Deal, The Untold Story of the NYPD's

(01:20:25):
Cannibal Cop. He appeared in person at Crime Con in
twenty nineteen, and his case inspired an episode of Law
and Order Special Victims Unit titled Thought Criminal. Reactions to
Gilberto's outcome remained mixed. While some people accept his claims
of fantasy, others believe he genuinely intended to harm women

(01:20:49):
and that he remains a danger to society. He has
received letters from supporters, including individuals with unconventional and morbid
fetish of their own. He has also received messages from
people expressing their desire to put a bullet in his head.

(01:21:10):
Gilberto claims he is unbothered by such remarks, explaining they
can't overlook the fact that they can say that and
have nothing happen to them, in part because of how
my case played out. You can dislike me as much
as you want. You can say he's a scumbag. He's
a piece of garbage. But if you look at the

(01:21:32):
case merely from a legal perspective, there's one conclusion you
can reach. This is the country of second chances. I'm
holding out hope that people who make mistakes don't have
to be forever defined by those mistakes. To this day,

(01:21:52):
the case continues to spark dialogue on several contentious issues,
including the distinction between thought and action, the role of
online platforms, media and public sensationalism, and free speech, and
legal precedent. It is often cited as an example of
thought policing, where someone is punished for their ideas rather

(01:22:15):
than their actions. Speaking about the case, the policy director
for the American Civil Liberties Union, Lee Roland, said, there
is always reasonable doubt about whether or not someone is
going to take a particular action. Police officers don't have
some magical psychic wand that allows them to know either.

(01:22:39):
We don't want to give the government the ability to
decide what fantasies meet the thought police's bar for acceptability.
That bar is rightly high. If the First Amendment protects
someone fantasizing about violently raping and killing and eating a woman,
it's going to protect pretty much anything you're thinking about

(01:23:01):
and to that's what principles mean. They make us uncomfortable,
and we apply them regardless