October 9, 2025 • 32 mins
When the Magad family welcomed an orphaned girl named Janice into their home, they thought they were giving her the gift of love and a second chance at life. But kindness turned to horror when Janice’s jealousy and obsession with belonging led to one of the most gruesome and shocking murder cases in Philippine history. Her story eerily mirrors the movie Orphan (2009) — except this time, it wasn’t fiction.
In this episode, you’ll learn how a desperate Facebook post became the first sign of tragedy, how chilling forensic evidence revealed the truth, and how a 17-year-old girl orchestrated the murder of the very family who took her in. This is the story of Janice Magad, the adopted daughter who turned love into death.
In this episode, you’ll learn how a desperate Facebook post became the first sign of tragedy, how chilling forensic evidence revealed the truth, and how a 17-year-old girl orchestrated the murder of the very family who took her in. This is the story of Janice Magad, the adopted daughter who turned love into death.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
They say kindness is the best gift you can give,
But what if that gift turns into your worst nightmare.
That's exactly what happened when Janis posted this chilling status
on Facebook begging for help, saying she and her siblings
were under attack. What no one knew at the time
was that this cry for help would spark one of
the most horrifying and shocking cases the Philippines had ever witnessed.
(00:23):
The case was so disturbingly gruesome and eerily bizarre that
it's compared to a famous movie. And by the time
you reach the end of this video, you'll be questioning
every act of kindness you've ever given and just how
horrifying it can be when it falls into the wrong hands.
(00:43):
To really get the picture, let's head over to the small,
quiet town of Milan in North Cotabado, Philippines. It's a
place known for its calm vibe and rural charm, where
life moves at a slower pace. People here are deeply
connected to the land, relying on agriculture for their livelihood,
growing staples like rice, corn, and vegetables. In this peaceful
(01:08):
town lived the Magwod family. Unlike many others, they led
a pretty stable life. Cruz Magwad, the father, was an
elementary school teacher. He was well respected and loved by everyone,
constantly being praised for his hard work. A promotion was
even on the horizon, which meant he was doing pretty
well financially. His wife, Lavella, was the principal at the
(01:30):
same school. Together, they didn't make crazy money, but they
were considered one of the more privileged families in town.
Their youngest child, Lewis, also known as boy Boy, was sixteen.
He dreamed of becoming a lawyer even at his young age,
and he was determined to work hard to get there.
Aside from being smart, he was also creative, playing guitar, drawing,
(01:55):
and reading in his spare time. Gwen, his older sister,
was the more intense one, super smart, driven and goal oriented.
She had always been this way as a kid. She
was a girl scout and her sash was covered in
so many badges that there was no room for more.
Gwen didn't just stop there. She enrolled in a pre
(02:18):
med prep program during high school and planned to become
a doctor. By all accounts, Gwen was the type of
person who would sit with you at a party if
you were feeling shy, sticking by your side until you
felt at ease. That's exactly how she met seventeen year
old Janis. But unlike Gwen and Lewis, Janis's childhood was
far from happy. She wasn't privileged enough to attend school
(02:42):
and had to work from a very young age. Even worse,
she grew up without parents. Her first real memory started
when she was around eight years old. Before that, everything
was a blur. She only remembers being found by a
stranger wandering alone on a huge shipping container boat. Her
parents were nowhere to be found, and Janis believed they
(03:02):
had abandoned her. The stranger was kind enough to post
her picture and name online trying to find her parents.
They shared her story on Facebook and various online forums,
but no one ever came forward. Eventually, Janis was dropped
off at the Philippines version of CPS, the Department of
Social Welfare and Development, where she moved from one foster
(03:24):
home to another. Not long after, Janis was offered a
live in nanny job by a family. Though she hated
the job, she was incredibly grateful for the opportunity. Janis
shared all of this with Gwen and Gwen was so
deeply moved by her story that an idea began to
form in her mind, an idea that could give Janis
(03:45):
the safe, loving home she deserved adoption. Gwen, together with Louis,
decided to present the idea to their parents like a
well thought out thesis. They approached the subject with serious dedication,
telling their parents that adopting Janis wouldn't just change her life,
it would help their family too. They convinced their parents
(04:08):
that Janis could pitch in with the chores around the house,
which was a big deal. In their Asian family culture,
it wasn't uncommon for children to share the responsibility of
washing dishes, cleaning, and cooking. With one more set of
hands to help, the family would run more smoothly. Gwen's
parents weren't exactly rolling in money, but they believed in
(04:31):
teaching responsibility. The kids had chores, had to keep their
grades up, and attend church every Sunday. They were strict,
but it was out of love, and Gwen and Lewis
respected that. That strong connection gave Gwen and Lewis the
courage to ask for something as big as adopting Janis.
(04:51):
In twenty twenty one, Janis moved in and it was
like she was instantly part of the family. The Magwads
welcomed her with open arms. Lewis even gave up his
own room just so Janis could have a more comfortable one.
They enrolled her in school right away, and for the
first time, Janie didn't wake up with the constant worry
(05:12):
of finding food or going to work. She was finally
allowed to be a kid. As Janice settled into her
new life, the bond between the three siblings grew stronger
by the day. You could see the happiness shining through,
especially in the videos they posted on TikTok. Janis even
got to experience a family vacation for the first time,
(05:34):
something she had always dreamed of. Laughter filled the air
as they explored new places together, creating memories she would
cherish forever. For once, Janis felt like she belonged to
something bigger, something safe and full of love. But just
when everything seemed perfect, Janis's world was about to shatter.
(05:56):
On the tenth of December that same year, she posted
a series of statuses on Facebook claiming that she and
her siblings were under attack. It was just days before Christmas,
a time that should have been filled with joy, but
instead it was the beginning of a nightmare. At that time,
mister Cruz, the father, was at school doing some chores
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related to the upcoming holiday. Lavella, the mother, was away
on a work trip. But everything changed when mister Cruse
received a phone call that left him frozen in terror.
The voice on the other end told him that their
home was being ransacked and his children were there. By
three fifteen in the afternoon, crews finally arrived at the house.
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It was eerily silent outside the front door. His eyes
locked onto a blood soaked blanket on the ground with
a knife near by. He called out for his kids,
but there was no response. He moved quickly to the
back door and managed to find a way inside. Cruse
moved rapidly through the house, his voice echoing off the
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walls as he searched for his children. It wasn't until
he entered the living room that his worst nightmare became
a horrifying reality. There lying on the floor was his daughter, Gwen.
A towel soaked in blood was wrapped around her body.
Her limbs and torso were covered in multiple slash wounds,
(07:21):
but it was the injuries on her neck that were
particularly severe. Crime scene photos later revealed the gruesome extent
of the wounds. Her flesh was torn apart, and ants
had already begun to gather on her body. Not far
from Gwen, near the main door, Cruz found Louis. His
hands and feet were bound and a gag covered his mouth.
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His body was riddled with fresh stab wounds. The amount
of blood suggested the attack had happened just moments before
Cruz arrived, but there was one more person missing, Janis.
Cruz's heart pounded as he continued to search the house,
calling her name. Then finally Janice appeared. She emerged from
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her room, her hair wet, her face pale and shaken.
She was in shock, barely able to speak. Seeing her,
crews immediately called the police. The officers arrived soon after,
stepping into a crime scene that would later be described
as one of the most gruesome in the Philippines. Blood
pooled on the floor and the house bore the marks
(08:24):
of extreme violence. Janus, while trembling, told the officers that
they had been attacked. The house was in disarray, cabinets
had been pried open, and personal belongings were scattered across
the rooms. At first glance, it seemed like a robbery. However,
investigators knew that appearances could be deceiving. They needed to
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confirm whether anything valuable had been taken to solidify the
robbery theory. At the same time, as part of their protocol,
the police didn't rule out the parents as persons of interest.
They needed to confirm their alibis and whereabouts during the attack.
The investigators turned their attention to the room where Janis
said she was hiding during the attack. It was messy,
(09:08):
but that wasn't unusual for a robbery scene. What stood out, though,
were the details that didn't add up. The disarray in
the room, though chaotic, didn't have the usual signs of
a real robbery, so the police began to search the
house more carefully, and they soon found some crucial evidence.
Just outside the front door, the police discovered a blood
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stained shirt, which they believed had been dropped by the
attacker while trying to escape, and about one hundred meters
away they found a plastic bag and a ditch. Inside
it were bloody pants and underwear. It seemed like the
attacker had deliberately thrown these items away to hide evidence.
Inside the house, the scene was increasingly horrifying. Near the
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front door, officers found a knife with a broken handle,
its blades slick with blood. The living room floor was
littered with shards of glass and broken bottles, a clear
sign of the violence that had unfolded. There, expansive pools
of blood painted a grim picture revealing the brutal nature
of the attack. Among the carnage, investigators discovered a discarded machete,
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a baseball bat, and a hammer, each stained with blood.
These weapons were assumed to be used in the murders.
Crime Scene analysts took careful note of the blood patterns,
which provided key insights into the sequence of events. They
determined that Gwen, the older sibling, had likely been killed first.
Her blood had partially coagulated and rigor mortis had already
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begun to set in. In contrast, Louis's blood appeared much fresher,
suggesting he had been murdered shortly after Gwen. The different
states of the blood and bodies made this theory even
more plausible. Louis's hands and feet were bound, while Gwen's
were not. This discrepancy indicated that Gwen might have been
ambushed and killed quickly. While Lewis was restrained, likely to
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prevent him from resisting before his own murder. The variety
of weapons found at the scene, ranging from a broken
knife to a machete, baseball bat, and hammer, raised troubling
questions for the investigative team. The fact that so many
different tools were used and that the victims had distinctive
types of wounds strongly suggested the involvement of more than
(11:25):
one attacker. This theory was supported by the fact that
Louis had been restrained. It would have been difficult for
a single person to control a victim while also carrying
out such a brutal attack. Adding to the mystery, Cruz
the sibling's father confirmed that the weapons found at the
scene were his. The murderers seemed to have used tools
(11:47):
that were readily available in the house, which made the
crime even more unsettling. By the way, I post true
crime and new cases here every week, so if that
sounds like your kind of thing, please can consider subscribing.
It helps a lot. As investigators continued to gather evidence,
they found something that stood out. The family's laundry machine
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had been used, but there were no freshly washed clothes
anywhere in the house. This odd discovery suggested that something
unusual had happened after the crime, perhaps an attempt to
erase evidence or cover their tracks. The extreme brutality of
the crime prompted local authorities to launch a man hunt
for the suspects. The public was shocked and the need
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for justice became urgent. To help with the investigation, the
vice of the Municipal Council of Milang North Codabado announced
a reward of two hundred thousand pesos for any information
leading to the capture of the perpetrators. The mayor also
offered an additional fifty thousand pesos as a bounty. These
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actions emphasized the gravity of the case and the community's
desperate need for answers. An autopsy was perfer formed on
Gwen and Lewis, spanning two days starting on December thirteenth,
twenty twenty one, and the results were chilling. Gwen had
sustained thirty two stab and slash wounds, some of which
were deep enough to almost sever her limbs. One of
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her ears had been cut off, and her neck and
upper arm were nearly severed. Her body also showed signs
of blunt force trauma, likely caused by the hammer and
baseball bat found at the scene. Additionally, the backs of
her hands were bruised and covered in defensive wounds, indicating
that she had fought fiercely until the end. Meanwhile, Louis
had endured fifty one knife wounds, some so deep that
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they exposed his bone and internal organs. Red marks on
his neck suggested he may have been strangled. Unlike his sister,
Louis had no defensive wounds, implying that he was caught
off guard and unable to fight back. He also had
signs of blunt force trauma on his limbs and torso.
All these injuries were consistent with the weapons recovered at
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the scene. Investigators quickly ruled out the possibility of a
robbery gone wrong. The scene had been staged, while the
rooms appeared ransacked. Only Gwen's phone was missing. Nothing else
of value had been taken, leading authorities to believe that
the killer or killers were familiar with the victims. It
was also striking that the crime took place in broad daylight,
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which made the entire situation even more unsettling. Before the
autopsy results were made public, rumors began circulating online accusing
Janus of being involved in the crime. These rumors gained
traction due to her survival, the weapons being from the
family home, and the locked front door. The accusations grew
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increasingly intense, with some even threatening Janis. Under the mounting pressure,
the police decided to question her. Janice described the events
of that day. She had been studying with Gwen in
her bedroom while Louis was downstairs in the life living room.
Suddenly they heard Louis screaming and three men broke into
the house. The two girls rushed downstairs and saw the
(15:07):
three men attacking Louis with the weapons found at the scene.
The attackers then turned on Gwen, and in fear, Janie
fled upstairs, locked herself in the bedroom and hid under
the bed. She was too scared to call the cops,
so instead she texted the family group chat asking for help. Later,
she messaged her adopted mom saying Mom help. When no
(15:32):
one saw those messages, Janis went a step further and
posted on social media saying help, somebody has broken into
the house. I don't want to die. I'm hiding in
my room. Help. After a few minutes, she deleted the post,
worried the attackers might see it and come after her.
She tried calling her mom, but there was no answer.
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By the time someone saw the post and reached out
to her mom, Janis was scared to pick up. She
went as far as changing her social media user name
and turning her phone to silent, clearly trying to hide.
When the house finally fell silent, Janie emerged from her
hiding place, Too afraid to go downstairs, She claimed she
(16:16):
took a shower and changed clothes to calm herself, finishing
just as Cruz arrived home. But there was something odd
about this part of the story. Janis had told the
police she locked herself in her bedroom the second the
attack started, so why did her room look like it
had been ransacked? That raised some serious questions. More importantly,
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Janis's version of events was directly at odds with the
forensic evidence. The autopsy results in the way the injuries
were distributed made it clear that Gwen was the first victim,
not Lewis. This major discrepancy between Janis's account and the
evidence made investigators even more suspicious something wasn't adding up,
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and they started to take a close her look at
Janis's statements. At first, she told the police. Her phone
was off during the attack, but Cruse remembered calling her
phone and hearing it ring with no answer. When Janis
was confronted with this, she changed her story again, now
claiming that she had been in the shower and hadn't
heard her phone ringing. This was starting to sound fishy
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in a case like this. Who on Earth could actually
take a shower while their siblings were being attacked. It's
just hard to wrap your head around, right. But that
wasn't the only thing that raised eyebrows. Cruse also revealed
some things about the murder weapons that added fuel to
the fire. The baseball bat used in the attack originally
belonged to Lewis. He had kept it in his room
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on the top bunk as a kind of protection, but
after being adopted by Cruse, Janis had taken over the
top bunk. The hammer used in the attack was another
tool that Cruz kept around for home repairs. He was
very careful about where he kept it, usually hiding it
behind the washing machine. Crews mentioned that only three people
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knew exactly where that hammer was himself, Gwen, and Janis.
This meant that the killer or killers had to have
known the family's routines and possessions really well, almost like
they had been living in the house with them. Things
got even more suspicious when a delivery driver came forward.
The driver had arrived at the house just eighteen minutes
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before Cruz was contacted by a neighbor who noticed no
one had answered the door. The driver kept calling out,
hoping someone would respond. Eventually, he noticed a woman peering
at him through a door before she suddenly walked away.
The woman's identity was never confirmed, but it raised serious
doubts about where Janice was and what she was doing
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during the crucial moments of the attack. Another key clue
came from the front door. It had been locked from
the inside and there were no signs of forced entry.
This was a big deal because it meant that whoever
had done this was probably someone who was familiar with
the house, someone who had access to a key and
could lock the door after the crime. At this point,
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it's pretty clear that Janis had something to do with
the murders. However, since Janis was only seventeen years old,
still a minor under Philippine law, the police couldn't arrest
her without solid proof. This legal issue made them tread carefully,
as they couldn't move forward with an arrest until they
had more definitive evidence. Instead of arresting her right away,
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the authorities placed Janis under the care of the Social
Welfare Department while the investigation turned to finding out who
actually committed the murders. If Janis's claim about other people
being involved was true, the police had a lot of
work ahead of them. Five days after the murders, a
significant breakthrough occurred. The police discovered Janis's fingerprints on the
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murder weapons. This was a huge deal, but it wasn't
the smoking gun. After all, Janie had lived in the
house where the weapons were stored, so her prince could
have been there simply from handling them. Still, it was
a lead they couldn't ignore. To ensure she wasn't treated unfairly,
Janis was given a lawyer by the Social Welfare Department.
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But things took another unexpected turn when Lavella, Janis's adoptive mother,
found a contact tracing form while searching Janis's room for clues.
The surprise, it wasn't Janis's form. It belonged to a
seventeen year old boy named Esmeraldo Aldo Canito Junior. Aldo
was a sacristan at a local church, and Janis had
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known him from the orphanage. This discovery sent the police
scrambling to figure out if Aldo had anything to do
with the murders, and soon enough, witnesses came forward confirming
Aldo had been near the crime scene on the day
of the killings. One woman said she saw Aldo drop
Janis off near the house right before the murders, and
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another neighbor said she saw him asking for directions to
the house that morning. When shown a picture of Aldo,
the woman immediately recognized him. Then on December sixteenth, six
days after the murder, Janis, with her lawyer present, gave
a full confession. She admitted to being involved in the
murders along with Aldo and her so called twenty one
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year old boyfriend, who was unnamed. Janie explained that her
motive was deep resentment and jealousy. She felt that Gwen
and Louis were getting all the love and attention from
their parents, and in her mind, they were standing in
the way of her getting the affection she had longed for.
She even confessed that killing them would leave her as
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the only child in the family, guaranteeing she'd get all
the love and attention she'd recently started experiencing after being adopted.
Janis revealed that her ultimate goal was to take Gwen's
place in the family, driven by years of emotional neglect
in the orphanage where she had grown up. By December eighteenth,
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Janis's confession was officially recorded, though it was inconsistent, much
like many of her previous statements. The police tracked down Aldo,
who voluntarily surrendered, admitting his role too. Forensic analysis later
confirmed that blood found on discarded clothing in a ditch
belonged to Aldo. Like Janis, Aldo was a miner, so
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he was placed under the care of the social welfare department.
Later that same day, in an unrelated drug raid, police
arrested a seventeen year old for possession of illegal substances.
When they searched his phone, they found something that tied
him to the case gwen stolen cell phone. The serial
number confirmed it had been taken after the murders. The
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police pieced it together. Janis had enlisted Aldo to sell
the phone because she couldn't get rid of it herself
due to growing suspicion. Unfortunately, the phone had been water damaged,
making it impossible to retrieve any useful data. The boy
who had the phone wasn't involved in the murders. He
had simply bought it from Aldo. Because Janis and Aldo
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were miners, the police couldn't release any juicy details about
their confessions to the public, despite the parents pressing for information.
As the investigation progressed, Janice stopped cooperating, making it even
harder to figure out exactly what had happened. Later on,
it was revealed that Janis's twenty one year old boyfriend
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was just her imaginary boyfriend, and that really makes you
question everything, especially since she had further stated that there
were three people involved in the attack. Some people believed
Janis's confessions weren't even the full story. Whispers circulated that
the murders were even worse than she had let on,
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like the possibility that Louis was tied up and forced
to watch as his sister was murdered before he was
killed as well. After the shocking confessions, Lavella, the sibling's mother,
was interviewed and reflected on the warning signs she missed.
According to Lovella, they had adopted Janis five months before
the murders. At first, everything seemed fine. The family welcomed
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her and she appeared grateful, but soon small red flags
started to show. In August twenty twenty one, when Lovella's
parents were hospitalized with COVID nineteen, Creuz noticed that ten
thousand pesos about one hundred seventy dollars set aside for emergencies,
was missing. Janis claimed thieves had taken it, but the
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next day a large sum was found hidden in her
school bag. After some questioning, Janis admitted she had taken
the money. Despite the breach of trust, the family, particularly Gwen,
chose to forgive her. They were sympathetic to her troubled past,
chalking up the theft to the survival instincts she had
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developed after years of hardship. Janis apologized and the family,
hoping this was a one time mistake, accepted it, believing
the worst was behind them. But as months passed, Janis's
behavior started to shift in unsettling ways. Once known for
her strong work ethic, which had been one of the
reasons the family adopted her, she became lazy and irresponsible.
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Household chores were neglected, and when reminded, she apologized but
never followed through. While troubling, it didn't raise any immediate
alarms until the morning of the murders. That day, Janis
did something she had never done before. She called Cruise
and Lavella mom and Dad for the first time. It
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was a small gesture, but it felt like a red flag,
an indication of a deeper, darker shift in her emotional state.
It was as if something had clicked in her mind
and what was about to happen was set in motion.
As the investigation unfolded, more shocking truths came to light.
Janis had lied about her origins from the start. Her
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story of being an orphan was a fabrication. Her parents
were alive and had spent years desperately searching for her.
When the case went viral, Filipino amateur sleuths dug into
her past and uncovered a nearly decade old missing person's notice.
Like I mentioned earlier, Janis was discovered by a stranger
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in a cargo boat back in twenty thirteen, but no
one could recognize her at the time. Her parents, especially
her mom, weren't really active on Facebook back then, so
they missed the post. Fast forward to the murders, and
that same post started making rounds online again. It didn't
take long for Janis's biological parents to recognize her. Born
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in two thousand and five, Janis was the youngest of
three kids, but her childhood was filled with care chaos.
Her dad's gambling addiction tore the family apart, and her mom,
after remarrying, tried to make the best of things by
splitting up what little they had left for her kids. Eventually,
Janis and her siblings were placed in different orphanages. By
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twenty twenty, Janie had actually reunited with her biological family,
but that didn't last long. Her relatives later claimed she
cut them off, saying they were too poor to be
of any use to her. That betrayal shocked everyone, but
things took a darker turn when Janie's biological mother, devastated
by what her daughter had done, attended the funeral of
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Gwen and Louis. In her grief, she kept apologizing, full
of guilt over her daughter's actions. In one heartbreaking moment,
Janis's biological mom even kneeled down. But the Maguad parents
weren't out for revenge. They made it clear that they
weren't angry, just seeking justice. They insisted that Janice's biological
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mom encourage her daughter to confess. Janice's mother tried to
visit her at the Social Welfare office, but Janice refused
to see her, citing strict rules. Then the investigation took
a jaw dropping turn. Evidence surfaced that suggested the murders
were premeditated. Screenshots of a conversation between Janie and an
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unknown person went viral. In the messages, Janice confessed that
she wanted to kill her siblings, thinking their deaths would
give her the freedom she craved. She even wondered if
anyone would still accept her if she committed murder, expressing
a chilling belief that no matter what she did, God
would forgive her if she just asked. Some sources later
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claimed that Janice often talked about the two thousand nine
horror movie Orphan, a film about a young girl adopted
by a family who ultimately betrays and kills them. She
even posted on Facebook that she loved the movie and
watched it repeatedly. When Janis's trial began, her behavior was
just as disturbing as the crime itself. She was seen
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smiling and laughing at her parents, showing no remorse or
regret Cruz and Lavella, devastated by the loss of their children,
said in interviews that they might have forgiven Janis if
she had shown even a hint of genuine remorse, but
her coldness only made their pain worse. The case became
a national sensation in the Philippines from March twenty twenty two,
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when Janie and Esmeraldo were officially charged with murder, to
their conviction on May seventeenth, twenty twenty two. The case
was closely followed by the public. Janis was sentenced to
thirty one years in prison, while Esmeraldo received a twenty
nine year sentence. However, both sentences came with one condition.
They would serve them under the Department of Social Welfare
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and Development supervision until their twenty first birthdays, after which
they'd be transferred to adult prisons. Gwen and Lewis's parents
had mixed feelings about the trial's outcome. While they recognized
that the courts handed down the toughest punishment possible under
the law, they felt the laws were too soft. The
biggest issue, though, was Janus's complete lack of remorse. Crews
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and Lavella were outspoken against Republic Act nine thousand, three
hundred forty four, which limits the legal accountability of miners.
According to the law, the minimum age for criminal liability
is fifteen, and individuals between the ages of fifteen and
eighteen can be held accountable, but they are sent to
youth centers or rehab programs instead of adult prisons. This
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law prevents miners like Janis from being tried as adults,
even for heinous crimes like hers. Many argued that kids
shouldn't be capable of planning or committing such brutal acts.
In the US and other countries, miners committing these kinds
of crimes would have been tried as adults. Crews and
Lavella felt strongly that Janis's age shouldn't excuse her from
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taking full responsibility, especially for such a violent and premeditated crime.
This view was shared by many who felt the law
was too lenient in cases like this. The couple publicly
called for changes to the law, wanting those who commit
violent acts at a young age to be held fully
accountable for them. The law's focus on rehabilitation rather than
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punishment made them feel that the justice system had failed
their family. Some of the most heartbreaking facts to come
out of the investigation revealed that Gwen almost escaped. She
had the chance to run, but when she heard Janis
calling for help, she went back, hoping to save her
adopted sister. What makes it even more disturbing is that
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Gwen's kindness, her willingness to return to help, was met
with betrayal. Now it's your turn. What's your take on
this case? Do you think the sentences were too light
for the suspects or do you believe the justice system
got it right.
They say kindness is the best gift you can give,
But what if that gift turns into your worst nightmare.
That's exactly what happened when Janis posted this chilling status
on Facebook begging for help, saying she and her siblings
were under attack. What no one knew at the time
was that this cry for help would spark one of
the most horrifying and shocking cases the Philippines had ever witnessed.
(00:23):
The case was so disturbingly gruesome and eerily bizarre that
it's compared to a famous movie. And by the time
you reach the end of this video, you'll be questioning
every act of kindness you've ever given and just how
horrifying it can be when it falls into the wrong hands.
(00:43):
To really get the picture, let's head over to the small,
quiet town of Milan in North Cotabado, Philippines. It's a
place known for its calm vibe and rural charm, where
life moves at a slower pace. People here are deeply
connected to the land, relying on agriculture for their livelihood,
growing staples like rice, corn, and vegetables. In this peaceful
(01:08):
town lived the Magwod family. Unlike many others, they led
a pretty stable life. Cruz Magwad, the father, was an
elementary school teacher. He was well respected and loved by everyone,
constantly being praised for his hard work. A promotion was
even on the horizon, which meant he was doing pretty
well financially. His wife, Lavella, was the principal at the
(01:30):
same school. Together, they didn't make crazy money, but they
were considered one of the more privileged families in town.
Their youngest child, Lewis, also known as boy Boy, was sixteen.
He dreamed of becoming a lawyer even at his young age,
and he was determined to work hard to get there.
Aside from being smart, he was also creative, playing guitar, drawing,
(01:55):
and reading in his spare time. Gwen, his older sister,
was the more intense one, super smart, driven and goal oriented.
She had always been this way as a kid. She
was a girl scout and her sash was covered in
so many badges that there was no room for more.
Gwen didn't just stop there. She enrolled in a pre
(02:18):
med prep program during high school and planned to become
a doctor. By all accounts, Gwen was the type of
person who would sit with you at a party if
you were feeling shy, sticking by your side until you
felt at ease. That's exactly how she met seventeen year
old Janis. But unlike Gwen and Lewis, Janis's childhood was
far from happy. She wasn't privileged enough to attend school
(02:42):
and had to work from a very young age. Even worse,
she grew up without parents. Her first real memory started
when she was around eight years old. Before that, everything
was a blur. She only remembers being found by a
stranger wandering alone on a huge shipping container boat. Her
parents were nowhere to be found, and Janis believed they
(03:02):
had abandoned her. The stranger was kind enough to post
her picture and name online trying to find her parents.
They shared her story on Facebook and various online forums,
but no one ever came forward. Eventually, Janis was dropped
off at the Philippines version of CPS, the Department of
Social Welfare and Development, where she moved from one foster
(03:24):
home to another. Not long after, Janis was offered a
live in nanny job by a family. Though she hated
the job, she was incredibly grateful for the opportunity. Janis
shared all of this with Gwen and Gwen was so
deeply moved by her story that an idea began to
form in her mind, an idea that could give Janis
(03:45):
the safe, loving home she deserved adoption. Gwen, together with Louis,
decided to present the idea to their parents like a
well thought out thesis. They approached the subject with serious dedication,
telling their parents that adopting Janis wouldn't just change her life,
it would help their family too. They convinced their parents
(04:08):
that Janis could pitch in with the chores around the house,
which was a big deal. In their Asian family culture,
it wasn't uncommon for children to share the responsibility of
washing dishes, cleaning, and cooking. With one more set of
hands to help, the family would run more smoothly. Gwen's
parents weren't exactly rolling in money, but they believed in
(04:31):
teaching responsibility. The kids had chores, had to keep their
grades up, and attend church every Sunday. They were strict,
but it was out of love, and Gwen and Lewis
respected that. That strong connection gave Gwen and Lewis the
courage to ask for something as big as adopting Janis.
(04:51):
In twenty twenty one, Janis moved in and it was
like she was instantly part of the family. The Magwads
welcomed her with open arms. Lewis even gave up his
own room just so Janis could have a more comfortable one.
They enrolled her in school right away, and for the
first time, Janie didn't wake up with the constant worry
(05:12):
of finding food or going to work. She was finally
allowed to be a kid. As Janice settled into her
new life, the bond between the three siblings grew stronger
by the day. You could see the happiness shining through,
especially in the videos they posted on TikTok. Janis even
got to experience a family vacation for the first time,
(05:34):
something she had always dreamed of. Laughter filled the air
as they explored new places together, creating memories she would
cherish forever. For once, Janis felt like she belonged to
something bigger, something safe and full of love. But just
when everything seemed perfect, Janis's world was about to shatter.
(05:56):
On the tenth of December that same year, she posted
a series of statuses on Facebook claiming that she and
her siblings were under attack. It was just days before Christmas,
a time that should have been filled with joy, but
instead it was the beginning of a nightmare. At that time,
mister Cruz, the father, was at school doing some chores
(06:18):
related to the upcoming holiday. Lavella, the mother, was away
on a work trip. But everything changed when mister Cruse
received a phone call that left him frozen in terror.
The voice on the other end told him that their
home was being ransacked and his children were there. By
three fifteen in the afternoon, crews finally arrived at the house.
(06:40):
It was eerily silent outside the front door. His eyes
locked onto a blood soaked blanket on the ground with
a knife near by. He called out for his kids,
but there was no response. He moved quickly to the
back door and managed to find a way inside. Cruse
moved rapidly through the house, his voice echoing off the
(07:01):
walls as he searched for his children. It wasn't until
he entered the living room that his worst nightmare became
a horrifying reality. There lying on the floor was his daughter, Gwen.
A towel soaked in blood was wrapped around her body.
Her limbs and torso were covered in multiple slash wounds,
(07:21):
but it was the injuries on her neck that were
particularly severe. Crime scene photos later revealed the gruesome extent
of the wounds. Her flesh was torn apart, and ants
had already begun to gather on her body. Not far
from Gwen, near the main door, Cruz found Louis. His
hands and feet were bound and a gag covered his mouth.
(07:43):
His body was riddled with fresh stab wounds. The amount
of blood suggested the attack had happened just moments before
Cruz arrived, but there was one more person missing, Janis.
Cruz's heart pounded as he continued to search the house,
calling her name. Then finally Janice appeared. She emerged from
(08:04):
her room, her hair wet, her face pale and shaken.
She was in shock, barely able to speak. Seeing her,
crews immediately called the police. The officers arrived soon after,
stepping into a crime scene that would later be described
as one of the most gruesome in the Philippines. Blood
pooled on the floor and the house bore the marks
(08:24):
of extreme violence. Janus, while trembling, told the officers that
they had been attacked. The house was in disarray, cabinets
had been pried open, and personal belongings were scattered across
the rooms. At first glance, it seemed like a robbery. However,
investigators knew that appearances could be deceiving. They needed to
(08:45):
confirm whether anything valuable had been taken to solidify the
robbery theory. At the same time, as part of their protocol,
the police didn't rule out the parents as persons of interest.
They needed to confirm their alibis and whereabouts during the attack.
The investigators turned their attention to the room where Janis
said she was hiding during the attack. It was messy,
(09:08):
but that wasn't unusual for a robbery scene. What stood out, though,
were the details that didn't add up. The disarray in
the room, though chaotic, didn't have the usual signs of
a real robbery, so the police began to search the
house more carefully, and they soon found some crucial evidence.
Just outside the front door, the police discovered a blood
(09:30):
stained shirt, which they believed had been dropped by the
attacker while trying to escape, and about one hundred meters
away they found a plastic bag and a ditch. Inside
it were bloody pants and underwear. It seemed like the
attacker had deliberately thrown these items away to hide evidence.
Inside the house, the scene was increasingly horrifying. Near the
(09:52):
front door, officers found a knife with a broken handle,
its blades slick with blood. The living room floor was
littered with shards of glass and broken bottles, a clear
sign of the violence that had unfolded. There, expansive pools
of blood painted a grim picture revealing the brutal nature
of the attack. Among the carnage, investigators discovered a discarded machete,
(10:16):
a baseball bat, and a hammer, each stained with blood.
These weapons were assumed to be used in the murders.
Crime Scene analysts took careful note of the blood patterns,
which provided key insights into the sequence of events. They
determined that Gwen, the older sibling, had likely been killed first.
Her blood had partially coagulated and rigor mortis had already
(10:38):
begun to set in. In contrast, Louis's blood appeared much fresher,
suggesting he had been murdered shortly after Gwen. The different
states of the blood and bodies made this theory even
more plausible. Louis's hands and feet were bound, while Gwen's
were not. This discrepancy indicated that Gwen might have been
ambushed and killed quickly. While Lewis was restrained, likely to
(11:03):
prevent him from resisting before his own murder. The variety
of weapons found at the scene, ranging from a broken
knife to a machete, baseball bat, and hammer, raised troubling
questions for the investigative team. The fact that so many
different tools were used and that the victims had distinctive
types of wounds strongly suggested the involvement of more than
(11:25):
one attacker. This theory was supported by the fact that
Louis had been restrained. It would have been difficult for
a single person to control a victim while also carrying
out such a brutal attack. Adding to the mystery, Cruz
the sibling's father confirmed that the weapons found at the
scene were his. The murderers seemed to have used tools
(11:47):
that were readily available in the house, which made the
crime even more unsettling. By the way, I post true
crime and new cases here every week, so if that
sounds like your kind of thing, please can consider subscribing.
It helps a lot. As investigators continued to gather evidence,
they found something that stood out. The family's laundry machine
(12:10):
had been used, but there were no freshly washed clothes
anywhere in the house. This odd discovery suggested that something
unusual had happened after the crime, perhaps an attempt to
erase evidence or cover their tracks. The extreme brutality of
the crime prompted local authorities to launch a man hunt
for the suspects. The public was shocked and the need
(12:33):
for justice became urgent. To help with the investigation, the
vice of the Municipal Council of Milang North Codabado announced
a reward of two hundred thousand pesos for any information
leading to the capture of the perpetrators. The mayor also
offered an additional fifty thousand pesos as a bounty. These
(12:53):
actions emphasized the gravity of the case and the community's
desperate need for answers. An autopsy was perfer formed on
Gwen and Lewis, spanning two days starting on December thirteenth,
twenty twenty one, and the results were chilling. Gwen had
sustained thirty two stab and slash wounds, some of which
were deep enough to almost sever her limbs. One of
(13:15):
her ears had been cut off, and her neck and
upper arm were nearly severed. Her body also showed signs
of blunt force trauma, likely caused by the hammer and
baseball bat found at the scene. Additionally, the backs of
her hands were bruised and covered in defensive wounds, indicating
that she had fought fiercely until the end. Meanwhile, Louis
had endured fifty one knife wounds, some so deep that
(13:39):
they exposed his bone and internal organs. Red marks on
his neck suggested he may have been strangled. Unlike his sister,
Louis had no defensive wounds, implying that he was caught
off guard and unable to fight back. He also had
signs of blunt force trauma on his limbs and torso.
All these injuries were consistent with the weapons recovered at
(14:00):
the scene. Investigators quickly ruled out the possibility of a
robbery gone wrong. The scene had been staged, while the
rooms appeared ransacked. Only Gwen's phone was missing. Nothing else
of value had been taken, leading authorities to believe that
the killer or killers were familiar with the victims. It
was also striking that the crime took place in broad daylight,
(14:24):
which made the entire situation even more unsettling. Before the
autopsy results were made public, rumors began circulating online accusing
Janus of being involved in the crime. These rumors gained
traction due to her survival, the weapons being from the
family home, and the locked front door. The accusations grew
(14:45):
increasingly intense, with some even threatening Janis. Under the mounting pressure,
the police decided to question her. Janice described the events
of that day. She had been studying with Gwen in
her bedroom while Louis was downstairs in the life living room.
Suddenly they heard Louis screaming and three men broke into
the house. The two girls rushed downstairs and saw the
(15:07):
three men attacking Louis with the weapons found at the scene.
The attackers then turned on Gwen, and in fear, Janie
fled upstairs, locked herself in the bedroom and hid under
the bed. She was too scared to call the cops,
so instead she texted the family group chat asking for help. Later,
she messaged her adopted mom saying Mom help. When no
(15:32):
one saw those messages, Janis went a step further and
posted on social media saying help, somebody has broken into
the house. I don't want to die. I'm hiding in
my room. Help. After a few minutes, she deleted the post,
worried the attackers might see it and come after her.
She tried calling her mom, but there was no answer.
(15:55):
By the time someone saw the post and reached out
to her mom, Janis was scared to pick up. She
went as far as changing her social media user name
and turning her phone to silent, clearly trying to hide.
When the house finally fell silent, Janie emerged from her
hiding place, Too afraid to go downstairs, She claimed she
(16:16):
took a shower and changed clothes to calm herself, finishing
just as Cruz arrived home. But there was something odd
about this part of the story. Janis had told the
police she locked herself in her bedroom the second the
attack started, so why did her room look like it
had been ransacked? That raised some serious questions. More importantly,
(16:37):
Janis's version of events was directly at odds with the
forensic evidence. The autopsy results in the way the injuries
were distributed made it clear that Gwen was the first victim,
not Lewis. This major discrepancy between Janis's account and the
evidence made investigators even more suspicious something wasn't adding up,
(16:58):
and they started to take a close her look at
Janis's statements. At first, she told the police. Her phone
was off during the attack, but Cruse remembered calling her
phone and hearing it ring with no answer. When Janis
was confronted with this, she changed her story again, now
claiming that she had been in the shower and hadn't
heard her phone ringing. This was starting to sound fishy
(17:21):
in a case like this. Who on Earth could actually
take a shower while their siblings were being attacked. It's
just hard to wrap your head around, right. But that
wasn't the only thing that raised eyebrows. Cruse also revealed
some things about the murder weapons that added fuel to
the fire. The baseball bat used in the attack originally
belonged to Lewis. He had kept it in his room
(17:44):
on the top bunk as a kind of protection, but
after being adopted by Cruse, Janis had taken over the
top bunk. The hammer used in the attack was another
tool that Cruz kept around for home repairs. He was
very careful about where he kept it, usually hiding it
behind the washing machine. Crews mentioned that only three people
(18:05):
knew exactly where that hammer was himself, Gwen, and Janis.
This meant that the killer or killers had to have
known the family's routines and possessions really well, almost like
they had been living in the house with them. Things
got even more suspicious when a delivery driver came forward.
The driver had arrived at the house just eighteen minutes
(18:26):
before Cruz was contacted by a neighbor who noticed no
one had answered the door. The driver kept calling out,
hoping someone would respond. Eventually, he noticed a woman peering
at him through a door before she suddenly walked away.
The woman's identity was never confirmed, but it raised serious
doubts about where Janice was and what she was doing
(18:49):
during the crucial moments of the attack. Another key clue
came from the front door. It had been locked from
the inside and there were no signs of forced entry.
This was a big deal because it meant that whoever
had done this was probably someone who was familiar with
the house, someone who had access to a key and
could lock the door after the crime. At this point,
(19:11):
it's pretty clear that Janis had something to do with
the murders. However, since Janis was only seventeen years old,
still a minor under Philippine law, the police couldn't arrest
her without solid proof. This legal issue made them tread carefully,
as they couldn't move forward with an arrest until they
had more definitive evidence. Instead of arresting her right away,
(19:34):
the authorities placed Janis under the care of the Social
Welfare Department while the investigation turned to finding out who
actually committed the murders. If Janis's claim about other people
being involved was true, the police had a lot of
work ahead of them. Five days after the murders, a
significant breakthrough occurred. The police discovered Janis's fingerprints on the
(19:55):
murder weapons. This was a huge deal, but it wasn't
the smoking gun. After all, Janie had lived in the
house where the weapons were stored, so her prince could
have been there simply from handling them. Still, it was
a lead they couldn't ignore. To ensure she wasn't treated unfairly,
Janis was given a lawyer by the Social Welfare Department.
(20:18):
But things took another unexpected turn when Lavella, Janis's adoptive mother,
found a contact tracing form while searching Janis's room for clues.
The surprise, it wasn't Janis's form. It belonged to a
seventeen year old boy named Esmeraldo Aldo Canito Junior. Aldo
was a sacristan at a local church, and Janis had
(20:41):
known him from the orphanage. This discovery sent the police
scrambling to figure out if Aldo had anything to do
with the murders, and soon enough, witnesses came forward confirming
Aldo had been near the crime scene on the day
of the killings. One woman said she saw Aldo drop
Janis off near the house right before the murders, and
(21:02):
another neighbor said she saw him asking for directions to
the house that morning. When shown a picture of Aldo,
the woman immediately recognized him. Then on December sixteenth, six
days after the murder, Janis, with her lawyer present, gave
a full confession. She admitted to being involved in the
murders along with Aldo and her so called twenty one
(21:25):
year old boyfriend, who was unnamed. Janie explained that her
motive was deep resentment and jealousy. She felt that Gwen
and Louis were getting all the love and attention from
their parents, and in her mind, they were standing in
the way of her getting the affection she had longed for.
She even confessed that killing them would leave her as
(21:46):
the only child in the family, guaranteeing she'd get all
the love and attention she'd recently started experiencing after being adopted.
Janis revealed that her ultimate goal was to take Gwen's
place in the family, driven by years of emotional neglect
in the orphanage where she had grown up. By December eighteenth,
(22:06):
Janis's confession was officially recorded, though it was inconsistent, much
like many of her previous statements. The police tracked down Aldo,
who voluntarily surrendered, admitting his role too. Forensic analysis later
confirmed that blood found on discarded clothing in a ditch
belonged to Aldo. Like Janis, Aldo was a miner, so
(22:29):
he was placed under the care of the social welfare department.
Later that same day, in an unrelated drug raid, police
arrested a seventeen year old for possession of illegal substances.
When they searched his phone, they found something that tied
him to the case gwen stolen cell phone. The serial
number confirmed it had been taken after the murders. The
(22:51):
police pieced it together. Janis had enlisted Aldo to sell
the phone because she couldn't get rid of it herself
due to growing suspicion. Unfortunately, the phone had been water damaged,
making it impossible to retrieve any useful data. The boy
who had the phone wasn't involved in the murders. He
had simply bought it from Aldo. Because Janis and Aldo
(23:13):
were miners, the police couldn't release any juicy details about
their confessions to the public, despite the parents pressing for information.
As the investigation progressed, Janice stopped cooperating, making it even
harder to figure out exactly what had happened. Later on,
it was revealed that Janis's twenty one year old boyfriend
(23:36):
was just her imaginary boyfriend, and that really makes you
question everything, especially since she had further stated that there
were three people involved in the attack. Some people believed
Janis's confessions weren't even the full story. Whispers circulated that
the murders were even worse than she had let on,
(23:56):
like the possibility that Louis was tied up and forced
to watch as his sister was murdered before he was
killed as well. After the shocking confessions, Lavella, the sibling's mother,
was interviewed and reflected on the warning signs she missed.
According to Lovella, they had adopted Janis five months before
the murders. At first, everything seemed fine. The family welcomed
(24:19):
her and she appeared grateful, but soon small red flags
started to show. In August twenty twenty one, when Lovella's
parents were hospitalized with COVID nineteen, Creuz noticed that ten
thousand pesos about one hundred seventy dollars set aside for emergencies,
was missing. Janis claimed thieves had taken it, but the
(24:42):
next day a large sum was found hidden in her
school bag. After some questioning, Janis admitted she had taken
the money. Despite the breach of trust, the family, particularly Gwen,
chose to forgive her. They were sympathetic to her troubled past,
chalking up the theft to the survival instincts she had
(25:03):
developed after years of hardship. Janis apologized and the family,
hoping this was a one time mistake, accepted it, believing
the worst was behind them. But as months passed, Janis's
behavior started to shift in unsettling ways. Once known for
her strong work ethic, which had been one of the
reasons the family adopted her, she became lazy and irresponsible.
(25:28):
Household chores were neglected, and when reminded, she apologized but
never followed through. While troubling, it didn't raise any immediate
alarms until the morning of the murders. That day, Janis
did something she had never done before. She called Cruise
and Lavella mom and Dad for the first time. It
(25:50):
was a small gesture, but it felt like a red flag,
an indication of a deeper, darker shift in her emotional state.
It was as if something had clicked in her mind
and what was about to happen was set in motion.
As the investigation unfolded, more shocking truths came to light.
Janis had lied about her origins from the start. Her
(26:12):
story of being an orphan was a fabrication. Her parents
were alive and had spent years desperately searching for her.
When the case went viral, Filipino amateur sleuths dug into
her past and uncovered a nearly decade old missing person's notice.
Like I mentioned earlier, Janis was discovered by a stranger
(26:33):
in a cargo boat back in twenty thirteen, but no
one could recognize her at the time. Her parents, especially
her mom, weren't really active on Facebook back then, so
they missed the post. Fast forward to the murders, and
that same post started making rounds online again. It didn't
take long for Janis's biological parents to recognize her. Born
(26:54):
in two thousand and five, Janis was the youngest of
three kids, but her childhood was filled with care chaos.
Her dad's gambling addiction tore the family apart, and her mom,
after remarrying, tried to make the best of things by
splitting up what little they had left for her kids. Eventually,
Janis and her siblings were placed in different orphanages. By
(27:16):
twenty twenty, Janie had actually reunited with her biological family,
but that didn't last long. Her relatives later claimed she
cut them off, saying they were too poor to be
of any use to her. That betrayal shocked everyone, but
things took a darker turn when Janie's biological mother, devastated
by what her daughter had done, attended the funeral of
(27:39):
Gwen and Louis. In her grief, she kept apologizing, full
of guilt over her daughter's actions. In one heartbreaking moment,
Janis's biological mom even kneeled down. But the Maguad parents
weren't out for revenge. They made it clear that they
weren't angry, just seeking justice. They insisted that Janice's biological
(28:13):
mom encourage her daughter to confess. Janice's mother tried to
visit her at the Social Welfare office, but Janice refused
to see her, citing strict rules. Then the investigation took
a jaw dropping turn. Evidence surfaced that suggested the murders
were premeditated. Screenshots of a conversation between Janie and an
(28:34):
unknown person went viral. In the messages, Janice confessed that
she wanted to kill her siblings, thinking their deaths would
give her the freedom she craved. She even wondered if
anyone would still accept her if she committed murder, expressing
a chilling belief that no matter what she did, God
would forgive her if she just asked. Some sources later
(28:58):
claimed that Janice often talked about the two thousand nine
horror movie Orphan, a film about a young girl adopted
by a family who ultimately betrays and kills them. She
even posted on Facebook that she loved the movie and
watched it repeatedly. When Janis's trial began, her behavior was
just as disturbing as the crime itself. She was seen
(29:20):
smiling and laughing at her parents, showing no remorse or
regret Cruz and Lavella, devastated by the loss of their children,
said in interviews that they might have forgiven Janis if
she had shown even a hint of genuine remorse, but
her coldness only made their pain worse. The case became
a national sensation in the Philippines from March twenty twenty two,
(29:43):
when Janie and Esmeraldo were officially charged with murder, to
their conviction on May seventeenth, twenty twenty two. The case
was closely followed by the public. Janis was sentenced to
thirty one years in prison, while Esmeraldo received a twenty
nine year sentence. However, both sentences came with one condition.
They would serve them under the Department of Social Welfare
(30:05):
and Development supervision until their twenty first birthdays, after which
they'd be transferred to adult prisons. Gwen and Lewis's parents
had mixed feelings about the trial's outcome. While they recognized
that the courts handed down the toughest punishment possible under
the law, they felt the laws were too soft. The
biggest issue, though, was Janus's complete lack of remorse. Crews
(30:28):
and Lavella were outspoken against Republic Act nine thousand, three
hundred forty four, which limits the legal accountability of miners.
According to the law, the minimum age for criminal liability
is fifteen, and individuals between the ages of fifteen and
eighteen can be held accountable, but they are sent to
youth centers or rehab programs instead of adult prisons. This
(30:52):
law prevents miners like Janis from being tried as adults,
even for heinous crimes like hers. Many argued that kids
shouldn't be capable of planning or committing such brutal acts.
In the US and other countries, miners committing these kinds
of crimes would have been tried as adults. Crews and
Lavella felt strongly that Janis's age shouldn't excuse her from
(31:14):
taking full responsibility, especially for such a violent and premeditated crime.
This view was shared by many who felt the law
was too lenient in cases like this. The couple publicly
called for changes to the law, wanting those who commit
violent acts at a young age to be held fully
accountable for them. The law's focus on rehabilitation rather than
(31:38):
punishment made them feel that the justice system had failed
their family. Some of the most heartbreaking facts to come
out of the investigation revealed that Gwen almost escaped. She
had the chance to run, but when she heard Janis
calling for help, she went back, hoping to save her
adopted sister. What makes it even more disturbing is that
(32:00):
Gwen's kindness, her willingness to return to help, was met
with betrayal. Now it's your turn. What's your take on
this case? Do you think the sentences were too light
for the suspects or do you believe the justice system
got it right.
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