Darkcast Network Not So Sweet Sweethearts-Part 1

Just a little bonus from my buddies at the Darkcast Network!

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Dark Cast Network. Welcome to thedark side of podcasting. Roses are red,
Violets are blue. We have somethingdark planned for you. We're so
glad you can make it here tojoin a darkcast Network. On a not
so sweet Sweethearts date this Valentine's Day. During the dinner portion of our date,

(00:24):
some of the dark Cast Network's bestpodcasts will seduce you with stories about
the origin of Valentine's Day, alongwith sinister tales of murder and hauntings.
Hi, my name's Laura and myname's Jill. We are the hosts of
Crime Divers podcast and we are goingto tell you today about a Valentine's Day
murder. On the fourteenth of Februarytwenty thirteen, and nine on one call

(00:49):
was made to report a burglary andPiora, Illinois, and when the police
got there, they found the bodyof thirty nine year old Denise Leuthold,
who had been killed with a singlegunshot wound to the head. Denise had
been married to Nathan for nearly eighteenyears and they lived with Denise's parents and
their three children, twelve year oldSeth, ten year old Julia, and
four year old Janelle. Denise andNathan had served as missionaries in Lithuania since

(01:14):
nineteen ninety eight and since then hadbeen dividing their time between the US and
Lithuania. On Valentine's Day twenty thirteen, the family had breakfast together. Nathan
had put chocolates and flowers on thetable for Denise, and the children were
allowed away chocolate before heading off toschool in nursery. After dropping the kids
off, Nathan went to church andDenise had plans to stay at home all

(01:36):
day except to pick up four yearold Jannelle from nursery, But later that
day Nathan got a call from thenursery to say that Denise hadn't arrived to
pick Janelle up. Nathan called andtext Denise, but he got no answer,
so he went to pick Janelle upand then headed home. It was
three fifteen pm when the nine oneone call came in from Nathan saying that
his garage door was wide open andone of the windows of his house was

(01:57):
broken. He waited outside for thepolice to arrive, and when they did,
it was noted that yes, oneof the windows was open, but
there were no footprints in the muddyground outside it. Officers entered the house
and they saw that the kitchen wasa mess. They were cupboards open and
drawers pulled out. They walked inthe hallway and near the front door they
found Denise's body. She was lyingface down in a pool of blood and

(02:19):
had been shot in the head.Police had initially initially thought that this was
a burglary had gone wrong, butas Nathan didn't ask any questions about what
was going on and seemed to bebehaving oddly, the suspicion of him grew,
so he was taken to the policestation in question for six hours.
While he was there, he gaveconsent for officers to search his car,
his laptop, and his phone.His in laws had given consent to search

(02:42):
the house, and it was notedthat Denise's purse and Nathan's wallet hadn't been
stolen. They found three hundred dollarsin a drawer. The TV was still
in the living room. Nathan's laptopwas still there as well, so if
this was a robbery, they didn'tseem to have taken much. Denise's car
had been stolen, but it wasfound a short distance away in a car
park. Nathan did have three guns, though, and two were missing a

(03:04):
twenty two caliber baretta and a fortycaliber block, and Denise had been shot
with a forty caliber clock. Andnote was found in Denise's day planner,
which had been written by herself,and in this note it said that Nathan
was running around with a twenty yearold and I also said things like he
thought she was a bad mother andthat he didn't love her after seventeen years
of marriage. One pat read,I really don't think there's anything I have

(03:29):
done or not done to deserve this. I have never been good enough or
done enough for you. I knowyou want me dead. I'm not stupid,
but I'm not that brave. Iquit. I will not please you
anymore. No more of that game. If I haven't played you in seventeen
years, then nothing I will dowill do it. So who was this
twenty year old that Nathan was havingan affair with. Well, this was

(03:52):
Anna Doubleleate. She had met Nathanin Denise in her home country of Lithuania
when she was just six years old. Her family were very much a world
with the church, and the twofamilies were friends and kept in touch over
the years. When Enna was eighteen, the luth Olds decided to sponsor her
as an exchange student as she wantedto study ministry work and music. She

(04:15):
attended college in Florida from two thousandand ten two thousand and eleven, and
her and Nathan would stay in abouttwenty hotels in total during that time.
When her school found out, shewas made to withdraw from the program,
and assuming this was because she wasstudying ministry work and it wasn't appropriate for
her to be having an affair witha married man, so she moved into
the home of Nathan, Denise,her parents and their children. Natha and

(04:38):
Enna would spend spad Days together andNathan would pay for everything, so Enna
would be getting massages or hair doneand many other treatments. It also took
her away on holiday to Europe inthe summers of two thousand and eleven and
two thousand and twelve, and theyeven had a shared bank account so that
Nathan could put money in for Ennato spend on food, clothing, and
general living expenses. And this informationand the fact that there were witnesses on

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that Valentine's Day, Nathan was arrestedin court. A neighbor called Diane Parish
stated that she was leaving her houseat about twelve to twenty that day with
her husband, as she noticed aman walking along the street towards luth Old's
house and thought he looked suspicious ashe was only wearing a hoodie and it
was about minus ten to use sealsyes or voting to gaze fahrenheit, so
she asked her husband slowed down soshe would get a good look at him,

(05:24):
and she later positively identified him asNathan luth Old. So this place
Nathan at his house close to thetime of Denise's death and not at church
like he said he was. Anotherwitness said that she was visiting her sister
who lived nearby, as she hearda gunshot at about twelve thirty that day,
so that would have lined up withthe time that Nathan was seen by
Diane Parrish heading towards home. WhenAnna was questioned, she said that she

(05:47):
had never told Nathan she loved him, and at first then I had a
relationship. But email was produced incourt from Anna to Nathan and it partly
said, coote, I let youdown. From now on, I want
to do all of I can foryou and this relationship. I am so
blessed to have you in my life? End quote. She denied having any
part in Denise's murder, but shedid act a bit suspicious. When Nathan

(06:10):
texts Anna on the day of themurder to tell her that their house had
been burgled, she replied interesting witha smile of face. She later agreed
that this wasn't an appropriate response.What was interesting was that Nathan's parents were
paying for Anna's attorney, and theytold her not to talk to the police.
This money was from an account thatwas set up for the Loophole children.
Ana didn't attend the niece's funeral,which was seen as very strange since

(06:33):
they lived in the same house,had known each other since Ana was six
years old, and Denise had helpedsponsor her to study in the US.
So, of course everyone wondered whyif Ana wasn't having an affair with Nace's
husband, why wouldn't she attend afuneral. While Nathan had been on romand
he had been an inmate with aguy called David Smith and they struck up
a friendship. After they had beenfriends for a while, Nathan asked David

(06:56):
for legal advice on a hypothetical situation, but David told Nathan he had to
be honest with him, so Nathantold him that on Valentine's Day, when
he left the house, he parkedhis car somewhere and walked back home through
the woods. Denise must have poppedout because she wasn't home when he got
there, so he hid in thecloset. Then when she got home,
they had words and he shot herin the head. David also said that

(07:18):
Nathan had considered poisoning the nise atfirst, but then decided us shooting at
her instead, and when investigators searchedhis laptop, they saw that he had
looked for a silencer for a fortycaliber glock. There were also searches for
how to hide the sound of agun shot, how to silence a glock
forty and also searches for giving someonewho is not diabetic insulin. He had

(07:40):
also looked for other ways to murdersomeone and how to raise an iPad,
but he obviously didn't manage to dothat. Nathan told David that killing his
wife was a Valentine's Day present tohis girlfriend. It took the jury just
ninety minutes to find Nathan Luthold guiltyof murdering his wife Denise Luthold, and
he was sentenced to eighty years inprison. Thank you for less then,

(08:00):
and if you'd late to hear morefrom our podcast, Clame Diverse, then
you will find us on your favoritepodcast platform. Hello. My name is
Jackie Moranti and I'm the host ofCause of Death one hundred seconds to Midnight.
My show is all about the things, not true crime, that will
kill you. I talk about scienceand global crises, through the lengths of

(08:20):
my past experience as an infectious diseaseresearcher, and history. You'll love it.
Just go listen. Today I'm goingto talk about something that is true
crime sorta. I'm talking about theSaint Valentine's Day massacre. Prohibition was a
disaster. It was called the nation'snoble experiment, but it was a total

(08:43):
and outright failure. One of themore serious problems that came from it is
gang violence. Don't think this justcame out in the last twenty years.
No, no, no, nono. Anytime there is a black market
for anything, gangs will be in. And in the roaring twenties, when
prohibition was at its peak, gangswere everywhere. Liquor was still flowing and

(09:09):
bootleggers and syndicates were providing it.Let's take a trip back in time.
It's February fourteenth, nineteen twenty nine, and two police officers enter a warehouse
at twenty one twenty two North ClarkStreet in Chicago. This warehouse was where
George bugs Moran stored illegal alcohol priorto sale. Seven of his enforcers from

(09:31):
the North Side Gang were keeping aneye on the warehouse. At some point,
two men dressed as police officers kickedin the door. The men inside
assumed that it was a raid,and everyone just lined up against the wall
to be frisked, arrested, andprocessed. It was just another day of
the autumn. What happened next wascomplete mayhem. Once the quote police had

(09:56):
the gangsters lined up against the wall, two more civilian men joined them.
All four threw back their jackets,pulled tommy guns and began shooting. Seventies
shots were fired and no man wasleft standing. When the smoke cleared,
all seven men from the North SideGang were dead or dying on the floor.

(10:16):
The four men who had done theshooting just turned and walked out the
door. Liquor was a lucrative butvery dangerous business in the twenties and thirties,
Bugs in his North Side gang werebitter rivals about Capone. After taking
over operations from former mob boss JohnnyTorrio in nineteen twenty five. Capone ran

(10:37):
his outfit with an iron fist,and he was known to gun down anyone
who'd got in the way of hissuccess. Capone was the only suspect in
the murders. One of the enforcerswho was shot, Frank hat Goussenberg,
was still alive when the real policearrived. He refused to say anything about
who had done the shooting, though, and he died short time later from

(11:00):
his injury. Bugs Moran would alsolook at Capone for the murders. He
had not been at the warehouse thatday, but there had been bitter feuds
among both gangs for months. TheNorth Side gang was the only thing in
the way of Capone dominating all thegang activity in Chicago, and Capone wasn't
about to let that opportunity slip by. For months, the battle raged between

(11:24):
the two syndicates all over Chicago.Moran's gang would hijack Capone's shipments, kill
his allies, and continue to competefor business. Capone's gang would retaliate in
much the same manner. After themassacre, Moran would tell police only Capone
kills like that. Capone was inFlorida at the time, so his alibi

(11:46):
was solid, but he had awhole syndicate working for him. He wasn't
short of men who would do thedeed if he paid them enough. No
one was ever tried or convicted ofthe murders, but now Capone would forever
be surmised as the man who orchestratedthe killing. The massacre did what Capone
intended. It left Moran to beseen as weak, and his North Side

(12:09):
gang eventually diminished and in nothing.By the end of nineteen twenty nine,
Capone was completely in control of theChicago syndicate and would remain that way until
he was arrested and convicted of taxevasion in nineteen thirty one. Gang violence
hasn't changed a whole lot in thelast ninety years. Gangs are still little

(12:30):
businesses serving up illegal treats to themasses who will pay the high price for
whatever ill gotten gains their selling.In the nineteen twenties and thirties, it
wasn't just a legal liquor that wasfor sale on the black market. Just
like today, there were people beingtrafficked, drugs, children for sale,
loan sharky, whatever you wanted thatyou couldn't get legally. Today, things

(12:52):
aren't much different. Gangs are stillthe same, they are just more of
them. Even the merchandise hasn't changed, right, Drugs have taken the place
of liquor, but the rest isall the same. Chicago is still one
of the most violent cities in thecountry for gang violence, and that may
never change. The warehouse where theSaint Valentine's massacre occurred was torn down in

(13:15):
nineteen sixty seven, so all that'sleft there are memories. But those memories
are strong in Chicago. It's anhistoric connection to the present, but it's
not a good one. Unfortunately,it doesn't look like it's going to change
anytime soon. I'll be talking moreabout gang violence than the causes in a
future episode. Until that comes out, there are fifty six more episodes to

(13:39):
binge on my feet. Go checkout Cause of Death one hundred seconds to
midnight. I want to thank thedark Cast Network for letting me tell this
story, and I want to thankall of you for listening. Hi,
This is Molly and Cody and we'refrom Over the Fence True crime podcast.
We are former neighbors, co workers, co hosts, and number three on

(14:00):
each other's children's emergency contact cards.True story and you can find us on
your favorite podcast streaming platform. Andtonight we have the case for you of
the Sweetheart Murders. Sabrina Gonzals andJohn Riggins lived in the town of Davis,
California, in nineteen eighty when theymet while working for the town's recreation
department. The relationship was really justblossoming even at the age of eighteen.

(14:22):
These two had big plans for theirown lives individually but also as a couple.
They wanted to get married and havea lot of kids, but first
they had planned to attend the Universityof California Davis, also known as UC
Davis. Sabrina was a beauty insideand out. She was kind and a
caring soul with a love for animals. She wanted to be a physical therapist.
John was what you would think ofas a quintessential American hometown hero.

(14:43):
He thrived in high school sports andwas revered in the community. He was
handsome and stood out with his redhair and green eyes. John was an
aspiring doctor, and he wanted tofollow in his father's footsteps, who was
a prominent physician. These two seemedto be meant for each other and had
the world at their figure hips,and they were adored by all that knew
them. On the evening of Decembertwentieth, nineteen eighty, a thick fog

(15:05):
had settled over the town of Davis. Sabrina and John were due at her
older sister's surprise birthday party on thisevening, but once the party was over,
it was noticed that by all thatSabrina and John had never arrived.
What at first began as a disappointmentin her younger sister for not attending her
party turned into great worry. Itwas uncharacteristic of Sabrina and of John to

(15:26):
not show to such a big partyand then to continue to be unable to
be reached afterwards, panic said inthe following morning, when the two were
still nowhere to be found again.The prior night, December twentieth, was
extremely foggy winter night, so thefirst thought of the Riggands and Gonzolv's families
were that the couple had gotten intoa car accident. When they were able
to find the vehicle immediately and didn'thear of any accident from the hospital or

(15:46):
police, the family reached out tothe Sacramento County Sheriff's office to report the
couple as missing, and in truenineteen eighties fashion, the police stated that
they had to wait twenty four hoursbefore they could begin the search, but
the police really felt that the couplehad probably had just run off in the
lope. The families knew that thiswasn't the case. They also knew they
weren't going to wait around for twentyfour hours for the police to take action.

(16:07):
However, despite the family's search efforts, it was still the police that
made the first discovery which would leadto sub answers at least as to where
Sabrina and John were. It waswhen police finally started their search, which
was about a day later, thatthey found John's van abandoned about twenty to
thirty miles outside of Davis. Thevehicle had obviously been rummaged through. Several
hours later, the bodies of Johnand Sabrina were found in the brush nearby.

(16:29):
John had suffered a blow to hishead, his mouth and eyes were
duct taped, and his throat hadbeen cut. Due to the blow to
his head. It was presumed thatJohn had tried to fight against his Sabrina's
murder or murderers. Sabrina's throat hadalso been cut, and she had been
covered with duct tape and the samefashion as john So eyes and mouth.
In addition, there were signs thatshe had been sexually assaulted. These were
quickly coined by media as the Sweetheartmurders. What was clear was that the

(16:52):
perpetrator had come prepared to commit thesecrimes, hence the duct tape and the
abandoned vehicle. To leave a vehicleabandoned, there had to have been a
or a means to get away.What the police were able to take away
from the crime scene was clothing fromthe victims to test for bodily fluids,
along with a blanket that was intendedto be a gift for Sabrina's sister that
was in the van. It hadoriginally been wrapped as it was a present,

(17:12):
but then it had been unwrapped,likely by the attacker or attackers,
and appeared to be soiled. Inaddition, the van had hundreds of latent
fingerprints for investigators to process. Thepolice were able to piece together that the
killer had been waiting for John andSabrina to leave the house that night,
and the fog had acted as aperfect cover for their evil intentions. A

(17:33):
composite sketch was made of the suspect, and let me tell you that this
is probably one of the most terrifyingcomposite sketches I've ever seen. The suspect
looks like a straight up wild man. However, despite a composite sketch,
though bodily fluid samples and fingerprints,there's no suspects. No one knows why
anyone would want to do this coupleany harm, and it wasn't until about

(17:56):
six years later when a tip ledpolice to look at a similar double murder
of a couple in the Sacramento areathat had taken place about a month prior
to the murder of John and Sabrina. This was the murder of Marybeth Sowers
and Craig Miller, two Sacramento Statestudents. For those of you unfamiliar with
the area, Sacramento is just abouttwenty minutes from Davis. When both of
these individuals had been found, theywere found in remote areas. They were

(18:18):
found separately from one another, whichwas a little different, but both had
been shot and Marybeth Sowers had beensexually assaulted. You can see some parallels,
and ultimately Gerald and Charlene Guyego,yes, a married couple, were
found responsible for the murder of MarybethSowers and Craig Miller, along with the
murders of eight other young women.Yeah, talk about a matchmate in hell.

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We have like the sweetheart couple andthen the couple from Hell. But
getting back on track, police starttrying to find parallels between the two cases,
more of them to link them together. But Gerald Guiego had an extremely
solid alibi for the night that Johnand Sabrina were killed. He was in
jail. Well that's gonna do it. However, police think, Okay,
maybe it wasn't that Gerald didn't committhe murder, but maybe it was done

(19:03):
on his behalf to clear him ofhis guilt of the other murders. Like,
oh, the person's still out theredoing it. Police thought maybe John
and Sabrina's murders were a copycat crime, and who would go through the killing
of two innocent people to clear aguilty man from their connection of the killing
of two other innocent people doesn't makea whole lot of sense. Well,
you know the brother of the murderer, of course, Gerald's brother, David

(19:26):
Hunt specifically, that's who's gonna whowould do it. So he was a
career felon with just a prior kidnappingcharge. But the police didn't think he
acted alone. They believed that heneeded help to pull off this crime.
So they believe that his co conspiratorswere his wife and then one of his
regular partners in crime. This triowere referred to as the Hunt group because
of David Hunt, so he hadhis own group's own posse would commit this

(19:48):
crime all to avenge his brother.Play off that last name a little bit,
you know, with this storyline withzero physical evidence my Neil. The
group of three was arrested nineteen eightynine and they were facing a trial and
if found guilty of the Sweetheart murders, could face the death penalty. The
police also pressed another accomplice to tryand get information from him. For months,

(20:11):
they drilled this guy and he refusedto give them information on the sheer
fact that he had no information becausethey weren't involved in the murders. Yeah,
they didn't do it, but afterthis accomplice won't flip on his friends
because there literally wasn't anything to flipon. He was actually also arrested for
his involvement in the Sweetheart murders.Oh my gosh, see have four people

(20:32):
in jail in January of nineteen ninetythree, after most of the Hunt group
had been in jail for nearly threeyears. At this point, it's the
night before the Hunt group is togo to trial and a key piece of
evidence is uncovered. That blanket thathad been found in the van that I
mentioned that was a gift for hersister. It had been sent to the
lab for processing back in nineteen eighty. There were four seamen stains on it,

(20:53):
and twelve years after it had beensent to the County crime Lab,
those stains were processed. It seemsthat the bank was just never turned over
when it was processed, and thesemen stains were on the opposite side of
the blanket that the crime lab processed. But thankfully they finally did because on
the night before trial they asked forsamples from everybody, and I think one

(21:17):
of them was advised not to givea sample and he said, hell,
yeah, I'm given a sample.I know my DNA is not on that
blanket, and this is the onlything that's going to clear me. So
they tested those semen stains and samplesagainst everyone in the Hunt group and the
samples didn't match a single one ofthem and they were all released. So
in the early nineties, there wasno DNA database to compare the DNA,
so they needed someone to compare ittoo, So that's how they did that

(21:40):
with the Hunt group. They hadthe samples. So once they had cleared
the members of the so called HuntGroup, investigators were basically back to square
one. However, at least nowthey had a DNA sample for comparison if
they were to come across another potentialsuspect or leaked. Unfortunately, the case
went cold for about another decade.In the early two thousands, with the
evolution of DNA technology, a journalistby the name of Joel Davis that attended

(22:03):
high school with John Riggins, heprodded the cold case unit of this area
particularly about this case. He's like, reopened that case, run it again.
With the technology we have now,cold case units only open certain cases
up again. So with his proddingand persistence. They did because at this
point in time there was an FBIDNA database to run comparisons too, so

(22:23):
it was like, just give ita shot, and they did, and
there was a hit. And whata hit it was. The DNA sample
concluded a match which was one intwo hundred and forty trillion. Well,
that's quite the match. So theperpetrator, Richard Hirshfield, a convicted sex
offender with victims that were both childrenand adults. After obtaining the DNA hit,
police were also able to place himwith likely being in the area at

(22:45):
the time of the murders. Notonly did he have known associates that lived
very close to where Sabrina lived inDavis, his brother Joseph lived relatively close
to where John and Sabrina and theirvan had been found. Investigators knew they
needed to talk to Joseph because itdid seem that Richard may have needed some
help in the commission of this crime. Richard would have needed a ride or
at the very least, even ifhe didn't have an accomplice. They would

(23:06):
need to question his brother regarding Richard'sbehavior around the time of the murders.
When they go to question Joe.Investigators recognize that he is literally literally visibly
shaken when investigators discussed the presence ofDNA evidence at the crime scene. After
investigators left the very next day,Joseph goes into his garage and complete suicide
by carbon and an oxide poisoning.He left a suicide note, which some

(23:30):
of it's been redacted, but itdoes include the following statement quote, I
have been living with this whore fortwenty years. Richard did commit those murders,
but I was there. I didn'tkill anyone, but my DNA is
still there. Although we do notknow what his actions were at the crime
scene, we know that he optedfor suicide instead of seeing the outcome of
whatever his actions were that day orthat evening. Well, then if he

(23:53):
didn't do it, to assume,he'd probably helped move the bodies. Yeah.
In his suicide note, he alsoapologized to his wife, who was
none the wiser. He had neverconfided in her about this. They,
by all maids, had a happyrelationship, a happy marriage. She didn't
even know much about his brother Richard, just that they didn't have much of
a relationship because he hadn't even beenin his life very much After more than

(24:18):
a decade of defensive tactics and appeal, the case against Richard Hirshfield finally went
to trial in November fifth, twentytwelve. A jury's seven men and five
women deliberated less than three hours,and Richard Hirshfield was found guilty in the
murders of both John and Sabrina.In January of twenty thirteen, the judge
upheld the death Penley's sentence. RichardHirshfield currently sits on California's Death Row in

(24:40):
San Quentin as a tribute to thetwo young lives that were lost way too
soon and before they had a chanceto reach their full potential. On the
grounds of the University of California Davis'scampus, a tree stands in the memory
of the two murder college sweethearts,and the warm Remembrance Family play Area stands
in the Davis community to honor Johnand Sabrina's legacies. And that is the
case of the Sweetheart murders. Heythere, I'm CJ and I host a

(25:04):
little podcast called Beyond the Rainbow ThroughCrimes of the lgbt I cover crimes committed
by and against the LGBTQ plus community. My show is not just for the
LGBTQ, It's for everyone, soplease check it out and as always,
I'm proud to be partnered with DarkcastNetwork. The newlywed couple of thirty eight

(25:27):
year old Rosina Vale in thirty nineyear old Dipney Noden Well. Their relationship
was anything that's sweet. Don't getme wrong here. It had its sweet
moments, as most relationships do,but the sour moments were downright devastating.
The couple had been in and onagain off again relationship and the last time

(25:52):
they were on again, they decidedto get married in December of two thousand
and thirteen. I'm not sure whypeople do the whole on again, off
again merry go round thing. Tome, it seems rather toxic. But
in January two thousand and four,they set up house in an apartment in
San Carlos, California, near SanDiego. As far as children, the

(26:15):
couple owned two fur babies dogs andRascina's human daughter lived with her dad in
the San Diego area. Prior tothis, they lived in Colorado, but
they moved to San Carlos to bewhere Rosina grew up. She was now
physically closer to her dad and daughter. After six months of marriage and living

(26:37):
together in their San Carlos apartment,the honeymoon was over, as the saying
goes. Neighbors reported major fights betweenthe couple where the police had to be
called to break things up, butduring their sweet days they'd walk their dogs
together, and during their not sosweet days expect the police to visit.

(26:59):
Some of the reason behind the couple'sfights were due to a drug addiction that
Tiffany had. Rossina worked at theBarona Indian Cassino. In May. Tiffany
showed up and caused the scene herebetween her and Rossina. It was so
heated Tiffany had to be escorted offthe casino's property. And this bothers me.
You never screw with someone's livelihood.I had an ex who would do

(27:22):
this to me as well. Hey, this is my job, woman,
go away fight with me at home. It wasn't like she wasn't benefiting from
my paycheck. She's the end ofMay, Rossina had sent out messages to
friends in her family that her inTiffany's marriage was over. She was going
to file for divorce. On Junefifth, twenty fourteen, Rossina was on

(27:47):
her way back to work at fivethirty am. A neighbor man was also
on his way to work. Hesaw her in Tiffany by Rassina's car.
When Rossina left, he waved andsaid hello to Tiffany. He didn't respond
to one. When he got homefrom work later that evening, his wife
told him that there had been amurder in the apartment complex. The man

(28:10):
was shocked. A little after sixpm, police had received a call from
a defense attorney. He stated therewas a possible homicide victim in an apartment
and he gave the complex address anapartment number. I'll get back to how
he knew that information later. Whenpolice arrived to check out the scene,
they found a deceased, naked Rassinalying on her bed. She'd been stabbed

(28:36):
in her arm, her stomach,her chest, and badly bludgeoned to death
with an object. Tiffany was lastseen leaving the apartment complex late afternoon with
the couple's dogs. She called anaunt who lives in San Bernardino, California.
She asked her aunt to pick herup. Her aunt said she sounded
stressed and panic. She was worriedabout out Tiffany and her aunt obliged,

(29:02):
picking her up and taking her toher home in San Bernardino. While with
her aunt, Tiffany called a defenselawyer. See I told you we'd come
back to that part. Tiffany gavesome specifics, but she decided not to
go through with meeting with the attorney. The attorney's phone called to the police
is what helped them find Rassina.Tiffany left her aunt's home before her aunt

(29:25):
could find out what she had doneto Rassina. Her aunt had no clue
where Tiffany had went. News reportsabout Tiffany went out asking anyone who might
see her to call the police.They wanted to question her for information about
Rassina's murder. Tiffany avoided police fortwenty days before they finally caught up with
her in San Diego. Yep,she was back. She was taken in

(29:49):
for questioning, where she admitted killingher wife. She was charged with murder
and she went to trial. Atthe trial, her public defender said rugs
played a huge part of why Tiffanymurdered her wife. The drugs clouded her
judgment. Come on, defender,really, I know some drugs can make
people violent, but that really soundsjust like an excuse to me. Tiffany

(30:15):
fled guilty this second degree murder,and she was sentenced twenty years to life
in prison. In prison, Tiffanyhad been heard complaining that she thought Rosina
was cheating on earth. Still nota reason to murder, Tiffany. If
you're in love, cherish it andwhatever you do, don't mess it up.

(30:37):
And remember you matter. And it'snot a crime to be gay unless
you're a murderer. And be sureto listen to be on the Rainbow True
Crimes of the LGBT. It canbe found wherever you get your podcasts.
But don't start at the beginning.I'd like to keep you around. Maybe

(30:57):
start with season three. Oh whenHappy Valentine's Day, or as I like
to call it, Happy Singles AwarenessDay. Hey, spooky friends, it's
Angelina and Aurra from Murder Murder Newsthe True Crime Cult with all of the
flower crowns and none of the flavoraid. There's no shame in spending Valentine's

(31:19):
Day alone, But if you'd likesome company, let's dive into that box
of chocolates together and explore a historicalcrime from Valentine's Past. Fourteen years ago
today, twenty five year old TiannaNotice was murdered after being harassed and stalked
by an ex boyfriend. The systemshould have protected Tiana, who was terrorized

(31:41):
by her ex for months and hadgone to the police over thirty times to
report violations of his restraining order,but Tiana soon found that the police had
no plan to protect her or stopher x even though she was able to
provide evidence of his escalating harassment.And Tiana's family always knew she was special.

(32:04):
From the age of six. Theysuspected she was a prodigy, always
outperforming her classmates academically. She startedattending college classes her senior year of high
school. She earned her bachelor's inpolitical science at the University of Hartford and
went on to pursue her masters incommunication. The sky was the limit for
Tiana, who planned to become anattorney after encouragement from her mom, Kathy,

(32:28):
because she said Tiana loved a gooddebate. While in school, Tiana
dated her college sweetheart, Robert,but after five years together, they ended
their relationship. Dating apps were nota thing in the two thousands, and
meeting people online through social media stillfelt a little scary and embarrassing. In
two thousand and seven, Tiana metJames Carter on MySpace. She wasn't looking

(32:50):
for anything serious after ending her relationshipwith Robert, but she agreed to meet
up with James, but settled ona place in public just to be safe.
Seemed to check all of her boxes. He owned his own home,
something almost unheard of today. Hewas a manager at a finance company,
and he didn't have children yet,but Tiana would later find out that everything

(33:13):
he told her was a lie.Six months into the relationship, James was
arrested for domestic abuse of a previousgirlfriend. He was sentenced to six months
in prison. This was a bigwake up call for Tianna. Not only
did she now know James was capableof violence, but she also found out
the incident had taken place while hewas cheating on her. She soon learned

(33:37):
that this was not the first timehe had been arrested for a violent crime,
and made a rap sheet for othercrimes, including assault. Tianna broke
up with James, but one setof jail, the stocking started. Tianna
got a restraining order against him.When her dad, Alvin asked what had
happened. Tiana responded, quote,he's just bugging me. He won't leave

(33:59):
me an. When James found outTianna had filed a restraining order against him,
he reciprocated by filing one against her. He told police that she had
punched him in the face and kickedthe tail light out of his car,
even though he didn't have an injury. He was granted the restraining order,
but James was just getting started.Tianna started receiving emails from an account name

(34:22):
Jessica Banderas, stating she was theex girlfriend of James. The emails contained
messages saying things like trust me,baby girl, You're going to lose everything
and as God is my witness,punishment is on the way. To be
prepared. You will have bad luckyou hear me, Remember this email when

(34:43):
karma bite you in the ass.On January thirteenth, two thousand and nine,
Tianna went back to the police withharassing emails from James. The police
told her that unless she could provethe emails had come from him and not
his ex, there was nothing theycould do. In the meantime, she
continued to receive emails from James,and he was calling her at the university

(35:06):
where she was working. He startedshowing up at her apartment, her job,
and even while she was out shopping. Tianna attempted to report him to
the police again and again and wassent away each time. She told her
mother they had treated her like dirtand insinuated she was lying. Her mother,
Kathy, was so frustrated that shetoo called the police, telling them

(35:28):
she wasn't about to let her daughterbecome a statistic The officer shrugged her off,
telling her nothing would happen to herdaughter. James filed another restraining order
against Tianna, claiming she had senthim a flyer with her name, picture,
and phone number on it, andat this point things escalated to the
point where they both had to appearin court. Tiana brought the emails from

(35:52):
James's evidence, and since he hadn'treally received a flier from Tiana, he
became empty handed. They were givensix month rest orders against each other,
and James continued to escalate. OnFebruary seventh, two thousand and nine,
Tianna's tires on her car were slashedat her home. She knew it was
James, but couldn't prove it.Her dad, Alvin, wanted to help

(36:15):
and decided to install security cameras ather apartment. He installed cameras with one
pointing at her car in the parkinglot that night. Alvin also coached Tianna
on what to do if she wasunder attack. They role played an attack
and safety plan just in case sheneeded it. On February thirteenth, the

(36:36):
abuse continued. James called her work. A co worker agreed to act as
a witness of the harassing calls.When she went to the police station,
she was told by an officer thatthe restraining order was fake. They told
her they would only accept it ifthe police station that issued the restraining order
facts it over. Why they couldn'trecognize a restraining order and why they couldn't

(36:59):
call the police station on her behalfwill never know, but it's just one
bad call made by a series ofofficers that resulted in Tiana's murder. In
all, Tiana had filed over thirtycomplaints against James and nothing was ever done
to protect her. That night,Tiana got home from the police station at
seven twenty pm to find a noteon her door from James. The note

(37:22):
read Tianna, forgive me. Inever cheated on you. If I'm lying,
may God take my life. Forgiveme for everything else I have done.
On the morning of Valentine's Day twothousand and nine, Tiana attempted to
enlist the help of those who swearan oath to serve and protect us one
last time. She went to thepolice station where she had been granted a

(37:45):
restraining order with the note left byJames the prior evening. She was told
they would contact James, having providea handwriting sample, and assuming he had
left the note, they would arresthim for violating the restraining order. But
that's not what happened. Instead,they called James and basically just scolded him.

(38:06):
They told him if he violated hisrestraining order again, they would have
to arrest him. James was nowfurious that Tiana had turned him in and
a man with a history for violencewas on the loose. Tianna, not
knowing that James hadn't been arrested,was in the mood for a celebration.
Alvin mourned his daughter not to gonear her home until he had been arrested,

(38:29):
and Tianna decided to play it safe. And stay with her mom for
the weekend. She stopped home quicklyto get a bag and some laundry to
bring to her mom's. In themeantime, the now angry James hid in
the shadows behind Tianna's apartment, waitingfor her to get home. As Tiana
approached her front door, James snuckup behind her with a knife. He

(38:50):
stabbed her nearly twenty times, stabbingher twice through the heart. Tianna cried
out and a neighbor came to help. She was able to call nine one
at one pm. Here's her panickedcall. Are you you? Who's there

(39:15):
with you? You're not going todie? Die? Tianna lost consciousness during
her call to nine one. Shewas rushed to a year by hospital,
but didn't survive. James was arrestedan hour after Tianna died and was charged

(39:37):
with her murder. Between Tianna naminghim as her attacker in the nine one
one call and the video from thesurveillance camera, there was plenty of evidence
against him. In twenty twelve,he was found guilty and sentenced to sixty
years in prison. Tianna's family workedwith the Connecticut state Senator to fight for
tougher laws against domestic violence. Theyalso started the ta Anna Angelique Notice Foundation

(40:01):
to provide educational resources to prevent domesticviolence. In twenty fourteen, Tianna's family
also won a ten million dollar wrongfuldeath lawsuit against the officers who ignored her
plea for help. We thank youfor listening. If you'd like some more
company during one of the most hatedof holidays, you can find Murder Murder

(40:21):
News wherever you listen to podcasts.New episodes come out every Friday, each
one featuring a story from the correspondingweek in true crime history, told from
a victim first standpoint. Happy Valentine'sDay, Spooky Friends, Happy Valentine's Day.
I'm Dawn the host of the podcastScottish Murders, which focus is entirely

(40:42):
on murders have been carried out inScotland or murders of Scottish people. So
obviously our Valentine's esque story for theDarkest Network Not So Sweet Sweeteart Day episode
is a tale from Scotland. TheScottish Highlands are well known for their dramatic
landscapes, beautiful castles and truly fascinatinghistory and for Valentine's Day? What could

(41:04):
be more romantic than visiting the iconicellen Donan Castle, where many a couple
have tied the knot, or thepeaceful and beautiful Isle of Sky, which
was placed at the top spot bya Visit Scotland survey of the most romantic
places to visit where couples can relaxand enjoy a quieter, more sedate,
but absolutely breathtaking Valentine's Day. GlenCoe, also located in the Scottish Highlands,

(41:30):
is a glen shaped by a volcanicactivity. Is the home of Scottish
mountaineering and is popular with hillwalkers andclimbers. However, glen Co is also
known for sorrow and heartache, ason the thirteenth of February sixteen ninety two,
an eruption not of the ancient volcanicactivity of millions of years ago,

(41:51):
but of betrayal and violence took place, which was triggered by events a few
years prior. It was in sixteeneighty five that King James the sixth of
Scotland and King James the Second ofEngland took to the throne of both countries
and quickly established his unpopularity within theProtestant majority of the British Isles by trying

(42:13):
to re establish Catholicism as their officialreligion. This culminated in sixteen eighty eight
when he produced a Catholic heir,and this prompted many high level members of
the British Parliament to invite the king'soldest daughter Mary and her husband William of
Orange to claim the throne, whichresulted in what was known as the Glorious

(42:35):
Revolution of sixteen eighty eight to sixteeneighty nine, which resulted in King James
fleeing to France and William and Marybeing crowned joint monarchs. However, King
James and his Stuart heirs had manysupporters, especially in the Scottish Highlands,
with his supporters being known as Jacobitesafter the Latin for James Jacobus, and

(42:58):
who rebelled against the new monarchs,including winning the Battle of kille Crankie in
sixteen eighty nine, but success wasfairly limited in nature. What this rebellion
did show was that there was anever increasing unrest forming in the Scottish Highlands.
There had been long standing feuds betweenthe clans over the previous hundred years,

(43:19):
but this latest unrest just amplified thedivision between the clans even more.
King William the Third firmly known asWilliam of Orange, offered to pardon the
Jacobites who took part in the uprising, but only if their clans swore an
oath of allegiance to the new monarchyby January the first, sixteen ninety two,

(43:40):
an offer that originally had a financialincentive but was really just a threat
that their clans either pledged their allegiansor be punished. This was further proven
when the government forces were positioned ata new fortress for William and were attacking
Jacobites strongholds, which would only bestopped by accepting the King's offer. So,

(44:01):
despite their loyalties to King James,he agreed that the clans that were
loyal to him could be released fromtheir pledge and sent word from France.
News reached the McDonald's, who wereone of the clans loyal to King James,
on the twenty ninth of December sixteenninety one, so, with only
a few days to go before thedeadline, Chief mc ian made his way

(44:23):
to Fort William to give the oathof allegiance to William the Third. However,
once there he was told that noone present could accept his oath,
but instead he was told to makehis way to Inverary, which was seventy
miles or one hundred and twelve kilometersaway over mountains and snow, in the
heart of the territory of the Campbells, who were historic rivals of the McDonald's.

(44:47):
By the second of January sixteen ninetytwo, he had made it,
and although it was already a dayafter the deadline had passed, he still
hoped his oath would be accepted.However, there would be a further delay
as he found that the person whohad to receive his oath, Sir Colin
Campbell, was a way celebrating Cogminee. It would be a further three days

(45:07):
before Campbell returned to Inverary, andhe was reluctant to accept the oath,
as the deadline had passed days before. However, he did finally agree to
accept the oath, allowing the chiefof the McDonald clan to return home,
knowing that they pledged themselves to Williamthe Third. However, the Scottish government

(45:27):
was very suspicious of the clowns ofthe Highlands and felt they were savages who
needed to be brought under English law. So when news reached Edinburgh of the
oath being delivered, Late Sir JohnDalrymple, the Secretary of State for Scotland,
declined the oath there had always beenplans to deal with the clan system
in the Highlands, so this gavethe Secretary of State an excuse to act

(45:51):
against the McDonald clan and wipe themout as an example to demonstrate that any
rebellion against the new monarchy and governmentwould not be tolerated. The McDonald clan
formed a small part of the muchlarger Clan Donald, who were very influential
over other Highland clans, and strikinga blow against them would represent attacking everything.

(46:15):
Sir John Dalrymple, the Secretary ofState for Scotland, hated off the
Highlands. However, the McDonald's werenot well liked by those clans who neighbored
them in the Highlands as they wouldcarry out roads and cattle rustling, and
along with it, being in anisolated location and Glencoe having very few escape
routes made them vulnerable to attack.On the first of February sixteen ninety two,

(46:40):
over a hundred government soldiers of OurGyle's Regiment of Foot, commanded by
Robert Campbell of glen Lyon, arrivedin Glencoe with paper stating that they were
there to collect tax arrears and wereto stay at the homes of the McDonald's.
The soldiers themselves, once in Glencoe, were to await further orders.

(47:00):
The McDonald saw this activity as atest of their loyalty to King William the
Third, so they gladly welcomed thesoldiers into their homes in the glen for
around a couple of weeks, whichincluded sharing food from their limited winter supplies
as well as drinks. The moodwas full of welcome for the soldiers,

(47:20):
with many stories being told of Caley'sbeing held, games of shinty being played,
and even romances between the soldiers andsome of the locals. It would
be the evening of the twelfth ofFebruary sixteen ninety two when Robert Campbell received
further orders signed by the King statingthat on the following morning, the thirteenth
of February, they were to fallupon the rebels. The McDonalds of Glencoe

(47:46):
and put all to the sword underseventy. The orders also stated you are
to secure all the avenues, thatno man escape, and that if the
orders were not obeyed that Campbell andhis soldiers would face the same fate.
There were also two other regiments positionedin Balahulish and Kinlochleven to cut off any

(48:07):
possible escape routes from the glen.The massacre began with a simultaneous attack in
Inverco, inver Egan and Achnaco,along with killing throughout the glen. As
Anny McDonald's who were fleeing were pursuedby the soldiers, who would also drag
men from their beds and then theirhomes were burned. Women, children and

(48:30):
the elderly were put out into thesnow, with many of them dying of
exposure to the harsh winter weather.Thirty eight McDonald's were murdered directly, including
Chief Mcean, who, when risingfrom his bed as soldiers entered, was
shot in the back. Many moreof the McDonald's lost their lives in the
mountains. However, some were ledto safety by John and Alexander, who

(48:53):
were the two sons of Chief Mcean. Others were able to hide themselves,
and many more escape via glenn ettev. It is thought that so many McDonald's
were able to escape due to thekindness of the McDonald's making friends with the
soldiers, so when it came timeto carry out the orders to kill them,
many of the soldiers were unable todo so. There were rumors of

(49:15):
soldiers allowing people to escape or deliberatelymissed shooting at those they had been ordered
to kill. Even Robert Campbell himself, who commanded the soldiers, is said
to have assisted two men to escape. The men, women and children of
Clan McDonald who had escaped the Glencoemassacre. Instead of feeling love, joy

(49:36):
and happiness the following day, onValentine's Day sixteen ninety two, all that
was felt was betrayal. News ofthe Glencoe massacre spread, and the Jacobites
even produced pamphlets that were distributed andused to raise awareness of what had happened
as far away as London. Storieswere told of what happened from both survivors

(49:57):
and soldiers, which prompted an inquiryin sixteen ninety five into what happened.
The inquiry found that the massacre carriedout on the thirteenth of February sixteen ninety
two in Glencoe was indeed murder,although it was not clear if King William
the Third knew the extent of theorders he had signed, and he escaped

(50:19):
any blame. Sir John Dalrymple,the Secretary of State for Scotland, was
the true master mind of the GlencoeMassacre, and he was forced to resign,
although he was later reinstated in ahigher position. Robert Campbell, who
led the attack, remained in thearmy and was sent overseas to fight,
but died in poverty in sixteen ninetysix. The goal of the Glencoe Massacre

(50:44):
was to break up the clowns andset an example to those who would stand
against the new king and government,but resulted in having the opposite effect and
actually strengthened the convictions of those inthe Highlands that Scotland was not equal to
England united the Jacobout clans, makingadditional uprisings in the future inevitable. The

(51:06):
echoes of the Glencoe Massacre have rippledthrough the centuries, and the events then
have not been forgotten. It ishard to imagine that the beautiful picturesque landscape
of Glencoe was once the sight ofsuch a terrible atrocity carried out by people
welcomed into the homes of the hosts, although it was thankfully tempered by the

(51:27):
barns of friendship that were formed betweenthem that made sure that as tragic as
the murders carried out where there werethose who either escaped or were allowed to
escape and were able to speak ofthe tragedy of the Glencoe a massacre.
The Scottish folk group the Corries wrotethe song the Massacre of Glencoe, which
pretty much summed up what took placeon the thirteenth of February sixteen ninety two,

(51:52):
with one verse being some died intheir beds at the hands of the
foe, some fled in the night, were lost in this know, some
lived to accuse him what struck thefirst blow? But gone was the house
of McDonald. Also, if you'rea Game of Thrones fan, you will
be interested to know that the RedWedding, which was a revenge massacre for

(52:14):
breaking a marriage pecked, was basedon two of Scotland's real life historical events,
one of which was the Glencoe massacre. Well, I hope you have
enjoyed finding out a wee bit ofScottish history if you'd like to hear more
about murders that have taken place inScotland, but then we hope you'll give
Scottish Murders a listen. You canfind us whatever you listen to your podcasts

(52:37):
or visit Scottish Murders dot com forall episodes, social materials, photos and
more. Hi, this is Kellyand this is Jenna and you're listening to
ODFM. This episode is one Descentfrom Murder. This is a story out
of Belgium. So on November eighteenthof two thousand and six, twelve members

(52:58):
of a parachute club on their weeklyskydive where they flew over Flanders, it's
the northern portion of Belgium. Onthis dive, four divers, two men
and two women had planned to linkhands in the air to create a quartet
and then release hands like so thatthey could engage their parachutes right one of
the women, whose name was Elsvan Doren, she disengaged from the others.

(53:22):
Both her primary and reserve parachutes failedto deploy. I knew you were
she plummeted to her death from aheight of more than two miles, which
was over four thousand feet god andlanded in the back garden of a home
in the town of Obeglavic. Theresidence of the home came out of their

(53:45):
house when they heard a thud intheir garden and rushed out and just found
this horrifix scene. Police arrived andquestioned the skydiving instructor, Marcel Summers.
He told police that he Ells andtwo others had planned to link hands and
do this free fall in a starformation, but the other woman had jumped

(54:07):
a little bit too late and shewasn't able to link up with them,
so it really ended up just beingElls and the two men, so they
didn't do the quartet. It endedup just being a three season right at
Marcel explained that after signaling for thegroup that it was time to deploy their
shoots, he saw that Ells wasin trouble and he tried to move closer
to help her, but he couldn'treach her in time. Even more nightmarish,

(54:29):
Oh no, This entire chump wasrecorded on the woman's helmet camera.
Police retrieve the video and they watchit and it begins as a normal dive
other than the one woman didn't jumpin time. Once the three people stopped
linking hands, she went to deployher shoot and it failed. Police saw
that her pilot SHOOTE, which isa mini parachute that automatically deploys before the

(54:52):
main parachute opens. When she wentto deploy her parachute, that thing just
blew away. As Ells wasn't aexperienced diver, she frantically tried to deploy
her reserve shoot like she knew whatto do, but it also failed,
and she screamed for more than amile of her phone. Screamed was based

(55:12):
on what they saw in the video. Police were immediately suspicious that her parachute
had been sabotaged. They went toexamine her shoots and what they found was
that the cords to her shoots hadbeen deliberately cut. Oh no, so
it wasn't like they had torn inthe air or something that was right,
So of course I have to lookinto her. Ells van Doren was a
thirty seven year old married mother oftwo. She was an experienced skydiver who

(55:36):
had performed more than two thousand jumpsin her lifetime and on the weekends she
went skydiving with her parachute club.So investigators start digging more into her and
they find out that Ells was infact living a double life. She had
more than just a love for skydiving. She was having a year's long affair
with another member of the club,her instructor, Marcel Summers. Oh.

(56:00):
When she would spend the weekend skydiving, she would also spend the night at
his place. Oh, that's convenient. The weekend before her death, Ells
was staying at Marcel's apartment when herfriend and fellow parachute member Babs showed up.
Babs Bab's full name was Ells Cottisman. This Ells was a twenty six

(56:22):
year old primary school teacher who joinedthe club just two years prior, and
when the women became friends, ELL'sClodisman, she took on the nickname of
Babs to avoid confusion between the two. Babs was the other woman who was
supposed to make up the quartet onthe day of the incident. When she
didn't jump in time to form themaneuvers they were supposed to do, she
actually watched the whole thing from theinvestigators. I had to ask her to

(56:45):
come in and give another statement.Just before she was supposed to come in
to give this second statement, Babsattempted suicide. So now police are like,
this is very suspicious. Does shehave something to do with this?
Right? Wow, she's in recoveryor whatever. Investigators like, maybe we
should dig into Babs. Yeah,So they do, And it turned out

(57:06):
that Marcel was also having a relationshipwith Babs, and Babs was aware that
she wasn't the only woman. Policefound out that Babs had sent anonymous letters
to Els van Doren's husband, tellinghim about Elle's affair with the skydiving and
so maybe not so only she's notso happy with it. I don't believe.

(57:27):
And Babs also made countless anonymous phonecalls to Marcell. She's a she
likes stir in the pot. Sopolice find out that a few days before
the incident, Babs showed up atMarcel's apartment unannounced. Both women ended up
spending the nights Marcell's place. However, Els van Doren slept with Marcel in

(57:49):
his bedroom and Babs slept on thecouch in the living room. Oh,
Babs is hurting, she is she'swhich you happened to be close to where
the parachute gear was being stored becausethere was one article I read that said
that she was pissed because she couldhear the lovemaking from the other room.

(58:09):
Why did you go there? Then? Babs insists that she had nothing to
do with her friend's death. Shetold police that she had a close relationship
with both Els and Marcell, althoughif that was the case, why would
she be trying to sabotage her friends. She described it as that Marcel at
one point had, in quotes,led her astray and that they had a

(58:30):
brief relationship that fizzled out, sohe seduced her. I guess it's a
point of Babs, and that wasjust a short lived thing. So but
prosecutors thought there was motive and therewas the means for her to do this,
so they decided to go ahead andcharge her with murder. And this
was just two months after Els vanDorn's death. While she awaited trial,

(58:53):
Babs told the media quote, Ialways knew I was number two for Marcell
and Ells was number one. Inever had a problem with this at the
time, as I had such alow image of myself that I could only
ever imagine being number two. Babsclaimed that Ells was aware of the short
relationship she had with Marcell, butthat they were close friends. Babs was

(59:14):
released on bail in January two thousandand eight while she awaited trial. Finally,
in September of twenty and ten,the trial begun. Yeah, long
time, because this started two thousandand six. She was placed on suicide
watch. During the trial, thejury got to see the video from ELL's
helmet cam no documenting her death.That was showing to the jury. That's

(59:34):
pretty damning, right. Marcel Summerstestified that Ells van Doren was the love
of his life. He admitted toa brief relationship with Babs, but that
he had ended it and that shedidn't exactly go quietly as he put it
when he testified, he couldn't shakeher. He testified that Babs showed up
to his home uninvited, so Fridaynight he had ELL's over. He didn't
expect her and she wouldn't leave.They offered to let her sleep in the

(01:00:01):
living room, how awkward. Andthat yes, Elle's skydiving gear was left
like in the hallway right there whereshe had access to it. They had
experts that testified that with Bab's skydivingexperience, it would have only taken her
thirty seconds to find and cut theparachute chords. With systems like she could
have done it, just she wouldhave known exactly what to cut. Prosecutors

(01:00:23):
entered into evidence anonymous letters that theyproved that Bab wrote some mutual friends about
Elle's affair with Marcel, showing thatBabs was pathologically unstable at the time of
the incident is what they were tryingto put the Belgian court. Psychiatrists declared
Babs to be quote a danger tosociety and to be quote a psychopath with

(01:00:45):
dramatic features. Bab's defense team arguedthat the case against her was purely circumstantial,
that there was no evidence found totie Babs to the sabotage parachute,
just that she had motive and opportunities, which that's a pretty big Her lawyer
said, quote, my client hasevolved since her release in January. Yes,

(01:01:07):
she's evolved exactly, and that shedoesn't behave like a psychopath. She
has started working as a teacher again, Yes, exactly who we want around
kids. Ultimately, thank goodness,the jury didn't agree. In October of
twenty ten, Babs was found guiltybut the judge took her quote feeble psychological
condition as extenuating circumstances and rather thansentencing her to life behind bars, she

(01:01:31):
received a sentence of thirty years andshe's still around children. Hopefully she's not
teaching from herself. Yeah, soher Valentine's Day love is in the air.
Good. Thank you for sharing andif you guys want to hear more
of ODFM, find out all thed words by podcast. Thank you Darkcast

(01:01:55):
Network, dast We hope this datewas one you can tell your friends about.
Please join us for the dessert portionof our Not So Sweet Sweetheart special
so we can woo you with ourdecadent chocolate lava cake and spooky stories