48 Hours - The Sober Truth

Episode Date: January 3, 2016

A young woman, an alcoholic, thought she found help and a safe place -- what she found was a killer.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. My wedding was the most magical day of my life. The only thing missing was Carla, who would have been my maid of honor. I thought of her every second.

It wasn't fair that she wasn't there. She should be there. She'd be dancing and she'd be the life of the party. I'd be really happy if she was still here sitting at the beach with me today. 911 emergency, what are you reporting? Ma'am, I woke up this morning and my girlfriend has passed away. She passed away. On September 1st, 2011, my sister's boyfriend, Eric Earle, called 911. I was like, Bruce is like down the side of her. I like, I don't know, she fell last night.

She did drink and she's taking the pills, but... And then called us. He says, get over here right now. She's gone. She's gone. What do you mean she's gone? The evidence in this case will show the person seated behind me had the physical power, the rage, and the intent to violently kill Carla Brada. It's a crime of violence. She was asphyxiated. My client was in love with the victim.

You were immediately drawn to her? We clicked right away. He was just as shocked by her death as are her parents. I didn't know what was going on. I called her mom and dad. I'm like, you need to come here immediately. I intend to get him exonerated. So I want you to keep an open mind.

Carla suffered with a lot of problems. Her demons were that she drank too much. And she also took prescription pills. She had no other choice but to get help. She sought treatment, rehab, and she attended AA meetings as well. Did you think AA was a safe place for your daughter? Yeah, it's safe, and I thought it was a good thing. You saw her at an AA meeting, and what did you think when you saw her first?

We started talking. Do you think he targeted her? Definitely. Definitely. He is a predator that was going to AA just like many others. Alcoholics Anonymous is like a pickup bar without the booze. It's a good place for some, but you know what? It wasn't a good place for Carla. She went there to get help.

Most people don't expect to meet a predator. At the conclusion of this case, I will ask you to find him guilty of first-degree murder. I'm Maureen Maher. Tonight on 48 Hours, the sober truth. Bertru. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets,

the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now.

In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harbored a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of them. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years,

I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+.

Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. As September 8th, 2014 dawns over the San Gabriel Mountains... Sasha? ...a morning of dread and expectation. We're going to be there for her. A day they have waited for finally begins for Hector Mendez and his wife of 34 years, Yara. And all this time I've been asking,

what happened, what happened? I promise justice. Justice for Carla, yeah. Carla was their daughter. She didn't deserve this. No one had the right to take her life. She was Sasha's big sister. Eric Earle didn't just take a life.

He ruined lives. Jenny's best friend. I really feel it, you know. I miss her. They are bound together in grief and love. Yeah, we're ready. They're ready. For the vibrant young woman Carla Mendez-Brauda.

What was the best thing about her for you? Oh, her hug. She hugged me like no other daughter does. I dream about her, and I can't wait to go to sleep so I can maybe she'll come up again. Dreams are a refuge, the only place this mother can find her child. Police say Carla was beaten, then suffocated, just two days before her 32nd birthday. After three long years, we're finally getting our day. 20 miles northwest of Los Angeles, in the working class suburb of San Fernando,

a jury is set to hear the case. People versus Earl. And to listen to a story that is about much more than murder. Defense calls Mr. Eric Earl. 43-year-old Eric Earl faces life in prison, charged with killing Carla, his fiancee, on September 1st, 2011. But Eric claims it was an accident, but he would never kill the woman he was in love with. Did you find her to be attractive? Yes. Beautiful even. Yes. Defense attorney David Arradondo.

You began to talk, correct? You want a tissue, sir? I loved her! Next question, Mr. Arradondo. It was a six-month rollercoaster romance, but it never really had a chance because both Eric and Carla had another love. Sir, when you drink too much vodka, you get angry and belligerent and nasty,

correct? Yes. Deputy District Attorney Elena Abramson knows it was alcohol that fueled this fire. When he was under the influence of alcohol, was a very abusive person, and he would attack anyone. Alcohol does that to me, yes. About 4% of Americans struggle with alcohol dependence, and increasingly they look less like Eric Earl and more like Carla. I noticed that women were drinking more and more all around me. While writing her book, Her Best Kept Secret, published by Simon & Schuster, part of CBS, journalist Gabrielle Glazer first learned about Carla's story.

Carla was a fun-loving young woman. She was very outgoing. She was musical. Her parents are these lovely, artistic people, and they are nothing but love. This is Carla's room. The sun really rose and set on Carla for both of those parents. This is her resting place. Those are her ashes? Yes. Those are her ashes. They were very close.

Very, very close. If they had a flaw at all, they maybe were unwilling to see that their daughter had a secret side. I was very disciplined, whereas my sister Carla was more of the wild child. She was the free spirit. She had friends everywhere. I mean, she makes you feel welcomed. She knew how to have fun. In 2008, the wild child turned 29. She was still living at home and making good money at a medical supply company. But it wasn't until she crashed her car... She had an accident, a really bad accident.

...that friends and family found out Carla had spent years hiding serious problems with drugs and alcohol. And that's when I started to understand, okay, this is really bad. Did she acknowledge that she had a problem? Yes. She kind of sat there and said, you guys have no idea how long I've struggled with this.

But it was also a wake-up call for you. Yeah. For both of you. Yeah. At the scene of her crash, Carla got a ticket for DUI, and with family support, checked into rehab for a month. She started to attend meetings of two separate organizations, Narcotics and Alcoholics Anonymous, AA. Actually, she told me that she wanted to stop.

She doesn't want to drink anymore. Progress came slowly for Carla. The feisty young woman with so many friends was still battling her demons. But in spring of 2009, she made a big move. She got her own place here on a quiet street in Santa Clarita, 20 miles away from her family's watchful eye. She's sober when she moves out. Where did you get the money to buy the condo? She worked and saved. Carla was now a young woman on her own for the very first time. Soon, there were signs she was slipping off the wagon of sobriety.

I just was so mad at her for allowing it again. Were you worried for her safety, for her life? Oh, yeah. With her loved ones by her side, Carla was set on kicking her habit once and for all. Carla was set on kicking her habit once and for all. In December 2010, she voluntarily entered rehab for a second time here at Action Family Counseling. And I remember telling her, you know, that's your wake-up call. And if you don't take advantage of the second chance, you're never going to have another chance.

As part of that new program, Carla would be bused to the recovery room for daily meetings of both NA and AA, self-help support groups for addicts trying to kick the habit. I mean, I thought it was a good thing. AA calls itself a fellowship where everyone looking for sobriety is welcome. Anonymous means you can reveal as much or as little about yourself as you choose. All I really knew, really, was that people go there to support each other and to stay sober. It was here that Carla, newly sober and emotionally fragile, met Eric. I wanted to stop drinking. I wanted to better my life. Eric Earl had been in and out of AA for 20 years. This time he was there voluntarily. Other times he'd been mandated by the justice system. He had the famous 12 steps lingo about

the path to and principles of sobriety down cold soon he and carlo were going to meetings together what were your feelings towards her during this time swallowing in love with her did you begin to spend some time with her every day 911 are you recording an emergency yes i. I'm at my friend's house, and her boyfriend just beat the s*** out of her. He won't leave. He's drunk. Do you know his name? Eric Earl.

Carla basically told Tanya that the defendant had beaten her, that she had never been beaten so badly in her life. Just three and a half weeks after her friend, Tanya Walsh, placed that 911 call, Carla was dead. I knew that he killed her. I knew that. But it was what was revealed later about Eric's past Carla's parents found even more devastating. Were you shocked by his criminal background? Absolutely. She didn't know there were ex-cons. They're under no obligation to tell her.

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But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts. When Eric Earle met Carla Mendes Brada, he was spending his nights on the grounds of this rundown, sober living facility.

At the time, you were living in a trailer with three other men. Yes. Yes. Eden Ministries houses parolees from prison, alongside other men living day-to-day on the condition that they stay sober. And you weren't living with women, right? Yes. Every day, Eric, an underemployed electrician and a chronic alcoholic,

was shuttled down the street to attend the AA meetings required by Eden Ministries. They were held here at the recovery room. You had good meetings. Yes. Carla was being brought here too. The men from Eden Ministries couldn't wait for the arrival of the co-ed van from Carla's private rehab. Druggie buggy. What is the druggie buggy? The druggie buggy is what the guys at Eden Ministries

at the halfway house would call the vehicle that brought the young women from rehab. Nothing about that says success. Nothing about that says success. What that says to me is fresh meat. Enter in Eric Earle. Cozy's up to her. Who does he present himself to be to Carla? He presents himself to be a guy just trying to get sober. Mr. Nice guy. He was charming. Eric had hung around AA for decades. Carla was still new to it all. One of the recommendations

is you don't date while you're in recovery. Is that right? It's suggested. But together, both Eric and Carla chose to ignore the AA guideline. She brought him once to our house and he was very outgoing. He was very friendly.

Did he seem to be kind to Carla? Yes. Carla's family didn't know much about Eric or his past. He told them he had embraced sobriety. I said, if he can help her stop drinking, you know, I mean, I'll love him for it. I don't care who he is. But Sasha wasn't buying it. And I told Carla and I told my mom, I said, I don't, you know, I don't want

anything to do with him. I don't want to hang out with him. I think that he's just using her. Do you think he targeted her? Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. In a matter of weeks, Eric Earl moved from the trailer park into Carla's condo. And you move from the Eden Ministries, where you have all these restrictions and rules, into this nice two-bedroom condo with your girlfriend, Carla. Correct? Yes.

I do think that he found her vulnerable and needed a place to go, and she took him in. You know, that's Carla. Sponge. Sponge. Sponge. Meal ticket. Mm-hmm. Then, less than five months after they met, Eric asked Carla to marry him. I called her and I said, thanks for telling me.

And she said, well, you know, I didn't think you'd be happy. Do you think she was happier with him? I think she was happier to have someone. They had been living together for a few months. It all seemed fine until August 5th. Are you reporting an emergency? Yes, I am. When that call came in to the 911 operator from Carla's friend, Tanya Walsh. He just beat the crap out of her. And she's asking him to leave and he won't leave. Okay, put her on the phone, please. Hello? Where is your boyfriend? Inside that house. Okay, and you're out, are you out in front? I'm out front. Well, let's talk about August 5th. In front of Carla's family, Eric Girl went up against

prosecutor Elena Abramson. So you were drunk on vodka? I was under the influence. Claiming he was dozing in an armchair when 120-pound Carla hit him in the nose. Ouch, that must really hurt. I was okay. Did it look like it needed stitches? No. No stitches?

But when cops from the Santa Clarita Sheriff's Station arrived, it was Carla, not Eric, who was bloody and beaten. What did you do? Tried to get her off of me. And in the mix of it, she got hit. Was he drunk then? Yes, I believe he was. And the cops quickly put him into a squad car.

He started rocking the patrol car back and forth. He started banging on the door. He told you that if you kept doing that, he was going to spray you with some pepper spray. You remember that? Yes, I do. And then you said to him, you*** you, do it, tough guy. I think I did. Then he slammed his feet

into the police car window so forcefully he popped the glass out of its frame. Is that correct? Yes. Earl was arrested for domestic violence and brought here to the Santa Clarita Sheriff's Station.

But it's what happened next that is ultimately so sad. Eric asked Carla to bail him out of jail. And she did. $8,000. And then they go back to living together. They go back to living together. Does her family know about this incident? Her family does not know about this. Then we saw her with a black eye. And I says, Carla, what happened?

And she says, oh, I tripped and fell. I said, Carla, are you sure? Like so many other frightened and battered women across America, Carla stayed in the shadows. She kept silent. Afraid and ashamed, she never told those who loved her what had happened. I called her on the phone and I said, you know, is he hitting you? Like, is he abusive towards you? And, you know, she just kept saying no.

Her exact words were, do you really think that I would let a guy hit me? Did you believe her? Yeah. She told you no. what else could you do? Yeah. He's not that kind of a guy, she said. Do you think she was afraid? Yeah. She was terrified. Victims come in every form. They stay because they're afraid to leave. They stay because they're embarrassed. They stay because they think that their abuser is going to change.

Carla, with visible bruises, and Eric would return to the same AA group where they had grown so close. She thought that she had found a safe place to get her life back together. She thought she had found a safe partner who get her life back together? Mm-hmm. She thought she had found a safe partner who was on the same path. And in fact, what did she find? She found a violent, controlling, vicious man. On September 1st at 8.38 in the morning, just four weeks after he'd been arrested for beating Carla, another call came in to the 911 operator.

911 emergency, what are you reporting? This time, it was Eric Earle on the line. I woke up this morning and my girlfriend has passed away. My girlfriend, my fiance. He sounded panicked and began to weave a story about how Carla had accidentally fallen down the stairs. Soon, investigators were asking questions about murder. But another set of questions would be raised by Carla's family about why Eric and Carla

were allowed to attend AA together at all. Do you think if she hadn't gone to AA, she'd be alive? Definitely. Yeah. Tonight's 48 Hours will continue. Mr. Earle is still under oath to tell the truth. Do you understand that, sir? Yes. On trial for first-degree murder, Eric Earle denied he had punched or even argued with Carla the night she died. Did you get into a fight with her? No.

argued with Carla the night she died. Did you get into a fight with her? No. But hours before investigators believed Carla was killed, Eric was on the phone with this man, Johnny Dos Santos. Carla was in the background letting me know that he was drunk. He had lived at Eden Ministries with Eric, and they attended N.A. and A.A. together. I heard her tell Eric, and they attended NA and AA together.

I heard her tell Eric, you need to leave. And I can hear the punches through the phone. Eric punching her? Yeah. How did you know he was punching her? Because I've had a lot of punches myself, and I know what a punch sounds like. Did you call the police? No. We don't call the police.

We handle it ourselves. the police. We handle it ourselves. After midnight on September 1st, 2011, the quiet suburban stillness was shattered. The next door neighbors say they heard Eric Earl inside the condo cursing repeatedly for over an hour. Those same neighbors also tell police that in the morning around 7.30, they once again heard Eric's voice. This time, he was saying Carla, Carla, over and over, as if he was trying to rouse someone who wouldn't or couldn't wake up. And that's when I started screaming her name. At that point, you realize she was dead. I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what. At that point, you realize she was dead. Incredibly, it took Eric Earl over an hour to call police, sounding stunned and frantic. I was asleep and suddenly the phone rang. And I picked it up and I heard Eric.

He was shouting, get over here right now. And he said, well, she's gone. She's gone. As her family raced to Carla's condo. The hole right there, you know, was the longest ride of my life. Eric would tell police the same story he would eventually tell a jury. I had started drinking. That he had picked up two pints of vodka at this 7-Eleven. He downed one. And then did you start drinking the other bottle of vodka?

Yes. And around midnight, the man who had spent decades in and out of AA claims he fell into a drunken slumber. Anything cause you to wake up? Yes. I heard her tumble down the stairs carrying the basket full of clothes. Eric Earle swore it was the laundry, not him, that killed Carla. I immediately looked down the stairs

and that's where she was. Punched over a laundry basket. Yeah. He swears he helped Carla back up the stairs and he noticed she was slurring her words. She was on something I did not know. In fact, this toxicology report shows the night she died, Carla had methadone and methamphetamine in her system. She apparently had an overdose

of methadone. The methadone wasn't enough to kill her. She was asphyxiated. She wasn't able to breathe. The coroner's report indicates that the beating six foot two Eric Earl allegedly gave five foot four Carla Mendez was merciless. That here in her own home she suffered dozens of injuries before investigators found her lifeless body in bed. Is there any doubt in your mind that Eric Earlle killed your daughter? An ambulance took Carla's broken body to the morgue. By the time her family got to the condo that Carla had been so proud of, all that was left was a crime scene.

What was the first thing that you saw? I could see there were marks, bloody marks on the wall and on the door. On this wall and this door right here? Right here. Like blood splatter? Right. And also it was like all broken glass. And there was about eight empty vodka bottles. And up that stairway, Eric said Carla had accidentally tumbled down. This whole door was cracked here. Everything was cracked. You think that the door was broken down? She must have locked herself in here

and tried to keep him away from her. The Mendez family was stunned. Eric Earl was in police custody, violent, raging, and drunk. It was during those unfathomable moments, with Carla gone just hours, that the hidden life of Eric Earl began to be revealed. The detectives right there in front of her condo, they told us that he's a very bad man, that he's done very bad things.

Hey, did you know that Eric has a record this long? And did you know he was a con man? This was her cell phone. So this is her cell phone. Then Yara discovered photos on Carla's phone. Self-portraits of that beating Eric gave Carla just one month before she died. Was that the first time you saw those pictures? Yes. Purple bruises that few at their AA meetings could have missed. You've just heard this horrible news that your daughter is gone. Yeah. And all of a sudden you come across this. Yeah. And this. And this. Then within days came the most sickening of revelations. Carla wasn't the first woman Eric Earle had beaten and abused since 1991.

Assault with deadly weapon, domestic violence, elder abuse. He's not an extremely violent person. He is a person who is troubled. He is an extremely violent person. This man has misdemeanor battery, 1991, 1994. In December 2000, another domestic violence. It did not involve serious injury. How can you say domestic violence is not serious injury? He went after his mother. He brandished a weapon. He has an extremely long rap sheet. Well, here's the thing. His record is not at issue here. But Eric Girl's decades-long criminal history was about to become a huge issue, not just

for him, but for AA, where, remember, there is no requirement that attendees reveal if they have a criminal record. It's supposed to be a safe place. Why would you mix these people together? Were you surprised that somebody with that kind of criminal background could just be sitting openly in an AA meeting next to your daughter? Unbelievable. His ex-wife told me that that's how he finds his women. That's where he goes.

AA states it has no authority, legal or otherwise, to control the behavior of AA members. And while AA is fertile ground for predators, is certainly not sanctioned, not part of the famous 12 steps, insiders know. There's something called the 13th step that is this harassment. It's any sort of unwanted sexual advance. And it's gone on in AA from the beginning of time. Thirteenth step is like you see someone that comes in, she's vulnerable.

She's a little weak in the mind. She doesn't have a lot of strength. The thirteenth stepping problem is a huge problem. Documentary filmmaker Monica Richardson was in AA for 36 years. It was that concern over safety issues that compelled her to leave. She says 13th stepping is so common, she made a film about it. And the members who are going there are not safe. No, they're not safe. Tonight's 48 Hours will continue. Tonight's 48 Hours will continue.

In friendly, relaxing neighborhood bars, in liquor stores, and pubs across the country, most Americans drink alcohol down in responsible moderation. I've been struggling with alcohol my whole life, yes. Then there are the 17 million people who are alcoholics. It used to be that for every four men who had a drinking problem, there was one woman. But the profile is changing. Now it's two and a half men for every one woman battling alcoholism.

Started out social, getting home after work and drinking. It was 2010 when this wife and mother walked into her local AA meeting. She found support, but when she went downstairs to use the bathroom, she also found a long-time AA member waiting. He's like, come here, give me a hug. And he kept trying to kiss me, and I'm struggling with him. She says she was groped but managed to break free. She went to police and got an order of protection against her attacker. But it was the response she

got from her group that really shocked her. You know, you need to stay away from him. When we first spoke with this woman, she was eager to tell her story. But just a few weeks before we were set to air, she called concerned, saying that some members of her AA group had strongly advised that speaking to the media was against AA traditions. We decided not to show her face or use her name, but we still felt her story demanded to be told. Why come forward and talk about it? Because I don't want it to happen to anybody else. What she told us is part of a disturbing pattern. Her alleged attacker, just like Eric Earl, has a previous conviction for assault.

And over the years, just like Eric Earl, sometimes he ended up at AA because of a court-ordered mandate. They were court-ordering sex offenders and violent offenders in plea deals to AA. By AA's own numbers, 12% of its membership have been ordered to attend AA by the justice system. The courts are busy and jails are full, and so everyone's looking for an answer. California Judge Rogelio Flores served in the leadership of AA, as what the organization calls a Class A non-alcoholic trustee. I have so many friends and colleagues and family members who got sober in AA. For 16 years, Judge Flores served in drug courts, providing sentencing options other than prison.

And part of the drug court was a 12-step AA or NA meeting. A maxed out system recognized that some non-violent criminals may not need prison. They just need a way to deal with their addiction. I wanted to stop drinking. I wanted to better my life. Is it fair to say that violent offenders sometimes slip through the cracks and they end up in AA meetings? Oh, there's no doubt. Eric Earle fit that frightening profile to a tee when Carla Brada, trying to mend her own tattered life, walked into AA. He saw in her desperation and he saw in her weakness. I think he could read that from a mile away. Do you fear that there will be another Carla Mendes case if there isn't some sort of reckoning within AA?

Absolutely. There already have been. Also today, we are learning more about the St. Paul woman who was found dead in her home yesterday. In St. Paul, Minnesota, 27-year-old mother of two, Megan Neely, was strangled to death by her boyfriend, Corey Dean Thomas, whom she had met just a few months earlier at AA. Thomas had four prior violent felony convictions. I came across the case of a very creepy pedophile in Montana. His name is Sean Callahan, a convicted child molester.

He was mandated to AA. Police discovered his diary. It reads like a manual for 13th stepping. We'll take sex wherever I can get it, whoever I can trick or use, Callahan writes, adding usually women early in sobriety because they are the most vulnerable. So AA is aware there's a problem. What has been the response? They have said things like, we don't tell our members how to act. AA doesn't have a traditional corporate hierarchy. Individual groups handle their own safety issues.

The national leadership known as the General Service, has stated it would not have a role in setting any behavioral guidelines. In this anonymous building here in Manhattan, AA has its headquarters. The organization that started in Ohio in 1935 now has some 1.3 million U.S. members and countless success stories from around the world. And when 48 Hours asked, we were let in. We were let in, but we were only allowed to film empty hallways and displays of memorabilia. No AA officials would speak to us on camera. No interviews granted about safety or the tragic death of Carla Brada. They should know better that you are vulnerable. It's like you're washing your hands of something

that you've created. Do you think Alcoholics Anonymous is partially responsible for what happened to your sister? I do. But Alcoholics Anonymous is not charged with murder. Only Eric Allen Earl is. The defense maintains it was an accident. Carla, high on drugs, fell down the stairs. The contusions, abrasions together, pattern shows she fell down the stairs. Ladies and gentlemen, at the time of her death, Carla Brada was getting ready to celebrate her 32nd birthday. The prosecution's case would come down to this, a drunken, rage-filled man and a brutal beating. He put something over her mouth and her neck, and she suffered for three to four minutes before she died. And in her closing argument,

DA Elena Abramson implored the jury to hold Eric Earle accountable. Tell him that by rendering a verdict of guilty as to first-degree premeditated murder. September 8, 2014. Three devastating years after her death, Carla Brada's case goes to the jury. Emotionally drained, all her family can do now is wait on the verdict and the fate of Eric Earl. I'm nervous.

You're nervous? Yeah. The deliberation lasted just over two hours. Carla's family brace for the news. They just came in with a verdict. Has the jury, in fact, reached a verdict? Yes, Your Honor. We, the jury, find the defendant, Eric Allen Earl, guilty of the crime of murder.

We further find the murder to be of the first degree. More tears from the family that has already cried enough to last a lifetime. I'm in shock, but in a good way. So we're just so grateful that they came to a decision so fast, but also just that, you know, they came to the right decision. It is a celebration no one ever wanted to have. It is a relief. All this time we have not been able to live. Hector and Yara head straight to Carla's old bedroom and their shrine for her ashes. Mama, we made it. Justice for you. We got justice for you.

But their fight is not over yet. Here at Carla's childhood home, where her family has spent months and months grieving privately, her parents have decided to launch a very public effort. With Eric Earle convicted of murder, Hector and Yara are now taking aim at the organization they also hold responsible for their daughter's death. organization they also hold responsible for their daughter's death. They have filed a lawsuit against one of America's most well-respected institutions, Alcoholics Anonymous. With Carla, I mean, you have a young woman who's vulnerable,

and a system that is designed to help her actually hurt her. The Mendez's civil attorney, John Nolan. What I was surprised was when I found out that people that go to AA have no knowledge of the person sitting next to them. In their lawsuit, Hector and Yara claim AA is in part at fault for Carla's death, for not warning attendees that violent criminals like Eric Earl could be at the same meeting. They just want to make sure that this doesn't happen to other young girls or other young victims. Only days after Earl is convicted, this New York process server delivers the lawsuit to AA's world headquarters. How you doing, boss? I have a summons for Alcoholics Anonymous.

Are you allowed to accept service on their behalf? Yes, ma'am. And your name? You have an organization that in large part does good, but it has a problem, and they refuse to address the problem, and it's a very easy fix. What would you like to see AA do? First of all, separate. If the criminals were separated from the regular population in AA, Carla would be alive today. Why can't they have two separate meetings at the same time?

I was told that would be stigmatizing. Up until now, AA's General Service Office has refused to implement such changes. And in an email to 48 Hours, they told us members share as much or as little as they wish about their past with other AA members. There are no rules or policies regarding such things. But even Judge Flores agrees AA can do better. You know, it's going to take some time. As more and more young people come into the fellowship, as more and more women come into the fellowship, as more and more people come into the fellowship who are concerned about these issues, I think we're going to start seeing some changes. But it has to happen. This has to start

somewhere. We're on the record. Met are set today for sentencing. While the Mendez's fight to reform Alcoholics Anonymous moves ahead, Eric Earl, now in a wheelchair suffering from multiple sclerosis, is back in court to learn his sentence. Eric Earle. And to hear directly from Carla's family. Eric Earle. It is Hector, for whom English is a second language and who often doesn't say much, who demands Earle's and the court's attention.

Eric Earle, this is my daughter, my child, all in my life, and you kill her. I cannot accept that. I will not see her again. You are very dangerous and you are a predator. Mr. Earl, you're done because you will be locked up for the rest of your life. For this shattered family, a sentence of 26 years to life for Eric Earl brings some peace. But there is still also a web of complex feelings brought on by a loved one fighting the demons of addiction and domestic violence. A young woman like so many others, Carla Brada. Are you mad at her a little? A lot. She was smarter than that. She was better than

that. She should have said something. There are a lot of complicated issues when you're talking about people who are victims of domestic violence. You can't judge them. You have to love and support them and do your best to try to keep them safe, but you can't blame them. If Carla hadn't been to those meetings, if she hadn't gone through that process, she would have never met him and she'd still be here. And maybe she'd still be struggling with her own issues, but she'd be here.

The Mendez family's lawsuit against Alcoholics Anonymous is still pending. Should AA inform members about court-mandated criminals in their meetings? Chat now on Facebook and Twitter. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.