Anatomy of Murder - Malícia (Alexandria Burgos)

Episode Date: May 31, 2022

An 18-year-old woman is murdered at a child’s birthday party.For episode information and photos, please visit https://anatomyofmurder.com/. Can’t get enough AoM? Find us on social media!Instagram: @aom_podcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @AOM_podcast | @audiochuckFacebook: /listenAOMpod | /audiochuckllc

She was cheated out of her life from a dream that she looked forward to. We look forward to her graduation from college, and that didn't happen. Because someone that shouldn't have had a gun had one and used it. I'm Scott Weinberger, investigative journalist and former deputy sheriff. I'm Anastasia Nicolazzi, former New York City homicide prosecutor and host of Investigation Discovery's True Conviction. And this is Anatomy of Murph. Today's case takes us for the very first time on AOM to Chicago, Illinois, which is the third most populated city in America.

It has a lot of nicknames, Chi-Town, or even Windy City, with more than 2.7 million people. One of those Chicagoans is Milagros Burgos, also known as Millie. And this, I'm telling you all right now, was one of the tougher interviews that I've done. There is just a rawness in it that really struck me to the cord. So I warn you and let you know that may be exactly what you experience yourselves. I was born and raised here in Chicago, and we also have raised both my children here in Chicago as well. Both my kids are miracle babies. My doctors had told me that I was unable to bear children. But 12 years after our marriage, I had a miscarriage. And then I had my daughter, Alexandria. And then 17 months later,

I had my son. And today we are really focusing on these two miracle babies. First, there was Alexandra. It was the best news I was ever, I had. I was in surprise. I was so surprised. I was shocked. She literally came out like with a little smile, her face so precious. That was one of my best moments in my life and to hold her close to me. And then she got news about another gift, her son Christian. I had to ask the nurse, are you sure? Are you sure those are my results? Because after my daughter, I didn't think I would have another child. So when they gave me the news, we were so happy. For many of you who were raised with a sibling,

you already know the intense competition for your parents' attention that goes on with kids, especially when they're 17 months apart. I have an older sister by three years, and we were not always on the same page, but it was not that way for Alexandra and Christian. I didn't want her to feel that she was cheated out because we had them so close. I would always tell her, you're going to have a big job. You're going to be a big sister. So she literally took it to the heart. So the moment he was born, she always held him close to her heart. And while these two were very close, they were different kids and they took on different roles.

Christian was the one who kept things closer to the vest and maybe the quieter, even though both were shy. But from the time she was a little girl, she was a very big protector of her little guy, her younger brother. They called her Mother Teresa because she was always caring not just for her brother, and she was this little thing, but she was always caring for the other kids. If certain kids ate certain things or whatever, like at the park district and when their friends would come by. I couldn't help but really think about my own relationship with my brother because I'm really fortunate I have this younger brother, although he's clearly physically much bigger than me today. And we were always super close. And I also took on that big sister role.

But we are far apart in age. But my parents also always emphasized that you always have each other no matter what. And it's always nice to know that I always had someone in my corner who didn't care about anything else other than what he thought was best for me. I seen them caring for each other and loving each other and being there for each other. And we would always tell them, you know, we're not going to last forever. So always remember you have each other. We all have each other. I really take that to heart. And I'll say this.

As you know, Anastasia, my mom passed away about two years ago. And for so many years, my sister and I were not close at all. And that really bothered my mom. And since she's been gone, we've reconnected. So the saying, all we have is each other, for me, has real meaning. There was a story they told me once that they didn't tell me till they were older. So they said, Mom, he was being bullied because he was, you know, a little chubby and they would call him names. And I go, and how come you didn't tell me?

These are things you need to tell me. And my son comes out and says, Mom, it's OK. Alexandria handled it. She talked to the person, and they never, after that, teased me again. Alexandria and Christian were more than just siblings. They were friends. And for Millie, watching them grow side by side, there was nothing better. He adored her. He looked up to her for advice. He looked up to her for just wanting to make her laugh. He would get silly and she had this certain laugh about her that it was contagious because then we would laugh and not knowing what they were laughing about, just all then start

laughing. We're talking about Chicago and it's known for so many things. The Cubs, the Magnificent Mile, those beautiful, tall skyscrapers that line the waterways downtown. But it's also known for a lot of crime, and it had a high homicide rate always. But in 2014, it had reached an all-time low for murder. It was actually the lowest it had been since 1965. It was very safe, so we would always educate them and let them know that wherever they go, to be very careful. Millie would teach her kids the phrase,

no malicia. We say no malicia, meaning you go somewhere and you think everybody is good. You don't see wrong in anybody. That's what malicia is, like you don't see wrong in anyone. So they had no knowledge of who could be bad or who could not be doing the right thing. They did not see wrong in anyone. On Saturday, October 18th, 2014, those two siblings, Alexandria, 18, and Christian, 16, did come face-to-face with Melissia. For Millie and her family, that day began like any other. Each of the family members went their separate ways, only to be reunited later that evening in the most tragic way possible.

So we're going to give you a 360-degree view of that day through all of their perspectives. First up is Christian. That Saturday, Christian went to the mall with his girlfriend and the mom. My son did call us and say after the mall that they were going to go to the girl's house with the mom because she was driving. My son didn't drive at that time.

And I says, okay, you know, we'll pick you up later. When Millie says that she felt comfortable with Christian spending time there, she gives this example that really says so much about how protective these parents were of their two kids, is that she said that when she had gone there before, he had known this friend slash girlfriend back to friend, you know, whatever it is that they were at a particular time, that she always checked out the neighborhood. We went there originally because we wanted to see their surroundings. We wanted to see, meet her. And then the mom, the neighborhood looked fine. It was quiet.

There's no signs of anything, no writing on the buildings or anything like that that would concern us. So it looked safe. And the home that Christian was visiting was a multifamily building. And on that day, the downstairs neighbors were throwing a party. The downstairs neighbor had a party for their daughter. She was no more than five. So they went downstairs with the mom.

Next, we're going to Alexandria. She was a teenager, an 18-year-old, and that weekend for her was about work and friends. Saturday, she went to her workday like many others. And that night, she was excited to go see her friend perform her first time up on the stage. We all went to see her girlfriend, one of her best friends, perform at Second City, so she did not want to miss that. And that next day, she had to work again, and when she got home from work, she decided to stay home. Then that Saturday, she was starting to work later. I had told her we were going to go to the movies afterwards. She said, no, you know, it was kind of a long day yesterday,

so I'm going to relax. And we're like, okay. Now for the parents, as you heard before, they headed to the movies and then they were planning on picking up Christian. But those plans suddenly changed. So we were going to pick him up and then I guess he called his sister as well. And next thing you know, we get another call, and she's like, I'm going to go pick Christian up. And we're like, you know, I thought you were tired.

And she's like, no, it's okay, I'm going to pick him up. And Christian then told us, too, that she was going to come pick him up. Me and my husband are at the show in the theater. And just before it ended, we get this horrific call from my son. And we couldn't understand him at first because he was crying. And then he said that, he said, Alexander's been shot. So we were so puzzled. We're like, okay, where'd you guys go? Where are you guys at?

Did you guys went somewhere? And you didn't tell us, where are you at? And they're like, no, we're here. We're like, put a towel, put a cloth, put something where she's shot. Try to stop the bleeding. And my son just kept crying and crying and crying. And when we got there, we see tape on the streets.

And we had no idea what was happening. And it happened to be one of the firefighters was a friend of ours. He just looked at us, and he just said, just go to the hospital. So we both drove as fast as we can to the same hospital she was born. So as we went to the emergency area, we had asked for my daughter, Alexandria. They just looked at us. And I'm like, we want to know how our daughter's doing.

We want to know how our daughter's doing. We want to know how our daughter's doing. I had no idea. I didn't know what was happening. Everything was going so fast. I was just hoping that I would just go see her and she was okay and I would take her home. And nothing was wrong with her. If she had any wounds, that it would heal. It was nothing that was life threatening and they

would come tell me it's okay and that's what we were hoping. The doctor came. She came to tell us that Alexandra didn't make it. She didn't make it. She didn't make it. You know, Anastasia, no matter how many times we have these conversations, like the one you did with family members, like Millie, you can't help but feel their intense pain. It comes right through. I kept thinking to myself, like, how can she and other survivors possibly cope? Because if it hurts us that much just to hear it, imagine

what it must be like to live it. I call it our mission statement here on AOM, to always honor the victim. And as you know, it means much more to us than talking about their death. We really want to get at who they were in life. So let's get to know Alexandria a bit as the vivacious 18-year-old that she was. She always loved sports. And she wasn't a tomboy per se, but she always liked wearing baggy pants. Like sometimes she would even try to wear my son's pants, but they were big. Even in her homecoming, she would always wear her glasses to school, her hair up. A homecoming that her and my son attended with

some other friends. They're like, oh my gosh, Alexandria, is that you? You know, she's like, oh, mom, you know, they didn't know it was me. I tried to hide it. And I'm like, Alexandria, it's you. You know, you're beautiful. But she just wanted to keep simple. She was very simple. Her mom described her as an old soul. And we all know people who are just like that.

At age 18, she loved the music that her parents loved. Teddy Pendergrass, Earth, Wind & Fire, you know, old school music. You know, she loved it. Alexandra loved sports. So besides taking up dance, she played baseball, basketball, softball. All of that was in high school.

And when it came to her schoolwork, she worked even harder. schoolwork, she worked even harder. At 18, she was juggling work and junior college, but she knew what she wanted to do ever since she was little. Oh my gosh, she wanted to do so many things. She loved working with kids. She worked for the park district since she was 16. And she would tell me, mom, you should see these beautiful kids. So she wanted to go to college to become a social worker. That was her dream. I want to work with the youth. I want to work with children. I want to work with juvenile detention. And her goal was to work at the Cook

County Juvenile Detention Center, working with struggling teens. Well, that's very specific. So I had to kind of think about it myself. And I think where I come out on is that she really cared about someone that maybe was going down the wrong road, that maybe they needed her more than most to maybe put them on the right path when they got out. In fact, one of the things Millie mentioned

during her interview was a call from a parent that came from one of the kids that Alexandra had worked with while at her summer job. And the parent wanted to thank Millie, saying that Alexandra was such a great kid. She was so caring. And it was something that Millie said back to that mother that really struck me. She said that Alexandra was her own person and that Millie was just raising her. And I really think that captures the spirit of Alexandra. We didn't realize how many lives she touched. Unfortunately, from when we laid her in the funeral, they had to end up closing the funeral home because there were so many people there. We know she gave love and joy.

We didn't realize she touched so many lives. Police would begin this homicide investigation starting with others who were also at the party, taking statements, trying to develop a possible theory. Could this attack have been targeting somebody else, possibly even gang-related? Investigators would likely go to their contacts in the neighborhood to see what the word on the street may be. A 16-year-old Christian is, of course, someone that investigators will want to and need to speak to to find out more about what happened.

But think about the delicate situation that leaves. Here he is, a 16-year-old with absolutely information to provide. I mean, he was actually there in the room, but he's also her younger brother, and he just had held his sister in his arms while he watched her die. We had to ensure him that it's nothing he did. You were just reaching out for your sister like you always do when she was being there for you like she always is. Christian told investigators that the apartment was full of people who were attending the party. Alexandra had just arrived after midnight to drive him home. There was a room full of people there in the kitchen. There were kids running around. While she was waiting for Christian to get his jacket,

she was sitting at the kitchen table near a back window. When you step out, I don't know if there was a door, but there was like a little porch. Then it happened. The sound of gunfire, breaking glass, and screaming. Everybody ran for cover, and when it was over, Alexandra lay motionless on the ground with a gunshot wound to the head. There was a car that was involved, so whoever went there got there in a car and left. But there was nothing about this that seemed like a drive-by, because they were also able to report that someone apparently got out of that car, went up on the porch of that home, pulled out a gun, and fired, those bullets going through the window hitting Alexandria.

So if we were attempting to look at some possible theories here, Anastasia. For me, my first theory would be questioning whether she was actually the intended target. I think the first thing that I thought of when I heard it is Vendetta, but not against Alexandria. Remember, she just was there because she went to go pick up her brother. But whoever it was on that porch,

they were aiming, gunning for somebody inside that house. And all I could think about is that it's like multiple stories and it's multiple units, that who knows if they even got the right apartment. And while I think it seems clear to all of us there's no reason to think that Alexandria was the target, maybe it even was a mistaken identity. Remember, she's in the kitchen with her back

to what would be the window, and who knows if she looked like somebody else. All these theories are plausible until they're not. And I'm not necessarily suggesting there was any gang affiliations of anybody that are there, but you'd want to try to find out if that actually exists. And then it's less likely to also be drug-related because there was no contact

between anybody in the apartment inside and the shooter who was positioned outside. So drug-related, not likely. Her being the intended target, not realistic. And of course, you know, we're just speculating. We're not inside this investigation. But I really am leaning towards some type of gang activity. So what investigators need to do with no clear answers, they have to start to look more at the building and learning the neighborhood, the area, to see if that leads them down any particular path. So let me say this. Within the city of Chicago, including the north side of Chicago, Belmont-Craigan is not known to be a high crime area. Specifically, this block is not known to be a high crime block.

So a shooting here is not the norm. That's what makes this so puzzling. The building was right next to a church. There was no signs. It was a well-maintained building. It was no graffiti, nothing. It was a well-groomed building. In an article I read about crime within the city of Chicago, Belmont-Craigan as a neighborhood comes out number 52.

And when I hear that, if you live in any metropolitan area, if your neighborhood is number 52 on the list of most violent, well, you are the envy of all your friends. Because that certainly is a place that things like this are not likely to happen. We've covered this before in other episodes here on AOM. The streets don't talk, meaning residents are either not willing to talk to police or just afraid to talk to the police, worried that the criminals may take retribution against them. They a few times mentioned various detectives that someone of interest were to talk. Whatever they said, it wasn't enough evidence for them to do anything. You know, rather if it was that they seen something or heard something, but whatever it was, it wasn't good enough. Even though this neighborhood and the building in particular was where her daughter lost her life to homicide,

Millie and her family went back there again and again and again. Because we wanted to see if anybody knew anything. We were tired of the code of silence. We were tired of, you know, people saying, oh, someone's seen something. People don't want to talk because they're afraid or whatever. But we were tired and we wanted to try to remind people that something happened on this neighborhood and you cannot turn your back because God forbid it happens in your house or someone that you know. So we want this to stop. So if you do know something, speak out, stop being silent and let something be done about it.

And all of that legwork, personal endurance was about to pay dividends. Millie was able to develop some information from a potential witness. And that potential witness was actually the woman whose apartment that this all happened inside of. And then we asked her personally, my husband said, can I go see where it happened? And I didn't want to go. But Alexandria's father wanted to go. He wanted to see for himself. And so when you think about that, you might say, well, why?

And I guess the way that I come out of it, Scott, is that while he's certainly not going there for his own detective work, it is the place that his daughter took her last breath. And maybe there's just something about the being there, seeing it with your own eyes that somehow gave some, I don't know, otherworldly sense of solace. For some, it's a way to process and have a connection with your child in the very place that they took their last breath. It clearly was personal for him. So he went with her, and he seen the area. And then he came back and told me that on one of the walls, I believe, there was still like a bullet mark. And when he was there, they made sure to ask this woman, the apartment resident, to tell them a bit more about the neighborhood.

We had said, is this a safe area? Has something like that ever had happened? And she said no. She said that she knows there was no drug activity. In order to get to the apartment, you have to walk down a hallway. And in that hallway or in that stairwell, is there any gang graffiti? But a family member, let alone a civilian, investigating a building is far different than authorities, using every tool in their arsenal to find out more about that building.

And when police investigated the building, they turned up nothing. We went to the police department to see if there were other activities that had happened there before. Then they told us that, you know, the building was fine. So if there doesn't seem to be any obvious problems going on in the neighborhood, you have to think about, does that change some of the initial theories? And I think for me, I'm still going to come back to some sort of a vendetta over something. How about you, Scott? I agree with you. I mean, certainly there is no specific information about gangs yet, but it's something that we often say

in these cases where someone who's an innocent victim of a crime may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But for the family, this wasn't the wrong place because they had scoped it out before. They knew that Christian had been to this apartment. It was his girlfriend's building. And so they felt it was safe. It shouldn't have been a wrong time because we all should have the right to be where we want without being threatened and thinking that we're going to be hurt by a gunshot. And it really struck me the way that Millie talked about that. She was like, there should be no wrong place, wrong time. She was going to pick up her brother,

and there was nothing more than a child's birthday party going on at the house. So what about this made this something that anyone could have ever predicted? And I got what she said, is that wasn't it really right place, right time, but then this incredible violent act took her life. Some of the people that are out there that are doing harm, what are they fighting for? What territory? This territory belongs to the city. This is not their territory. For people to fight for not knowing what they're fighting for and to take a life away, that to me is senseless and it shouldn't be happening and something needs to be done about it.

And for Millie and her family, to make matters worse, the one place she thought she would get answers was the police and they had nothing to offer. We met two gentlemen that were supposedly on the case. One then was transferred to a different, I guess, area. Now, we see this often in an investigation. Investigators move on. Some of them get promoted. Some go to different assignments, or some even obviously retire. Then they gave us two other detectives, and they still said that they have not found any leads,

no witness or evidence, supposedly. We know it's frustrating for a family to see that they're getting this rotating list of people who are trying to help out. But that doesn't make it any easier for them. And what we're talking about here actually has a name, and that is the secondary victimization process that family members and loved ones of homicide victims go through

just with the criminal justice process. It is daunting, to say the least. And Millie and her family, they were never part of this system. They are not equipped to understand the ins and outs, and nor should they. And not knowing who's handling a case and if anything is even being done at all, well, that is almost a whole secondary victimization in a way, in and of itself. And again, we can talk about the we know why, and we do, certainly Scott and I, from living the other side of that equation. But for family members, they often feel very lost and additionally helpless. After the murder, Christian himself

didn't talk much about it. To his mother's surprise, he did write an essay as a way of expressing how he felt. He spoke about how the gun violence changed his life forever by taking somebody he felt so connected to. And my son, what my son goes through now, that he misses his sister every single day. And we miss her every day. But we hold up and we hold each other. Now Millie's mission was to make sure that not only her daughter's case would be solved, but no others like Alexandra would become a victim

to this type of gun violence. And Millie and her family didn't do one thing. It's more like, what didn't they do? We've established a scholarship in her honor at Wright Wilbur Wright College. And this year we planted a tree on her honor at her school garden. They do everything they can, marches, raising money in buryaways, to try to prevent others from having to go through what they are now living in their own lives. It was a month later when I spoke to some men that were incarcerated, that they came out telling them that my daughter was taken from gun violence. And if they ever have a weapon, and if they thought about hurting someone, to put the weapon down and change their mind. Millie was on a mission. If she wasn't getting the answers she needed

from police headquarters, she was going directly to City Hall, literally. We just wrote a letter and we spoke to a person that assisted her in certain things like this, but nothing became of that meeting. And while Millie continued her crusade to speak out against gun violence, something unexpected happened.

This was a while later. My boss got a phone call and she came to me, like, puzzled and kind of startled. And she asked me, who has Alexandria's phone? And from the day of her death, Alexandria's phone had been with police and part of their evidence. The family didn't have it. She told me, Alexandria called me, and I'm like, what? Someone must have the phone and is using it, because who would do that? You know, then you start thinking, oh my gosh, it's just not real. You know, how could that be?

So then when I told my husband, I go, look, my boss got a call from Alexandria. It was on her phone because it said her name on there. It said her name. So that was her phone. You know, Scott, what was your take when you started to think about what caused that call? I do have a theory and it's just mine. Perhaps law enforcement had developed a potential lead and powered up Alexandria's phone to go through her address book to see if she had any incoming calls or if that number somehow was stored on her phone. It makes perfect sense that they are working behind the scenes and investigators potentially are going through that phone to see if that gives

them any answers or any paths to follow and whether they meant to place the call or that was hit mistakenly as they went through that phone, who knows. But it actually makes a lot of sense. And I'm glad to see that they were still analyzing her phone. My husband contacted the detectives. And then, I don't know, there was that week later, they brought us her phone. There is no answer to who may have made that call. We should also let you know there is no answer to who shot Alexandria yet.

Her case is still open and unsolved. In telling today's story, I think it's important for really three different reasons. One is obviously to tell Alexandria's story. Second, you know, if there's anything we can do to help her family get answers and hold someone accountable through maybe one of you. But also interestingly, before I did this interview, our executive producer made a comment to me like, you know, she may have questions for you. And at first I thought like, okay, but you know, I didn't handle the case. So whatever I say is going to be general. And he said to me, you know, no, it's really more about the process. Her family really feels in the dark

about a lot of it. And maybe just through your experience can really help them understand a bit more. Always helping families is part of the fabric of who we are, right? Often our conversations with the family members, we talk about process and expectations. And there is a section of the interview that Anastasia did with Millie. We think you should hear it just as the conversation happened. It's one of those opportunities where real world experience could bring some insight to a family, a family that's still looking for some level of understanding. It's sort of like the process one-on-one of homicide cases. While I'm certainly not involved in the case as an investigator or prosecutor just from being a homicide prosecutor for so long, I mean, are there things that I can help answer for you, even if it's in a general

sense? Oh my gosh, that would be awesome. There's so many questions still that's puzzled in our head. For instance, if we had the question of, was the gun ever found that was used in my daughter's case? If it was found, would they have told us? Or if there was any fingerprint found on the shell casings, would they have told us that? You know, there's no bright line rule. You know, there's not a manual that says hold every piece of information, hold some information. Very often you won't be told a lot of the evidence. And not because they are worried about you knowing it, but they're worried about if by some innocent way it ever gets out and it either gives a suspect

a chance to flee because now they know the police maybe have the gun, for example. And uh-oh, if they have the gun, maybe now it's going to lead to me, so I better get out of town. If and when, and I certainly hope there's a when, that they are able to hold the person or people accountable. You never want any information out there that all of a sudden the argument can be later in a courtroom. Well, you know, the police say that

my client said that they did this thing, but that was already out in the media. You know, that was already something that people knew. So how do we know that that isn't just something that someone else is telling them? That doesn't mean that it is a fair thing from the side of family. But then if we're trying to get to that finish line, you need to protect that investigation from any defense possible down the road. However, in my experience, they will often tell you if they at least have leads. Yes, we do have a person of interest in our sites. We do have at least some people telling us who they think might be responsible,

but that's different than evidence. It's obvious here that everybody wants the same goal, which is justice for Alexandra, which means justice for the family. Have you and your husband ever spoken with the state's attorney there? Oh, yeah. We've had meetings.

As a matter of fact, we've tried to. There's families that has either cold case or their case has not been solved. So we try to have meetings. I think Anastasia's next message was equally as important. It's often called squeaky wheel gets the grease. As long as it doesn't put you or a family member in harm's way, you keep asking questions in the neighborhood, at the police station, and at the courthouse. I will also tell you that the most important thing that you and your husband can do to push the investigation forward is do not go into the shadows. Keep making those phone

calls because it is that pressure that at times can make sure that case file at the top of their desk. They did not always share information with us. We, as a matter of fact, would have to call them. They would not follow off as often as we would hope they would. And one of our questions also was, why was my daughter's case considered a cold case without our knowledge? Until after the fact, a lot of times when they change detectives, we didn't even know until we would call and they would say, oh, no, they're not on that case. It's someone else on the case. And it leads families like us in a limbo because we're like, how many detectives were working on our daughter's case? I mean, what does it take? It's been seven years. So that's what puzzles us so much. And I think for that, I will tell you,

Millie, that I apologize. And I say that because I think I speak for all prosecutors and law enforcement on that, because there is no good answer. Because the right thing and the fair thing is for you to know every step of the way who has your child's homicide case. And what I can tell you, and hopefully at least that can keep the hope alive in your head, is that homicide cases never close. And I have seen, I'm happy to say, many cases that have been transferred for seven years and sometimes many more, and it is just that one detective that picks up that case somewhere down the line after many other hands have touched it, is able to finally bring you that good news at some point.

So please don't lose hope. Yes, thank you for that. And we don't lose hope and we won't lose hope. My greatest hope in telling Alexandria's story for this podcast is that it's in some way helps you get those answers that you and your family need to at least put this piece, the criminal justice piece behind you. So then you're just left with those beautiful memories that you've been sharing with us about your daughter. In each one of the unsolved cases we feature here on AOM, you always hear me say

the phrase, somebody knows something. Information is powerful. This is an open homicide investigation and Chicago Police Department and their detectives and the family themselves welcome any opportunity for any information that can point towards a direction of resolve. It's our ask as well. The phone number for Crime Stoppers is 1-800-535-STOP. That's 1-800-535-7867. The importance of telling this story is to try to help Millie and her family get answers, but it's also in talking about a bigger issue. Coming up on June 3rd is Gun Violence Awareness Day. And it's important for us all to remember it is not someone else's problem. It is a problem for all of us that we individually and as a community must address.

In just 2020 alone, more than 45,000 Americans died at the end of a barrel of a gun, whether it was by homicide or death by suicide, more than any other year on record. And that number represents a 25% increase from five years prior and a 43% increase from 2010. And coming back to Alexandria, she is someone that this world lost, but wow, was this young woman loved. And I hope for her family that they will find at least a bit of solace in knowing that in her death,

she is providing strength for so many others and maybe a call to action in the bigger mission of stopping this somehow, someday. She was cheated out of her life from a dream that she looked forward to. We look forward to her graduation from college. We looked forward to her living her life. And that didn't happen. Because someone that shouldn't have had a gun had one and used it. And a life that they didn't even know they took away. And that's why we do what we do,

because we don't want other families to go through what we went through. I hope in our small way that we can help. I thank you so much for that. Tune in next week for another new episode of Anatomy of Murder. Anatomy of Murder is an Audiochuck original produced and created by Weinberger Media and Forseti Media. Ashley Flowers and Sumit David are executive producers. So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?