Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Estranged hubby dressed as Santa slaughters his entire family in holiday bloodbath

Episode Date: December 17, 2020

Grapevine, Texas, police receive a 911 call about a shooting. Six relatives are gunned down on Christmas Day. Who made the 911 call? What drove a man to dress as Santa and kill an entire family?Joinin...g Nancy Grace today: Allison Jones - Best friends with Nona (victim)  Todd Dearing - Captain of Criminal Investigation Grapevine Police Department    Mashy Modjdehi - Friend of Fatemah Rahmati    Ashley Wilcott - Judge and trial attorney    Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, Beverly Hills, www.drbethanymarshall.com    Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet" featured on "Poisonous Liaisons" on True Crime Network   Levi Page - CrimeOnline reporter   Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. For all of you that are going through your Christmas cards and getting ready for the Christmas holiday or Hanukkah. It's not like that for everyone. For many people, resentments of the year seem to boil over at Christmas. I don't really understand why, but I know there's a huge uptick in crime every holiday. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. It's one thing for anger to boil over to resentments that you have festered come to the surface and result in a mass murder.
Starting point is 00:01:14 Take a listen to this. Grapevine 911, where is your emergency? Hello, Grapevine 911. You need help? Are you sick? What was that? Do you need an ambulance or police? Hello? One moment. I was getting heavy breathing on the phone and I need to come talk to you. So please send a message. A heavy breather.
Starting point is 00:01:51 The heavy breather was trying to save his life in the midst of a mass shooting at Christmas. Again, I'm Nancy Grace. Thank you for being with us. Let me introduce to you an all-star panel to break it down and put it back together again. Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon and star of the hit new series, Poisonous Liaisons on the True Crime Network. Dr. Bethany Marshall joining us from LA. You can find her at drbethanymarshall.com.
Starting point is 00:02:28 Ashley Wilcott, judge, trial lawyer, Anchor Court TV. Joining us, special guest, Mashi Mojdehi. Also, Captain Todd Deering, captain of criminal investigations at the Grapevine PD. Allison Jones, a very dear friend to the players in this case. You just heard that 911 call and I've just got to start off at the very beginning. I mean, Joe Scott Morgan, why would a dispatcher say, I got a heavy breather. The guy is clearly saying a shooting. I could hear him say that. Isn't she trained to listen for words just like a shooting? Yeah, yeah, they are, Nancy. But,
Starting point is 00:03:15 you know, in a 9-11 center, in this communication centers from all over the country, you never know what's going to be on the other end of the line. And sometimes they hear the absolute worst of the worst, and they have to tune their ear in many times to try to pick up on even the slightest little inflections. Remember, Nancy, the people that are calling in, they do not call in to let you know that their kid is on the honor roll or they just won the lottery. This is the most horrible things you can possibly imagine, and they're the first point of contact. Now, of course, if the 911 dispatcher had been listening carefully,
Starting point is 00:03:54 she would have thought it was a victim calling in to report a shooting was taking place. Take a listen to the 911 call again. Grapevine 911, where is your emergency? Hello, Grapevine 911. You need help? Are you sick? What was that? Do you need an ambulance or police? Hello? One moment. I was just getting heavy breathing on the phone.
Starting point is 00:04:38 Just getting heavy breathing on the phone. If she had listened carefully, could lives have been saved? That's an answer we'll never know. Take a listen to Amber Fisher, NECN. Around 1130 Christmas morning, Grapevine police received an open line 911 call. We made repeated attempts to try to get a hold of somebody. No one responded. Straight out to Captain Todd Deering, Captain Criminal Investigations there in Grapevine. Captain Deering, again, thank you for being with us.
Starting point is 00:05:11 When you get a 911 call and you can't make out what's happening, what is SOP, Standard Operating Procedure? What do you do? Well, for starters, you're listening to a recording that you have where the audio from the other end is being amped up. Whenever we received the first phone calls, what the dispatcher was hearing was much softer than what you're hearing on that particular recording. So all she could hear was the voice or the heavy breathing in the background. And she had the intuition in this particular point of pushing it further and starting people that direction. Whenever they do get 911 calls like this, they also try to call back and try to find out, you know, is there a real emergency?
Starting point is 00:05:58 Was it an inadvertent phone call? You know, things like that to see what is actually needed. And so whenever she called back, there wasn't any responses. So you're telling me don't be quite so hard on her because I'm hearing it enhanced. And she would not have heard it that way. Yes, she did a phenomenal job. It was her first responder intuition that said, you know what, something's wrong. We need to send somebody out there.
Starting point is 00:06:21 She did a phenomenal job in this particular case. I'm always willing to be told I've got it bass-ackwards, and you're absolutely correct, Captain. See, I thought she's hearing what I'm hearing, but you're telling me that this is enhanced, that she didn't hear it that way, but acting on a feeling. What did she do? She started sending units that direction. And that's why when we first, the officers first got there, they, you know, it's a nine-on-one hang-up call. We go and knock on the door, try to find out someone is answering.
Starting point is 00:06:54 And it's when they got there, no one came to the door. They started looking, peeking through the windows. As a matter of fact, Captain, your response time was incredible, right? We were there within a few minutes. It was dispatched as soon as they received the phone call, and we were there within a couple of minutes. So I believe you got the call around 1136, and you dispatched officers to the scene at 1137. That's correct. Straight out to Allison Jones joining us.
Starting point is 00:07:20 Allison, I believe this family, they were friends of yours, right? Yes, they were. I grew up living three houses down from them my whole childhood. And you were best friends with Nona, I think. Yes, we spent, we drove to school together every day our junior and senior year of high school. You know what, you're bringing back all kinds of memories because I grew up out in the middle of soybean fields and pine trees. And we did not farm, but we were in the middle of farmland. And the family that worked the farm near us had a son my age. And we would ride to school together every single day. And I still remember that. And we're still friends today. When you see somebody every single day, morning and afternoon, you have a bond.
Starting point is 00:08:15 So you and Nona rode back and forth to school every day of junior and senior high, right? Yes. So just to give a little background, I joined that school my junior year of high school and I had grown up in the neighborhood with Nona. And when I was transferring to go to Collierville Heritage High School, I reached out to Nona and we rekindled our like elementary school friendship. And she was my person in high school because I knew no one in this big giant school. I hadn't had a boy in my class since the fourth grade.
Starting point is 00:08:51 And all of a sudden, I'm going to this massive high school. And she was my person that got me through every day. And so when I was going to the school, we decided to carpool together. And we had one class together. And she would tell me who everyone was in the high school and all their drama. She kept me informed with everyone. And, you know, every morning we drove, we got Chick-fil-A for breakfast and then we went to school together and we met back up in the parking lot in the afternoon and drove home. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Starting point is 00:09:41 Guys, we're talking about this beautiful family that live there in the Grapevine area. And what unfolds for them at Christmas is not a Christmas fairy tale, but a Christmas horror story. And I'm speaking right now to the best friend of Nona Yazidipanah. And I'm hearing so much about her, and it's bringing her to life for me. Allison, you said that she, you know, as you went to this new school, you knew nobody but her. She's like a lifeline to you. She'd tell you who everybody was and all their drama. You would describe her as your best friend at that time, right?
Starting point is 00:10:30 Yes, at that time, for sure, she was my best friend. Now, I understand the family broke up. Yes. Well, there was a lot of, from what I understood, the parents were in an arranged marriage, and as the kids were getting older, the mom was becoming a little more independent is what I gathered. And so eventually the mom moved out. And that was probably, that probably happened the end of our junior year going into our senior year
Starting point is 00:11:00 of high school. When you say arranged marriage, what do you mean? From my understanding, they didn't pick each other, I guess. Where were they from? They were from Iraq or Iran? Iran, Iran, I'm sorry, Iran. They were from Iran and Nona was then a product of an arranged marriage? That was my understanding, yes. Okay. And what did Nona think about that, or did she just accept it as normal? She accepted it as normal, and from my understanding, we didn't really talk about her family life very much. We talked more about our personal lives going on and her relationships. But from my understanding, everything was fine at home. They were as happy as one can be.
Starting point is 00:11:49 The few times I went over for dinner, her mom made an amazing dinner, and everything seemed normal inside. But as she grew up and started dating, that's when turmoil, in my opinion, started to happen in the family life. When the daughter grew up and started dating? When the daughter started dating. Nona? Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 00:12:09 Mm-hmm. What kind of turmoil surrounded Nona going out? They didn't want her dating. Her dad had strict rules on that. And when they found out she was dating someone that was not of their culture they were very upset and that's what Nona had told me that that's why
Starting point is 00:12:32 she had to keep her boyfriend a secret because her parents would not be happy that he was Hispanic and so I kind of at the time helped her in that aspect looking back at it now I wish I had understood it more And so I kind of at the time helped her in that aspect. Looking back at it now, I wish I had understood it more.
Starting point is 00:12:58 But yeah, she was always trying to hide her boyfriend from them and would ask me to give her rides to see him and things like that. They wouldn't let her have a car because they didn't want her to drive wherever she wanted to go. They would they had strict rules on her phone. They would track a lot of stuff on her phone. Sometimes when her dad would drop her off at work, he would stay in the parking lot to make sure she wasn't leaving, things like that. You said that the mom ultimately left the dad and I believe moved to an apartment near the high school where you attended? Yes.
Starting point is 00:13:28 Joining me also, in addition to Allison Jones, best friends with Nona, is Mashi Mojdehi. Mashi, you were friends with Fatima? Well, I was friends with Zora, which actually I was friends with both of them. But Zora was my best friend, the sister. And I should mention that the two sisters made it two cousins. So those two guys were cousins. The one did the, you know, did the crime. And then Zorara's husband.
Starting point is 00:14:06 They were cousins. Wow. So that's what that arrangement came. I was listening to Allison. And so Zohra and her husband, they lived in U.S. for 40 years. And then Aziz, Yazan Ppana he was living here too and then when he was ready to marry it he asked them if he you know uh he can marry a nazarene fatima you know so that's how it started but i want to mention something here nancy? Yes. The reason she moved out from the house and went to
Starting point is 00:14:47 the apartment because their house was going for foreclosure. She didn't want that happen in front of her kids. That's why she went to Grapevine to be closer to their high school. When she moved, did she take the husband with her? No, he didn't want to go. He was, he stayed in the house, but she knew pretty, you know, pretty soon the house is going to, bank is going to take over. And she didn't want, you know, while they are in the house, you know, somebody come and tell them to move. So she did it for the sake of her children. Did the children move with her? Yes, yes.
Starting point is 00:15:30 Three of them, yeah. And he would go and visit them. And so, and I should say that, I mean, he loved her kids. And these are his blood children, correct? Yes, yes. We were talking about, I see, Bob Yazdapana stayed behind in the home while his wife and children moved to an apartment near the high school. Now, that is an unusual decision because there is no way in H-E-double-L, Dr. Bethany, if I have strength in my bones that I would be separated from my children. Nancy, you would never be separated from your children.
Starting point is 00:16:15 But the fact that the mother moved out in a protective stance with the children to protect them from the realities of the foreclosure. But the father stayed behind, begins to give us insight into the father's personality, somebody who's very stubborn, perhaps somebody who is not dealing in reality, somebody who's willing to be separated from his children, and somebody who maybe even is beginning to become destabilized in some way by the unraveling finances and the unraveling family ties. I would wonder how well this guy was psychologically. Who was he? How did he function in this family life? You know, what was the precursor to staying in a home that's going to be basically taken out from under him. Let's go back to Mashi. Mashi, tell me about him, Aziz, Bob Yazdipina. Tell me about his
Starting point is 00:17:15 personality. Well, he really loved his kids and family when his finances was okay. He had his own business and everything. And after September 11, it went down, you know, his business went down and then he just became a different person. What was his business? He had a mortgage business, you know, home improvement business, you know, he was involved in so many of them. And he was making good money, so he told his wife not to work. She was working as a nail artist in one of their spas. And so she listened to him because he was bringing good money and he was providing them good. So she didn't work.
Starting point is 00:18:03 And then after the business, his business wasn't doing good she had to i mean they really financially they were hurting so she had to go back to work and he didn't like that and but she had to provide for her kids you know oh i i hear trouble brewing in this case. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. You have, in this case, a family that is torn apart for many different reasons. But we hear that it all starts with a financial problem when Aziz Bob Yazdipinaz's business fails. Back to Mashi. Mashi, why did his business fail? It's a mortgage business. It's there in Grapevine, far away from where 911 happened.
Starting point is 00:19:12 So why did his business fail? Well, it was after September 11, Nancy. Right. You know, so, yeah, things weren't good. So he just, for five, six years, he didn't really work before that happened. He didn't really work. He wasn't really willing to work. And that's what Zohreh and her family, they were helping. You know, she was helping her sister because she knew she had two kids.
Starting point is 00:19:43 And Aziz wasn't really willing to work. And so, I don't know, I feel like something happened to him in his mind because he didn't want anybody's help. And one of their big issues was they really didn't want to discuss it. They didn't want to get any help with professionals and, you know, to just find them a way. And they kept everything to themselves. And, I mean, later on when we find out how, you know, they really had difficulties, financial difficulties, we were all upset because we couldn't help them. You know, that's an interesting point.
Starting point is 00:20:25 Let me go back to Allison Jones, best friends with Nona. Did Nona ever let on or did she even know that they were in financial trouble? No, she never had. She never told me anything about that. I mean, we ate Chick-fil-A for breakfast every morning and she paid just fine every morning. She never said anything like that. She did work and she worked a lot. Where did she work? When we first, she worked at a gelato place at first. And then she
Starting point is 00:20:54 ended up working at Sam's Club. And I think she was working like in the Verizon Wireless department at Sam's Club. We both had co-op together in high school where you have early release to go to work and she worked really hard at Sam's. You know, I want to go back to Captain Todd Deering joining me, Captain of Criminal Investigations there in Grapevine with the PD. Captain Deering, have you ever heard the phrase, the idle mind is the devil's workshop i heard that from my grandmother ever since i grew up and i can remember one time um my husband was between a job he had two weeks till he started his new job every day we were long distance i was in in new york he was in atlanta every day i'm like what are you doing today?
Starting point is 00:21:45 Because I really believe when you're sitting around, you get into trouble. Yes, I've heard that phrase before. My grandmother used to say using the same thing with idle hands instead of idle mind. Yes, the devil's workshop. Because you're not, your mind isn't busy. How many times, Captain, have you seen violence erupt because everybody's sitting around the house all day playing video games and watching TV? You know, familiarity breeds contempt. We've had plenty of cases of those over the years where people, you know,
Starting point is 00:22:16 are together too much and therefore domestics do erupt from things like that. Guys, I want to go to Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. So what do we know up to this 911 call where we think it's a crime victim calling in? Yeah, Nancy. So this is in Grapevine, Texas, the suburb situated between Dallas and Fort Worth. And this call came in at 1130 a.m. And then the dispatcher sent police officers to the apartment complex it was the lincoln vineyards apartment complex nancy and that's where this family was living just to shine a little more light on why they moved to this apartment complex so the father aziz was living in their home and the electricity had been shut off there was no running water and it was about to be foreclosed on he was in financial trouble they were living
Starting point is 00:23:12 in this apartment complex and apparently he was not welcome there because according to friends of the family he would travel and invite prostitutes to his hotel room. So there was a lot of animosity. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So the man wouldn't work to pay the house note, but he could afford hookers. Did I just hear this? He was selling this stuff.
Starting point is 00:23:39 While his wife was working two jobs. Wait, was that Mashie jumping in? What did you say, Mashie? Well, he was selling their stuff, his furniture, Persian rocks, stuff like that. Selling their stuff. Well, you know what? I would think you'd put that on the house note or pay the electricity or the water bill so your children would have a home not on high-priced hookers.
Starting point is 00:24:02 I did not see that curveball coming. Yes. Did the wife know, Mashie? Well, she was living in an apartment, and she bought everything with the help of her sister. She bought the furniture and everything, just basic things for the apartment. And then she left everything there.
Starting point is 00:24:20 She didn't really want to take anything because she didn't want to make him angry. So he started selling Persian rocks, furniture furniture wait so wait let me understand something okay hold on okay Dr. Bethany Martin don't worry Joe Scott I'm getting to you hold on Dr. Bethany if David has something that I want I just take it I don't even think about it. And if he dares to say, where is my ex? I say, I gave birth. Okay. That, that ends it right there. So do you hear this lady was afraid to take a rug or a chair or anything from the home? And she's the one that the children are going to live with her in an apartment near the high school. So Nona could get back and forth to high school better.
Starting point is 00:25:09 And she was worried about taking a rug or a bed or a chair. I mean, I'd sleep on the floor, but I'd want my twins to have a bed. Nancy, I'm hearing a perfect storm of bad personality characteristics on the part of this so-called dad and husband. He's staying in a house that's about to be foreclosed upon. He doesn't allow his wife or children to take any of the furniture so that they can reestablish themselves independently. This guy thinks that he can control everything. He can control the bank. He can control the mortgage company. He can control the police when they come knock on his door. He can control his wife by depriving her of the things she needs to live freely and independently from him. So when somebody like this guy loses control, it's not pretty, Nancy.
Starting point is 00:26:10 No, it's not. Take a listen to Amber Fisher at NECN. We made repeated attempts to try to get a hold of somebody. No one responded. We made entry into the apartment and discovered seven victims inside the apartment, all deceased. The bodies of four females and three males were found in the kitchen, appearing to have died from gunshot wounds. It looks like all relatives of each other are probably here to celebrate Christmas.
Starting point is 00:26:39 Police found two guns inside the apartment. Two guns inside the apartment. Mass shooting. Seven victims. Straight out to Captain Todd Deering. What happened that day, Captain? Once our officers arrived, like I said, like you could hear in the recording, that they knocked on the door, tried to get someone to come to the door. Obviously, when they couldn't get it, they started looking around the perimeter. It was a ground floor apartment. It had an upstairs. There's a stairwell inside the apartment, two bedrooms upstairs.
Starting point is 00:27:13 And they peeked in the window to see if there was anything going on inside. And through the crack of the window, they could see individuals deceased in various places within the ground floor of the apartment right there. So, entry was forced. They secured the scene and then called out investigators and crime scene investigators to start working the case. Captain, did you see the crime scene? Yes, I was there. I was there all day. You know, Captain Deering, I've seen a lot of homicide scenes, but I've never seen seven dead bodies at Christmas. It was definitely a first for us, too. We've never had a situation or an event with that many people deceased in one place before and since. And then, of course, Christmas Day made it particularly memorable for us
Starting point is 00:28:07 over the years. It stands out in everybody's memory of anybody who was there. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we were talking about Christmas anger, resentment, boiling over on Christmas Day at a family gathering, leaving seven dead people on the floor around that Christmas tree. Take a listen to Ben Russell, MSNBC. There is no known motive, at least this one that police are telling us about. There is also no outward sign of the horrible tragedy that unplayed right through this sliding glass
Starting point is 00:28:58 and door frame here of this apartment complex in Grapevine, again, that you described as a suburb of Fort Worth and Dallas here in greater North Texas. Here is what we do know at this point. No one heard any of the gun shots that were fired inside of this home. Someone from inside of the home called 911 around 1130 yesterday morning, but that person did not speak into the phone. An operator then sent police, Grapevine, Texas police here to the scene to go and investigate, and they found the scene that we've been talking about now. We also have information that the suspected shooter in this case, a middle-aged man, may have been dressed
Starting point is 00:29:35 as Santa Claus, though Grapevine police have not confirmed that information for us at this point. This morning, the seven victims are all reportedly related. Again, four women and three men between the ages of 15 and 58 years old. They were all found inside of this apartment, though we're told not all of them lived here at this apartment. Allison, when did you find out that your little best friend in junior, senior high was murdered by her dad dressed as Santa? Well, shortly after 1130, so it's probably, I don't know, 1145 noon around then, we were having Christmas at our house. And all of a sudden, we look outside and there's several police cars in front of our house. They were parking, you know, a few houses down from where the dad had been squatting and so we
Starting point is 00:30:27 went outside and the police officer said that that their house their seven people were murdered and it was in connection with that house and the first thing I said was I know who exactly those seven people are and And I said, Nona and her brother Ali and her mom and her dad and her aunt and her uncle and her cousin. And that's kind of how it all unfolded for me. To Mashi Mozdahi, tell me when you learned about your best friend's death? Well, the night before, Zora and her husband, they had a ranch. And so for Christmas Eve,
Starting point is 00:31:13 we had like 75 people, we had no friends. We were gathering and celebrating the Christmas. And at 12 o'clock, Nona came to me and she said, Aunt Mashi, my daddy just texted me and he said he has a surprise for me in the morning. And I said, oh, maybe he's going to give you a call because she just graduated from high school.
Starting point is 00:31:38 And so she was kind of excited to see what the surprise was. And then when I heard that. I didn't know that. I just couldn't believe it. You know, we were all devastated. We just couldn't believe that happened. The next day when we find out, it was just horrible. I mean, when Christmas time comes,
Starting point is 00:32:03 it's hard for me to celebrate because I just think about this family. They were wonderful people. I mean, Zora and her husband, if you people live in Dallas, if you ask them, how do you think about them? They were just always helping people. They were wonderful, wonderful people. And her sister was such a peacemaker. That's why, you know, back to that stuff I said, you know,
Starting point is 00:32:30 the furniture and everything, she didn't really want to make Aziz angry. So she just, with help of her sister, she decided to just buy the basic things for her apartment. She was a very quiet, very super kind lady. She never, you know, she was a
Starting point is 00:32:47 peacemaker. She just didn't want anything to happen to her kids, her family. She was a really a wonderful mom and always protecting her kids and everything. So when he sees her coming out of this arranged marriage, even though he's not working, he's hiring prostitutes by selling their rugs and their furniture, he can't stand that she is making a new life for herself all on her own. Is that what you think happened, Mashi? Well, she never really went for divorce. She never went to an attorney, you know, because she just thought if she just moved out, you know, her kids are going to be more safer and everything. And so she really never got divorced or anything. So it wasn't like her ex-husband. It was, you know, they were still married and everything. And so she really never got divorced or anything. So it wasn't like her ex-husband. It was, you know, they were still married and everything. To Joseph Scott Morgan joining us,
Starting point is 00:33:53 Joe Scott, you know, we hear that 911 call. We think it's a victim inside the home. It's not. It's the shooter. Yeah, that makes it all the more striking, particularly compared when you now retrospectively, when you look back up at the scene, I've been on many mass shootings over the course of my career in New Orleans and Atlanta. And I can tell you that the horror that he saw, the police, it's amplified for them because, you know, you talk
Starting point is 00:34:40 about the concentration of bodies that they have. First off, they don't know who anybody is when you walk in to an environment like this. And this is an absolute, trust me, this is an absolute bloodbath. Nobody has, you know, you think about a lady might be carrying a pocketbook, a purse. A man might be carrying a wallet. Everybody's guards down at this point. You have no idea how to identify these people. And then you go to this point of how do we process the scene one by one. And all the while, this is all unfolding before you because you don't know where this guy is to begin with at this point. When you're out on scene,
Starting point is 00:35:19 you're the point of contact relative to this. So you're having to work this case as if it's going to be prosecutable and that this person is still out there somewhere and he might be perpetrating again. You've got someone that is inclined to take the lives of all of these people in a very, very small space. And we're talking about an apartment. It's not like a mansion or something. And so it just, it doubles down on this idea of terror and particularly at Christmas time. And I can understand why the captain specifically mentioned this, particularly in grapevine,
Starting point is 00:35:57 that this is going to haunt them for years and years to come. And every individual is out on that scene. We'll remember this forever. Back out to captain Todd Deering. What do you remember? What went through your mind when you went into that scene? One of the things that, and one of the points that we've always had over the years is that it particularly wasn't a gruesome scene. It was just a, you know, a mass casualty scene, which was impactful on everybody there. Most of us had never seen that many people, of course, in that small amount of space. We did have a few officers over time that sought help because it was a fairly significant
Starting point is 00:36:37 point in their careers, especially the younger ones that had just started, had been with the police department for just a couple of years. And so this was all brand new to them. You know, at that time, I'd been in law enforcement 20 years and, you know, learned how to deal with these kind of things. But some of our newer people actually had difficulties with that. And so, you know, got them help over the years to get through those kind of things, because
Starting point is 00:37:01 it does make an impact on the police officers who are working the scenes too and especially on a holiday like that we were most of us were home with our families and we had to leave our families to go to something like this so allison when you look back on that christmas day and your friendship with nona what do you think what do you feel i What do you feel? It's hard to put into words. It definitely has affected my Christmases ever since because I think about her a little bit more every Christmas since then. My parents, you know, they still lived three houses down from her house for a long time. They just moved out last year from that neighborhood.
Starting point is 00:37:44 And so every Christmas morning, I'd have to drive by her dad's old house. And for a long time, the banks never sold it. It took a while for them to even come and fix it up. And so it just sat there as kind of a sore thumb in the neighborhood and as a reminder every day of what happened. So it definitely brings a lot of sadness. I know if she were still here, she'd be doing big things. To Mashi, how has the death of your friends affected you? Affected all the friends, all the people that knew them.
Starting point is 00:38:27 It's just not me, Nancy. I mean, I just cannot tell you how wonderful they were. You know, and Nona's cousin, Sarah, she was going to medical school. She was a young kid with a lot of dreams and everything. I mean, that was unfair to her. That was unfair to her school. She was a young kid with a lot of dreams and everything. I mean, that was unfair to her. That was unfair to her brother. That was unfair to all the family. He could have just killed himself. The levels here of promising the daughter a surprise the next morning. She thinks it's a car. It's two guns firing, showing up in a Santa suit after everything he had put the family through. All of this culminating on Christmas Day. If you or anyone are suffering at this time of the year, please dial toll-free 800-273-8255.
Starting point is 00:39:29 Repeat, toll-free 800-273-8255. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.

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