Crime Weekly - Sonia Exelby | She Told Her Family About a Network of Sadistic Men… and Disappeared (Part 1)

Episode Date: August 21, 2026

There are some people who disappear all at once - One day, they're there, and the next day, they're gone. But sometimes, a person disappears slowly. So slowly that the people who love them don't realize what's happening until they look back and understand that they had been losing them for years. 32-year-old Sonia Exelby was the youngest of six children, and for much of Sonia's life, there were people who loved her very much. But somewhere along the way, Sonia began slipping away from them.  At first, it looked like depression. Then isolation. She stopped going out, stopped answering invitations. Stopped letting people in. Until eventually, much of Sonia's world existed through a screen. Online, she could be whoever she wanted to be. She could talk to strangers about the things she was afraid to tell the people who loved her - but listening and helping are not always the same thing... Try our coffee! - www.CriminalCoffeeCo.com Become a Patreon member -- > https://www.patreon.com/CrimeWeekly Shop for your Crime Weekly gear here --> https://crimeweeklypodcast.com/shop Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrimeWeeklyPodcast Website: CrimeWeeklyPodcast.com Instagram: @CrimeWeeklyPod Twitter: @CrimeWeeklyPod Facebook: @CrimeWeeklyPod ADS: https://www.Quince.com/CrimeWeekly - Get FREE shipping and 365-Day Returns! https://www.SKIMS.com/CrimeWeekly - Shop Stephanie's favorites at Skims.com/Crimeweekly! IQBAR - Text WEEKLY to 64000 for 20% off and FREE shipping! https://www.Wildgrain.com/CrimeWeekly - Use code CRIMEWEEKLY for $30 off and FREE croissants for LIFE! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There are some people who disappear all at once. One day they're there and the next day they're gone. But sometimes, a person disappears slowly. So slowly that the people who love them don't realize what's happening until they look back and understand that they had been losing them for years. 32-year-old Sonia Axelby was the youngest of six children. And for much of Sonia's life, there were people who loved her very much. But somewhere along the way, Sonia began slipping away from them.

At first, it looked like depression, then isolation. She stopped going out, stopped answering invitations, stopped letting people in, until eventually much of Sonia's world existed through a screen. Online, she could be whoever she wanted to be. She could talk to strangers about the things she was afraid to tell the people who loved her. But listening and helping are not always the same thing. and Sonia eventually found her way into some of the darkest corners of the internet. And sometime around 2023, Sonia began communicating with a man who would later describe himself as her mentor.

On Friday, October 10, 2025, Sonia packed a small bag. She told her longtime partner that she was going to spend the weekend with her siblings. Instead, she went to London's Heathrow Airport and boarded a plane alone, flying more than 4,000 miles away from everyone who loved her. By the time anyone realized what had happened, it was too late, and Sonia was gone forever. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Crime Weekly. I'm Stephanie Harlow. And I'm Derek LaVasher. So today we are diving in to a new series, The Case of Sonia Axelby, and this is one that has been on my mind for a while now.

We're going to dive deep as deep as we can. And there's actually legal things happening coming up this fall. I'm kind of very, you know, excited to build the base and the foundation here and lay out everything we know about this case, this crime and the people involved. So that when maybe more information starts popping up, we can put more of the pieces together because we already have a really good foundation to start from. But there's a lot of interesting things with this case. There's a lot of things that I think have kind of been put out there, but haven't been followed up on enough, officially as we know. But I've been putting some pieces together myself. So I'm excited to get started and talk about it.

But before we dive in, I know we have some really good news that we want to share with you. Yes, I mentioned it on CWN. So if you've already watched that episode, then you already know. For anybody who hasn't watched Crime Weekly News, last week, Christy Gonzalez, the mother of Kaylee Gonzalez, though, she was one of, of the victims in the Idaho for reached out because she saw the video that I did on Brian Koeberger and really liked what I had to say. And candidly, she had never heard of me or Crime Weekly before. But after seeing that video, she started looking into us, seeing what we were about. And so we got on a call with her team and wanted to discuss how we could work together in the

future. And she actually recently started a foundation called Murder Has a Name. Basically, it's to help cases where DNA funding is needed, which, as you guys know, with criminal Coffee, that's what we're all about. That's what we do. We talked about how we could work together in the future. But in the meantime, Criminal Coffee has just donated $1,000 to the Murder Has a Name Foundation. And we bring this up not only to let you guys know where your money is going, but I also get a lot of emails from you regarding where you can donate because you may not like coffee and you want to donate directly to the foundation. On our website, Criminal Coffeeco.com, you can go to the fight crime tab or even on the main page and scroll down and you can see a banner.

And it has all of the foundations that we've donated to. We've donated to the Murder Has a Name Foundation. We've donated to the Ballin Foundation, the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, and many others, all on your behalf. So yes, we're working cases. We're trying to fund DNA that's needed for these particular cases that doesn't get the coverage they deserve. But also in between that, we're also donating to these foundations that have causes that we can support. So if you're looking to donate to the Murder Has a Name Foundation, the links will be in the description box below, both on Apple. Spotify and on YouTube, or you can go over to the Criminal Coffee Co website.

And if you do buy some coffee, then we will be donating to these foundations in the future. That's all I got. But thank you to Christy and her team for reaching out. I told her on the call, absolutely inspired by her ability to take what happened to her, to make sure that her daughter's name stays alive, but then to also take this tragedy and try to use it to help others because it would be much easier to just go back into her private life and just never be heard from again, but she's taking this and she's using it to help others so they may not experience what she had to experience, which is the unknown.

Or at least they're not alone. Right, because initially she said there was a time where she didn't know who did this and that who was driving her insane. Now, she still doesn't have the why because Brian's a coward, but she at least knows the who and some people don't even have that and she's trying to change it. So we're on board for that. That's what the true crime community is about when it's at its best. So wanted just to give you guys an update on that.

That's awesome. Everyone who buys criminal coffee, you're helping to donate to this foundation as well, so many others. And it's all, you know, foundations that we think you morally and ethically would support. Yeah. Even though you don't know these people and we don't really know these people, we're hopefully making a difference in their lives. That's what criminal coffee is about. So we want to thank everybody who's purchased us, supported us. We love you guys.

Thank you so much. Yep, absolutely. Thank you. Okay. So let's talk about Sonia X-LB. Sonia grew up and spent her childhood in Portchester, Hampshire. So this is a place that most of us would compare to a fairy tale landscape. In fact, the historic waterfront village sits in the shadow of a massive ancient castle built by the Romans in the late third century.

It's just a beautiful place, you know, English countryside, the water's there. It's just awesome. It's gorgeous. And Sonia was also a gorgeous person. She'd been nicknamed Lambie by her family because she was so sweet and docile. She had the gentlest soul. They said she was kind, compassionate, full of quiet love, and she was also a vegan because she couldn't bear the thought of any animal suffering simply so that she could eat. Her family said that Sonia was one of those rare people who made you feel completely safe to be yourself. And quote, being around her felt special. She brought a calmness and warmth that made everyone feel a little lighter, end quote. But the truth is, as gentle and kind as Sonia was, she did have a rough early start in life. The youngest, of six children as a baby, Sonia had primarily been cared for by her eight-year-old sister Gemma because her mother struggled with mental health difficulties and caring for six children had become overwhelming. Eventually, the authorities intervened, and when Sonia was about one,

she and her four-year-old sister Sarah were placed into foster care before both being adopted by a childless couple in Portchester on the southern coast of England. And this is where Sonia's wholesome and happy childhood began. So weekends for Sonia, and Sarah would be spent with their family on their yacht. They would go sailing to the Isle of White, where they would spend their days playing on the beach, splashing in the water, and competing in dingy races at the local sailing club. Summers would sometimes be spent in New Forest with their grandparents where Sonia's father and grandfather taught her to play the guitar, piano, and flute, and this triggered a love and passion for music that would follow Sonia throughout her life.

Her family described Sonia as being a talented musician with the voice of an angel, and she would direct this energy into giving music lessons to children, and also she enjoyed performing on stage. We welcome the stunning Sonia. I'm going to play you today. It's a bit different to what you used to be hearing, but I hope you enjoy. If it's true what they see, I will hear them as a moonlight. If it's set from the heart, I'll go back to the start.

at around 16, Sonia finished secondary school and went to South Down College in Waterloo, where she continued to focus on music and where classmates remembered her as a quiet and kind person who loved performing in the school choir. During this time, Sonia also met Steve, a street artist from Portsmouth who would become her boyfriend for the next 15 years. Now, when she was 18, Sonia and her sister Sarah started to wonder about their biological family, and this caused them to reconnect with their birth mother and four older siblings, including Gemma, who remember was the one taking care of Sonia when she was a baby, and their three brothers. Now about this happy reunion, Gemma said, quote,

Sarah and Sonia were just always so significant to us all, but it was the most incredible thing to have them back in our lives. They really did have a beautiful childhood. We couldn't wish for anything more, end quote. And I think this is important to understand that Gemma and the Browell, brothers were left behind with the mother. I'm not sure if they also got adopted out or fostered at that time. What I will say is that right now, information about the biological family of Sonia is very much under wraps. Gemma's come out and talked, obviously. Sarah also has talked. But as far as the brothers and the mother, we don't know a lot about them. So when we say the mother was

struggling with mental health issues and couldn't take care of all her kids, we don't know specifically what that means. And it seems they're trying to stay out of the public eye. But I think it's important to hear what Jama said, where it's like, yeah, we had a rough start. Our mother couldn't care for us. Sarah and Sonia were taken away and they were put in the foster system. But then they got adopted by these great people who gave them this beautiful fairy tale life. And when we reconnected with them, when we were older, to know that was amazing. Because of course you're going to worry about your sisters when they're being put in the foster system and they're being adopted, you don't know what kind of people are adopting them. It's like, could the people adopting them be worse than they had

initially with their biological family? We're not around as their biological older siblings to protect them. We don't know what happened with them because the adoption process is very private. So Gem is saying to find out that they got adopted by these great parents and they were sailing on yachts to the Isle of White and playing on the beach, that was more than we could have hoped for compared to what it could have been or just the not knowing. We've definitely heard the horror stories, but just so I have everything correct here, Sonia had essentially five siblings, right? Gemma, Sarah, and then the three brothers.

Yes. Okay. And then obviously you had mentioned right before that not to bury that part. Steve was a boyfriend of 15 years. Yes. Okay. I'm following you and everything. Yeah, I mean, that is a rare story, but happy to hear.

I wish we heard that type of story more often. It is a rare story, I think. Yeah, like this perfect childhood. This case isn't about this. But do you think there's any like, jealousy or resentment because those siblings went and lived on like this amazing life. You know, you can love somebody and care about them, but also be like, man. Yeah, exactly.

I got, I got screwed in this deal. It's like, you know, when Nicole Richie got adopted by Lionel Richie. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. For many kids who are going into the system, that's not their outcome, right? But you're happy it's your sisters that got that outcome because that outcome is so rare. But yeah, there may have been a little like a sibling, you know, like playfulness of like, oh, well, you got this great life.

You know, we're stuck here with crazy mom, but. No, I just wonder where you hear like, oh, you were traveling abroad. Oh, that's great for you. Well, no, they lived in a place where the Isle of White, which is this beautiful place on the coast of England, it was right across from where they were. But they had this yacht. They're doing dingy races. That's true, too.

I'm thinking abroad because we're in the United States. But yeah, you're right. You're right. But this is a beautiful childhood. And even Sarah and Sonia, they would acknowledge that, that we had a wonderful fairy tale childhood. Okay. Got it. So according to Sarah, both she and Sonia were also extremely happy to have their biological family back in their lives.

Sarah said, quote, in 2010, Sonia was like, we've got these brothers and sister. They are absolutely amazing. And after the first meeting, it was like we never spent any time apart. We have all been really close since. It's been beautiful. End quote. Now specifically Sarah, Sonia and Gemma, the three sisters, they became inseparable. After reuniting, they formed a close bond that included frequent visits.

spending the night at each other's homes and nights out together in Portsmouth. Sonia did enroll in university for a short time but had to drop out due to her own mental health issues when they started to emerge. So her loved ones would later discover that she'd been struggling with depression and negative thoughts about her body. And in an online forum, Sonia had admitted to suffering with severe eating disorders, which led her to, you know, try to purchase black market diet pills on the internet. Now, throughout her 20s, Sonia became more.

and more withdrawn, slowly leaving her flat in Portsmouth less and less, not responding to family and friends and declining invitations to go out and do things that she'd previously enjoyed. She'd been sociable before. She'd like to go out with her sisters. And now all of a sudden, she doesn't even really want to leave the house. So Sonia's sister, Sarah, this is the sister she was adopted out with. Sarah had moved to Australia, but she would often fly to the UK to visit with Sonia and check on her. And she said, quote, I don't know what changed. When I came back, I couldn't get her to go to the shops with me. It was such a difference from someone so full of life to someone so withdrawn. Everyone was keeping a close eye on her, but she was also pushing people away, end

quote. So when you're an adult, you know, you can keep an eye on your family members, but only so much as they allow you to, right? If someone's not answering calls, they're not answering the door. Yeah, what are you going to do? I believe it was Gemma. She said, even though Sonia wouldn't leave the house, she still tried to keep like a relationship with her, the sister Gemma that was in the U.K. still and her kids and she would build like Minecraft worlds for her kids. But everything she was doing was very like digital internet on the computer. So even connecting with the people that she loved and who loved her, a lot of that was happening on the computer. That is concerning when the only way to communicate with your sibling is via the internet or Minecraft. If you want to, right. Yeah. In hindsight, it's always easy to, knowing what we know now to say that. But I would also say. say that even in my personal life.

Don't we all do that kind of? Yeah. With my brothers and sisters, like, we're not physically seeing each other every single week. And a lot of times it's through group messages or emails. So I guess it's not as crazy of a thought. And that's scary, but that's the world we're in now. Yeah, but here's the thing. Like, you have a brother, you're close to your brother.

If you could tell he was struggling with some sort of mental health issue, especially if your mother and your brother's biological mother had also kind of went through the same thing. right, you would be worried, you'd kind of want to see them in person. And when somebody's struggling with their mental health, I think we both can admit, and everyone listening can admit, the internet sometimes isn't the best place to be spending time. No, absolutely the worst, social media especially. The worst, I would say the worst, yeah.

You're not going to be in a world where you're like, you know what, I'm feeling down. Let me go look at social media to cheer me up. That will make me feel better. Yeah. No. It's not going to do it. Nine out of ten times, not going to do it. When Sonia was responsive, then the rare times she would respond to the people who knew her and loved her.

It had become clear that she'd replaced her real life connections with those that she'd developed online. So the Guardian, they've done some of the most extensive coverage of this case. They reported that by 2023, Sonia had become completely isolated from friends and family. She had no fixed career, and she had spiraled into a state of despair. And she was even having thoughts of taking her own life. She later confessed to her family that she had visited. internet forums where others were having the same thoughts. So she was going to forums where people also thinking about taking their own lives were existing. And then she would have conversations with

those people. So once again, maybe not the best environment to be in if you're having those kinds of thoughts. You know, I don't necessarily have an issue with that if she's using the internet. It kind of gives you a little bit more anonymity to go on there and talk to people who don't personally know you where you can ask difficult questions without being. judged or scrutinized. So that's fine. But considering the fact that that's basically her whole world where she's only deepening that connection with the computer, that's where it becomes an issue. As far as the siblings, I mean, what do you really do other than make like a surprise visit just to check in on them to make sure that one, they're okay and they're not being held against their will

or be there's something deeper going on in there where you walk in and the house is in disarray, just complete shambles. And it seems like the only area that's well kept is the computer. You know, I don't know if that were the case or not, but there would only be one way to find out. And that would be to go by and say hello. Once again, it's not super clear at this time because Sonia's partner of 15 years, Steve, he also hasn't been super vocal and has kind of stayed away from giving interviews and things. But I have a feeling they lived together, right? They were together for 15 years.

I think they lived together. Well, that was the only thing I was wondering. How does he notice any of this? 15 years. So he definitely did. He definitely noticed it. And I also got the implication that maybe Sonia's family members were communicating with him sometimes when they couldn't reach her. Okay, makes sense.

And he was kind of like saying, you know, she's kind of down or she's spending a lot of time on the computer. But as far as right now, she seems okay. She doesn't tell anybody at this point when they're worried about her that she's having thoughts of taking her own life. That would come later. But he's not understanding that she's thinking about taking her own life. He just knows she's depressed. She's going through things. And I think he was communicating to them.

Yeah, she's having a good day today. Today's not so much of a good day. So there was communication coming from inside the apartment where Sonia lived. So the siblings probably thought this is as much as we can do right now, as long as Steve's keeping an eye on her and we're in constant communication. Yeah, he's closest to her. Yeah, we can't really force it. Yeah.

I agree with that. That makes sense. That's her partner, right? That's the person she's closest to. You have to assume one of the persons she trusts the most. And that's basically your conduit where you're going through him. to say, hey, have you talked to Steve lately? Yeah, he's there. He physically has eyes on her. Makes sense. So on that same note, though, you talked about these online spaces where people can

talk about this and they can be anonymous. And yes, but there's different categories of these online spaces, right? There's, there's so the support forums where someone says, hey, I've been thinking, I don't want to be alive anymore. And then other people can respond and say, like, yeah, I've been there. I understand here's what helped me better. They can offer each other in encouragement and help and offer, you know, advice to seek help. And then there's more neutral kind of forums and spaces where people could discuss their own experiences and thoughts without without necessarily like giving advice, like, don't do that, but being more neutral. Well, it deepens the pool of people you can go to that may have experienced something similar

to you. Like, if you just go to your family, I've done it in like many other aspects, like just things that I needed to figure out whether it was with my computer or something in the house, like, hey, has anybody experienced this? Now you're just. You know, you're accessing thousands of people as opposed to just a couple dozen that may be in your personal life. So I find it useful. And I think even in this situation, it's very practical. The problem is the context behind it and the situation she's in. Yes, because then, but then as we know, or I don't know if you do know, but it's the internet. So of course, weird places exist. No. Yes. There's darker, darker spaces. Never would have guessed it.

These aren't like support forums. These aren't neutral forums. They're the pro taking your own life forums. Okay, that's a problem. That's not the form you want to be in. In these kinds of places, seeking help to not do the thing you're thinking about doing. It's frowned upon. It's actually discouraged, right?

Yeah. And then they will offer each other advice on how to carry out on these thoughts. And then they'll kind of get each other going, talking about all the different ways. And you can explore this and you can do that. Now, based on what we do know, I believe that Sonia eventually ended up in these darker corners of the internet, at least eventually. Maybe it didn't start that way, but that's definitely where it led to. Well, as you're perusing, you can stumble on something and then you go down that rabbit hole. I don't even know how these things are allowed to exist.

I know it's hard to regulate the internet, but like these groups should be taken down. Like, I mean, immediately. I agree. But once again, free speech. It's harder said than done. Her kind of going into these areas of the internet, that's an important element to this case because a person can experience severe ideations of this nature. And they can enter these kinds of spaces, not understanding, maybe thinking, oh, it's a support forum or a neutral forum like I've been on before. So they can enter these spaces looking for understanding and looking for like, oh, relatability.

But then they can encounter people who allow them to say things they feel that they can't speak to their friends and family. and that feeling of being able to freely speak and being understood, whereas you think no one in your life can understand what you're going through, that can be powerful to someone in the throes of a mental health crisis who's in a really low place. There have been documented cases of complete strangers meeting through these internet communities and then arranging packs like agreements to die together. And we do know that at some point, Sonia created an account on motherless.com. and she created an account with the username already yours. And this motherless.com, I'm sure there's a lot of people who know what I'm talking about when I say it. And there's going to be a lot of people who don't. So I'm going to describe what kind of community this was.

I've never heard of this. Really? No, motherless.com? I'm surprised. I haven't. So I'm actually interested in learning more about this. All right. All right.

So we're going to talk about that after we get back from the break. This episode is brought to you by Quince, and I don't know if anyone else feels this way. August always feels like the Sunday of summer. That's oddly accurate. Summer's technically still happening. The weather is very summery, but mentally you're already thinking about schedules, fall back to school, cooler weather. For me, Halloween, I've already started decorating. But now is my closet prepared for this upcoming change in the seasons.

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That's a new one now in the UK. It's amazing. So that's Quince, Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash crime weekly for free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash crime weekly. All right, we're back. So motherless.com. I'm going to educate everybody, including Derek.

Now, to be fair, when I was like, really, Derek, you never, it doesn't mean that I had heard about it in a way where I understood what it was. I had heard about it in, like, weird peripheral ways and never really, like, explored what it was. So I've heard about it before, but I don't want anybody to think that I knew about it because I knew about it very deeply. That came off wrong. No, I mean, listen, it's something where I always assumed there were forums and places you could go if you were someone who had been adopted, maybe didn't have both parents in your life where you can go and speak to other people who are in similar situations.

But I'd never heard of motherless.com. So it has nothing to do with being adopted. Oh, it doesn't. It's a different kind of motherless. Oh, see, now you know I'm not. lying to you. I have no, I thought it was motherless.com, meaning my mom wasn't around. And this is a place where people who are in similar situations can go. Dude, I almost wonder if that's how she stumbled upon it. Now that you say that, I was about to Google it. Yeah, no, don't Google it. Okay, tell me what it is.

Yeah, I almost wonder if maybe she was like on the internet, like I feel motherless. Like, you know, even though I have an adopted mother and I also reconnected with my birth to mother. I still feel motherless, you know, because she was depressed. I wonder now that you say that. Because no, this was not had anything to do with. Well, opportunists can take advantage of that by when you're searching keywords, have it redirect you to these types of websites because they're looking for that type of person. Yeah, before break, I thought motherless.com was a forum where people could go to discuss not having their mothers in their lives. And now, based on your facial reaction, that's not what we're about to get into.

Now I have more than I think and I think I know what it is. Motherless stands for a different kind of motherless. Oh, God. Okay. So this was a user. generated pornography and fetish internet sites. Okay, not searching this. Got it. Got it. Yes, don't do that. So it was founded in 2008, and it actually became notorious because it operated much more like an adult content social media platform than a conventional porn site. So kind of like

the Instagram of pornography, if that helps. So users could upload images and videos. They could comment on these videos and other people's videos. They can message each other. And then they could build communities around very specific fetishes. A 2018 9th Circuit case involving motherless gives us one of the best windows into how it actually operated. The site was enormous, even by the early 2010s. The court said it was receiving about 600,000 visits a day during the period involved in that lawsuit, and its philosophy was, let's say, deliberately permissive. Like, things would be allowed there that might not or shouldn't be allowed, but there was just not a lot of moderation happening. That's what I'll say. So its culture was essentially built around the idea that if

material wasn't technically illegal, there should be very little moral judgment about it, right? So in litigation and reporting about the site, its approach has often been summarized as essentially anything goes, right? Anything legal, yeah, anything technically legal will stay. Yeah, that's a gray area because now, oh, this isn't real. Then we start getting into fetishes involving children. They're just dressed up like children. right, yeah. No, they're 18. Exactly. That's what I'm talking about. You're able to scratch that itch while still kind of technically being within the legal confine. So that's a slippery slope. It is. It is. It's a very huge gray area that is dangerous. And we also think about like sexual abuse and sexual assault and those types of role playing. Yeah, this is a this is a tough area to navigate.

Which that wasn't even what caused the legal issues, right? Because there was tons of that kind of stuff, the what you said, the sexual abuse stuff that was being played. out, but that's not what caused people to be upset, right? I'm assuming it had to do with younger people. Like the kid stuff, no, actually. I mean, listen, I'm sure that stuff was there. Specifically with these legal issues in 2025 and 2026, motherless came under intense regulatory and journalistic scrutiny over content allegedly involving sexual violence, unconscious

women, and drug facilitated assault. So CNN conducted a months-long investigation into an online network of men who, who, were discussing drugging and sexually assaulting women, and their reporting found that motherless hosted large quantities of what users called sleep content. This is what it was actually called. So these videos involved women who appeared unconscious during sexual acts. And CNN reported that some uploaders themselves claimed the encounters were non-consensual. Basically, they were saying, hey, this is not cosplaying, this is not role-playing, this is not produced. I, actually drugged this woman and she is unconscious and doesn't know that this is happening as I'm filming this video. Yeah. And like I said, there's communities and terminology surrounding it. So they would have their special vocabulary they would use and all of this. So CNN reported that one popular hashtag was essentially being used to demonstrate that a woman appeared asleep. And that's one of the reasons Motherless became so controversial because the architecture of that website could allow people with extremely disturbing interests, not only the

ability to find material, but to find each other, which you got one creep. Okay, you got a bunch of creeps together. Now we got a network going. Yeah. If I was a detective still, I'd be signing up for this thing just to keep an eye on some of these people that are in my area. Luckily, it's been shut down. I didn't think it was still active based on just the little bit I know so far. But this is the type of website where detectives were probably monitoring it going, yep, this person's from my area. It's keeping an eye on them for any future cases. Yeah, but you know 10 more sites just like it. probably popped up in its place. No doubt. No doubt. So in November of 2023, Sonia told her sisters that she had uncovered evidence online about a mysterious group of sadistic men who were operating

out of the United States and they were luring vulnerable women there using these kinds of online sites to murder them. And Sonia said she was feeling like it was her duty to investigate this herself. And she showed her sisters some messages between herself and some of these men. that were evidence that she was, you know, telling them the truth about what she was seeing. And so not only is Sonia saying, I'm going to go there and, like, investigate, but she's also saying I'm almost, like, undercover online in these forums so I can, like, identify these people and maybe set meetings with them, right? So it's kind of dangerous territory.

Now, her sisters haven't disclosed exactly what these messages said. Sarah said that she was left in horrified disbelief after reading them. But what Sonia's sisters didn't know at the time, And what police reports would later reveal is that Sonia had been engaging in conversations about violent and self-harming fantasies with others on motherless. And according to authorities, on August 5, 2024, Sonia arranged to fly to the U.S. and meet the men who had allegedly promised to help fulfill her fantasy of ending her life in a certain way. And this was a way that involved her being violently assaulted and killed by someone else. This was... Jesus.

Yes. Sonia made these plans using the encrypted telegram app, but luckily, at that time, a close friend of Sonia's contacted the police and they intervened. She was kind of basically, I think, committed. And her laptop and cell phone were taken from her, and she was put into treatment. And then after an investigation, which included an examination of Sonia's devices, relevant information was sent to the United States authorities. And at this time, who Sonia was talking to or who she intended to meet, is unclear. And no one in the U.S. was arrested in connection with this specific thing because

police say no criminal offenses were committed, right? Because she was stopped. Yeah, that would be the case. I mean, talking about it, yeah, it's still illegal what they're doing. They're still a homicide if they carried it out, but they didn't. So there's not much you can do. You can monitor them. You can identify them. You can let them know that you're aware of it. But as far as arresting them, you don't even have a victim. And because she was stopped. Now, who knows what would have happened if she hadn't been stopped. And also, So it's a jurisdictionally, it's hard because the victims in the U.K. And they're over here in the United States.

It would be a cluster. That's for sure. It would take some jurisdictional cooperation, but it would happen. Yeah, you could definitely do it. But at the core of it, there's no crime committed. There's not much you can do. These individuals over in the states, if they were identified through technology and the digital footprint, I would have hoped that law enforcement would have gone and done,

even though it may not would be with this case. But the first question I would be asking is, okay, they, may not have done it here, but have they already done it somewhere else or to someone else? So I would hope without knowing all the details, I know that's not what the story is about. I would hope that those people or that person was looked into extensively, especially when we talk about unsolved homicides from that area. We could do a whole episode just on that now that I'm thinking about it. But that is someone where you would go have a conversation with them, let them know you're aware.

Their proclivities, yeah. Yes, but then also look into them from the perspective and unsolved cases and also their history of where they lived and where they moved might sound a little intrusive. But unless this was the first time they've ever engaged in something like this, and that would be something they would learn to do an investigation, there's a potential that this person, if they were so confident in having her come over, that they've done it before. I completely agree. Your brain works exactly the way Mayan has. And so I'm so glad that we're going to gather into this because you're going to know exactly what I was thinking when I finished

hearing all the stuff. Because we're focusing on Sonia, I didn't want to go down that path, but I wanted to put it out there, that this isn't something you just call over to the United States and the United States goes, thanks for letting us know. At least that's not what they should be doing because this is the type of info that can lead to solving multiple unsolved homicides. So just something to keep in mind. Now, after this happened, Sonia's in treatment, her devices are taken from her. Sonia's family was assured that safeguards had been taken to keep Sonia safe and that restrictions would be put into. place so that she could not travel out of the country. Okay. So on October 12, 2025, the Hampshire police received a missing person's report for Sonia Exelby. Now apparently, Sonia's sister Sarah had been

flying in that weekend from Australia and Sonia had told her boyfriend, Steve, that she was going to be staying with her sisters that weekend and then she packed a small bag and she left her home. However, when Sarah arrived, it was discovered that Sonia was not with her at all and then no one could find Sonia and she wasn't answering calls or messages. It was also discovered that Sonia, whose original laptop hadn't been returned back to her yet since the August 2023 incident, she had somehow managed to obtain another laptop in secret and had booked a flight out of London Heathrow Airport two days earlier on October 10th. Her flight had landed in Gainesville, Florida, and authorities had determined that after Sonia arrived, two UK phone numbers were seen roaming briefly in that area

before both phones were turned off. Now we're going to find out both of these phones are Sonia's. She's got her regular phone that her family and friends know the number to, and then she has a burner phone that they don't even know she has, okay? Yeah, not good. Not good on the surface based on the context you had just given us. If you were going to kill yourself, you didn't have to fly to the United States to do it. Well, maybe if she wants to do it in the specific way with the people she's been talking to, right?

The people she's been talking to are other like-minded people who haven't been. identified yet. So not good. In the fact that the phones went off like that, this is probably not a story that's going to end well. So Sonia had also booked a return flight from Florida back to the UK. Oh, interesting. Okay. She booked a return flight. That is interesting. That return flight was from Monday, October 13th. But she hadn't been on that plane when it arrived back in the UK. So on that Monday, Sonia's boyfriend, Steve, posted on his social media, quote, my whole world is still missing. Sonia Exelby has been missing since Friday. Sonia is such a vulnerable person, is really struggling with her mental help.

We believe she got on a plane on Friday and made her way to Florida, Tallahassee from the U.K. We believe she has arranged to meet someone there and has got herself into an extremely vulnerable situation. That's all I can really say on that. The police, foreign office, and U.S. law are doing everything they can. I understand my appeal is a shot in the dark. And quote, basically he was trying to reach a bunch of people. If you're in the United States, if you're in Florida, if you see her, if you know something. I understand this is a shot in the dark.

The police are doing what they can, but I need to do something. Yeah, and I'm assuming she was communicating via telegram again or however she was doing it. I'm assuming she did it in a way that was encrypted because it would be pretty simple to go back on these burner phones. I mean, nobody knows about the burner phone and nobody knows about the secret laptop. So maybe she didn't feel like she had to even do that. Yeah, I mean, it'd be hard. It'd be hard to track her whereabouts and her communications. Yeah.

especially when she took measures to prevent people from finding it. So that same day, that Monday, Interpol contacted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and they asked for their help and cooperation in this missing person's investigation. And the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was told that Sonia had a history of severe mental health issues. She had made a prior attempt in 2024 to take her own life, and evidence had been discovered on her secret computer, which indicated she was again wanting to die, and she had traveled to the United States to be possibly sexually abused, tortured, and murdered by unknown individuals.

Okay. So once again, I think that when Sonia left, she left that secret laptop at her apartment or her flat, maybe hidden somewhere. And through the investigation, they found it because now they've got this laptop and they're like, this is what we think she is planning to do. And also, eventually they found out about the burner phone. That's why they're able to tell us now that both phones were turned off. They did find out about the burner phone, yes, but not. not from the way you think they might. Okay. Either way, there was something that was done to say,

hey, this is some of the other things that were in her possession or that she was utilizing to communicate with these parties. But overall, this is still going to be very difficult. When you have someone who is anticipating people looking for them after the fact, there are measures that they can take to make that investigation much more difficult. And clearly, that's what she did here. The only thing that's perplexing to me or maybe it was just an oversight where it could be as simple as, you know, a lot of the times when you go to book of flight, it's automatically

set up for a round trip. And so maybe it was that reason or maybe it was that she wanted to at least create the illusion that if someone found it, that she was returning, knowing damn well she was never coming home. It could have been that she thought, I'm going to go do this and it's a role playing thing and I'll be able to stop it. Yeah, quote unquote role playing. Yeah, I'll be able to stop it and change my mind if I want and then I can go home. Right. So she booked it just in case. There's so much here. Maybe her plan all along or maybe like, like, you. you just said, I think you said it better. If she wanted to change her mind, she couldn't have the option to fly home if needed, and it could be as simple as she decided to go through with it.

Maybe she's dabbling with it, and she's like, if I get scared and I change my mind, then I can just say that I've changed my mind, and then I have my flight waiting for me to go home. Just a horrible place to be in, wouldn't wish it on anyone, but you also have people who are on the other side of it, who are taking advantage of these people who are vulnerable. For all we know, the person on the other end of this conversation wasn't a like-minded individual. They were looking for people like Sonia to take advantage of. Exactly. Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent Rebecca McKinsey, along with the team of

other agents, immediately got to work. And the first step they took was to gain access to Sonia's financial records. And they discovered a few things of note. Sonia had paid for an Airbnb in Reddick, Florida. This is a small town about 25 miles south of Gainesville. And on October 11th, there'd been multiple attempts to charge one of Sonia's cards, multiple attempts that had failed. So overall, it looked like there's about seven attempts of varying amounts, and they'd all happened within a roughly 10-minute time frame.

And the charge attempts were traced back to a roadside assistance company called Solver Wolf RSA, Roadside Assistance, based out of Ocala, Florida. So according to the business's Yelp page, Solver Wolf offered tire changes, jumpstarts, door unlocks, and the owner of the company, 53-year-old Dwayne Hall, stated that he had worked in the industry for a decade. quote, I grew up on a farm in southern Ohio. As such, I got to learn mechanics from my father. His motto was fix him where they break. Now I come out to you where you break and quickly and professionally get you back on the road. I enjoy two key things in life, work on vehicles and helping others. So obviously, this is one of the only leads I got at this point.

The police contacted Dwayne Hall to ask him about these weird transactions. Yeah, of course. Yeah, and they called him on October 13th. Hello, this is Dwayne Soverwolf Roadside. How can I help you? Hey, my name is Calvin Lee. I'm a special agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement out of the Gainesville area. And here, we got a weird request.

So we are helping out the United Kingdom Police with a missing person. And looking through her banking records, it looked like she called for, called your business for assistance, probably, two or three days ago and the payment was declined. Her name would have been Sonia Exelby. Is that ringing a bell? No. Okay. Basically, she's reported missing and suicidal, so we're trying to track her down.

And we know that three days ago, she landed at Gainesville Airport and got in a rental car and was heading south. So like I said through the banking records it shows that there was a decline charge from your company. So we're assuming that I guess she needed assistance. She broke down needed entire change. Okay. And was requesting to be transported the rest of the way to her location but declined payments. We don't touch that. Okay. So she. Right. So she did so you did change the tire and the payment got declined or that payment went through? We never showed up. Oh, okay, okay.

Did she say where she was wanting to go to, her final destination? Did not say. Okay. She was very secretive about everything. Okay. Did she ever provide her name? Does that name Sonia or Sonia X'll be? Was that the name she provided?

Yeah. Do you remember where she said exactly she was? like where the herd vehicles burned down at? Not exactly. Somewhere out around Riddick, it was out of our service area anyway.

Riddick? Yeah. Okay. So listening to that clip, I don't love it. I don't love Dwayne's reaction to it. It could just be who he is from a personality perspective

and maybe he's like apprehensive about law enforcement, but like I don't like how he starts it with yes and no when it's clearly yes. You spoke with her. And then not exactly. Well, you tried to process the payment. So here's my issue.

You say that it was out of your service area. Yeah, why would you even try to process the payment? So why would you try to process it, right? That's number one. And it just seems like he was a little bit cagey, if you will. And again, it could be just because of his feelings on law enforcement and maybe he's had bad experiences and he doesn't know if things are what they appear to be. And so he's being a little cryptic. But it sounds like he's being just a little elusive.

But that could just be my detain. protective brain because I know it's part of the story, but if I look at it just from the, you know, surface level, you did gain some good information there. You can confirm now that she wasn't in the Florida area, appears to be in the Reddick area, and she had some type of issue with her vehicle if you're to believe Duane and everything that he's saying is true. Yeah, and he also said, while she was being very mysterious about everything and really secretive, and you'll find out later, he tells them because they asked the same thing. Why did you, whatever you're going to do the call if it was outside your service area? Well, she was offered.

to pay a lot. Well, clearly, $1,200 for, that's what it was, right? $1,200 for a tire change, that would get you out there to go do it. Yeah. Well, he said his normal service fee when he's going out there's $25. That's how much he charges. And then if there's more needed, you know, but if it's just an easy thing, yeah, $25 in this economy. But now if we're going deeper, you do wonder, was there more to the story? Was there something else going on? Was this even part of the conversation? Is this actually what transpired? Or is Dwayne not telling us everything? You know, Dwayne could be a tow truck driver, but maybe he's also the person involved with who she was going to me. That's something that crosses my mind.

Nothing against Dwayne, but maybe he was just charging the card because, again, they're taking advantage of her. Or maybe it's because of the service he's actually going to perform, which has nothing to do with a vehicle. Right. So let's talk about that after this break. This episode is brought to you by Skims, and I feel like at this point in my life for a while now, I've become very serious about. comfortable basics. That sounds like growth to me. There's certain people I see a few times a week, and they're always like, you look so comfortable and it's like supposed to be an insult, but it's not to me because there was a time where I tolerate uncomfortable clothes if they looked good and now absolutely

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So shop skims, cotton, and all of our favorite pieces at skims.com, after you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you, select podcast in the survey, and be sure to select our show in the drop-down menu that follows. All right, so the following day, after they talked to Dwayne the first time on October 13th, on October 14th, they contact Dwayne again. And this time he was asked to produce some kind of, like, evidence in his phone or his cellular records that showed he had received a call from. someone at the time he attempted to charge Sonia Exelby's card, right? And then Florida Department

of Law Enforcement contacted Talekek. This is the company that Dwayne used to process payments received through his business, and a subpoena was sent to Elevan. So Elavon is the company that manages their records for Talakak. So they confirmed the declined transactions from October 11th, but they also informed law enforcement of a transaction for $1,200 that had been transferred into Dwayne Hall's merchant account from another of Sonia Exelby's bank cards. So we have Solver Wolf RSA using Sonia's Lloyd's bank card in an attempt to charge varying amounts seven times in a 10-minute window on October 11th. All of those were declined. And around that same time, at approximately 1.10 p.m. on October 11th in the middle of those declined charges, Sonia's Tesco Bank card was successfully charged

for $1,200. Oh, that's not good. Dwayne's not telling us the full truth. Not looking good for Dwayne. That call right there now, man, when you think about that, that is something that you would disclose on the phone, right? Can we all agree to that? I would agree. Yeah.

That's something where you would say, yeah, I did charge it. And then if you charged it, now you have to say what you charged her for because you're saying you never met up with her and you never went out there. Damn. Okay, Dwayne, Dwayne's got some explaining to do. On October 15th, the Airbnb that Sonia had rented, that was in Reddick and it was searched. And they basically contacted the owner of the Airbnb and they were like, hey, we're looking into this. Have you cleaned the unit yet? And the owner said, no, hasn't been cleaned.

Awesome. I mean, awesome in the context of forensics. Yeah, great. Exactly. So Sonia and her belongings were not found at that Airbnb, but police did recover some discarded food wrappers and receipts in the garbage. They also found long brunette hair in the trash and then a comforter in the bedroom that had what appeared to be blood on it. So using the receipts and what had been found in the trash, investigators tried to piece together what Sonia's time at that Airbnb had looked like, and what they found was that most of this evidence in the Airbnb did not lead to Sonia XLB. On Friday, October 10th at 547 p.m., someone had used their own credit card at a Walmart in Gainesville to purchase paracord, gun cleaner, 50 feet of rope, and deodorant spray.

Just seven minutes later at that same Walmart in a separate transaction, a shovel was purchased at 5.54 p.m. Now, this timing is important because as soon as the police had seen the date and timestamps on the Walmart receipts, they knew that Sonia could not have possibly purchased these items because her plane from London hadn't even landed yet. So it wouldn't arrive until after 6 p.m. on October 10. So police pulled surveillance video from the Walmart to find out who made these purchases and they saw that it was Dwayne Hall, owner of Solverwolf RSA. Right? They then pulled surveillance footage from the Gainesville Airport and saw Sonia Xelby wearing a floral sundress getting off her plane walking outside and getting into a black Jeep around 630 p.m.

A black Jeep owned by Dwayne Hall. Damn. That phone call, man, just took on a whole different meaning. Yeah. Bricks during that phone call. That's what that yes and no, he doesn't know what law enforcement knows yet. And once they say it's for a missing person, he starts to disclose a little bit because he feels he has to, but he is spiraling on that phone call.

And it's funny that you say that because we're not going to talk about it today. We're going to talk about it next time. But after he talks to law enforcement for the first time, he starts sending messages out. No doubt. The person he's sending messages to doesn't live in Florida. This person lives in Ohio where Dwayne used to live. And Dwayne's mentioning to this person certain things that he's going to send him in the mail. And the person he's talking to does not seem shocked by this at all.

So when we start talking about a network of men. Oh, yeah. This is where it comes in. Yeah. And Dwayne's also telling the guy, because surprise, surprise, Dwayne's married. That's not a surprise. Dwayne's talking to the guy and saying, you don't talk to anybody about this stuff except for my wife, Ginger. And that means ginger's in on it as well.

You got to start wondering, what does Ginger know? All right. At least I wasn't completely off when I answered the question about the phone call, because I could have been like, yeah, he seems like a good guy. Yeah, you were like, he's just really trying to help doing the Lord's work. I would have been like, editor, editor, cut that part out. Do the Lord's work helping people on the side of the road? On the morning of October 17th,

2025, Dwayne Hall was pulled over by police and they were accompanied by a helicopter. So this was an O.J. Simpson kind of pool over here. They're making sure. Yeah, they were going deep. They know that he's full of it. They're making sure he doesn't get away. Yeah, he saw the helicopter and realized he wasn't going anywhere.

Now I have some background on Dwayne Hall. Oh, I'm sure you do. And this is interesting. And this is where I start to be like, what the hell is going on here? Something weird is happening. So like I said, he's 53 years old. And in 2025, he was living in the Ocala area with his longtime partner, Ginger Stein, his 10-year-old steps son, and Ginger's disabled mother. Okay.

Now, this is confusing because Ginger's going to be interviewed by the police. Dwayne's going to be interviewed. They keep referring to each other as husband and wife. but I don't think they were legally married. But what I also found out from Ginger's interview with the police is that she listed another person as living with them as well, a person she referred to as her baby daddy. This isn't important right now in this moment,

but best believe we're going to come back to that. What's also interesting is that both Dwayne Hall and Ginger Stein, like I told you, they said they were married to the police. Reporting states they had been married for 28 years, but there does not seem to be any paperwork supporting. that marriage. Now, Ginger, who was 44 years old in 2026, told the telegraph that she and Dwayne Hall had been married or at least together for 28 years, and that makes her just 16 years old when their relationship started. And it means that Dwayne Hall at that time would have been at least 25 years old.

Now, the two had lived in Ohio before moving to Florida in 2014. And when they got pulled over on October 17, 2025, Hall told the police that he and Ginger were driving to Gainesville for a post-transplant medical appointment. So Ginger Stein had been diagnosed with Longerhans cell histocytosis. She was diagnosed with this around 2014. This is a rare disorder involving abnormal accumulation of Langerhand cells, which are immune system cells in the body. And depending on where those cells accumulate, this disease can damage bone, skin, endocrine system, the liver, the lungs, and apparently Ginger's disease primarily accumulated in her lungs. And in the past eight years, her health had deteriorated to the point where her husband, Dwayne Hall, had become her primary caregiver.

By 2025, Ginger's pulmonary issues had progressed so far that she had needed a double lung transplant, and this happened in August of 2025, only nine weeks before Sonia X will be disappeared. Today's date is October 17, 2025. It's approximately 905 in the morning. I'm a special agent Glenn working team with Florida Department law enforcement. We're sitting outside of UF Health Shans Hospital here on Southwest Archer Road. Ma'am, could you introduce yourself? I'm Ginger Stein. Okay. Can you kind of just fill me in as far as how you got here, what's going on,

or what have they told you or anything like that? They haven't told me anything. Okay. Me and my husband were on our way here for my appointment. Okay. Well, what's your husband's name? Dwayne Hall. Dwayne Hall.

Okay, all right. And they just pulled us over and they said that they needed to take his, car. They had a, uh, uh, they needed to search it. Okay. I'm not sure why they took it, but, uh, and they took him. Okay. They said, I don't know if he was under arrest or they did, they said they just wanted to talk to ask him some questions. Okay. Um, and then they gave me a right here. Okay. But I, I'm a little, I'm a little worried because I have, uh, anti-rejection meds in my bag and they wouldn't let me have my bag. Oh, okay. It's still in the car, along with my insulin. Okay. I just want to talk to you trying to. I'm a little bit of your time. I'm a little bit

get some information and stuff, what you know as far as what could have been going on from, why they stopped y'all or anything like that. The only thing I can think of is some credit card that somebody tried to use that was denied on his work a couple days ago. Oh, okay. Now, let's get to Dwayne Hall and his interview with Florida Department Law Enforcement agents, Rebecca McKinsey and Joseph Miller. Hi, Mr. Hall.

My name is Rebecca. Oh, my name's name. Okay. Hi, Mr. Hall. Hello. What's your first name? As if you don't know. I don't like playing silly.

I like to be direct. You have my name. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here. How would you like us to call you? Dwayne is fine. Dwayne is fine. Dwayne, okay. Okay, well, I was just going to say because I honestly forgot it.

So that's why I called. Okay. I will accept that. My name's Joe, Dwayne. It's a pleasure to meet you. I appreciate you coming up here. No, look, I'm going to say a few things, and then we can get on with your interview and whatnot.

Okay, okay, number one, you guys want to impound my vehicle and search my vehicle, search warrant, whatever, okay, I get it. But when you guys pulled us over today, my wife was on her way up to Shan's post-transplant bronchoscopy with all of her meds, rejection, and all that stuff was in that vehicle. Okay. Okay. So whatever you're looking for in my vehicle is not going to be in her bag that she needs to have that keeps records of all her breathing and everything else that they need.

We are going to make sure that that is arranged. So I don't want you to worry about that. We did not leave her stranded. I know you can leave her stranded, but her pills too, I hope. We'll make sure that she gets what she needs to get. Well, I was right about his feelings on law enforcement. Clearly, he's not a fan. And I also think it's coupled by the fact that he knows what he's in there for.

But yeah, clearly doesn't even shake the agent's hand as she walks in. Guy's a jerk. And he's like, I'm going to tell you how this is going to go, right? Yeah. Trying to make him seem like he's like somehow a hero because he's looking out for his girlfriend slash wife, whatever you want to call it. His wife, yeah, whatever she is. It could be exactly what he's saying. But now I'm looking through that bag even more so because it's in the car.

It doesn't have an expectation of privacy. and there could be incriminating evidence that they're deliberately keeping in there and disguising it as something that's important from a medical perspective when in reality they're using it to transport incriminating evidence. You never know. They might give it over to her. They're going to give it over to her eventually, but not before searching it to the 10th degree to ensure there's nothing being hidden in there.

So that is the guy we heard talking to her earlier. He went to the hospital where her appointment was so that they could make sure she had her medicine. But of course, yes, they're looking in that bag. And by the way, the other investigator, the other agent being like, oh, I forgot your name. Shut up. No, you didn't. If you did, you should be fired immediately. You know what you're there for. So that was a really dumb response. Like, I actually forgot your name. He's like, that's like, that's why. It's not because I'm trying to play games with you. That was dumb. You're in there for an interview. You're about to ask him about an entire case, but you don't remember his name. Shut up. Well, I mean, Dwayne Hall at this point, he's trying to make it appear that he's this very responsible, concerned family man. Perterved by the inconvenience. Yes. He's worried about his wife's health and that she's adhering to her medical needs. And he told the agents. As soon as he knew Ginger had what she wanted or needed that they could get on with the interview. And whatever it is, they wanted to talk to him about, which he could only assume was about this random call to his business requesting roadside assistance when the credit card wouldn't work, right? He said, listen, all I do is take care of my wife and my family and go to work. And since that's the

only thing out of the ordinary that's happened to me recently, I'm assuming that's what I've been hauled in here to discuss. He's trying to be very smart about this. But Dwayne all, also made sure to make it clear to these agents that he didn't trust the police because he'd had some bad experiences with them in the past. Yeah. I'm spot on this one. Yeah. He's like, I don't trust you guys. The police are corrupt, but this is all behind me now. And I've worked very hard to put it all behind me. I'm going to do the best direct questions, get direct answers. Okay. That's the way I like to do business. Otherwise, I think we'll get a long from it. I'm not going to, I'm not going to humor. I had really, really bad experiences with law enforcement in general because where I

lived before is extremely corrupt. And they used to cost me, I feel like I'm living in a nightmare repeat because they used to cost me, they used to cost me work. They used to cost me jobs and everything else. They were child support. Every time I get a job, they'd haul me in the court. And, of course, if it's in the first 30 days, you lose your job. And then they have that reason to throw me in jail. for child support stuff? Yep. But you're not going to, I don't think you're going to find any of that anymore. I finally have been deemed rehabilitated.

Like caught up with it? Like paid that child's poor? What do you mean redeemed with it? It redeemed with it because they finally took it off my record. Oh, okay. I finally have been cleaned for long enough and not being in any kind of trouble with them that I qualified to have everything stroked. Okay.

When did that happen? This year. Okay. I've actually worked my ass off to make sure that I'm not in trouble all the time, turn my life around and whatnot. And now I'm this. So you can imagine my additional frustration with that because my whole life has been like this.

Every time I get free and clear and good to go. Yeah. And you're dealing with a lot because your wife was... So on top of all of that, you're dealing with her. She died, dude. I mean, I ain't even going to get into that. But they had her on something called... What?

Exmo? Yeah, yeah. Where basically the machine was keeping her alive. Keeping her organs alive. Just keeping them oxygenated. She wasn't even in there. Okay? I mean, she was, but she was somewhere way in the back.

Yeah, yeah. But at the same damn time, I've been through a lot these last couple of months, and whatever this is related to is just a cherry on top, I feel like. So, by all means, guys, ask them, wait, whatever, what do you need, however I can help you, okay? Okay. First off, I'm going to put this as a nomination for Crime Weekly Awards, the worst interrogation rooms that I've ever seen since we started together because that's a horrible room. It's just so uninviting that room, the tile. It looks like, I don't know, it looks like it's a bathroom. Actually, it's not great. And I don't like the layout of it either. Here's the one compliment I'm going to give Duane probably this entire series. Because regardless of whether he's directly connected or not, I don't like him. He's a good speaker. He's great at making, yes, he's manipulative.

Yeah. He's composed. He's direct. He appears to come off as intelligent. That's all I'm going to say. Just very comfortable in the setting. If he's panicking, he's not showing it. He's kind of controlling the room, if I'm being honest with you. He is. Yes. I would completely agree with you. So that's my one compliment to Dwayne. That's just my impressions. He's kind of like, I don't trust you, but like, listen, I'm also trying to be cooperative. So like. Yep. His laugh is horrible. Laf is horrible. I don't have the greatest laugh. either, but his laugh is horrible. But yeah, very well spoken and in control. So Dwayne is kind of seeming to make it a point to like, I've led a life of crime kind of, or at least I've been hounded by law enforcement for the majority of my life, right? Every news reporting article that I've read about this said, you know, it's weird because he hasn't really gotten into a lot of trouble, a few minor things here and there. But that's because they were looking in Florida. Yeah. I looked into Ohio and I got public records from Ohio. And, Even there, I guess, there wasn't like a ton of major stuff.

Well, it looks like he's got some of it expunged. He's got some of it expunged. But there's still a little record here and there. Do you know what I mean? Like, you can't get the info, but you know what's going on. So a lot of small claims stuff, all right? Landlords saying he didn't pay them. Credit card companies saying he didn't pay them.

There was a felony that was dismissed in 2000, carrying a pistol without a license. Some marijuana charges from 1988, some cocaine charges from the 2000s. I also found out that it looks like Dwayne Hall had been married to another woman in 1994 and there was a divorce in 2007. But then in 1992, there were paternity claims for three children that don't share Dwayne's last name or the last name of the woman he got divorced from in 2007. So I actually made some notes. I'm going to look more into that. But we got a lot going on with him because if he's been with Ginger since him and Ginger say they've been married, there would be no way because he would have been married to two different women. Okay. Now,

we had some disorderly conduct intoxication charge in 2013, some obedience to traffic control devices in 2001, vandalism in 1991, child support accompanied by failure to appear charges, criminal trespass, domestic violence. I can't see the dates on those. I think that's probably some of the stuff he got expunged, right? Then we have a 1993 fugitive wanted other jurisdiction, Aggravated menace in 1996, domestic violence in 1996, criminal trespass in 1996, drug paraphernalia in 2002, drug abuse in 2002. There were a few things that he got in trouble for in what looked like Washington, D.C. He was kind of all over the place. He was in California for a little bit.

I found it all. And if you were ready to ask him, he would say it's just the police hounding him. Because the place where he lived before was corrupt. But what are you talking about? California, Ohio. Yeah. Well, they all are. I guarantee you if you ask them about these things, you go, yep, they were after me too.

When you're looking at this stuff, it's like child support. You have some domestic violence and drug stuff. But nothing to the nature of like what he's there to talk to the police about right now. Right? He's never attacked anybody, stabbed anybody. I would say the domestic violence charges could be indicative of a future behavior. I agree. So could the drug charges, right?

Right. The drugs for sure. But the domestic abuse, it shows a predisposition to violence. And yeah, I could. could see that somehow being correlated to what we're talking about here. I don't know. We'll have to see. And he's making it seem like, I've just been hounded for no reason over child support. Well, it wasn't just child support, right? Because it was drug charges and it was having a weapon without a license and domestic violence, like you said. So maybe the police in your jurisdiction saw a pattern of

behavior. And that's why you were constantly hounded. Yeah, and they were keeping an eye on you. Because you were caught, you were in the drug game and they were watching you. So Dwayne Hall also illustrates his familiarity with the arrest process when the, the agents begin reading him his rights. So let me, let me understand this. Usually, in my experience, I would explain a little bit of that. It's not been that great. But it's enough experience to kind of put A and B together. Am I being officially detained? You are here to hopefully talk with us. And straight answers. Yeah. You're not detained. You're not detained. So you said you kind of understand because you're thinking of things.

I'm talking to Calvian about this stuff. What's going on? So you understand that I do need to just tell you you're right. If you got to do one of those, you're going to write, okay? Check in a box. It's checking a box. You know, right, germane silent. Anything you say you can.

Oh, wow. You're going to do it. You're going to do it for me. You still have to do it, though. I know. I still have to do it, even though you say that you understand it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, man.

Sharp. That's all I got to say. Sharp. He's controlling. I think he's shady as fuck, man. Honestly, it's like, hey, You still have to do it. It's technicality.

It's like, I'm a con, man. He knows what's there. He knows what he has to ask and, you know, the right to ask it. And when she starts kind of bumbling around, he's like, straight answers. Straight answers. Let's get to it. Well, did you see also when he was like, am I being detained? The agents look at each other.

No. Like, they don't know how to answer. Yeah, I'll tell you, not impressed with these two. Maybe it's just a bad start because he started with, I forgot your name. Like, you're not building credibility with this person because you're not showing him you're in control of the situation. Yeah. You're not showing you in control because either you're an idiot because you don't remember his name or you're lying.

So you started off the conversation lying to him. That's not the rapport you're trying to bill. He's someone who's saying he's going to be a straight shooter. You should be portraying the same attitude. Okay, fine. You like straight shooter? I'm a straight shooter as well. This is going to be a great conversation.

He's coming off as submissive to what Dwayne's trying to do here. And he's not. I just don't like this interview so far. I really don't. I think when he said, I forgot your name. Obviously, we know he did. I think he was trying to show Dwayne Hall like, yeah, you're not in here for anything like serious right now, you know, like... It didn't work.

Not for a career criminal like that. He knows you know his name. He also knows why you have him in there. So he knows the significance of what he's being looked at for. So he knows that you know his name. Right. So these agents, they start off small, you know. They ask Dwayne Hall about the credit card transactions made on August 11th.

To my recollection, it was the sun was down. I don't have to drive at night. I can't see very well at night. They called it at night, and they got to run a card, and my card services kept declining it, so they kept going lower and lower on the amount, and the only thing she was saying that even made me paranoid and thought it was pretty sketchy,

it was too quiet in the background for somebody that was broke down. For somebody that was way too quiet in the background, and she kept saying over and over again, I swear there's money on the car, I swear, I swear, I swear, I swear. And of course I declined and I didn't go out there. And I was actually thinking about it. After I spoke to Calvin, I was like, if I talk to him again, I will bring, I will throw my idea out there just simply because I don't want to throw anything. I don't want to throw him into looking or thinking any different more he's already doing, let him do his thing. And then if more comes to this, which it just did obviously because I'm here and you have my vehicle, I was thinking about it.

And I even asked my wife about it because I had mentioned something about it the first time I got a call from Calvin and me and her to talk about it. And I'm more convinced than ever. I don't think, I seriously don't think it was about a service call. This is something that happens in my industry. Okay. Well, that's either one of you are subject to the same thing. Okay. You call me up.

Hey, I need a jump start. Hey, I need a tire change. Okay, how you want to pay for it? My card. Let me get your card. Let me run that and I'll be out there, whatever. I'm going to try to run your card. The card goes through.

You call me 10 minutes later and say, never mind, I need a refund. What that would do, and what I'm thinking, why she kept saying over and over again, I swear there's money on the card. run the card for an exorbitant amount of money, which it was. I'm not even going to play. I was like a week's pay. Like, I'm going to turn that down, right? I'm a small company.

There's literally two of us, okay? And I'm struggling to make ends me. But if you ran the card and you call back 15, 20 minutes later and say, never mind, I don't need help. I need a refund. I submit a refund three or five business days later. You get your money back. Now, if there was somebody there coursing,

this woman to do this all they'd have to do is keep that card wait three to five days and go scan it or whatever at a local ATM okay that's what I'm thinking what do you mean to scan I'm just trying to understand because I don't put it in the ATM oh to get the money yeah oh we confirmed that there's a thousand dollars on there now let's go get it in five days oh because of the refund yeah because of the refund okay all right that's confirmed that there's money on there and you wouldn't want to go to an a if you were up to some shady

shit you wouldn't want to go to an ATM and do that because they have cameras okay it just so happened that they've seen my company because we're one of the top companies in the area and we've probably been near the top of the search list i don't know there was a she just kept lower in the amount lower and lower and lower go all the way down to 100 and it started out like 900 really which i kind of flinched at it's like you know we don't charge that much Just run it, just run it, just run it. And what was she wanted? Service.

She never really said. There was not that much of a conversation. Out in my car, I need help. Do you need a toad? No. But if I'm not mistaken, she was up off of 364, out before Gretaic. Okay.

So she was kind of out in the middle of nowhere. Did she say 364 or did she? No, that's just she was telling me, she was trying to explain to me where she was. and because I'm sure I've been doing this for a decade. Oh, okay. I think, like I said, I think it's not necessarily where they were. It could have been anywhere and just telling me what I want to hear.

Right. Okay. So, especially if she was under duress, which I firmly think she was. You can't. Tell me more about that. Why do you say that? Because all she got, she was very, very adamant about, there's money on the card. There's money on the card.

It didn't. It wasn't like she was talking to me. I didn't get the sense that she was talking to me. Okay. So I, you know, in hindsight, I feel like she was under duress. I feel like she was talking to somebody else. It was way too quiet to be broke down in the middle of nowhere because there's a lot of insects this time of year. You should be able to hear it with the phone.

Oh, okay. You get me? Okay, even if you're inside your car with the windows up, I should still be able to hear something. Even if the car completely shut down on power, I should still be able to hear something. be able to hear something even more so at night. Yeah. There's going to be night, birds, animals, and whatnot. And I won't hear it, especially if you're not near the interstate, which, again, was way

too quiet. So I know she wasn't out of the interstate. Those big rigs make a big whoosh when they go by. Big rays make a big wish when they go by. Not birds. It's one thing to appear intelligent. This is where he's misstepping. Because unfortunately, for Dwayne, he doesn't know what law enforcement knows.

He doesn't know about the successful charge head. So what's going on if we could give a visual representation of this part of the interview, the detective is handing him rope and handing him rope and having him. Oh, could you elaborate on? Can you talk more? Because he's burying him deeper in this lie. Why do you think that? He's going to reveal. But right now he's just handing him the rope to hang himself and he's going, here you go.

Let me keep feeding you. I'm going to let you keep talking. And then the other part of this is we heard the initial phone call. Very little information provided. At no point did he say, yeah, she sounded like she was in trouble. Well, he said, remember, he said, I was talking to that agent. And then I thought in hindsight, after I talked to my wife about it, like, yeah, if I talk to him again, I'm going to say it. And now I'm here.

So I'm just going to say it to you. So he's trying to make it seem like after thinking about it. Yeah. Yeah, it's not working. Especially when he said it was a missing person, that would be something you'd want to disclose at that point. And then as far as his theory on the on the card itself, even though we know it's not true, if you're going to check a card and sometimes criminals will do this. You charge a small amount on it to see if there's money in the card. you don't charge the card make sure it went through hold on to the card for three days wait for the refund

that's idiotic so what he's saying there the cops are looking at each other like what are you talking about that's not what people do at all so uh nice try a for effort but not landing well now he's trying to make it i think there was somebody else there right like i can now i'm thinking about it she kept saying there's money on the card there's money on the card but i don't think she was talking to me you know this is the area where he's tripping up because he's exuding confidence and yet he's saying too much. He's exuding confidence, but he's a bumbling idiot at the same time. Yeah. Yeah, he, what he's actually saying when you listen to him and not just the tone and the approach and the confidence in which he's saying it, if you listen to the actual words, you're like, oh, yeah,

he's a moron. Yeah, well, remember, Dwayne had been unable to provide any evidence that he'd even received a call when these transactions were going through. And furthermore, we already know that the transactions happened around 1 o'clock in the afternoon. But Dwayne said, he, he's getting the call at nighttime when it was already dark, right? And he said, I was taking some medication, specifically muscle relaxers. And at that time of the night, even though I'm on call in my car in waiting for, you know, someone to need roadside assistance, I'd already popped a few. But then he switches gears. He very seamlessly switches gears when the agents asked him where he was when he received the call. And where he says he was places him in the exact area of the Airbnb that Sonia had rented in Riddick, Florida.

Where were you, like, when you were having this conversation? I was actually out in the other side of Riddick. I was out there on a different type of job. Okay. I'd gotten hired, and I ain't telling you anything about this because I signed an IndyGA for the client. Okay. Okay.

But if it comes down to it, and we need that information, and we desperately need that information, I'll break that NDA. But the reason why the NDA was there was because there was a high-profile client that has cars for people like Troulda and shit like that on his property and he doesn't want that all,

that shit all disclosed. What other side of Redick, like your, like, man, we're talking about, we're talking about like over that fucking way. Okay. Over that way, out in the middle of fucking, I don't even know what, out that way. Like further away from the interstate?

Oh yeah, yeah. Oh my God, yes. I grew for probably 30 minutes just to get out in the general area and then I had to park my vehicle, my phone and everything else initially before they take me on out to the property. Tell me more about that. It's pretty important. I can't tell you more about that. Tell me why it's more important.

Because it's different from what you told before. Yeah, because I wasn't asked these questions before. Well, now we're asking him, so that's why... Okay, so basically what happened was. Dude had a bunch of cars out there old shit. My favorite one was the 33 rat rod, the 33 rat rod with the big 355 sitting down in it. And it all crammed out and shit.

And he basically had me out there doing maintenance on him. He said he chooses a different company every year. And basically, if he goes through Yelp or whatever to find a small company. And then he has, if he likes, if they know what they're, they're doing because he'll sabotage his car on purpose to see if they know what they're doing. And I had his car fixed when he did that for me in like two minutes. I walked up, oh, try that now.

Do you remember what he did to sabotage it? He just unplugged the wire. Oh, okay. Yeah, he unplugged a wire that's kind of hidden down in there. Yeah. He has that shovel still from Walmart because he's digging a hole, man. We're going to take a quick break, but first I want you to know, this is a man that Dwayne Hall is talking about, this guy with all these cars, for.

John Travolta and this isn't that. He's going to call him Harold. Okay. And Harold's got a very interesting backstory. So let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar, our exclusive snack and hydration sponsor IQ Bar Protein bars, IQ Mix, IQ, Hydration mixes, and IQ Joe mushroom coffees are the delicious, low sugar, brain and body fuel you need to win your day. And that's exactly the kind of fuel I need because some days are just back to back everything. Oh, every day, right? Recording. editing, working out, emails, life, meetings, appointments, pretending we're organized. Yeah, exactly. And when you're busy, it's like whatever you can grab. That's what's convenient.

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plus free shipping. So to get your 20% off, text weekly to 64,000. Text weekly to 64,000. Once again, that's weekly to 64,000. Message and data rates may apply C-terms for details. Okay, we're back. So this is the man that Dwayne Hall calls Harold. And he says the first time Harold called him was about six or seven months prior. And that's when Harold tested Dwayne Hall. Remember, he'll like do something intentionally to his vehicle and see if you can fix it. And Dwayne Hall said that the test happened at a cracker barrel. And he got paid $25, which is his standard service fee for a call. And he showed up. He got Harold's car fixed. And he got Harold back on the rode in about 30 minutes and Harold liked that, which is why he called Dwayne Hall about a week later and told him he had more work for him and this work paid a lot of money, but also required Dwayne Hall to sign an NDA, right? Because he's like, I'm not going to tell you more about that because I signed an NDA. Yeah, I can't do that. Not like you're in an interview with the law enforcement right now and they're basically trying to confirm your whereabouts. This guy has cars for

Truffolda, right? Right. But also, by the way, something else too. He has someone new work on these cars every time. That's the exact opposite of what you would do. You would want the same person who knows the vehicles who's not going to screw them up to take care of them. Dwayne has theories about that too later. Okay. Yeah. So Dwayne said that everything was very mysterious with Harold, because not only is he sure that Harold isn't even this guy's real name, but strange things started to happen after he worked for Harold at this secretive job, which happened to take place the weekend of August 10th, 2025. Did he give you a copy of it? Is there any paperwork? Okay, so now that you're asking the direct questions, I can tell you about that too.

Too bad I don't have my phone here and I'd show you. For that time period, normally I have calls coming in all hours of the day and night. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So on on that weekend, when these transactions and interactions with this individual were taking place, they disappeared. I didn't know him. I literally have three calls listed for, I think it's Sunday. Three. It's either Saturday or Sunday. There's three calls compared to 20, 30 a day.

Okay. Okay. So did the calls come in and you were having those conversations and it wasn't logged or you weren't getting calls at all? Calls were coming in. They vanished. They vanished out of the call log. Text messages. emails, everything,

everything regarding and relating to that service that I did out there, banished, gone, like it never happened. Okay. How did you pay you? Ted, man, the card. Okay. Pay with a card. Okay.

Red card numbers off to me, and I programmed them in, and I got paid. Okay. I got paid $1,200 fucking fat dollars for, like, 36 hours of my time. because after the NDA, I never seen him again. Okay. And he always sent a driver to come pick me up and take me whenever we were scheduled to go out there. So what was his name? It was Harold, and I can't remember.

I'm shit with names. I just am. It's Harold, and I was joking that I tried to commit it to memory, but it sounded a lot like the last name was Hypranja, but it wasn't. It sounded. like that it was Harold something and I think it's a fake name tell me about what he looked like because you said you did meet him in person it looked like Middle Easterer but

tall okay it's okay you look like a Middle Easterner in my brain this is how I remember what he looked like okay he was a tall Middle Easterner but his teeth were too big for his face and his smile was too big for his teeth were too big for his face. Smile was too big for his teeth. Uh-huh. Okay. So when he smiled, he's seen everything. It looked like just creepy serial killer vibe on the smile.

Oh, wow. And, of course, his teeth were as white as your paper. Okay. And it made his teeth look way too big for his face. And then he smiled super fucking creepy big on top of it. And then, of course, he's tan. And he's got the darker colored hair. And it's just like, hmm.

Yeah. I wouldn't want to get caught in the first. with this guy. Yeah, you know. But at the same time, that's really nonscript because I don't remember faces. Like I said, I just, I don't, I'm sorry.

Very clean, very tight. That's the one thing that stood out. And didn't even, don't have a hair out of place. Don't, nothing. Just clean, tidy, very, can't. Don't tight. Oh, and that's another thing.

Talking about digital footprints, he paid me at 11 o'clock at night, but when I look at the thing, It says 1.09 p.m. Hmm. Okay. Because he said, and I quote, my other truck was delayed and didn't come in,

so I don't have the extra 20 vehicles for you, so you're done. Our contract is over, and he paid me. And then I went home that Sunday, or I tried to go home that Sunday. But I was being followed. How so? I was big.

entailed. Tell me more about that. It was, I can't really tell you too much because they never got close enough. But it was either, it was along the lines because they got these stupid-ass new colors now. They can't just be silver or fain gray. Okay, but it was on a

color spectrum type from like a silvery tan color. You know what I'm talking about, right? When they, the vehicle color that gets out of that tan cream color and more into the charcoal collar, the gray color. It was somewhere, it was something like that, or maybe a silver color sedan. So it kind of

depends on how the light shining. Uh-huh. Yeah. And it was blacked out. I mean, at least from my vantage point, it was blacked out. It freaked me out enough that I actually didn't go home. Okay. Tell me more about that. I got off like I was going to get off to go home, and I went past the entrance to where I would normally turn to go to my house, and I came back, I you turned and come back because it's like there's no way. There's coincidence. And maybe he's just getting off. Maybe he's going out through here.

And I went and I came back. And then I noticed that they turned two. So I dipped into a side little spot. I sat there for a few minutes until they left. Until I thought they left. And then I zipped and took some back roads. And I sat there and waited. And I seriously sat there.

And no, I don't know what the address is. But at the same time, I sat there and I waited. for an hour and they kept making passes on the main road. I know they could see the back of my vehicle, but I didn't care about that. They kept making passes on the main road and then I left. And when I left, they pulled in and stopped right where I was. He's falling apart. I mean, he's got the tall tales.

Yeah, everything is very elaborate, but nothing can be corroborated. It's a very detailed story to try to give it validity and yet nothing can go back and be checked to ensure that it's true. Because the digital footprint disappeared. Yep, it disappeared or it's not what I'm telling you it is. Like, it was at 11 o'clock, but he paid me at 1. No, he said, listen, the digital footprint disappeared. And on that note, it's weird because like even the transaction where he paid me at 11 o'clock a night, it shows that it went through at once.

So these people associated with Harold are able to somehow get into your phone and make things disappear and also change financial transactions, by the way. Harold changed the oil for the CIA, apparently, or aliens. Either way, they have technology that we don't quite understand yet. And Harold is just a victim of circumstance. This is some like Pegasus, like, what is that called? When they like make it go on your phone and they can see everything you're doing, except they can also change things, right? So they've changed things in his phone and erased other things.

Yes, there was two men. One was black. One was white. and they had a little metal device that they held up to his eyes when they put their sunglasses on and it flashed. And then he doesn't remember anything after that. That was a men in black reference that I don't think you picked up. I did. Of course I did.

I didn't know. He's saying like, yeah, you know, it's all secretive. And I had to sign the idea. And then all of a sudden, when he got paid, Harold was like, our contract is done. And he goes on, but he's being followed by the silvery, maybe gray car, maybe beige, kind of maybe gray beige. you know, when it ships and he's got all these, like, because he doesn't want to, he wants to talk about anything but the questions that he's being asked. And then he says he's being followed and he realizes he's being followed because he's, I cut this part out. He's used to being followed by the police, right?

And the interrogator's writing down on his notepad and like pretending like he's paying attention. I'm sure if I had that page, he wrote, he's full of shit. When she's like, can you describe him? He's like, his teeth were too big for his mouth and his mouth's too big for his face. For his mouth, smile, too big for his teeth. I was trying to play that in my head as well. I'm like, That doesn't make any sense. The detective, she's like, smile too big for it. She's like got her pen, like posed over her notebook. Like she's going to make notes about his description.

She doesn't even know what to write. She's like, uh. You can also see the physical cues too, right, Stephanie? Like he started out of this interview where he was facing them, very direct, very poised. And now he's jumping all over the place. He's crossing his legs, uncrossing his legs. He's belated. Then he's facing them again.

He's laughing weirdly. He's uncomfortable now. There's an anxiety there. And his behavior shows. showing that. He's his demeanor has completely changed. He's trying to seem too casual. Right. He realizes what he's doing right now and that, oh my God, they go back and try to confirm any of this. It's going to expose me. But he's too deep in now where he can't, there's nothing else to do. And he knows it. Remember, he's like, okay, now you've asked me the direct questions. I can tell you. That I signed an

NDA and I can't tell you. I'm trying to do my best here within the constraints I've been given to also cooperate with you. But he's nervous. He's very, very nervous. And he's saying he pulled over because he was being tracked on his way home and he didn't go home. And this is the weekend, right, where Sonia Axelby arrives in Florida and she goes missing and she doesn't make her return flight home on that following Monday. And his time period is he goes out there on Friday night and he's brought to this house where he's allowed to stay. And then every day he's got to be driven out to this other area that's like 15 minutes past the house. And that's where he's working on these cars, but he can't bring his phone, can't know where they're going because there's some

driver. And then he comes back at night to sleep at the house. But then he was supposed to work until Sunday. But then Harold comes to him on Saturday. And he's like, our contract is up. Here's your money, right? That he's going to pay him at approximately the same amount, right? Exactly the same amount that came from Sonia X-O-B's card. So he pays him. And then he's like, you're done. He spends the night there on Saturday, Sunday morning, he gets up to go home. He's being followed. He pulls over in the specific place. And he's sitting there for like an hour because he's super nervous. And they're going to track this specific place where he said he was sitting. And they're going to find things there. So Dwayne Hall claims that when he left this undisclosed area on

Sunday, he's followed. He tried to lose his tail. He ended up parking in an area for an hour. And he said he knew he was there for an hour because he smoked some dabs while he was waiting to calm his nerves. And anybody who knows about dabs, this is not a casual marijuana thing. Okay. Like you just happen to have on you. But anyways, that's what he was doing. So Dwayne went on to explain, that like I said, he worked for Harold Friday and Saturday night, but he wasn't with Harold. He was just on his property, this house in Reddick, doing work for him. And then he would have to leave his phone at this place where he was staying before being driven about 15 minutes to another place where the cars were.

And the cars, there were so many of them, there was like six of them in double lines. So there was like 12 cars. And Harold had every tool known to man because Harold told him very specifically, you can't bring anything of your own, not your phone, not your own tools, because I can't have anybody bugging or taking pictures or anything. So we had every tool known to man. And Dwayne said that the first place was this like mini apartment where Harold let him sleep while he was working. And then when he first got there on Friday, Harold let him inside. And that's when he signed the NDA inside this mini apartment. And then that first night, he was instructed, leave your phone at the apartment. You're not

allowed to have any electronic devices. You can't talk to anyone about what you're doing here. You can't take pictures. But he said the second night, Saturday night, he was able to sneak him. his phone to the location where he was working on the cars. He was very covert about it and he stuck the phone in while he was being driven there. And he was able to talk to his wife, even though he had expressed many times to the agents that there was no service anywhere, not at the apartment, not at the location where he was working at. He said he thinks Harold jammed the signals, right? Because there's just no service, not Wi-Fi, not cell service. Alien technology, man. But on this night, Saturday night, he's able to get a call out to his wife,

Ginger. And when he's on the call with his wife, Ginger, he hears an argument happening somewhere. He hears a woman and men yelling and hears an argument. And he says to his wife, oh, this is kind of crazy. Like, who knows what's going on with these people? But nothing else happens from there. And then Dwayne Hall said, oh, yeah. Friday night, by the way, Harold asked me to do something else for him before I went out to Reddick to do the job. And now we get to the worst part of the story that I'm dreading talking about altogether because I have really bad feeling about it again. Like I said, really bad. The same went from I'm not going to paying the attention to it to really bad in my opinion because everything that happened.

He called me up. I was working in Gainesville shift ended at 6. He called me up and he said, hey, I need you to go pick somebody up from Gainesville Airport. Okay. I picked somebody up from Gainesville Airport, female. Guy to make small talk with him. They told me basically, and I'm barely even paraphrasing here, shut up, I don't talk to the help.

Okay. This is what this person said? Okay. Shut up, I don't talk to the help. Just drive. Okay. I drove, she got out of my vehicle, walked up to him like she knew him,

gave him a hug, hopped in maybe a 70s Cadillac, El Dorado. with a separate driver all blacked out and they left. And where was that? Doordeck at that 122nd. Okay. I was told, I was told that that was a buyer and was going to purchase one of the vehicles. That's why I had to pick her up and they didn't have her own vehicle because they were going to be driving off in their own vehicle.

Okay. And that was the last I heard about that. until that blow up on Saturday night. Okay. Describe her to me. 5-8, 5-9. Car care pulled back. Very prude. Very prudent.

What do you mean by that? Floury grass. Floury grass is kind of low-cut. Okay. But just, like I said, I tried to make small talk. Don't shut up, I don't talk to that. Okay.

Prude. Yeah, you know, I can't. You too. Yeah. Would she sound like? American? I don't know what are you like me? Yeah, kind of.

Yeah, okay. Kind of. Maybe a slightly deeper voice. Short skirt. What are you going to tell you? I'm bad. I'm scared. Look at the legs.

But that was... You can see what he's doing. He knows they know more than they're saying. And now he knows where this is going to go. And he's trying to basically connect him to Sonia in a very innocent way. We all know what he's trying to do. The execution's terrible. but it's confirming everything they already know.

He's putting himself in the car with Sonia. I picked her up from the airport, but I didn't know who she was. And that's just because Harold told me to. And she was a buyer for one of the cars. So I didn't really question it. And she was really rude to me. I don't talk to the help. Like she knows these other guys.

He's just this random stray middleman that's brought in, right? And so they talked about this with Dwayne for a while. And they're asking, like, what did the house look like that you stayed in? Did anyone stay there with you? Did you ever see the woman again? And at some point, the agent Joseph Miller, he got up and left the room. At which point, Dwayne Hall had an epiphany. He had an epiphany after Rebecca McKinsey showed him a picture of Sonia Axelby.

You describe the person that you picked up at the airport and I have a picture. Yeah, you do. Show me. I am hoping that maybe you can tell me that's who it was. It is who it was. Okay. So I don't hear my glasses for that. You don't even need your glasses.

I mean, the face is kind of fucked up. But, yeah, that's the dress. That's the dress? That's the dress. That's the dress. Okay. And the legs, like you said? Yeah. Are you sure? You want to look at the legs again?

Is that good? Okay. No, I'm just absolutely disgusting. No. I mean, like, seriously, though, yeah, that's true. That's her? Okay. If you had a picture a fucking long time, God could pose you.

Oh, my God! That was, that's her. Huh? Oh, my God, you're in my fucking vehicle. So let's talk about that. Tell me more about that drive. It was quiet. I was listening to music. Okay. I had Spotify on.

I just, you don't want to talk to me. I don't talk to you anyway. No, no, I hear that. I'm here to do a job. I don't give a shit about much else at this point anyway. I have a wife and I ain't interested in another one in any fucking way. Yeah. What if?

There's what if, right? Mm-hmm. What if they do this every year? What if this Harold guy does this every year? What if he does find some small company like this other company that does, like the mechanic's the way and of it? What if he really does that every year? What if that's for real? What if there's a different person that goes missing every year?

That is related to that. because that's fucked up. That's fucked up. And then there was a big thing and the phone call about money and then this that and the other. And we start connecting the dots like me and her did.

What if this is some kind of underground fucking thing where they get unsuspecting people, especially like Calvin told me she was suicidal anyway? Mm-hmm. Well, if she's signed up for something, and they predate her these young women or men that are suicidal like that, and then just... Yeah, that's an interesting, that's interesting. I mean, I've heard worse shit.

I mean, especially since he name dropped that, he named dropped that it was really weird that he would name drop shit like this and then make me sign him in the NBA. but he named him up that he was storing vehicles for Troubola, Terry Blay, the Hulk Coving family. Oh, okay. And Tom Cruise. Okay. What is some kind of f***ed up Scientology bullshit behind the scenes? And going and working on the cars, which is a cover story. To get you involved?

Yeah. What am I going to do? I'm nobody. I don't have corporate lawyers. I don't have. I have nothing. Yeah. What if I'm just being played as a patsy, a scapegoat?

Who they're going to look for? Yeah. Seriously. Who are you going to look for? You're going to look for some Arabian-looking guy, some Middle Eastern guy with big white fucking teeth with a really big, fucking creepy smile. That describes half the fucking people in Okal.

Does it? I'm not from here. Does that describe? I mean, let's be reasonable. Yeah. You know? So you, You mentioned that you were told that she was suicidal and that maybe there was something that was prearranged.

Calvin. Told you. Right. Calvin told you that she was suicidal. And my wife were talking about this and it seemed really weird because she didn't question anything. She didn't talk to the hell. Didn't question about where I was driving. Mm-hmm.

Nothing. Got out, walked up, gave you to hug, bounced in his fucking big ass car. Okay, few things here. First off, I want a screenshot of the beginning of the interview with his posture and then him basically sprawled out on the couch with his arm behind him, posing like he's on the Titanic and being drawn by Jack. He's like, man, she was in my car. She was in my vehicle.

It was bad. And then he goes on to suggest a potential theory that she signed up for something involving these people, just really on the head there. Maybe he should be a detective. No, first he says, maybe they do this every year, right? And, you know, it could be some word Scientology thing. because then he's bringing in Scientology because this is where I have to, you know, stop it when the conspiracy theorists start using these theories to actually defend their own crimes. And then, then he's like, well, Calvin, and he's talking about the agent that called him and asked him about the transactions the first time.

He told me, you know, she was thinking about taking her own life. So what if? What if? What if there's groups of people that help other people do this? This was something that originally he thought it was a nothing burger when they called him to ask him about this person who was broke down. that he never met and never talked to. And now him and his wife were speculating about this woman

and what she potentially got tied up in. Compliment, because I was quick to kind of, you know, criticize the detectives. They're doing a very good job of listening. Their questions are short. They're not trying to be the star of the show. Yeah, they're like, oh, yeah. They're not saying much.

And that is a skill. Yeah, when this guy's talking, like, just it's pouring out of him at this point. Yeah, you got to listen. They're letting him go. They're not stopping him. They're not interjecting a lot of it. just like, oh, yeah, yeah, that's all.

They're doing a good job with that. Yeah. So at this point, and I liked how, like, when the one agent was out of the room, he, like, leans in all conspiratorily with the woman. He's like, what if? What if? And then the other guy comes back in the room and it kind of throws him and he starts talking louder. And then he says to the guy, like her and I were talking about, kind of like he's saying, like, oh, yes, I'm like the Frank Abagnale Jr. and catch me if you can. You know, I'm working with you guys to understand the criminal mind. You know, what if? Like, this is what we kind of been going back and forth. He thinks he's got him. He doesn't. Spoiler alert, he doesn't. It's getting pretty

heated in that room. He's painting himself into a corner. Yeah, he needs a break. We need a break. And then when we come back, we're going to see how things change and what happens when they start to gradually introduce evidence they have against Dwayne Hall. Ah, this is going to be fun. We'll be right back. This episode of Crime Weekly is brought to you by our friends at Wildgrave. Which I love because wild grain is one of those things that makes our house feel like it's a little bit more impressive with very little effort. Our carbohydrate friends, because we both love carbs, okay? We do.

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$30 off your first box plus free croissants for life. Again, that's wildgrain.com slash crime weekly for $30 off your first box and free croissants for life. Or you can just use. promo code crime weekly at checkout. Okay, so we're back. The agents, they're saying like, okay, all of this is great. And actually, we verified. We verified those declined transactions you were telling us. So all of that checked out.

That's great. He's like, yep, yep, I knew they would, right? And then they're like, but actually, we also verified a transaction that actually went through. And this is the one that you claimed was Harold paying you for the job that weekend. and we've confirmed that transaction went through. And then we were also able to verify the $1,200 transaction that you talked about. Now you're going to tell me that you verified that and it came back to her too. What makes you think that?

Why would you bring up that you verified the $1,200 transaction and not the other transactions that were there? Because those were the transactions that happened around the time that you said that she called you. All right. So that would be why. Okay, well, still, you know. I feel like you should be sitting in this chair. So you are. Too smart for me sometimes too.

Yeah. But yeah, is the way am I right though? Yep. So I'm a bitch. Can I keep the money? I already spent it and I can't pay it back. I'm sure you spend it on things that were important because you're taking care of your wife. So can you help me explain how that.

happened, what you think, how that happened. Because you said you felt like you were being set up. Yep. And he's realizing the tides are turning. Yeah. He's like, oh, now you're going to tell me it came back to her too. And she's like, why would I tell you that? And he's like, am I right though?

She's like, yep. Yeah, you're right. You're right. No, they're keeping their composure. They're not pushing them. They're just taking him down the road and allowing him to keep making wrong decisions every single time. So this is their first time where they're like, oh, by the way.

we know more than you think. You were hoping that little detail we didn't find out, we didn't do our job. Sorry. Yeah, we figured it out. Well, I mean, the weird thing is this is Florida Department of Law Enforcement. So they handle, like, the most major cases in Florida when things happen like this or, you know, jurisdictional things when it's across state lines or even country lines at this point. But the agent, Rebecca McKinsey, she said this is the absolute worst. And she had been in law enforcement for over 20 plus years, the absolute worst case and the most like mind boggling one.

she had ever encountered. So talking about being in that room with Dwayne Hall, she was like, we didn't even really understand, like, how deep it went and like how bad it was. Like, we knew there was something going on, but we, we couldn't anticipate what we uncovered here. So Dwayne Hall was told that the U.K. had provided Florida law enforcement with locations that Sonia had been at, and they checked those locations and the place he described, what he thought was Harold's place. This was actually an Airbnb that Sonia had rented. And Dwayne's like, what? Now this is getting really suspicious. They did set me up, guys. I knew it. Yeah, I think he says something like, now I really feel like I'm being set up here. So they asked if they could do an extraction of his phone. And he said, you know, I don't really like that because I have personal stuff on my phone. And I don't necessarily want to share my personal stuff with the world. And so he was asked like, you know, is it weird stuff?

Like, is it weird stuff on your phone? And Dwayne Hall responded, quote, what do you think? if it's something I don't want you to see, it's probably not vanilla. End quote. They then asked him about the receipts that they found at the Airbnb, right? And he said, yes, those are my receipts. Those were my purchases. I told you.

I stayed at that place because I was working for Harold. So that's not weird. You know, he said, I was driving out there that morning and I was like, oh, I ran out of deodorant this morning. And I knew I was going to be gone all weekend. So I stopped at Walmart to grab something. And while I was there, I purchased some. paracord because I was working on a project the following week. And I got gun cleaner for my wife's

gun, which is in my car. And he said, the shovel, oh yeah, I also got a shovel. That was for my roadside assistance company because sometimes when you're like changing like a flat, you need to make a a flat spa for the jack on the side of the highway. And so I grabbed a shovel because I needed one, you know, for making a flat spot on the side of the highway. Yeah. He was then asked what he thought about people who wanted to take their own lives. And so if someone were to help them with that, they're just helping them do something that they want to have done? Who knows?

Who f***ing knows, man? That's what I'm saying. Yeah. At the end of the day, it's the only thing that really makes sense. If this woman really wanted to disappear, she came to another fucking country. Yeah. So if she really wanted to do what, she makes me think she really just wanted to disappear. So what are your thoughts?

So if somebody is like, this is what I want to have happen, I don't want to do it myself. I want somebody to help me with that. What are your thoughts about that? What are I supposed to think about that? Well, some people have feelings about that. Like, no, you shouldn't help the person. And other people are like, if you're making a decision that you want to be here. The doctor of working in was helping people with that shit, you know, and they were all

people and they were terminally ill people and stuff like that. So it's just not a black and white answer. Right. She had to have been promised something here. We also know that you were one of the people that were communicating with her. What was her screen name? What does that matter? I communicate with a lot of people. Okay. Do you communicate with a lot of people about suicidal ideations? We talked about, we have a lot of, I communicate, I used to. Used to communicate with a lot of people that it was a porn site. And there was a lot of fantasy roleplay that happened there. But if you tell me your screen name, maybe I'll have a better idea what you're talking about.

Which porn sites? Motherless. Okay. So you communicated with her on motherless? I don't know, but if you're saying that I communicated with her, there's a good possibility. That's where it was. And if you tell me which one it was, then if you tell me the screen name, I'll be able to confirm or deny. Well, I'd like to talk more about the conversations that you have on motherless,

and if you communicate... It was months ago. I lost my account there. I got banned. Okay. That's hard to do. No, it's not. Really? Not on Motherless? I've been on Motherless, so, I mean, pretty much to be, everything's fair game on there. You would think, right? I don't even know why. I always get banned for terms of service violation. So what kind of stuff did you like to talk about on motherless?

Hmm. And you're not going to shock me because, like I said, I've been on Motherless. Let's see. I'm hard bondage. Okay. I like hard bondage. Okay. Like all sorts of things.

All kinds of disgusting crap, but some of it's not so disgusting, but a lot of them. I don't necessarily consider it disgusting. Yeah, it's disgusting. When you get into certain aspects of it, it gets a little bit more. It gets a little bit more out of my wheelhouse. Well, what's disgusting? Discussing to you may not be disgusting to me, right? When it's disgusting me, may not be disgusting to you.

Like, it's all in preference. And Motherless is full of people with preferences. Yep, it absolutely is. Yeah. I enjoyed it while I was there, but I may occasionally have the violent ideations or whatever, but at the same time, it's better left on paper. Yeah. No, I hear that.

I mean, there's a lot of people that leave it on paper. So what type of violent ideations? Don't feel comfortable discussing that with you. Would you feel comfortable just going to sit with him? I don't. I do not. Is that part of the privacy that you want to keep with your phone? Is that what?

Okay. Good enough. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So the reason why I'm having this discussion with you is that our missing person was also involved in those types of fantasies and violent ideations. as well as

that somehow doesn't surprise me. Especially if you're telling me that I actually had communication and she was actually communicating with me at one point or another, I'm sure we had some right nasty discussions. I'm not even going to play. I'm sure we had some right nasty discussions. Yeah. Yeah, so apparently, Dwayne, who does not know,

Sonia, has not only communicated where they're on the phone, received a payment from her, picked her up from the airport, it, but also communicated with her on the internet, potentially motherless.com. So, yeah, he's just really wrong place, wrong time. Feel bad for Dwayne. I understand how sometimes... This is what happens to him, though. Don't you understand?

He's a target for these setups. And I do want to retract my statement. Well, it was more geared towards the male investigator anyways, but I actually like this a female investigator. Yeah, she's trying to relate. She's like, I've been on there, you know? I find her approach, her demeanor great. I just really like her style.

She's with the FDLE. It seems like the other guy is with local. No, they're both. They're both FLD. Yeah, I believe so. Well, maybe FDLE, but he's from that area because when she, he mentioned, oh, a lot of the people out here are like Ocala. She looked at him and was like, oh, are they?

Because I'm not from here. And he's like, oh, I don't. Yeah. No, when they said, that describes a lot of people from Ocala. And she's like, I don't know. And she looked at him and he's like, yeah. Yeah, I like her approach. She's trying to make him not feel judged.

So, you know, oh, if it's consenting adults, if it's consenting adults, why would anything be off the table? You know, like, and she told him, I don't know if I put this clip in here, but she's like, listen, what did you do to get banned? Because, like, I know it's really hard. He's like, how do you know that? She's like, because I've been banned off a motherless. And she's got this whole conspiratorial kind of like, you know. Which, spoiler alert is not the case. Absolutely not.

But she's done her research about motherless clearly because she knows the TOS for that website and she knows what's on there and how difficult it is to get banned. so she was quick with it. Oh, how did you get banned? That's tough to do. And by the way, if I had access to everything, more than likely, she already knows his rename, knows he got banned, and knows what he got banned for because maybe she's already gotten a warrant from Mother List where she had the access to see why they were banned. This, again, I might be giving her too much credit, but she may already have the answers to

these questions. But he didn't get banned. He's just lying. Yeah, he's trying to make it seem like, I haven't been on there in forever. He's like, listen. Well, she has access to his account. We'll put it that way. And he's going to say later, like, you know, I used to be into that kind of stuff,

but then my wife almost died, you know, when you come face to face with that, like, that kind of stuff seems less. Changes the man. You know, appealing. And she's trying to pull things out of him. Here's how I know he's not feeling as confident because remember at the beginning, he's like, well, why don't you tell me? Because you wouldn't know that. You wouldn't be asking me if you didn't know.

But now she's like, we know you talked to our victim or she was into those same things. And we think you may have talked to her. And he's like, what's her screen name? And she's like, why does that matter? And he's like, well, because if I talk to her, I'd know her by screen name. Instead of saying to them, like he would have at the beginning, well, you must already know that I've talked to her because you wouldn't be asking me this if you didn't. So now he's trying to seem real like lamb in the woods, right? Like, well, what's your, I talk to a lot of people. Talk to a lot of people online. He's not doing the same like, hey, if you're not going to directly ask me questions, I'm not going to directly answer. He has no confidence, no swagger anymore. And now he's trying to seem almost like, oh, that's stuff on mother. It gets real bad, you know, real bad. I mean, I enjoyed it, but some of it goes too far. He's trying to put this like moral high ground. Yeah.

Well, that's the thing, right? Like every single question she posed to him, he had some cockamini story about it and an explanation for it from picking her up to this guy, Harold, all that. But when she asked him specifically, directly, what are you into? What do you post on there? What is it? I don't feel comfortable talking about that. I want to respect my privacy because he knows there's no answer he can give.

that's going to make him look good considering what they're talking about. And I'm sure it would have been something along the lines of tying women up, assaulting them, maybe suicidal ideation. Not self-harm on his part. No, but him hurting others. Putting harm on others, yes. And so he can't answer it because there's no way to spin that where it's going to look good in. At this point, you probably realizes they're going to be able to go back and track my postage history.

You're over here like, I was looking at that girl's legs, blah, blah, blah. And as soon as you realize what they had, you're like, have a wife. I'm not interested in other words. It's just ridiculous. So eventually, Dwayne Hall was told they knew Sonia had come to the United States to have someone end her life. And they knew that she was with Dwayne. And he continued on denying that she'd been with him at the Airbnb. He was then told they were going to have the house forensically processed. And they were like, you know what we're going to find? We're going to find bodily fluids. And we're going to be able to distinguish who those fluids belong to and where they came from, essentially. Right. So they were like, you need to be

honest. It's okay. Like, if you guys had sex, there's no crime against that. Like, did you have sex? Because we can actually prove that Sonia was there and we can prove that you were there because the neighbors had seen his truck parked there and what was on his truck but a sticker with his business name on it. What a dummy. So they're like, we can prove this, right? And Duane eventually admitted to having sex with Sonia. Here's how he starts it. He said, the first night, nothing happened. I slept on like a pullout bed, But my back hurt so bad after that night because I have a bad back. So the next night, I did sleep in the bed with her. And I wasn't planning on anything to happen.

I have a wife. I love my wife. She's been sick. I would never do that to her. But Sonia was naked. So like, I'm a man. What was I going to do? So, yes, we had sex.

And he said, it was pretty vanilla. You know, it was pretty vanilla with him. And yeah, maybe there's been some light choking. But outside of that pretty vanilla. And he said that, yes, after he had sex with her, I think one or two times, he was done. He felt really bad and he was like, ah, why did I do this? And then she kept trying to get him to do it again and to get him to be rougher. And he was like, no, I refuse. I'm not going to do it. You know, and she was mad about it. Sonia was mad about it. So he also said that, yes, he and Sonia had talked in the past about her having her life taken in this way and how she tried and failed before, that she had met up with a few guys in the past who were supposed to have fulfilled her wish, but they'd always backed out or fallen in the way. And they'd always backed out or fallen in the way. And love with her. And he was asked if Sonia had come to him with the hope that he could follow through with her, aka, alleged wish. And Dwayne said, apparently, that was the original plan, but he had ended up

telling her it wasn't going to happen. He was then asked if he'd ever recorded any videos of Sonia or with Sonia. Like, did you record videos of you having sex? And he was like, God, no. How dare you ask me that? That's crazy. Did you ever record any videos with her? And he said, yes, but I deleted it. Now, in fact, the police had already gotten his phone and they'd already recovered a video that Dwayne had filmed on October 11th. The video was four minutes and 16 seconds long. It was taken inside the Reddick Airbnb and it shows Sonia wearing the same dress she was wearing at the airport the evening of October 10th. So the video has obviously never been released. But the police records describe Sonia in the video. She looks disheveled. She has multiple abrasions to her face, her neck,

her breasts. She was subdued, hesitant, visibly emotional with tears in her eyes. And and she never looked up towards the camera. Dwayne deleted the video three seconds after filming it, but the police were able to recover it. In the video, Dwayne Hall asked Sonia how she would want to die, and she didn't answer. He asked her, what are you consenting to here today? And she asked him hesitantly if he meant

about the way he's talked about killing her. Sonia hesitated a few minutes more before saying, Stabbed. Dwayne Hall then asked Sonia about the treatment she had received the last day or two. She seemed confused at first and then told him she didn't remember because they had talked about it in so many different ways. Dwayne Hall then asked specifically about Sonia's face and she responded, quote, you've beaten me. He asked her if that is what she asked for.

She didn't immediately respond, but then she said, quote, I guess literally speaking. End quote. Dwayne asked Sonia if she was being forced or coerced. She didn't answer, but eventually she shook her head no. He then asked her if she was happy in getting what she wanted and she nodded. Dwayne Hall said, quote, this is how you want to die, right? You want to be beaten and made to suffer because you're such a piece of shit. End quote.

Sonia agreed and repeated what he said. When Dwayne Hall asked Sonia why she wanted to die, she said, quote, because I'm an awful person because I've crushed everyone who ever loved me. End quote. Dwayne Hall was asked about why Sonia looked so subdued and unhappy during this video, because the police are like, yeah, we found this video. Well, they didn't at first say they found the video. I'm getting ahead of myself.

They said, what was she like in this video that you? took and and and he said you know hopefully you can see for yourself you say you can get the video and you can see for yourself but yeah i mean she wasn't she wasn't acting like very happy i don't know what her problem was i asked her i was i told her i told her that i wanted to tell me what it was that she was there for okay now i wanted her to go in detail and she basically just kind of locked up on everything and i ended up to late in it because that was an absolutely no use to okay like you know in case something like this happened I could just be here

hey you know what you recorded on fun you and it's not it's not it's not on there anymore I'm not no I deleted it I mean obviously you say that it can be we can try that's why you can recover yeah that's what I'm that's why I'm asking so but she didn't say she didn't respond you when you asked her she she was not not responsive very much and I don't know what the problem was In that regard, I think she was, I think she was just disappointed because I didn't want her. I didn't want her. Mm-hmm.

You know. When was that video taken? You're asking the wrong question. I don't know. It was when she was here. Was it, like, at the beginning of the trip, at the end of the trip? I don't have to worry about halfway through. Yeah.

we were where you think we were we were in that B&B okay that's what I'm asking it did you do it in the airport in the car you know what I mean I that's why no let me we hardly even had any conversation if it would have been if I was actually going to be the one of finalize all that shit and I can say this honestly because I had considered it before because I'm not about okay look I had a very bad past and the last thing I wanted to do is have that to come back to haunt me and went any way shape or form so getting blood on my hands I will say it again.

It's not something that I intended to do outside of the life and death circumstance. So if it would have been me, I would have taken down the out of the alley and dropped her off. And told her, pick a direction and walk. Because if you don't want to do it yourself and I don't want to do it, go to the wildlife.

We have a ton of that here in Florida. It's not particularly violent, though, so it doesn't really feed into how she wanted it to happen. It could have. very well accommodated her on that end of it at the very end of it, and then just sent her off in the days into the song. Okay. See?

Yeah. But like I said, that was before. Yeah. Before my life, damn near died, and my priorities shifted in a very unexpected way. Did you call it Alligator Alley? Yeah, yeah. Where is that?

You know where that's in the south of here. Okay. It's the Everglades. Oh, okay, you're talking about the Everglades. Yeah, that's a alligator. I don't know. They call it Alligator All right. I honestly have heard of it so. What? Sorry.

And see, them on the map is Alligator Al. You could have helped her along with the violent part of it because she wanted to die violently. How would you have done that? I got two hands. Yeah. Yeah, if that's what you really wanted, I could accommodate it at one point before my priorities completely shifted.

Really, this like, I had seen it coming for a long time, where the violent team had seen me just slowly heavy. And then my wife getting so bad, they just killed it. I literally had zero interest in anything like that anymore. It used to it. It does something to you when you take your wife into the hospital and come from that generation when people don't come home to a lot from the hospital. It freaks you up.

It makes you try to it. appreciate everything they have. But the rest of that shaked him in different vehicles and going and going to maintenance and the vehicles and the sexy ass vehicles and the rat rod. Yeah. That shit. That's real. That shit is real. And she did get into a different vehicle. So we have a lot going on here. And he's, he's confusing. He's still denying that he's the last person to see her. Right? He's still saying, if you do recover that video and she's seen him. unhappy, it's because I didn't want her. She was mad because I didn't want her. And then I didn't see her. You know, after that happened, she got in the car with Harold. She drove off. But like,

I could have helped her. If she really wanted to die and I wasn't going to do it because I'm not getting blood on my hand again. He said, I'm not getting blood on my hands again. I don't know if you caught that. I did. What the hell does that mean, right? So I'm not getting blood on my hands again. I was going to do that. I would have just dropped her off at Alligator Alley. And then Agent McKenzie is like, yeah, but that's not violent the way she she would have wanted it. And he says, Well, I could have been. Could have been. You know, I could have accommodated her on that.

She's like, what do you mean? Well, I got two hands. So he's basically saying I could beat the shit out of her and then send her down alligator alley to let the alligators do the work because then I'm not killing her. He's like, but that was the old me. Yeah, before my wife was sick, I had these violent tendencies and they were getting out of control. I could feel it. I could feel them growing in me.

But after my wife died, you know, when you come face to fit and he starts crying, and he's all upset when you come face to face with that, well, it changes a man. It changes a man, you know. But yeah, but old me, I could have, I could have beat the shit out of her and sent her off to die, but knew me. No, no, no, no, no. Could never do that, right? And it's very confusing the way he's kind of going back and forth. Because at this point, he doesn't know the video has him saying, you want me to kill you this way because you're a piece of shit. I filmed the video in case something like this would happen. But in the video, he's not turning her down. He's saying, hey, you wanted me to do this. He was saying, like, if you see the video, I filmed that like in case, but I never did end up doing anything. But he's saying something changed with his wife, but what changed in the hours that you were with her when you recorded that video where you're saying, I just beat the shit out of you.

Exactly. So it's like nothing changed. You recorded the video. You're admitting to beating her up. Exactly. But he still is saying, no, no, no, not me. Now, there's a lot to discuss here, right, as we go on in the series. As far as the conversation of Sonia, obviously flying to Florida of her own free will, right?

getting into Dwayne Hall's Jeep of her own free will after having conversations about what was supposed to have happened that weekend, right? Very well planned out. There's a lot of conversations. He didn't go and kidnap her. He didn't force her to fly from a different country. Didn't lure her there under some false pretense. I think it's very clear. This man's been arrested.

He goes to trial in November. This is the defense he's going to try to use, right? This is the defense he's going to try to use. She wanted it. This is what she wanted. However, what we also know is that the same night that Dwayne Hall recorded this video of Sonia, she sent a friend some messages on Discord. And these messages inferred that, yes, Sonia had gone there to Florida. And she'd met up with Dwayne Hall based on this agreed upon plan. But at some point, she changed her mind and she wanted out. But at this time, she realized there was no way out. And we're going to read those messages. We also need to talk about the fact that although this has not gone to trial yet, there's a lot of evidence that Wayne Hall was not the only person who knew about what was happening with Sonia. Or, I think with others, because when he's talking, he's like, what if they do this? What if they lure women here and kill them?

I personally think he's talking from experience. And I think he has worked with other people to do just that. And that's why he's talking about not getting blood on his hands again. And I think that was a slip. I think it might be right. I mean, overall, maybe in the past the targets that he kind of groomed into coming out there were people who didn't have connections at home. So there wasn't anybody looking for him. But they kind of try to make it seem like when Sonia's talking to her sister and she's like there's this network of men and they're

luring women out there that was kind of a cover. Like, oh, I am doing this stuff and I kind of want to show somebody, but I don't want you to think I'm doing this of my own free will. I want you to think I'm like on to this big story. And I think that both things can be true. So at some point, I have to wonder, was Sonia actually onto something when she told her sisters there was a network of men in the United States that lured women there to torture and kill them. Can it kind of be like both things can be true at once? She knew about this network because she'd been investigating them. And yes, maybe initially she wanted to try and use that to accomplish her goal because depression is a tricky thing, right? Having these thoughts of harming yourself feeling inadequate,

feeling like you heard everybody. So it's better if you're not there. It's a very tricky thing. We can't really understand exactly what was going on in her head. But maybe she was was aware of this network, and that's why she went there to utilize this network. But that still means that there's a network that exists. And Dwayne Hall is just a part of it. And as far as this case specifically, there could have been, I'm going to use the word fetish, but like, or desire an ideation to die this way on the part of Sonia. But let's not downplay the fact that Dwayne had a fetish as well, an ideation of killing others.

And so they were both accomplishing something that they wanted. and what more than likely happened. And we'll talk about it in the next episode and really break it down. But is that they both went there under those intentions, right, with that agenda. One person wanted to back out, but in Dwayne's mind, he was already committed.

And there was no way he was going to not do what he wanted to do. That was what his ideation was and he didn't change his mind. So that's where I'm leaning right now, but we're going to have to see the details for sure. And I also want to be very clear, even if Sonia willingly and voluntarily went there,

what he did is still murder. Oh yeah, even if there's a video of her saying, hey, he's about to kill me. I want him to do this. The assisted suicide laws, they're not everywhere, first and foremost. I don't know what they are in Florida. We'll get into that.

But I know most of them, if not all of them, is only even applicable if someone has a terminal prognosis and it's within like a certain amount of months of their life ending. And I'm sure none of those laws include, yeah, it's absolutely okay to violently beat the shit out of somebody and torture somebody before you do this, right? It's usually a more humane method if there is any kind of support for those laws. So for him to sit there and at any point, which I think will be his defense, I did this because she wanted to.

No, you did this because it's what you wanted. It fulfilled your fetish. It fulfilled your fantasy. And no point, I mean, we talked about it. She had a flight home in case she backed out, I think. So there was clearly already something in the back of her mind like, hey, I'm setting up a parachute. She sent a message to a friend. And in those messages, it was clear she changed her mind.

And we're going to go over those messages? And we're going to go over those messages. Great. Yeah. No, I'm looking forward to getting into it. And the big question, and I'm sure you're going to get to it is, where's Sonia? Because that could answer a lot of questions for us. I don't know if she was found or not.

I want to know more details. There's definitely a lot more here. And so I am looking forward to getting into part two and trying to get some of those details, including the Discord message. And also whether or not Sonia was ever found. Because as Dwayne kind of alluded to in this episode, Florida has, a lot of wildlife, a lot of places where someone can disappear and they're never found again, a lot of swamp area. So looking forward to hearing how this case develops and I can understand

why you wanted to cover it. The video is also incredibly helpful because it gives you a first-hand perspective of some of the people out there. And as you said, and this is a tough way to end this episode, but this is not an isolated incident. There's other people out there like Duane and entire network's doing it. So this is a much bigger issue than just Duane. So we're going to get into it. We're going to talk about it next week. And if this episode doesn't prove it, please, everyone, stay safe out there, and we'll see you soon.

Bye. See you next week.