Going West: True Crime - Dana Laskowski // 333

Episode Date: August 22, 2023

In August of 2001, a 36-year-old mom of three was found murdered in her own home in Washington. No one could understand who would kill her and why, but as police dug deeper into potential suspects, a journey entry with the desire to “kill someone and get away with it” would ultimately crack the case. This is the story of Dana Laskowski. BONUS EPISODES Apple Subscriptions: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-west-true-crime/id1448151398 Patreon: patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. Inquisitr: https://www.inquisitr.com/3503818/dana-laskowski-emily-lauenborg-betrayed-puyallup-mom-found-dead-in-home-killed-by-strong-drug-crazed-teen-on-investigation-discovery 2. A Time To Kill: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14604820/ 3. Thought Catalog: https://thoughtcatalog.com/christine-stockton/2021/04/the-murderer-who-wrote-kill-someone-get-away-with-it-on-her-bucket-list/ 4. Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51492906/dana-e-laskowski 5. Oxygen: https://www.oxygen.com/an-unexpected-killer/crime-news/emily-lauenborg-murders-dana-laskowski-in-bucket-list-killing 6. The News Tribune: https://www.newspapers.com/image/741753088/?terms=dana%20laskowski&match=1 7. The Seattle Times: https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19940102&slug=1887572 8. The News Tribune: https://www.newspapers.com/image/741771184/?terms=dana%20laskowski&match=1 9. The Cinemaholic: https://thecinemaholic.com/dana-laskowski-murder-where-is-emily-lauenborg-now/ 10. Medium: https://medium.com/true-crime-fans/loving-mother-killed-by-teen-because-murder-was-on-their-bucket-list-ab7dcc153a0a 11. Medium: https://thewickedtruthblog.com/teen-killer-wears-victims-t-shirt-to-funeral-gets-caught-by-her-own-diary-762c6ddaa864 12. My Life of Crime: https://mylifeofcrime.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/dana-laskowski-murder-8312001-payallup-wa-emily-lauenborg-pled-guilty-sentenced-to-6-12-years-in-prison/ 13. Seattle Times: https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20030317&slug=plea17m 14. Bill's Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/253984478/william-harvey-ross 15. Killer In Plain Sight: https://www.hulu.com/watch/b01ec152-1d33-422a-835d-445176ea9d1a Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on to crime fans? I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to going west. I didn't know if you were gonna get your intro in time with that yawn. I had a really big yawn right before I needed to start my intro, but I nailed it. You did it. You did it. All right, hello everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in today and thank you so much to Hussein for recommending today's case. It is one out of Washington. There are so many suspects in this one, but it actually takes a very unexpected turn, but this one is solved, so we do have resolution at the end of it, at least for the most part. Yeah, and thankfully, we're actually able to record this today

because yesterday we had a pretty big storm here, but we got a ton of rain. I think I was up to like four in the morning just listening to the windows shake. Oh my God, last night was insane. We both kept waking up like, what is happening? But it was lovely to have some rain for a change in LA. But thankfully we are here to give you guys a little dose of true crime today, so let's talk about this episode.

Alright guys, this is episode 333 of Going West. 333. So let's get into it In August of 2001, a 36 year old mom of three was found murdered in her own home in Washington. No one could understand who would kill her and why. But as police dug deeper into potential suspects, a journal entry with the desire to kill someone and get away with it would ultimately crack the case. This is the story of Dana Leskowski. Dana Ross was born on February 23rd 1965 to parents Judy and Bill Ross. Now above all, Judy remembers her daughter's kindness and big heart, saying fondly, quote,

she was my baby, she was just so gentle. But sadly, Dana's kindness was often taken advantage of as you guys will see. So Judy and Bill eventually divorced and Bill remarried a woman named Kathy, which brought Dana to half siblings and four step siblings. As a child, Dana settled in Piawlop, Washington, which is about 20 minutes southeast of Tacoma and 45 minutes south of Seattle. Piawlop, which is a quaint suburb, rich in Native American history, is settled between the Puget Sound

and Mount Rainier. In her 20s, Dana met a married man named Stan Laskowski, and thrilled at the prospect of being parents, they started trying for kids right away. But after struggling with infertility for years, Dana and Stan attempted in vitro fertilization, and luckily they were successful. So at 27 years old, Dana was met with the news that they were expecting triplets. In an interview with the local paper, she said,

quote, we had dreamed of one baby. To be expecting three, two boys and a girl was incredible. But throughout her pregnancy, she did have some complications, and I'm gonna briefly get into them now, but this part does have a happy ending. Christmas of 1993, so just a few months into the pregnancy, she was put on bed rest. By February, she was rushed to the hospital with pre-labor symptoms at just 20 weeks.

At this point, doctors cautioned the couple were at risk of losing their baby girl, so heart broken at the possibility. Dana remembered, quote, �The emotional pain was incredible. We were so in love with each baby already. We cried the whole night.� So Dana was admitted to the hospital for an extended stay in hopes of keeping the babies from delivery for as long as possible. And for 13 weeks, Stan worked during the day at his job as a

mechanic and spent every single night by Dana's side. At seven months, Dana went into labor and miraculously delivered three healthy babies. Thank God. And within just a few days, the family of five was home and beginning their new life together. The family's doctor claims that it was their strength and determination that kept them afloat, saying, quote, they believed so strongly in a positive outcome. We did everything to keep those babies, but it was their determination that made the difference. And then Dana echoed this by saying, quote, whatever it took, whatever it takes now,

we're willing to do. And the family really prospered in their triplets early years, but the relationship between Dana and Stan eventually ran its course. And in 2001, when the triplets were around 8 years old, the couple separated and then they filed for divorce. In the summer of 2001, 36 year old Dana was rebuilding her life after her separation. And now that the kids were older and their needs weren't quite as demanding, she had more time to herself.

She settled into a new house, and she and Stan shared full custody. At 36 years old and still a vibrant young woman, she was excited to start going out more and to, you know, begin dating again. And this is purely speculation, but it's rumored that Dana is the one who initiated the divorce, and that Stan had hopes that she would maybe come back to him, but she was ready to move on and see where things could go for her. Dana is remembered by friends and family as fun, vivacious and social, and as much as she enjoyed having her children at home with her, she had always loved to go out dancing,

and she used her kid-free nights to the fullest. That summer, Dana was working as a full-time nanny for a family in the community, really just cherishing the time that she spent with children and outside of working with them and caring for her own, she volunteered teaching sign language to kids. She was also a very gifted artist and she loved to paint in her free time. Yeah, it just seemed like Dana was always helping others, especially kids or just young people in general, and a little more on that.

So in addition to all of her other commitments, Dana took time to mentor teenagers in the area who were struggling with addiction and family issues. Like, she was just such an amazing soul. And one of those teenagers was her own niece, Amanda. Dana really prided herself on her closeness with her family, but she had a special affinity for Amanda. Amanda kind of had a reputation in their family and in the community for being a bit of a wild child, and she had engaged in frequent drug use.

So she was often getting kicked out of the house or running away, but Dana, as a nurturing adult figure in Amanda's life, was known for taking Amanda and her friends in since many of them had been kicked out of their houses for frequent partying and drug use, which led Amanda and her friends to playfully nickname themselves the park rats. But although many had been shunned by their families, Dana treated them with kindness, dignity, and patience. And she would actually frequently allow Amanda to hang out at her house with her friends so that Dana could keep an eye on them.

Amanda and her best friend Emily were pretty regular guests. And oftentimes, Dana would even leave a window unlocked so that Amanda or her friends could come in to eat, do their laundry, or take a shower at her house, which is really, really generous. And on top of that, sometimes she would give the money when she could, just hoping that they would use it to take care of themselves, but unfortunately, more often than not, Amanda and Emily would use it to buy drugs. Now somehow, amidst all of her outside obligations, Dana also found time to meet a new love

interest. Dana's new boyfriend, Mark H hailed from Vancouver, Canada, which is about three hours north of Piallab, and he worked in the film industry. Kind and immediately devoted to Dana, he was kind of this breath of fresh air after her separation. But Mark wasn't the only one who had his eyes on Dana that summer. In the months leading up to her murder, she was dealing with a stalker. So Dana had been having problems with her phone line, and she had called this cable company to request that they send over a technician. The cable employee, whose name is Earl Baxter, worked on

this issue while he and Dana, who was friendly with everyone she met, just kind of chatted. And apparently, Earl got the wrong idea, thinking that Dana was interested in him. And because he already had her phone number from repairing her phone line, he abused it. He started texting and calling her incessantly, checking in on her and asking her out. Now, Dana was polite and firm at first,

just kind of explaining that she already had a boyfriend, but his attempts to woo her just continued. He started sending her flowers, notes and poems, pleading with her to give him a chance. In one, he vaguely threatened her that he would be, quote, watching over her. And a friend of Dana's even caught him spying on her in his car across the street from her house. According to her employees, Dana had said that if anything happened to her that summer, they needed to look into Earl Baxter. Yeah, like she was so freaked out by this man, that she made that statement.

Yeah, so he's really not getting the point here. So when she told her new boyfriend Mark about this stalking issue, he was irate. Sadly, Dana's friends remembered him as intensely protective and sometimes to a controlling degree. God, like poor Dana can't catch a break with these guys. Yeah, it just seems like they're all just a lot. Calm down. So Mark told Dana that he knew people who could, quote, take care of Earl,

seeming to insinuate that Mark was going to have him killed. So Dana was just understandably horrified at this situation, and asked Mark who was staying with her at the time to leave the house so that they could take some space. And this just goes to show you how good of a person she really was, because she was upset about her boyfriend talking about killing a guy who was stalking and threatening her.

Like most people would be like, yeah, help. Yeah, please help me, but she's like, no, that's far too much. Yeah, that's like the wrong way to approach this. That totally shows her character. But apparently she was kind of already on the rocks with Mark as he had basically told her that he was ready to move to Pialip from Vancouver to be with her, and she had to break it to him that she just really wasn't ready for this step. She told him that she thought that they should pump the breaks on how quickly their relationship

was progressing, which he was not happy about. Now on the evening of Thursday, August 30, 2001, Dana and Mark shared a tense conversation on the phone in which Dana didn't respond when he told her that he loved her, which was also very upsetting to Mark. The next morning, which was Friday, August 31, 2001, Dana failed to show up for work at her nanny job. Puzzled as this was entirely out of character for Dana, the mom of the children Dana cared for called the police and requested a wellness check at her home. When the police arrived there, the house was static and seemed undisturbed.

Now the front door was locked and Dana's car was parked out front, but Dana continued to be unresponsive to the repeated calls to her home and cell phone and no one was answering the door. As police surveyed the premises of her home, they found the back door not only unlocked, but partially open. So they entered slowly, but were met with total silence. Then, on the couch, they came across Dana, face down body limp. Now at first, it appeared that, you know, maybe she was just sleeping. She was like twisted at the hip. She had one arm folded behind her and the other

placed above her head, and she was covered with a blanket and a pillow. So hip, she had one arm folded behind her, and the other placed above her head, and she was covered with a blanket and a pillow. So hoping that she had simply just slipped into a deep sleep, police approached her cautiously, but to their dismay, quickly found that she was cold to the touch. She had been dead for hours by then, but the crime scene itself was strange, like there was no sign of a struggle except for a few scuff marks in the carpet

There was no DNA and no fingerprints were covered at this scene and Dana was fully clothed with no signs of sexual assault After her discovery her body was removed from the premises to undergo an autopsy, while police scoured her home for any sign of a break-in, a motive, or a suspect. Now due to ligature marks around her neck, Dana's cause of death was determined to be strangulation, and police noted that her attacker was likely quote, stronger than the average man. Which is really interesting, just remember that line, stronger than the average man. So as investigators looked around her home, they noticed a scarf discarded in a chair near

where she was found in the living room, which was believed to be the murder weapon. And disturbingly, Dana had been strangled so roughly that her attacker fractured her windpipe and there was dried blood found around her nose and her ears. There was severe bruising on her knees, indicating that a scuffle had taken place between Dana and her murderer before she was killed, which likely accounted for the marks in the carpet. They suggested that Dana and her attacker had fought on the carpet before Dana was killed, and that she was then placed on the couch posthumously before the blanket and pillow were placed over her. And as we've briefly touched on in other episodes, but not for a while, investigators

noted that gently covering the corpse of a victim is usually an indication of guilt by the attacker. Based on the state of the body, the medical examiner determined that Dana was killed in the early morning hours of August 31st, that same Friday, hours before she was discovered. Not only did the covering of the body make investigators note that the attack seemed personal, but strangulation is most often committed by someone who knows their victim and is usually spur of the moment. Because there was no sign of forced entry, police believed that this was either someone

who took advantage of her back door being unlocked or more likely that it was someone who 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh

1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh Immediately, police were baffled by the amount of people who had motive to take the life of a beloved mom and such a treasured member of the community. Like, this is what's so crazy about this case. There were multiple people that could have done it. Like, first of all, we've got Stan, who's kind of like her like scorned ex-husband. And he, like, Heath was touching on earlier, seemed to be holding out hope that the two of

them would end up together and saw his chances dwindling as Dana's relationship with Mark kind of flourished. Yeah, he was really hoping that that would not be the end. Yeah, so then you're the the police are thing at least. Could that be motive? Yeah, could that be motive. But sorry to repeat you, but Mark and Dana seemed to be on different pages of their relationship as we've touched on as well, because he was ready to move to a different country for her

from Canada to the US and she didn't really seem to want to be in the relationship with him, or at least wanted to take some space from him. So not only was he upset by Dana's unenthusiastic response, but he was angry about the cable guy Earls in appropriate behavior towards Dana. And then there's Earls, so Ear Earl was upset by Dana rejecting his advances. And remember how extreme those advances were. He was constantly calling her texting her, sending her flowers, watching her from outside of her house. Like, it's like, dude, get the message she's not interested, and he's not getting it, and he's getting upset that she

is not reciprocating. And he even threatened her. He even said that, you know, I'll be watching over you. Exactly. So police announced that while they wouldn't name them publicly at that time, they had multiple suspects, obviously. So they started with her ex-husband Stan bringing him in for questioning. And when they did, police noted that while he attempted to see him for Lorne, he was fake

crying and he wasn't actually producing tears. They also noted that he appeared to have scratches on his elbows and knees, as if he had recently been involved in an altercation. And they thought this may explain the scuff marks in Dana's carpet and the bruises on her own knees. Also, I know we keep saying scuff marks in the carpet. I don't know what that means either, okay? Maybe it's just, it could have been dirt. Dirty shoes maybe is what I was thinking or just like, just like an impression in the carpet

that didn't seem normal. Yeah, I, we tried to figure out exactly what that meant, and I just don't know. So I keep, every time I say it, I'm like, what does that mean? Like I can't picture that. I mean, there's so many different types of carpets. I know, yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah, like what's it even picture?

But anyway, so police obviously found this very suspicious that he seemed to be faking emotion. He also had these injuries, which never looks good when you're looking at somebody for a murder, so they questioned his whereabouts for the night that she was killed. And they found that he had been preparing to take the triplets on a camping trip early the next morning, and he had been home with them all that evening. And he was even able to provide a receipt from a gas station that he stopped at that night. Now, that's not like the most airtight alibi. even able to provide a receipt from a gas station that he stopped at that night.

Now, that's not like the most airtight alibi. Obviously, your kids came out for you and you're at a gas station, but that doesn't mean that you didn't go to her house and kill her after that, you know? But they, after questioning him, the police felt like, okay, we can move on. And they may have done their due diligence

and of course, they looked at security camera footage from the gas station or determined What time he was there and how far he would have been away from oh, yeah the house Absolutely, you know, and that's why I want to touch on it because even though it kind of doesn't seem like a lot or enough They they did feel confident moving off of him as a person of interest sure So after talking to her employers, please were very curious about Dana's stalker, Earl. Now, Earl was apparently shocked that Dana had been killed. Though after Stan's fainting reaction to sadness

or supposed fainting reaction of sadness, police were pretty unconvinced. And also, I want to add that if Stan was really upset by this, especially because Dana is the mother of his children and he did want to add that if Stan was really upset by this, especially because Dana is the mother of his children and he did want to get her back, I don't want it to come off like I'm saying he wasn't sad at her death. This is just what the police believed. Thank you, exactly.

So Earl was apparently shocked, but police kind of felt unconvinced with that, or at least unsure with that. But when they asked about his whereabouts, Earl claimed that he had been watching a movie with friends on the night that Dana was murdered, which was an alibi that was verified by the friends that he was with. They showed him the phone logs of both Dana's home and cell phones, showing his dozens of attempted communications with her over the past few months. But aside from that, surprisingly, neither his interview nor a search of his home yielded anything suspicious.

So he was released from consideration and frustratingly was never charged with stalking and harassing Dana. And then lastly, there was of course, Mark. Now Mark also seemed to have a motive as he was anxious for their relationship to move forward. Police also found it highly suspicious that he had hinted at wanting to kill Earl for stalking Dina, instead of simply reporting it to the police. But when police spoke with Mark, he had perhaps the most airtight alibi of them all.

He had still been in Canada. So none of this is going how police imagined that it would go. At this point, they figured that one of these guys would have been responsible for Dana's murder. Because remember with Mark, the day before Dana was found killed, they had that conversation about how he kind of wanted to progress things with their relationship and she was just not really having it.

Well according to Mark, he had been disturbed by their conversation and feared that he was going to lose Dana, so he had gotten into his car and headed down to Pialup to straighten things out. However, he was actually denied entry at the US border and never actually made it to Dana's house, though the reason for his refusal is pretty unclear at this point. But his story was verified by his phone records, all of which confirmed that he was in Canada at the time of Dana's death. So Mark II was ruled out as a suspect. So with this,

police were just basically back to square one and at a total loss because they couldn't figure out who could have committed this crime after they felt like they had three solid persons of interest here. But now, all three of them had been cleared, so a month passed with no answers for Dana's devastated family, friends, and children who were just eight years old at the time. Investigators attended her funeral, which was held 34 days after her death, just paying their respects and scoping out the crowd for anyone in attendance who raised their eyebrows. But while they were there, they stumbled upon something very eerie and reeking of guilt. So at the service, Dana's family placed a guest book for mourners to sign and leave their final wishes, memories, or messages of love for her.

And in it, Dana's niece Amanda penned a heartfelt tribute to her aunt, apolog her death, Amanda had been sober for the last 34 days and planned on staying that way, which is something that Dana had always wished for her. But here's the kick. That was enough for police to want to take a look at Amanda's potential involvement, because suspiciously, Amanda had also written about how hard that night was for her. Stephen Penner, who was the prosecutor that later worked on Dana's trial, explained quote, there was something about the way that she had written it that suggested that it

was communication to Dana of remorse and to make amends for what had happened. It's something that was significant enough to follow up on. Yeah, because if she had said that night was hard for her, the police are like, well, what do you mean that night? Like, we found her the next day. Why would that night have been hard for you unless you were there? Right. Yeah, you wouldn't have known about it till the next day.

So when they brought Dana's niece Amanda in for questioning, she was clearly nervous, which is fair. She's also a teenager, but she first attempted to blame Dana's death on a friend in her group of park rats named Blaine, who she described as a 250-pound drug dealer with a violent history. Amanda even claimed that he had physically attacked her in the past, but when they located Blaine, it turned out that he had been in another state altogether when Dana was murdered, and he was not found to be involved in any capacity.

So they're like, all right, what's the next story? Well, when investigators begin to question others in Amanda's friend group, three different people claim that they heard from Emily Lowanborg, who was Amanda's best friend, that Emily herself had committed the murder. They claimed that she'd even been bragging about it in a desperate grab for attention and like clout, and so the others would fear her. One of these friends who was another member of the park rat was actually incarcerated at the time, so police were easily able to interview him

during his dent in prison. Well, he also cited Emily as Dana's killer, claiming that she would brag about the murder and that she also took pride in openly challenging and threatening other members of their group physically in order to assert her dominance over them. So investigators again brought Amanda into the station, and the more they prodded her, the more she fell apart.

Finally, in tears and clearly racked with guilt, Amanda began to give them pieces of the truth, claiming her best friend Emily had killed her Aunt Dana before her eyes that night. Amanda confessed that they had come to Dana's house late that night, high on cocaine, and looking for money to purchase more drugs. Now as I mentioned earlier, Dana had given them money in the past, but this was really to try to help them and she hoped that they wouldn't use the money on drugs so when they came asking for it, she declined.

She didn't want them using her money to buy more drugs. She was trying to look out for them. So given the state that they were in, she asked them to leave. When Emily refused to go and begin escalating the situation, Dana had just gently tried to guide Emily out the front door of her house. And according to Amanda, Emily then became extremely agitated. In Amanda's interview with police, she explained, quote, she was getting really irritated because Emily was being pushy.

Emily started getting really upset and being really rude to Daina. Amanda then claimed that she had been scared of Emily and what she was capable of, and that she didn't want to be involved in the fight. So after attempting to get Emily to leave with her and being ignored, she turned around and shielded her eyes. Amanda then says that she heard sounds of a struggle, gagging noises, and finally silence.

Prosecutor Steven Penner described on behalf of Amanda, quote, she heard a crack, and she heard a gurgle, and she heard Dana gasping for her life. And then she didn't hear anything. And that was because Dana was dead. Amanda eventually opened her eyes to see her aunt's lifeless body, and after she was dead, both girls grabbed whatever money they could find and left out the back door.

Amanda claimed that Emily had apparently always been jealous of Amanda's connection with Dana. Amanda also said that Dana, fearing Emily was a bad influence, tried to convince Amanda to distance herself from Emily, and of course, to stop using drugs, two things that threatened Emily's way of life. After Dana's murder, Amanda had been overcome with guilt, and vowed to change herself, stopping her drug use cold turkey, and distancing herself from her friends. Emily however seemed unbothered in the wake of Dana's murder. Not only did she attend Dana's funeral among the grieving, including Dana's

own children, but she even wore a shirt that she had stolen from Dana to this funeral. In speaking with Amanda and Emily's friends, they found that Emily was actually known among them as a quote, mutant, because she had abnormal strength. Which is really weird. We are going to post photos of her. I don't know how it's to say this. She just looks like a normal gal. I don't know what a normal gal looks like,

but you guys know what I mean. And it's just, it's weird, because earlier, remember, and I said, remember this about the whole, what was the quote? It was like more strength than the average man. Wasn't that it? Yeah. So then her friends are saying that she's a mutin and has abnormal strength. Like what's what is going on there? I mean, she sounds fucking scary, but I guess she was a wrestler and school and she also did some weightlifting. And though she stood at around five feet tall,

she was strong enough to overpower almost anyone that she came up against, especially when she had been using drugs. So, please finally brought Emily in for questioning. And when confronted with her friend's accusations of her involvement, Emily was furious and combative, and couldn't offer an alibi for her whereabouts that evening. But police would need more for an arrest, so they obtained a search warrant for Emily's apartment, and inside they came across her diary. Like Amanda, she had penned some very incriminating passages. Not only was she jealous of the relationship between Amanda and her aunt Dana, but she had

also grown resentful of Amanda in the week since Dana's murder, likely because Amanda had been so racked with guilt and Emily was ready to move on. Well in one passage complaining about Amanda, Emily wrote quote, I could strangle that bitch just like her aunt. In another entry, Emily had written out a bucket list, And among items like Onahorse and Lamb, spend a month in the Caribbean and buy a house, was the goal to kill someone and get away with it, which is just so out of place amongst the others.

Yeah, you want like a cute baby lamb and a horse, but then you're like, oh yeah, but my other thing is like killing a person, yeah. But when she was confronted about this, Emily just said that it was a horse, but then you're like, oh yeah, but my other thing is like killing a person. Yeah. But when she was confronted about this, Emily just said that it was a joke. So she's acting like, oh, I didn't actually mean that, but of course she did kill someone. Yeah.

So now of course she's saying that when they are questioning her for a murder and doesn't it feel convenient that this was just a joke? Sure, it's just a joke now. Of course. But the third damning piece of evidence they found was, of course, like he'd said, the t-shirt of Dana's that Emily had been wearing at the funeral

as if to kind of like show off what she had done it. It felt like this little Easter egg moment. So that was enough for investigators. And 17-year-old Emily Lownborg was arrested for Dana's murder. Though it took over a year and a half for them to incriminate her, they finally had someone on the hook for Dana's brutal slaying. Faced with the potential of first-degree murder charges, Emily could have been sentenced to as many as 20 years in prison.

Although they had strong circumstantial evidence as well as a man-to-sai witness account, prosecutors worried that a guilty verdict would be impossible just due to the lack of concrete evidence. There was also Emily's petite size, like it just didn't seem believable that a 17-year-old girl standing at 5 feet 2 inches tall could overpower a 36-year-old woman. Even though Emily continued to claim that she didn't do it, her defense attorneys convinced her to plead guilty. Entering what her attorneys called a modified guilty plea, she maintained her innocence while pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter.

With no physical evidence, the prosecution struggled to build a case against her, so while it seemed like an unjust sentence, the judge accepted her plea. In January of 2004, the case against Emily was finally drawing to a close. Emily's defense lawyer said, quote, she's just 19 now, and she's already been in jail a year. A conviction of murder in the first degree, there's just 19 now, and she's already been in jail a year. A conviction of murder in the first degree, there's no way to recover from that. If she pleads to manslaughter in the first degree, there's a lot of life left.

But she murdered somebody like I understand that they're saying there's not enough physical evidence to support that. But if there's an eyewitness, she wrote about it in her diary, like, there's enough circumstantial evidence to point to her doing it, so like why do we have so much remorse for her and not for Dana? Yeah, very, very true. Like yeah, you're 19, but then why did you murder somebody? Exactly, it's just, it's very stupid, but get this, somehow Emily was sentenced to six

and a half years in prison and was even granted credit for time served, which had already been a year. She was also released a year early for good behavior, bringing her total time incarcerated for the murder of the mother of three to just five and a half years. Dana's family were satan and confused by the verdict, her father saying, quote, it doesn't make sense. Amanda, on the other hand, avoided charges altogether in exchange for her testimony.

One local in the community forum said that Amanda had feigned innocence, but that she was just as guilty for covering it up. Which, I mean, obviously, she and her friend did rob her dead aunt right there, took all of her money and ran out the door. So even though she wasn't, maybe wasn't involved in the actual murder, she did. That's just her word. Yeah, she did take all that money. Yeah, it's horrible.

And that's what sucks is that Amanda is the one saying, well, this is how it happened. And we don't know if that's how it happened. Did you really just stand by and close your eyes? Did you watch it? Did you help? Like, I don't know, but it's just your word against Emily's and Emily isn't saying that Amanda had a bigger partner, but it is frustrating that she kind of got off the hook when she was standing right

there, didn't interfere, didn't call the cops on her own. And then yeah, like stole from her aunt. It's horrible. Yeah it's terrible. Well they also claimed that she hadn't learned anything from Dana's death and that her behavior had not changed at all. But here's the thing Emily was released from prison in 2008 and she is since married, changed her last name and had children of her own, and she still resides in the Tacoma area. Meanwhile, Dena's own children have to grow up without their loving,

supportive, and wonderful mother. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ Thank you so much, everybody, for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and on Friday we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. Yes, and thank you again to Hussein for recommending today's case. This was just such a senseless one that really took, like I said earlier in the beginning, a very unexpected turn.

Yeah, I think all of us kind of imagined that one of those three guys was gonna be responsible for Dana's murder, and it ended up being her niece's friend. Yeah, like, what case have we ever covered where somebody has a controlling boyfriend and a stalker and their murder and an ex-husband and their murder and neither of those people, or none of those people did it. I mean, it's it's unheard of. But such a tragic story. Thank you guys so much for tuning into this one.

Also guys, I wanted to say that for all you patrons out there or all you Apple subscribers, we are going to be coming out with the bonus episode this week. And so stay tuned for that. Also, if you are looking for more episodes of Going West, you can subscribe to our Patreon. That's patreon.com slash Going West podcast, or you can head over to Apple and you can subscribe for bonus episodes there. Yeah, a lot of people ask if there's a difference, there's not the only difference is that on Patreon,

there's two tiers. You can do the $5 tier, you get the entire back catalog of that tier, which is like, I don't know, maybe over 60 episodes, and you get one a month, whereas the other tier is the $10 tier, you get almost 100 episodes and two a month, but on Apple, there's no tier option so we can only offer the $10 subscription for two a month. So that's the only difference. Yeah, I don't really know why they don't add tears to their subscription process, but.

They said they're working on it, we shall see. But both are great options. If you want more episodes, if not, we will see you on Friday. All right, guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. filter. Thank you. you