Going West: True Crime - Malibu Creek Murder // 193

Episode Date: April 20, 2022

In the summer of 2018, a chemist took his 2 daughters on a camping trip in Malibu Creek State Park while his wife studied for an exam. But after just one night at the campsite, he would be found dead in his tent from a gunshot wound, leaving his daughters uninjured. But how did this happen and why? This is the story of Tristan Beaudette, also known, as the Malibu Creek Murder. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES https://apnews.com/article/9f91d9c0f2a44ea486342a82c995cfa7 https://www.gq.com/story/unsolved-mystery-of-malibu-creek-murder https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/us/scientist-shot-dead-daughters.html https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/15/a-shooter-in-the-hills https://www.newspapers.com/image/664935035/?terms=tristan%20beaudette&match=1 https://www.newspapers.com/image/448787419/?terms=tristan%20beaudette&match=1 https://www.newspapers.com/image/448790705/?terms=tristan%20beaudette&match=1 https://www.newspapers.com/image/664933584/?terms=tristan%20beaudette&match=1 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/190852283/tristan-thomas-beaudette https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/us/scientist-shot-dead-daughters.html https://heavy.com/news/2018/06/tristan-beaudette/ https://abcnews.go.com/US/parolee-charged-malibu-campground-killing-young-dad-tristan/story?id=60210982 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on, True Crime fans? I'm your host Teeeth and I'm your host, Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. I have been wanting to cover this case for a while because this happened literally two minutes away from the house that my family lived in when I was in high school and when this happened my mom was still living in that house. So super close to home and it just completely freaked us out because it's just so unheard of for the area. This whole story is just so tragic. So thank you so much everybody for tuning in to get another episode of Going West. Hope you're having a great start to your week. And I know we plug this a lot, but next week is CrimeCon.

So if you guys want to come hang out with us, come see us and see a ton of other really great podcasts and other people, please, uh, head on over to CrimeCon.com and use our code, going west to get 10% off of your standard band. Yes, it is not too late. If you happen to be in Vegas next weekend or you want to be in Vegas. It's April 29th to May 1st All right guys without further ado. This is episode 193 of going west so let's get into it 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc

1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc In the summer of 2018, a chemist took his two daughters on a camping trip in Malibu

Creek State Park, while his wife studied for an exam. But after just one night at the campsite, he would be found dead in his tent from a gunshot wound, leaving his daughters uninjured. But how did this happen and why? This is the story of Tristan Bo-Det, also known as the Malbu Creek Murder. Tristan Thomas Baudet was born on November 19, 1982 in Fresno, California, alongside his older brother, Dylan. And he attended Edison High School right there in Fresno, which is where he would meet his high school sweetheart, Erica Wu. Now, during their senior year, they were actually set up by a mutual friend for their winter

formal, and they became a total success story, like they had a great time with each other, and they followed this dance with a proper date within the next few weeks. Erica was born in China alongside her four sisters, but her parents moved them to the United States during her upbringing and settled into California living. Now Tristan was described as a happy guy who was uncomplicated and wore everything on his sleeve. as a happy guy who was uncomplicated and wore everything on his sleeve. And that's what Erica loved about him, his confidence, his ease, his kindness. He was also very outdoorsy, like always wanting to be camping or hiking or mountain biking or backpacking. And he was wickedly intelligent.

For example, he competed at the Science Olympiad in 1997 when he was just 14 or 15 years old and took first place in the Bio Processing Lab. So it's no surprise that when he graduated from Edison High School in 2000, he did so as valedictorian. In after high school, Tristan headed off to Southern California to attend the University of San Diego where he planned to study chemistry. And he spent the next five years doing this before finally earning his bachelor's degree in chemistry in 2005 with the highest GPA in the entire school.

The entire school. Yeah, that's crazy. Smart as hell. Very, very smart guy. So, he was very interested in pursuing a PhD. So after spending the summer as a research intern at IBM, Tristan went back up to Northern California to study for his PhD in chemistry at UC Berkeley. And for anybody who's curious,

he wrote his thesis on synthesis and biological evaluation of acid-degradable polymeric materials for protein-based vaccine. That was a mouthful. Wow. And after earning his PhD in 2010 at the age of 27, he continued his work on vaccines as a polymer chemist for a company called Allergan, which is basically this pharmaceutical company. And this company is located in Irvine, California, which is in Orange County, meaning Tristan had to go back down to Southern California.

During this time, Erica had been studying to become an OB-GYN at Stanford, so during their time going to university, they weren't physically together the whole time, but they remained in a relationship and stayed in touch. And back when Tristan was working towards his PhD, he and Erica tied the knot in 2008, and they really started their life together, and they simultaneously worked towards their amazing careers. So with Tristan and Erica both living in Southern California by 2009, they first resided in Long Beach and then Irvine, which again is where Tristan's job was located

and actually Erica's. So their Tristan worked towards treating autism and even cancer. Meanwhile, his wife Erica became an obstetrician at the UC Irvine Medical Center. And although she sometimes had to work 24 hour shifts for her residency, they may time to start a beautiful family. And in 2014, they welcomed their first daughter.

And then two years later, a second daughter, and their names are Evie and Clara. With Erica's very rigorous work schedule, Tristan helped by cooking dinners and making sure Erica got enough sleep. Like, he would get the girls up in the morning and let her sleep in and make sure that she would wake up to a meal.

So he was definitely a support of his he could be. A good husband and a good father. Absolutely. So they were a very truly happy couple and a happy family of four. Tristan loved big holidays and always got the whole extended family together for a big family meal that he would usually cook in San Diego.

But in 2018, Erica was coming to the end of her residency and she found a job in the Bay Area. Oh man, opposite direction. Which meant that they were planning to go back to Northern California that summer. So they found a great house just south of San Francisco and perfect schools nearby for the girls. So they were very excited for this change. But while still living in Irvine, California, Tristan and his family lived about an hour and 45 minutes

give or take away from Malibu Creek State Park. But it was somewhere that Tristan really wanted to take his girls for a camping trip. And his brother-in-law Scott McCurdy was gonna join along with his two sons, so it was gonna be a nice little weekend getaway. And that's something that's so great about the LA area, and just really California in general, is that you can drive to so many different areas. You got the desert, the beach, the mountains, you name it.

Yeah, totally. And a pretty short amount of time too. And that's exactly what they plan to do. Just have a little bit of a getaway. Especially since like we mentioned just one week after this, Tristan and his wife Erica were going to move their family of four back to the Bay Area, which is a six to seven hour drive north of Orange County, so he kind of just wanted to enjoy the so-called nature with his girls while they still could. Because at this point in his life, he loved his career greatly, but his greatest pride and joy were of course his children.

And other joys of his adult life included cooking and micro-brews. So Malibu Creek State Park is located in Calabas, California, which is right next to Malibu, on 8,000 acres featuring the beautiful Santa Monica mountains. Now in this same area is Paramount Ranch, which actually sadly burned down in the Woolsey fire back in 2019. So after this case we're talking about today, very sad. I never, I never got to see it. I got to see it when it was burned down. It was amazing. I think they're still trying to rebuild it. But regarding Paramount Ranch, that's countless films and TV shows have been shot there. And within Malibu Creek State Park, I know Westworld was filled at Paramount Ranch. And then in Malibu Creek

State Park, you've got like mash, planted into the apes, and a lot of old westerns. Right. So there's also a 14 mile creek that falls into the Pacific Ocean, because Malibu is just like 10 or 15 minutes away from here. And there's many volcanic rock formations, and it's a very well-known place for hiking, like lots of hiking trails.

Yeah, your mom goes hiking there all the time. Every single day for a new one. So this is kind of unrelated, but just to tell you more about the area, just up the street from this same road is where Kobe Bryant's helicopter tragically went down actually right across from the middle school I went to. So like a lot of weird and tragic things have happened in this area just over the past few years, and it's bizarre,

and we'll go into other stuff later. But back to Malibu Creek State Park. tragic things have happened in this area just over the past few years and it's bizarre and we'll go into other stuff later. But back to Malbu Creek State Park. This is such a great location for Tristan and his daughters to go because not only is this area stunning, but it's known to be safe. It's nestled against affluent neighborhoods with peaceful, kind people and celebrities, and it's not at all the place that you could ever expect anything bad to happen.

And during the time that they'd be camping, Erica was studying for her qualifying board exam, so it was good timing to give her the peace and quiet to be able to study. Also Erica wasn't very outdoorsy herself, so although she would go with him sometimes and with the girls, it wasn't her favorite activity, so a part of her didn't mind them going without her. But at the same time, Erica later stated that she would always get a bit anxious whenever they would go off without her, and she was secretly wishing that he would cancel this trip.

But she knew that she had the study in that Tristan was more than responsible and capable of being with the girls without her, so off they went. On Thursday, June 21st, 2019, Tristan excitedly got up for the day ready to camp with his girls, who were two and four at this time. He loved the entire process of camping, much like I know. I know it's going to say you know enough. The planning of meals and getting everything together and packed up And he liked to make sure Erica and his girls were very comfortable

Always bringing a blow-up mattress to put in their tent. You do that for me too. I do that as well Yeah, so Tristan packed up his black Subaru Forester with a tent a camp stove food all his regular gear and a roof rack That included his bike alongside one of his daughter's little bikes. Then they hit the road with plans to meet his brother-in-law and nephews there, and for reference, Scott is one of Erica's sister's husbands, and her name is Pamela. Yeah, they all lived in either the LA area or San Francisco. Most of them were in California in general, but many of them were in Southern California.

That's why they would do these holidays in San Diego and all of them could get together pretty easily. Right, so when they arrived at Malibu Creek State Park, Tristan and Scott paid for a campsite and searched around for the perfect one. And anyone who's ever been camping knows that some have more space and are more in a scenic location and are a little bit more private and stuff like that, so you want to choose

the right one. And this was obviously important to Tristan because he wanted to have the perfect camping experience. Well, the campsite that they originally were looking at had some uneven ground, which is no fun to sleep on. And then they were close to the bathrooms, meaning a more high traffic area. So Tristan wasn't really interested in this one, so we sought out a different one and landed on a better one across the way.

And this was also a very popular weekend to go camping. So there were a ton of selections, because by the end of the day, 60 campsites were in use out of 63 total. So there were only three vacant spots left by the end of Thursday. And to give everyone a visual who may be picturing like a forest, because I feel like whenever you think of camping, you probably think of it. Definitely not like that. Not at all. This area is very open and mountainous,

but the area where the camp spots are do have trees scattered throughout, and some areas that are fully tree covered, but the site that Tristan chose was much more open, and there was just a couple trees by it, so they weren't covered by trees in any sentence. They were completely exposed to the sun. And it looks like a big spot where numerous tents could fit although they only had two,

and then there's a fire pit and a picnic table like most campsites have, although they only had two. And then there's a fire pit and a picnic table like most campsites have and a couple parking spots. And we posted a photo of this spot on our socials if anybody wants an actual visual. So after setting up their tents, unloading all their things and settling in, the kids had fun and played together

while Tristan and Scott relaxed. Just sipping on a couple of Manhattan's and cooking up dinner for the group. Scott remembers discussing Tristan's upcoming move, which Tristan gleamed about, seeming nothing but happy about the next chapter in his life. Sadly this move would mean that these two buddies and brothers would be, you know, living apart, which I can imagine was really hard for Scott because he was super bummed about this, so he kind of gave Tristan some shit for it, but ultimately expressed his own excitement for the Bo-Dets. After the six of them enjoyed a meal together and an evening of laughs and conversation under

the stars in the calm, nice warm 70-degree air, everyone retired to their tents, but not before Scott and Tristan hugged, telling them that they loved each other and then ducking in for the night, really looking forward to a full day of exploring the following day. But unfortunately, something unbelievably tragic would happen that very night. An hour before sunrise, the following morning, Friday, June 22, 2018, at about 4.45 a.m., Scott awoke in his own tent next to his sons from what he thought sounded like a firework. It was still dark outside, and yes, it was just two weeks or so away from the 4th of July, but he wondered what the noise could have been, especially because it sounded so close. Now following this sound was that of one of Tristan's daughters crying, which seemed

to go on for a bit longer than it should have as Tristan was right there in the tent with her to help her calm down. Yet, the crying continued, so Scott made his way over to the Bodead's tent and unzipped it to see what was going on. One of his nieces was still crying while the other was saying, wet, wet, and trying to comfort the other sister. Scott shook Tristan trying to wake him up, but he wasn't moving. And since it was still dark outside, Scott couldn't see a thing.

So he fumbled around for Tristan's cell phone to use it as a flashlight, and as soon as the tent lit up, he could see 35-year-old Tristan Bodet in the floor of the tent covered in blood. That morning, Erica woke up pretty early in the morning to get ready to go to her test, but before she could leave the house, her eldest sister was at the door with some truly unbelievable news. Her beloved husband and the father of her two beautiful children had been killed. And she actually did not believe it and started calling around to other family members to see how it was even known that he was dead and why he wasn't at the hospital. Like she

was genuinely wondering if, how it could have been confirmed that he died, how do you know he's dead? Right. That makes total sense. Yeah. Of course, she was relieved to hear that nothing had happened to her daughters, but this only brought more pause. How was Tristan killed while the girls remained unharmed and what the hell even happened?

So Erika sped over with her sister to the park, hoping to get into the campground directly and receive some answers. And again, this was like a two hour drive, and this is a Friday morning, so there could have been traffic as well, possibly more than two hours just sitting in the car, driving to figure out what happened to her husband. I can't imagine just the type of panic and sadness and, you know, just having to sit there and traffic. And knowing that her daughters are there waiting, just having to sit there and traffic. And knowing that her daughters are there waiting for her without Tristan there and just not

understanding any of it. But it seemed like the only thing that Erica was being told when she did arrive was how rare this occurrence was, like how things like this simply didn't happen here. But it did happen and it happened to her husband. It was originally reported that Tristan had died from a gunshot wound to his upper torso, but it was later confirmed in his autopsy that he died from a gunshot wound to the back of his head, specifically just below his hairline, killing him almost instantly and likely while he was still asleep.

As far as the making model of the weapon, it was unknown. There were two holes in Tristan's tent, one on the side, and one in the top, and other people heard the gunshots as well, all very concerned what the sound had come from, so multiple people called police right around 4.45. to report this. So with this information, it makes me think that Tristan was shot while inside his tent with the killer outside of the tent. Yeah, it kind of makes sense. Yeah, and the shot just happened to hit his head, which is all the more tragic that I mean, it could have hit the girls luckily, it

didn't, but it happened to hit him in the head. Like was dark outside how it, somebody of known that his head was there. You know what I mean? Like, sure. What are the chances? But I couldn't find weirdly any reports that stated concretely whether or not the killer was inside or outside of the tent. And by the way, there was no gun in this area nor in Tristan's tent, kind of making it or all the more concerning of how did he get shot

and who did it, was this random, was it somebody he knew? I mean, it was the middle of the night, or I mean, not really the middle of the night, but you know what I mean? It was dark. There were too many questions here, really. Yeah, of course. So also, because of this seemingly potentially random shooting,

it leaned more to Tristan being murdered by someone who didn't know him, but it was incredibly hard to tell. Because when police arrived to the scene, they started questioning as many people as they could, but many were fleeing in fear from the sounds that they'd heard, you know, because they thought they could be in danger.

So people were leaving and police were like, wait, like, do you know something? Yeah. But ultimately, no one else in this area was shot. And for anybody thinking this might have been a hunting incident, no hunting is allowed in this area. So this was ruled out. So this led police to wonder if someone out there wanted Tristan dead and knew that he was camping that weekend, maybe they followed him out there and used this opportunity to kill him. But who and why? Now before we get into theories, suspects and finally enressed, let's go back to the initial investigation. Of course, Erica was interviewed down at the Los Hills Sheriff Station in Calabasis

and so was Scott, but there didn't seem to be any motive for them. And as far as it goes with Erika, it was easily determined that she was at their home in Irvine when this happened, but it does make me wonder more about Scott, and I feel like there had been rumors going around that he had done it because he was right there. Yeah, he's the closest person to Tristan. So yeah. But it was not him.

They were able to clear him. I don't know how they did that. Maybe the fact that there wasn't a gun anywhere around. He didn't have a gun in his possession. There wasn't one in the car. But I don't know. But he was very much grieving the loss of Tristan because like I said, they were like brothers.

So also, like we said, luckily Clara and Evie were not injured, and were too young to really understand what happened in the moment. And Erica picked them up that morning, meaning she didn't take her test that this whole camping trip was really about, and she didn't know what to do about their upcoming move. Everything just flipped completely upside down for them. A friend of the Bodhatt family stated, quote, My heart is broken.

This couldn't have happened to a sweeter family. I was lucky enough to become close with their family this past year, teaching their youngest Eevee. The sweetest family with the best little girls who love their daddy more than anything. Tristan's sister-in-law, Erica's sister stated, quote, Tristan Bodet, we can't imagine a world that no longer has you in it. You are everything to Erica Wu, Clara and Evie, and our hearts are broken. You will truly be missed and forever remembered. And finally, Tristan's brother Dylan described him as, quote, a supportive and generous husband,

a full partner in every sense of the word, a good person who cared deeply for his family and fellow man. Sadly, we have to remember that they originally had picked a different campsite in a different area, meaning if they had remained in the original campsite, this may never have happened. Yeah, if it was some sort of random act of violence. Right, if it was random, which we will get to. So police pondered this as well, because no one would have known that they moved to a different campsite unless someone was watching them.

But also, he was with his daughters and his brother-in-law, and if he was shot from outside of the tent, which is what it seems like, really does. This doesn't seem like a very effective way to fulfill a hit on someone, if that was even what happened. Yeah, it seems like it would be kind of sloppy, like you couldn't make sure that this person was deceased. Exactly. And if that is what happened, what would the hit even be about? Well, as you know, Tristan was a chemist and he was known to have been

working on anti-cancer vaccines, and he also held numerous patents. So was this a government hit or a big pharma? And that might sound a little outlandish, and it seems it is, but it was still considered a potential possibility. Now as far as these theories go, Erica didn't particularly believe in any of them. None of it made sense to her why anyone would want to kill her wonderful husband while he was camping. She tried not to read the news or look at these theories because it was all just too painful, but she also wanted to know.

Now as Daphne mentioned, despite the great number of multi-million dollar homes and known celebrities in this area, crime is really low, and it remains a quiet area with vast wilderness, lakes, and the ocean, and more. It's not where you would imagine a horrific shooting and murder occurring, yet there actually were other shootings and strange occurrences in this area around this same time, and although police didn't believe at this time that they were connected, we're going to mention them. So just four days prior to Tristan's death, a man was driving a Tesla down to Malibu

Canyon Road, and for reference Malibu Creek State Park is located on Los Virginis Road, which connects to Malibu Canyon Road. So this is really close. It's like a minute or two away. Right. So while he was driving at around 4.30am, he was allegedly shot at. But going back further, a man named Jimmy Rogers decided to take a three day solo backpacking trip in the Santa

Monica Mountains, so near Malbu Creek State Park. At this time, he was a recent graduate, this was in the fall of 2016. So he was a recent graduate student in his 20s who had studied environmental biology and worked at REI on the side, according to the New Yorker who did a great write-up on the story. He was very familiar with hiking in this area and successfully completed the first of three days with no incident. But that night, he slept in a hammock by a trailhead and awoke after midnight to a startling

sound and then the splitting of his hammock, So he fell through his hammock while he was just waking up from this shocking sound that he didn't know what it was. But when he fell to the floor, he noticed to the ground, rather, the dirt. Yeah. He noticed his arm was stinging very badly and he pondered if an animal had possibly bitten him. Dang, that's so, that's so like, so like so startling so freaky like just so many

things at once yeah yeah like you you wake up from a scary sound your your panic splits apart you fall in the ground and then your armor was bleeding yeah that that would be my first thought it's like did I just get like stung by something or bitten by something yeah he even thought that like a bat could have bit him he was thinking of all the animals that could have possibly, like possibly flown onto him and bitten him. But then he wondered, because he's out there in the wilderness in the dark by himself,

he wondered if someone was hiding in the dark, watching him. But he knew that he was hurt, so he called his girlfriend, rushed down the dark canyon path, and headed for the hospital. And they actually treated him for rabies, believing his injury was an animal bite. And this is the weirdest part that they didn't catch this, because within days, Jimmy realized that there were multiple small bullets under his skin, and it ended up being bird shot, which is numerous small pellets that are primarily fired from a shotgun.

Yeah. And somehow the hospital didn't see that. I don't know how they would not. Because he saw them under a skin and he said in the New Yorker, the interview with Jimmy said when he put his arm on a table, it made like a clacking sound. Oh, God. I know, sorry, that's painful. I know that's like a creepy description.

So based on where his arm was as well when he was laying in his hammock, it felt to him like somebody had been aiming for his head when they fired that shot. But just happened to miss. And hit his arm. And then he was able to get away and knock it shot again because at first he didn't know it was a gunshot. So scary. Yeah, so just a few days after this, in November of 2016, a man named Ron Carson was in

a camper at Malibu Creek State Park, very close to where Tristan was later killed, and he got up to use the bathroom between three and four in the morning, turning on the light briefly while he did his business, and then turned it off and headed back into bed. But while he was laying there, he suddenly was rocked by what was surmised to be some type of explosion. When he looked around, there was bird-shot all over the place, and a shotgun shell wedged into the inside wall of his camper right next to Ron's head.

So again, it looks like somebody's trying to shoot this person in the head. Yeah, and just just missed his head. So scary. So weirdly enough, nothing was being done about this, though rumors of a Malibu shooter, also known as the Canyon Shooter, were making their rounds in this area. But weirdly not enough, like not a lot of people in this area knew about it. I didn't even know about it at the time. So, and I was living, well I wasn't living there, but I was living in LA at the time.

And my mom never told me about it, and she tells me everything. So, it wasn't really big news in this area, even though these are two very concerning incidents and you're about to get into a couple more. Right, at least not yet, right? It wasn't really big news in this area, even though these are two very concerning incidents and you're about to get into a couple more. At least not yet, right? Right. So, then about two months later in early 2017, two women were car camping, just two sites over from where Ron Carson had his camper parked, and they awoke between 4 and 5 a.m. after

hearing a loud bang. When they drove away, they noticed a rattling sound coming from the back of their car, so they checked it out and discovered that someone had shot at their trunk because there was a shock and slug there. And they were carcaming, which means they were in essentially in the trunk. Yeah, so it's like somebody's definitely trying to shoot them as well. Right. Sadly, it didn't seem like any definitely trying to shoot them as well. Right. Sadly, it didn't seem like any of these very concerning

reports were being taken seriously due to the alleged jurisdiction issues. Yeah, so it seemed like nobody wanted to deal with this. It was, oh, that's their jurisdiction, they deal with it. Oh, no, that's theirs, they deal with it. Yeah. It's like, this is some serious shit, guys. But then, in the summer of 2017, two different people were shot at in Malibu

Canyon. Someone driving a Porsche was hit with bird shot, so you know lots of bird shot here. And then two teenagers were driving to a surf competition in Malibu, so they were taking Malibu Canyon when their BMW was shot at, shattering their back window as well as their side panels. And the police were called, but again, nothing was really done about these reports either. Then, less than a year later, on May 16, 2018, so just over one month before Tristan's murder,

a body was found. He, do you probably remember this part? I do remember this part. So on the corner of Los Virginis Canyon Road and Los Virginis Road, there is the Malibu Hindu Temple. And up the street behind it is where my mom was living at the time by herself. And then about one minute up the road is Malibu Creek State Park. And just for reference, about 10 minutes in the opposite direction down through Malibu Canyon,

you will be straight at the beach. So where the malbuk Hindu temple is is where these last two shootings occurred. The ones that heath just mentioned. The Porsche and the BMW. And that happened right by the malbuk Hindu temple where lost virginess road turns into malbukanian. I'm really trying to give you guys a reference. That's kind of hard to describe these different roads. I know it's hard, I'm so sorry guys.

Well, on the morning of May 16, 2018, a body was found outside the temple, which is right on the street and Canyon's corner. And this body was found in a ditch. Now, the ditch is pretty deep just from my own memory, so it wouldn't have immediately been noticed, but someone passing on a motorcycle while they were waiting at the stop sign right there

saw it and called the police. The man, the deceased man, sorry, was 52-year-old Ronaldo Cruz, and he was mutilated, which is information that my mom was told by an investigator, and he also told my mom that told by an investigator, and he also told my mom that it was a classic drug torture murder. That is literally what he told her. Because apparently there are or were some marijuana growers in the area, but also he was

shot execution style and he had been linked to gang association. So this was not believed to be connected to the other shootings, but still just a really scary thing to happen in this area Yeah, but at first they really didn't know they were probably like they did not we've got a body here in a ditch Well, especially because then one month later Tristan is murdered and then it's like oh my god What is happening over here? So it's clear that some really tragic and bizarre things were occurring in this specific area throughout 2017 and 2018, and that's why it's believed that Tristan's killing was connected to this apparent canyon shooter. But let's go back to Tristan's case and see if they are connected.

Now, people in the community were very concerned when Tristan was killed and even more so when it didn't seem like local police were doing much about it. They did have Malbu Creek State Park closed to investigate, and they held a meeting regarding what to do, but it didn't seem as though they were very proactive about getting the case solved, likely because there didn't seem to be any evidence linking the killer to anyone in particular. Local law enforcement made the following statement. Homicide detectives are advising at this time there is no evidence to suggest the past

shootings are related to the June 22nd, 2018 homicide. That makes me really frustrated. Yeah, I mean, the sad thing is if they are connected, this could have been avoided if police took the other shooting seriously, and I can only imagine that made Tristan's family inconceivably frustrated. And I do know that Erica filed a $90 million lawsuit regarding this exact fact that if they had taken it seriously Tristan could be alive today. Yeah, I mean, because think about it, you have these other people out there in the wilderness being shot at. In the same same area and the same damn area

It's that serious stuff and we're gonna get into that right now So on October 10th 2018 nearly four months after Tristan's murder 42-year-old 42-year-old Anthony Rauda was arrested for his murder. And since then, Anthony has also accumulated other charges, including 10 counts of attempted murder, and Tristan's daughters are among these victims, and 5 counts of second degree commercial burglary. We didn't mention this before, but there were also a slew of robberies in the area around

the same time that these shootings occurred. In Anthony Rouda was charged with these as well as the shootings that we mentioned above, so it's very much believed that all of these crimes were committed by the same person which is Anthony Rouda. Despite the lack of evidence in Tristan's case, you may be wondering how this arrest was made, because no one at the campground actually saw who fired the shots. Well, in October of 2018, law enforcement looked into an armed suspect who had been stealing food from various homes in Calabases. And as they were investigating this, and there is surveillance footage, they found that

the man behind it was Anthony Rouda, and he also had a rifle with him at the time of his arrest, and this is how they connected him to the various crimes in the area, including Tristan's murder. Anthony Rouda was born and raised in Los Angeles, and reportedly had a very normal childhood. He dropped out of high school, but later got his GED and joined the army. But after the army, when he returned to Los Angeles, he apparently felt like he had changed. He was a bit more artistic, like writing poems and music, and he became somewhat of a survivalist. And he also knew his way around a gun by this point.

a survivalist. And he also knew his way around a gun by this point. Now he had been arrested for public intoxication, and then again in 2005 during a warrant sweep after an officer noticed a fuse on top of his backpack. And since it's illegal for a convicted felon to buy a gun in California, he got into even more trouble when they found two guns in his possession, and he even owned books like Gorilla Gunsmithing and another one called Get Even, which is apparently about the art of revenge. Years later, when all of these attempted murders, shootings, and burglaries occurred, he was

living behind Malibu Creek State Park, outside in the wilderness, in a tarp covered dugout next to an oak tree. He spent his days hiking and even maintains his innocence today saying that he remembers hearing said gunshots around this time. So he's trying to act like, you know, I didn't do this, but I did hear those gunshots as well. Yeah.

Because this is where I lived. He also said that in 2016, he pledged that he would live the rest of his life without money. So he didn't even use tents out in the wilderness or buy food, which leads police to believe even more that he stole food from nearby residents. I mean, it would make sense. It would make sense.

So when Anthony was charged with Tristan's murder in January of 2019, as well as the attempted murders of his two daughters, he pleaded not guilty. The question of whether or not he was mentally fit to stand trial did come up, but ultimately he was found fit. He attended a hearing just about a month ago on March 16th, where he was in a restraint chair with a spit shield on. It's kind of a creepy sight.

Yes, it's a little strange to see that. It's unsettling. And he appeared in court again just recently on April 8th, 2022, so very, very recently, and the same restraint chair to prevent him from harming anyone, but instead of the spit shield, he wore a face mask. The most recent court appearance was regarding two felony counts of battery, and he pleaded not guilty. But as trial regarding Tristan Bodet's murder takes place this coming September, where

hopefully his family can finally get some justice. Though we will note at this point, not much evidence has come to light, though the Sheriff's Department stated, quote, �Evidence has been developed and gathered in Criminating Rouda as being responsible for a series of armed burglaries, multiple shooting incidents, and a murder of Tristan Bodet. So we'll definitely be checking for those updates. And sadly, this does seem like it was an absolute random act of violence. That tragically ended in an amazing father, husband, brother, and friends untimely demise.

Thank you so much everybody 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. I just wanted to give a big shout out to both the New Yorker and GQ for having such detailed articles about this case, so big shout out to them and the writers of these articles, Dana Good Year and Zach Barron.

And as always, key sources are listed in the episode description. So that was that made this research a lot easier, so thank you to them. And thank you guys for tuning in. Yeah, thanks for listening. It's such a tragic story. This poor man just like, for no reason. Totally pointless.

Totally pointless. He was just trying to have a nice trip with his daughters. And he had this whole plan to move to the Bay Area and it makes me wonder if Erica ended up doing that and what they're up to now and how they're doing. So again, thank you for tuning in. And also, make sure if you guys want some extra episodes of Going West that you head on over to our Patreon, which is patreon.com slash going west podcast.

We have a ton of bonus episodes for you guys to binge and they are ad free, full length. And we also do international cases that we wouldn't do on this show. So check it out. We're about to release a very interesting kind of older case that takes place in both England and Victoria, BC. That's a super interesting one. Yeah, that one's gonna be really fun to do.

Yeah. I mean, I shouldn't say fun, but it is interesting. It's very interesting. It's fascinating. It's historical, I wanna say. It is historical, yes. So things for tuning in guys, and for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. 1.5% 2.5% 2.5% 2.5%

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