Going West: True Crime - Miranda Fenner // 144

Episode Date: October 27, 2021

In 1998, an 18-year-old working her normal night shift at a Montana movie rental store was murdered by an unknown assailant who escaped into the darkness. After years without answers, this killer went... on to commit more crimes across various regions and states before finally being brought to justice. This is the story of Miranda Fenner. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES https://www.newspapers.com/image/413877845/?terms=newspaper%20carrier%20attack&match=1 https://www.newspapers.com/image/587820017/?terms=miranda%20fenner&match=1 https://www.newspapers.com https://www.kulr8.com/news/zachary-oneill-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-cold-murder-case/article_64fbc9dc-c5f7-11e9-9534-3f714e5e8cbf.html https://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20130422/news/130429952 https://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20140123/news/140129857 https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/crime-and-courts/dna-evidence-leads-to-charges-in-billings-cold-case-rape/article_977addf5-f8e0-53ba-bbe2-660c5d9f9448.html https://billingsgazette.com/1-two-yellowstone-county-cold-cases-solved/article_1bde51cd-06e6-5a8f-865e-30a7ee831b91.html https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/crime-and-courts/despite-confession-police-couldn-t-swoop-in-and-arrest-fenner/article_750b3a3f-3bbe-54e0-896d-2d0b47855241.html https://www.newspapers.com/image/587820131 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 What is going on True Crime fans, I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Really cool thing coming over on Patreon, it is a double feature. If any of you guys listen to our other podcast, The Dark Parts, which is about urban legends and just spooky stories and hauntings, this is very similar to that. So we did a double feature just to say thank you to all of our patrons, it's an extra episode for all tears.
Starting point is 00:00:41 And it's going to be so fun we're releasing it this week. So Heath and I both told a story, I tell the story of a very creepy phone stalker attacking a family in Washington. And I talk about one of the creepiest and scariest and most haunted dolls in the world. And no, it's not Annabelle. We also just released our $10 tier Patreon episode on the tragic murder of Chelsea Brook. That happened on Halloween. If you guys are interested in listening to that one, head over to patreon.com.
Starting point is 00:01:12 Slash going west podcast and subscribe. Yes, so we have over 50 bonus episodes ready to binge. If you subscribe this week, you'll get those and you're gonna get the fun Halloween double feature. So don't miss it. Yeah, if you guys enjoyed the dark parts, you guys are definitely gonna enjoy that Patreon double feature. So go check it out. All right guys, this is episode 144 of Going West. So let's get into it. In 1998, an 18-year-old working her normal night shift at a Montana movie rental store was murdered by an unknown assailant who escaped into the darkness. After years without answers, this killer went on to commit more crimes across various
Starting point is 00:02:19 regions and states before finally being brought to justice. This is the story of Miranda Fener. Moranda Colleen Fender was born on December 26, 1979 in Sacramento, California, to parent Sherry and Mike Fender, and she also had a younger brother named Tim. The Fenders would spend the next 10 years in California before deciding to make the move to Laurel Montana, which they did to move closer to family and just get away from the big city life, you know, away from the crime in Northern California, in exchange for a nice quiet town, according to Miranda's father Mike. Because in 1990, Laurel had a population of just around 5,600 people, so much smaller than Sacramento, which in 1990 had a population of over 1 million people.
Starting point is 00:03:27 Laurel Montana is located in Yellowstone County and is only about a 20-minute drive southwest from the much larger city of Billings, and by the way both of them lie along the Yellowstone River. At the time of their move, Miranda was in fourth grade, but she quickly made friends that would last years and years. And a few years later, Miranda began attending Laurel High School. And according to her mom Sherry, Miranda was one to take in, quote, renegade students, like under her wing and make them her friends. She just had a really big heart and wanted to make other people feel understood and wanted.
Starting point is 00:04:05 Miranda, who was tall with dark shoulder-length hair, dark eyes and dimples, loved animals and enjoyed spending time with her friends and family as much as possible. She had a dream of working with children someday because as Daphne said, she just really cared for others. And she was definitely one to stand up for herself in what was right, which earned her the descriptor, feisty by one of her teachers. In May of 1998, 18-year-old Miranda graduated from high school and was ready to enjoy her summer and take the next steps for her future. But shortly after graduation, she was involved in a horrible car accident that actually caused her to break her neck. And because of this, she was involved in a horrible car accident that actually caused her to break
Starting point is 00:04:45 her neck. And because of this, she was stuck with a neck brace and really wasn't able to leave the house for the entire summer. But as Autumn approached, Miranda healed up and she was excited to get back out there, especially when she found a job at the local video rental store. Miranda got the job as a clerk at a video rental store called the movie store at 419 Main Street downtown where she would spend her days ringing up people's film selections in the form of mostly VHS tapes at this time but as of more recently to this time DVDs too.
Starting point is 00:05:18 I really wish that I would have been able to work in a video store and high school you know it's just one of those one of those like novelty first teenage jobs. I know, I totally agree. So Miranda's grandparents lived in Laurel as well, and they actually owned the Low Hoff Motel, which was just across the street from the movie store. So Miranda's parents felt super comfortable with her working there,
Starting point is 00:05:42 just knowing that her grandparents were right there, especially because the shop was just three blocks from Miranda's house, so very, very local. And on occasion, when her father, Mike, would have to run an errand or when he would come home from work and Miranda was working, he would slowly drive by to see her working inside, usually with a smile on her face as she helped local customers. So Miranda got used to working at this shop, and by all accounts, she really enjoyed it. It was easy going, and she would often close alone. But again, since she lived so close by, it really didn't bother her. But in November, everything would change.
Starting point is 00:06:21 On Sunday, November 15, 1998, it was a partly cloudy 50 degree Fahrenheit night when Miranda's shift was starting to come to an end as the night slowed. But she still had a few hours before it would be 10pm and she could call her dad to come pick her up. One of Miranda's tasks that evening included taking down posters for a Disney film, and this just kind of made her think of her little cousins who lived nearby. So she called her uncle to see if he would be interested in taking them so that she didn't have to throw them away. Then she called her mom from the store to chat around 7pm, which she often did when it
Starting point is 00:06:58 was slow. Sherry, her mother, was working her job at JC Penny that night, where one of Miranda's friends also worked, but in the cosmetics department. She talked with her mom for a bit and just had a normal conversation before checking to see if her friend was around a talk as well. Miranda seemed happy and normal. She had recently told her mom about applying for colleges, and she had applications ready in her room. She wasn't sure exactly what she wanted to do, but she was excited about the possibilities. Although she felt strongly about wanting to work with kids, she had developed a great passion for art, and she realized that she had quite a talent for
Starting point is 00:07:36 drawing pictures for people that she loved. About an hour after speaking to her mom, something unthinkable happened to Miranda. At 8.20pm, two people who were returning from a weekend fishing trip saw something horrifying as they drove through downtown Laurel. 18-year-old Miranda Fener, who was just about a month away from her 19th birthday, was lying in front of the movie store, covered in blood. They rushed to help her and immediately called 911, who came to the scene within minutes. Miranda was still alive when they got there, but they knew she had to be taken to a hospital as soon as
Starting point is 00:08:20 possible, because her pulse was weak and she was unresponsive. And by the way, when I say she was found in front of the store like I mean outside the front door in the parking lot. So instead of making the 25-minute drive to St. Vincent's Hospital in Billings, they opted for her to be taken by a life flight helicopter just hoping that this would save her life. As all this was happening, Miranda's brother Tim just happened to ride over on his bike with plans to rent a video game from his sister. But when he saw all the commotion, he raised home and called their dad Mike to explain what he saw, and Mike came over right away. When Mike arrived, police officers informed him that his daughter was in critical condition
Starting point is 00:09:07 and that she was being flown to the hospital. But no one knew exactly what had happened to her. And actually someone had said that she was shot in the neck. But there was, you know, nobody was around, like there was no sign of what could have been done to her or what she went through. There was no signs of that at all all like they had no idea what happened. So as soon as her mother Sherry was informed, she left work and headed straight for the hospital with Mike. And crazy enough, they actually beat the helicopter there.
Starting point is 00:09:38 That's amazing. So they were like literally booking it to the hospital. Yeah, oh my god, absolutely. And which is crazy because the reason that they put her in a helicopter was to get her there faster. Exactly. Yeah, they're like, this is going to make it a lot quicker. Yeah, so they must have really, really sped. But at about 10 p.m. while Miranda was in surgery for her wounds, she sadly passed away from those injuries.
Starting point is 00:10:00 And her parents were quickly informed that Miranda had been murdered. As detectives investigated the scene, they determined that between around 7.30 p.m. that evening, someone had come into the movie store and stabbed Miranda numerous times in the head and neck, and her throat had been slashed. There was no sign of sexual assault, and it seemed whoever did this, their motive may have been robbery, because the very small amount of cash that was in the register was gone. This crime scene inside the store was absolutely brutal, and the injuries she sustained were as well, but she managed to fight hard enough and push through to get herself outside
Starting point is 00:10:42 and flag down help. But sadly, she still lost her life. That same night, a share of Stepudy had actually been patrolling the area, looking for suspects in a recent string of burglaries. Just minutes before Miranda was found outside, the deputy noticed a dark sedan idling behind the video store. But since it didn't match the description of the car that he was specifically looking for, he didn't really think much of it, and he just carried on. I gotta say, I think it's very eerie that the main injuries that Miranda sustained
Starting point is 00:11:15 were to her neck, because, you know, as we know, months before this, she had broken her neck in a car accident. So it's just a bit bizarre to me to read that she was stabbed in the neck and her throat was slashed, you know what I mean? I just, when I read that, I was kind of like, whoa, that's freaky. Yeah, just kind of makes the hair on your, on back your neck stand up.
Starting point is 00:11:37 And it's just really sad to think that she had survived a horrible accident just months earlier, just to die this way, like that's just so awful. I know, extremely tragic. So investigators determined that at some point in the attack, Miranda was in the back of the store with her feet bound. And that's where she was stabbed repeatedly by her killer.
Starting point is 00:11:59 And after the killer had likely dashed out of the store with that small amount of cash, Miranda crawled the entire length of the video store, which was around 60 feet, leaving a blood trail just as long, just doing her best to survive her injuries. There was more than 200 pieces of physical evidence in this case that was shipped to the Montana State Crime Lab, including over 100 fingerprints that were taken from the crime scene and entered into the National Data Bank. Investigators also recovered thousands of pieces of hair, which most likely belonged to various customers and employees over time, but they hoped just one could link them to Miranda's killer. And there was no murder weapon left behind by the way, but they knew a knife of some
Starting point is 00:12:50 sort was used. Within a week of Miranda's death, numerous candles, flowers, poems, signs, and photos of Miranda were placed outside of the video store after the community came together for a vigil. One sign said, stop the violence, and included other writings from friends saying things like, we'll miss you, honey, I love you always, you'll never be forgotten and more. A sign was taped to the video store's door that said, please God, take care of our sweet angel, and take care of our town. Also, a reward of $18,500 was being offered to anyone who could lead investigators to Miranda's killer. And this money came from various people who mailed in money to the Miranda Fener reward
Starting point is 00:13:36 account, and then $5,000 actually came from the owners of the video store. And crazy enough, Miranda's mother Sherry actually remembered having conversations with her daughter about what she would do if the store was ever robbed, and Miranda's answer was, just give them the money. No sense in dying over a few bucks. So it only made Sherry wonder how this could have happened, and why the assailant had to kill Miranda at all, knowing that she would have just given them the money anyway. That must have been so horrible to kind of look back at that conversation knowing that
Starting point is 00:14:07 Miranda knew what to do in a situation like that, and she had the right answer, which is always, you know, just give them the money because your life is way more valuable than whatever is in that register. Exactly. So, and I mean, it's great that they even went over this. Like, it really kind of shows to us, think how great her parents were and and how careful they wanted her to be and and prepared. So the Yellowstone County officers were known to work 24 hours on this case like they were from the time it happened they were putting in so many hours trying to
Starting point is 00:14:40 figure out who killed her because they really just wanted to give the fenners, but also the community answers, because why this incredible 18-year-old was murdered in their very small town, you know, this is affecting everybody and people are scared. Yeah, this is not a big city, this is a small, safe, quiet community. And yeah, every town has crimes that happen, but not murderers of innocent 18-year-olds like
Starting point is 00:15:06 this. Yeah, this one was a little bit special and it really affected everybody in this community. And actually, police questioned over 800 people in this case, but it didn't seem to bring them any closer to the killer. They even welcomed the help of the FBI to kind of help put a profile of the killer together, as well as the Montana Criminal Investigation Bureau, but still, nothing. And every time a murderer or robber had used a knife to kill someone in a nearby state, they even checked that out too. But the DNA didn't match anyone in the system,
Starting point is 00:15:43 so they just had to keep trying and hope something good would come into the investigation. The reward went up to $25,000 and investigators also hoped that maybe that amount would be enough to kind of tempt someone in the community to come forward. But again, no such luck. And because Laurel is such a small town, they wondered if the killer was maybe a drifter, you know someone who didn't have ties to the town, and that's why no one in the community was coming forward. But they still didn't want to overlook the possibility that it was a local, and they
Starting point is 00:16:15 were just open to all theories. And knowing that the store was situated on the corner of Main Street, which actually turns into a highway, didn't help either, because this is a popular road for just about anyone to use, whether you're a local or not. In January of 1999, someone close to Miranda and the Fener family wrote this about Miranda. Who was Miranda Fener? A beautiful young woman brutally murdered two months ago in our small town. A chilling crime still unsolved.
Starting point is 00:16:47 Still, a horribly sad shock. Admittedly, I'm pretty biased. I had the privilege of loving her as a second daughter. That honor given to me by her family. The love returned to me by Miranda. I write from respect and love for her, and family and to perchance hope for a miracle. An artist in a writer she expressed herself through her craft. Miranda Fener despised cruelty in any form. She gave love to the unloved.
Starting point is 00:17:19 She shared herself with the lonely. She wished we could quote, all just get along. with the lonely. She wished we could quote, all just get along. She loved life. If I may be so bold, she was Kennedy, Lenin, Began, Diana, all in one. As I remember the people who have impacted my life, I think about what Miranda would say. Knowing her, it would probably be, go get him Miss B, make them remember how precious life is, don't give up. My reply to this play, please remember her, please remember anything that can help her family, please do not allow this to happen again. And then quietly, I love you Miranda, love Kathy B. Years and years went by with no answers for Laurel or for the Fenners regarding what happened
Starting point is 00:18:19 to Miranda. Because again, despite many around the clock days put in by investigators, there really weren't a lot of solid tips or leads coming in. But in 2017, a man spoke with police and discussed a different crime that took place just two months before Miranda's. On Saturday, September 5, 1998, in Billings, Montana, which remembers just about a 20-minute drive from Laurel, a woman who goes publicly by J.L. was just finishing her route as a newspaper carrier that morning, when something terrible happened. She didn't typically do this route, she was actually just taking over for her daughter
Starting point is 00:19:01 that morning, and as she was finishing, she was getting ready for her boyfriend to pick her up. But while near the corner of Broadway Avenue and 24th Street West in Billings, she heard footsteps behind her and was attacked by an unknown man, raped and stabbed. Her throat was cut with a knife as well, and this attacker left her for dead. She was able to get a very brief look at the man before he forced her at knife point between two buildings before attacking her. Afterwards, although she really was seriously injured, she said that she made death sounds and pretended that she was dying, and with that the man ran off, and she was able to get
Starting point is 00:19:43 the help that she needed to save her life. Crazy enough, a dirty condom was found from the crime scene and it was sent off to the Montana Forensic Science Division for testing, but no matches were found. And just like Miranda's case, years and years passed before answers would finally come. Before the 2017 interview with the potential suspect, let's discuss a tip that detectives received back in 2013. In 2013, so 15 years after both JL and Miranda's attacks, detectives received a tip from a woman who had contacted the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office, stating that she believed
Starting point is 00:20:25 her ex-husband's stepson was involved in Miranda's homicide. The man she was speaking of is Zachary O'Neill, the same man that was interviewed years later in 2017, which we'll discuss in a minute. The woman explained that Zachary was a very violent person and that there were several incidents involving him that really disturbed her when she was living with her ex-husband in Laurel and he was around. Also, her ex-husband had told her that on the night Miranda was murdered, Zachary rented a movie from the movie store.
Starting point is 00:21:04 This was obviously a pretty good tip. So investigators followed up on this and were able to confirm that Zachary O'Neill was living in Laurel in late 1998, yet they were not able to conclusively link him to Miranda's case. But on March 19th, 2017, Zachary O'Neill walked into the Yellowstone County detention facility
Starting point is 00:21:27 and asked to speak to deputies to confess to a crime. And then, he confessed to Miranda's murder. He told investigators that on Sunday, November 15th, 1998, he went to the movie store to rent four movies for his mom, including a porn film for him, and Miranda was the one to help him. But when he got back home, his mother noticed that he had rented a porn film and told him to return it. At this time, Zachary was 18 years old, so the same age as Miranda, and he was just born three months after her.
Starting point is 00:22:02 And he went back to return the video but decided to rob the store as well. He had to wait for some customers to leave, and when they did, he took out a 22 caliber gun and pointed it at Miranda, who apparently was very compliant and handed over all the money in the register. Then, he forced her into the back room and taped her up with the intent of just leaving the store and Miranda unharmed. But since he had been in before and they were about the same age, he worried that maybe
Starting point is 00:22:31 she knew who he was. And he didn't want to get in trouble, so he attacked her with a jagged knife. And he described the horrifying details while choking back tears to the officers. But before they could confirm any of this, they had to let him walk out of there a free man. He also explained that he was on methamphetamine when he killed Miranda, and that he was an addict at that time in his life, which is why he wanted to rob the store so that he could support his habit. And as far as what he did with the knife, he dumped it during a hunting trip with his dad in Jordan Montana.
Starting point is 00:23:05 After confessing to Miranda's murder, he also confessed to raping and attempting to murder J.L. just two months before Miranda in Billings Montana. He said, I see this lady and I decided to rape her. Like, okay, what? Yeah, he's a disgusting man. And I decided to rape her. So he actually didn't know that she survived because remember she was playing dead and she did a very good job at that because he did run away and he thought that she died and he didn't realize that she survived until he read about it in the papers. But apparently, he only wanted to kill her to stop her from getting him arrested for raping her,
Starting point is 00:23:45 which is the same thing with Miranda. He killed her so he wouldn't get in trouble for robbing the store, but now he's confessing to all of it and it's a way worse crime. Like, I never understand this. When a killer kills someone to get rid of the witness, but then they get caught anyway, it's like, now you're gonna go to prison for way longer You should have just not yeah exactly. Yeah, there's no point in that like so you're trying to cover up another crime And then what are you gonna cover up that crime with another crime? It's just gonna continue to go on Exactly. It's just stupid. It's so so annoying So the only reason by the way that he was coming forward
Starting point is 00:24:25 with this information was because he had apparently been overcome with shame, as well as suicidal thoughts, especially since he had raped, quote, a couple more girls since. And that's why he wanted to come forward and kind of clear his conscience. Yeah, and I just want to say this guy, I mean, he's just a horrible person and he looks like a little goblin. He's a little goblin man. Sorry, but he's a fucking goblin man. He's a, you know, I hate to talk bad on someone's appearance, but he is a horrible monster,
Starting point is 00:24:57 so I don't mind right now. He is fucking scary. Yeah, I don't know if he's like, you know how like sometimes they talk about like killers actually looking like killers This is one of those guys. Yeah go we posted photos of him and of beautiful Miranda on all of our socials if you guys want to see It is quite a sight on his end By the way to be clear when he did first commit these acts He said he quote didn't care too much about what he'd done
Starting point is 00:25:24 But now all these years later he suddenly has all this remorse. So as with many crimes numerous people, ten actually, had come forward to confess to Miranda's murder over the years. But police chalked them all up to being frauds who just wanted street cred. So they had to go through the same process with was Zachary O'Neill, and make sure that he was telling the truth. Even though he did give a very detailed confession on both ends, like he gave details on Miranda's
Starting point is 00:25:54 murder that had not been released. So you know, that means something, but they still wanted to be sure. And the best way they could do that was to test his DNA against what had been found at both crime scenes. Yeah, so they swabbed him and they compared this to the DNA found at Jail's crime scene, and this conclusively connected him to her rape and attempted murder. But they did things a little differently in Miranda's case. Although they had sent thousands of samples to the crime lab for testing when Miranda was
Starting point is 00:26:23 killed, there really wasn't enough reliable DNA for investigators to work with, making it really hard to close her case. So instead, investigators spent the next two years trying to corroborate Zachary's confession to prove that what he was saying was actually true. Because in Montana, a conviction cannot stand on a confession alone, but like we said, Zachary gave details that hadn't been publicly released. So they felt confident that he was 100% their guy. What's interesting to me is that Zach's stepdad's ex-wife had explained back in 2013 that he was very violent and could be connected to Miranda's murder, but police didn't tie
Starting point is 00:27:04 him to her case. And I think it's because maybe they didn't want to put in all that work for whatever reason without more proof? Because like we said, it took two years to prove that he was connected to Miranda's case even after having a full confession from him, so maybe it was just a lot of work, but it's like, this could be your guy. But what I don't really understand is why they wouldn't have just done this all in 2013, because of the fact that O'Neill was actually known to local law enforcement back in 1998
Starting point is 00:27:35 for committing burglaries. On at least one occasion, Zach broke into a Laurel home with his brothers cousin and another young man, and they actually stole alcohol of van and over 20 firearms. They chose that house specifically because Zack's mom worked as a housekeeper there, and they knew the owners were out of town. Zack got probation for this burglary, and right after, he raped and attacked JL while she was finishing her daughter's paper route, and then one week later, he raped a woman at Riverfront Park in that same area. A lot of this wasn't discovered until later, of course, but he was doing a lot of different
Starting point is 00:28:12 very bad and very illegal things as a teenager, and as the years went on. But despite all of this, police kind of just let him slip without a proper interrogation before it's confession. And like you said, a lot of this came forward later, like they didn't know that he raped the woman at Riverfront Park or that he raped an attempted to murder J.L. But still, if all these things are happening, you know this guy is trouble and he's known for burglary and he lives in this small fricking town, like why would you not push to question him more? And I mean, things get even more frustrating with this because at the time that Miranda
Starting point is 00:28:51 was killed, Zachary O'Neill's mother's video rental account was open on the computer screen that Miranda was using. I mean, that just tells you everything you need to know right there. I know, this was the last account that she worked on before she was killed. And this was because Zach was returning the porn tape. So you would imagine this would be a huge clue, and investigators did question his mom two whole months later, but quote, didn't get anywhere. So it's unknown if maybe she didn't want to say that her son was at the
Starting point is 00:29:25 video store or if investigators even had that information, but it's pretty unbelievable. But three months after Miranda's murder, so just a month after Zack's mom was questioned, Zack went on to commit more crimes in other areas and was arrested in Spokane, Washington, in February of 1999, around his 19th birthday. Then just a few months later, in June, he was arrested once again in Spokane for a home invasion and gun theft. Then in 2000, Zach was interviewed regarding Miranda's murder, and he denied involvement.
Starting point is 00:30:05 And that was that. This was two years after she was killed, and police questioned him like they had enough that they wanted to question him. He denied involvement and then- They just let it go. Yeah, but it's like, what I don't understand about this again is that his mom's account was on the computer.
Starting point is 00:30:22 You have enough that you wanna question him. And then he comes up in 2013 and you still let it slide, and then he ends up confessing. It's just so frustrating. And I know police were working very hard in hindsight is 2020, but his name kept coming up. And then Zach went on to commit even more crimes up until at least 2015.
Starting point is 00:30:45 And during one crime in 2006, he punched a woman in the eye as she exited her vehicle in Yellowstone County, like he was just trouble. A few months after Zack confessed to Miranda's murder, police interviewed him again and spoke in, and asked if he was involved in the riverfront park rape, and he confessed to this as well. He was then extradited from Washington State in February of 2019, where he began serving time for burglary in Montana, and then a few months later in July of 2019, 39-year-old Zachary O'Neill stood trial for Miranda Fenners' murder.
Starting point is 00:31:22 He pleaded guilty to the deliberate homicide of Miranda Fener, as well as the deliberate attempted murder and rape of J.L. And by the way, the victim of his riverfront park rape from September of 1998 actually died in 2013, so he wasn't charged for this. Mike Fener made a statement toward Zachary during his sentencing and said, you ruined my life, you ruined my son's life, you took away my son's best friend, you broke my wife's heart. And Sherry's statement included, you Zach O'Neill deserve every horrible thing
Starting point is 00:31:59 that comes your way. And before he was sentenced, he made a statement as well, quote, I feel like it's almost worthless to try and apologize. I can't even think about the way I affected your life. I know I've stolen so much from you. I can't fathom to what extent, whether it be your loss of safety and security, the invasion of your personal boundaries, losing the relationship of your daughter, your granddaughter, your sister, your aunt, and your loved one. Zachary O'Neill was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes.
Starting point is 00:32:34 And although after nearly 20 years, Miranda's family finally saw her case get some justice, they still struggle with her loss every single day. 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 next week we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. We actually wanted to cover this case when he was arrested but there just wasn't enough information and Heath reminded me of it the other day, so thank you so much. This case is devastating and God, what a senseless thing.
Starting point is 00:33:13 I'm just really, really glad that Zachary O'Neill is behind bars, and you know, I'm glad he's going to stay there for the remainder of his days. Me too. So thank you guys so much for listening, he's gonna stay there for the remainder of his days. Me too. So thank you guys so much for listening. And remember, if you're interested in that double feature episode, that fun extra Halloween episode, that's more spooky story and not true crime, head on over to patreon.com slash going west podcast.
Starting point is 00:33:37 That episode is gonna be available for all tiers. It's super fun, it's full length, and then we have over 52 other full length ad-free bonus episodes for you guys to binge. Yeah, those ones are true crimes, so you get the best of both worlds. Exactly. And we hope everybody has a safe and fun Halloween if you celebrate. That's coming up this weekend. Heath and I are excited. Going a little Halloween party. And it's gonna be fun. So hope you guys enjoy your week and weekend and final week of October
Starting point is 00:34:07 Yeah, we wish you guys a happy Halloween. Please stay safe out there and for everybody out there in the world Cheerio and don't be a stranger 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc
Starting point is 00:34:38 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbc 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh
Starting point is 00:34:54 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh Thank you. you

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