Law&Crime Sidebar - Top 6 Disturbing Internet Searches by Criminal Suspects

Episode Date: December 29, 2023

“Best tool to dismember,” “fake criminal polygraph,” and “luxury prisons for the rich in America” are just some of the wild searches allegedly made by suspects in grisly crimes. The Law&Crime Network’s Jesse Weber takes a deep dive into the top six most damning internet inquiries.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Pax saw our best tool to dismember. At 110 p.m., can you be charged with murder without a body? At 1.14 p.m. Can you identify a body with our body? With our with broken teeth. Can I get a plea with no jail time? Can you just wash off gunpowder residue? Correct. We're bringing you the top six times suspects turned to the internet for answers and ended up digging themselves into a pretty deep hole. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. We know that there's so much evidence that can come into a court case, right? There's

fingerprints, blood spatter, DNA, fibers. Let's see. sometimes the evidence presented against the defendant is their own internet search history, kind of a glimpse into their thinking, their mindset, their planning, and I will tell you, it can be quite revealing. So we want to break down some of the most damning, jaw-dropping, and sometimes, honestly, ridiculous searches that were done by suspected criminals in recent cases. Let's start off in Massachusetts with Brian Walsh. Now, we've covered this guy before here on Sidebar.

He's accused of killing his wife, Anna, even though her. body has never been found. So the couple lived in Cohasset, Massachusetts, it's south of Boston, and they lived with their three children. And Anna Walsh was last seen on New Year's Day, 2023, and was reported missing a few days later when she didn't show up for a work trip. Now, Brian Walsh was originally arrested for misleading a police investigation, but then he was charged with her murder on January 18th.

By the way, I should tell you that Brian Walsh was actually awaiting sentencing on a different case, a federal case involving the sale of fake Andy Warhol paintings? Yeah, it's bizarre. And he was supposed to let officials know that if he was leaving or if he was going to be leaving home, but he made an unplanned trip to a hardware store where he bought more than $400 worth of cleaning supplies. He bought some other items at other stores too. Actually, not only was blood and a bloody knife found in the basement of the house that the Walshers were renting, but multiple bags of evidence were found at a waste transfer station, including Anna's COVID-19 Vax card, a Tyvex suit, a hatchet and hacksaw, and items that pretty much

lined up with what he purchased at the stores, and many of these materials had bloodstades on them. And guess what? The DNA from that blood was consistent with Brian and Anna Walsh. Let's talk about the internet searches, right? So during Walsh's Aram, where he's read the charges, the prosecutor read out a list of internet searches that Walsh allegedly made on his phone and on an iPad belonging to one of his sons. Some of his searches are as follows. Keep in mind that the defendant said he left at 6 a.m. At 455 a.m. on January 1st, he searched how long before a body starts to smell. At 458 a.m., how to stop a body from decomposing.

At 5.20 a.m., he searched how to embound a body. At 547 a.m., 10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to. At 6.25 a.m. on the 1st, how long for someone to be missing to inherit? At 6.34 a.m. on the 1st, can you throw away body pots? At 9.29 a.m., what does formaldehyde do? At 9.34 a.m. on 1st, how long does DNA last? At 9.59 a.m., can identification be made on partial remains? At 11.34am, dismemberment and the best ways to dispose of a body.

At 1144, how to clean blood from wooden floor. At 1156 on the first, luminal to detect blood. At 108, what happens when you put body parts in ammonia? At 1.21 p.m., is it better to throw crime scene clothes away or wash them? Those were on the January 1st. There was also information gained from the defendant's phone, which showed on January 2nd, he was at Home Goods in Norwell, where he purchased free rugs. There were also more Google searches on January 2nd.

At 12.45 p.m., perhaps all the best tool to dismember. At 1.10 p.m., can you be charged with murder without a body? At 1.14 p.m., can you identify a body with broken teeth? So for the guy who prosecutors believe killed his wife, dismembered her body, disposed of it in the trash, only for it to be shredded and incinerated inadvertently by waste services, can these search be any worse? I mean, really, can they? Now, of course, we don't know definitively that he was the one who made those searches. It's a common defense argument. But, I mean, not great, right? As for now, though, Brian Walsh has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. A judge ordered that he

be held without bail. And at the time of this recording, Walsh has yet to go to trial. Let's go now to Colorado and the trial of Letitia Stouk in May of 2003, a jury found Stalk guilty of murdering her 11-year-old stepson, Gannon. Prosecutors say that Stalk stabbed Gannon 18 times before hitting him in the head and then shooting him. She then stuffed his body into a suitcase and left it under an overpass in Florida. The state maintained that Stouk killed Gannon because she hated him and she wanted to hurt his father, Al, who she was allegedly planning to leave.

Al was actually away at the time of the killing on a National Guard deployment. But here's the thing. Stouk pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity with her defense team contending that she had a psychotic break caused by trauma from her childhood. They even called a psychiatrist who concluded that Stalk suffered from disassociative identity disorder. If you can prove that, if you can prove you were insane at the time, that you won't be found not guilty by reason of insanity and you would be committed to a mental health facility, not prison. The prosecution disagreed, though. They contended that she was sane at the time she killed Gannon.

In fact, one of their experts, a forensic psychologist, wondered whether Stalk was exaggerating her symptoms. But here's the thing. Authorities say that Stalk killed Gannon on January 27, 2020, then reported him missing a few hours later. She said that he had gone to play with friends and never came home. Her stories kept changing in this case. And then during the trial, the prosecution revealed Google searches that were connected back to Stalk when she was arrested. And some of those searches were brought up during an interrogation, which was played in court. As you know, in here, I even have what you entered in your phone, the stuff that you've entered and deleted.

Like, blood is spurting from an arterial bleed, direct pressure, not controlling. Do what? I didn't live it up. It's from your phone. Blood is what? Spurting from an arterial bleed. No. Somebody did it from your phone. I don't like my stepson?

No. I don't like my stepson. Should I get a divorce? And experts also laid out the searches word for word from the witness stand. What is the next search on February 21st, 2020? 6.54 a.m. I need a criminal polygraph. And the next one on February 21st, 2020? A few minutes later at 7.08 a.m. I need a fake criminal polygraph.

The next one on February 21st, 2020? 7.21 a.m. polygraph test? The next one on February 21st, 2020? 735 a.m. Can you get away with fake lie detector? And it's misspelled DET, EX, TLR website. These searches for needing a criminal polygraph, fake criminal polygraph, fake criminal polygraph, and can you get away with a fake lie detector test? Does this indicate, in your mind, that the defendant had some awareness of trying to evade the investigation in this case? Yes. The next one on February 21st, 2020? 6.46 p.m. I need, and it was misspelled M. EED, to change my look to hide.

And the next search on February 21st, 2020? 647 p.m. face disguise. The next search on February 21st, 2020? 6.49 p.m. full face and then change, but it's misspelled C-H-A-M-G-E. And the next search on February 21st, 2020? 6.51 p.m. first-face transplant woman. The next search on February 21st, 2020? Also, 6.51 p.m. full-face transplant.

The next search on February 21st, 2020? 6.51 p.m. face, but it's misspelled, F-A-V-A-V-E. transplant near me the next search on February 21st 2020 6.53 p.m. full face plastic surgery the next search on February 21st 2020 6.56 p.m. full face plastic surgery Atlanta those searches as it relates to this plastic surgery face transplant and that sort of thing in your mind did that indicate an effort to change her appearance to evade the investigation. Yes.

It's pretty damning stuff because the more that you can show a defendant knew what they were doing was wrong or illegal and they tried to evade capture, the more it looks like they were sane when they committed the crime. And the suspicious searches, which were often misspelled,

they just kept coming. The next search on February 23rd, 2020? 3.15 p.m. Shock from period, watching someone get shot. Is someone misspelled? Yes, it's spelled S-O-N-E-O-K-E. Is this the first indication that we have, well, let me back up a little bit.

Gannon's body still had not been found by this time, right? Not yet. Is this the first indication that we have of consciousness by the defendant of Gannon being shot? Yes. And then the final search on February 23rd, 2020. 5.13 p.m. face mask that looks real to disguise. Why would she be searching that? Is that the work of someone who's insane or someone carefully planning their reactions and escape?

We have more. Are there a number? Let me count them on. 11 searches that occurred on February 28th. There are. That are relevant to this investigation. Yes. What is the first one on February 28th, 2020?

7.02 a.m. How long does a body start to decompose in a bag? Does that indicate specific knowledge about the condition in which Gannon's body was packaged and discarded? Yes. In what way? He was found in a suitcase. The next search on February 28, 2020. 7.3 a.m.

What does misspelled W-G-A-T-F-O-E-S? What does a dead body look like after a month? And is this basically one month after? Gannon had went missing? Yes. What is the next search on February 28, 2020? 7.4 a.m. What does a dead body look like after a month, spelled correctly this time?

And the next search on February 28, 2020? 8.12 a.m. active drug, misspelled DRI.G, cartels in Mexico. The next search on February 28, 2020. 8.23 a.m. bluff my call free. What is the next search on February 28, 2020? 8.30.m. Address of period drug cartels and drug is misspelled D-E-U-G. And then the next search, what is it on February 28, 2020?

836 a.m. current drug cartels misspelled D-E-I-G. In Colorado, misspelled C-O-L-R-A-O-D, Springs, misspelled S-P-R-I-N-S-G. What is the next search on February 28, 2020? 7.44 p.m. How, period, does. the FBI find people and people's misspelled P-E-O-O-P-L-E. Did the defendant find out how the FBI finds people in this case? Oh, she found out. What is the next search on February 28th, 2020?

7.49 p.m. How period does the FBI find fugitives? In the final search on February 28, 2020. 7.49 p.m. Well, and there's two more. I'm sorry. period does the FBI find fugitives, and then how fugitives avoid capture? Are those both at 7.49 p.m.? Correct. So it sure looks like the work of someone may be trying to escape, right? How Gannon was disposed, knowing information that an innocent person wouldn't know. In May of 2023, Stouk was convicted of first-degree murder,

murder of a child under 12 by a person of position of trust, tampering with a deceased human body and tampering with physical evidence. It did not believe that she was insane. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole with the judge saying the evidence was, quote, the most horrific he had ever seen. Okay, next up, we're in Summit County, Utah, looking at the case of 33-year-old Corey Richens. At the time of this recording, her case is still moving through the court system. So Richens case really made headlines in 2023 because after her husband died, she wrote a children's book about dealing with grief for the boys that he left behind. Sounds good, right? But then we find out she was charged. She was charged.

with his murder. Here's a detective talking more about it in a hearing, specifically how Corey Richens, Paul 911, but then what did the evidence suggest? In addition to saying that someone was unresponsive, did Ms. Richens, the defendant, identify who was unresponsive and anything else about that person's condition?

Yes, she stated that it was her husband, Eric Richens, that was unresponsive, that he was cold to the touch and not bring up. breathing. Did the state medical examiner's office conduct an autopsy of Mr. Richens? Yes, they did. Have you reviewed the medical examiner's autopsy report? Yes. And the toxicology report that's part of that? Yes. What did the medical examiner identify as the cause of death? Drug intoxication with the specific drug being fentanyl. So Richens told police that She simply made her husband a Moscow mule, and he also ingested a THC gummy before bed,

and that he died in his sleep, tragically. But the medical examiner says that he actually died from a lethal dose of fentanyl in a system. And then we look into the court records, which give us a glimpse into some of the evidence against Richens, including Google searches, which started about a month after her husband died. and they include luxury prisons for the rich in America, what information can be obtained from a cell phone, can deleted text messages be retrieved, can cops force a lie detector test,

when does the FBI get involved in a case, what is considered a lethal dose of fentanyl, what are you allowed inside Utah jails? Now, on the one hand, they don't look great, right? Let me rephrase, they really don't look great. But then again, I wonder if the defense could argue, well, you know, listen, she probably thought police would suspect her. They always suspect a significant other.

So maybe she was just concerned about what would happen to her. Not a bad argument, right? Not the worst I've made. Well, there was also reportedly a search about how long life insurance companies take to pay. That's important because the prosecution claims that Corey Richens took out four different life insurance policies on her husband between 2015 and 2017 without him knowing it. And those policies totaled almost $2 million. There were also claims that Corey had tried to poison Eric at least twice in the past. Richens is facing murder and drug charges and was recently suspected of witness tampering

for allegedly instructing her brother on how to testify. Okay, so as we continue to analyze some pretty wild online searches of criminal defendants in recent past, let's talk about Carly Russell. We're going to go to Hoover, Alabama. It's outside of Birmingham. So police say the 25-year-old faked her own kidnapping using an elaborate ruse that involved calling 911 to report an abandoned child on the side of the road, and then she showed up two days later with a wild story. So on July 13, 2023, Carly Russell left work in Birmingham,

and she was driving home to Hoover just after 8 p.m. She ran some errands, then she was driving along a highway when she called 911, and she told dispatchers that there was a toddler on the side of the road. Well, after the call, police say Russell called a family member, but at some point during the call, Russell stopped responding, but the call was still connected. When police got to the scene, there was no toddler, there was no Carly Russell. Her car, cell phone, wig, purse, they were all on the scene. But strangely, the snacks that Russell had purchased on her target run, they were gone. As I said, 49 hours later, Russell suddenly shows back up at her parents' home.

She said that she had been abducted and held hostage, but that she escaped. police held a news conference after she returned home giving the public an update and saying that the evidence so far pointed to the whole thing being a hoax some of the pieces of evidence that suggested that were her internet searches we enlisted the help of the united state secret service and conducting this analysis part of what data includes several internet searches and the days leading up to their disappearance that i think are very relevant to this case on july 11 at 7.30 a.m., the term, you have to pay for an amber alert was searched. On July 13th, at 103 a.m., the day of her disappearance, the term, how to take money from a register without being caught, was searched. On July 13th, at 2.13 a.m., the day of her disappearance, the term Birmingham bus station was searched. On July 13th, 235 a.m., a search for a one-way bus ticket from Birmingham to Nashville was conducted with a departure date of July 13th. On July 13th, at 12.10 p.m., a search

for the movie, taken, a film about a production, was conducted. There were two searches related to Amber Alerts on a computer at Cardi's place of employment, including in one regarding the maximum age of an amber alert. Amber alerts, travel plans, the Taken movie with Liam Neeson about his daughter getting kidnapped? This is just another example of people forgetting that your searches can bury you. Okay? About a week later, police held another news conference where they read a statement from Carly Russell given to them by her attorney. My client has given me permission to make the following statement on her behalf.

There was no kidnapping on Thursday, July 13th, 2023. My client did not see a baby on the side of the road. My client did not leave the Hoover area when she was identified as a missing person.

My client did not have any help in this incident but this was a single act done by herself. My client was not with anyone or any hotel with anyone from the time she was missing. My client apologizes for her actions to this community, the volunteers who were searching for her

to the Hoover Police Department and other agencies as well as to her friends and family. We ask for your prayers for Carly as she addresses her issues and attempts to move forward, understanding that she made a mistake in this matter. Carly again, ask for your forgiveness and prayers. In October, Carly Russell was found guilty of two misdemean. meaners, one count of false reporting to law enforcement authorities, and one count of falsely reporting an incident. She was sentenced to spend a year in jail and pay $18,000 in restitution.

And at the time of this recording, her motive for doing all this, it is still not clear. Let's talk about Tim Bliefnick of Illinois. He went viral for an answer that he gave on the game show Family Feud back in 2020. You see, he was asked, what was the biggest mistake you made at your wedding? And Bliefnick's answer was, saying I do. Why did that become so viral years later? Well, that answer took a really sinister turn when he was arrested in February of 23 for killing his estranged wife, Rebecca, or Becky.

Becky's body was found inside of her Quincy, Illinois home by her father after she didn't pick up her kids from school. She'd been shot 14 times. So Bliefnick and Becky had been going through a divorce and they were living apart. Both had filed restraining orders against the other. And Becky had even texted her sister, saying that if anything happened to her, Tim should be the number one person of interest. Well, during Bliefnick's trial, prosecutors pointed to his internet search history as being

particularly suspicious. Homelyville.com, how to open window from outside. Yes. Google search. Can I force open my door with a crowbar if I locked myself out? Yes. Home emergency. Wonder how to.com.

how to open almost any door with easy lock picking train. Yes. The phone was used to search how many cops in Quincy, Illinois? Yes. Next slide. Phone was used to search how to make a homemade distal silencer. That is correct. Phone was used to search average Quincy police department response time.

That's correct. How can I check if a gun is registered to me? That's correct. Can you just wash off gunpowder residue? That's correct. Can you identify if a shotgun shell was shot out of a specific gun? Yes, sir. Yikes.

So looking up how to get inside the home, the police response, guns, again, Becky was shot to death. Also, it didn't help that prosecutors showed belief Nick had been researching online, the license plate and VIN number of a car belonging to a man that Becky had been dating. In May, a jury convicted Bleafnick of murder, home invasion, and use of a firearm to commit first-degree murder, he was sentenced to life in prison. All right, let's close this out with the really disturbing searches of the Parkland School shooter. It really paints a picture of the sadistic thoughts of this person leading up to the mass shooting and Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February of 2018.

the shooter had entered a guilty plea of 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder for the massacre at his former high school. That meant that the court jumped directly to the penalty phase, which is similar to its own trial. So what would be his punishment? The jury would have to decide if he would get the death penalty or spend his life in prison. That's the purpose of this hearing. And it's a balancing test. It's balancing aggravating factors versus mitigating circumstances, reasons why the shooters should or should not be executed. So at one point, An electronic data analyst for the Broward County Sheriff's Office took the stand to go over the shooter's Google searches, and some of them were broad search terms like murder or shooting people. But the testimony quickly delved into some of the defendant's darkest inquiries.

You want to read this for us, please? Yes. June 15, 2017 at 1948 and 10 seconds UTC, search for McDonald's mass shooting. August 8th, 2017 at 5.57 and 11 seconds UTC, searched for pumped up kicks, Columbine High School. August 9th, 2017 at 2017 and 17 seconds UTC, search for how to become evil in society. August 10th, 2017 at 158 and 9 seconds UTC, search for pumped up kicks Columbine High School. August 19th, 2017, at 2015-21 UTC, search for park shooting. August 25th, 2017, at 1708 and 36 seconds UTC, searched for Charlottesville shooting.

August 28th, 2017, at 1726 and 52 seconds, UTC, search for how to shoot at 500 yards. August 31st, 2017 at 1951 and 45 seconds, UTC, searched for Polytech Massacre. And page 2 of that exhibit. August 31st, 2017 at 214249 UTC, search for wanting to kill people. September 1st, 2017 at 909-25 UTC. 25 UTC searched for School Massacre Kids with Guns. September 1st, 2017, at 1747, UTC searched for Columbine Massacre Song. September 6, 2017.

At 028, 37 seconds, UTC, searched for massacre in hotel. September 6, 2017 at 0.207 seconds, UTC, search for massacre in hotel. 6, 2017 at 0.29 and 9 seconds, UTC, search for massacre. September 6, 2017 at 0.29.45, searched for Russian massacre short film. September 8th, 2017 at 17, 14, 15 UTC, searched for killing people. September 11th, 2017 at 116, UTC searched for AR-15 shooting. It's just awful. It's just awful.

And the shooter also posted comments and videos online, bragging that he was a psychopath who was going to go on a killing rampage and be a professional school shooter and that it made him happy to see people die. In the end, though, the jury couldn't reach a unanimous verdict for the death penalty, so Cruz was sentenced to life in prison. This was a very controversial decision, and family members of the victims didn't hold back their anger and disappointment from that.

After the trial, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill ending the requirement for a unanimous jury for the death penalty. Now, a jury can recommend someone be executed with a vote of eight to four. So it's not just cell phone location data or text messages or voicemails that can prove crucial in the prosecution of criminals,

but time after time, it is those online searches that can prove to be the most incriminating of all. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.