Law&Crime Sidebar - Top 7 Most Disturbing & Revealing 911 Calls

Episode Date: September 25, 2023

911 calls can provide some of the most important pieces of evidence in criminal cases. They can also reveal crucial — yet odd — information. The Law&Crime Network’s Jesse Weber breaks down the top disturbing and revealing 911 calls.Hosts:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberAngenette Levy: https://twitter.com/Angenette5LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing - 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. View 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. Do you need police fire or medical? I think I deal with my mommy. Do you know who the person is? No, I don't know who he is. I just had a 12-year-old boy show up here at my front door asking for help. He's obviously covered in wounds. We need the cops here as soon as possible. 911 calls usually start a criminal case, and they can sometimes be some of the most important pieces of evidence.

From an apparent confession to murder, to a mother finding her own son's body part, to a call that may have saved the life of a famous politician's husband, we're taking a look at some of the more revealing 911 phone calls in recent history. mystery. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. If you're ever in any kind of trouble, you know you call 911 for help, right? Dispatchers will be on the other end of the line. They're going to be ready to send out police or firefighters or emergency medical aid, but a little trivia for you. You might not know this. It actually might surprise you. 911 hasn't been around as long as you might think. The first call to 911 was made in February

of 1968. Now, before that, you had to call local numbers, all seven digits, to reach emergency services. Thank goodness, that's changed. But, in fact, in the last several years, departments have upgraded their 911 systems to include options like texting instead of calling. But today, those 911 phone calls are still important. They still save lives. And even separately from that, 911 phone calls can be used in court, in actual cases.

They can be used to lay out a timeline. They can be used to provide details in a situation. They can even be used to incriminate a suspect. And so what we want to do is take a look at some of the more revealing 911 phone calls in recent memory. Now, sometimes a suspected criminal will call the police on themselves. That's right. Admitting their crime over the phone to the emergency operator. That is what seemed to happen in the case of Hen Bustami, a Las Vegas woman who called 911,

and I guarantee you, this is not a call that dispatchers receive often. Do you need police fire or medical? I think I killed my mommy. Yeah, you heard that right. The then 28-year-old called 911 in October 22 at around 2.30 in the morning, saying she killed her mother in the home that they shared together. Why do you think you killed your mom? Because I did.

I murdered her. Now, this call is at times quite graphic, as the operator presses Bustami to learn more. How did you do that? Yeah. I broke the table on her head, and I broke it. How did you kill her? You said something about a table? I broke the table on your head.

You dropped the table on her head? I broke the table on her head, and I cut her neckle. And you cut what? Yeah, she said, I broke the table on her head and cut her neck off. And when first responders arrive at the home, they find the body of her mother, 61-year-old Afaf Husanin. She sustained multiple lacerations. Police believed Bustami killed her mother with shards of glass from a broken coffee table.

And in fact, this is not the first time police had been called out to the home. No, there were reportedly calls about everything from family disturbances to a suicide attempt. Investigator said that officers with the Barstow Police Department and the California Highway Patrol located and detained Bustami in California shortly after finding her mother's body. And when they stopped Bustami, she was reportedly covered in blood and again admitted to killing her mother. She allegedly told a detective that she and her mother had gotten into a fight over cigarettes, of all things. Now, you might be looking at this case and saying, why does she seem familiar?

Well, as law and crime had previously reported, Penn Bustami was arrested in the Harry Reid International Airport on a previous occasion and she was charged with violating airport conduct. Apparently, she didn't pay for a meal at a restaurant, then slept near the security checkpoint, and when she was dealing with officers, she got belligerent. She said that she was only being harassed because the police had never seen someone so pretty.

Can't say I've heard that defense before. Well, a Nevada grand jury indicted Bustami for the murder of her mother in March of 2023, and prosecutors said that they would not seek the death penalty when the case goes to trial. A trial where I imagine this 911 phone call will play a crucial role. Well, one of the wildest cases that we have ever covered here at Long Crime is that of Taylor Shibisness. She is the 25-year-old Wisconsin woman who strangled to death her former boyfriend 25-year-old Shad Iryon during a sexual encounter at his mother's home, and then sexually abused his body and chopped the body up.

Yeah, let me tell you right now how disturbing this is, okay? And in my opinion, how cold her actions were. She left his remains all over the house and in a car. Now, according to Shibisness, the two had been doing meth. they started to fool around that led to Shibisnes putting a dog collar around his neck and starting to choke him. But she says once she started squeezing his throat, she just couldn't stop because she wanted to see what would happen. During an interrogation, Shibisnes agrees with the detective that she, quote, effed up. By the way, this is the same woman who attacked her attorney

in open court after her trial date was delayed. So just give you an idea of who we're dealing with. But let's go to the 911 phone call because in this. case, it is particularly haunted. It is Theron's mother, Tara Pachanish, who calls 911, and she has to be the one to relay to them that she found her son's head. Pray president, my son's head is in a bucket. I don't know. I'm not going to make that. What makes you think that? Because I looked at the bucket. When did you see? Exactly what I told it. Okay, where's the

Where's the rest of the body at? No idea. You kind of came upon the bucket Happenstance kind of, right? Right. So then you took the towel off? I did. And how long did you look in the bucket?

Seconds? Seconds, probably. Did you put the towel back then? I put the towel back, yeah. just how awful is that when you hear that and then we hear from miss packanish's boyfriend Tara had woken me up and said she uh think she found chat her son's that's how she put it I found my son's head in a bucket so I'm downfounded didn't believe her thought she was having a mental issue or something

I go downstairs and see what the hell is you talking about, and I can't see anything, so we go back upstairs and contemplate what the heck to do. So I guess what do you do specifically when you go downstairs? I went to the basement and observed a bucket that she said, but I don't know, my mind blocked it out about as I seen as like hair like an animal or so I didn't know what the heck. Horrifying. It's just horrifying. And Shibisnes even admitted this to police

showing that the 911 phone call wasn't an exaggeration. What did you do with the head? The hat put in that bucket, that black pocket. Black pocket? With a blanked out top. Okay. And then we're just for you leave it.

Leave the head? I have to go in the bucket. It's right by the stairs. Honestly, it's just hard to complicate. sometimes people what they do. Well, that 911 phone call was played for the jury at her trial on top of her interrogation and all the other evidence. And you guessed it, she was convicted of first degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and sexual abuse. Also, she was found to be sane at the time she committed this crime so that insanity plea didn't really work out for her.

And at the time of this recording, she has not yet been sentenced, but she is facing the possibility of life in prison. All right. We go now to San Francisco. Francisco, where a sometimes cryptic 911 phone call, may have saved the life of a congresswoman's husband. Paul Pelosi, the husband of then speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi, was home alone on October 28th, 2022, when shortly after 2 a.m., a man is seen on surveillance footage breaking in. He allegedly demanded to speak with Pelosi's wife, but she was out of town. Now, at one point, Paul Pelosi was able to call the police. This is San Francisco police.

Do you need help? Oh, well, there's a gentleman here just waiting for my wife to come back. Nancy Pelosi. He's just waiting for her to come back because he's not going to be here for a day, so I just left to wait. So you can hear just how careful Blosie is trying to speak about his situation without alerting the intruder. And we have come to learn and find out that that intruder is David. DePap. And here's the other startling aspect of this. DePap was holding a hammer. According to Pelosi, DePap kept repeating, where's Nancy, where's Nancy? But again, Nancy Pelosi was in

Washington, D.C. This phone call, this 911 phone call, continues. Do you know who the person is? No, I don't know who he is. He told me not to, he told me not to do anything. Anyway, this gentleman said that he thinks everything ought to, you know, he told me to put the phone down and just do what he said. Okay. It took the dispatcher a moment to catch on with what Pelosi was hinting at, and all of this as Pelosi tried to keep the pap com. Okay, who? What's the gentleman's name? I don't know. My name's David. My name is David. The name is David. Okay, and who is David? I don't know.

I'm a friend of theirs. Yeah, I, he says he's a friend, but as I said, but you don't know who he is? No, no, ma'am. Okay. He's telling me I'm being very leading, so I got to stop talking to you, okay. When this all came out, long crime spoke with trial attorney Catherine Lazzardo, and she believes that Pelosi may have been trying to tip off the dispatcher, without any retaliation from the suspect.

Mr. Pelosi was speaking almost in code instead of saying, help, help, help. There's an intruder here who has a hammer and might attack me. Maybe he sensed that already and just wanted to calm things down. So the dispatcher sends officers to Pelosi's for a wellness check. And when Pelosi opened the door, police body camera video shows Pelosi and DePap standing in the doorway and you can see Pelosi struggling with DePap to get hold of that hammer.

When police tell DePap to put the hammer down, he appears to say nope, and then is seen swinging it at Pelosi, hitting him in the head. Police tackle him, send him to the ground. Pelosi underwent surgery to treat a skull fracture as well as injuries to his hands and one arm. Thankfully, he was okay. He was released from the hospital. Police ended up logging several concerning items at the crime scene, like zip ties, duct tape,

a second hammer and gloves. De Pap told police that he planned to hold Pelosi hostage, maybe even break her kneecaps because he saw as, quote, the leader of the pack of lies told by the Democratic Party. Turns out DePap is a Canadian citizen and was in the U.S. illegally, having overstayed his visa. Officials have charged a pap with both federal and state crimes, including attempted kidnapping and attempted murder. It is believed that Pelosi's called the 911 likely saved his life. Well, we've got another example now of suspect. calling 911 on themselves, and that's what happened in Lancaster County, Nebraska. The sheriff's office posted a video on its Facebook page, showing footage from an incident

back in March. 911, where is your emergency? I'm on Highway 77 going north, and there's somebody that is on the long side of the road. And then what you see what color type of vehicle it was? No, he had his bright dog, man. He almost ran me off the road. I'm on the east lane. He was on the west lane.

Okay. Could you tell him as a car truck or SUV or anything? It looked like a truck. Okay. But that, dude, he almost hit me. So I was like, holy shit. But actually, it was the caller who was on the wrong side of the road. Yeah.

Now, thankfully, a deputy was able to stop him before he hit anyone. Yeah, do you know why I stopped you? Yeah, because I was on the wrong side of the road. Yeah. Is there a reason for that? No. I must miss an accident. Missing exit. And that's when the deputy realized that they had heard from this guy already that night. Were you the one that called in?

Yep. You were? Yeah, because I thought somebody was on the wrong side of the B. But it turned out it was you. Yep, look it dumb. The sheriff's department didn't identify the man, but they did post the video to warn against drunk driving. All right, let's continue our conversation.

on some of the most revealing 911 phone calls. We're going to continue with a major case that we're following right now, an incredibly disturbing one, and it has an incredibly disturbing 911 phone call. I'm talking about the case of Ruby Frankie. This is the 41-year-old wife and mother of six, whose claim to fame was now a defunct YouTube channel called Eight Passengers, documenting the life of their family out in Utah. It also stirred up controversy because of her parenting techniques, which critics said was absolutely cruel. Well, you fast forward to 2023, and she and her business partner,

Jody Hildebrand, who had filmed videos together, they have each been charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse with respect to two of Frankie's young children. You see, police were alerted after Frankie's 12-year-old son escaped Hildebrand's residence and ran to a neighbor asking for food and water. He was found emaciated with deep lacerations and duct tape on his extremities. When police arrived, they also found Frankie's 10-year-old daughter in similar condition, and that is when Frankie and Hildebrandt were taken into custody. But I want to focus on the 911 phone call that was placed by that neighbor of Hildebrand. We want to talk about a powerful 911 phone call that reveals a lot and will prove pivotal at an upcoming criminal

trial. There you go. I'm on the address of your emergency. Tell me exactly what's happened. I just had a 12-year-old boy show up here at my front door asking for help. We know there's been problems at this neighbor's house. He's emaciated. He's got tape around his legs. He's hungry and he's thirsty. And he asked us to call the police. So he's very afraid. This kid has obviously been, I think he's been, he's been detained. He's been, he's obviously covered in wounds. We need the cops as soon as possible. It's amazing that he talks about knowing that there were problems at Hildebrand's house.

It makes you wonder what kind of witness he would play at their upcoming trial or trials if the cases get severed. But you have this real-time recounting of what's going on with that child, and you can hear him getting emotional. By the way, thank goodness he was there to receive this young boy. while Frankie and Hilda Bram, they face, as I said, six counts of aggravated child abuse, and each count carries up to 15 years in prison. Over now, to the case of former police officer Amber Geiger out in Dallas, Texas. So back on September 6, 2018, Geiger had just finished her more than 13-hour shift when she went back to her apartment complex.

Now, keep in mind, she was still wearing her uniform. She was off duty. And at around 10 p.m., she walks into what she believes was her apartment, only she actually walked into the apartment of a neighbor, 26-year-old Botham John. When she sees him thinking that he was an intruder and she sees him approaching her, she takes out her weapon and shoots him in the chest, killing him. John was literally eating ice cream watching TV. So was he a threat?

And on the flip side, did he know who was coming into his apartment? So Amber Geiger was charged with his murder, and she went on trial in 2019. And I'll tell you, in my opinion, one of the most pivotal pieces of evidence and most difficult to hear was her 911 phone call right after she shot him, because it tells us a lot. Get up, man. Gilles, son-in-one. This is Carlo. Is your emergency? Hi, this is an off-duty officer.

Can I get an e-miss? I'm in number. What's going on? I'm an officer, I thought it was in my apartment, and I shot a guy thinking that he was thinking it was my apartment. He saw someone? Yes, I thought it was my apartment. Oh my God. I'm sorry.

Okay, and where are you at right now? I'm inside the apartment with him. Hey, come on. What's your name? I'm Amber Geiger. I need to get me. I'm in... Okay, we have help on the way.

I know, but I'm going to lose my job. I thought it was my job. apartment. I need, I need, I need a supervisor. Hey, bud. Hey, bud. Hey, bud. I thought it was my apartment. I thought it was my apartment. I thought it was my apartment. I thought it was my apartment. I thought it was my apartment. Okay, and what floor are you in right now? The fourth floor is. Hey bud, hey bud, they're coming there, but. I'm sorry, man. Okay, where was he shot? He's on the top, top left. Oh my God. I didn't mean to I'm so sorry

stay with me bud she's tired hurry right over here over here okay go ahead and talk to me it's me I'm all duty I'm all duty I thought they were in my apartment I thought this was my floor

now on the one hand her story has always been consistent she admits that she shot him she always said including on this first call that she really did believe she entered her own apartment. You can hear how panicked she was. And she said, I'm so tired, which the defense used to their advantage to suggest, how can you blame her? After a 13 and a half hour shift, she's exhausted, she made a mistake. But the language that she uses where she seems more concerned

about her own well-being, like, I'm going to lose my job. Now, I know this is a traumatic experience, but those comments may not have sat well with many people because that's the first thing you say? In the end, the jury convicted Amber Geiger of murder, believing she did not act reasonably under the circumstances and intended to kill him. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison and is up for parole in 2024. All right, let's wrap things up in Miami, Florida, where only fans model Courtney Clenney stands accused of stabbing to death or live-in boyfriend, 28-year-old Christian Obam Selly, back in April of 2022 in their apartment. Prosecutors claim 27-year-old Clennie, who is facing a second-degree murder charge,

killed Obam Selly in a domestic violence incident. Now, this is seemingly supported by surface surveillance footage from the elevator in their apartment complex, showing an incident over a month before the killing, where you can see Clennie hitting Obam Selly repeatedly. Now, it seems that Clennie's attorneys are arguing that she acted in self-defense during this shooting, that she was the victim of domestic abuse in their relationship. It's certainly going to be an interesting trial to watch for many different reasons. But I will tell you, the 911 phone call from Clennie right after the stabbing,

I imagine this will play heavily in this case. Let's listen. Ma'am, my boyfriend is dying of a staff. Ma'am, what is the address? What's up? 3131. 3131, North East, 7th. Please, God, please.

Come to my voice. Ma'am, is this a house apartment or a business? I, 12, 745-3582. Is this a house apartment or a business? Maybe I'm so sorry. Maybe. So her seemingly saying, I'm sorry, could possibly be interpreted by a jury as her admitting she was at fault and regretting her decision. By the way, it seems to me that this also shows why prosecutors went with second-degree murder and not first-degree murder for her.

Second-degree murder in Florida is defined as, quote, the unlawful killing of a human being when perpetrated by any act imminently dangerous to another and evincing a depraved mind regardless of human life, although without any person. premeditated design to affect the death of any particular individual. So it doesn't seem like she planned to kill him, or this was premeditated in any way, but it happened from her engaging in an extremely dangerous act, namely using the knife. Now, let's play some more of this 911 phone call where she talks about the wound. What do you mean he has a stab wound on his shoulder? ma'am. It's bleeding from his shoulder.

Clinton says that she says that she stabbed him in the shoulder. And Clennie tells authorities right after this that she threw the knife at him about 10 feet away but claimed she was acting in self-defense. While the autopsy showed that he suffered a wound to the chest from the knife. range. So no way this could have been her throwing the knife, or at least that's what prosecutors suggest. So what actually did she do? Was she covering her tracks with these statements? Something to think about, something for the jury to think about. And then finally, in the 911 phone call, you actually hear Obam Selly. And I warn you, it is not easy to hear.

301. It's 1.30. Ma'am, listen to me. You need to stop streaming on the line and security address. 301. You're going to die. I can't see my arm. How old is he?

Ma'am, how old is he? Ma'am, how old is he? Is he awake? Yeah, you hear him say that he can't feel his arm, that he's going to die. And then the phone goes silent as he presumably loses consciousness. And we know that he later dies. It's just really, really sad to think about here. I said these cases begin with a 911 phone call that can reveal a lot.

And certainly, that is the case here. We plan to cover her trial on law and crime and sidebar. That's all we have for you, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us here on Sidebar. do appreciate it, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.