Morbid - The Gruesome Murder of Brenda Sue Schaefer Part 1

Episode Date: August 8, 2020

The first of two parts in the Brenda Sue Schaefer murder case. Brenda was a modest, hard working woman just looking for the right man to fall in love and enjoy life with. Unfortunately she met Mel Ignato instead. This installment we’re getting Ashcentric with it and talking about who Brenda was, what her first relationships were like and what the events were leading up to her disappearance. Of course we gotta leave you on a cliffhanger, but feel free to head to a chilli restaurant while you wait for part two! See you next week.  Double Jeopardy: Obsession, Murder and Justice Denied by Bob Hill https://www.amazon.com/Double-Jeopardy-Obsession-Murder-Justice/dp/0688129102 Thank you to our sponsors,  Athena Club: Stop using razors that underdeliver and switch to Athena Club!  Sign up today and you’ll get 15% off your first order! Just go to Athena Club.com and use promo code morbid. PlushCare: Start your membership today! Go to PlushCare.com/morbid to start your FREE 30-day trial. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is morbid. Mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, morbid. Mini morbid, mini morbid, mini morbid. An ash-centric morbid. Ash-centric. Which means not as long as Elena's. Yeah, we gave you a long one before this. You always have to upstage me. It's what you do. Honestly, I was not ready to do that long of one, but like, it just had to be done. It was worth I hope it was. It felt like it to me. You put your thing down, flipped it and reversed it. Yeah, exactly. I feel it. I loved it. I don't think there's any business. I mean, I think we updated in the other episode that we'll be doing a Lori Vallow updated Chad Daybell update. This week, that'll just be like a little extra like, here you go. Here's a gift. Yeah. And besides that, you know, we'll let you know about shows still, because that's still all just up in the air. That's the thing. We're going to let you know as soon as we know. But as you know, like, you know, like, you know, like, like things are really, really just floating nebulous in the universe right now. So we will definitely let you know when we know.

And hopefully we'll be able to see you next year. I want to see your faces. But either way, we are going to do more virtual shows. And I'll wear fancy pants this time. Did you see how upset people were that I was not wearing fancy pants? I kind of love that. I kind of love it, but I was like, I was serving a look. You were, but I love that our, like, listeners have connected so hard with your fancy pants.

It just feels good. I know. I'm actually wearing a pair of my fancy pants right now. So you know what? They'll be back. Don't worry about it. They'll be back again. Well, let's just, let's go right into it, I feel.

Let's do this. Okay. So this week, I'm going to be talking about the murder of Brenda Schaefer. I know this one. So, okay, I don't even know where I found this. I think I was just, it might have been in our suggestions or I might have just been like looking for a case to cover. Our suggestions are like a gold mine.

I don't know if it was. I don't remember. They truly are. Because I've been working on this now for weeks because I got wicked invested. Ooh, I love that. I love when you get invested. Well, and the issue is that I feel like there's like nothing online about this case. I found like maybe two articles other than like Wikipedia. Yeah. I can't look there. Because I think I've only heard this case maybe. I mean, I've only heard like one podcast about it and I remember being like, whoa. Yeah, it's crazy. There's like an American, remember that show American Justice? Oh yes. I do. I was so good. There's, I know there's an episode on it,

but I couldn't find it anywhere. So I was like, well, I had to go buy a book. So I bought me a book. Oh, look at you. I know. I pulled a you. Look at you. And this book, this is basically where I got like all of my information.

So all the credit, all the citing to Bob Hill, who wrote the book double jeopardy. Nice. So. Good job, Bob. Bob, you killed it. I'm loving your book. You did the damn thing. Oh, and by the way, this is going to be a two-pada.

A two-pada, you say. Two-pada for the party. I probably should have made mine a two-patter. But, you know, probably. Whatever. That's okay. Hope you have a long commute to nowhere. Exactly.

To your couch. To your backyard. Yeah, there you go. Perfect. All right. Well, let's dive in. Let's do it. Brenda Schaefer grew up in the St. Matthews area of Kentucky.

It's like pretty close to Louisiana. Okay. No, not Louisiana. Louisville is what I meant to say. I was literally just going to be like, wait a second. You know, Louisiana and Kentucky are pretty close. They are. They're bros.

I meant Louisville. Okay. So anyways, bye. She came. I don't know if you saw my eyes glaze over. I was like, I didn't even. Picturing a map in my head. My head was just like, no, no, no.

You didn't even write that down. Why'd you say that? You fixed it. So she came from a big German Catholic family and she was the youngest of six children. Wow. Lots of kids. Busy. So her parents were Mary Essie and John W. Schaefer and they had gotten married in 1937.

Look at them. A long, long time ago. And Mary Essie, she went. just by Essie because all the girls in her family were named Mary after like Mother Mary. Oh my God. Which I thought was like kind of funny. Wow. So we'll just call her Essie from now on.

That's cute. Such a cute name. Great now polished too. It's true. It is. So Mary Essie and John decided they were ready for their first child. And they decided actually to foster a child first. And her name was Mary Ann.

So they took her in when she was nine years old. And then they were like, cool. let's have like so many more of these. Let's just keep doing this. It went well. Let's keep it going. And they were like great parents. Aw.

So they had Carolyn. They had John Jr., who they called Jack, Tom, Mike, and then lastly, Brenda. And Brenda was born in 1952. Okay. So all throughout childhood and her whole life, Brenda was like really, really close to Essie because the child that Essie was pregnant with before she had Brenda died while she was still, while the baby was still in the womb. Oh, she miscarried? She miscarried. But, like, I don't know if it was just because it was back then. I think it was a culmination of, is that a word? A culmination.

Yeah. Of, like, being back then and also they were of Catholic faith. So they didn't believe in, like, abortion, even though technically, like, the baby already died. So she had to carry it to term and give birth to a stillborn. Which was obviously a very traumatic experience for her. That's so tough. I can't imagine that. If anybody, I mean, if any of our listeners have ever had like a miscarriage or knows what that feels like, it's like, I can't imagine having to, to deliver. Like not having a choice of how to go about. Exactly. Just moving forward, you know. It's so sad. So she had to give birth to the baby, and obviously that's an insanely traumatic experience. So she was really depressed afterwards. And then she got pregnant with Brenda. And Brenda was like her rainbow baby. I was just going to say it's the rainbow

baby. So all throughout, like, ever since Brenda was born literally through her whole life, her and Essie were best, best friends, like super, super close. Something special about your rainbow baby. There is. Yeah, the girls are my rainbow babies. I was going to say, I was going to say you have two of them, but I didn't know if you wanted me to. Brenda, like, everyone was like, she was so beautiful. Like, if you, and you look at pictures of her and you're like, girl, like, you're gorgeous. You're doing it. Um, she had like medium dark brown hair that was always styled. She always dressed nicely. And she was quiet and shy. But if you were close to her, she, you were like, you thought she was super funny. Yeah. Like, you, you knew who she was. You knew who she was. Exactly. And, um, people loved her. Like,

anybody that was close to her was, like, everybody that was friends with her was close friends with her, it seemed. She, she wasn't one of those people that had just like acquaintances. It was like, you were her friend. Right. And like, if she was letting you in, she was letting you in. Lots that. And so one of her friends from high school said, quote, of our whole group, Brenda was always the best person. She was afraid to do anything really, afraid to do anything really daring. Oh. So she was just kind of like, I'm going to do what I do.

Yeah, like she played it safe. I'm not a wild child. I am who I am. So she wasn't you. Yeah. No, not at all. So when she was in high school, her father bought the family like a small vacation spot. It was like a little summer camp area on Harold's Creek.

along the Ohio River. The vacation spot was like 25, 30 minutes away from their house, but they loved to go there all summer. And like even like when it was in summertime, it was like their little spot. And Brendan and her friends would like lay out sun tanning together and talking about life. It was the 70s. Like I bet they were listening to like really good music. Like just love, peace love. Peace, love, happiness, all of the above. And boys, obviously. And of course. That good teenage stuff. Yeah, you know, there was, I don't know if sun, was a thing back then, but I feel like it was. If it wasn't, you know they were squirting lemon juice in their hair.

They were doing something to get streaks in their hair. Ruin in their die jobs. Don't put lemon in your hair. But the summer she turned 16, she caught the eye of Charles Pete Van Pelt, who was 19, so he was three years older. All right. And like I said, Brenda was one of those girls who was like absolutely stunning, but she didn't realize it.

And she was like her own worst critic. Like she thought that she was fat, which she was not by any stretch of the imagination. Of course not. She thought like her makeup was wrong and everybody was like, no, like, you're perfect. Oh, that's so sad that she like, she was just insecure things about herself. Yeah. But Pete was like, yo, I think you are gorgeous. I love you. Like he was like super into Brenda. And they hit it off right away. He was the first boy she really fell in love with. So he went by Pete. There's like so many people in this story where it's like their first name, but they go by their second name. I was going to say, because I was like, wait, what's his name?

There's a lot of that. His name is Charles Pete Van Pelt, but we're going to call him Pete. What a name. I know. That is a name. Van Peltz. You know, I love a van name. Van anything is just fun. It's true. Wasn't that your drag name was going to be like Van something? Yeah, I forget what it was. I need to listen to that episode. We got to text Johnny and Tyler. From that spooky, go listen to that spooky. So Pete, you know, went by Pete. He was a police dispatcher in Louisville and he wanted to be a policeman someday. And that was what Brenda's older brother, acted. He was a police officer, a police detective. So Brenda dated Pete through the rest of high school. I think they met like right at the probably like as she was going into her junior year and they dated junior year and senior year. And they decided to get married. So they got engaged during her senior year.

Whoa. Which I was like, well. But then if you think, I'm right? I was going to say you think of the time. And it's like, that makes sense. Yeah. They planned to get married a few months after graduation, which was going to be in 1971. But in May of that year, Brenda's brother Jack was actually killed while he was on duty. And it was like a very like insane murder. Him. His poor family. I know. Him and his partner were killed by I think I don't, I think it was like a gang or something like that. And they, he was shot something like five times in the chest in the head and just left in an alleyway. And like, actually Pete, Brenda's boyfriend was like I said, a dispatcher. So he was one of the people that had to go tell Essie. There was a, like, like a group of people that went to tell her and she fainted when they told her. Oh, that's so sad. So they, so obviously the family was like super affected by that and they put the wedding off. Yeah, I don't blame

them. Actually, while Jack was still alive, he asked Brenda not to marry Pete just to wait longer because he was like, you guys are so young. Like, don't get married right now. Live your life. Like, at least someone was saying that. I know. And that's what he really wanted. But the wedding, like, it was postponed, but then when everything kind of got back together again, by the end of 1971 in December, they went through the, with the plan, and they got married. All right. So now Brenda and Pete are married. They are in holy matrimony.

And things were like, all right, but they were not amazing. You don't say. No. Pete was not very good with money at all, because he's like a child. I mean, I was not, he's Pete. He's like 20. I was like not very good with money when I was 20. No?

No, not. No, not at all. And he wanted like a very old fashioned kind of relationship, like the one that Brenda's mom and dad had. Like he was like, I want to call the shots. I want to spend the money. And she was like, I don't really. He's like, I don't want to have to discuss with you when I spend money kind of thing. Exactly.

And she was like, okay. I don't like that. And he wasn't necessarily a drunk. But when he did drink and they got into it with each other, he was. would be like very violent and yell and punch walls. I couldn't find anything that said he was ever violent toward Brenda, but he was violent around Brenda, if that makes sense. Yeah, that's still like not okay. And if he's yelling and stuff, it's like that's, you know, verbally abusive. Yeah, it was an abusive relationship for sure. So according to Pete,

Brenda didn't like to be intimate that often and that was another thing that kind of contributed to there, which not that often is probably like a pretty normal amount. and he was probably one of those, like... He might have been, but this is like a running theme that we're going to see. And I'll get a little more into it later. That's interesting. Yeah, it is. And there's nothing...

I'll get into it later. So he said that she didn't want to be intimate other than just like cuddling and kissing. And, but Brenda was, she never talked about sex with her friends that often. Like, she didn't like to get changed in front of people. Like, she was just a very private person. Very modest. Super, super modest. Yeah.

Some people are just like that. That's just... That's how she was. That's just who she was. But obviously, Pete, it wasn't a fan of that. He's like, I thought when we were going to get married, we were going to be, like, doing it all the time. We were going to, like, be bunnies. And I was going to spend the money, and it was going to be great.

He had this. Spend money and have sex. I thought that's what marriage was. Is that not what we signed up for? I'm sorry, was that not our vows? He's like, I said, I do. And it's like, you should have put it in the vows if you wanted that part of it. Exactly.

And you didn't. So they're fighting all the time. The money problems are coming up. Pete is spending, like, a ton of money. At one point, Brenda's family was keeping track of all the things he was spending money on. And it ended up being like a ton of money. What was he spending it on? Just like bullshit?

Just like dumb shit, like cars and like, I don't know, like furniture that they didn't need. Yeah, stuff that he just wanted. Yeah. And I think he was probably just excited to be married and have his own place and was just like buying a ton of stuff. Being irresponsible. He was just being 20. You know. You know.

So they wanted to get divorced because things were. were like getting worse and worse, but Brenda was really struggling with that decision because, again, she was Catholic. Yeah. And her Catholic guilt, man. I know. And her family was like very against divorce because they were all practicing Catholics. Yeah.

It was just not. And also it was the 70s. Like, it was not a thing that happened very often. Especially with like the woman being the one to decide to get divorced. It's like a lot of factors working against it being an easy decision. Yeah. But eventually she did come to the decision. that like she wasn't doing this anymore and their marriage they ended in divorced and it only lasted

four years wow so it was a very short marriage short and tumultuous very tumultuous and very expensive yeah apparently yeah so she moved home even though her dad was like super against it he would he literally was like brenda made her bed now she can lie in it oh but they got over it eventually it's just like who he was yeah he was just kind of like didn't like a picture just like the dad and like tv shows that just doesn't say much and he's just like, mm-hmm, like, that's, it is what it is. Yeah, and again, another time. Right. But obviously, Essie was like super happy to have Brenda back because that was her girl. Like, she loves her. Brenda dated here and there after the divorce, but she was pretty put off for a little while because remember, that marriage was not just shitty in like a financial way.

It was shitty in like a violent way. Yeah, absolutely. You wouldn't trust someone. And she, she definitely had trust issues after that. But after a while, she did mean. this guy named Jim Rush. He was a dentist and they met at TGI Fridays. Oh my goodness. Which is literally one of my favorite restaurants in the entire world. Ash is like, me cute. I'm there. I'm like, I wish that I met Annie at TGI Fridays. I didn't. You can pretend. We met outside of a Forever 21, so it's just as good. I was just going to say that's about on par. So it truly is. But they really hit it off and they began seeing each other all the time, like taking vacations together. They would go take vacations with Brenda's family. And Brenda's family was like, we love Jim.

Wow, Jim getting it. Jim was getting it. And listen to this. One time he bought Brenda a billboard. Like he rented a billboard that basically was just like, I love you so much. There's not enough space to tell you how much I love you on this billboard. That dental flex up in here. A straight up dental swoonage.

Whoa. Oh. Whoa, DDS. I love it. Damn. So they dated for eight years. Whoa. But, you know, like things are not.

not always all TGI Friday's mashed potatoes and billboards. Love professed via billboard, exactly. Also, have you ever had the TGI Friday's mashed potatoes? I have. Oh my God. They're pretty good. So good. So it wasn't all mashed potatoes all the time. It wasn't. Not at all. Okay. They had their fights and it seemed like a lot of them were just because they were like very opposite people with very opposite personalities. Brenda thought that Jim drank too much and she was like embarrassed by him when he would drink. And he did agree. Yeah, were times when he drank too much, but he thought Brenda could be, like, hard to read, even though they had been together for a wicked long time. He was like, I don't know how she feels

about me. Like, yeah, because she seems like she's just one of those people that even if you know her really well, like, you just can't crack her? Yeah. Like, you're like, do, do you like me? Like, how do you feel? Right. Like, can you, I feel like we've all dated somebody like that? Yeah. Yeah. Like, why are you dating? Like, they just don't express any, like, what you need. Right. They express just enough. Exactly. And that's exactly how Jim felt. He was like, I don't know if you like me. Can you tell me how you feel about me? I feel like you're a little too cold. And he also felt like she was a little too hard on him. Okay. There were also sexual issues in this relationship as well. So it seems like Jim was having a problem with impotence. Oh, okay. So that was going on. And he said that Brenda just wasn't really interested in having sex all that often. He actually suggested. when they broke up that she might have ISD, which is actually referred to now as HSD. So it's hypo, not hyperactive, sexual desire disorder. Oh, okay.

The person affected just like isn't interested in having sex very often, even when their partner is. Ah, okay. So like low libido. It's literally low libido. It's like the exact same thing. According to healthline.com, it's different than being asexual. I didn't want anybody to get confused. because that is defined as like the lack of sexual attraction.

Yeah. Where HSDD is not attract. Like you're still attracted to the person, but it's, you don't have the desire. The act of sex. You're just like, it's not something you're into. I don't need to. So that was that. That wasn't working out.

And also, so I think it's kind of like common to assume. And I, when I was reading the book, the author said the same thing that like maybe she was like molested or like it seemed like that kind of. I was wondering if there was. something with that just because she was so, I mean, some people are just inherently modest and not really like into talking about sex with their friends or anything like that. But I feel like sometimes that can be a, a factor of like why you, why you so against talking about it, doing it, you know. Especially when it carries into like all of your relationships. Yeah. Because sometimes, I mean,

I guess I could see like you're just not sexually connected with one person. Yeah. But when it comes to all your relationships, it is. It seems to be a little. kind of question. Yeah. So I couldn't find anything at all and neither could the author of double jeopardy, but I don't think it happened. So I don't, there's nothing to say it did. I mean, she might just be modest. Yeah, it's just who she was. But I was looking into it and some of the causes of HSDD include having a partner with a controlling attitude, contempt her criticism and conflict. Oh, okay. So those were all things that seemed to be the big problems in Brenda's marriage to Pete and all kind of issues that she was facing with Jim, too.

Yeah, so it might just be that she's picking the wrong dudes. The wrong dudes, yeah, that's also a common theme here. Other causes can be painful sex, feelings of rejection, hormone changes, and there's, like, the list goes on and on. Yeah, of course. So she also could have been dealing with that and just didn't want to talk about it. Yeah. So nobody really knows.

But I also said Brenda was like one of those girls who didn't realize how beautiful she really was, like she didn't feel pretty. And people think that that could have been a reason, too, why she was suffering from this because that's a whole other reason why people suffer from this. Could have been like a body dysmorphia insecurity kind of thing. Right. And I clarified, like, I couldn't find that she was like molested or anything like that. I also couldn't find anything to say that she was ever diagnosed with HSDD. Okay. It was just something that Jim was like, I think you have this. Yeah.

And he wanted things to work between them. He was like, I have this issue where, you know, like, I can't get going. I think you have this issue and he was like, I'm seeing a therapist for my issue, but like he, and then he was like, I think you have this and like kind of hinting. Maybe it would be good to talk to someone. But there, and he wrote this all in a letter to her and there was other things in the letter like, you're so cold. I don't know how you feel about me. And Brenda just took that and was like heartbroken. Uh-oh. It was like, it completely turned her off. It didn't get taken as like maybe like feedback to help the relationship. It was like criticism probably to her. And he kind of.

I got, like, mad at the end of the letter and, like, said some other stuff that was like, okay, Jim, like, you got to, you got to calm down. You got to quit while your head. Guys don't like feeling rejected. Nobody does. I was going to say nobody really does. So they tried to work things out after, but after eight years, they wanted to call it quits. Wow. Just like eight years is a long fucking time. You're almost at a decade. I know, right? Just go, get over that hump. Just, it's everybody gets there. The eight year itch. The eight year. There's one year late, right? Yeah. It's a seven year rich.

Ask Marilyn about it. I don't know. Things. I mean, they ended amicably enough, but it didn't seem like moving forward. They were kind of, they didn't really talk that often. Yeah. But it did seem like for each of them, the other was the one that got away. Because we'll get into that a little lighter. Don't worry. But Joyce Smallwood was one of Brenda's best friends.

And they had like a ton in common. And Joyce had been in Brenda's shoes before. She had been in a shitty marriage and she had been in failed relationships. And she's like, I know exactly how you feel. girlfriend, like, we need to get you out there. We need to cheer you up. And I've been dating this guy, Bob Davis. And so Bob was like a little bit older than Joyce, but he was a super nice guy. And he had this friend Mel. And she was like, I want to set you up with Mel. And Mel's last name is Ignato. Okay. So Mel Ignato. Whenever I read it, I want to say Ignatow, but that's not

how you say it. That one sounds good too, though. Yeah. So Joyce suggested that Brenda to meet Mel and they go on this double date with her and Bob. And Brenda's like, you know what? Like, why not? Sure. Let's try this again. Let's go crazy. She's like, if it sucks, it sucks.

But whatever. In September of 1986, Brenda met up with Bob and Joyce and met Mel on his boat. His boat was called motion lotion. Motion lotion. Motion lotion. Yeah, I'd split at that point. I'd be like, you know what? I'm actually good.

I'm actually really good. I'm actually going to motion to the other way. I actually feel really good about leaving right now. You know what? On second thought, I had bad sushi yesterday. Motion lotion. But she did not take that as a sign to run the other way. And they hit things off.

And he, things went so well that Mel invited her back on the boat the next day, just the two of them. Wow. And she was again like, yeah, why not? Like, cool. Hop on the motion lotion. Let's get on this motion lotion and get it moving. to Brenda, I guess like Mel seemed different than the other guys that she had been involved with in the past, because he was different. He was older by 14 years. He was really well established, to be honest. He had money. He had a job as a salesman where he traveled back and forth to Asia. He drove a corvette. He owned this, like, gorgeous home that was like super expensive at the time. He had the boat. So he had motion lotion. He had motion lotion. And how are you going to say no to that? That's different. And so she was like, okay, like, let's

do this. So they're dating, whatever. But she also learns that he has, like, a lot of, like, strange pet peeves and weird quirks. And Joyce remembered that once they were going to go on another double date on the boat and that Brenda and Mel showed up super, super late, because Mel insisted that they eat dinner first. And Joyce was like, well, why didn't we just eat dinner on the boat? Like, why can't we do that? And Mel was like, no, like, we'll make a mess on the boat. And Joyce was like, no, like, we'll make a mess on boat if we eat dinner on the boat. Like, I'm not going to have four adults eat dinner on my boat. I'd be like, sir, are you okay? And it's like, we're, like you just said, we're adults. I was going to say, we can clean up after ourselves. We are four. You know that, right? But he did not

like people eating on his boat. He did not like messes. And he thought that if they all had dinner on the boat, it was going to be sure to leave a mess. And he was just not into that. And then what are you going to do with a mess? I mean, he didn't want to clean it. That's it. You can't do anything about it. The motion lotion is now just a mess. It's defunct now. It's just, it's stop. We have to abandon it wherever it is if we get it messy. SOS, we've made a mess. Save our sandwiches.

Save our sandwiches from the motion lotion. So Joyce is like, okay, well, that's weird. And then she slowly started to like add up the weird things about Mel and was like, Brenda, you need to get rid of this guy. He's a weirdo. And I'm going to read about you in the paper someday. Oh. Because things started getting like a lot more serious than just eating.

on the boat. Yeah, like he's letting these things out slowly. Slowly. And Joyce is like, this guy's rude. He boasts about money all the time. He's like always saying how much things cost, which I think is so yucky. I was going to say that to me is a red flag for a person when they constantly talk about how much money they have. I'm like, yeah, we're not going to get along. He also lied about being in the CIA. He would like talk about CIA missions that he had been on. Oh, and that's like, that's a real sign that he's out to lunch. Like you need to, right. You need to get to. You need to get off that ride. And that's what Joyce said. She literally told Brenda, I'm going to read about you in the paper if you don't get rid of this guy. That makes me sad. Girl, if your boyfriend, if your friend's

boyfriend starts talking about his CIA missions, you need to go get your girlfriend out of there. And you know what? When your friend is telling you, like, I'm so concerned that I'm afraid I'm going to read about you in the paper, it's snip, snip. At least consider it. Give it a shot. But it was too late at this point. Yeah. She was already, it had been like a couple months. And she was, when you're in with these people you're in. And these certain people, these certain guys will, they know how to hook you. And Mel is this guy, to a tee. He sounds like it. He became obsessed with Brenda. I mean, remember, the other thing is he was, he said at one point, he was like, I don't know why she was dating like an ugly guy like me, which he was beautiful. He carried a picture of her in his wallet

in a bathing suit and he used to like show it to people that he worked with. Yeah, that's creepy. If she had known that, I feel like she would have been, I don't know if she did or not, but she would not have liked that. Yeah. Because she's so modest. Very modest. He constantly showed up at work with like gifts and jewelry, you know, that honeymoon phase that they put you through.

He even proposed to her after two months of dating her. Wow. And he proposed like right around Christmas time. And he told Brenda that the ring cost $20,000. Jesus. Which also, I don't want to know how much my engagement. I mean, like, do I want to know? Sure.

If it's like really expensive. Don't tell me, though. Like, like, $20,000? And that's also, like, putting a, like, that's almost putting a bounty on your head kind of thing. Like, it's literally being like, you got $20,000 on your finger right now. Like, that's basically him being, like, put the pressure on. Like, just remember what you have on your finger. It's, you know.

Look what I did for you. It's control. Exactly. And so, luckily, I mean, luckily, I don't know what Brenda was thinking, but the right thing because she was like, no, it's like, it's too early. Wow, good for her. And I kind of wonder if she was like, I can still get out of this if I don't engage him. Yeah.

But he asked again and kept showering her with gifts and he would call every weeknight at like a certain time. He would call her on the weeknights between 10 and 11 so that she couldn't go out because she had to be home to take his calls. Okay, hon. She would. That's bad. So bad. So bad. He would make dates with her on the weekend.

So like all of her time was devoted to Mel, exactly. And all of her friends started to catch on and her family's starting to catch on. The family hated Mel. Like they were like, I don't like this guy. Something's off. But like I said, it didn't matter because he proposed again. And he proposed on Valentine's Day, 1987. And this time, Brenda said yes.

Because she's like, all right, third time's a charm, I suppose. Second. Oh, I thought it was three. I think I said it first, but I didn't mean to say it. Yeah. So Mel started calling even more now. He would call two to three times at work during the day. He would still do his 10 and 11 calls and he was still like taking her out on the weekends.

So now it was at work, she was talking to him. And she worked as a nurse's aide. Oh, wow. She didn't have time to be taking these phone calls. She wasn't at a desk much. She's like, I'm kind of actually busy. I'm kind of saving lives. After he started like the calls and everything, then he wanted to know about her finances,

even though Brenda didn't know a lot about his finances, but it seemed like he was. was doing pretty well. Well, it's also like, guys, you're going to get married. Maybe, maybe share that information with each other. Well, he was willing to get all of her information, but not willing to share his. I'll let you know why he didn't want to share his. I'm shocked to that. It's something shady, I bet. Oh, it's real shady. But more shady stuff that he did. He made her ensure all of her jewelry. He pressured her to buy a condo as like an investment, even though she wasn't going to live in the condo because she was still living at home because at this point her mom Essie had lupus and like she was a nurse's aide so she lived at home and took care of Essie. Oh man. It was like she was just like such a

good good person. So he made her buy this condo that she's not going to live in and he starts like getting really really pissed off about very very small things. And when I say small things I'm talking like how she ripped toilet paper. Whoa. Like if she didn't rip the toilet paper on the perforated line, he would lose his shit if the faucet handles like on the sink weren't lined up where he liked them to be and like completely even he would like flip out oh I can no I couldn't live this way small things like that and if the bathroom anxiety you would be in at all times no that's insane like I have to like put it out like 10 and 2 like the fucking faucet okay it's like how many times do you really pull the toilet paper off the perforation I mean I actually do that all the time but I would never do it on

the perforation. I like to only do it on the preparation. And if I leave a little piece, I like pull it. I mean, I definitely like usually works that way. Yeah. But like I'm not. If somebody came to my house and didn't do that, I wouldn't like flip out on them. I'd be like, I'd be like, I'd probably wouldn't even notice to be honest with you. Would you be like anything? No, I wouldn't be like anything. But he, Mel was like something because he was like, this bathroom cost me $25,000 to redo. And it's very important to me. So it needs to be clean at all times. Your bathroom is very important to you. His bathroom was super fucking important to him because he like remodeled the whole thing. But it's like there were in everything was like pink and like I mean it was the 80s. So like pink tubs and shit were

wolf. But yeah, he it was really important to him. And his whole house like later on we're going to find out that like people were like shocked that anybody even lived in this house. Because it was like a museum kind of thing. It reminds me like the whole faucet thing reminds me. Have you seen sleeping with the enemy with Julia Roberts? I haven't. Oh my God. good. He, the guy in the movie, like, it's literally Mel, he would like flip the F out if the towels were messed up. Like they had to be like perfectly even. And the canned goods had to all be facing the front. And there's this scene where like she like gets away and then like he like comes and finds her and he like she knows he's in the house because everything's lined up perfectly. And when she got away, she like didn't want it to be. Spoiler alert. But they haven't seen that movie. Yeah, sorry. So Mel got weird about all that like weird stuff.

And then he got super, super weird about sex. Uh-oh. So Brenda told Joyce, the one who set them up, set them up and then was like, why the fuck did I do this? She told Joyce that Mel talked a lot and pressured her into having group sex. And he said that he knew another couple they could arrange it with. And Brenda was like, yeah, no, like, I don't want to do that at all. Like, I'm offended that you're even bringing that up.

Yeah, you can't just force that on someone. If you entered your relationship as like swingers. Yeah, I mean, that's fine. By all means, do that. Do what you do. But that's not for everybody. Yeah. And that's something that you should probably talk about pretty early on.

That's a pretty big assumption to just be like, you're into this, right? Like, what? I don't think he even, like, assumed that she was. I don't think he cared. He was like, this is just what we're doing. This is what we do. That's so fuck. Because you're my, like, little person that I control, which is so creepy.

So Brenda was like, no. But he continuously asked her. He was like, are we going to do that? Like, come on. Let's do that. Answer is still no. No. Can I have no for $5,000 please? He also wanted to try different like stuff in bed, like restraining Brenda. And she, I feel like she probably agreed to do that. So maybe he would like stop

like to chill out on the other things. So she agreed to do that. But she told Joyce that he tied her so tightly and wouldn't loosen the grips even when she like begged him to. Like her circulation was like being cut off. And he wouldn't loosen them. And he just did whatever he wanted to. Oh. He made her take these like pills that she didn't know what they were and he called them sex tablets. Ah! And he, she was like, even if she didn't want to take them, he told her, quote, I can get this pill into you somehow if I want to. Oh, I don't like that.

Isn't that the most terrifying thing? That is bone chilling. She one time told one of her friends that she didn't remember taking one of these pills. Like she didn't, it was like she didn't take it. She didn't do it with consent. With consent. But she woke up completely naked with no. recollection of taking her clothes off or falling asleep and she woke up in Mel's house.

Oh my goodness. Yeah. He kept pressuring Brenda to set a date for the wedding because remember they're engaged at this point. And he wanted to have or he was like, if you don't set the date, like at least like do this big engagement party like I've planned. But she kept putting off the date and she canceled an engagement party that they had planned. Really? She clearly was not into this.

She was scared. Scared. Stuck. Didn't know what to do. it just like stresses me out and then things get even worse so brenda one night went out to dinner with her sister-in-law linda love which like coolest name ever and linda was dating brenda's brother tom at the time so she told linda this horrible horrible story her and mel were on vacation together and she woke up to mel holding a cloth over her face and she like wakes up and is like what she was

like what the fuck are you doing my god and he was like oh my god and he was like oh like I got this stuff in Asia. Like it's, I just want to help you relax. You've been so stressed out lately. So I'm going to chloroform you. That's exactly what it probably was. Oh my God. And she's like, and he said he's like, I just want you to relax.

You've been so stressed out. And she's like, I'm sleeping. I was going to say I was sleeping. It doesn't get more relaxed than that, Mel. Wow, Mel. So she tells Linda this. And Linda was like, yeah, you need to get out of there. Like, you need to get rid of him, Brenda.

Yeah. If that's not a red flag, I don't know what is. And right, when that happened while they were on vacation, she wanted to leave, but there was no flights out. And somehow he talked her down. You know these people. They talk. Oh, yeah. I love you.

Like, they know how to like get you. They always know how to talk. To do a complete 180. Wow. So Linda was like, you're so pretty. You're so smart. Like, you have so much to offer. Like, what are you doing?

You don't need to do that chloroforms you and your sleep. But Brenda kept telling Linda what she was telling all. her other friends and family, she kept telling people, like, you just don't understand. Which when some, when, if your friend says that to you, like, they are in so deep. Yeah. Like, she needed, like, some kind of help. Yeah. But it's like, what do you do?

When you're having to say to people, you don't understand how he is when you're not around or whatever like that. And it's like, but why? Why is he only, you know, why do you only have these like little, like, you just don't understand moments? Or is it like, you don't understand, like, what will happen if. I tried me. Exactly. It's like both things.

So she said that, I mean, Linda encouraged her to get out of there, but she was, she said, you just don't understand. And she was like, I'm going to talk to him. So she talked to Mel. And he was like, okay, I am being too hard on you. I'm not going to call you on Friday nights. Oh, boom. You know Friday nights.

I won't call you. Ooh, that was easy. All right, moving on. So to us, that's like, are you fucking kidding me? but if you picture like what Brenda was living, that was a huge win for her. Anything. Any concession would have been a win. Any piece back to her fucking life.

So she was finally able to go do something on a Friday night rather than just sit home and wait for Mel to call her. So she gave Jim a call, the dentist, billboard dentist. And she went out with him for drinks and she told him everything that was going on with Mel. And she said, quote, I want to get away from Mel. He frightens me, but I know he won't let me go. Oh, that makes me. So sad. So sad. They talked for hours and hours while they were out. And Jim even stopped in the house when he brought, when he brought Brenda back home, because like I said, she was living at home

taking care of Essie. And Essie was like so excited to see Jim. He stopped and talked to the family for a little bit. And then Essie remembered they, Brenda walked him back outside and they stayed outside talking for two more hours. Oh my God. So they were. They were the ones that got away. So a couple days after Brenda went to dinner with Linda and told her everything and went out with Jim and told him everything, she's on her way to work in the morning and she calls Linda. It's a Friday morning and she's like, I think Mel is following me to work. Oh, no. And now you have to wonder, like, did Mel follow? Like, Mel followed her often. This was not the first time she thought Mel was following her. He probably saw. He saw Jim. Oh, oh. That was the day before Brenda disappeared. Oh, I'm so nervous. And I know what happened. and I'm nervous. I know. So that next Sunday, at 3.30 in the morning, Essie called Mel and was like, is Brenda still at your house? Because she knew they were supposed to see each other that Saturday. But now it was 3.30 in the morning and Brenda still wasn't home. And Mel was like, no, she's not here. So Brenda, or Essie, excuse me, was like, oh, shit. Like I know her and Jim are kind of getting back together.

Maybe she's with Jim. I'll cover for her. Which, what a mama. Incredible. So she's like, Brenda's like, oh, you know what? I think she was going to Sandy's, which was her other sister-in-law. Oh, okay. So he was like, okay. And she was like, I'll call you back. I'll let you know. And she was like, fuck that. I hate you. She didn't call back. I hate too bad. So at 4 a.m., Mel still didn't hear back from Essie. So he calls Sandy himself because obviously he has all her fucking contact information. And Sandy's like, no, she's not here. Like, what are you talking about? And that's when Mel started to panic. So started to panic. I was just going to say, quote, unquote. So he calls 911. And this is exactly what he says. He goes, I don't know if I've got a problem here or not. I've got a person who's

missing or seems to be missing. Sir, those are two very different things. I don't know if it's a problem, but I've got somebody who's missing or seems to be. Someone might be missing. Is that a problem? But like, I might just be interpreting it as missing. It's like, can you help me? No matter what, that's a problem, sir. Like, KK. And imagine you should hang up. Yeah. She's like, So what's the problem? She's like, sir, do you want to hang up and maybe figure this out first? Right. Call me that.

Do you want a minute? Do you want to know what the problem is? So by this point, as he had already called Sandy herself and she knew Brenda wasn't there. So she calls Jim and she's like, is Brenda there? And Jim's like, no. So everybody's starting to panic. Jim himself immediately got dressed and ran down to his car and starts driving around town looking for Brenda and like all the spots he knew like she may have been. Jim sounds like very, very pure. He loved her so much. I mean, they were together for eight years. Can you imagine? They had their issues, but I feel like they were it. Oh, so sad. He drove by Mel's house, too, to see if Mel's Corvette was there and it was. Um, Brenda's brothers, Mike and Tom went looking for her too. They drove past her condo and she wasn't there either. So, Brenda's car was found abandoned on the westbound lane of I-64 in St. Matthews. Okay. The real. The real. And

tire was flat. The car had like clearly been ransacked. The radio that Brenda had specifically put in there, it was like a special radio because she cared like about her car a lot. She like kept it super clean and super nice. So to find it in this state, they were like, oh, what the fuck happened? So the radio was gone. There was blood in and outside of the car. Someone had attempted to break into the trunk, but unsuccessfully. Somebody had been steadying themselves. Like there was a handprint on one of the windows, like they were like studying themselves to get up. So that's the state that the car was in. And everybody knows that Mel was the last person to see Brenda alive. So the police, I have a theory. Yeah. The police immediately go out there and they're like, what do you have to say? So Mel tells them

everything. He had literally taken notes to read from, like to say exactly what they had done that day. So he's reading to them from notes, which number one is weird as fuck. That would be my first. Like, ding ding ding thing something's around well and that was like their ding ding ding and then there was another ding ding ding because most of the time Mel and Brenda spent together that Saturday was only spent between the two of them with no other witnesses to corroborate the story huh which I mean like that's so crazy wow that's that's so coincidental happens stance happens all the time so this is what Mel said he said Brenda came to his house about three three 30 and they decided to go drive around together and he made a point of telling the police that they were driving Brenda's car because he said his Corvette

was having a tire issue and he wanted to make sure that Brenda was safe. Oh, of course. Of course. It's always all about her safety. I love her so much. She is precious cargo. I just personally treat her like shit. Sir Mel. I hate him. So he said they drove around in Brenda's car. They went to a gold star chili restaurant and it was raining. So then they drove to a boat show where they stayed in the car instead of going on any boats because of the rain. Sounds too detailed so far. Which is a little weird. Oh, it's, it's very detailed. Then they left and went to an art festival, but they stayed in the car again because it was raining. What a day. So it's like, why are you going all these places where you can't go inside because it's raining? And it's like the art festival was happening outside in the rain?

Yeah, of course it was. Okay. So was the boat show. Then they looked at a housing development. Obviously. They then went to an outdoor shopping mall from 630 to 9 p.m. which, I'm like, you got to the shopping mall at 630 after going to dinner, a boat show, and an art festival. And that's a long time to go shopping after a long day like that. I can't lie. I probably would do the same thing. And then they went to dinner at Captain's Quarters. Then after they went to dinner, they looked out at the water together. And Brenda wanted to see this, like, certain landmark, but it was raining so they couldn't see that. It was raining. Yeah. I don't know if I mentioned it before, if Mel wrote down in his notes that it was precipitating that day. Precipitation.

precipitation. So then they got back in the car and Brenda dropped him off at home. He kissed her and he told her to drive safely, of course. I kissed her. I kissed her and I said to her, drive safely because I love you because I love her. Because I kissed her on the mouth. I did it. He went inside and yelled to his mom that he was home because yes, he lives with his mom as well, which is fine, but I hate Mel. So I'm saying that. It just makes me think of the Wilfarrell in wedding crashers where he's like, Mom! Meatloaf. I love that he's like, and I yelled to my mother at 11.30 p.m. that I was home so that I could confirm that I was home and my mother can tell you that I was also home at 1130 p.m.

because I was home and I yelled to her that I was home. I was home at 11.30 p.m. Then this is weird as fuck. Then he said he woke up around 12 and he was hungry, but there was nothing to eat. So he went out in his corvette, by the way, that has the bad tire. to the Skylift chili restaurant, which I was like, damn. At midnight. And also, how many fucking chili restaurants do you need to go to? I was going to say, and it's also like, give your gastrointestinal self-a-rest.

Well, Bell. With chili, too. They had started at a chili restaurant. Yeah. Then they went to another restaurant. And now he's hungry. So we're going to three restaurants in like a matter of two out of three are chili? Yeah. I mean, you're going to have heartburn. Like, calm down. And also, like, that's just a lot of restaurants.

for one day. Calm down. Get a door dash. No, we're kidding. He talked to a waiter while he was there. Oh, he did. He talked to a waiter who could confirm that he was there at the restaurant because he talked to him. I spoke to another human being.

At the, uh, at the, uh, at the, uh, he said that he talked to him about like a soft drink, like the size of the soft drink because he got a soft drink. Wow. This is what he ordered. A soft drink. spaghetti, chili. Spaghetti and chili. My God. The heartburn. This dude is.

have. I know. A manager did later confirm that he had spoken with Mel that night because he was there at that restaurant where he ordered this thing and made sure that he talked to somebody about the soft drink. Yeah, establishing an alibi. And that was the only part of the story that checked out. And what a weird part because like, why did you go to dinner? I love that the midnight chili dinner, chili and spaghetti dinner is the only thing that was like, well, that checks out. He did do that. I love how like very classy everything else is. It's like an odd show and a boat show. a housing development and then I went to a chili restaurant. He's like, da-na-na-na-na-n-and-and-and-a-n-er, and then I had chili at midnight. And I talked to someone with some spaghetti on the sides.

And so the entire time they're questioning Mel, so obviously this was like a back-and-forth exchange, he keeps like pausing his story to be like, have you found Brenda's car yet? Have you found her car? He's like, did you see what I did? Yeah. Did you find that yet? Yeah. That's basically what you're saying.

I'd like to know if you found that yet. And they kept telling I'm like, no, dude, we haven't found her car yet. which I don't, I couldn't figure out if they were lying that they hadn't found the car, if they actually just hadn't found the car yet. They probably weren't just saying no because they were like, you're shady as fuck. We're not going to tell you anything. We're going to keep it close to the chest. We need to put that on a shirt.

We do. So after they talked to him, they were like, you do realize that nothing in your story can be cooperated by any witnesses, right? Except for that midnight chili run. Except, except that chili red that we honestly don't really care that much about right now. And he was like, yep, I know. know that looks bad for me. And they were like, cool, cool, cool, cool.

It's like good that we understand each other. We're on the same wavelength here. We're all on the same page and the same paragraph. But obviously, like, eating chili isn't enough to just arrest somebody. So now I really want chili, so. I'm not a, uh, I like chili, I guess. It's a thousand degrees, but I want chili. Yeah, I was going to say, I don't want chili right now.

I want chili in the fall. I make a great fall. Chili would sweet potato. And actually, I do want that right now. Right now. Yeah. I'll make it for all of you. Thank you. That's a big batch of chili.

Yeah, raise your hand if you want some. Shoot, that is a lot of chili. I'm nothing if not a giver. Millions and millions of batches. Yeah. I'm here to share my chili love with everybody. I like the red hot chili peppers. My husband used to love the red hot chili peppers.

I like that you said that to me. My husband used to like, I don't know if you're on. I don't know if you know him. His name is John. He used to love them. We went to their concert once. Oh, that's fun. Yeah.

So anyways. The whole family had gone to Brenda's home earlier that. day to like be together in case she came back or yeah they heard anything you know like when things like this happen your family like gets and they were super super close anyways of course and mel showed up there and he was unfucking welcome because that entire family hated him and linda is there because she's part of the family and she's like oh i know you i had dinner about you i know you and i've seen you i'm all gregg i'm all gregg and the other thing that was like pissing people off is that Mel kept doing these like big emotional outbursts all the sudden and like sobbing and

Essie specifically was getting really fucking pissed off because she was trying to like hold it together and this guy is like she's the matriarch right and this guy is like crocodile tearing up the whole place yeah so they actually had to separate him like and put him in a separate room like as he was like get him away from him like you need to get this motherfucker out of my face fuck him and Mike and Tom are like dude, you got to stop doing that. So while he's in the separate room, he talks to Carolyn, who's Brenda's older sister. And Carolyn was like, you know what? I know that Brenda's still alive.

Like, this can't happen to our family twice. Like, I know she's still alive. Because remember, Jack, one of the older brothers had been murdered. So they're like, there's no way this is happening against. Right? The odds of that must be astronomical. And Mel looked at her and literally looked into her eyes and said, I think she's dead. Oh, looked at her at her sister and was like, I think she's dead.

Wow. I'm like, do you know that? I'd be like, can you please share with the class and tell me why you think that? Like, what piece of evidence do you have that says that? Right. Like she's been at that point, she hadn't even been gone a full 24 hours yet. And he's like, she's dead. I know it.

I just have a feeling. And it's like, okay. So Linda, I was talking about Linda before. Linda Love had been listening close by. and she knew something was completely fucking wrong about this situation. And she told Tom her boyfriend or her boyfriend or might have been husband at the time and Brenda's brother, everything that Brenda told her at dinner because Tom didn't know that before because Brenda was like, please don't tell Tom.

Like this is just girl code. But she told him everything at this point because she's like, this motherfucker has something to do with it. Yeah. I know it. So she tells Tom everything. And they're like, we are going to the police right. now. Like, I'm going right now. He just said she's dead. Like, what the fuck does he know? Yeah, shit's getting weird. Right. So on their way out, they saw that Mel was driving that Corvette that he said

had the tire issues. So now he's driven that to go get chilly in the middle of the night. And now to the house. And he parked it across the street from the house, which I thought was suss. Because I wonder if he was doing that. So it would be like inconspicuous. Right. Like no one would notice. Right. And he mentioned that it was having tire issues to the family as well. But they didn't have time to check. He's a dumb. He is a dumb. Oh, it gets dumb. He's a true dumb. It gets in part two, we're going to get real dumb. Oh, man. We're going to go stupid. Remember that song? I do. But, um, so they, on the way out there, um, Linda and Tom wanted to check his car, but Mel left right at the same time as them and they didn't have a chance to check his car, which is like,

such like a grim reaper move. You're such a fucking asshole. He's like, and right here with my creepy fucking mustache. Wait until I post a picture of him. You're going to vomit everywhere. So the police needed more information for more people. So they went to Brenda's work where she had worked for 12 years. So they know her. So they know her for sure.

They know her habits. They know her and they see her and she's Brenda. She worked as a nurse's aide for Dr. Spalding. And Spalding said that Brenda was the best employee that he ever had. He fucking loved her so much. He said she rarely took time off. she was super pleasant to all the patients. And she even went as far as to go visit the nursing homes where they lived, like on her time off.

So she was just a sweet bundle of joy. Mm-hmm. So as soon as the police walked in there and were like asking things about Brenda, he was like, what happened? Did Mel do it? Like, I know that Mel did it. And he starts offering up all of these like things, like information about Mel. He tells them things he had heard that like Mel had large sums of money hidden around the house that Brenda had seen. he said he knew that Mel had drugged Brenda and taken nude photos of her.

He said, he just like went on and on. It was like a laundry list of things that he knew to be true about Mel. Oh, man. And this is all stuff that you know, these poor people are sitting there being like, damn it, I should have, you know, obviously you can't do anything. What are you supposed to do? What are you supposed to do? What are you supposed to do?

Right. So you're kind of like out of, your hands are kind of tied. But in these situations, you're always like, could I have done something? Well, it's, it was so far past the point of, oh, for sure. Like, it was so set up for something horrible to happen to her, which is so fucking sad. Yeah, it was percolating to this point. Yes, it definitely was. That was like a $10 vocabulary word.

I love that word. So the police talk to other, like, of Brenda's co-workers and they tell the police what they know about Mel and Brenda's relationship. They were like, yeah, he calls here all the time, like two to three times a day. And actually, he called the Friday before she disappeared. and she loudly said to him, I told you never to call me here again, and she hung up on him. Oh, no. Yeah.

And Linda had also informed to the police that Brenda had planned to give Mel back his ring on Saturday. Oh. Friday or Saturday. Whenever there's, she had planned to end this, that's always, always it. So the police are like, cool, cool, we're going to go pay another visit to Mel. I'm going to go talk to Mr. Talking to Waiters over here. into, I'm going to go talk to this chili guy. This, this chili lover over here.

Spaghetti, spaghetti, eddy over here. This citric acid loving motherfucker over here. This Tum's ass little bitch. So, weirdly enough, when they get their melisint home. He's not, that's so weird, huh? Oh, I thought he'd be waiting for him. And his sister answers the door and they're like, is Mel gonna be home soon? And she's like, yeah.

So they're waiting. Yeah. With the direct quote, actually. So they're waiting there and they hear his mom on the, the phone with his attorney. So he's lawyering up at this point. And he actually already had an attorney. You don't say. This was going to be the second time he needed to use his attorney. The first time he needed to was in 1984. And it was because he was in a vat of hot water for multiple counts of tax evasion. Oh, look at that. You know. I'm not going to lie. When you said vat of hot water, I thought he was

literally in a vat of hot water. I thought it was going to be some like weird. like possibly sexual thing and I was like oh what is this yeah he was in his pink bathtub in a bad of hot water weird how shit is going to happen out of this well he was involved in the CIA so like things went gnarly and then yeah he ended up in hot water actually he's had a time no figurative hot water because tax evasion uh he had actually been sentenced to three years in prison and to pay 11,245 dollars in restitution damn yeah uh he only served 30 days of his sentence because apparently he's got a great attorney and we'll get into that in part two. And after that, he obviously got pretty depressed because he owed a lot of money that will make

you pretty sad. For sure. And I mean, obviously, like, he was having anxiety about paying back the money. So he was suffering from depression and anxiety. Financial shit sucks. Yeah, it really does. And his therapist also diagnosed him as having a passive aggressive personality structure. Oh, okay.

You don't say. That's shocking. Sir or ma'am. So while the police are there waiting for Mel to get home and listening to his mom call his attorney and lawyer him up, they really start to believe like, this is our dude. Like, I mean, obviously, like to this point, they've heard all this crazy shit about him. Now he's lawyering up, like, yeah, cool. Then that became a lot more apparent because Mel walked in the door, booming through the fucking house,

holding an alcohol bottle and screaming at the police that they had lied to him that they had found Brenda's car and they had. hadn't told him and he was like so fucking angry. He was screaming at the police about this. Oh, no. We're going to talk about the rest in part two. God damn it. Yeah. Damn it. He just, who runs in and screams at the police? I just have such a vivid image in my mind of that. I hope everybody else does too. And fun fact, the book, it said that the carpets were like chocolate brown. So I just picture him like walking into this like chocolatey like beige home. This just like yelling. But it's like gorgeous.

It's like, you know, it's like weird. Yeah. No, I'm not into Mel at all. I hate him so much. In part two, we're going to talk about a girlfriend that Mel had before Brenda. Wild in this case. It gets insane. Wild.

Potentially three parts, but I'm just thinking two for now. Probably. Probably two. Yeah. It gets crazy. Well, I'm ready. But I had to set the scene for you first. Set the scene.

So right now Brenda's missing. Oh, guys. Everybody knows that Mel has something to do with it, but what are they going to do? Where's Brenda? I don't know. We got to know. I know. This is a very sad case.

It is sad. Oh, man. As always, you can follow us on Instagram while you're waiting for part two at Morbid Podcast. Hit us up on Twitter and tell us how much you love chili and how much you want Elena's at. At a morbid podcast. And send us your chili recipes on Gmail at Mormonpodcast at gmail.com. And label them chili recipes.

D. We hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it. Weird. But not so weird that you go to Chili's restaurant at like one in the morning. But like if you are, just don't do anything else shady. Make sure you talk to a waiter. And take a tum. About the soft drink. About the soft drink. It's too big. Establish it. Bye. Bye.