Morbid - The Murder of Daniel Brophy

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, weirdos, I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And this is a mini morbid. Elainecentric. It's Elena morbid, so it's a full morbid. I was going to say, it is not even a mini. It is just huge. Yeah, I was really thinking at first that this, so this is a case, and I'll tell you what it is

Starting point is 00:00:35 in a second, but you can all just hang on to you bucks. It's a case that I've been wanting to do for a long time. Love that. And it's been sitting there, just waiting for the rest of it. right time. And I always thought it was going to be like a mini, mini, mini. Because I thought it was like pretty straightforward. Yeah. But then I dove into it. And you were like, never mind. And wowser. So eight pages later, we have a full length morbid. We have a full length morbid. That's going to be labeled mini. But you know, you guys, you guys are used to this by now. I was going to say, you know what?

Starting point is 00:01:10 What else is new? Yeah. What else is new? And I don't think there's a a whole lot of like crazy news. We're going to be moving forward soon on like new merch. Y'all. New stuff for patrons, which we are really excited about. And I think you guys are going to like pee your pants and excitement. I hope so at least. Oh, you're holding onto your butt. Yeah. I hope you have to, all of you have to change your trousers when we tell you. I like that. Change your trousers. Yeah. And that's going to be coming soon. We've been working on it really hard, so we're really psyched. And we'll let you know when that's going on. Other than that, I think the really only thing that we wanted to just quickly

Starting point is 00:01:54 address was some new dates for the shows, because as we know, COVID-19 has just like, like, roundhouse kicked us all in the face. Yep. And right as we were about to go on our tour, it was like, no, no, no. It was like, say less. Say less. Literally. So now we finally, and I know a lot of people have been asking, you know, is this one going to be rescheduled? Luckily, they're all getting rescheduled and we have some dates for you. So if you have tickets to any of these shows, hang on to them because they can be used in these new dates. And if you haven't got tickets to some of these places that are not sold out, go ahead and get some tickets. Because even if they get moved, you can still use those tickets.

Starting point is 00:02:38 Get yourself a ticket. Do it. All right. as of right now, we have Philadelphia at the Punchline Comedy Club on August 11th. We have Washington, D.C. at the D.C. improv on September 16th. We have Nashville, Tennessee at Zanies on September 23rd, and those are back-to-back shows. So two shows, one night, back-to-back, early, late. Get it. We also have Huntsville, Alabama at Stand Up Live on September 24th, so the day, right the day after the national show.

Starting point is 00:03:20 And we have Chicago, Illinois at Talia Hall on November, or no, sorry, October 11th. And that's two shows. Yeah, that's also two shows on one night. So October 11th, Talia Hall, Chicago, Illinois, that's going to be fun. I'm excited. We also have Charlotte, North Carolina, which a lot of people have been asking about the North Carolina ones. Charlotte, North Carolina, comedy zone, that's going to be November 10th. Then we have Raleigh, North Carolina, Good Night's Comedy Club.

Starting point is 00:03:52 That's going to be November 11th. So back-to-back shows, November 10th, November 11th in North Carolina. That's so crazy. Those were going to be like the day after tomorrow. I know. It's so crazy because it kept popping up on like my calendar. It would be like, today, tell you. you hall Chicago, Illinois. And I was like, no. I saw it in my planner last week. And I was like,

Starting point is 00:04:12 oh, cool, I'll just go fuck myself. Right. It was such a bummer. Such a bummer. And then we also have the Wilbur Theater in Boston, but that is moved to March 26th, 2021. Very long time from now. Very long time. But you know what? The good news is with that one, first of all, there's plenty of tickets left. So go get your tickets for that one. Eat them up. So yeah, go get those Weber Theater tickets. And we're excited because we have all this time now to make that show like a blowout extravaganza because it's like our hometown. So we got to make it crazy. And we're still going to try to have Emily Walsh, the comic stylings of Emily Walsh there. So yeah, so get your tickets for those shows. We are hoping we're fairly positive that we're also going to be at CrimeCon in October.

Starting point is 00:05:04 If that changes, we will let you know, but we're pretty sure we're going to go to the rescheduled date. We're excited about that. But I think that's really all we have. Cool. That's that. What the fook is your mini about? So my mini slash main is the story of Zach Bowen and the murder of Addy Hall. Now.

Starting point is 00:05:32 I don't know. This takes place in Nalans. Nalans. Which researching this case makes me want to go to New Orleans so bad. Not because of like the murder and all that. But like because it's just got like a vibe to it that I'm like, I need to get there. It has like a spooky voodoo, old school. Jazzy.

Starting point is 00:05:53 Just. Jaze vibe. Oh. It's everything that we are in a city. It really is like we are just, we're ready for you. I want to have a show in New Orleans, and that is on my bucket list. My God. Coven-themed show in Nalins.

Starting point is 00:06:08 Oh, we got to do it. That's all I could get out. I'm just like, oh. So New Orleans, we love you. So this is a crazy tale. It is a murder-suicide, and it's just bonkers bananas. Why do I feel like I know this? You might.

Starting point is 00:06:29 You might know, like, the gist of it. But a lot of the information I got was from a book called Shake the Devil Off by Ethan Brown. Yeah. And Ethan Brown is like a journalist and he got so much insider information in this case. Like he got a lot of background into Zach. He got a lot of background into their relationship together that I think a lot of people didn't know. I certainly didn't know. So I also used a ton of articles, which I'll link a few in our show notes.

Starting point is 00:07:01 But all right. So let's go to October 17th, 2006. Okay. A guest at the Omni Hotel in New Orleans sees a man's body outside his window on a roof of a parking garage after hearing a thud and called the front desk. Oh, my God. Yeah. So he sees the body on the parking garage. He's like, holy shit.

Starting point is 00:07:27 He had just heard like a giant thud. He calls the front desk. They call 911. one. Police get the call saying there was a jumper at the hotel because unfortunately it's kind of common for people to jump off of hotels. But so they show up and they find Zachary Bowen. He had jumped from the roof of the hotel and landed on a parking garage roof five stories down. Wow. Yeah. I mean, a lot of times it's like when people jump off of things, you either get like a very clean

Starting point is 00:07:58 scene or you get like a very rough one depending on what they hit. So if he hit like the pavement below, it would have been a different story. But because he hit a roof, they said he didn't even look like too like mangled essentially. They said it's just like a little blood coming out of his mouth. But other than that, they were like, he kind of just looked like he was like half asleep. That must be so strange. Right. It just feels like that would be a strange thing.

Starting point is 00:08:22 Yeah. I mean, the whole thing is very eerie. But so the police show up. They find Zachary Bowen. And when they surveyed the scene, they were like, okay, well, he was obviously dead right on impact. And they look inside his pocket and there was a Ziploc bag. And in that Ziplog bag, they wear his army dog tags with his name on it. So he was obviously in the military.

Starting point is 00:08:46 And there was also a folded up note that said for police only. Oh, shit. So they're like, oh, a suicide note. Great. Oh, that's for us. Yeah. And they're like, you know what? That cleans up nice.

Starting point is 00:08:57 cool. Well, I bet it was way confusing. Well, then they open up the note. And it says, quote, this is not accidental. I had to take my own life to pay for the one I took. Oh. If you send a patrol to 826 North Rampart, you will find the dismembered corpse of my girlfriend Addie in the oven, on the stove, and in the fridge, along with full documentation on the both of us in a full signed confession from myself. Shut the fuck up. Yeah. The keys in my right front pocket are for the gates. Call Leo Watermeyer to let you in.

Starting point is 00:09:37 Zach Bowen. So they're like, oh, this is not just a suicide. Okay. This is a murder. Yeah, this is a bad, real bad, bad, bad murder. On the stove, in the refrigerator. in the oven. In the oven.

Starting point is 00:09:55 And then he's like, and there's also a full confession. Tell you everything you need to know. Okay, this does sound familiar. Keep going. It's crazy. So according to his friend, Zach left his friends home that night with a bag of cocaine worth about 20 bucks. I don't know anything about cocaine or how much it's supposed to be worth.

Starting point is 00:10:15 Sounds like that's a lot. I don't really know. Cocaine's like very expensive, so I'm assuming it's not that much. I would think so. But they made it seem like it was like a good amount, so I don't know. I don't really know. I don't know. Color me crazy.

Starting point is 00:10:27 But according to hotel security tapes for that night, Zach went up to the rooftop bar at the Omni where there was a pool. He drank there from like four in the afternoon all the way until about 8.30 p.m. I would be fooked up. Oh, he surely was. He opened up a tab. He was heavily drinking the entire day and night. And just before 8.30 p.m., the security tape show him pacing from the roof's railing to the pool and back again, like, several times, like he's contemplating.

Starting point is 00:11:02 Right, right. At 830 on the dot, he walks up to the railing and just launches himself over. Oh, geez. Yeah. So police are like, uh-oh. So they got to the address on North Rampart Street at around 10 p.m. And they asked the landlord Leo to let him into Zach's apartment. And Leo's like, what the fuck?

Starting point is 00:11:22 What they found inside that apartment was an absolute horror show. Yeah. Now, before we go into what they found in that apartment, let's back it up a bit and talk about Zach for a moment. Because I think it's important to learn about Zach, and it's important to learn about his girlfriend. Yes. So in his adult years, there's really nothing to say that Zach was anything other than a totally normal and relatively unremarkable dude up into this point. he was well liked but like nothing crazy like there's just not a lot that like totally stands out about him you know what I mean yeah yeah he didn't have this crazy temper he didn't you know he was

Starting point is 00:12:02 kind of known as like a somewhat of a goofball but like he was also kind of shy so he was just kind of there just like a regular dude yeah and by all accounts a very friendly nice guy people liked him he did like to drink way too much that becomes an issue later but you know and how well Was he? When he died, he was... Shit. He was 28. Oh, okay.

Starting point is 00:12:26 So, like, a little too old to be continuously, like, heavily drinking, but also 20, so. And he had, as you'll see, he had a lot of responsibility that he should have been taking. Not drinking and actually taking care of. It seems like he was kind of trying to take care of his situation, but, like, it seemed like a lot was working against him as well. So he was born on May 15th, 19th. 78. His parents were Zach and Lori. And they began he and his older brother Jed's life pretty nomadic actually. They took them, they had a VW bus and they took them like all over. I'm so into that. Yeah, they would like, I knew you would be. I'm not at all. Like that does not sound at all. I am

Starting point is 00:13:11 for that. No way. And they ended up, you know, like they would just camp out places. They would go, which is cool. They got to see a bunch of places. Yeah. They ended up settling in Ohio, California for a bit, and then they moved to Whidbey Island in Washington. And their marriage, the parents' marriage, was like kind of on again, off again. They didn't really like break up or anything like that, but it was on again, off again, good. You know, like, it would be tough for a little while and then it would be really good. And tough for a while, really good. There's nothing to say that, like, there was any abuse or anything like that. It was just

Starting point is 00:13:48 kind of a tumultuous marriage. I was going to say, yeah, it sounds pretty tortuous. Yeah, just not like volatile. So when they moved to Whidbey Island, this is when Laurie and Jack's marriage really began to sour. He was staying out all night with friends doing

Starting point is 00:14:04 God knows what, like drinking, partying. It sounds like he just wasn't ready to give that up either. And he was leaving Lori alone with the kids all the time and like it just wasn't happening. recipe or disaster. Exactly.

Starting point is 00:14:19 So Lori finally left him in 1990. She moved with the boys to Santa Maria, California. In school, teachers either loved Zach or they hated Zach. There was like no in between. There was just no in between. He was popular in school, but he was pretty shy. Like he was very shy, but like also goofy at the same time. You know those kind of people?

Starting point is 00:14:45 Yep, yep, for sure. And according to those who knew him, he was also really friendly. He could be outgoing if he knew you, but he was into metal and grunge music. Oh, cool. Yeah. One of the biggest disappointments and one that his family points to as like a real thing that affected Zach for a long time is something that might be strange to some of us as like a big disappointment, but I'm not. I mean, it was important to him. So it was him losing homecoming king.

Starting point is 00:15:15 Oh, okay. Yeah, it devastated him. Wow. I guess he was like on, I forget how it works. It's like he was like nominated. Yeah, is that what it is like he was in the court? It's different everywhere. Yeah, and I guess he had to like give a speech and he gave like he tried to be funny and say that like all these other dudes were like all dressed like really preppy and like, you know, they were the typical homecoming king.

Starting point is 00:15:41 Yeah, yeah. And he dressed up with a cape on like he had a black cape. Oh. And which I'm like, you go. You would have voted for him for sure. I don't know why he didn't win. That's awesome. And then they all were like, you know, talking about their plans after high school and like really making it like serious speeches.

Starting point is 00:16:00 And his speech included him saying that there should be a mandatory two hour nap period every day. That's hilarious. That's like what you're supposed to say when you're leaving high school. And he was joking. Like he was saying it to be funny. To make people laugh. He didn't win. And everybody kind of treated it like, you.

Starting point is 00:16:16 you messed up by doing that. Okay, so I could see where he felt like he disappointed other people. Yeah, and I feel like he was really insecure also in high school, because the other thing is he's very tall and lanky, which later in life, because you know, you know, all the shit that sucks in high school that kids don't get in high school. It works out for you later. Yeah, it becomes the thing that makes you awesome later. So it's like, tall lanky dudes are like where it's at.

Starting point is 00:16:46 And it's like, in high school, you're gangly. Exactly. Exactly. At John. But in high school, you're in your awkward phase. So being taller than everyone is like makes it even weirder. And like it makes you insecure. So it's just he was in the middle of that like weird awkward phase.

Starting point is 00:17:06 So having everybody kind of like reject him when he was trying to be funny, I think just like really crushed his confidence. It makes total sense. And this was just something that kind of like kicked off. awful lot of disappointments and what he looked at as failures in his life. Right. Because a big theme in Zach's life is his failures. He sees many, many failures happen in his life and he beats himself up for it and he kind of blames himself for everything.

Starting point is 00:17:34 So after he lost Homecoming King, his grades started slipping. He had been doing like, he had been getting like A's before that. Like he was doing well in school. But this really shook him. So it's like a little ridiculous. It's a lot. Yeah. Like I'm going to go ahead and, I mean, he's a murderer.

Starting point is 00:17:51 So like I feel like I can say it that it's like pretty ridiculous that you let that affect you that much. Well, and that's it's like, I'm not here to tell anybody what should be important to them, but like don't peak in high school. When you look at the grand scheme of life, there's going to be far more disappointing things than losing homecoming. Well, and that's the other thing. It's like, I'm going to be real right now. If somebody told me as part of like their like, six. story and I was homecoming king or queen. I'd be like, cool, you peaked in high school.

Starting point is 00:18:21 I'd be like, are you really still using that? Like, are you really still telling people that? I don't know. But, you know, that was important to Zach. It's like a one on the Richter scale. Right? It's just not really important. But to him, it was super important, which, you know, says a lot.

Starting point is 00:18:37 So he ended up really fucking up school. He decided he was going to drop out and he wanted to live with his dad in Washington. Okay. Now, he wasn't like, you know, him and his mom were not like not getting along. Like, he had a fine relationship with his mom. I think he just like, he thought he could start over and what he was going to say he wanted like a fresh start. Yeah, exactly. So I think he was just like, I'm going to do this. So he decides that they're going to do that. So he does. And him and his dad end up going on this like crazy cross country road trip together. Because again, his dad has not really grown up a lot. according to Lori, Jack kind of was like the best friend and not the parent, which is not good. Never works out. Yeah, you got to wait till later in life to be their best friend, unfortunately.

Starting point is 00:19:27 It just sucks, but like you've got to be their parent first. Or you might just not end up being their friend. Exactly. If you want them, it's like in modern family when Claire Dunphy says that like your kids, once they hit like a teenage phase, they go around the dark side of the movie. And then they come back again. And you lose contact with them and everything's weird and you don't know what's going to happen. And then all of a sudden they come around the other side and contact comes back and you got to grab it. Don't you kind of feel like that with me? Yes. I was like, fuck you. I do. I really do.

Starting point is 00:20:00 And then you just floated around the dark side of the moon. I back. You just got to hold on while they float around that dark side of the moon. That's all. So, so he's going, you know, he's going to I think they went through like Fort Lauderdale. They went to Savannah. Georgia. They went to all these cool places together. And then they passed into New Orleans. Okay. This is where Zach re-enrolled in high school. So he was like, because they settled in there. They decided to get an apartment. And he was like, all right, cool. So he re-enrolled. He kept in touch with his mom the whole time, obviously, because they have a fine relationship. Right. But he told his mom a lot of the times on the phone that he was like, I don't know. Like,

Starting point is 00:20:38 this isn't really what I thought it was going to be. And like, dad's kind of like a fuck up. I don't know. And like, you know, I don't know if I'm getting along with people at school. He didn't end up finishing high school there. But he was digging New Orleans, the actual place. He was like, I like the place. It's just this is not what I want to do. So at this point, he was turning 18 years old.

Starting point is 00:21:00 He was starting to be more confident at this point because he is 6 foot 10. So he is very tall. All cur. He's very tall. And as you can imagine, being that tall in high school is probably tough. Yeah, yeah. Like, more often than not because kids are stuck. I don't think I knew anybody who was 610 in high school.

Starting point is 00:21:21 That's really tall. I mean, John's 6'4 and that's really tall. Damn. Yeah. So he was 6 foot 10. But at this point, he's starting to, like, grow into himself because he's turning, he's turning 18, like the baby fat is going away. He's starting to like.

Starting point is 00:21:35 He's doing him some favors. Yeah. So he ended up turning into like, you know, kind of a handsome looking dude. He's six foot. 10. I mean, like, that's going to stick out in a crowd. And it's like, so he's getting more attention. So he's like, I like, I pick that guy. Yeah. In New Orleans, it's like, you go out at night and he's like, he's where it's at right now. So when Zach was 18, he met a 28-year-old woman named Lana Shupac. Okay. Lana had worked as a stripper for many years in Dallas and I think Houston.

Starting point is 00:22:09 Okay. She was looking to get out of that. She was like, It was making money, but she just wasn't really wanting to do it anymore. She was visiting New Orleans with her friend, and she saw Zach while she was out on Bourbon Street with her friend, and she saw him selling go cups, which... What is a go cup? It's a foreign concept to us, like in the Northeast, because, like, we don't have, we don't get to, you can't drink alcohol, like out in about. Oh, is it like a road soda?

Starting point is 00:22:37 Pretty much. So apparently, he would hang out of a bar window on Bourbon Street. And he would serve to go cups of alcohol to people on Bourbon Street. A fucking dream. And because he was like kind of handsome and like this, you know, 18 year old stud muffin over there, they picked him to like lean out the window and like try to entice ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure, to come over to the window. We love a good marketing move.

Starting point is 00:23:03 We love it. It's smart. It worked out. And Lana was like, break me off a piece of that. Exactly. And I guess Lana and her friend walked up and we're like, yeah. And I guess her friend initially was like, yeah, that's mine for the rest of the trip. And then, and then Zach ended up really liking Lana.

Starting point is 00:23:19 And so the friend, which I was like, what a good friend. The friend backed off and was like, oh, he liked you. I love that. Which I was like, wow, friendship. Ladies. Squad goals. Good job. Squad goals.

Starting point is 00:23:30 So, yeah. So they hit it off right away. They ended up starting to date because Lana was like, I'm going to move to New Orleans. Like, it seems like a cool place. Because it was going great. Yeah, she's like, we're dating, but, you know, New Orleans as a place seems cool. I liked it better there. I wanted to get out of where I am.

Starting point is 00:23:48 I don't want to be, you know. So she was like, I'm ready to do this. So, Lana became pregnant with their first child, Jackson, early in their dating. And the problem is, Lana was 28 years old and Zach was 18. Okay. Lana did not know that he was 18 years old. She assumed he was at least. 21 because he was working at a bar. Well, did she ask? I don't think she asked.

Starting point is 00:24:16 I don't think she asked. So when she found out, boyfriend, how old he is. Well, this was like before she got pregnant, she found out, but like she, I guess in the beginning, like, when she found out, she got a little weird about it and, like, kind of pulled away. But then she ended up, she really liked him. So she just couldn't. Okay. Yeah, whatever. There's nothing wrong with it. It's not like it's illegal or anything. He's 18. I think at first she was just like, he's like a baby. Like, you know what I mean? Like, he's not going to be really good. But he seems. with commitment. If he was old enough to like date a 28 year old and like she seemed like it was okay, he obviously was like mature enough. Yeah, I mean, he definitely, so when she ended up getting

Starting point is 00:24:52 pregnant, they were not married yet or anything like that, not that it matters, but it was pretty early in their dating. And Zach initially was terrified when she told him the news. Like, I mean, yeah. Because he's going to be a teenage father at this point. Like he's like, I'm what? Like, I'm 18. And you like, yeah. like, I don't want to do this. Like, I'm not ready for this. And she was like, well, I'm keeping this baby. So, like, she was like, I don't know what to tell you.

Starting point is 00:25:19 And he was like, holy shit. Like, he was freaking out. But then she says when Jackson was born and Zach held him, it was like a switch flipped. Because that's when dads become fathers. They truly do. They need to like see and hold and bond their baby. Women become mothers when they find out they're pregnant. The dad becomes fathers.

Starting point is 00:25:41 when they see the baby. Yeah, because it's easy, you know, because with mothers, it's like you're housing the baby. You're already taking care of the baby. Yeah. So it's hard for fathers to feel as connected until they have that baby in their arms. Me and my therapist talk about that, legit, all the time. Really? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:26:01 I love that. It's the truth. Yeah. And, I mean, that's what happened with Zach, with Jackson. He said, she said he immediately shifted into this. amazing dad. He was totally focused on this child. He was like, I want to be here. I want to be a better person for this child. And he also started being a better partner to her as well. She said it was like, it was like, it literally like flipped. Soon they decided to get married. I guess it was like this

Starting point is 00:26:29 really big ceremony in New Orleans at this church where like a bunch of tourists showed up and like it was this big event. Why does it all go wrong? I know. That's the thing. It's like this whole thing is like, oh, this is great. And then at the end you're like, oh, Oh, no. Oh, this is bad. It gets real bad. So they get married, and then Lana gives birth to a daughter, Lily, soon after. Oh, I love the name Lily.

Starting point is 00:26:51 It is really cute. And again, Zach was fully committed to this. He was like, I am a dad. I am psyched. He even went back and got his GED in 2000 because he was like, I want to do this for my kids. So then Zach was like, I want to make sure I can give them a good life. So he decided he was going to join the military. He wanted to join the army because he was like, I can get insurance, I can have security,

Starting point is 00:27:18 I can, you know, show them how to work hard. Yeah. So at the time, this was in 2000. So at the time, he was going in and there was no war going on. Uh-huh. But once the war began in 2001 after 9-11, he had to go and do a tour in. Kosovo and one in Baghdad. Okay, so he has insane PTSD.

Starting point is 00:27:45 Oh, this is definitely a case. I fully, fully, fully believe that this is very heavily reliant on the fact that he has severe unchecked PTSD. That is for sure. That breaks my heart because it's like... Yeah, it's avoidable.

Starting point is 00:28:04 Yeah, exactly. It's like if he can... I should say avoidance. This action could have been avoidable. was given the help that he needed. And it's not always readily available. No. It's not readily available. It's also not, you know, there's still that stupid stigma, especially on like men. Don't ask for help. Don't ask for help. Don't go to therapy and stuff. And it's like they're supposed to just suck it up and move on. It's like, no, dude. It's like, quote unquote, man up. And it's after what, in hearing what he saw and knowing what like other, you know,

Starting point is 00:28:36 military members see, it's like, no, that you need help like to get through that. I can. couldn't imagine trying to work my own brain around this kind of stuff. No. So his military service seemed to definitely change him as a person. He afterwards, like we said, he became super depressed. He definitely suffered from severe PTSD. And what happened was he lost a lot of, he lost a few people over there that were very close to him.

Starting point is 00:29:05 Right. And it really, really got to him. And he probably looked at that like it was his fault. Yeah, like there was this young girl, I believe she was 19 years old. She was one of the only women in his unit named Rachel. And they became super close. I mean, like they were all in it. His whole unit with this girl was like super close.

Starting point is 00:29:26 They were like like attached at the hip. And she ended up dying being killed in action. And she was like one of the first women to be killed on the front lines. But she was only 19 years old. She was a child. That's insane. And I don't mean that in like an offensive way. Like she's a child.

Starting point is 00:29:46 You know, like I mean like 19. Like a baby, I feel. It's like, you know what I mean? Like you're so young. You have so much ahead of you. But she was killed. He was there when it happened. And like his whole unit took it as like really bad.

Starting point is 00:29:58 Like it was really, really hard on everybody, especially him. And then there was a time where he gave like this little like, they said it was like a little Iraqi girl. He gave her like a handful of candy because she was just like playing in the street. And he found out that she was killed the next day for interacting with Americans. Oh my God. And so he took that as like, I just killed a little girl essentially. And then there was a little boy, a little Iraqi boy named Rashid.

Starting point is 00:30:31 And Zach took a huge liking to this little boy. he would bring Zach and his like friends in his unit his fellow soldiers like Coca-Cola and bags of ice from his family store because his family owned a store nearby and so in return Zach taught him English and like really bonded with him this kid was like there every day well you have to think he has kids like he's a dad yeah well one day insurgents blew up the store and killed the entire family for helping the Americans? No, it was just like, it just happened. And they said that it, I mean, they said it could have been partially what was going on. I mean, we don't know.

Starting point is 00:31:15 But it definitely could have been that. But either way, it was just the idea that, like, he was there one day and not there the next day. Oh, God. So he was already, like, a mess. And everybody in his, like, military unit said, like, I think it was, um, the author of that book that I mentioned, Ethan Brown, I think his name is, he talks about like emailing later all of his like military buddies to try to get like more information and they were all like don't you dare say anything bad about Zach like he's an amazing person like oh my god they were all just like really shocked that he could do what he did because they were

Starting point is 00:31:50 like that is just not him so obviously he does something beyond horrific later but it's just I just want to point out like how much of a dichotomy this is to like what people saw. And it's like mental illness can make you somebody that you're not. Oh, it's horrifying. Like PTSD is no fucking joke. No. No fucking joke. Um, so he left the military after purposely failing his physical tests over and over and over again. He was doing it on purpose so he could get back to his family. I don't blame him. Yeah. And he left with a general discharge. Now, this isn't the same as like a straight up honorable discharge. It's honorable, but it's not the same as an honorable discharge. He was not happy about this because a general discharge, it's like a general discharge under

Starting point is 00:32:42 honorable conditions, which means that your service was satisfactory, but it did not deserve the highest level of discharge for performance and conduct. So why? Basically what they're saying is like you must have gotten in some kind of like disciplinary issue or something like that, but he didn't. So he was very confused and angry about this discharge. And people around him were too. People were like, what the fuck? I think they even had had a lawyer like try to change that because they were like, I don't understand. Did they catch on to him like purposely trying to fail the fitness test? Is that? That's what I wonder. That's what I wonder. I don't know if that's something that would do it. But I mean, if we have any military members that can

Starting point is 00:33:26 shed light on this. Let us know. Let us know. because we love hearing about it. But yeah, so he got a general discharge under honorable conditions. Lana decided, so when he came back to her and was like, I'm discharged from the army, I'm stopping this whole thing. Lana was pissed because she was like, you know what, we need to separate because she felt betrayed that he was like, now I'm going to go work in a bar again and you can go back to stripping. And she was like, what the fuck?

Starting point is 00:33:56 Like you said you were doing this to make us a better life. now you're just like, fuck it. Right. So, and they were already having issues, like, you know, because he was going through a lot. I think she was like, she was going through a lot with the kids. And it's like, it just was a strange. A recipe for disaster. Again.

Starting point is 00:34:13 Exactly. So they separated. And in 2005, so they moved back to New Orleans. In 2005, he began, he began working in a bar in the French quarter called Hogs Bar. apparently he was very popular with the ladies as a bartender there and one fellow bartender was not interested in him at all and she was a woman who was like just not she was like I don't understand it her name was Adrian Addy Hall I knew it she was 29 years old originally from Durham North Carolina she was an artist she was a dancer a seamstress a poet damn she was

Starting point is 00:34:57 live in this very like free-spirited bohemian exactly what you think of when you think of like someone just living on bourbon street just like you know what I mean like love it it's the very romantic notion of like this bohemian girl in my next life she definitely I know it keeps making me think of you but not this part because she portrayed that on the outside for sure and she was an incredible seamstress she was an incredible artist she had all these talents but who boy did she have a dark side oh okay yeah so um but she was very she was she was very carefree she was artistic um she'd come to new orleans and lived in her car before finding her first apartment um she ended up living with a playwright friend who said about her quote she was so smart it just killed me her poetry was very very good and when it came

Starting point is 00:35:54 to sewing she could make anything from anything Oh, that's cool. So she sounds awesome. Right. She seems like if she had certain things under control, she would have been awesome. But there was a very dark side to her. And in 2003, it got real bad. Okay.

Starting point is 00:36:15 When she drank, which she drank a lot, and she drank very heavily. Well, she's the bartender on Bourbon Street, so. Exactly. And so did Zach. So now these are two things coming together that are just not good. When she got drunk, it was like straight up abusive because... Oh, that's not good. Yeah, it was not good.

Starting point is 00:36:37 And what she would do is she would find your weakness or something that you're like the most insecure about. And she would just dig the knife in. That was like what she was known for. I had a stepdad like that. Yeah, yeah, you did. You sure did. Not funny. I'm like, Ella.

Starting point is 00:36:54 well. You're like funny because it's true. So, but yeah, like that was, and that's what people do. Like those kind of drunks, that's like they're real good at it. They're really good at that. Literally, I was going to say it's like a talent. It truly, truly is. Even if you don't tell them what your weakness is, they'll find it. Oh, yeah. That's the thing they know. They can find it. They can sense it and they will use it against you the second they have too many drinks. And that's what she would do. So she had a lot of friends. She knew a lot of people because she was kind of like this like, you know, fairy girl who just like floated around and was like just doing everything. But they all knew that she had a really dark temper when she got drunk. Like they all knew this. Some of them were fine with dealing with it. But others were like, there was a time, especially in 2003, I believe

Starting point is 00:37:43 it started, where people started dropping off a little. Because they were like, I'm not dealing with this. We're not into that. Yeah. Like, grow up. One too many times you call me something terrible and I can't do it. Yeah. So when she wasn't drunk, when she was sober, she was awesome. That's the thing when she was great. A lot of people are like that. Exactly.

Starting point is 00:38:03 But then she was a different person when she drank too much. So in 2003, this is when she got, she started getting into like bar fights a lot. Like she was getting way more violent with her behavior when she would drink and she was drinking way more. She was also getting into cocaine. So she was going on like Coke rages on top of getting like crazy drunk. So it's like just a lot of bad stuff happening with somebody with that kind of temper. She went through a ton of roommates at this time because she just like couldn't hang on to somebody. And she started hanging out with a lot of Coke dealers, which ended up not being a great idea.

Starting point is 00:38:40 Because she even tried to rob a Coke dealer at some point with her roommate. Girl. Yeah. And her roommate was like, no, no, I'm good. And like she was just, you know, she was drinking too much. She was starting to fuck over her friends. And she was getting into a ton of like a string of relationships with like abusive men. It just was a really bad time for her. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:39:04 And so this happened up until about 2005 when she met Zach. And this is when she was working at, you know, this bar with Zach. And she didn't get why everybody thought he was the tits. No, because she said she was like, yeah, he was cute and like whatever, but like he's kind of goofy. and he's like a frat boy and I'm not like into it like she was just way too she was like no and this intrigued Zach because he because they always want the one that's not fucking intrigued exactly so it was like the one girl that's not falling all over themselves for him he's like wait a second who's this girl and he said he was immediately attracted to her he just

Starting point is 00:39:44 really liked her she was fun she was smart she was spunky she was artistic she was just everything you think someone from new Orleans is going to be like just this awesome. Yeah. You know, just colorful person. Um, so what he did to gain her favor. Finally is he was working the, uh, 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. shift, I believe. Yeah. So the middle of the night. But he was actually making a lot of money because this happened to be, um, a favorite bar of, you know, people that are working those kind of hours around town. It was like strippers and dancers and other bartenders, you know, people that are awake in the middle of the night. Yeah, like come wind down. Yeah. So we got a lot of business. But she worked the shift that was directly after his shift. So like

Starting point is 00:40:30 the 10 a.m. to whatever shift. So she didn't get the great people. Yeah, pretty much. So he would work his entire shift and then he would just sit at the bar and just chat with her while she worked. And just wanted to get to know her, wanted to just hang with her. That's cute. So finally she gave in, she just gave in. She was like, you know what? You're super persistent. You're pretty cute. Then you're nice enough. You seem like a pretty interesting person. So they end up finally starting to date in 2005, finally. I love, love. I hate that it ends. I know. It ends very poorly. Uh-huh. So they're dating. They're having this like whirlwind romance. And everyone's like this adorable couple that's just partying and it's just, you know, living in New Orleans. just doing their thing.

Starting point is 00:41:23 Then Katrina hit New Orleans. Oh, no. Yes. I'm sure people from New Orleans can, you know, shed more light on what it was like there. But everyone was evacuating at this point.

Starting point is 00:41:38 Right. Because the storm was coming. But Zach and Addy refused to leave. They were like, nope. So they were like, we're going to ride it out in our apartment together. And Lana, Zach's, you know, soon to be ex-wife, she wanted him to come with her and the kids. They were like further away.

Starting point is 00:41:59 And even, and she was even like bring Addie. Like you can bring Addie. Just, you need to come. Yeah. And she was like, you can come, just bring Addie and we all need to be together. Like I'm worried about. Yeah. We're a family. She said that he was very callous on the phone and was just like, nope, not coming.

Starting point is 00:42:18 Refused to come with his kids. Yeah. Which like, what the fuck, dude? Like, you don't choose your new girlfriend in this, like, crazy, like, let's stay behind for the hurricane thing over your kids. Grow up. So I guess, like, when they hung up the phone, she was like, what the fuck, dude? Like, you have to, like, you have kids. Like, come here.

Starting point is 00:42:36 And he was like, you'll be fun. And then that was it. Yeah, but, like, what if they're not? And she was like, so that's dickish. What if you're not? Exactly. That's the thing. It was like, this was that young.

Starting point is 00:42:48 I was a father very young. so I didn't get to live out my craziness time where he starts making stupid choices. Right. So once the storm had passed, they still stayed, even though they didn't have electricity, running water, or any supplies. Because we all know how Hurricane Katrina was handled by the government at that point. They were not getting any help at all. Most people were not back in the city, but they were already there with this small band of people that refused to evacuate. no running water, no electricity, nothing.

Starting point is 00:43:23 They basically went into naked and afraid mode, but... I was going to say, literally. Literally. Like, this turned into survivalist living, but they loved it. Like, loved it. Right. They became super well known because of this choice to stay with this group of, like, people that were like the renegades who are staying behind, you know, that whole thing.

Starting point is 00:43:44 Yeah. And they all banded together. They sat outside at night where they lit mattresses on fire. for like warmth and to like cook food. And they made like a makeshift bar and restaurant outside of Zach and Addy's apartment where they cooked beans and like other food that supplies they could get. They like made drinks because they went and like just stole alcohol from bars that were like abandoned at the time.

Starting point is 00:44:09 And they were both bartenders. So they were making drinks for everyone. It was like this little commune kind of thing going on. That's awesome. And at the time they were getting attention. for this. Like, papers were covering it and stuff. Like, there's pictures of Addy and Zach in a lot of papers because of this. From Katrina. That's crazy. Because people started knowing who they were. And they became like kind of like the king and queen of like the post-apocalyptic

Starting point is 00:44:35 society there. And they also routinely went about trying to clean up the mess together, like all these people. Like they would clear debris and like pick up trash and just try to like cleaned up the streets. So it seemed like kind of a cool, like a little like renegade society here. They also broke, like I said, broke into a bunch of bars. They stole the alcohol. Like they were, you know, they were. Well, I don't love that.

Starting point is 00:45:02 But, you know, like you do what you do. And they broke into like some grocery stores that they would like take canned goods and stuff like that. Because again, this was all abandoned at this point. Like everybody's evacuated. Yeah. they appeared just to embrace this whole like weird New Orleans that was just like this little group of people that had chosen to ride it out and then they started like looking at it like where the true New Orleans people like New Orleans you know what I mean I don't know if that's fair even though they weren't because they're from North Carolina and you know California but but like okay and also like that's just yeah that was just a choice that you you made. It doesn't make you any better than anybody else.

Starting point is 00:45:47 Like, that's really, like, that's ridiculous. It's a lot. But it became, like, a whole thing. The way it's described and everything I read is, like, they became very close during this time, and they bonded because they had to, basically. They had no other choice. Yeah. They would, like, ride around holding hands on their bikes. They were, like, attached at the hip everywhere they went. People were like, look at these romantic couple.

Starting point is 00:46:11 Intense movie. Of just, like, bohemian freest. spirited lovebirds just walking around. Fucking goals. Things I read said that they would like have sex in the street in the middle of the night. Like it was just like total. Oh. Like just like give no fucks just like we love each other kind of shit.

Starting point is 00:46:31 Which it's like, whoa. Like that's so much. All of this is so much. And you look at this and you're like, wow, this can only end happily. And it does not. No, you look at that and you're like, that's not going to end. I know. I feel it's too much.

Starting point is 00:46:44 Yeah. It's too much. Like if I wrote this in a book, I'd be like, no, you can't write that. That's silly. This is like, no, this is like the escalator to the top and you're like, oh, up, everything's going so well. And then you crash and fucking burn. It's the roller coaster. It's the slow climb to the top and then the plummet straight. So, so yeah, people are like, wow, look at this weird ass romance and like, let's write about it in newspapers and like everything's wonderful. In fact, the newspapers at the time were referring to these people who left behind, who like, stayed behind as like tribes. Like they were calling them tribes. Makes sense. In a New York Times article, it also mentioned that Addy was very good. I mean, again, she's a free spirit. She doesn't give a fuck.

Starting point is 00:47:27 She was very good at keeping because, again, like I said, this is like post-Katrina, when everything's still very up in the air there. It's dangerous there at this point because it's like lawless at this point. You know what I mean? Because there's no electricity. nothing. It's like things are a little, things are a little hairy. Sorry if you just heard that bang, but I dropped something. So, um, so things, so there was police presence happening at times, but like, you really needed to be careful about where you were going at night and like what

Starting point is 00:48:00 you were doing. Um, but Addie was very good at keeping police coming to their home to, like, help them out. And the way she was good at this was, and here's the quote in the New York Times paper. In the French quarter, in the French quarter, Addie Hall and Zachary Bowen found an unusual way to make sure the police officers regularly patrolled their house. Miss Hall, 29, a bartender, flashed her breasts at the police vehicles that pass by, ensuring a regular flow of traffic. I mean, Marty Gras, am I right? I love that she's just like, all right, I'll just use my tits and I'll get some police here. They're there for a reason.

Starting point is 00:48:39 Girls got to do what a girl's got to do. Like, she would be awesome if she just kept it together. Yeah. So, sounds great. Wasn't all great, though. Like I said, outside of their little bubble of their little, like, community they were making, there was, like, death, destruction, you know, she was nearly raped at one point when she went into, like, an abandoned grocery store to grab some supplies.

Starting point is 00:49:07 There was, like, a man hiding in there, like, waiting. Oh, that's awful. Yeah, so it was really scary. So soon after all of this, the 82nd Airborne Division of the Army was brought into New Orleans from Fort Bragg. And they were there to help with the aftermath. They were there to help with peacekeeping. Rebuild. Search and rescue, like all that stuff, exactly.

Starting point is 00:49:29 Problem with this was they were watching this from their balcony, like watching these like hundreds of soldiers like just march in and tanks and stuff. This was. And Zach has PTSD. Yes. And this was extremely triggering for Zach's PTSD. It's just like Fourth of July, like fireworks. Like anything like that is going to be a huge trigger. Exactly.

Starting point is 00:49:51 And like we said, his PTSD is very significant and very unchecked. So this was not a good thing. Started with the flashbacks. I mean, that sends him into like a spiral. And he was using drugs and drinking because he was also like doing tons of Coke. He was like drinking like a fish at this point. Like every picture of them, they are either smoking, drinking, like, there's never, they're just, they never let up. They just lived that, like, very fast, very hard lifestyle.

Starting point is 00:50:22 And he's using this stuff to, like, check that PTSD, like, drown it out. And all it's doing is, like, just amplifying it until it's just going to explode. Right. So, so, yeah. So that happened. And add on top of this, the fact that Addy was diagnosed. with bipolar disorder. Okay.

Starting point is 00:50:42 And the storm had stopped her from refilling her prescriptions. So she was unmedicated at this point, and she remains unmedicated. So this brought for a lot of volatility between the two of them, because there's a lot of psychological issues happening that are not being treated correctly. So the then mayor ordered that police and military, quote, compel the evacuation of all persons from the city of New Orleans, regardless of whether such persons are on private property or not or have no desire to leave. So like, you got to go. Because they were like, you got to get out of here so we can like start getting shit back together and like this is like gotten too far.

Starting point is 00:51:22 Well, and at that point you should probably want to so that you can have your city be rebuilt. Yeah, at this point. It's like just, you know, just help out with this stuff. It was an, you know, an act of nature. Nobody can help that. So adding Zach with some other people, again, refused. They refused to leave. They were pissed. They said they were trying to take their rights away and like we have the right to stay here. I feel like they're just trying to help you. I feel that way, but they held out and a week or two later, everyone who had evacuated started slowly coming back in because they were slowly being let back into their homes and all that. And this is when like Addy and Zach became like very superior about like these people coming back in. They were like,

Starting point is 00:52:06 oh, you're coming back now. Like, this is our town. You know what I mean? Like, they started getting very superior about what they... And one of their friends said, quote, they liked camping out. They liked not having to work. They liked not having the responsibility of paying bills.

Starting point is 00:52:21 They didn't like the change back to normalcy. Well, then go live in the woods. So it ended up being that they did really well with this romantic notion of like, we're going to live this survivalist lifestyle together. Or like, why do that? don't you just go find a commune? That's the thing. Like, go live it, man. You can live that way if you'd like to. Yeah, you totally can. And what happened was, like, they started fighting again. It started the romance is dying. But before this is starting to get, like, really volatile, they still had to, like, rebuild, you know, what they already had along with everybody else. So they started living in kind of like a commune situation in their apartment with a bunch of other people. And they talked, they used to, people said they used to talk about their, like, like post Katrina love story all the time and like romanticize it and tell it like it was this

Starting point is 00:53:11 big epic tale. And friends said they appeared to be deeply in love. Like deeply in love. People said Zach looked at Addy like she was the only woman on earth. And they said, Zach told his mother that Addy was his soulmate. Like things looked like they should go in the right direction. But now, again,

Starting point is 00:53:30 life is slowly returning to normal from this crazy Katrina stuff. and shits, the bohemian veil is starting to slip now. Now we're in real life. So remember, this is all well and good, but we have to remember that Zach straight up abandoned his children during this. Like, this is not like the, sure, romance, fun. You straight up abandoned your children and the mother of your child. Yeah. He didn't send messages.

Starting point is 00:54:04 He didn't answer messages. He didn't send money. He wasn't paying child support. Poor Lana has no fucking clue whether he's dead or alive at this point. She thought he was dead at one point. Yeah. And she told, so when her children asked her, like, where's daddy? Because they were asking, like, is he okay?

Starting point is 00:54:21 Did she tell them that he died? No, she said that, oh, I told them that he was working for the Red Cross, and he was helping build levies, and he was helping people rebuild after the storm. Like, he's a hero. Wow. Like, she's telling her kids that. that because she's like, I don't know what else to tell them. Like, that's the only thing I can think of to keep them thinking that he's this wonderful guy.

Starting point is 00:54:41 That's what you're supposed to do. Yeah. So, like, good on you, Lana. As hard as it is, that's what you do. That's, like, amazing to me. I was like, good for you, Lana. Yeah, I love her. Damn.

Starting point is 00:54:52 So, Lana said that, so, so, yeah, so she's like, I just wanted them to be proud of him. Finally, they get back in touch. She finds out that he's alive. And then all of a sudden, Zach is. like, I want to see the kids. So, Lana's like, Jesus Christ. Well, Lana's like, all right, you are their father. They miss you.

Starting point is 00:55:12 I want you to have a relationship with them. But she says, listen, I need to meet Addie. If she's going to be around these kids, I need to meet her. Very fair. At first, Zach was like super weird about it and was like, yeah, no, like, you're not, she doesn't want to meet you, blah, blah, blah. And she was like, then you don't fucking see the kids around it. Like, it's real clear.

Starting point is 00:55:32 Like, I don't know what to tell you. But apparently, according to friends, when he went back to Addy and was like, this is the deal, like, I want to have the kids over the apartment. Addy was, like, psyched to meet the kids. She was like, let's do this. So apparently she ran out, bought clothing for Jackson and Lily, was like psyched about it. That's nice. But then it came down to it and she sucked. She sucked at the stepmother thing.

Starting point is 00:56:00 She refused to even speak to Lana. She would not speak to Lana, which she has no fucking reason to not speak to Lana. I was going to say, what's your, what's your reasoning? And Lana said this a million times. She was like, in like the source I was reading, the article, Lana's like, listen, I could have had Zach back if I snapped my fingers. I was done with him. Like, you don't need to worry about it. I'm good.

Starting point is 00:56:23 Right. Like, what the hell? She refused to speak to Lana. And then she, then people said, and the kids said that when she would go, they would go visit Zach and Addy, Addy wouldn't speak to them, like wouldn't interact with them. Just totally flip the switch. But do you think it's because she was bipolar and unmedicated? I wonder, because she's unmedicated, so it's not being checked.

Starting point is 00:56:44 And I'm wondering if this situation is just like throwing it into haywire. High gear. And so she refuses to speak to them, doesn't interact with them. The kids said that they didn't think she liked them. Well, duh, she's not talking to them. At this point, they're like seven and five. Like, they're like young. they said she would go out to bars all night, then come home drunk and lock them out of the bedroom that she and Zach were in.

Starting point is 00:57:10 Awesome. Yeah. And then she started saying that when, then she started saying to Zach, when the kids come over, you have to go to a hotel with them. You can't stay here. But why? Oh, like, what the fuck? That's the thing. So it's like, what the fuck, dude?

Starting point is 00:57:27 There's so much strangeness when it comes to Zach and Addy's behavior. behavior. Yeah. But particularly Adi's behavior. By 2006, and like, let me be clear, I don't think I need to say this, but like, clearly she did not deserve anything that she got later. No, obviously not. This is just reality what was going on.

Starting point is 00:57:45 It's just what happened. And I think it's important to show what a crazy-ass relationship they had because it didn't just come out of nowhere. By 2006, the couple was just partying, doing tons of drugs together, and then they would getting insane fights, like all the time. Addy was super abusive physically and verbally. But Zach came right back out of verbally at least, and there was no serious reports of physical violence on his end, but there was one time where they woke up after a huge fight and she had bruises on her arm. Okay. And so that's nobody really knows, but that, to me, points at you were

Starting point is 00:58:27 beating the shit out of each other or he hit you. Yeah. Or he may have like grabbed her arms to like stop her. You just, you don't know. All it vainly says to me is like you guys shouldn't be together. I was going to say. That's pretty much all it says. Or maybe you should stop doing drugs. They would break up and get back together a ton of times. Friends said that it was just getting super dark and they were getting wicked worried about them. Like they were getting embroiled in the whole thing. They would kick each other out of the apartment regularly. And then they would chase. When it comes to that, it's like, what's the point of being together?

Starting point is 00:58:59 Do you want to live like that? I think they did. I think they loved this. Yeah, I think some people do. Yeah, because they love chaos. Exactly. And I think it's, they would kick each other out of the apartment and then they would chase the other one down to like beg them back.

Starting point is 00:59:14 So I think it was this like fun like they needed this. It was like they need the craziness. No thanks. And it was so toxic, like so toxic. Friends said at the end they would break up and reconcile literally every other day. like every other day, like 24 hours apart they would do it. In August 2006, Addy was actually arrested after one of their fights. She stormed out with a handgun into the street.

Starting point is 00:59:43 Started a fight with a dude, like a random dude on the street, and pointed the gun at him. Yeah, you can't be out there doing that. Yeah. And Zach refused to post her bail. So the friends had to put together money to get her out of jail. So already it's just looking bad. These poor friends. Look at bad.

Starting point is 00:59:59 Zach was constantly moving in temporarily with friends and then moving back in with Addy. It was just insane. Zach then, finally, in 2006, he decided that he was looking elsewhere for companionship. Now, he started having a relationship with another man. Okay. But did he end things with? No. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:00:25 I'm not sure. Was that okay with? I'm not sure exactly. their togetherness at the moment. But it doesn't look like there was an agreement that he could do this because Addy gets real mad. Okay.

Starting point is 01:00:39 So he's starting to understand at this point that he's bisexual. And he's not exactly comfortable with it yet. So he's trying to hide it. But eventually Addy found out. Right. So Addy finds out that he's cheating on her with a man

Starting point is 01:00:53 and she loses her shit. Like loses her shit causes public scenes. She's calling him homophobic slurs in front of people, like literally calling him an F word, like screaming it in the middle of the street at him. That's horrific. Then she called every woman in his phone and told them that he had AIDS. Oh, wow. Yeah, he didn't, by the way.

Starting point is 01:01:17 Not that it matters, but like, not okay. Holy shit. How do you even come up with that in your brain? Like, how are you like that mad that you're like, this is what I'm going to do? This is what I'm going to do. I think it's going to work. And this, I just can't imagine living this. way. No. Like, why are you into this? Why is this what gets you off, dudes? Like, this is not okay.

Starting point is 01:01:37 Some people, though, like, that's their personality. Like, they love it. Some people love it. Yeah, yeah. Some people thrive on it as a couple. You know what I mean? It's just not good. So because at this point, Addie's really like going off the rails at this point. And she's scrounging together money because she was kicked out of her apartment. Um, she's, not working a lot. She's like real, like friends said that they saw her like using quarters to buy groceries once like. Oh, that's really

Starting point is 01:02:07 sad. So she needs money. So she's pissed at Zach for this whole thing, but she convinces Zach to pay for a new apartment. Okay. Because Zach is working like a hundred jobs at this point because he's paying Lana child support at this point. So he's trying

Starting point is 01:02:23 to, and he's seeing his kids every other weekend. So he's trying to like maintain that. So he's working like crazy. So she's like, listen, we will get back together. Let's live together in this apartment. Let's have a new start. Let's not. Wipe the slate clean, but you pay for it. So Zach is like, cool. Let's do it. So this is the apartment. We loved her. This is the apartment on North Rampart Street. And they sign the lease together, but then days later on October 4th, he secretly had the lease put only in her name.

Starting point is 01:03:02 How do you even do that? She just went to the landlord and was like, put it in my name. Oh. And then she suddenly kicked him out out of nowhere. So basically, she tricked him into buying her an apartment. This was after he paid two months rent ahead of time. Right. So she didn't pay anything, had him sign the lease, got him kicked off the lease,

Starting point is 01:03:23 then was like, you're homeless. See you later. Yeah, that's not okay. And it's like, dude, okay, he cheated on you. I get it. You're mad. But like, just break up with him and walk away. You do not need to do this kind of shit.

Starting point is 01:03:39 Like, that's petty shit. Maybe, like, spit on his car or like... Yeah, like, absolutely. Like, do something like that. You did the whole phone book thing, like... Exactly. You know, just... I have a girl's night and yell about him, but don't...

Starting point is 01:03:51 There's a line. And, like, take it from someone who's been, like, super cheated on by my ex-boyfriend. there's really nothing you're going to do that's going to make it feel better. Like, the only thing that you can do... You just have to let it happen. Yeah, like, just dip. Like, that's... All you can do to make yourself feel better is say,

Starting point is 01:04:11 fuck off and just leave and then leave it behind you. And get better for yourself, you know? Exactly. Like, putting revenge out on them is not going to make you feel better. It's just going to make it messier. And in this case, it made it real messy. So, like we said, she was basically scamming him. to get the apartment.

Starting point is 01:04:29 Apparently he was, I mean, he was really upset. He loved her. He thought they were going to try to work it out. And he was mostly upset because he was taking the kids that weekend. And now he had nowhere. And now he's homeless. And he was saying, and even Lana's father, like his ex-father-in-law, said that when it came to being a father, like when Zach put in the time, he was great. And that's all that mattered to him.

Starting point is 01:04:56 and those kids gave him purpose. And especially with the whole thing going on, like, you know, the military stuff, the perceived failures that he keeps seeing in his life, those kids, like, grounded him. So I think now that he's looking at being homeless, not being able to take them, like, all this, he's starting to spiral. Right. That's really sad. So that night that he found out on October 4th, like, that she had signed the lease just in her name.

Starting point is 01:05:25 it was kicking him out, they started fighting and they fought for hours. I mean, just knock down, drag out, constant hours, hours, hours. And it ended with him strangling her to death. Wow. He was not violent before this. He was actually the one in the relationship that everybody was like, he was the level-headed one. And she was like the volcano. And they balanced each other out really well that way.

Starting point is 01:05:52 So it was shocking for everybody to be like, wait a second, he lost it. did that to her. Like, so this second floor apartment, it was a second floor apartment that they lived on, it is over a very interesting landmark, which I'm going to talk about in a second. But police went up once they, and we're going, you know, now they found, I'm going to like go forward for a second. When police found Zach's body, they went up and found the apartment in a crazy state. Mm-hmm. It was a mess, an absolute mess. There was trash all over the floor, alcohol bottles, cigarette butts, beer cans, you name it. He had left the AC blasting, so it was what police referred to as resembling the feel of a morgue freezer or a meat locker.

Starting point is 01:06:40 Oh. The walls were covered in black spray-painted words, conveying Zach's obvious mental decline before his suicide. The messages said things like call Lana Bowen and then her phone number. Oh, my God. loved her. Total failure. That's really sad. Another wall said, help me stop the pain.

Starting point is 01:07:03 That was above his bed on the ceiling. Oh, my God. In the bathroom, it said, I'm sorry I couldn't finish. And then there was a message on the wall that said, look in the oven. Oh. Aminous is fuckress. Yep. So they look in the oven because it told them to.

Starting point is 01:07:21 This story is so, or this case is so. like bananas that it doesn't even seem real. No, it really doesn't. This seems like a book or a movie. Like the spray painted words, like look in the oven and like, please make the paint stop. Like in a movie, you'd be like, okay, that's overkill. Yeah, you'd be like, this is fun fantasy.

Starting point is 01:07:39 Like, it's not real. Well, they look in the oven, which on the front was spray painted on the door with Don't Look. And it's sitting in a tinfoil lined pan was a set of charred feet and legs. In a pot on the stove were hands, and then in a bigger pot, a woman's severed head. Oh, my God. The New York Post at the time, which, like, leave it to the New York Post, put a headline out that said gal-pal gumbo. Isn't that fucked?

Starting point is 01:08:12 How did they even put that out? Oh, they get to do whatever they want. They put out the craziest headlines ever. Her torso was found wrapped in a garbage bag in the freeze, in the refrigerator. and they found an eight-page confession that was written in the last pages of Addie's journal. Okay. So part of these said, so the first thing it said was, quote, she had stolen this apartment, tried to kick me out, then would not shut the fuck up. So I very calmly strangled her.

Starting point is 01:08:41 It was very quick. Oh. He said, quote, after sexually defiling the body a few times, I was posed with the question of how to dispose of the corpse. so before he did anything he went to sleep with her dead body in the living room like before he cut her up he just left her body in the living room woke up the next morning and went to work oh yeah he told one of their friends there that they broke he was like oh addie and i broke up and she like she left imagine if he was your bartender that day yeah and he was also working at a grocery store so I think this was like when I think he was like a delivery guy.

Starting point is 01:09:24 Um, he, he had a full day visiting friends living pretty normally that day. Later that night, he dragged her into the bathtub and began dismemberment using a knife and a hacksaw. A knife. Yep. And he said, in his confession, he wrote, quote, I came home, moved the body to the tub, got a saw and hacked off her feet, hands and head. Put her head in the oven after giving it an awful haircut. put her hands and feet in the water on the range. He then said he got tired after a while and he said, quote,

Starting point is 01:09:58 I got drunker and some hours later turned off the stove, filled the tub with water, and passed out. So then he said he was off for that weekend at work. So he was like, I had tons of time to get this done. But he said, quote, due to laziness, I spent most of that time coped up in various bars with different girls. Can you imagine being one of those girls? Can you imagine?

Starting point is 01:10:24 I, oh, oh. So during this time, and these are like days passing by. Like, he's just living in that apartment with her rotting corpse that he's slowly pulling apart. Were her, like, is it extremities? Is that the word, boiling? He roasted most of them. Like, he charred them. A lot of them, he charred, like, beyond recognition.

Starting point is 01:10:47 There's also no evidence that he, ate any part of her and that what it looks like is he did this purely to get rid of her, like to make it easier to dispose of her. But you have to think he's literally sitting in that apartment. Like if you're cooking a flesh. Oh yeah. It's going to smell horrific. Oh yeah.

Starting point is 01:11:06 And people start smelling it. And during this time, he called Lana and he had her bring the kids to his work. This is when he was working at the grocery store. And she did say, she said, he was happy, jovial in a very good mood, told the kids, grab all the candy you want on me. Kids were all excited. Do you think he, like, wanted to live out like perfect last days? Oh, he definitely did. That was, because then he gave Lana $600 in cash and child support and asked if he could have the kids the following weekend. Because he was like, Addy left. Can I have the kids at the apartment? And he said, I'm renovating the apartment. I really want them to. to come over. And Lona's like, cool. Yeah, definitely. So she tells the kids, like, want to see Daddy next weekend and they were like, yeah. Like, cool. Now, Addie's still just on the stove. And like, part of hers in the bathtub. Yeah, part of hers in the bathtub still. So he writes, quote,

Starting point is 01:12:06 Sunday night, I sought off the rest of the legs and arms and put them in roasting pans, stuck them in the oven and passed out. I came to seven hours later with an awful smell emanating from the kitchen. I turned off the oven and went to work Monday. This would be the last day of work. So one of the neighbors, one of their neighbors in this apartment was named John Boutet. And he remembers seeing the bathroom light on the night of the murder. And he said he just couldn't stop like paying attention to it because he goes, the light was on all night. It never shut off.

Starting point is 01:12:42 And it gave him like a weird vibe. He just didn't like it. this neighbor had lived in the apartment that this that apartment that he killed adrian before and he had moved out because he felt so weird in the place he said that place has bad vibes like it had bad vibes to begin with and he actually said he had a priest come and bless it before he left oh my god i i know like halfway through i realized the case you were talking about and i remember i want to say i heard this on my favorite murder and they were talking about oh really how the place was like fucked up. It's bad juju. And he lived in a few more units in that building. And he said he

Starting point is 01:13:22 never felt okay. Like he never felt like he could actually live there. So he said it just had bad energy. He didn't like it. He eventually moved into a small apartment in the back building. And that's where he was living currently. So he said the night of the murders, not only did he just watch the light on all night. And he was like, what the fuck? He said he also thought he saw someone outside his window standing on his balcony. And when he went over, there was no one there. But then he said he kept seeing what he called like shadow figures out in the backyard. And he said he was like getting really freaked out. He ended up calling a friend over to like stay with him because he was so freaked out by it. Yeah. And he says in the book that I read, he said, quote, this is an old city with old spirits.

Starting point is 01:14:09 don't tempt them. Right. Which is like, I was going to say that's like on some New Orleans, or Nalyn stuff. Some Nalyn stuff. So like I said earlier, this apartment sits on top of a well-known landmark. Which is. That landmark is the infamous voodoo spiritual temple. I was going to ask.

Starting point is 01:14:31 Run by priestess Miriam Shimani. I was going to ask. She, she's very well-known. known, very well respected, very well liked. She actually blessed the marriage of Nick Cage and Lisa Marie Presley. Into it. Which you know Nick Cage has a tomb in the St. Louis Cemetery at New Orleans, like ready for him? You know, I do think I've heard that. And it's like a pyramid. One of my friends, Lindsay, is like obsessed with Nick Cage. I mean, who isn't? And he's, it's a pyramid. It's like the weirdest looking tomb when he finally goes in there. But according to

Starting point is 01:15:07 the website for this voodoo spiritual uh i'm sorry what is it called the voodoo spiritual temple according to the website quote it is the only formally established spiritual temple with a focus on traditional west african spiritual and herbal healing practices currently existing in new orleans it has been serving new orleans natives and visitors of all nationalities for 27 years wow so it's like well respected well known um of course people took this and we're like, oh, he must have been under demonic possession and like it's voodoo and it's all, this is what it is. It all made him. But I think he was just very sick and very at the end of his rope.

Starting point is 01:15:51 I think that's what it is. Maybe it contributed. I mean, is. I'm a big believer in things like that. I just think, I think unfortunately a lot of like news outlets pointed to Miriam, like, Priestess Miriam and being like she must have. had something to do with this bad energy and this bad vibe and stuff. And it's like, I don't think that's true. Like, I think she's, well, she's a nice lady from all accounts. It's like, I don't think that was it. I think that this was a series of very unfortunate, very linked events. And I, I don't

Starting point is 01:16:24 want to say recipe for disaster anymore. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it definitely is because I don't want to point to these outside forces as having something to do with it. I think that minimizes it. Zach did it. Like, he chose to strangle her. He chose to do this. Obviously, there was psychological things at play. But so on that Sunday, he and a friend, this neighbor, John Boutte, and his friend were outside the apartments having, like, dinner, I think. And his friend was like a doctor.

Starting point is 01:16:54 And his friend was like, what is that smell? Like, what am I smelling? And John was like, yeah, I don't know. I've been smelling that. But like, you know, and I think he says in the book, like, you know, New Orleans has tons of smells. I didn't know what it was. Like, it's just a smell.

Starting point is 01:17:06 I mean, I guess the doctor was like, that smells very familiar. Like, that's a bad smell. And he's like, and I'm a doctor. But they were kind of like, you know what, I'm just going to stay out of it and just eat my dinner and go on my life. So now three days after killing her, he said he came home from work in the boiling, rotting body parts and the rotted corpse smell and headless torso was suddenly horrifying to him. Zach.

Starting point is 01:17:30 Yeah, like, as it should be. He suddenly came home and was like, oh no. So he wrote. quote, in his confession, quote, halfway through the task, I stopped and thought about what I was doing. The decision to halt the first idea and move to Plan B, the crime scene that you are now in, came after a while. I scared myself not by the action of calmly strangling the woman I've loved for one and a half years, and then desecrating her body, but by my entire lack of remorse. I've known for forever how horrible of a person I am, ask anyone, and decided to quit my jobs and spend the $1,500 cash I had being happy until I killed myself.

Starting point is 01:18:13 So that's what I did. Good food, good drugs, good strippers, good friends, and many loose ends I may have had. I didn't contact any of my family, so that'll explain the shock, and had a fantastic time living out my days. It's just about time now. Wow. It sounds like he- Isn't that so fucked up? It sounds like he was like in a very manic place and then he finally realized what happened. Yep.

Starting point is 01:18:38 And I almost feel like it's one of those things where they were the kind of people that wanted to be so extreme that he wanted that letter to sound extreme. Yeah, I agree. I think it was just like, he's just like, you know what? Fuck it. Like this is what I did. And now I'm going to go out in a blaze of glory kind of thing. Like he's like, what? whatever. And he went him at strip clubs. He slept with multiple women during this time. He spent tons of money. He did tons of Coke. He drank himself silly. He partied. And in the days following, he drunkenly called Lana in the middle of the night at one point to try to get back. Oh yeah. And he's, and he's like, meet me. I want to see. At one point he said to her, I want to see my favorite stripper. Oh, that's really degrading. She was like, fuck you.

Starting point is 01:19:30 And she refused. She's like, no. And he's like, I just want to meet with you. Let's have a drink. Let's celebrate our like time together. And she was like, listen, we're both. Who says that to the mother of their kids? Sorry that thought came to me.

Starting point is 01:19:43 So, wait. Exactly. I was like, what? And he's like, let's celebrate our time together. And she was like, we're both in different relationships now. Like, that's not appropriate. No. Right.

Starting point is 01:19:54 Like, we're not celebrating our marriage. while we're in different relationships, like, go away. And he got pissed. Like, was like, fuck off. So a week of Addie rotting in that apartment, he was still living there and still partying his ass off. He went back home Sunday and burned himself 28 times on his body with a cigarette. Once for every year he was living.

Starting point is 01:20:18 And then he wrote out everything that he perceived to fail at. So he said all... started with homecoming. All his regrets in his life. In his final, like, note page, he wrote, friends, jobs, military, marriage, love. Every last one of these I failed at. And this is when he spray painted all the walls.

Starting point is 01:20:40 He left to party one last night and jumped off the Omni Hotel. Wow. Now, New Orleans police detective Tom Moravitch said when he came on the scene, quote, in 10 years in law enforcement, I had never seen any scene that disturbing. That's like the inside of somebody's brain. Nightmare. A nightmare.

Starting point is 01:21:02 And Lana was informed of his death when she, and they told her where he had done it and everything. And she said when she heard that it was at the pool, like the pool deck at the Omni. He used to take the kids there. She, he used to take her and the kids there. And she felt it was a personal way to hurt her. I mean, yeah. And one of the kids ended up. Like being very scarred by this.

Starting point is 01:21:26 The Lily ended up having a ton of like stomach issues from it. Like couldn't get past it. I guess like Jackson just became very like introvert. Like he like held it inside a little bit. You don't realize what you do. Yeah. Like this was, I mean, he destroyed so many lives with this. One of their good friends, Zach and Addy's good friends, Capricio, I think his name is.

Starting point is 01:21:49 Addie had dated him at one point. They stayed with him at times. They hung out with him. They confided in him. Zach worked at the grocery store with him. When he heard the news, he said, quote, I was floored. It's just not something that is reachable. There are times when you can put yourself in someone else's shoes.

Starting point is 01:22:09 But then there are times things, then there are some things that are so beyond our grasp of what we are capable of or what we understand ourselves to be capable of. We cannot go to that length. That's what this is. It is so really untouchable. It stays where it is. Yeah. And that's such a good way of saying it. Like, that is so far removed from what I can put my brain into, like, that kind of behavior. It is. And friends said they were shocked that Zach had done this. They said, you know, Addy was unpredictable and violent at times, but they were like, this, Zach was levelheaded. They had a tumultuous relationship, but they seemed to love each other. And their apartment was added to a well-known ghost tour in the French quarter where, like, people go buy it and we'll be like, that's the. That's the, you know, New Orleans murder house. You need to let like 50 years go by before you start making tours of crime scenes.

Starting point is 01:23:02 I know. It's a tough, it's one of those tough ethical and moral lines. But ghost tours and like those kind of things, I'm like, I get it. I see both sides of it. Like I can totally. Because I just can't. I can't sit here and pretend that I wouldn't go on that ghost tour. Like I'm not going to sit here and pretend I'm morally.

Starting point is 01:23:24 like opposed to going on that ghost door, I feel like I'd be pretty opposed. Yeah. I feel like you'd drag me to it. Yeah, I totally believe you. I'm just, I can't lie to you listeners. I can't do it. I would go on that ghost store. I'm firmly sitting here and saying that I, I don't shame anybody for not. Yeah, I'm not saying it's right. There's a, uh, what's like the, a level of or a certain amount of time that should pass. Yeah. I mean, I think this people, a grace period. Yeah. I can totally see both sides. I totally, I just can't. I can't lie to you guys. I can't do it. I love you so. I can't lie. That's what makes the podcast is those two very separate personalities. Exactly. So just a couple of last things in this hour and a half many more.

Starting point is 01:24:09 In this main episode. TBTino and I thought I was doing the main episode this week. In 2016 paranormal lockdown, that show, they did an episode where they locked themselves in the apartment for 72 hours. No. And they got EVP that says you are not alone and strangled to death. That's horrific. Then there's a crazy connection

Starting point is 01:24:32 to another dismemberment in New Orleans. Addie was best friends with a woman named Margaret Sanchez who along with her sex offender boyfriend Terry Speaks murdered a dancer named Jaron Lockhart and dismembered her body. We're going to cover

Starting point is 01:24:48 that. I think I might cover it on the next mini because it connects to this. And I think it would be nice to like connect right into it. So we'll go further into that in the next one. But that is the fucked up crazy story of Zach and Addy. Wow. That was bananas. And I feel like it's really sad because I feel like, well, all murder is like so preventable.

Starting point is 01:25:13 But when mental health takes a part in it, it's like you wish that those two people could have gotten help. It's true. You really do because there was things I read too. that said Zach tried to talk about it with some of his friends. And some of his friends that were like outside of the military. And some that had served already. And some of them weren't exactly super like helpful with it. Like they were kind of like,

Starting point is 01:25:36 what did you see that you're so fucked up from? Like they were literally like multiple extreme deaths. Which just pushes them further into believing they shouldn't be asking for help. So it's like that sucks. Right. And then Addie had, you know, unmedicated bipolar. It's, that's a recipe for trouble when they both got together. Mm-hmm.

Starting point is 01:25:58 Well, as always, thanks for listening, and you can find us on Instagram at Morbid Podcast. Hit us up on Twitter. A Morbid Podcast. Send us a Gmail. Morbid Podcast at gmail.com. And you can listen to us anywhere that there are podcasts. Do it. Because just you can.

Starting point is 01:26:21 Yeah. listening and we hope you keep it it feels so wrong to do one right now sometimes you're going to do it i don't know i i thought you were going to do it they're all wrong to do hold on i was going to say aren't they all wrong they're all very wrong to do i just don't know if my my morals and my brain can go there today you're wrong and my wrong are different yeah i'll try next time all right we'll get you back Bye!

Morbid - The Murder of Daniel Brophy

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