MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories - Behind Closed Doors (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

Episode Date: July 31, 2023

On the morning of January 25, 2012, a police officer walked towards an abandoned Mercedes-Benz SUV in an old neighborhood in East Detroit. This neighborhood was known as a den for drug dealers and heroin users. The officer looked in the back window of the SUV and squinted to get a better look inside... and what he saw left him in shock. And what the officer found in the backseat of that Mercedes would stun the most experienced cops, and would lead investigators into a hidden world in the wealthy suburbs of Detroit – a world of lies, betrayal... and BDSM.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, Prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. On the morning of January 25th, 2012, a detective was called to an alleyway in a very rough part of Detroit, Michigan. When he got there,

he saw there was a ring of police officers crowded around a black Mercedes-Benz SUV that had one of its back doors wide open. The detective walked up to the group of officers, who all quickly gestured for him to look in the back seat of the car. The detective, who had seen countless murders and other horrible things during his career, nodded silently at the group and then turned his attention to the inside of the car. And what he saw was so out of place that at first he didn't even understand what he was looking at. But then he realized what it was and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up

and he had to step back for a moment just to collect himself. But this was only the beginning of a very shocking and strange case that only got weirder and weirder by the day. But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the strange, dark, and mysterious Delivered in Story format, then you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday. So if that's of interest to you, please replace the Amazon Music Follow Button's coffee filter with a soiled diaper. Okay, let's get into today's story.

I'm Peter Frankopan. And I'm Afua Hirsch. And we're here to tell you about our new season of Legacy, covering the iconic, troubled musical genius that was Nina Simone. Full disclosure, this is a big one for me. Nina Simone, one of my favourite artists of all time, somebody who's had a huge impact on me, who I think objectively stands apart for the level of her talent, the audacity of her message. If I was a first year at university, the first time I sat down and really listened to her and engaged with her message, it totally floored me. And the truth and pain and messiness of her struggle that's all captured in unforgettable music

that has stood the test of time. Think that's fair, Peter? I mean, the way in which her music comes across is so powerful, no matter what song it is. So join us on Legacy for Nina Simone. Hello, I'm Emily, and I'm one of the hosts of Terribly Famous, the show that takes you inside the lives of our biggest celebrities. And they don't get much bigger than the man who made badminton sexy.

OK, maybe that's a stretch, but if I say pop star and shuttlecocks, you know who I'm talking about. No? Short shorts? Free cocktails? Careless whispers? OK, last one. It's not Andrew Ridgely. Yep, that's right. It's Stone Cold icon George Michael.

From teen pop sensation to one of the biggest solo artists on the planet, join us for our new series, George Michael's Fight for Freedom. From the outside, it looks like he has it all. But behind the trademark dark sunglasses is a man in turmoil. George is trapped in a lie of his own making, with a secret he feels would ruin him if the truth ever came out. Follow Terribly Famous wherever you listen to your podcasts, or listen early and ad-free on Wondery Plus on Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app.

On an afternoon in January of 2012, 56-year-old Jane Bechera and her husband Bob were standing in the front yard of their large five-bedroom, two-story home in Grosse Pointe Park, a wealthy suburb of Detroit, Michigan. Jane was tall, with short, light brown hair, and she was wearing jeans, a wealthy suburb of Detroit, Michigan. Jane was tall, with short light brown hair, and she was wearing jeans, a sweater, and a black nylon jacket. The temperature was barely above 30 degrees Fahrenheit, but for people who had grown up in Michigan like Jane and Bob, it didn't really feel that cold. And it wasn't snowing that day, so Jane thought it would be the perfect time to show Bob where she wanted to make some updates to the house and to the yard. So the two of them walked around outside and talked about how they could make their home even more beautiful than it already was. Bob, or Big Bob, as he was known by most of

their friends, was a huge six foot four inch tall guy with broad shoulders and dark hair, and he made his living in real estate and property management, so he enjoyed figuring out ways to update houses and increase their worth, especially when it was his own personal home. Bob had grown up wealthy, but he'd always wanted to add to the money he'd inherited from his family. So he had started his own business, and now he collected rent on multiple properties in the area, including houses, apartments, and buildings with bars and restaurants inside of them. But it was Bob's height, not his money, that had first attracted Jane to him when they met at a party all the way back in 1983. Jane didn't think looks were the most important trait in a man, but she was tall and she liked tall guys, so when she had seen Bob towering over everybody else

around him, he caught her eye. But once Jane and Bob had started talking that night at the party and spending time together afterwards, their attraction went far beyond physical appearance. They discovered they had a lot in common. Jane and Bob were both devoutly religious. Jane volunteered at her church, and Bob served as a deacon in his congregation. And once they had started dating, they enjoyed going to church services together. And they were also both really driven. Bob had worked very hard to start and grow his business. And even at a young age,

Jane had made her way up the corporate ladder to land a high-paying marketing position. But the biggest thing that had drawn them together when they were young was that they had both wanted to start a family. And so after dating for about two years, Jane and Bob had gotten married, and not long after that, they had two kids, a son and then a daughter. And then, Jane and Bob, along with their two kids, had moved into their dream home in Grosse Pointe Park. But now, both of their kids were out of the

house. Their son had moved away for work, and their daughter had recently gone off to college. were out of the house. Their son had moved away for work, and their daughter had recently gone off to college. And so Jane and Bob were now adjusting to their new lives as empty nesters. And so they tried to find other things to focus on. They worked hard running charity fundraisers in the community, they spent more time with their friends, and they decided to do work on the house that they never had a chance to do when their kids were younger. As the couple walked around their property looking for things they wanted to fix, Bob said he knew someone who could get started very soon on some of these updates they wanted to make. Bob said the guy's name was Joseph Gents and that he used him often as a handyman and yard guy at some of the properties that he managed. Jane said that would

be great, but the truth was she had actually met Joseph when he'd done some small repairs around the house, and she didn't really like him that much. Joseph was as big as Bob was, but not nearly as calm or soft-spoken. And Jane knew that Joseph had intellectual disabilities that sometimes made it difficult for him to communicate clearly. And when he got frustrated, Jane had seen that he would lash out, and it was kind of frightening. But Bob believed helping Joseph and making sure he had steady work and income was the right thing to do. And Jane couldn't argue with that because she believed people should do whatever they could to help those who were less fortunate than they were. So Jane smiled at Bob and said she was excited about the work they were going to get done on the house. Then she headed inside to get ready

for a wine night she was hosting at the house for some of her friends. Later that night, Jane opened the front door for the first of her guests, and when she did, she looked out and she could see all the lights from the houses across the street shining on the perfectly manicured lawns and luxury cars parked outside. And so even though her kids were no longer living there with them anymore, which made Jane feel a little bit sad, Jane still felt like Grosse Pointe Park was the perfect place to live. But there was another side, a hidden side, to the Detroit suburbs that seemed like a completely different world from Jane and Bob's quiet neighborhood.

And on a night in January, not long after Jane had her friends over, a person who was known online as quote, Master, arrived at an event space that was part of that other hidden side of the suburbs. Master wrapped their arm around their partner's waist and then walked into a party filled with members of the local BDSM community. BDSM stands for Bondage, Domination, Submission, and Sadomasochism, and so the BDSM community was a group that practiced varying degrees of bondage, domination, submission, and sadomasochism, often in a sexual setting. Master was well known in the BDSM community because they hosted small gatherings of their

own at a nearby dungeon, a two-room basement outfitted with a bed, whips, ropes, and other materials common to the BDSM scene. nearby dungeon, a two-room basement outfitted with a bed, whips, ropes, and other materials common to the BDSM scene. So, at the January party, Master and their partner made their way around the venue, said hello to the people they knew, and introduced themselves to people they hadn't met before. Loud music was playing and partygoers danced, drank, and talked. Some of the guests were dressed casually, almost like they'd come straight from work. But some were wearing head-to-toe leather, and others wore dog collars attached to leashes around their necks. And everybody, no matter what they were wearing, looked relaxed and like they were having a great time.

Some people on the outside, who were aware of the BDSM community, thought this group was strange at best and dangerous at worst. But the truth was, most of the people at the party that night had healthy relationships, successful careers, and loving families. This was just one aspect of their lives that they had entered into happily and consensually. But Master was something different, and some members of the community, including some people at this party, wanted nothing to do with them. These people saw Master as someone who used the cover of BDSM to act out on their unchecked violent tendencies, and it would turn out those people were right. As Master walked through that party, they were totally preoccupied with violent thoughts. Because Master and their partner had big plans

for the future. They wanted to invite a third person into their relationship who would live with them full-time in a brand new house they were going to buy. But Master knew doing something like that wasn't going to be easy. It would take work and a ton of money. And so Master had recently decided that to achieve their goals for the future, they would have to kill someone. And so, Master had recently decided that to achieve their goals for the future, they would have to kill someone. And they had already chosen a target. It was a person who lived a relatively quiet life in a beautiful home in a wealthy suburb. At about 4.45 p.m. on January 24, 2012, a couple of weeks after that BDSM party had taken place, Jane drove down the street through her neighborhood in her black Mercedes-Benz SUV. And as she drove, she was smiling and chatting on the phone with her daughter.

Then Jane pulled into her driveway and hit the garage door opener. She told her daughter she would call her back in a little while once she'd gotten settled and changed out of her work clothes. Then she told her daughter she loved her, said goodbye, and hung up the phone. Jane pulled the Mercedes into the garage, and then closed the garage door behind her, and then glanced at the clock on the dashboard. She knew Bob wouldn't be home for a few hours,

because he was meeting a potential client for a drink, so she figured she'd relax for a little while, maybe have something to eat, and then call her daughter back. Then Jane turned off the engine, stepped out of her car, but right away she heard something behind her. Jane turned around and immediately froze. Someone was in the garage with her. Jane shouted at them, and the person lunged at her and shoved her against the car door. But Jane pushed back and stumbled forward. She was confused and terrified, and she thought she was being robbed. Then the person in the garage grabbed Jane from behind, raised up their fist, and slammed it into the back of Jane's head. Jane fell forward and hit the ground hard. Her head

was pounding, but she tried to pull herself up. But before Jane could move, she felt a sharp pain in her neck and throat, and she struggled to breathe, and then everything went black. A few hours later, Bob pulled into the driveway and opened the garage door, and the garage was empty. Bob parked his car, went inside the house, and walked across the first floor to the living room. He sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.

Then he gave his wife a call, but Jane didn't answer. So he left a message letting her know he was home and that he was just checking in to see where she was and when she would be home. And then Bob hung up and watched some more TV. But after a couple of hours went by with no word from Jane, Bob started to worry, so he called her again, but she still didn't answer. So Bob called a few of Jane's friends to see if she was with them or if maybe they had seen her, but they told him that no, she was not with them and they didn't know where she was.

And so starting to panic, Bob started calling family members. And when he heard that Jane had told their daughter she was going to call her back but never did, Bob became very worried. So at around 11 p.m., six hours after Jane had pulled into her garage and been attacked by that stranger, Bob called 911 to report his wife was missing. But it had only been a few hours since someone had spoken to Jane, and Jane was an adult, so it was way too early to actually file a missing persons report. However, the officer told Bob that they would try to locate Jane to make sure everything was okay. And so Bob gave them Jane's description, along with Jane's phone number, and the make, model and license plate number of Jane's car.

But hours later, Bob still hadn't heard anything, so he called the police again. And they told him they still had not been able to find Jane, she wasn't picking up her phone, and they had not found her SUV. The police told Bob to stay calm, and they told him they would let him know if they learned anything new. But when Bob hung up, he couldn't calm down, and he ended up staying awake most of the night waiting to hear something. But by the time the sun rose on January 25th, Grosse Pointe Park police still had no idea where Jane Beshara was.

still had no idea where Jane Beshara was. On the morning of January 25th, about nine hours after Bob had first called the police, a tow truck driver was cruising the streets in an old neighborhood in East Detroit. Over the years, this neighborhood had become a popular spot in the city for drug dealers to do business, and it was seen as a hub for heroin users in Detroit.

Because of that, a lot of the houses in this area had been abandoned, and people also often abandoned cars in this part of the city. And that's why the tow truck driver had made it a point to drive through the neighborhood every once in a while. So the driver scanned the streets from his truck, looking for cars he might be able to tow, but nothing really jumped out at him. But then he turned onto a side street and he drove past an alley, and when he did, he slammed on his brakes. He looked out his window into the alley and was shocked at what he saw, a beautiful black Mercedes Benz SUV. The tow truck driver was used to finding cars stranded in the area, but he never saw cars that cost as much money as the one he was looking

at. So the tow truck driver pulled his truck into the alley and parked close behind the SUV. Then he grabbed a pad of paper and a pen and he wrote down the license plate number. Then the tow truck driver called his boss and told him about this car, he gave him the license plate number, and then he asked if he could go ahead and tow the vehicle. But the tow truck driver was shocked when his boss abruptly shouted at him to stay right where he was and not do anything. The tow truck driver asked what was going on and his boss said the cops were looking for that car, so he just needed to stay there and not touch the car. The driver said he understood and hung up. And then minutes later, the tow truck driver

heard police sirens blaring through the neighborhood, and soon his truck was blocked in the alley by multiple police cars. The tow truck driver tried to stay calm as a police officer with the Detroit Police Department approached the tow truck. The driver knew he had not done anything wrong, but he'd also never had police swarm around a car he was trying to tow. So the driver got out of his truck, he answered some basic questions from the cop, and said he'd been cruising around when he saw this car, and he made it clear that he had not done anything other than take down the license plate number and call it in to his boss. The police officer thanked the tow truck driver and then walked down the alley towards the Mercedes.

Then the police officer leaned in close to down the alley towards the Mercedes. Then the police officer leaned in close to the back window on the passenger side and he shielded his eyes with his hands to cut down on the glare. And when he got a clear view of the back seat of this car, he immediately yelled out for the other police officers to come over and take a look. And soon after, they got the car door open and stared at the back seat in disbelief. There on the back seat was a badly bruised and beaten dead body. But the body looked like it had been posed. The victim was on their knees with their face down on the seat and a black nylon jacket had been put on the body backwards, so it

looked like the victim was wearing a straitjacket. Once the officers got over the initial shock of what they had found, they proceeded to search the entire car. And during this search, they found an open purse lying on the front passenger seat floorboard. The contents of the purse had spilled out, and they quickly found a checkbook, credit cards, and a driver's license. The victim in the back seat was Jane Beshara. of a British man who took part in the first ever round-the-world sailing race. Good on him, I hear you say. But there is a problem, as there always is in this show. The man in question hadn't actually sailed before.

Oh, and his boat wasn't seaworthy. Oh, and also, tiny little detail, almost didn't mention it. He bet his family home on making it to the finish line. What ensued was one of the most complex cheating plots in British sporting history. To find out the full story, follow British Scandal wherever you listen to podcasts, or listen early and ad-free on Wondery Plus on Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app. If you're listening to this podcast, then chances are good you are a fan of The Strange,

Dark and Mysterious. And if that's the case, then chances are good you are a fan of The Strange, Dark, and Mysterious. And if that's the case, then I've got some good news. We just launched a brand new Strange, Dark, and Mysterious podcast called Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries. And as the name suggests, it's a show about medical mysteries, a genre that many fans have been asking us to dive into for years. And we finally decided to take the plunge, and the show is awesome. In this free weekly show, we explore bizarre unheard of diseases, strange medical mishaps, unexplainable deaths, and everything in between. Each story is totally true and totally terrifying. Go follow Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries wherever you get your podcasts,

and if you're a Prime member, you can listen early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Not long after her discovery, homicide detective Donald Olson of the Detroit Police parked his car near the alley and stepped outside. The cold weather, like most things, didn't really affect Olsen. He had been a detective for a long time, and so he'd seen his share of horrible violence and strange cases all across Detroit. So, as he approached the officers who had first arrived on the scene, he didn't really expect to see or hear anything that would rattle him. But when Olsen looked into the backseat of the Mercedes and saw Jane's body in that pose, he admitted he was shocked by it.

And it wasn't just because of the pose Jane had been found in. Detective Olsen just couldn't understand how a wealthy, middle-aged woman from Grosse Pointe Park had ended up dead in a neighborhood in East Detroit that was known for drug deals and heroin use. Soon after Olsen's arrival, the alley was blocked off with crime scene tape and filled with police. Olsen's initial take was that Jane's death had not been a part of a robbery because her credit cards and checkbook were left behind in clear view inside of her car. But Olsen wanted to wait for more information before he started forming any theories. And so, as forensics experts took blood samples and fingerprints from Jane's car and her body, Olson stepped away and called the Grosse Pointe Park

Police. And that police department was about as different from the Detroit police as possible. While Detroit cops had dealt with close to 400 reported homicide cases during the previous year, Grosse Pointe Park hadn't had a single reported homicide in about a decade. So when Olson called to tell them that Detroit police had found a murder victim who was a Grosse Pointe Park resident, the officer on the other line was stunned.

Then Olson said they needed to inform the victim's husband, Bob Bechera. And Olson said he would drive out to Grosse Pointe Park to accompany the officer delivering the news to Bob's house. Olson knew the small suburban police department would not have dealt with a case like this before, so he wanted to be there when Jane's husband was given the news. Because Olson knew the first place to start with a homicide like this was almost always with the spouse, even if it was just to rule them out. So Olson got in his car and drove from the neighborhood in East Detroit

where Jane had been found to Grosse Pointe Park. The drive only took him about 20 minutes, but as Olson looked out at the huge homes and the fancy cars lining the streets, he felt like he might as well have traveled to a different planet. At around 10.45 a.m., almost two hours after Jane's body had been discovered, Detective Olson and an officer from the Grosse Pointe Park Police walked up to Bob and Jane's front door.

But before they could even ring the bell, the door swung open and Bob stepped outside. His hair was a mess and his eyes were bloodshot, and the first thing he said to them was he had been waiting all night to hear anything from the police, so what's going on? But then Bob noticed the looks on Olsen and the other officer's face, and immediately he just dropped his head and slumped over.

Olsen gently asked if they could come inside to talk, and Bob nodded. Then Bob turned around and slowly led them through the entryway into the dining room, where they all sat down at a long dining room table. Then Olsen looked at Bob Bob and in a quiet voice said Detroit police had located his wife's car and they had found her body inside. And even though Bob was obviously shaken up, his reaction to this was to immediately start recounting all the events of the previous day, telling Detective Olson where his wife had been and where he had been.

Olson thought this was a strange, somewhat defensive reaction, but he knew from experience people reacted very strangely to horrible news like this. And when Bob finally slowed down and stopped talking, Olson just said he was very sorry for his loss and that he did not want to impose right now. But he asked if Bob would be willing to stop by the Grosse Pointe Park Police Department the following day to answer some questions. Bob said he would definitely do that and that he was willing to do anything they wanted to help them figure out what happened to his wife. Olson and the other officer told Bob again how sorry they were and they thanked him for taking

a few minutes to talk to them and then the officers walked out of the house and headed for their car. for taking a few minutes to talk to them, and then the officers walked out of the house and headed for their car. And once the police were gone, Bob was forced to call his kids and his family to tell them the horrible news. And as Bob made these very difficult calls, word began to spread through Grosse Pointe Park

that Jane had been found dead in the backseat of her car in East Detroit, and it sent the town into a sort of shock. People couldn't believe that this had happened to someone who had been so well-liked in such a vital part of their community. And a lot of people who heard the news and who talked to Bob made it clear they wanted to come together right away to do something to honor Jane. And so that evening, Bob stepped out of his house and took part in a huge candlelight vigil right in his front yard to honor his wife. And that night, scenes from this candlelight vigil made it onto the news.

And Detective Olsen realized by seeing the images just how much of an impact Jane's death had had on her entire community. And so he hoped he would be able to bring the case to a quick close so they could all start to heal. On the same night as this candlelight vigil, so January 25th, which was the same day that Jane was found in East Detroit, the person known online as Master grabbed their phone and called their partner. Master told their partner to come over to their house so they could discuss the big plans they had been making for the future bringing a third person into their relationship and buying a new home together

but their partner seemed upset and distant and for a minute Master started to worry they were sure they had never mentioned their thoughts about killing someone to their partner but now they wondered if somehow they had slipped up and if their partner suspected that they had something to do with the murder that was now all over the news. And so Master asked their partner one more time to come by the house, but their partner flatly refused and hung up the phone not long after. And so Master just sat there in silence for a moment, trying not to panic, because all that was going through their mind was, if my own partner thinks I might have killed someone, isn't it just a matter of time before the police think the same thing? The following morning, so on January 26th,

one day after Jane's body had been discovered, Bob followed an officer through the Grosse Pointe Park police station to a small interrogation room. Bob walked across the brightly lit room with stark white walls, greeted Detective Olson and the other officer he'd seen at his house the day before, and then took a seat at a small table that was pressed up against the wall. Olson sat down next to Bob and thanked him for coming in. Then Olson asked Bob if he had been able to think of anything that might help them or if he knew of anyone who might have had a grudge against Jane. But Bob said he couldn't think of anything because none of this made any

sense to him. He said Jane was well loved in town, at her job, at their church, and as far as he knew, she had never even driven to that part of Detroit where she was found. And so Bob just kept saying over and over again that really none of this made any sense. Olson said he understood, but then he leaned across the small table and looked Bob dead in the eye. And then Olson said he understood, but then he leaned across the small table and looked Bob dead in the eye. And then Olsen said he knew every marriage had its problems and that husbands and wives often kept secrets from each other. And Olsen said he wondered if maybe there was something going on in Jane's life that Bob might not have known about. But Bob just started to look confused, and he told Olsen that he and his wife had been together long enough that they basically told each other everything that was on their minds and if there was something he didn't

know about her it would have been something really little that had no bearing on anything but then bob stopped himself mid-sentence and he started shaking his head so olson leaned in even closer and asked bob if he just remembered something bob looked up at olson and then looked back down at the floor then he said he didn't want to talk badly about his wife, especially now that she was gone. But Olson said if he had information that could help the investigation, he needed to tell them. And so Bob nodded, took a breath, and looked back up at Olson. Then he said Jane did have a secret that she didn't keep from him, but that she did keep from almost everybody else. He said Jane smoked marijuana. At the time, marijuana was illegal in Michigan,

so Bob knew Jane would have to meet with a dealer to get her supply. But Bob said he never pressed Jane about where she went or who she got her drugs from. Detective Olson immediately thought to himself, there had to be a bunch of different places a wealthy suburban woman could score some weed from before she ever had to go to east detroit to get it but he didn't want to rule anything out and for all he knew maybe jane did have other secrets she was hiding from her husband or from other people around her so after asking bob a few more follow-up questions detective olsen thanked bob for coming in to talk to them again, and then he also asked if Bob would be willing to submit to a DNA test. And Bob said, of course.

And so, while another officer prepped Bob for his DNA test, Olson headed out of the police station in Grosse Pointe Park and made his way back to Detroit. And now he planned to look into the possibility that Jane had been in East Detroit buying drugs. But before Olson could pursue this new potential lead, he got some news that would change the entire investigation. Based on evidence found in and around Jane's car, along with cell phone tracking data, the forensics team came to believe that Jane had not been killed in East Detroit.

Instead, they thought the murder had taken place in Grosse Pointe Park and then Jane's car and body had been driven to East Detroit and Instead, they thought the murder had taken place in Grosse Pointe Park, and then Jane's car and body had been driven to East Detroit and then abandoned there. And so that theory led a forensics team to do a sweep of Bob and Jane's garage, and that forensics team discovered blood spatter on the ground, and that blood turned out to be Jane's. And so all of a sudden, this was no longer a Detroit homicide case. And while Detective Olson and Detroit police would still be on hand to assist, the bulk of the investigation would now come down to the small Grosse Pointe Park Police Department. At about 4.30 a.m. on January 31st, six days after Jane's body had been discovered,

an officer was working the late shift at the front desk in the Grosse Pointe Park police station. The investigation into Jane's murder had been in full swing for days, but things had been relatively quiet while investigators waited on more test results from Bob and Jane's garage. Then suddenly, the officer at the front desk heard the station door open. He looked up and he saw this huge, hulking man walking towards him, acting kind of erratic. The man wore a suit and he kept pulling at the jacket sleeves as he walked. Then the man stepped right up to the officer, said his name was Joseph Gintz and that he was the man who killed Jane Beshara.

At first, the officer just stared at Joseph. There were no detectives at the station that early in the morning, and he really didn't know how to handle something like this. But he pulled himself together and asked Joseph to give him his full name again. Joseph told him who he was and that he had worked as a handyman for Jane's husband, Bob. The officer still wasn't sure exactly what to do, so he led Joseph to one of the few holding cells they had at the station, he locked Joseph inside of it, and then he went back to the front desk and made

some calls. And that morning, Detective Mike Narduzzi of the Grosse Pointe Park Police woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. And at first, he couldn't understand what he was hearing. So he asked the officer on the other line to slow down and tell him clearly what was going on. And when Narduzzi heard there was a man at the station confessing to Jane's murder, he shook himself awake and got dressed as fast as he could. Narduzzi had taken over the case when it moved out of Detroit, and he was already feeling totally overwhelmed. He'd only been a detective for about three years, and he had never handled a homicide. But as he sped down the road in his car towards the station, he told himself that a confession

could be everything he had hoped for, and it could allow him and his team to close this case way faster than they expected. A few minutes later, Narduzzi arrived at the station, and he headed right to the interrogation room where Bob had been questioned a few days earlier. He walked into the room, and he saw Joseph already sitting at the small table. And Narduzzi stopped and just stared for a second. Even sitting down, Joseph looked enormous. But Narduzzi put on a smile, introduced himself to Joseph, and then sat down at the table with him. Then Narduzzi asked Joseph to explain what he knew about Jane's murder. And Joseph told Narduzzi that he had done what he knew about Jane's murder. And Joseph told Narduzzi

that he had done a bunch of work for Bob at his different properties, and so that's how he knew the Besharas. And then Joseph started explaining how he had killed Jane step by step. But then suddenly Joseph stood up and started unbuttoning his dress shirt. Narduzzi asked him to sit down, but Joseph lifted up his shirt and showed scratches on his chest and stomach, and he said that was where Jane had fought back. Then Joseph started pacing around the small room and saying something about money, and Narduzzi kept trying to get Joseph to sit down and stay calm, because he couldn't figure out exactly what Joseph was even talking about.

Finally, Joseph stopped pacing, and he leaned down, looked at Narduzzi, and said there was way more to this story, and that there was actually a conspiracy behind Jane's murder. But when Narduzzi asked for more clarification, Joseph just couldn't really explain what he was saying. And by the end of this meeting, Detective Narduzzi was exhausted and confused. It was clear to him that Joseph had some intellectual disabilities and that it was difficult for him to tell a clear story. But Narduzzi wondered if Joseph really was just having trouble explaining it or if maybe he was making this up. And so the Grosse Pointe Park police ended up holding Joseph in a cell overnight and then they questioned him again the following day. And this time Joseph was

clearer about what had taken place on the day of Jane's murder. But by the end of that session, Narduzzi still had a lot of questions. And so he didn't think they had enough proof to charge Joseph with Jane's murder, but he did think they could get that proof down the line if they could follow up on some of the things Joseph had been talking about. So Joseph was released from police custody and told not to leave town, and the investigative team went to work trying to corroborate Joseph's story. And in early March, a little over a month after Joseph's confession, police arrested him and charged him with murder. The news of Joseph's

arrest spread quickly, and it at least provided some comfort to Jane's family and friends. And the Grosse Pointe Park community was happy that justice had been served and that their town felt safe again. But in reality, this case wasn't actually closed, and it would prove to be way more bizarre than anyone had realized. Because in the months following Joseph's confession, the Grosse Pointe Park police would receive two phone calls that would send investigators back into the field. And what they learned from those calls would eventually lead them to the BDSM community and into the world of the person who called themselves Master.

Based on the phone calls police received following Joseph's confession, evidence found in Jane's car and in her garage, cell phone data, and interviews conducted throughout the investigation, here is a reconstruction of what authorities believe happened to Jane Beshara on the day she was killed, January 24, 2012. At 4.45 p.m., Jane's killer crouched in the corner of Jane's dark garage. They wore black pants, a black leather motorcycle jacket, and thick-soled black boots. The killer had gone over their plan,

but they were still nervous, and they could feel their hands shaking. Then suddenly, the garage door began to open, and the overhead light went on, and the killer immediately pulled themselves as close to the wall as possible so they wouldn't be seen. Then the killer watched as Jane's Mercedes SUV pulled into the garage and they could see Jane talking on the phone in her car. The killer took a deep breath and waited. Jane hung up the phone, turned off the engine, grabbed her purse from the passenger seat, and stepped out of the car. But the killer didn't move because they weren't sure if they could go through with this.

But then Jane turned around and she saw the killer didn't move because they weren't sure if they could go through with this. But then Jane turned around and she saw the killer and started shouting and the killer panicked. So the killer stood up to their full huge height, they lunged out of the corner, grabbed Jane and shoved her into the driver's side door. But Jane scratched as hard as she could at the killer's chest and managed to step away from the car, but then the killer grabbed her from behind and slammed their fist into the back of her head. Jane's purse dropped from her

hand and she fell to the ground face first, and then she began pleading for help and trying to pull herself to safety. But the killer immediately dropped down to the ground right on top of Jane's back and they wrapped their huge hands around her throat. Jane choked and struggled to breathe, and her feet started kicking wildly, and the killer could hear her shouting. Finally, the killer released their grip, and Jane's head hit the ground, and she lay there wheezing, trying to compose herself. Then the killer stood back up, raised their boot, and placed it on the back of Jane's neck and stomped.

The killer heard a loud crack, and then afterward, they slowly backed away from Jane's neck and stomped. The killer heard a loud crack and then afterward they slowly backed away from Jane's now dead body. The killer wanted to run but then they heard a voice from the other corner of the garage and the person who called themselves Master stepped into the light. And together Master and the killer picked up Jane's body and put her in the back seat of the car on her knees. Then Master took off Jane's jacket and put it on her backwards so she looked like she was bound in a straitjacket. Master grabbed Jane's purse and dumped out the contents on the passenger floorboard. Then they told the killer to drive to East Detroit and leave Jane's car there with her body inside.

The killer nodded, got into the car, backed out of the garage, and sped off. And when the Mercedes was out of sight, Master, a.k.a. Bob Bechera, Jane's husband, closed the garage door. Then Bob went into the house, changed his clothes, and headed out to drink at a bar that was housed in one of the properties he owned. It would turn out Joseph Gintz, Bob's handyman, really was Jane's killer. But Joseph had been working for Bob the whole time. The revelation of Bob's involvement in the murder would take police months to unravel,

because this case led them down paths they just hadn't seen coming. And with each new piece of evidence, the case just seemed to get even stranger. Bob, aka Master, who was well known in the BDSM scene, had been planning to buy a new house for him and his partner, a woman he'd been having an affair with for years. And they were both eager to welcome a third person into their relationship who would live with them in this new house but in order to make that happen bob would have to get rid of his wife jane and he couldn't just divorce her because it turned out that bob's personal wealth had taken a huge hit over the past few years and his real estate business was failing but if jane was dead bob could collect money from her life insurance policy and her substantial 401k retirement fund,

and he could drain their joint bank accounts and sell their house. And all that money would enable him to support himself and the two women he hoped to start a new life with. Joseph Gents had brought up Bob's involvement in Jane's murder during his confession, and he had said Bob had paid him to kill Jane but Joseph changed his story about Bob's role in the murder multiple times so police didn't feel like they had enough evidence to initially charge Bob but then the woman Bob had been having an affair with reached out to police because it turned out Bob had lied to her for years and said he and Jane were divorced and it wasn't until she saw clips of the candlelight vigil on the news

that she realized Bob had still been married, and she started to suspect that he had murdered Jane. And so she pulled away from Bob and told police they had been having an affair for years and that they were planning on buying this house together soon, but she didn't say anything to police about her and Bob's involvement in the BDSM community. But soon after that, police received the two phone calls that cracked the case wide open. The first was from a woman in Oregon who said Bob had found her on a BDSM site, and Bob had wanted her to be the woman to join him and his girlfriend as the third live-in member of their relationship.

But when this woman had refused to move to Michigan and said she didn't want anything to do with Bob, he started to harass and stalk her online. And so when she read about Jane's murder and saw who Jane's husband was, she called the Grosse Pointe Park police to say Bob was potentially dangerous and could very easily have killed his wife.

This led police to finding more information about Bob's life in the BDSM community, and they found others in that community who also believed Bob was capable of real violence. And then, as police started to close in on Bob, they got the second of the two important phone calls. This call was from a local furniture salesman who knew Bob, and this man said Bob had contacted him and offered him thousands of dollars to kill Joseph Gents before Joseph could testify against Bob in court. And soon after they got that call, investigators convinced the furniture salesman to wear a wire

so they could get proof of Bob offering to pay money for a hit on Joseph. The furniture salesman agreed, and Bob immediately fell into the trap, being caught on tape offering money to have Joseph murdered. And so, in late June of 2012, five months after Jane's murder, police finally had enough evidence to arrest and charge Bob for killing his wife. Joseph Gents, the killer,

was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 17 to 28 years in prison with the possibility of parole in 2029. Bob Bechera was convicted of murder as well and sentenced to life in prison. He died behind bars in 2020 at the age of 62. Thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin Podcast. If you enjoyed today's story, be sure to check out our YouTube channel, just called Mr. Ballin, where we have hundreds more stories just like this one, many of which are not available on this podcast. So, that's going to do it. I really appreciate your support. Until next time, see ya.

Hey, Prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. And before you go, please tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. In May of 1980, near Anaheim, California, Dorothy Jane Scott noticed her friend had an inflamed red wound on his arm and he seemed really unwell. So she wound up taking him to the hospital right away so he could get treatment. While Dorothy's friend waited for his prescription, Dorothy went to grab a car to pick him up at the exit. But she would never be seen alive again, leaving us to wonder decades later, what really happened to Dorothy Jane Scott?

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