Murder With My Husband - Dear Daisy, I was almost kidnapped in Italy!

Episode Date: May 26, 2023

On this episode of MWMH, Payton and Garrett read listeners stories they’ve written to Daisy, the MWMH mascot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everybody welcome back to our podcast. This is murder with my husband. I'm Peyton Moreland And I'm Garrett Moreland and he's the husband and I'm the husband Welcome to our second dear Daisy episode. I'm so excited about these again These are stories written in by listeners that are Haunting's true crime stories hometown true crime honestly just anything spooky and crime related Unfortunately, we do not have Daisy with us right now. She is still a little baby and she can't hear this stuff yet. But she really does love the fan mail, so keep sending those dear Daisy's in.

No, she was actually being absolutely psychotic. Yep. When we were trying to record, we said, that's all right, Daisy, you're going inside. Yep, go sit on your nice comfy bed and... So she's inside hanging out. Okay, let's start. Our first one is from Elizabeth and it's titled,

I Almost Got Abducted in Italy. Mmm, okay. Speaking of Italy, we were in Italy last summer. Yeah. And a listener saw us. Oh yeah, where were we? What was that thing? We were in Rome.

Yeah, do you remember what? The Pantheon. Oh, the Pantheon, yeah. And she came up inside high. It was so fun. Yeah, it was so crazy. What were that thing? We were in Rome. Yeah, do you remember what? The pantheon. Oh, the pantheon, yeah. And she came up and said, hi, it was so fun. Yeah, it was so crazy. What were the chances? I know, when are she still listening? All right, let's go.

It says, hi, Peyton and Garrett. My name is Dallas, and I live in Arkansas. I'm a middle school speech language pathologist who drives 45 minutes to and from work. I listened to brutal murder and then immediately interact with small children for seven hours. It's all about balance. Anyways, I was driving to work listening to the anniversary from hell episode when you mentioned listener stories. I thought, yeah, I'm not that

interesting. I don't have much to share. Then, Peyton mentioned the CVS situation and I remembered that I was almost legitimately taken in Italy. This one is a doozy, so buckle up. When I was in undergraduate school, I was given the chance to live in Italy for three months and teach English to people who wanted to learn the language. It was amazing. I traveled, I ate so much pasta, shopped, and met a lot of really great people who I still talked to today.

However, there was one person who I am glad I will never see again. I don't know, she might come find me. Anyways, one morning my friend who was there teaching with me received a phone call from a woman who wanted to become a student. She saw a flyer with our number and the lessons and was interested. We lived above a church in an apartment that had a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, dining room, and a classroom where we would teach our students. During the day, we would keep the bedroom locked and closed so our students wouldn't know we lived there. You got to be safe, you know. This lady came to meet with my friend to begin lessons. She seemed off and a little funky, but we were in a different country so we assumed it was normal. She asked us questions about America, our school, our families, and other normal questions

our students sometimes asked. They were curious. We had a party the next night for all of our students to meet each other and practice their English. This woman showed up early and noticed our suitcases and bunk beds as we had forgot to shut the bedroom door. The next day, her questions turned weird, real quickly. She began asking if she could add our families and friends on Facebook. If we stayed in the church, if we stayed here alone at night, if there was a man who stayed with us at night, and all kinds of stuff like that. After her lesson, I was on the phone getting tickets home and packing my stuff and my gut told me she was not safe. I called our family who

took care of us while we were there to tell them about this crazy woman. Their family member was in the police, so they called him to ask about her name. Turns out she gave us a fake name and address. That's when I knew she wasn't safe. I locked every door in window, put tables and chairs in front of them and didn't sleep a wink that night. Our host father came the next day to be there

when she came back for her next lesson. Maybe we were wrong about her, but with him we felt safer. While we were waiting for her to arrive, she called our cell phone and asked if she could bring a friend to her lesson that day. We said yes hesitantly, once she arrived, our house father went downstairs to answer the door. When he did, she stood in the doorway with two giant men. When they noticed that an Italian man answered the door, not a 21-year-old girl from America, the two men literally sprinted away. She started stating that her friends forgot they had somewhere to be and that they couldn't

come in anymore, but she wanted to come in still and talk to our house father about Jesus and the Christian faith. Let me remind you, we were staying above a church. She walked in with him and acted like she wanted to learn more about the church when I can assure you that was not her initial intention. He told her that she could only continue her lessons with him from then on. I might have been overreacting, but my gut just knew this woman was going to take me. I laugh about it now. It's a trauma response. Almost being abducted in Italy was not something I expected to be on my life being go card, but alas, there it goes. It's like taken. Literally.

Fool on like taking. Anyways, I love you guys. You make my commutes enjoyable. You honor victims in the most genuine way, and I can't tell you how uncommon that is with murder podcasts. You guys are good people. Much love Dallas from Arkansas. What do you do? I mean, what do you do? I mean, weren't taking shots great, but what if he wasn't there?

No, what if she had answered the door with two huge men? No, her gut was right. It had been human trafficking of some sorts, or whatever it was. In the fact that they ran away. They ran away. That's scary. That's nuts. I also think it's crazy because I feel like anytime an American or someone that lives in the US and gets like abducted out of the US in another country, I feel like it's

a big deal. I feel like you hear about it, I feel like you see about it. And I also feel like your chances are just cut in half even more. You know what I mean? That's crazy. This actually reminds me of when she said she set up chairs and push things against the door. Yeah.

In high school, I would travel to go to dance conventions. And one time I was staying in a hotel with my mom by ourselves and it was really late at night. We probably pulled in at midnight. We got out and we walked up to the side entrance of the hotel and there was a man standing out there kind of just like pacing back and forth outside the door. He didn't have a key to get in. So we use our key to get in and as we're walking through the door it's about to close and he catches it with his foot and follows us inside. And me and my mom were both like, okay this is a little weird.

So we walk upstairs, he goes to the same exact floor as we do and then follows us all the way to our door and then passes us as we go in our door. So he watched exactly what room we went into. And that night I pushed the dresser in the hotel room up against the door. I was like, absolutely no way am I about to die tonight. And obviously I don't think anything bad is gonna happen,

but it's just that piece of mind. I feel like hotel doors are actually pretty, pretty thick and sturdy. Yeah, but what if he has a key? Yeah, sure. I guess. I mean, I know that they have all these safety precautions now, but it's kind of freaky if you think about it. All right, next. Hit me. Okay, this one's from Candy. Candy. It's titled Scary Van Alert. Hello, Peyton and Garrett. The summer of 2002 was a tough one for me. I broke my leg, a spiral fracture in July, three months after my sister passed away from cancer. No, I'm sorry. After a few surgeries, the surgeon's placed an external fixator on my left leg. Since it was a bad break, I was completely bed ridden. I was always on the move, so six months stuck in bed was a little bit of a nightmare. When my friends stopped by and asked if I wanted to get some ice cream, I jumped at the chance. Amy and Chrissy brought

me to Rotas Springs Farm, a local ice cream place located on a farm. Best ice cream ever in central Massachusetts. I'm not the only one who fills this way, so there was a huge line snaking out to the parking lot. I hadn't been out of bed for more than 10 minutes, so my leg was getting sore and turning a beautiful shade of purple. Plus, I didn't have a great pair of crutches. I had to put duct tape over sharp parts so I wouldn't poke anyone or even myself. Lots of people were staring at my leg, but only one guy ventured a question, or should I say questions. He was behind us in line all by himself. He seemed nice enough chatting with us about nothing and everything. We were polite and began to talk to him.

That's when he started to ask me about my leg, how I broke it. What was that on my leg? Was it permanent? Could I move without my crutches? Does it hurt? A little nosy, but not too annoying. Then things took a weird turn. You wanted to know if we all came together or if we met up here in separate cars. To people are, people are weird. Yeah. Like I just don't understand. Like we're all weird, but then there's like,

you're making me uncomfortable. Yeah, like why are you asking? Like don't ask me that. Right. This is my personal business. She goes on, where were we going after getting ice cream? And my all-time favorite does anyone know that we are here at Rhoda Springs right now? This is before I became an Avid True Crime Listener, but the hair is on the back of my neck

instantly stood up. We tried to nicely say goodbye and ignore him, but it was a little hard since we were still in line. And the lines seemed to be crawling. He realized that he was coming off a little creepy, so he dialed back the questions and started to talk about himself. We were trying to be polite and listen, but each of us were getting more and more uncomfortable.

We finally made it to the front of the line and ordered our ice cream. Few, we were in the home stretch. We figured we could get our ice cream and quickly get to the car. While we were impatiently waiting He decided to drop a bomb shell on us. He tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I liked duct tape since it was on my crutches I nervously said yeah and looked at Amy and Chrissy for help. He replied oh great because I have a duct tape collection in my van over there And would love to show it to you girls

Was what? Okay, hold on. Was he being facetious? Like was this a, like was he kidding? He pointed to his van, which of course was the scariest van on the planet Earth. It was a white van covered with mud, no noticeable decals or signs, nothing to report about it if something bad was to happen. In the best part, no windows in the back are on the sides.

We looked at each other and yelled, no thanks in unison. Boy that ice cream couldn't have come to us faster. Chrissy grabbed mine and we high-telled it back to the car and locked the doors. We didn't leave the parking lot until he drove out. He sat in his van and stared at us for a good 20 minutes then took off. To this day, I really don't know if he was kidding or not, but we weren't going to test it out. He sat in his van and stared at us for a good 20 minutes then took off. To this day, I really don't know if he was kidding or not, but we weren't going to test it out. If you like this one, I have more stories being held up at Honey Farms, meeting Pamela Smart, and escaping from a cult meeting. PS, love, love your show, pay in you our fabulous story teller,

and Garrett keep up the hilarious reactions. I get so excited for a new episode each week, even when I already know the case. My go-to episode is room 1046. Such a crazy case, take care and keep the shows coming. First of all, F. Cancer. Second of all, I can't tell if he was kidding or not. No, 100% he was serious. And why would you kid about that? Right.

I mean, I know there's probably people that way, but it's not funny. It's not. Especially this day and age, it's like, this stuff happens. To three girls alone, especially like these are three girls. I mean, I could see like a YouTuber, you know, some pranker doing it, but even then it's not funny. Yeah, it's like this day and age. You don't, I mean, in off he's probably a little different. There's like cameras everywhere. You're like, Oh, okay, well, this is obviously a joke. But when there's some creepy guy doing it,

well, it's not a joke. I think it was also just the fact that he knew he had been coming off creepy. So then for him to go on if it was a joke and continue to be more creepy, then they were already creeped out. That's when you know that like also. Yeah. Who do you like duct tape? Who asked that question? I don't know if that's a question that anyone's ever been asked before.

I have a collection in my van. Yeah. Do you like duct tape? Who asked that question? I don't know if that's a question that anyone's ever been asked before. I have a collection in my van. Yeah, do you like duct tape? Weird. Okay, our next story is from Ansely and it's titled The Murder of Courtney Wilkes and also she included a trigger warning for sexual assault. When I was 10 years old in June of 2011, I was on a family vacation in Seagrove Beach, Florida. What I didn't know then was that what was supposed to be a fun family vacation would end in tragedy. When my family of five arrived at Beach Cress condominiums, we quickly befriended another vacationing family, the Wilkes. The family consisted of a dad, Cordy, mom, Tony, sister, Callie, brother, William, and

daughter, Courtney. We spent our days by the beach relaxing, swimming, Tony, sister, Cali, brother, William, and daughter, Courtney. We spent our days by the beach relaxing, swimming, and having fun. The beach complex we were staying at hired young men as beach hands to set up the beach chairs and rent out water toys to vacationers. The beach hands often built relationships with families by being around them so frequently and talking to them daily. My own family had seen the same men working the beach for our last three years of vacation at Sea Grove,

and we trusted them. On Thursday, June 16, 2011, the Wilkes and my family were spending the day on the beach. One of the beach hands, 21-year-old Stephen Cozy, approached our group and gave us $ sand dollars. He and his brother had gone out to retrieve from out in the deep water. Something they often did and us young children looked forward to. About an hour later,

Courtney Wilkes, then just 15, approached her parents and asked if she could take a walk down the beach with Stephen. She said they were going to a condo just a short five minute walk down the beach where many teenagers hung out. Being that Courtney was less than a month away from her 16th birthday and they had grown to trust Stephen, who they had seen and been around the entirety of their trip, they allowed her to go. Hours later, after not having seen or heard from Courtney, her parents began to worry. Oh, I can only imagine. She goes on to say, I can remember police cruisers driving up and down the beach that day, calling for Courtney to return to the beach,

announcing her description and telling anyone to call if they had seen her. The helicopter started to search the water not long after. My mom looked at my dad that day and said, God, I hope they find her. My father is a law enforcement officer and his reply to her was, I hope we didn't just witness a murder. My mom ran into Tony that day on the dock between our hotel and the beach. Tony refused to leave the doc without her daughter. And my mom offered to check their condo to

see if she was up there. My mom went and checked their room, which looked just like ours and found nothing. Remembering my father's words on the beach, she checked the garbage shoot on her way out fearing Courtney would be inside, but she wasn't. I mean, she's got to be with those boys. Right. The Wilkes reported Courtney missing at 4 p.m. that day, not knowing that they would find her that day, but would never see their daughter alive again. What?

That day, 18 year old Michael Spencer was at home when Stephen Cosie entered his apartment and said he had just killed a girl. Stephen took Michael out to a nature preserve less than a mile from the beach and showed him the body of Courtney Wilkes. Oh my gosh, I didn't know this was a murder. During their walk on the beach, cozy told Courtney that there was an animal preserve near them and asked her if she wanted to go. He knew she wanted to be a veterinarian and claimed she would enjoy seeing the animals. So she said yes.

There he attacked her, beating her and attempting to strangle her with her own shirt. She fought so hard that he ended up beating her to death with a large piece of wood that was nearby. After he killed her, he sexually assaulted her. He was arrested before midnight on June 16th. He was put on trial and sentenced to death row on June 14th, 2013, just two days short of the two-year anniversary of Courtney's murder. The morning of June 17, 2011, my parents woke us up, gathered us on the bed, and told us that something bad had happened to Courtney, and she was in heaven now. They told us that we were safe and that they loved us, that if we heard anything on the

beach that day, just to ignore it and get away from the conversation, they were trying to protect us from the whore that had occurred to our friend. Oh my gosh, it's heartbreaking. As we were leaving the beach that day, we ran into the Wilkes family as they left. I can remember Courtney's brother Will holding her teddy bear with a tear-stained face. Tony, Courtney's mother, hugged my mom, thanked her for her help and told her something my mom would never forget. Watch your babies. That day isn't something I would ask my mother about again for years, but when I did the

trauma of that day was evident. I tell the story of Courtney Wilkes, the sweet girl who would share her cinnamon bread on the beach with my sister and I, to my friends every year on vacation as a warning. That you never know what could happen and to never trust anyone you just met. Bad things happen to good people every day and evil lurks in plain sight, even behind sand dollars. I love y'all's podcasts and would be honored if you told Courtney's story. That's so sad. I mean, she was, she was just going to hang out with some guys or a guy and their parents

were like, yeah, go for it. I mean, why not? Well, we've both done that. And I mean, I think it's hard because you always see trust people and... Especially on vacation. It just really makes you think sometimes, like, can you really trust people?

I don't know. The scary thing is we've both in teenage years went on vacation. When I hung out with people. Random people. I was the guy in a situation. I mean, I would have... I hung out with boys on vacation. Yeah, it's a lot scarier for a girl to hang out with people. Random people. I was the guy in a situation. I mean, I would have said. I hung out with boys on vacation.

Yeah, it's a lot scarier for a girl to hang out with a guy. Yeah. But, oh my gosh. Yeah, that's, and also like, for, It makes you mad. Also for Ansely to like be connected to this case in a very weird way. Like she just met this family, but was like there for every moment of this case.

You know what I mean? Like that is a very, a very hard connection. Okay, our next one is from Sydney and it's titled Dear Daisy, Botmitzvah. Not sure if this will make it into an episode, but this is one of my favorite paranormal stories. This is the story that made me believe in the paranormal. When I was 12, my family and I went to Israel for my bot mitzvah. Okay, I have to interrupt you a quick because Daisy has been looking at corners and just barking recently.

And all I'm saying is that, I don't know. That's what made you believe in the paranormal? Like, she literally will look at a corner and be like, whoa. She does just stare at it and then all of a sudden, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You want some of this and just starts going, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, what do you see over there?

And I look at her and I'm like, Daisy, it's fine, everything's okay. She looks at me like, no, there's a dude right here. Yeah. I don't know, anyways. Okay, so she goes to Israel for those that don't know Oh A bot for girls a bar for boys

Oh, okay is a special coming of age ceremony for Jewish children when a girl turns 12 and a boy turns 13 A year or two prior to my bot mitzvah my grandfather sadly passed away My grandfather was the most generous, kind, and hardworking man I knew. One of the many selfless things he did was donate money to build a forest in Israel. This forest was called the Peace Forest. To honor him, we decided the Peace Forest was the perfect place to hold my bot mitzvah so we did. The ceremony began, and just as I was about to do my part in the ceremony, we heard a rooster out of nowhere.

At first I started to laugh because we were in the middle of a beautiful forest and we didn't know where the rooster was coming from. We continued the ceremony as planned, but the rooster wouldn't stop. I love numbers and math, so after a while I started keeping track of how many times this rooster crowed. In my religion, 18 is a very lucky number, and of course by the end of the ceremony, the rooster had crowed 18 times. As we were leaving, I looked at my mom and her sisters, and we all knew what had just happened. We believe the rooster was my grandfather, joining us for my bot mitzvah as he had promised me when I was younger. Another huge part of my grandfather's life was music. He absolutely loved to sing. We

believe this was his way of participating in the ceremony. The rooster crowing of my grandfather's life was music. He absolutely loved to sing. We believe this was his way of participating in the ceremony. The rooster crowing was my grandfather singing. I believe he is still guiding me through life and I am so blessed that he came to visit me and be a part of my botnitzfa. PS, I love your video so much. I'm more like Garrett in the sense that I don't know any of the stories,

but I'm totally fascinated by true crime. And I love how Payton tells the stories and honors the victims. Love you guys, keep working hard, sit. No, that's a cool one. That was a good one. Well, it just goes to show you that like paranormal doesn't necessarily mean spooky.

Yeah, yeah, there's ghosts in the corner trying to kill you. Yeah, your paranormal with Daisy, not Sid's paranormal with her grandpa. Those are all the dear Daisy stories we have for this week. We will have more soon. We've been getting more submissions. Again, we do need more stories. You can send them to listeners at murderathmehowsme.com

or we're putting links everywhere now. If you click that link, one of the sections on the link tree will have dear Daisy story submissions and you can just type everything there and press submit. That's probably the easier way if you don't want to send us an email to that email. And we are looking forward to more.

Thank you for writing these. If you've ever, I mean, I think it's just kind of funny the CVS and then the abduction. If you've ever had an experience like that, that I want to hear. So write in if you've ever had an Abduction or like just a really if you've been abducted then Definitely write in and that's insane and we'd love to have you on the show

Seriously, but if you've all had an almost abduction do write in because I swear I could tell like ten of these and I'm sure I didn't almost get abducted ten times, but it feels like it. Yeah All right, you guys that's it for this week, and we will see you with our next normal episode. I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye. you