Prime Crime: Solved Murders - Pregnant Woman's Murder Exposed by Garbage Truck Video

Episode Date: October 3, 2026

Young mom Tania Wise, almost nine months pregnant with her second child, is found dead in a ditch. At first, her on-again-off-again boyfriend is the suspect, but as detectives talk to Tania’s friends, they’re tipped off to a married man working at a trash truck company. Detectives quickly uncover a mountain of evidence pointing directly at one person; the most stunning of which is surveillance footage of the killer unveiling his deadly plan. Get the full story on this episode of "Prime Crime with Jesse Weber." Right now you can get a free 14-day trial of Odoo’s all-in-one business solution to give your business the cutting edge! Check it out at https://odoo.com/primecrime Watch Prime Crime with Jesse Weber one week early, only on Law&Crime+. For a limited time, use code PRIMEFALL to get 50% off your first three months at https://lawandcrimeplus.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Where some see heroes and others see egos. Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. A fad to some? The future of money to others. We see crypto's trillion dollar swings. The end of jobs or the end of human struggle. We see the endless funds fueling the AI hype. While others follow the noise,

we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com. We are on top of breaking news. The St. Lucy County Sheriff's Office is trying to identify a body found in a ditch at the intersection of Rousseau and Johnston Road. Sheriff Ken Masgara has asked anyone who has a loved one who is missing to call the sheriff's office. They did not know exactly who she was, how she got there, who was involved. What police did know is horrifying. She was eight and a half months pregnant. Anybody who would kill a woman who is about nine months pregnant, you're doing. dealing with a sadistic killer.

As investigators are searching for answers, they discover one shocker after another. We're about to hear the defendant say, I'm going to blow her brains out. That's the worst thing you can ever imagine in this life. We are currently working to obtain and analyze forensic and digital evidence. We have all hands on deck at our crime lab.

We got notified of a body found on the side of Johnston Road. That area of St. Lucie County is mostly rural. There's a lot of farms and agriculture still out that way. The body was on the south side of the road and like a drainage ditch. Somebody drove past the body, thought it was a pile of garbage, but it didn't look right. So they turned around, went back, looked closer at it and saw it was a deceased person. That's when they called. No identification anywhere near her, no cell phones, no purse, no ID on her.

And there were no obvious signs of injury. at first because the way she had fallen, her hair had covered her face. When we were able to move the body, you could see that she had two deep, large lacerations to her neck. They started to clean on the left side and traveled to the right, and on the right side of the neck,

they got deeper and wider. Almost decapitating her, her head was barely attached. Based on the crime scene, it appeared that she was struck from behind on the head on the head and was trying to crawl to get away and collapsed in the ditch and somebody stood over her in my opinion and then slit her throat we identified her through her fingerprint the woman's name is tanya wise she was mid 20s we found out that she lived with her mother and port st lucy that evening we went and delivered the notification to her mom

oh my god i think i scream i don't remember i think i screamed i couldn't believe i couldn't believe I felt like I was a zombie. At that point, I wasn't really myself. I was the worst thing you can ever imagine in this life. Tanya Wise was very well loved by her family and all of her friends. She had a very strong relationship with her mother, and she had a very strong relationship with her son. I was eight years old at that time.

She was a very funny person. We would always joke around and play. and play a lot. And she was musical. She did choir and played the clarinet when she was younger. It is heartbreaking. Tanya was due to give birth to her new baby in only two weeks. She just had a baby shower to celebrate.

So I was excited because I was going to get a new little brother. Everyone was excited for her, especially since she's getting another son. She had a name picked up. a name picked up. Josiah Thomas. She said if my son's going to be a president he needs to have a nice name. She wanted to keep it as a secret and reveal that name at the baby shop. So how did this beloved mom and daughter end up in a ditch on the side of the road? When Tanya left the house the previous evening to go to the store her family had no reason to worry. I figured somebody was coming to pick her up because she does have friends, you know.

So I was like okay I didn't happen to look at the woman. or nothing. She usually goes out, you know, and comes right back, goes to the grocery store. And when it came to the morning, you know, I figured I'm going to drop the baby off of school, and I started looking around, and I couldn't find her. Then when I got home, the police were at there. Whenever someone's found murdered, the first person that you tend to talk to is the person that they were dating or their spouse. That's usually suspect number one. Bradley Rodriguez was the boyfriend of Tanya Wise. He had been with her for some time.

There were on again, off again, and there was some indication that he had been violent with her in the past. He was initially thought to be the leading suspect and the crime based on that relationship and based on their previous history. So Bradley was in his mid to late 20s. He was living in an apartment with his father near the hospital in Fort Pierce. He was working as a delivery person. He was a little rough. That's why I didn't like him very much. Disliked them, you know, I told him and I didn't want him to see him with her, you know.

She had kicked Bradley out of the house previously because they got into a little bit of a shoving match in the front yard one time. So detectives bring in Bradley Rodriguez for an interview. And initially, they don't tell him that Tanya is deceased. We're talking to you about, I guess it would be your ex-girlfriend, Tanya. Wise. Okay, how long were you guys involved? Us for a whole year. So did you guys, were you dating, dating, or?

I thought we were dating, but how she was saying, like, I was just a side piece. You were just a side piece while she was? At first, yeah. Okay. Tanya apparently tells Bradley she's pregnant. And at least for Bradley, everything changes. The baby was yours or? She's saying it was because she wasn't with nobody but me in that November.

I wanted to go to doctor's appointment, do this, and that with her. And she kept giving me runarounds. So you were trying to be involved with the break. Yeah, I'm trying to be involved because if it's my kid, I'm going to be there. During the interview, Bradley was very eager to be a father. He was looking forward to it. He was trying to do the right thing. He was paying for her doctor visits and still paying for Tanya's cell phone. He was actually buying baby clothes and putting them in a bag and keeping them to give to Tanya whether they got back together or not. He still wanted to be in the child's life.

Do you know anybody would want to hurt? Did he like Tanya? No. Did she get along with everybody or did she have a bad attitude? Would she get along with people? How would you describe her? To me, I see. I was a good person.

She was cool, she was sweet, she'd take care of her kid, she'd do everything she got to do for her kid. Now, as hard as it is, police have to break the terrible news to him. The reason we called you in here is because we found Tanya today. Okay. And she's deceased. What? What do you mean?

She's dead. How does she die? Well, well... We're still investigating right now. Okay? What do you mean she's dead? And she is no longer alive. You're lied to me right now?

I wouldn't. Bradley, I wouldn't have you. We wouldn't joke about that. Please, please, please. Bradley's reaction to the news of her being deceased was pretty authentic and upset. It was clear that he definitely still had feelings for her, and especially for the child.

child. I, it's obvious that you cared about her and your child, right? So Bradley, I know this is upsetting, but we have to ask you some questions, okay? And we, this is the time to be completely honest about everything. When you would get into an argument with Tanya, did it ever get physical? No, I would leave. Maybe if you had an argument like that at her house, would her mother? Did mom have seen that?

Yes. You pushed her? Yes. Was that the reason you left? Yes, that's the reason I left. Did mom ask you to leave or did you leave on your own? I was leaving anyway that she told me don't come back. Well, totally omitted the fact that you put your hands on her, which I asked you to please just be honest.

Like she's on me and I tug her off. And if that's all what happened, why would you honest about it? Why don't you honest about it? I didn't put my hands on her. I just shrugged her off and, you know, back away. I'm getting in my car and I'm leaving. That's a serious problem. You didn't touch her and then suddenly you have touched her.

You have put your hands on her because you guys got into an argument. You left voluntarily from her mom's house and then 30 minutes later, her mom asked to leave. As I was leaving, her mom said, don't worry. come back. All right, is there anything you're not telling us because you want to get yourself in trouble? I'm not, boss. Tell you everything I know.

Because the way this works, the more we investigate, if we start uncovering things that don't match up, it makes you look suspicious. I understand. As the interview went on, yes, we still consider Bradley to be a suspect due to them having a relationship where they were, they would get in altercations. Okay, would you mind giving us a DNA Sam? No, I don't mind. So you will?

Yes. Give you a DNA, sir. Okay. When I really thought for the first couple of days, I thought Bradley was going to be the guy. But we had too many other people to still interview because it had come out that Tanya had a relationship with another male name Mark Burke. And we had to track him down and get his timeline and his alibi and his interview completed. I'm not here to do anything with any of your warrants or case like that, okay?

I'm here to talk to you about Tanya. Right. Right. You were in a relationship with her? Yeah. How long were you guys in a relationship? Do you guys live together or? Yeah, but she didn't stay with you for the whole two years that we was actually up.

Yeah, split up that one way too. Why did you split up? I came back from Jersey and she was talking to somebody else. But she was already actually like staying over there. With somebody else? Do you know who that was? Who did Bradley. So at first it seems like all roads lead back to Bradley.

But then, Mark drops another name into the mix. So you know she was pregnant? Yeah. Did she say the father was? She said that it could have been between me and some other dude named Jose or something like that. That's what she told you between you and Jose? Yeah. And you ever met Jose?

He was like a little, I want to say like a bigger, chumper dude or whatever. But I didn't know who he was, right? Do you have a facial hair or anything like that? Do you remember? Maybe like a little mustache or beard or something like that. I don't really exactly remember. I just remember he was a little bit more heavy. He's definitely more heavy a little more heavy

to be a youth, you know what I mean? He came to my credit. So he actually came to your house looking for her? Yeah. If you're willing to let us get a DNA sample for the paternity suit on the kid, we'll do that, okay? Yeah.

Police get Mark Burke's DNA sample. and then they let him go for now. Then they turn their attention to this new guy, Jose. He was eventually brought in and simply interviewed at a point in time where the investigators just trying to figure out what role, if any, he had in this. Did you know a Tanya? Yeah, Bradley's girl?

Yeah. Did you ever keep in touch with Tanya? No, sir. No? The only time we talked was when her son came over our house because I have a nine-year-old and she used to drop him off and he stayed with us for the world.

weekend. That was the only... So you would watch her kids sometimes? Yeah, because he'd come hang out with my son. Do you remember her son's name? Jamar. I did know him. I was friends with his son for a little bit, and I'd go to his house sometimes and hang out with him.

How would you describe Tanya? Like if you had to describe her to somebody, like personality-wise, who she is, what would you say? She was pretty mellow. Melo, I could say, but kind of crazy. I don't know. Talking ghetto. That ghetto talk? Did she, uh... She used to strip. That's what it was. She was a strip or something like that. I never saw her, so I don't, you know, I just can move out what people say. Where did, uh, do you know where she used to strip at?

No, sir. How long have you been married? You get this right so my life don't kill me. Two and a half years now. In the interview room, he came in, nonchalant. He was very calm. collected denied any involvement whatsoever. When was the last time you think you talked to Ta-Tanya? It was Wednesday.

I spoke to her Wednesday and Thursday. What time she spoke to her on Thursday? I want to say it was after eight. After eight? Yeah. Because I was home having dinner. And when she called you Thursday at around eight at home when you have dinner, what she's saying? She said because Jamar wants to come over.

I said, all right, cool, cool. That's fine. And that was it. It was fast. I wasn't even on the phone where not even five, three days. in five, three, five minutes, I would say? What time did she get there with your mom? She never showed up.

She never showed up. No, she never did. So what were you doing Thursday night? I was home. I fixed, I went to fix a friend's battery, it was loose or something like that on his car. His wife said he had originally gone out to a friend's house, and then she also said that she believed he was in the garage and that he didn't leave.

We were getting conflicting stories of where he was, Well It's about to get real Okay Because I'm gonna tell you why we brought you in Because Tanya's dead What Because Tanya is dead

We found her deceased Friday And we've been interviewing everybody That has contact with her And so we're Trying to iron out everybody's stories Because there are a lot of things Flying around

People saying stuff about other people It's always like that That's crazy. That's crazy. Wow. Bradley's reaction seemed genuinely distraught. Jose's reaction seemed a little canned. I believe he just said, oh, wow, that's crazy. Have you ever been with her? Never had sex with her?

Hand to God. Hand of God. I'm good. Y'all can ask me, like I said, y'all can ask me whatever. Whatever you y'all need, I'm here. So there would be no reason to find your DNA out of her, right? And you said you were willing to give a sample of your DNA? Yeah.

Okay. Now she was pregnant. Okay. Okay. And we're gonna take DNA from the child who's also deceased. You gotta do whatever you gotta do. Jose actually volunteered for DNA swab of his person and his vehicle. I mean, I'm not gonna be coming back to you in six weeks when I get the results back saying,

hey, why, what's up with the... No, I'm good. You never had sex with her. I'm straight. Did you ever have sex with her? No. And the detectives actually, they asked him in his interview, had you ever had sexual relations with Tanya. Is there any way that you could be the father of her child?

Had you ever been with her? And he 100% denied that. So who is the father of Tanya's baby? Bradley Rodriguez, Mark Burke, or Jose Escalera? And then, of course, the paternity test comes back, and the DNA results identified, yes, you are the father. It felt like a Mori Poet show. What's going on guys? You want to talk?

I can talk to you. I don't care. Let's start with the beginning. What do you want to know? Truth. Yes, I lie to you the first time I came to here, and I know why I'm in here, because you guys think I did that. You think? Yeah, I didn't do that.

I have not to do with that. I swear to God, I have nothing to do with that. Only thing I lie to you when you, when you ask me if I had sex with him, yes, I lie to you. What do you want me to say? I cheated on the world. Then police cut to the chase. That's your baby. What's my baby?

That's your baby. That's your child. 100%. DNA positive, that is your child. She never told me that. She never told me that. We assumed that was Bradley's kid. After his steadfast denial that he had sexual relations and that any child could not have been his,

when the DNA comes back and demonstrates that the baby is his, You know, now he's a liar, and possibly with a motive. That makes you feel you kill your own child. I didn't do that. I didn't do that. I have kids. Why would I want to hurt one of my kids? Why would I do that?

You're going to want those that answer? And I'm telling you, I did not do that. As we started picking through his timeline and his story of events, it did not add up, and it looked like he was more and more our suspect. So a search warrant was written for Jose's truck. for Jose's truck and they went through the vehicle and they sprayed it with luminal and on the floorboard on the driver's side it tested positive for blood so they removed the carpet and they swabbed it for DNA and set that off to be

tested and it came back positive for Tanya wise and then it seems someone may have seen this truck at the exact intersection where Tanya's body was found I want you to try to go back and give me as much detail as possible. Yeah. So you told me last night you were on your way home from work. So you're coming southbound on Johnston. You go to make a left onto Rousseau. Yes.

You told me you saw a vehicle, but at what point did you see that vehicle? As soon as I turned onto the road, a truck popped its lights on. It was just a hearing feeling. I was like, what are these people doing? Like, why are they here? To where it made me stop, because I was looking in the rear view. and they stopped the stop side. And so I looked back and I hit my brake lights.

And as soon as I hit my brake lights, they went. They believed it was like a Dodge or a Ford truck and that's what he drove, the dark colored Dodge. We had to write a search warrant to get his tower data to see where his phone was. When that came back, I believe the closest tower was up there next to where the body was found. And it basically placed him within, I want to say,

30 yards of where she was found. of where she was found on that night when he said he was in Port St. Lucie, which is like 25 miles away. We had video evidence that corroborated the cell phone data, meaning that we had several home surveillance cameras that showed him in the area of picking up Tanya Wise before he brought her to the rural location

where he murdered her. And Jose has another interesting connection to that remote spot. See, he was a waste pro driver for one of the collection trucks for garbage in waste in St. Lissy County, and his route was, I believe it was two days a week. He traveled that northern corridor of Fort Pierce where she was found. Every single piece of evidence that we were able to come up with her that we looked into all pointed to Jose Soto Escalera being the only person involved in this.

We arrested him on two counts of homicide. My name is Siyahya and I live in the most beautiful place on earth. Seven months ago, I blew up my life, and a lot has shifted since then. Everyone is moving forward. I'm still working on that. And that's me. Welcome to Ice Cove.

Where are the penguins? That's Antarctica. We're the other one. North of North, stream all episodes, available on CBC Gem. You're going to jail for murdering Tanya, and you're going to jail from murdering your baby. No, there's no way. I didn't do that, boss. I didn't do that. I have nothing to do with that. He's just an incredible, incredible liar. And I wonder if he's somebody who simply believes his own lies.

All right, Jose, he'll hit the pistol wall. So Jose remains in jail for a few years before the case heads to trial. And that's partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to allow both sides to prepare for trial. But the prosecution has a clear advantage here. The defense attorneys had a difficult job here. Given the overwhelming nature of the evidence in this case, you know, they didn't have a whole lot to go on. I heard one of the prosecutors saying we regarded it as a slam-dunk case, and so they should have. So it was. But the prosecution has one more piece of evidence that changes the game.

We're about to hear the defendants say, I'm going to blow her brains out. So I want to tell you about something really big happening here at law and crime. haven't checked it out yet, we have the Long Crime Plus app. And this is where you can stream your favorite long crime and core TV shows completely commercial free. And now, Long Crime Plus subscribers, they can watch new episodes of Prime Crime a week early before they premiere on YouTube. And right now, we've got a special offer with my promo code Prime Fall. You get your first three months of Long Crime Plus for just $2.99 a month. That is 50% off the regular monthly price. So with that in mind, subscribe today.

This is Jose Escalera talking to his work partner and nephew, Eric Alvarado, in the trash truck that they operate. And unbelievably, Jose is describing his plan to kill Tanya Wise. And you know what's even crazier still? This truck is chock full of surveillance cameras. He absolutely knew that these video cameras were in place and he still, he still planned out this murder. while he was being recorded, it's absolutely remarkable. He was afraid that his wife would find out about the baby, and his marriage would be ended, and he would lose his job.

There's not a lot of cases that you get to listen to the defendant plan out his crime. He is just so calm. It was like he was planning on a vacation, or he's just so calm. a vacation or he was going to the grocery store or he was working on a project in his garage. It was just like nothing to him that he could take someone's life and plan that and think that he could get away with it and just be that calm. Usually in a premeditated murder case, you're dealing with seconds of premeditation. Here we had days and it showed his level of contempt that he had had for the victim and his clear plan to murder her.

He was so confident with the police, she's right. She was so confident that nobody really cares about her disappearance and they're not even going to be worried about looking for her. The day after she was murdered, Eric asked him if he had blood on him. Jose is already in jail when his wife gets wind of those trash truck videos and she confronts him in this phone call. Hello, this is a little. Hello, this is a prepaid call for him.

Hey. This call is from a correction facility and is subject to monitoring and recording. Jose, they have you on video. Doing what? Jose, please tell me, you're kidding me. Talking to him about what, man. We talked about our other day. Oh, yeah, you did. You talked about how you had blood all over your clothes. I didn't do anything.

Hey, you don't believe me? No, I do not believe you. Oh my God. You are on video. You and Eric the whole conversation. Jose, before her body was even found. She was able to hear those, and that was obviously the first time she really believed that he was capable of doing it. But she stayed married to him for almost the entire pendency of the case.

Like on the eve of trial, she divorced him. For the prosecution, the trash truck videos are a, Rare gift, but for the defense, not so much. Separate and apart from that, we have a very strong, you know, good triable guilt-faced case. But when that's added into the mix, I mean, I don't even think they need anything else. My focus was primarily on how the defense was going to come up with some creative ideas for how to exclude some of that evidence or question the reliability and credibility of the evidence

because it was pretty strong for the prosecution. It's almost exactly seven years since Tanya's killing before Jose Escalera's trial begins. I was there for everything. All these years, seven years. It took a while. I guess they were trying to get everything they needed so that when they do catch them,

they had all their bases cover, all their corners corporate, everything they needed. I have to do it, Eric. I have no other choice. I'm going to lose everything. If my wife finds out something like that, oh my God, bro, I'm going to lose everything. Bro, I have a spot.

I have a spot. I have to find a spot where I'm going to dump her. I'll throw away all the clothes, or I'll burn them. Or I'll wash them with Chlorax. Those are the words. for the defendant in this case on August 21st, 2018. The evidence will show you that he had a problem. He had a big problem.

He needed to find a way to get rid of it. He had no other choice in his eyes. And that problem that he had was the victim in this case. Tanya Wells. Unfortunately, the profession that Ms. Wise was in, a dancer and an escort, brought her into contact with many unsavory characters.

It was in this fraught situation that her untimely demise occurred. And I have no doubt that at the close of the evidence, you'll have no other alternative but to find my client not guilty. She worked as a dancer, and part of what the defense did was kind of highlight her involvement in the dance industry and her involvement with unsavory characters. and the number of men she may have been dating and seeing at the time. Now, the prosecution counters that narrative with some very... For 50 years, Canadians have wondered what the names of IKEA furniture mean.

Like Natopa, the guardrail for children's beds. Natopa means giving your favorite person room to grow. It means their safety and your piece of... No. In Swedish, Natopa means night monkey. IKEA, 50 years of Swedishness at home. Look, he's wearing little pajamas. So cute. Where some see heroes and others see egos.

Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com. Strong witnesses, including Tanya's mom. Did you know a female by the name of Tanya Wai? Yes, she's my daughter. Okay, she's your daughter. Okay.

I want you to go ahead and describe Tanya for us. She was 23. Okay, and did she have children? Yes. At home, she had an eight-year-old, Jamar. And she was pregnant. I would like my daughter to be remembered for who she was. She's a beautiful, funny, funny,

lovable, you know, caring person who loved her son, who loved hugging him, spending time with him. Just a good mother. And I want her to be remembered like that. I think Tanya's mom brought a bit of humanity to it and to who Tanya was, you know, of course the defense was highlighting the negatives about her. But even though her mom acknowledged that,

what you saw was that she had a family, a family that she was involved, with, she had a child already. Conversely, the prosecution puts Jose's character on display, and Detective Newman shows some clips from his interrogation. Hand to God. I'm good. Y'all can ask you anything, y'all can ask me whatever. Whatever you got to hear or here?

Could you ever have sex with her? No. Did you have any kind of dealings with her outside? outside of just friendship. Nope. I think what the jury took away from that is that he was a confident and practiced liar. I mean, he not only denied having a relationship with Tanya, but he also stated that there was no way that he could be the father of her child.

I think at one point he said, you know, hand to God that it was not him. And then of course, the paternity test comes back and the DNA results identified, yes, you are the father. Any time that we can, we can show, that a criminal defendant is lying and we can conclusively prove that lie, that's just as good as a confession because it's so powerful and people understand who they're dealing with. When the medical examiner testifies, it is just awful. Now I want to turn your attention to the baby, Josiah Wise.

What are we looking at here? There's an fetus. your full-tarmatitis. Based on your autopsy as well as your review of Ms. Waz's medical records, is there any indication that this was anything other than a healthy baby boy? No. This was a healthy baby boy? Yes. Did the baby live after Ms. Waz died, or did they die at the same time? Can you provide some detail on that issue? At this gestational age, any infant or fetus inside the womb is dependent on the mother's blood flow for nutrients and oxygen.

When the mother has died, that blood flow stops so the infant doesn't die instantaneously, but as it's depleted from oxygen and blood flow, it would die after she died in a matter of minutes. State has arrested its case. Any motions from the defense? No motion from the defense. There were no useful defense witnesses for us. You do not want any witnesses that are just not going to be believable. But if it sounds like the defense has given up, in their closing argument, they have a trick up their slaves. It definitely caught me off guard, and I was surprised by that argument.

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slash prime crime. Let's talk about the evidence that we heard over the last four days and why you should have very real doubts about the state's case. So this guy who allegedly meticulously plans a murder gets blood everywhere and hasn't had time to clean out his truck. He immediately gives consent to search his truck. He tells him, yeah, you can search my truck. You can search my phone.

You can have my DNA. Because he knows he didn't murder Tanya. And what he later learns is their unborn child. But he knows who did? His wife. Deborah Soto Escalera. Oh, we expected it would be a moment. Right.

And I think on some of the video, you can see that the state is shocked probably the most about it. I don't think that they anticipated. that. There's a point where my head's down and she makes the statement in reference to the his wife possibly being the murder and I put my head up because I was I was shocked that that was what the argument was in closing arguments especially when there was really no talk of that the entire trial. Deborah knew Tanya she could have taken Jose's phone and learned her out to talk then hit her in the head and did a close-up killing a deeply

personal type of killing. This was a knifing to the throat. And Tanya was only in that ditch because Deborah couldn't lift her body that far. Eliminate a romantic rival and save her marriage. Right, exactly. So, you know, she killed two birds, literally. And that was the defense. Some arguments call for more of your imagination than others. You should have doubts. about the government's case. Those doubts are imminently reasonable. And you should find Jose not guilty.

Thank you. It was a creative argument, but not a successful one. The jury deliberates for less than an hour before coming back with their verdict. Has the jury reached a verdict? We, the jury, find Jose Soto Escolaura, as to count one, gives their first degree murder as charged in the indictment.

as to count two, guilt have first degree murder of an unborn child as charged in the indictment, so say we all, this 19th day of September, 2025. It's one of the faster ones in a case of this magnitude, yes. I think it was not a surprise that the jury came back so quickly, and it really goes back to what was the evidence that was presented by the prosecution. Because this is a capital murder case, the trial now goes into the penalty phase. We knew we had a really, really big uphill battle to try to save Jose's life because, you know, solely by virtue of the fact of the fetus. Right. How could you be more innocent?

But the defense team soon finds themselves in an even worse position. We had a lot of witnesses lined up to go, you know, in the penalty phase. And as they're watching, they're contacting me and saying, I'm not coming to. I'm like people are going to see me testify for this murderer. People, they're going to harass my kids in school. Three quarters of the witnesses dropped out. When it's time for the victim impact statements, Tanya's mom and son deliver yet another blow to the defense.

Tanya was lovable caring, a devoted mother. She had a beautiful soul and was always willing to help and take it of her family. family. She enjoyed being a mother more than anything in the world. She had so many dreams for Jamar and Josiah, dreams of raising them, guiding them, creating happy life together. Those dreams were stolen from her. I was in the courtroom for the last little bit. I gave an impact statement. It was definitely hard. I was nervous going up to doing it. My name is Siaiaa and I live in the most beautiful place on earth. Seven months ago, I blew up my life and a lot has shifted since then.

Everyone is moving forward. I'm still working on that. And that's me. Welcome to Ice Cove. Where are the penguins? That's Antarctica. We're the other one. North of North.

Stream all episodes available on CBCJM. With Export Development Canada, Canadian businesses are competing, leading, and winning in more international markets. Like how agri-food businesses are strengthening global food supply and critical minerals are powering industries of the future. Their ambition can't be contained. And with EDC behind them, neither can their growth. Export Development Canada is the financial partner for Canadian businesses going global. Visit EDC.com.ca for more. I had to step out a little bit before and a little bit after.

My mother was the closest person to me, and she was like my best friend. On that day, I've lost more than the mother. I also lost the chance to have my mother watch me grow, and I hope that she's proud of me for coming here and talking about how this has affected me. I choose to honor my mother because she was one of the most, if not the most important. people who has been in my life. Thank you. There could not be anything more emotional to put in front of a jury to pull on their heartstrings

than, you know, her own son saying, my mom's not here. She's missing all these parts of my life and all of these experiences that I'm having. Then closing arguments begin. To be clear, we, you are confronted with not one death. sentence, but two, right? Two death sentences are on the table, one per count. Count one deals with the murder of Tanya, count two with the murder of Josiah. Ladies and gentlemen, this defendant deserves not one, but two death sentences. Extreme facts call for extreme sentence. That's what I'm asking you to impose today. Tanya Wise.

Josiah Wise, murdered by Jose, who is my client, that I am not going to quarrel with the fact that this was a coldly and calculatedly and premeditatedly done act. I don't dispute that. So what does that mean for you? But you were asked last week to convict a man

because he thought about doing a killing beforehand, and did it. What are you being asked to do? The gate is open for you to kill. And I recommended humility. I recommend you don't go down that path. To rot and die in prison is not merciful. It is a horrible, horrible sentence.

Do that to him. They weighed heavily on the conscience of the jurors in this particular case, essentially making an argument that they would be committing murder themselves if they, voted for the death penalty. The jury comes back quickly again after just two hours. We the jury find Jose Sobo Escalari should be sentenced to death for the murder of Tanya Wise. We did a jury find by vote of 8 to 4 that Jose Soto Escalari should be sentenced

to death for the murder of the ongoing child of Tanya Wides. David is 23rd of September 2020. I got to be there when he was sentenced. And we were told about how it's going to happen, like how long to expect to happen. It was a lot. What will we call justice? I don't have my daughter and I don't have my grandson.

But it is, I guess, he needs to pay for what he did. And that's where I want him to be. The moment that I don't think I'll ever forget was when the death. verdict was announced and I remember looking over at Soto Escalara and he he just seemed to have this look on his face as if he couldn't believe it. I think that he was genuinely surprised despite all the evidence to the contrary which surprised me. It was a long and grueling representation and to come from our perspective to come so close you know one more juror was all we

needed to have saved his life. When he received the death penalty for both counts. I was relieved and I was happy for Tanya's family and her mother to get some closure. The public, I think, can breathe easier knowing that Jose Soto Escalara is in state prison and will never get out. The crime showed that he was a cold calculating killer. He is right where he is and right where he belongs. So many innocent lives were impacted by one man who was afraid to lose his

wife in income and yet in the end not only did he lose those things but he's gonna lose his life too but for Tanya's mom and son her memory is still very much alive I hope that wherever she's at she can hear us because we love her we love her very much her and Josiah where some see heroes and others see egos Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes A fad to some? The future of money to others. We see crypto's trillion dollar swings. The end of jobs or the end of human struggle.

We see the endless funds fueling the AI hype. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com.