Rotten Mango - Doctor Couple Becomes Target Of A Delusional Killer Who Thinks They’re In A Love Triangle Together

Episode Date: August 24, 2026

There are 2 younger women sitting around a table at a trap house in Dallas, Texas. They’re both Latina with a bit of baby fat in their cheeks - but they’re not just some college students looking to buy drugs.   They’re here to sell them – a lot of them.   One of the 2 women – she’s a narco with deep connections in Mexico. The other woman? Just a Spanish/English translator for her boss, the narco, and the dealer of the trap house, a man named Love.   They need someone to move product for them and since Love has connections in the US - this deal could mean a lump sum of drugs and cash PLUS a lifetime supply from the cartel.   He just needs to earn their trust. How? Kill someone.   But not just anyone. They already have the target picked out.   A 35 year old pediatric dentist named Kendra Hatcher. Why would the cartels want to kill a random dentist for children in Dallas, Texas?         Full show notes available at RottenMangoPodcast.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Bad-ab-a-bing-bad-a-boo. It is very difficult to be a co-worker to someone who has probably, most likely, genuinely lost their goddamn minds. If it isn't already bad enough to avoid co-worker bonding sessions, co-workers are asking you if you want to go out with them after work, but you would literally rather go home and not think about work. But this, this is worse, because Brenda is not a normal co-worker. She's already complained to every single person at work that her and her dermatologist boyfriend

and had broken up, but now she's dragging her co-worker Aaron to this very random, very specific bar in Dallas after work. When Aaron gets there, the bar is packed. Brenda guides her to the bar, and there's about three stools left. That's how packed it is. I mean, there's people everywhere. So they take up two of the three stools. They both take a seat. And there's only one empty chair at the bar left. Finally, a woman walks in and the only available seat is right there. So she takes it. she sits down and she starts texting on her phone. Erin notices that Brenda is like zeroed in on this random woman who just walked in. And Brenda oddly uses this moment to get up, walk behind her coworker Aaron and start playing with

Aaron's hair. Almost as if she's trying to braid it. But it's very clear to Aaron just judging by the fingerwork. It's not really like she's trying to braid her hair or do anything nice to her hair. and when she looks up at Brenda, Brenda is zeroing in on this woman's phone, seeing what she's doing on the phone. It's clear from the moment that she saw Brenda all dolled up that this was one of Brenda's crazy plans. Brenda pretends to play with Aaron's hair while she watches the woman next to her. And right there, you see this woman texting a man named Ricky.

Riki never ends up coming into the bar because he pulls up to the parking lot to go into this bar, his date, and he sees his ex-girlfriend's car in the parking lot. He texts his date to reschedule or to head to a different bar, and he doesn't even know that none of this was a coincidence. This was a setup by Brenda. We would like to thank today's sponsors who have made it possible for Rotten Mango to support Dentists Who Care, a nonprofit that provides free, urgent dental care for uninsured children and adults provided by volunteer dentists across the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

This episode's partnerships have also made it possible to support Rotten Mango's team of dedicated researchers and we'd also like to thank you guys for your continued support. As always, full show notes avail about rotten mingle podcast.com. Today's case has brief mentions of gun violence, stalking, relational violence, and a very brief description of stress related to immigration status. Viewer discretion is advice. Statements and quotes may be condensed for brevity and with that said, let's begin. If you guys haven't already listened to audio part one of this podcast or this case, please go listen. We went over who Kendra Hatcher was and why it was so puzzling to detectives when a 35-year-old pediatric dentist was found shot dead in her luxury apartment parking lot. There's so many weird leads that occur with this case. You have a man named Jose seeing his Jeep on the bolo. He comes in and he tells the police, yes, that's my car. That was my car that was used as the getaway car for when Kendra was murdered, but I don't know Kendra. Then he brings up that his

friend had borrowed his car. Her name is Brenda. Brenda has an alibi. Then investigators are like, you know what, maybe we should look back into Kendra's boyfriend at the time, Ricky, who is also a doctor. He's a dermatologist. Then they find out that Ricky and Brenda used to date and everything is falling apart. And in the interrogation room, Detective Barnes just wants one thing from Ricky. They already heard what he was doing. He was in the apartment prepping for their trip. Then he went to go grab tacos. They already saw the messages on Kendra's phone. And now they know that Ricky's ex-girlfriend, one of the people that he reached out to for support,

is Brenda, his ex-girlfriend, tiny wrist, Jeep, Brenda. But because of that connection, authorities want his phone so that they can run a very quick data dump. Nothing serious. They tell him, just give us a copy of your entire cell phone, and we can rule you out and be on your way. Ricky completely understands. It's just that he got a new phone.

Oh. Detective Barnes seems a little taken aback. After Kendra died, he got a new phone. What? But Ricky is like, wait, hold on, though. Like, why are you taking it back? You're the one that told me to do that. There was a bit of miscommunication, I guess you could say.

Ricky says he thought that's what Barnes told him to do was to get a new cell phone because he started getting calls from media, just badgering him for comments. Yeah, legacy media is like, hey, give me a statement right now. And so he told Barnes that. Barnes is like, yeah, you should probably get a new number. Barnes is like, what are you talking about? I said get a new number, not a new cell phone, because technically even if you get a new phone, you still have the same phone number, you're still going to get calls from the media. Like, what is happening? Hello? Or the dots not connecting?

Ricky apologizes. He says he honestly thought that that's what he meant, which to be fair, I will say that Ricky is, this is the time period where you're in a state of shock and grief, so it's a bit more understandable. And Detective Barnes is like, okay, well, it's fine. but do you have it with you, the old phone? No. I mean, he doesn't have, he, he just has his new phone. He does have the old phone, but it's not with him right now. And also, Detective Barnes is informing Ricky that they still need to do a data dump on this phone, whether or not he brings it in.

Detective Barnes is like, I can get a search warrant if you want. It's really up to you, Ricky. And what he means by that is, it's really not up to you, Ricky, at all. Ricky, however, wants to cooperate, but he says, I'm not saying no by any means, okay? It was literally just midnight. I was up talking to my sister and we were talking and there's just something that we don't know to the point where we're just like, I mean, we just, what does this have to do with the phone? Ricky continues kind of rambling. I mean, I just have like, I mean, the people that I know are more, I mean, I'm more of like a physician lawyer and.

This is like a recorded interview? Yes. And so they were just almost, you know, like scared on my, you know what I mean? Like I wasn't even really thinking about that. And they're like, no, you really, you really have to. That's a big deal. And I just don't know if you want to get involved. And again, I'm not saying, no, I'm just saying.

I just need to ask somebody who can maybe help guide me a little. I'm so confused. Is he rambling completely? He's rambling completely. And at this point, I will say I do understand the hesitation by Ricky. I would be incredibly hesitant to hand over a copy of my phone to a police officer. Even if I had zero guilt, there was nothing that I've done that was even remotely inappropriate. I would probably fight it.

Right. So he's hesitant of giving away his phone. Got it. Yes. And if history tells us anything, like you should probably fight it to and get an attorney first. I'm not saying that you should fight a search warrant. I'm just saying, I don't know if you should immediately consent to it and offer it up on a silver platter. Ricky then asked Barnes what he would do if he were in his position.

And Detective Barnes responds in a way that's as surprising as the earth is round. Detective Barnes is telling him, I would just be like, hey, here you go, here's my phone. He reassures Ricky, like, look, we do this stuff with phones all the time. He says he understands, you know, phones are super important. He sees all sorts of phones, though. Like, we don't really expect anything more than like a goofy selfie here or there. But it's just very standard stuff. Ricky doesn't directly respond to what Detective Barnes just said.

He instead runs his hand through his hair. He scratches the back of his head and he almost kind of asked sheepishly. And just from a professional standpoint, am I being recorded right now? They are in an interrogation room. And well, I mean, it's all part of the investigation. Everything that we do in this building is recorded. And that's why I asked you to bring the notes so that I can get it recorded. Ricky says, yeah, yeah.

Again, I feel like I should maybe just talk to someone, which, okay, that's another thing. Don't ever be so passive with police officers. Just say I want a lawyer. Because Detective Barnes is like, no, you don't. You don't want to talk to anybody. Basically, that's what police have to do. Even if you say you want to talk to a lawyer, they're going to be like, yeah, sure, we'll get you a lawyer. Don't worry about it.

Ricky is like, I'm happy to talk off the record. I mean, part of the reason why. I mean, because last night when I was thinking about it, I wasn't sure. if I should even contact you to reschedule. He starts rambling more almost about how he at least wanted to come in and talk to Detective Barnes, but he barely slept the past few days. He actually used to pull 30-hour shifts, and this somehow feels a lot worse. He knows from the start that he probably shouldn't make important life decisions when you're

that tired, but like, does Detective Barnes get that? Detective Barnes reassures Ricky. I totally understand. Totally. But ultimately, he informs Ricky. that his responsibility is to Kendra's family and to do everything to find out all the details and to look at the whole picture.

And the whole picture being whatever Ricky might have on his phone. Ricky responds with kind of an interesting response that really, I think, only a dermatologist might have in this situation. He expresses a lot of concern that, okay, so he took a picture of a patient to show the condition of their skin, but he sent it to a colleague who's also a dermatologist and a doctor to get a second opinion. which he says technically he's not supposed to do that from a professional standpoint.

Because the other physician is not their doctor, so you can't just without consent send a picture of their skin, even if there's no identifying markers or anything. Okay, it seems like he's trying to say he doesn't feel comfortable with that, and now this is going to be on police record, to which Detective Barnes tells him straight up, I honestly couldn't give a shit less about a mole, basically. He's like, I don't care about moles.

I don't care. if you've got patience mole pictures up in there because it's like a picture of a mole that he wanted a second opinion on. He says, I'm concerned with the people responsible for killing Kendra Hatcher, which then moves Ricky to his next train of thought. Yeah, yeah.

So then I'm a suspect then? Detective Barnes, in the most roundabout law and order way, neither confirms nor denies anything, just says he wants the full picture once more. Can I speak to you about it off the record? Can I do that? No, we have to be. record. Anything that we do has to be recorded and has to be recorded. And I understand you have a

professional status that you're trying to uphold. I understand that. But also we have to document things, right? Can I talk about things? Yeah. Okay, because I mean, again, I just want to be able to focus on, I mean, I can't even, I can't even focus on the fact that my girlfriend got shot. Detective Barnes has given Ricky the benefit of the doubt. But at this point, he still has a gunman that he's looking for. And Ricky's hesitation, it's almost, it's kind of a little on the nose. It's, I'm sure it's unsettling. He also got a new phone. He's nervous to turn on the old phone.

Maybe because Ricky knows Brenda quite well, actually intimately, because they're exes. And also they remained friends after that. And she's a friend that he texted about his girlfriend being shot, the night that Kendra died. Right. So it seems like they had some sort of close friendship afterwards. She's also the one that was organizing a meal train with his sister. Remember? So not only that, but Ricky also knows Jose. What?

He just doesn't know why that's important yet. Ricky has no clue. So maybe he's hesitant to give over his phone because he knows that the three of them met up a month prior to Kendra's death, because Ricky needed to get some work done on his truck. Ricky, Jose, and Brenda met up. A month before Kendra's death. Ricky's truck started making noise, and eventually it became just like this hunk of metal sitting outside Kendra's building.

That's why he Ubered back to his apartment, right? remember? Yeah, it wasn't even driveable. So Brenda, Ricky's ex, is like, hey, you could take it to the dealership or you could bring it to my friend Jose and he'll get you a really good deal. So she connects them and that guy is Jose, Jose with the Jeep. Brenda gives him a ride to and from Jose's shop on two different occasions to try and fix his truck. So it would make sense technically by any investigator standpoint, which is like raw intelligence work that perhaps Ricky is involved because the boyfriends, the husbands, the partners, they are often very much involved. But Detective Barnes probably knows at this point, it's never that easy, okay?

The more he digs into Ricky, Detective Barnes realizes, I don't think this guy is involved at all. Like, Ricky was honestly just confused and in shock. And he almost instantly snaps out of it. So he does seem like he was really nervous about the professional and the mole thing. Because immediately after, he's like, you know what, just, yeah, here's my phone. The old phone? Yeah. He gave it up? Okay.

He's like, I just, I was nervous, you know, basically. He also gives detailed pages of notes and dates, verifiable dates, along with detailed bank statements. Ricky does what Detective Barnes wants and more. Like, he goes the extra mile. He even details in depth his relationship with not just Kendra, but also with Brenda. And while I normally like to remain incredibly skeptical of people, especially partners when their partner ends up dead, I do really think it's just initial shock and confusion. The rest of the investigation, Ricky, and even his mom, are there just trying to help investigators with pretty much everything they ask and more.

I do think that he was really nervous about the picture of the mole. And he was probably in a state where he couldn't think correctly and he was in shock. Ricky's mom even sends the detectives a 14-page document of everything she knows, along with timelines, that the detectives used to their benefit. But most importantly, I would say, Ricky's alibi does check out. He's on CCTV camera the whole time throughout the murder. His movements match exactly what he was describing. There's nothing in his digital footprint that would indicate any sort of connection to anything. In fact, everything he's said is just there's evidence for it.

Every text messages, not even to just Kendra, but to Brenda, everything is there. And there is no way that Ricky is the shooter, let alone is involved. He's just a doctor grieving the loss of his girlfriend. And this is a girlfriend that they found in his digital evidence that he, really wanted to marry. So if Ricky is cleared, if Jose doesn't know Kendra and didn't even have his Jeep the day of the shooting, if Brenda has an alibi via her receipt for three Chili Rita's from Chili's, then who the hell is the killer? Who drove the Jeep into the parking lot and shot Kendra dead? One name keeps coming up, Crystal. So it's time for Detective Barnes

to talk to Crystal. And I don't know if they have a washing machine at this police station, but when it's cold in the interrogation room, the officers pass the interviewee pink blanket. I've seen it so many times in this case. I don't know if they wash it each time or if it just carries with it the ambient smell of confessions. Because now 23-year-old Crystal Cortez is sitting in the interrogation room. She's snuggling up to this pink blanket. And she's actually quite enthusiastic to help officers.

And in her mind, this is really good. This is actually like too good. Because the photo of the Jeep, the below that it seems like half of Dallas has seen at this point, it's very blurry. You can't exactly make out who the driver is. But if you look super close, you squint one eye, And if you know the truth, like Crystal knows the truth, then you know Crystal was the one driving the Jeep. She straight up tells the officers, yes, so that's me in the car.

That's me in the Jeep. I was driving the Jeep. But I wasn't alone in the Jeep. My six-year-old son was in the backseat of the Jeep. And you'll never believe. You will never believe what happened that day? Crystal starts sharing with Detective Barnes. It's basically like one of those movies.

She's in the car driving. Her son is in the back. Just picked him up from school. And because her son had requested that they go to the park. she goes in parks inside Kendra's apartment building where she does not live she doesn't even have a friend that lives in this apartment building why is Crystal in this apartment building she says

well I know that they have free parking what and if you've been to like any nice apartment building yeah that makes no sense they like never have free parking she knew that there was free parking so that she could park the car and then they could walk to the park but she's about to get out when she hears a gunshot and then all of a sudden one of the doors to the cars open and there is a guy wearing a mask demanding she essentially be the getaway driver. He's like, drive, points the gun at her.

What is Crystal to do? She's to drive. That's what. This is a case of wrong place, wrong time. She just happened to drive directly into a murder scene. That was her only fault. Detective Barnes is intently listening to Crystal's story of what happened that day, even though he knows, we know that this story is as believable as a cow on roller skates speeding down the highway.

But as any good listener, Detective Barnes listens to her story. story, lets her finish, and then presents her with something fascinating. So in the CCTV footage, the shooter gets out the Jeep to shoot Kendra. That's crazy, yeah. Then he gets back into the Jeep, and then the Jeep takes off. That is an honest misunderstanding. Crystal must have gotten confused. What really happened is that she stopped at a stop sign before she entered the parking lot.

The gunman got in her car at the stop sign. Open the door. She didn't lock the doors, you know, demanding she drive into the parking lot. He told her, don't look at me. Don't say nothing you pull in this parking lot. I will kill you. I'll kill your son if you do something. Crystal starts adding a little bit more flare,

a little bit more details to this rendition. I'm sitting there begging Jesus. I'm begging Jesus, my son. Please stay asleep, please stay asleep. Please stay asleep. Right. Did you honk your horn? There's really no point in Crystal even responding

because Detective Barnes has the footage from the parking lot. Not only did Crystal never honk her horn once, she never flashed her lights, never made any motion to try and get help. He tells her, I'm telling you right now, I don't believe this bullshit. Crystal reassures him this is in fact the truth, even though what she said earlier is obviously not the truth,

but she now knows in her heart this is the truth. How can we be so sure about this? Crystal even offers, you can polygraph me, you can test me. Barnes straight up tells her, if I would have polygraphed you then, you would have failed because you were lying and you're lying now. Which, by the way, if the police ever ask you to do a polygraph, maybe don't do it, let alone offer it up to the police,

especially if you've already changed your story multiple times. And that has less to do with the fact that you probably should never take a polygraph, but more so to do with the fact that you just seem so dumb right now. Like what do you mean? You already changed your story. How are you going to take a polygraph now? Then we get to Crystal's next version. It's really hard to take anything out of Crystal's mouth at face value,

but Crystal does confirm a few things for investigators. One, Ricky was definitely not the shooter or even involved in any way because he was the original target. What? He was the one that was supposed to be dead. And Crystal is just a woman with a job. She was hired. When you move in with a roommate,

there is a level of expectation to do things for the roommate that you might not have signed up for. Are you really going to be the petty one that leaves just one singular mug in the kitchen sink after doing your own dishes because that's your roommate's mug? Or the one who makes a 30-part TikTok story time about your roommate while quoting the mayor of New York City on your fire escape whilst crying,

You know, there's some things that are expected when you move in with a roommate. For Jennifer Escobar, that probably would have been the better outcome, the fire escape videos. She probably would have taken that any day because she just moved in and her roommate is asking her for a small favor. Help me put someone in a coma. Or we could just beat him up. I already bought the bat and I have this needle. Jennifer Escobar has no idea what's in the needle, but her roommate says it can put someone asleep. Look, I'll give you $2,000 in exchange if you help me.

It's a horrendous offer if there ever was one, but Jennifer does not explicitly accept or decline. However, she makes plans to move out within two weeks of moving in. She's like, I'm not going to live with this lady because her new roommate seems to have a few screws loose. She's also just actively going through Jennifer's belongings like her suitcase, which, you know, I will say it's kind of funny because not funny, but funny in like the depressing way. When Jennifer talks to the detectives later about this,

she's more upset that her roommate was going through her belongings than she is that her roommate is plotting to put someone into a coma. Yeah, but she is also plotting murderer. And she has this deep obsession, almost stalkerish obsession with her ex-boyfriend. Jennifer says she would talk about him. She had his location, his emails, bank account, and everything about him. She was really obsessed over him. She basically had a second phone. She would know his locations and movements from that phone. Jennifer thinks that maybe it's the way the ex broke up with her roommate that has her spiraling into craziness. He did break up with her via email, which Jennifer can understand why her roommate is so obsessed, but this was like obsession level obsessed.

She still had his house key, logins for his bank accounts, his Gmail. Jennifer ultimately moves out because it was just miserable. She would avoid going home at times because the roommate would be all pent up and angry at the ex-boyfriend. and then if Jennifer's not home, she would get mad at Jennifer because Jennifer's not home to help her get through her emotions. But before Jennifer moves out, she does facilitate what was an innocent gathering at the time. Jennifer invites a friend she's known since high school to the apartment pool and her roommate shows up to the apartment pool. So she introduces them. High school friend, meet my roommate.

Roommate, meet my high school friend. It doesn't appear that they like hid it off or anything. It's just an introduction. Jennifer had no idea that Brenda and Crystal, would stay in touch after that. Brenda sends a heated message to the only person she wants to talk to right now. The message reads, quote, Ricky cheated on me.

I miss Ricky. I love Ricky. I miss you. I love you. Are you mad at me? It almost sounds like the type of message that you would send to the backup on the roster who knows about your tumultuous relationship status, but all these desperate text messages are going straight to Ricky's mom.

What? Yeah, Ricky's mom. For a year straight, Ricky's mom would field calls from Brenda on the regular, where Brenda would just call her to cry uncontrollably, that Ricky was cheating on her, so she was so devastated that she had to get Ricky back because she could not survive this, which didn't even sound like Ricky to Ricky's mom.

Ricky's mom had never known him to be a cheater in a relationship, but Brenda would cry. Why is he acting like we're not together anymore? Quote, why is he on Match.com when he has me? Several of my girlfriend saw him on Match.com pretending to be single. He's cheating. How many young females are in residency with him? Do you know?

Ricky's mom didn't even know during the initial call that Ricky and Brenda had already broken up. The whole year that she didn't know? Yeah. What? Ricky was not cheating. He was just moving on after the breakup. But every time Brenda would call Ricky's mom, Brenda made it sound like they were still together and he was cheating on her, which is already alarming. but it's even scarier because Brenda would constantly tell Ricky's mom that if Ricky doesn't come back to her,

she will have nothing and she will not live a life without Ricky. She would rather self-exit. Then she would ask, does he call other girls when I'm not around? What can I do to make him want to be with me forever? Like, Ricky's mom has no reason to be an unpaid therapist for Brenda, but she did it because she felt compassion. And then Brenda would go and say something very creepy like, please pray every day that Ricky will commit himself wholly to me. Please pray for us. Please. Please pray for us to be okay.

Ricky's mom says, quote, thus began the theme of begging me to pray for them for over a year. And Ricky's mom does pray. She's so sweet. She does, in fact, pray for Brenda. She prays that Brenda find a kind-loving partner in her life, though it probably most likely will not be Ricky. Ricky's mom lightly suggests,

if it's that bad, maybe you guys could try couples counseling or perhaps you should try individual counseling. Yeah, no. Brenda is not even remotely interested. She says that he's contacting girls to go on dates so only prayer can fix this, not counseling. Which, just to clarify, I don't think Ricky's mom knew the extent of their relationship

while it was happening, but I don't think that she thought they were ever meant for each other. Ricky's mom later tells the investigators, from the very first date that Brenda had with Ricky, she found a way to insert herself into his life, even though he didn't really ask for it. Ricky would tell her he has his own way of doing things. He likes his routine. She bulldozed in and just started cooking, doing dishes, doing his laundry, cleaning his house for him. He never asked her to do any of it.

That led to her leaving a toothbrush, then clothes. And eventually she stops being slick about it and just brings her entire dresser, like the furniture, into the apartment. If Ricky's mom was occupied and couldn't respond to a text or call, Brenda would freak out. Did Ricky tell you not to talk to me? Are you mad at me? Some of Brenda's text messages to Ricky. mom read. Have you talked to Ricky? Does he say anything about me? Have you talked to his sister? Tell her to Ricky that he should get back together with me. Does Ricky's dad know that we broke up? Maybe he can talk some sense into Ricky. I miss Ricky. I love Ricky and I miss you and I love you. Are you mad at me? I can't stop crying. I'm devastated. I can't live without Ricky. Ricky is my whole life. I'm broken. I can't

sleep. I'm depressed. I have panic attacks. I can't stand to think about Ricky with other girls. I can't concentrate on studying because all I do is think about wanting Ricky and I come. And I Hi. Brenda calls Ricky's mom and wishes her at Happy Mother's Day, but also reminds Ricky's mom to tell Ricky that she did that. But one of the strangest moments Ricky's mom remembers is Brenda crying to her on the phone saying, quote, I love him so much and he doesn't even care about me. In one month alone, Brenda texted Ricky's mom 114 times. That's not including the phone calls. Weirdly, Brenda even informs Ricky's mom that she lied to Ricky that she was seeing other people. But that's not true because she only wants him. She shares the story of how when she was leaving Rickies after they broke up, two men had attacked her.

She was at a stop sign and these two scary men tried to get in the car with her. She peddled to the metal and barely escaped whatever they had planned for her. She told Ricky about it and he was very concerned and worried about her even after the breakup. So while she's crying and telling this to Ricky's mom, she suddenly stops and in a very agitated faust and loud tone of voice, She tells Ricky's mom, Ricky's mom is Patricia, by the way. She tells Patricia, Mama Pat, I just can't believe it. Ricky broke up with me again. He says it's for good now.

He's such a liar. He just got back together with me, but he knew that he was just going to use me and throw me away. He used me until someone better came along, and now I'm broken all over again and I'm hurt. He already got a new girlfriend. How could he do this to me? I am so broken, but now I'm showing him. He will be the one that's hurting. I can tell every person I see in school and clinic that Ricky did me dirty.

I tell everyone I talk to how bad he treated me. how he tricked me by saying that we were together again, but then he just threw me away and I'm so devastated. Riki's mom asked Brenda. So are you saying that you say this to all your classmates and co-workers, the people that you work with? Yes, everyone in the clinic. I even tell my patients, every single one of them. You tell your patience that Ricky did you dirty? Brenda is getting more and more agitated, not even realizing how crazy this all sounds. She just screams at Patricia. Yes, I tell my patients. I tell everyone I see. I want to ruin his reputation.

Everyone thinks he's so good, but I want them to know how bad he treated me. Don't you agree, Mama Pat, don't you? He did me so dirty. So now he's going to suffer like I am. Patricia responds, Brenda, that's my son you're talking about. It's unprofessional to tell anyone, especially your patience, anything about Ricky. That is wrong. You need to think about that and stop doing that.

I don't want to hear from you unless you stop talking about Ricky to other people. that way. With that, their phone call ends, but their communications wouldn't because Brenda will just keep coming back, coming back to tell Ricky's mom that she texted Ricky hi and he responded, which made her heart melt. So Brenda, Patricia, is seeing how crazy Brenda is. Does Ricky know this side of Brenda or is it just a mom? Just Ricky's mom.

Ricky's mom thought that she could try to calm Brenda down. She thought that she could try to help Brenda in the process of getting over the relationship Because in between these phone calls, you know, she would try to encourage her to go out and meet new people So she thought Brenda just crashing out from a breakup, got it. And so at one point, Brenda sends Ricky Mom just a string of crying emojis and sad face emojis. And in response, Patricia sends her the lyrics to the song, I will survive. And told Brenda that she will indeed survive. And it's just, she says, I thought that I would.

be able to get her to leave him alone and help her get her to a point that she could move on with her life. So out of the goodness of her heart, bless Patricia, she tries to help Brenda softly encouraging her to go out there, move on, like what do you even need a man for? And also, is my son really all that? Probably not. You probably could find better. She'd probably just saying it, but still. And it appears her hard work was not in vain. Brenda informs her that she did start taking up workout classes. Oh yeah? What kind? Salsa. salsa, like salsa dance lessons that her son Ricky had just started taking at the same exact studio. That's insane.

So the mom knew this? Yes. So what was her reaction when she found out that Brenda just started going to the same class? Brenda made it seem like it was a coincidence. And Patricia believed that? No, but Ricky also thought it was a coincidence. It was very hard to say anything otherwise, you know? Then one day, Brenda tells Ricky's mom that she's getting married to Ricky.

but don't tell anyone, not even Ricky. But Brenda is so happy that Patricia is going to be her brother-in-law soon. What do you mean? She just tells Brenda's mom a marrying your son? Yeah, but don't tell him, I told you. And Patricia just thinks she's crazy talking? Yeah. August 25th was the last time Ricky's mom ever heard from Brenda, just eight days before Kendra is killed.

But what does any of this have to do with cartels? Detective Barnes starts extracting a confession of sorts from Crystal, but it takes multiple hours over the course of multiple days. And even then, it's very hard to believe a single thing that comes out of this girl's mouth without hard evidence backing it up. So first, it's that I was kidnapped just to be a getaway driver. Then, okay, fine, I was kidnapped at the stop sign.

And all of that centers around her kidnapper, who she somehow managed to learn his name in this short little ride that she had with him. His name is Lamar. How does she know his name? I don't know. maybe they were doing some ice breakers in the car mid-kidnapping. Eventually, Detective Barnes manages to break down this little janga tower of lies until she admits, okay, fine, I was hired.

I was hired for the job. So was Lamar. We were hired by Brenda. The plan was we weren't going to kill Kendra. We were just going to rob Kendra. Brenda reassured Crystal that all she had to do was drive into the parking lot and Lamar was going to take Kendra's purse. But he ended up killing her.

I thought she said that they were trying to kill Ricky to begin with. Yeah, but then they changed it to just robbing Kendra. Oh, so Ricky was one of the stories. Now the new version is robbing Brenda. Yeah. Okay. Now, Crystal mentions a detail the detectives pick up on. And apparently whenever Brenda would talk about Ricky, she would only refer to him as X.

Crystal says Brenda hired her saying, yeah, X has a girlfriend. I'll pay $500 to take the girlfriend's purse. Her name is Kendra. Crystal hesitated and she tells Detective Barnes. I was like, well, I don't want to do that because I have a kid. Brenda was like, fine. We'll pay a guy to come and take her purse and you just drive. Crystal is staring Detective Barnes deadpan, like just staring at him as if this totally

makes sense. Okay, so Brenda wants to pay you $500 to steal Kendra's purse, but you don't want to steal her purse. So she's still going to pay you $500 and then hire another guy to do what she was going to pay you in the first place. Detective Barnes is rightfully confused, but Crystal clarifies, well, Brenda gave her $100 up front before any of the robbing was done, so that she could go out and find the robber to do the robbing.

She's like a professional headhunter. Yeah, put that in Crystal's LinkedIn, okay? Detective Barnes asked, so she gave you $100 to go right around Oak Cliff to find some guy to do a robbery? Yep. So you let some guy that you don't know that is willing to do a robbery, and you got your baby in the backseat? Yeah, I know.

I feel like a bad person. Well, just don't feel, Crystal, you probably are, okay? Crystal really should be hired as a professional headhunter for corporations because she finds the perfect candidate. She further states that this random guy that she approached on the street, Lamar, was going to pull off this robbery right away. He just so happened to have a mask on him. Like a COVID mask?

No. Crystal describes it as. It was a white and black one, like a skull. Like a full. Like a Halloween. Yeah. Detective Barnes is flabbergasted, but he doesn't show it. When you picked him up, he already had his mask.

No, yeah, he did. That was crazy. That was crazy. No, I know you don't believe it. Nobody does. Finally, she's like right about something, I guess, but it gets worse. Lamar pulls out this random skull mask, gets in the car, whips out a pair of gloves that he also had. Like the medical gloves, you know, starts putting them on.

He put the gloves on when he's in the car. You didn't ask him, why is he putting gloves on? No. I thought maybe he didn't want to get caught stealing her purse. Honestly, I didn't think. Yeah, I didn't think might be the thesis statement for Crystal's entire interrogation. Like at no point was she ever thinking, even during the conception of this crime. Realizing how bad all of this sounds, Crystal starts defending herself.

She tells Detective Barnes that even though what she did was wrong, she did everything she could to get caught. She wanted to get caught. She was very intentional about it. She says, I wanted someone to see me. So I drove in front of all the CCTV cameras. I didn't want nobody to not see me. I purposefully parked there. Is she just like making up stuff as she goes?

Yes. And she is not bright. Is the best way I can put it. Got it. So no afterthoughts, no reasoning. Yeah. Just making up stuff as she goes. And I don't say this as an insult to make it like a he-he-haha moment

because there is no such thing as a he-hih-ha moment in any case. But it's like if you were to put evil people, people, just really dumb, evil people into a room and have them concoct a murder plan. This is what they came up with. But the terrifying part is it was to some degree effective. They killed someone. So it's just very scary to see that, like, you don't even need to have any sort of brains. You just need to be evil.

They're evil. Ultimately, Crystal makes it out as, yes, I was there. Yes, I was participating. But I wanted to get caught because I didn't really. want to do this even though I was going to get paid $500 for it. But everything falls apart for Crystal. You know, so she says. When she stops the car, Lamar gets out and she hears a woman say no, no, no.

And she hears Lamar saying, shut up, I'll kill you. Then a gunshot goes off. Crystal says he gets back into the car, has Kendra's purse, and also has a gun on him. She said she never knew that was part of the plan. Why a gun? He shoots her. Crystal tells the detective that she starts freaking out at this point, calling Brenda, telling her that they didn't just rob Kendra. They shot her.

She says Brenda is also freaking out, saying what? What? Over the phone? One of the first things detectives find in Crystal's phone, because yet they're going to go through her phone. One of the first things they find are pictures from the very next day, September 3rd. So this is the day after killing Kendra. It's a nude. Crystal's just out here taking nudes the day after Kendra's murdered, not even 24 hours later, in Brenda's bedroom. Wait, hold on. Crystal is taking nudes of herself in Brenda's bedroom? Yes.

Is Brenda there too? No. But she's taking nudes 24 hours. So she's saying we were never going to kill Kendra. Wait, is Crystal and Brenda, like, are they together? No, no. She's probably sending it to someone else. But she's sleeping over at Brenda's?

Or she was there for a day. We're hanging out. Who knows? What? Yeah. Okay. But this is shocking to detectives because Crystal is trying to argue that she didn't know that they were going to kill Kendra. And if they killed Kendra and she truly didn't know, I mean, probably she should go to the police for sure.

But she should also be spiraling. But instead, less than 24 hours, she's still hanging out with Brenda and she's taking nudes. Like it's just the sheer lack of care. There's no thought. There's nothing. They also find messages between Crystal and who the people. police assumed to be the shooter, and it is not Lamar. It's a man named Love.

Christopher Love. So who is Lamar? Lamar is a random name she made up. He doesn't even exist. But Christopher Love is the guy. Is the shooter. Christopher Love is a man of contrast. He really likes to go by the nickname Love, but he also has a back tattoo of an AK-47 and the

words one-man army tattooed on top of it, which I'm not saying. that you can't love and it's an AK-47 though okay like that's unnecessary Christopher mentioned at some point in the interview with detective Barnes that his looks probably don't help him in this case so he's sitting in the interrogation room with Barnes and he says how did they find Christopher love oh it was so easy he already had a worn out for his arrest for something else oh okay and they just look up his name they look up his number yeah or crystal did yes crystal yeah okay so they got him in the interrogation room and he's like look I got gold teeth tattoos and dress like a drug dealer. Like, be serious. Detective Barnes did not bring him in just because

he has tattoos and self-admittedly seems to look like a drug dealer. He brought him in because in his car, they also find a gun, the gun that was used to kill Kendra. So by the time authorities get to Christopher, it's been a month since Kendra's murder. And he's just kept the murder weapon in his car for the past month. When they confront Christopher with this information, that's when he starts getting detectives barn something, he says it was just a hit job. He was hired. Hired by who? The cartels. He says he was promised an ounce of cocaine and probably a quarter pound of weed. To give you an idea of how much that is, and this is not from my personal knowledge, but apparently, quarter pound of weed is enough to supply a good time to a few hundred people at a party. A few hundred people

who are very light smokers. Or if they're all heavy smokers, about a hundred of your clothes, closest frequent weed smokers at a party is about a quarter pound or approximately four Wiz Khalifas. So either close to 1,000 people, 100 people, or four Wiz Khalifas. And if you really want to get technical with it, okay, Wiz Khalifa said on Jimmy Kimmel that he smokes about 30 joints a day, which is about an ounce of wheat. So four ounces, which is a quarter pound, is enough to last him four days. So yes, four Wiz Khalifas. Damn. Okay. I don't know. I can tell if this is a lot. This is not a lot.

I can't tell you either. Okay. And on top of his five ounces of drugs, which reportedly has a value for the one ounce of cocaine, it's about $11,100, about $800 for the quarter pound of weed, and a bit of cash to seal the deal, reportedly around $3,000. So for a little less than $5,000, Christopher Love was going to kill Kendra, but he's not short-sighted. He said, I'm not doing this for $5,000.

He's doing this for the cartels. he was approached by like a big boss in the cartel business. By all descriptions, she fits Brenda. And the translator was Crystal. And they were telling him that if he pulls off this hit job, they're going to get him a lifetime supply of weed from the cartels in Mexico. He is about to become the biggest dealer north of the border. Which cartel?

We don't even know. He wasn't even given a name. I don't know if he even asked. So he was approached by Brenda and Crystal. Yes, and they put up this whole thing where Brenda only knew how to speak Spanish because she's a cartel lady. And Crystal is translating and Christopher Love is like, you know what, I'm going to work for the cartel. Which cartel, we don't know. That seems like a good question.

I mean, the cartels are at war with each other in Mexico and we're just not even going to care which one it is. That's like saying, I've been hired by the mafia. Which one? Who? But he knew this was a good deal. So we took it. Crystal can barely string together a coherent story in her police interview, but we're supposed to believe that she's somehow involved in this massive cartel that operates across borders dominating North America. Detective Barnes does not say that outright.

What he says, it's much more intense. He tells Christopher, there's no cartel. If this young lady was tied to a cartel, she wouldn't have to come get a shooter from the whole. somebody sold you a wolf ticket no lifetime supply of weed no cartel no drug lord empire all christopher love is going to get is a lifetime supply of being behind bars and that is where i leave you with part two part three the audio version of this podcast is going to be up in a few days where we go through um the fbi's most wanted list because someone in this case ends up there and it just

becomes an utter mess. Let me know what are your thoughts and I'll see you in the next one.