Serialously with Annie Elise - 155: Sickening Parents Arrested for Incest, Oregon Serial Killer & Trial Updates

Episode Date: May 16, 2024

Headline Highlights: Today’s episode dives into everything happening this week in true crime. From new cases to updates on existing ones and more. In this episode, Annie discusses disturbing new cases, case updates, and mini-trial recaps for Karen Read and Chad Daybell. Astepro: Go to https://www.Asteproallergy.com for a special discount today. Dreamland Baby Co: Go to dreamlandbabyco.com and enter my code AE at checkout to receive 20% off sitewide + free shipping. This offer is for new and existing customers! Beam: Head to https://www.shopbeam.com/ANNIEELISE and use code ANNIEELISE for an additional 20% off. Don’t forget supplies are limited and you can only shop it through my link. Karen Read Episode: https://pod.fo/e/22c58f Shop the Merch: www.annieelise.com Follow the podcast on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@serialouslypodcast Follow the podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serialouslypod/      Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise    All Social Media Links: https://www.flowcode.com/page/annieelise_    SERIALously FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/SERIALouslyAnnieElise/    About Me: https://annieelise.com/   For Business Inquiries: [e-mail] 

Unlock your full potential and go further with Algoma University. Experience a transformative education complete with small class sizes, cross-cultural learning opportunities and training for in-demand careers. Algoma University doesn't just prepare you for the future, they prepare you to change it. With three campuses and Ontario's most affordable tuition, Algoma University helps you pursue your education without limits. Go further with Algoma University helps you pursue your education without limits. Go further with Algoma University. Learn more and apply today at algomau.ca.

Algoma University is a publicly funded university in Canada. Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly. Hello, hello, hello, everybody. Welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistly with me, Annie Elise. Today's episode is part of our headline highlights segment, and we used to call it headline highlights. I don't really know why we don't anymore. Maybe we should. Maybe we should bring it back. But basically, on Mondays, we do a full deep dive on a single case where we, you know, find all the nitty-gritty details. We talk through theories. We talk through everything. We, like, do a full deep dive on a single case where we, you know, find all the nitty gritty details. We talk through theories.

We talk through everything. We like do a full deep dive. And then on Thursdays, we have our podcast only, audio only exclusive episode over here where we talk about everything going on this week in the true crime world, whether it's brand new cases that are breaking, updates to existing cases or former cases that we've talked about. We talk through trial recaps, I mean everything, so that it's just kind of like your one little snapshot of what's going on in the true crime world this week. So today's episode of Headline Highlights is going to be that,

obviously, but also it's going to be a little bit different in the sense that for the last several weeks we have been releasing bonus episodes throughout the week where we are just dedicating the episode to trial recaps for Chad Daybell and also for Karen Reed. But I was getting a little bit of feedback from you guys that it was getting confusing trying to figure out what day those bonuses were coming out, where to look, where to get the information. So I decided we're going to just kind of bake all of those trial recaps into our headline highlights episodes so that it's all in one place and easy to find. If you prefer that we go back to having separate episodes, let me know in the Q&A section over on Spotify, but hopefully you guys all understand why we're doing this. Just trying to keep it organized. Trying to just like keep it organized. Now the case I want to start with today, it's interesting because I saw it breaking yesterday and it caught my attention because the image that was on one of these articles was a meme,

a very recognizable meme that I remembered from several years ago and I'm like what the heck is this? And do you guys remember, gosh it must have been at least three years ago right? Probably even longer, but there was that meme that was going, and it was the dress that broke the internet. It was a striped little like clubbing type dress, and it was either white or gold or blue and black, however you saw it. Everybody apparently saw it differently. I saw white and gold, but people would always fight in the comments, they were arguing about it, and it ended up like breaking the internet. It went super viral. Well, no, I'm not talking about the dress today, but I guess kind of. Well, the husband behind the dress is a Scottish man named Keir Johnston and he ended up being charged with attempted murder and recently he

pled guilty and he admitted to strangling his wife, Grace Johnston. Now, this attack happened back on March 6th, 2022. On that specific day, Keir told Grace that he was leaving her. He wanted out, and it apparently caused an argument to happen between the two of them. So Grace apparently then went outside to try to stop him from leaving, right? And then he pinned her to the ground. The prosecutor said, quote, he placed both knees on her arms so that she was unable to move. He then began strangling her with both of his hands. She was initially able to scream and feared for her life and even believed that he intended to kill her as he was very forceful. And there was actually even a witness

to all of this. Somebody apparently pulled him off of Grace, and it did work for a little while, until he just came back outside and started making threats to quote finish her off and then he choked her again now luckily grace survived her injuries but very scary to but very scary nonetheless and the reason that this case caught my attention aside from like the viral dress and like seeing that and jogging my memory is because he told her that he was leaving her and then that's when they got into the argument. And then what? He decided that it would be a better idea to try to kill her?

I mean, why not just leave? It doesn't make any sense, but it rarely does. At least he is pleading guilty. He admitted to strangling her. And hopefully it's one less monster on the street. Now, speaking of monsters on the street, you have all been like DMing me like crazy about this suspected serial killer in Oregon. So let's talk about it because serial killers are

freaking scary. Anytime there's a threat that there's one out there and lurking, which I forget what the statistic is about how many serial killers on average are like active, but you don't know about it. You know what? Let's ask Siri. Siri, how many serial killers are currently in the United States? Here's what I found. Let's see. It says that there are dozens of active serial killers on the loose in the U.S. today. That's pretty scary. So, sorry, guys. Just felt like I would ask Siri on that one because I know that there is a statistic. I just don't know the exact one. But anyway, for quite some time now, a lot of people have suspected that there's a serial killer in Oregon

and that the serial killer is the one who was responsible for the deaths of multiple women. Now, the victim's families are speaking out in an exclusive interview that they gave with News Nation. And I want to play a couple of the clips so that you can hear from the families directly themselves, because quite honestly, this interview, it was just very, very powerful. So take a listen. So the families of four women murdered in Oregon are now banding together. They're pushing for an indictment in this case. There's a person of interest. His name is Jesse Calhoun, and he was arrested last year in a parole violation, but has yet to face any charges in connection to these killings. Live from Portland today is News Nation senior national correspondent Brian Enten reporting on all of this. What's the latest, Brian?

Yeah, Connell, we're right outside Portland in the area where these women's bodies were found. Four or five different women. It could all possibly be connected. It's interesting. They were found beginning of last year, all within three months. And initially, police said that they did not believe that this was a serial killer, that people should stay calm in this community. But then that story changed where they started to investigate whether or not these killings were actually connected. And now we have sources saying that there could be a resolution soon.

There could be some kind of major development in the case. You mentioned a man named Jesse Calhoun. He is behind bars right now in an unrelated charge, but he has been named a person of interest in the case in the past. I met with those moms. They've really banded together. They've been pushing for justice for the last year. Now they've been doing their own investigating. Listen to what they told me. Putting our girls as we call, they're our girls. They're all our girls. Putting their faces together, saying, hey, something is up. And

either we have a serial killer or we have five homicidal maniacs. I don't know which one would be worse. I definitely know that there's a lot of things that they've gotten, that detectives have gotten, that we ourselves have been able to collect, especially from people on the street who want to talk to detectives. And the person of interest, Jesse Calhoun, it's an interesting situation, Connell, because he was behind bars in some serious felonies. And the 2020 wildfires out here in Portland, he was one of the prisoners who went out and fought the wildfires. And because of that, and because of COVID, the former governor actually commuted his sentence and let him out early. And after that is when he may have been connected to

these murders, which is something that's got the community very, very concerned. And again, there could be a development in the case really coming at any moment now or in the next couple of days, Connell. But still, at least not yet, no charges against this guy, Calhoun. So I'll leave it to you. What do you guys think? Do you think that there is a serial killer in Oregon? I don't know. I don't know. All right, guys, we are going to take a quick break and hear from today's sponsors. Now, shifting gears a little bit into something

a bit more revolting. So hopefully you're not eating lunch or dinner or breakfast or anything that involves up chucking from your stomach because you probably will. But it's very, very disturbing. And this case is coming out of Pennsylvania. So police have arrested two people, a 56-year-old man named John Dehart and a 34-year-old woman named Sarah Miller, and they have both been charged with a multitude of crimes involving sexual assault of a child, torture, and incest. So police became aware of the alleged abuse in December of 2023. This was when a witness in a separate investigation apparently disclosed this information. The DA said that further interviews revealed that the abuse actually occurred when the victim was just four to six years old.

According to the charging documents, in an interview with the police, this victim described an incident where the parents walked into this child's bedroom, and then the child was told to undress and to get into bed with them. The victim was then forced to perform sexual acts. The victim also told police that on multiple occasions, the dad would sexually assault them, saying that if they didn't comply, the child would be, quote, a bad kid and also that the child would end up in the basement. And at times, the victim said that they were actually made to just sit naked in the basement with the lights out for hours. In one instance, the dad reportedly even pointed a small gun at the victim and said,

This is a warning. That's a direct quote, guys. I mean, horrifying, right? The victim also told the police that there were two other victims who were also living in the home at the time that this abuse all occurred. The second victim then spoke out and said that the dad once picked them up and then took them over to the oven as if he was going to like put this victim inside the oven and he apparently at the time when he was like doing this and pretending to put this little kid in the oven he said who wants to be my dinner like it was such a funny or non-creepy thing which no it's only

creepy my friend it is definitely not funny at all. The same second victim also told the police that the dad would occasionally take the first victim away from the others, and then whenever the victim returned, they would be crying. Take a listen. The affidavit narrative ends with a heartbreaking statement after the victim described an assault in the shower. Victim number one stated that Sarah kept explaining

that what was happening in the shower was normal and not to be scared. Victim number one stated that since it was their mother saying these things, they believed her. There's specific charges that DeHart and Miller are facing. DeHart faces 15 charges. Miller's charged with 13. DeHart include two are facing. DeHart faces 15 charges. Miller's charged with 13. DeHart include two counts of rape of a child,

two counts of statutory sexual assault, two counts of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse with a child, two counts of incest, three counts of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age, one count of corruption of minors, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, one count of terroristic threats. According to the additional information that accompanies the statute for rape of a child, the criminal complaint says that the defendant forced victim number one to have intercourse with Sarah Miller.

Another says that DeHart committed statutory sexual assault when he forced victim one to have intercourse with Miller. And according to the statute in that the above named defendant did engage in sexual intercourse with victim number one under the age of 16 years. And that person is 11 or more years older than victim one and victim one and the defendant are not married to each other. DeHart also faces accusations of incest. Quote in the above named defendant knowingly marries, cohabitates with, or has sexual intercourse with victim one who is an ancestor, descendant, brother, sister of the whole or half blood or uncle, aunt, nephew, or niece of the whole blood and is under the age of 13 years. That might've been a little hard to file, but the complaint specifically states that DeHart is the whole blood father to victim

one. Miller is the whole blood mother to victim one. And this happened. And the first, by the way, endangering the welfare of children count comes from the allegations that DeHart locked victim one in the basement for hours, pointed a gun at their head. The second count is the allegations from the other two victims that DeHart had tried to put them in an oven. And the terroristic threat charge comes from the allegation that DeHart pointed a gun at the victim's head and said, this is a warning.

Now, cases like this, guys, just really enrage me and make my stomach turn because not only do you have a sick freak pedophile who is preying on children and just being a complete disgusting foul dirt bag. But you add in the entire secondary layer to this of incest against your own child. So not only is it disgusting because what kind of true monster would do that to any human being, let alone their child, but also what kind of sick freaks get off on that? What kind of sick freaks get off on that what kind of sick freaks get off on children alone I think that is a very huge question that nobody has been able to obviously answer except like psychologists and all that but you get where I'm going but also what kind of disgusting perverted dirtbag gets off on sex with their own child. It truly is revolting. It makes me want to throw up. It makes me want to do ungodly, horrible, vigilante things to these parents, which,

sorry guys, I'm going rogue right now, I know. But like, what on earth is happening? What on earth is happening in the world that we have these kinds of monsters that are parents it is so foul so disgusting it just enrages me it's like the red mist is starting to fall over my body I'm only seeing red and it's so freaking disgusting so hopefully they get locked away in prison for a very long time, never are allowed to be out, never are allowed to see their children ever again. And I'm praying that these kids can heal from all of this trauma and are hopefully in a home where they are now being cared for and truly loved, not sick, perverted, loving things. Ugh, it's so disgusting. Perfect parlay into the next disgusting freak I'm going to talk about, Chad Daybell. Sorry,

guys, you know I hate him. You know I hate him, and I try to be good every single week, but I just, I just really hate him, and the stuff we're talking about that went down this week in trial makes it even more disgusting, just because, as if he wasn't a disgusting enough creep, maybe get a new adjective, Annie. Disgusting, you're overusing. But no, that's what he is. And what we're talking about today with him is equally foul. So the Chad Daybell trial has now entered its sixth week. And the jury heard all about the, quote, sexual and romantic story about James and Elena. Not my words, guys.

This is what they are deeming sexual and romantic. Not me. But this is the story basically where chad references i'm trying not to laugh guys it's where he references his penis being called the storm elena's magic hand has gripped the storm and they stare into each other's eyes barely able to breathe as intense waves wash over them and through the investigation did you learn what storm was a name for it appeared to be a name for chad's penis i mean gag gag gag disgusting how embarrassing though even more than disgusting referring to your penis as the storm how embarrassing for you it gives me the ick it is

like ultimate cringe can you imagine and just close your eyes for a minute guys and sorry you're gonna hate me for this but just close your eyes for a minute I want you to picture Chad Daybell's face okay his like claymation annoying Peter Griffin looking face and I want you to imagine I'm closing my eyes I wish you could see video of this right now guys close your eyes like me and just imagine him walking towards you and telling you in like his gross sexual voice I want to take you with my storm I can't it's like honestly though it's so comical because it is so cringy and not that there is anything comical about this case. I think you have to find the little parts of it where this guy is just so beyond embarrassing.

But like this is what was going down in trial this week. And his expression as all of this was happening on the live stream, it kind of looked like he was smiling. Which I'm not even kidding. So I don't know if he was proud of it or if he thought that like he's has some sort of big dick energy and that like this was a good thing but like chat it is not a good thing you should feel absolutely humiliated and revolted with yourself because it is beyond disgusting during the trial the jury also heard from law enforcement who talked about how Alex Alex Cox Cox, Lori's brother,

his phone pings were connecting him to the last day that JJ and Tylee were seen. And it showed his movements all the way up until his phone showed that he was at Chad Daybell's property. We also heard new jail calls from June 8th. So one day before the children's bodies were discovered in Chad's backyard. And take a listen to this. Oh, that's good. Usually it's hard to get a hold of him. He's busy. Okay. Yes. He was, I asked him what we'd talked about.

He's very optimistic. It was very optimistic for you, or he's very optimistic it could happen. He's very optimistic for both of us. He doesn't know his own project timeline. He said, stick with it. What he projected in that paper he wrote. So some inside sources connected to the case believe that the prosecution is going to be resting very soon. So maybe even by the time you're listening to this episode,

the defense will be starting. I'm definitely going to keep you guys updated here on headline highlights and possibly maybe in a secondary episode for a full recap if like a lot happens in one of these weeks during the trial. So definitely check back here for anything trial related but we still have our correspondent there in the courtroom Lindsay's there watching all of this go down and I can only imagine I need to connect with her after I record this I can only imagine what her reaction was when they started talking about the story of Chad's storm because if she didn't just like disintegrate and evaporate into the air right there,

I mean, bless her heart. All right, guys, so let's get back to this episode. So speaking of trial updates, let's talk about Karen Reed. And I want to pick up from where the last recap left off. As a reminder, Karen Reed is being accused of murdering her Boston police officer boyfriend, leaving him to die in the cold in late January, and she's saying, no, no, no, no, this is all a cover-up. The police are shady.

I dropped him off at the house party of fellow officers. Something happened inside. There was an altercation. They killed him. Now they're framing me. And I gotta say, the evidence on both sides is pretty compelling. I'm very curious about what the jury is gonna decide in this, at least at this moment. So let's pick up from where the last recap left off.

So as a reminder, the house party where everybody was meeting up after the bars that night and where Karen said she dropped John off, it was Brian Albert's house, okay? So Julie Albert, Chris Albert's wife, and Chris is Brian's brother, she said that she didn't go to 34 Fairview that night, the house where the party was happening, because she had a headache. Now, this was in multiple police reports, guys. However, she says that she did bring donuts over there the next morning. But what's very interesting is during cross-examination,

she was asked if the inside of the house looked like it did the night before. And she responded, looked like it did the night before and she responded yes it did. Now the only problem here is that according to her own story she was never there to even see how it looked the night before. Remember she said she went home she had a headache she never was there she showed up in the morning. So it felt as though they were trying to trick her during this line of questioning and that it might have worked unless you believe what some people think that maybe she just slipped up and misspoke but when they basically said okay so when you got there the next morning did the house look the same way it did the night before did it look like anything had been disturbed she's like no it looked the exact same so for her to say yes it looked the

exact same i mean how could she know if it looked the same if she wasn't there right which okay yes like i said maybe she just got tripped up on the stand. I'm sure testifying would be extremely nerve-wracking, absolutely. Or maybe she said yes, but didn't know what it looked like because, like she said, she wasn't there. But it also just doesn't look great because it could lead the jury to wonder, was she lying? Was she lying then? Is she lying now? I don't know. Now, Brian Albert and Nicole Albert, the former homeowners of 34 Fairview Road, where that house party was and where John was found dead, they testified as well. They were asked many questions, as you can imagine, and particularly,

they were asked questions about Chloe, the German Shepherd, aka the family pet of seven years that they ended up getting rid of after John's death. Did John O'Keefe come into your house at 34 Fairview at any time on January 29th, 2022? Absolutely not. I wish he had. You and Nicole and Chloe, the German shepherd, all slept through the entirety of that commotion on your front lawn. Yes. But you took no action to get rid of Chloe until after you knew that serious questions were being raised about John O'Keefe's...

Rejection. Right? Sustain. I don't allow that. Did you realize that? I heard some talk about it, yes. Brian Albert was also asked about his nephew Colin Albert, and he admitted that he

was at his house on the night that John died. But interestingly, Brian Albert didn't initially tell police that Colin Albert was at his house that night, because according to Brian, Colin had left soon after the group came back home. Now, why does this matter? Well, there have been rumblings and rumors that Colin didn't like John, and there has been further speculation that maybe they are the ones who got into a fight. I do want to make it clear that all of this is speculation, and I am in no way saying that Colin Albert was directly involved in any way. But I thought it was worth mentioning because, again, this is what a lot of people are talking about, and this is what a lot of people's argument is in the defense,

and saying that Karen is innocent and that she's being framed. Now, Brian Albert was also asked about why his phone wasn't preserved. But Brian said that he got a new phone, and he upgraded it the day before that court order went out that was ruled for people to preserve their phones. And he said the fact that he turned in the phone just a day before he was told not to destroy it was just a complete coincidence. He was also asked about one thing that was discussed in the full Karen Reid podcast episode,

the butt dialing and the butts answering the phone and what was going on when him and Brian Higgins were calling each other, yet neither one remembered doing so until being told that there were phone records that proved it. And this was a pretty interesting thing. If you haven't listened to that deep dive, you should, because this little claim, in my opinion, made no sense at all about the butt dialing. But anyways, take a listen. You say you inadvertently called him at 2.22 in the morning? Yes. How did you inadvertently call him? Well, I don't know because it was inadvertent.

So I have to explain that. Well, it's kind of like a butt dial. All right. How long have you used an iPhone? A long time. Is it your testimony, let me just ask, is it your testimony that you and your wife were in the middle of some sort of sexual or intimate situation and that's what caused you to butt dial the phone at that time at 2.22 a.m.? Rejection.

The call at 2.22 and 35 seconds appears to be one second in length, and that's from you to him, correct? It says one second. I don't... That would be the call, the initial call from you to him, the one that you claim is a butt dial.

Is that right? Yes. Did that call roll to voicemail when you immediately hung up? No, I don't, I don't, I don't recall if it, I don't, I don't know. So according to you, it was a butt dial that went to his phone and somehow lasted one second. Right. Okay. Then there's a second call. If you look at the second line down, there's a second call at 2 22 and 52 seconds 17 seconds later correct yes that call is actually from brian higgins to you isn't it yes and that call doesn't last one second that call

lasts 22 seconds correct yes obviously you know how long 22 seconds is what's that you know how long 22 seconds is. What's that? You know how long 22 seconds lasts. Yes. So according to your phone records, you placed a call to him, and then 17 seconds later, he returned a call to you that lasted 22 seconds. Correct? That's what the records reflect, yes. When you woke up in the morning, you obviously checked your phone. Did you not?

I don't know if i did if you butt dialed brian higgins and he called you back and you didn't answer you would have a very bright red missed call in your call log correct josh do you know that i don't know that have you ever missed a call on your iPhone before? Yes. And when you go to your call logs, it says missed call in red. And show that that was a missed call. You couldn't do that because you've gotten rid of that phone, correct? Rejection. Julie Nagel, who was also at 34 Fairview Road when Karen also allegedly was dropping John off, she also testified. Now, she had quite an interesting

testimony, mostly because she said some things for the very first time that she has never said before in any report or to any law enforcement officer. And what she said was that she saw a black blob on the road. So I don't know, I feel like things are getting wilder in the Karen Reed trial by the day, because every time it feels like the defense is getting strong or the prosecution is getting strong there's like another argument that's brought in. There's a lot of divide on this case and I understand why. There certainly in my opinion is a reasonable doubt. Do I think Karen did it? I don't know yet. I haven't made my decision but I am curious to know what you guys think and it is definitely a trial to watch. So come back, stay tuned because we will be including updates for that trial

every single week as well. And again, for those of you who are not following this case, you certainly, certainly need to. It is such a rollercoaster of a case that it really is, and I hate this term, I really do, it is a whodunit case because there's a lot of compelling arguments on both sides. So I will link the deep dive episode

in the show notes so that you can get fully caught up as this trial is unfolding other than that guys that is it for this week's episode of headline highlights I hope you found it informative and I will be back on the mic with you first thing Monday morning with a brand new deep dive of a case but if you feel like you still need a little bit added true crime fix I have my ad free bonus episodes every single Friday where you can just get a little bit more content if you feel like you still need a little bit added true crime fix, I have my ad-free bonus episodes every single Friday where you can just get a little bit more content if you feel like you need more true crime going into the weekend. And you can get access to that either through Apple Podcasts or through Patreon, which I will link Patreon in the show notes. But they're all ad-free exclusive bonus episodes. And we have all sorts of bonus stuff over on Patreon. So check it out if you're interested. if not that's totally okay too and i will be back with you monday morning with an all

new case thank you guys so much for tuning in and until the next one stay safe bye you