Serialously with Annie Elise - 174: Aubreigh Wyatt’s TRAGIC Death, Idaho 4 Murder Book, Karen Read Motion for Dismissal & Diddy Grand Jury

Episode Date: July 11, 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. Client Giant For more information, visit https://w...ww.clientgiant.com/makesomeonesday Beam 48 hours only: Get a chance to win a year’s worth of Dream for FREE when you make a purchase at https://shopbeam.com/annieelise and use my code annieelise for up to 40% off. *Must be 18+ and be a US resident to win. Disclaimer: To the fullest extent permitted by law, participants agree that Beam assumes no liability or responsibility for any damages, losses, or injuries resulting from participation in or acceptance of the giveaway. 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: 10toLife@WMEAgency.com  Sources:  Court TV  Biloxi Sun Herald Boston Herald USA Today  KHQ News Aubreigh Wyatt Facebook Group  Audio Credits:  CBS Boston  Court TV 

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey true crime besties, welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistly with Annie Elise, Headline Highlights Edition. We're breaking down everything that's going on in the true crime world this week, and not just the breaking cases and the case updates, but we're actually going to be doing a mini deep dive into a case on here as well. And the reason why is so many of you not only have been requesting this, but it is now going viral on TikTok because the mother in this case is essentially being silenced. And so, so many people are calling to different creators, different podcasters, asking them to help be the voice, get this story heard, have people hear it.
Starting point is 00:01:02 And if you know what I'm talking about, you know that I'm talking about Aubrey Wyatt. Now, if you've never heard that name and you haven't heard that case, let me just give you a little bit of a trigger warning. You're probably going to become enraged. It is one of the more heartbreaking cases I think that I've ever been asked to cover because it is just so cruel and so senseless. So I felt like it was important that we jump on here, we break it down. I probably am also going to extract this portion and put it on my YouTube channel, Tend to Life as well, just so that it has even more visibility,
Starting point is 00:01:35 because I really do believe that her story needs to be told and needs to be heard. So we're gonna get into all of that in a minute, but first, we're gonna talk a little bit about Soraya Ong Harmon. Now, we have some good news that we're going to get into all of that in a minute, but first we're going to talk a little bit about Soraya Ong Harmon. Now we have some good news that we're starting with. You may have heard us talk about this case a few weeks back. It was a custodial interference case.
Starting point is 00:01:53 It was a lot of he said, she said, but basically the father and his fiance fled internationally to Mexico with this young girl. So Soraya has been safely located, and she is now back on U.S. soil. So for a quick recap for those of you who are new to this case, back on June 3rd, two-year-old Soraya was not returned to her mother in Pullman, Washington after a scheduled custody visit with her father. His name is Aaron. A couple days prior to that, Aaron's fiancee Nadia was supposed to go on a trip with her family to Italy. But before she even boarded the plane, she said that she had to go to the bathroom. She ended up leaving the airport, leaving all of her stuff at the gate, and then her family reported her as missing. Now, after Aaron didn't return Soraya, police announced that they had a warrant for his arrest
Starting point is 00:02:36 for custodial interference. Then they said that they thought that Nadia, Aaron, and Soraya were all three together and headed to Mexico. So the FBI got involved and it became an international manhunt. During this, parents were speaking out on behalf of the biological father, saying that the mother was unfit and he was left with no choice but to take her and get her away, get his daughter away from the mother. Yet the mother was doing interviews and speaking out saying she was just pleading for her daughter's safe return. We don't really know what the truth of the matter is in the situation, but we do know that finally this week, police said that all three of them were found in Santa Ana, Mexico at a checkpoint. They were then handed over to the
Starting point is 00:03:15 U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and they were all separated. Aaron, the dad, is now being held in the Santa Cruz County Detention Center in Arizona while he awaits extradition back to Washington. And Nadia, the fiance he awaits extradition back to Washington, and Nadia, the fiancé, was deported back to the U.S. and she has now been reunited with her parents. As for little two-year-old Soraya, authorities said that she was in the custody of Arizona Child Protective Services. However, a family member did post photos and videos of Soraya on social media and says that she has since been reunited with her mother. Nadia's parents released a statement that she's the fiancé, remember, and said that she has since been reunited with her mother. Nadia's parents released a statement that she's the fiancee, remember, and said that she was found on July 4th and then
Starting point is 00:03:49 voluntarily went back to her parents and that she actually too is recovering from her entire ordeal. They said she's at a secure private location, just kind of getting back to reality. They also said that the details of the circumstances that led to her disappearance along with little Soraya remain part of an ongoing investigation. They said that they trust that more information will be released as deemed appropriate by the investigating agencies, and hopefully that information comes to light. But as I said, it is a lot of he said, she said. If, in fact, it is a danger that Soraya is back with her mom, I think that that is something to consider. But again, I want to be very, very, very clear. There is no evidence or proof indicating that. That's just what the
Starting point is 00:04:30 biological father is saying and what his family is saying. Meanwhile, the biological mother is obviously pointing the finger at him saying, no, he's a danger. So I think while the truth is yet to be known, all we can do is hope and pray that Soraya is in safe hands and being loved and cared for properly, and that hopefully whatever the truth is in this circumstance, it comes to light and the right people are held accountable so that her well-being is, you know, of course, first and foremost taken care of. Speaking of well-being and getting a predator off the streets, not that we are speaking of predators, but we are going to speak about a predator right now, a new civil lawsuit has been filed against Diddy, also known as Sean Combs, also known as Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, also known as Creepo Predator, also known as Cassie,
Starting point is 00:05:15 Abuser and Annihilator, all the things. Now, this lawsuit, which was filed on July 3rd by Adria English, is just one other one of Diddy's mounting lawsuits. Other defendants named include multiple businesses that were owned by Diddy, that were owned by Vi Magazine, Tomiko Thomas, and so many more. Now this suit claims that Adria worked at Diddy's quote white parties in both the Hamptons and in Miami, that she worked these parties from 2004 to 2009. If you're unfamiliar with the white parties, he was notorious for having these mega blowout ragers, and you had to wear all white head to toe. Sometimes they'd be on a yacht, they'd be in a mansion,
Starting point is 00:05:53 they'd of course be at these like mega mansions in the Hamptons, and it was really the who's who would be there. Celebrities, influencers, you know, moguls, all sorts of things. So she was working these parties from 2004 to 2009, and she says that she was, quote, used as a sexual pawn for the pleasure and benefit of others. So apparently, she started working at these parties after she joined her boyfriend at an audition to model for one of Diddy's clothing lines, Sean John Clothing. At that audition, there was some sort of deal that was struck, A deal that made it to where if her boyfriend was cast as a model, she would agree to work at these white parties. Allegedly, Adria was
Starting point is 00:06:29 instructed by Diddy and Tomiko on which bottles of alcohol and champagne all female employees were to exclusively drink from, and they also required her to take narcotics that were offered to her by the guests at these parties. According to the suit, Diddy laced the liquor with ecstasy, which is why she was forced to drink from these specific bottles. They would allegedly say, you can't drink from any of these other bottles. None of the employees can that are females. You only can exclusively drink from these bottles. And according to her, that's because they were laced with ecstasy. She goes on to say that, of course, she had to take those narcotics that were offered her by the guests at the party as to not refuse them or insult them, and she further claims that she was forced
Starting point is 00:07:08 to engage in sex work and even prostitution while she was at these white parties. She included that she had to do it with somebody named Jacob Erebov, who is a celebrity jeweler. He's also named as a defendant in the suit, and the lawsuit states that she is seeking unspecified damages after suffering severe emotional distress because of all of this. Vibe magazine and a media company are also included as defendants in this suit because allegedly they provided financial support and marketed these parties. In 2006, there was a photo of Adria that was put into Vibe magazine and it showed her as a guest at this party. The suit alleges that they did that intentionally to quote further conceal the
Starting point is 00:07:44 true intentions of the event and the plaintiff employment role at the event, all in an effort to further the goals of the defendant's illegal and criminal enterprise. In response to her lawsuit, Diddy's lawyer saying, no matter how many lawsuits are filed, it will not change the fact that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted or sex trafficked anyone. We live in a world where anybody can file a lawsuit for any reason without any proof. Fortunately, a fair and impartial judicial process exists to find the truth, and Mr. Combs is confident that he will prevail against these and other baseless claims in court. Now on top of all of that, there's even bigger news with Diddy going down. It's been reported that his attorneys were notified that he's the subject of a federal criminal investigation
Starting point is 00:08:24 now as well. Apparently, a grand jury has been meeting in the Southern District of New York, but the two sources who came forward about this investigation say that there is no indication that charges are impending. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens with that. But they say that Diddy has not received a target letter, which would basically say that the prosecutors are trying to seek an indictment. However, New York is not required to send any target letters. So really, nobody knows for sure what is to come and only time will tell. But my guess is that if this grand jury has been meeting, it is likely that an indictment is on the horizon given everything that has already happened with his houses being raided, all the other lawsuits. We, of course, all saw that footage
Starting point is 00:09:05 with Cassie, that horrifying footage in that hotel. So we'll see what happens. Unfortunately, sometimes even when celebrities are caught in the act of doing some pretty nefarious and sinister things, money talks and people get quiet, people settle out of court, things happen. Hopefully that doesn't happen this time. But I do think we're now entering an era, and we have been for the last few years, but I think it's at a turning point now where people in power are finally being held accountable. Not necessarily because people want to make an example out of them, but because it kind of is like Time's Up for you. And I don't mean the Time's Up reference, the Me Too movement, but it's kind of like people are over all of these celebrities, people in power, influencers, like having truly the power to do some fucking disgusting things, to take advantage of people, to exploit people.
Starting point is 00:09:56 And it's good that now finally people are standing up and not only feeling more comfortable vocalizing if things have happened to themselves, although there's, of course, a plethora of people who are not confident yet enough to speak up in certain cases, but it's also nice that people aren't scared in the legal field to actually go after and prosecute these people. I think it's about time that people are held accountable for their actions. So we'll see what happens with Diddy, but we know that there's obviously a laundry list of other people who are currently under scrutiny and under the microscope, and we'll see. Hopefully this kind of course corrects people's behavior and people start to think twice about doing disgusting things. Speaking of doing disgusting things, that's not, actually that's not the segue I want, but I don't know how else to go
Starting point is 00:10:41 into this next case because we got to talk about Gypsy Rose. I didn't think that I was going to be talking about Gypsy Rose for ever, actually. I never thought I was going to be talking about her again, but here I am on the mic talking about her. So on Tuesday, Gypsy Rose announced that she is pregnant. She is having a baby with her boyfriend, Ken Urker. Ken and Gypsy were previously engaged back in 2018 while Gypsy was still in prison, but then they ended their relationship. And once they ended it, eventually Gypsy ended up marrying a man named Ryan. And after her release, it wasn't too long
Starting point is 00:11:16 before they separated and filed for divorce. After the separation, Gypsy and Ken rekindled things and they started rebuilding their relationship and now she's pregnant. Now the divorce she was in has been pretty rocky and there's been a lot a lot a lot of shade thrown back and forth via social media primarily on TikTok but a lot of shade between her ex Ryan Gypsy and now her new rekindled boyfriend fiance husband guy Ken and it's kind of been a lot of back and forth over the last month. It's been a little bit of a mess to say the least. They're all claiming all different things. They're throwing allegations back and forth, but it's all in the public eye, which, okay, if you want to air all your dirty laundry, do you. Who am I to judge? But it does feel a little bit petty.
Starting point is 00:11:59 But now Gypsy's pregnant. And in a nine minute video, she announced her pregnancy. She talked about how excited she is for her her pregnancy. She talked about how excited she is for her new baby. She mentioned wanting to be everything that her mother wasn't, because as I'm sure you know, her mother had Munchausen's by proxy. She made Gypsy incredibly sick, ill, disabled, all different things while she was growing up, which then of course resulted in Gypsy plotting her murder. And we'll see. Hopefully this go around is better for Gypsy. Hopefully she's able to harness all of the love and care that she didn't receive as a child. And she's able to put that to good use to her own child. And I would imagine I'm going to call it
Starting point is 00:12:38 here and I'm going to say it here first. There will be a reality show. It hasn't been announced, but I'm calling it, guys. There is going to be something, and let's see, what would the title be? Like Growing Up Gypsy or Growing Gypsy or I don't know, something like that. But I'm guessing there will be some sort of documentary or reality show, probably on Oxygen, maybe A&E, where it documents her whole pregnancy,
Starting point is 00:13:00 the delivery, I would guess there's gonna be cameras in the hospital room when she delivers, and then showing her parenting journey. And if there isn't something in the works already, but you're an executive at a production company listening, you're welcome. No, I'm serious. I'm just calling it. I think that's definitely going to go down. Speaking of people exploiting cases, that is actually the perfect segue for this next case. It's not a production company that's exploiting this case, but it's an author. Because recently a new book has been published, and it's all about the Idaho Four murders. This book was written by Howard Blum, who worked as a
Starting point is 00:13:35 contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Over the years, he's written about 16 books, but his latest one is called When the Night Comes Falling, A Requiem for the Idaho Student Murders. Now, before I go into what this book is outlining, I do want to mention he did an article about the murders, probably, gosh, when was it? The murders took place in November. I believe the article came out maybe the following January, and in it, he was claiming to have a lot of insider knowledge about how the blood smelled in the house when the police first got there, certain details about the 911 call. Come to find out, he's not the most reliable, and he kind of got a lot of crap for those articles that he had published, but now he's published a book, and everybody's talking about this book. It is like making its way through the media circuit.
Starting point is 00:14:20 And in this book, Howard lays out the quote timeline of the murders. He claims that Maddie Mogan was in fact the target and that she was the one killed first. I don't know if that's true or not. I have been saying from the beginning that I do believe Maddie was the target. I believe he went in there to kill Maddie. This is just my opinion, guys, that he didn't know Kaylee was going to be there and spending the night. He had no choice but to kill Kaylee as well because she was sharing a room with Maddie. Then when he was exiting to leave, Zanna came out of her bedroom. He had no choice but to kill her. Then he, of course, killed Ethan by extension. Then he was so exhausted from doing a quadruple murder, which was not planned for and takes an incredible amount of strength,
Starting point is 00:15:00 that he just walked by the surviving roommate Dylan in a daze, beelined it out the sliding door, and left. Again, that is not any concrete proof. That is just what I've been saying from the beginning and what my views are on it. And just based on the timeline, the details we do know, and we'll find out when the trial comes what they put forward. But anyway, he talks about how Maddie was the target and how she was killed first.
Starting point is 00:15:24 And he also talks about how Brian's dad became increasingly suspicious of Brian, and even claims that Brian's sister confronted her dad about her concerns of Brian being involved. But like I said, there's been a lot of backlash on this book, and Howard claims that he got all of this information from reliable sources. And he says that it was because he was, quote, on the scene early before the gag orders were put in place. And when he did that, he established these relationships with credible sources, reliable sources. And that's how he has all of these details.
Starting point is 00:15:52 He says then he used all of that information that he has gained over time to write his book and to come up with his timeline. Take a listen. So in the book, you write that you believe that one of the roommates was the target. Talk to us about that, please. Sure. First, we should state for the record that the prosecution and the defense have stated categorically that there was no interaction between the suspect, Brian Kohlberger, and any of the victims, either in person or on social media.
Starting point is 00:16:27 That's what they say to the record. I think the reality is a little subtler. On the night of the murders, the suspect enters through the kitchen door on the second floor of the house. There are two bedrooms on either side. He could have gone into either of those bedrooms if he was just on a murder spree. However, he goes up the stairs to the third floor and enters the bedroom of Maddie Mogan. He finds in that bedroom, Kaylee is there too. She's just come in for the weekend to show off her new car. I believe he didn't expect to see her there. He is obsessed, I believe, believe with maddie did he ever speak
Starting point is 00:17:08 with her did he meet her when she was a waitress at the mad greek restaurant where he went to at times because of the vegetarian or vegan food there i think that's what happened he we saw her he was a man who obsessions come easy easily to him he was a heroin addict uh he's a man who obsessions come easily to him. He was a heroin addict. He's a man who decided to reinvent himself. He lost 125 pounds, turned his body into a fortress. But whatever reason about Maddie is, you show her picture there, her exuberance, her blonde good looks, her vivaciousness, she captivated him. And I think he felt ultimately that the world was just too an impossible place
Starting point is 00:17:47 for him to exist where there were such people in it and he was not part of what was happening. There've been many police body cam videos showing of the parties that the young students gave. And I think he witnessed those events from the outside he was on the periphery of those events and that was a constant rebuke to him and he focused on maddie and everyone else and that grim horrible night was really just collateral damage wow is it interesting theory howard it really is uh and who knows? Maybe at the time of trial, we'll see the prosecution lay out something similar. Perhaps there was one intended target and then things spun out of control. If Brian Koberger is the killer, obviously cloaked in the presumption of innocence legally.
Starting point is 00:18:38 Tell me, Howard, how much of your book is fact? How much of it is fiction? All of the book is fact. At several points in the book, I theorize about what people are saying or thinking. But the basic elements, the police procedurals, how the killer is caught, the background of the young students. And I also want to say the subtitle of the book is A Requiem for the Idaho Student Murders. And this book is meant to show these young students' lives, to show what they might have been. I want it to be a poignant and affecting portrait, as well as a suspenseful drama. But the truth of the matter is, the book is full of complete speculation. Law enforcement has not said that Maddie was a target, nor have they released a full timeline of who was killed in what order. Howard opened his book up by writing from
Starting point is 00:19:35 Brian's dad's perspective, and also wrote about how the murders changed the victim's families forever, which obviously would change their families forever, right? However, he has openly admitted that he has not spoken with any of the families. Not to mention, there hasn't even been a trial yet to go over all of the facts in this case, so essentially, many people believe that this book is all fiction, including Maddie's own family. Maddie's family released a statement saying, Mr. Blum's book, in our opinion, is fiction. We have never spoken with him about the contents of his book. As a seasoned writer, he has learned to write in a way that as long as he claims his information came from a source, he is protected. But all this book does is tell a story, a version made up by him relying on sources that have no responsibility or duty to speak the
Starting point is 00:20:21 truth. And I just have to say, I get it. A lot of people are talking about this case. A lot of people are fascinated by this case. They want to know the truth. They want to know the who, the what, the where, the why, everything. Because when massacres and horrific, horrific murders like this take place, people are trying to make sense of it. And the only way to make sense of it is to know every single detail possible, to try to put it together. So everybody's doing that. Everybody's guilty. Creators, myself, Nancy Grace, outlets, everybody's guilty of it. But to publish a book that is not only portrayed from a point of view of Brian's dad opening the book up, but then to go into such great detail and harness it as fact, it feels not only reckless, but highly, highly insensitive to the families to the victim's
Starting point is 00:21:05 families that he claims to know so much about yet has never even spoken with so i don't know i don't know there's a lot of different thoughts on this i'm curious to know what you guys think and not to mention there's still so many people who don't even think that brian's guilty so i guess we'll just have to kind of wait and see speaking of of not guilty, man, these segues are getting good, guys. Speaking of not guilty, or mistrial, I should say, we're going to talk about Karen Reid for a second. Because on Monday of this week, Karen Reid's defense team filed a motion for dismissal on two out of the three initial charges. The three initial charges were one, second-degree murder, two, manslaughter while operating a vehicle while under the influence, and three, leaving the scene of an accident with injury or death.
Starting point is 00:21:48 This dismissal comes after the mistrial announcement that was on July 1st, and the defense is seeking dismissal on the charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of an accident with injury or death. In the motion, Karen's attorney, Alan Jackson, says that the jurors started reaching out immediately after the trial. The first juror apparently spoke directly to defense and said that the second-degree murder was never even on the table. Basically, they had decided 12 to 0 that she was not guilty of second-degree murder, and also leaving the scene of an accident causing injury or death. The juror
Starting point is 00:22:20 said that they were hung on count two. The other two jurors mentioned in the motion did not speak directly with the defense. Those jurors had reached out to people that they knew who each told a different person, and then those two reached out to Karen's other attorney, David. The consensus on that one was that once again, counts one and three were never even on the table, but that they were hung on count two. More specifically, one of the people who went to her other attorney had a screenshot of a text thread in which one juror, referred to as Juror B, said it was not guilty on second degree and it was split in half for the second charge, which was manslaughter. Juror B said that when the judge sent them back with the instruction, the Tui Hernandez instruction, it turned into an
Starting point is 00:23:04 all-out bully match. The third juror didn't have anything in writing, but allegedly held a Zoom meeting with friends where they shared that there was no consideration for second-degree murder and that they were initially 6-6 on the manslaughter charge, but then they ended at a deadlock of 4-0 and 8-yes. Now, the big problem in all of this is that the judge never pulled the jury to see what the true results were, which I've heard that Massachusetts isn't a polling state, and that could be why. The defense claims that they were never even given the opportunity to request polling, but because the judge basically read the letter calling the mistrial and that was
Starting point is 00:23:41 that. But there could have been a split verdict. And if what her attorneys claim the jurors are saying is true, then she would have been acquitted on those two charges and she couldn't be tried again on those two charges based on the double jeopardy law. Now, after Karen's team filed the motion for dismissal, the judge ordered that the list of jurors will be impounded for 10 days, if not extended. And basically in her filing, she was just saying that the list should not be made public at this time, that it puts things at risk, so they're locking it down. So, 10 days, maybe it'll be extended. However, then on Wednesday morning, the defense attorney, Allen, filed another affidavit saying that a fourth juror came forward on Monday.
Starting point is 00:24:18 They also were stating that they were all in agreements on count one and three. That juror said that they had actually discussed telling the judge about it, but they weren't sure if they were allowed to because they believed that they had to come to a resolution on all of the counts before they could or should report any verdicts on any of the counts. When asked if the other jurors would agree
Starting point is 00:24:38 with the not guilty verdicts, the juror told Allen, every one of us will agree and acknowledge that we found her not guilty of counts one and three, because that is what happened. So it's honestly very up in the air at this point as to what's going to happen next. Will the jury end up being brought back in and be pulled? Will those two charges be dismissed? I mean, it's all just a waiting game now to see what happens. But in other news, on Monday, Trooper Proctor was suspended without pay. And on the same day that the mistrial happened, he was relieved of duty with the Massachusetts State Police. At that time, they transferred him to a field services division in South Boston,
Starting point is 00:25:13 but on Monday, he had a hearing where he was suspended without pay. An internals affairs investigation is still happening in regards to his conduct, and once it's done, there will be a report which rules each allegation of his misconduct, either unfounded, exonerated, not sustained or sustained. That report will have a lot of weight in terms of what happens next with his career as well. So it's definitely going to be interesting to see how it all plays out. Then in a bombshell Canton select board meeting on Tuesday night, it was announced that Kevin Albert has also been placed on paid administrative leave following Trooper Proctor's testimony. Officer Kevin Albert is the brother of the owner of the home where John O'Keefe was found dead. The Canton police chief says that Albert was
Starting point is 00:25:57 put on leave related to the testimony of Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator during the Reid case. Interestingly, Albert was put on leave back on June 13th, but it only came to light tonight. And then Chris Albert, who was Brian and Kevin's other brother, and he's also a selectman on the board, he gave a public apology. And then a public apology from another Albert brother, Chris. He's a select board member and a witness in the retrial who had recent verbal arguments with people. Despite the tremendous harassment, stress and anxiety that my family
Starting point is 00:26:32 extended family and I have been subjected to over the past 16 months, my interactions were inappropriate and as an elected official I am held to a higher standard. Meanwhile, the State Police Union is defending Proctor, saying in a statement in part, the decision to suspend him without pay
Starting point is 00:26:50 pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor's punishment to his young family. His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. So like I said, it's just nice that people are finally being held accountable in anything, really in any case, in any circumstance. But I'm glad that these people who, in my opinion, handle this investigation so poorly, I'm glad they're being held accountable and called out and punished and reprimanded. if Karen gets retried and retried for all the charges or maybe just retried for manslaughter. I wonder what's going to happen. The hearing is set for the end of this month, so we'll see what
Starting point is 00:27:29 the state decides to do, but I wouldn't be surprised if they only charge on the manslaughter charge because they don't want to lose the other charges and have that as a not guilty verdict. I don't know. I think their ego is getting ahead of them, which tell me what you think, but we'll see what happens. So guys, we're going to get into the Aubrey Wyatt case in just one second here. But before we do, we are going to have a quick word from today's sponsor. So now let's move into Aubrey Wyatt. As I mentioned at the top of this episode, over the past couple of weeks, I have been flooded with requests to cover this story. It's been hard to separate facts and not facts in this. So I'm going to separate facts and not facts in this, so I'm going to be wording everything very, very carefully just so that you can tell the difference,
Starting point is 00:28:09 so I apologize if I get redundant with the allegedlys and all of those things. On September 4th, 2023, a 13-year-old little girl named Aubrey Wyatt took her own life. This was after her mother says that she was relentlessly bullied. Aubrey lived in Ocean Springs, Mississippi with her mom, Heather, who was a local elementary school teacher. She also lived with her older sister, Taylor, and her little brother, Riker. She attended the local public school in the area, specifically Ocean Springs Middle School. Now, shortly after Aubrey's death, her mom began posting her story on TikTok. She did this as a way to spread awareness about suicidal tendencies, about mental health, about bullying, just really trying to generate awareness after her daughter's
Starting point is 00:28:51 horrific, horrific, tragic death. Now, as Aubrey's mom has shared her story, it has resonated with a lot of people, and she quickly amassed tons of followers. She has openly shared the emotions that she has dealt with as a grieving parent, the struggles that she has faced, and through that, she included the heartbreak of believing that Aubrey had not left any letters behind, only recently finding letters that Aubrey had written. She found them while she was packing to move. After she found those letters, she posted the most gut-wrenching video, which showed her finding out that these envelopes that she found were in fact letters that Aubrey had left. Take a listen. Please, no. No. Oh my god! As she continued to share and create conversation, other people have also started sharing their own stories of being bullied or having thoughts of taking their own lives.
Starting point is 00:29:49 I have even seen some people say that after seeing Heather openly grieve, it made them rethink the decision of taking their own life so that their moms and their loved ones don't experience the same pain that Heather experienced. But recently, Heather was ordered by a judge to temporarily shut down all of her social media accounts. This came after the parents of the four alleged bullies filed a lawsuit against her on behalf of their children. This lawsuit accuses her of acting with malice to commit slander, defamation, and negligence against the girls. Heather spoke openly on TikTok all about the bullying that Aubrey experienced from fifth grade until she was in eighth grade and took her own life. But as open as Heather was about all of this, she never actually outright shared the four girls' names herself. Other kids
Starting point is 00:30:36 and people who knew Aubrey, who loved Aubrey and wanted justice for Aubrey, they have shared those names. They've been very open in sharing all of it. So people are rightfully angry about all of this, especially since Heather wasn't just a bystander who was watching her child be bullied. She consistently followed up with the school. She did everything that she felt that she could to get it to stop, but it never did. It happened at school, it happened on social media, outside of school, and it even went so far that Aubrey was apparently slapped by a girl named Molly, who people are claiming was her main bully. She was also sexually assaulted by a boy on school grounds. When Aubrey was in seventh grade, at the end of seventh grade, she was essayed by a student on school grounds. And yes, I emailed. Yes yes i filed a report yes i did all the things and the audacity
Starting point is 00:31:31 of an assistant principal to call my child in after i told him not to not to question my child who had just been violated and have to answer to a man he did it anyway whole different story anyway so we were ready to move forward and then at some point my child was so intimidated and he essentially told us that we were gonna have to go in front of the whole school board Aubrey was gonna have to retell her story tons and tons and tons of time mind you this is a 12 year old and she was so intimidated and scared. She begged me to stop because she was so like being bullied at school now because people had things up that were like team Aubrey, team this, like, who do you believe? It was absolutely disgusting.
Starting point is 00:32:17 And did the school do anything? No. Then because of this, she started getting called inappropriate disgusting vile names because a boy did what he did and his parents had the audacity to defend him whatever i don't care on that part um so we were essentially bullied into and i mind you, I'm in the district working. So I'm scared for my job. My child's scared for her reputation.
Starting point is 00:32:50 We don't know what's right, what's wrong. We're assuming because this is on school grounds, the school has to take care of it. All that to say, I'm going to summarize this. There's lots. Maybe I'll do another one on that whole story time later. Okay. So we drop it. A message, per our racial request, hindsight, should I have done it?
Starting point is 00:33:09 No. And I'm just like, thank you for your support, even though it wasn't support. And you know what? We're just going to let this go. That was seventh grade. Like March of seventh grade. Oh, here comes first day of eighth grade and mind you wait and i got the emails back this i let that man principal know that he that other child
Starting point is 00:33:35 cannot be anywhere near my child no lunch no class no reason nothing her first day of eighth grade she walks in who's in her class him she's so hysterical she runs to the bathroom distraught i just take a moment to compose myself distraught calls me hysterical having a panic attack i immediately get off the phone with her and i call the school. I'm at work, call the school, irate, flipping out. I'm like, go get my child out the bathroom who's having a panic attack, but also like fix this. Like, how do you mess this up? Now there have been texts shared that are allegedly between Aubrey and her mom. Now I say allegedly because since Heather was forced to take down her social media, I can't 100% verify
Starting point is 00:34:24 that they came from her. However, they have been circling around since at least April, and some of them have been reposted by her friends who are still on social media. But in these texts, which were dated back to 2020 with timestamps, Aubrey would update her mom on what was happening all throughout her school days. I'm going to go back and read a couple for you. So in October of 2020, a text from Aubrey said, please check me out today. It's so bad. She went on to say that Molly is so bad and so mean and that she was super upset. In May of 2021, she sent another text saying, Molly is being so mean. Heather told her to tell the teacher, and Aubrey responded, they don't care. She is evil.
Starting point is 00:35:06 In November of 2022, Aubrey says, bro, Molly is being so rude right now. Heather responds with, what is she doing? And Aubrey says, she's just rude and that she's mad at her for no reason, and that it's annoying. She later texts her mom again saying, sorry for the word, but Molly is being such a B. She literally talks shit about me to everyone, in all caps. Then things seemed to escalate in March of 2023, when Aubrey apparently texted her mom saying, Molly slapped me across the face.
Starting point is 00:35:39 Heather said, on purpose or on accident? And Aubrey responded, on purpose. Heather tells her to go tell the teacher immediately, and Aubrey said that she was in the counselor's office and that they were getting all of her stuff. Heather asked what was going to happen to Molly and why she did it. Aubrey says she has no idea, and that Molly did it because she said she hated somebody as a joke. Then she proceeded to send her mom a photo of her face. There's another screenshot, which I believe is from the same incident, where Heather says,
Starting point is 00:36:08 Tell the counselor that I want the principal to call me. There's a Snapchat conversation that appears to possibly be between Molly and Aubrey about the incident, although the name was blacked out. But in it, the person believed to be Molly says that she got in trouble and says, Why do you cry? I barely hit you. And Aubrey says, name, you slapped me hard. You might not have realized it, but you did. Now, there were other texts that weren't timestamped, but included the other girls in it. One said, I'm so over it. Ava and Peyton talk crap about me 24-7. I don't even talk to them.
Starting point is 00:36:43 I hear them all the time talking about me and pointing at me at lunch. They have no room to talk and that's all they do. I'm truly over it. Then there are messages that allegedly are between the girls and Aubrey. In one, it shows a girl named Parker saying, I do talk crap about you. And Aubrey responds saying, I know you do. Followed by, you talk crap about everyone. Parker responds, yeah, and? Aubrey says, you don't know how to treat anyone. And Parker says, bitch, yes I can. Then there's another screenshot which appears to be a conversation with Ava. Aubrey says, keep my name out of your mouth. Ava responds, I'm good, That's embarrassing for you. Aubrey says, you have no room to talk.
Starting point is 00:37:26 And Ava responds, I'll talk about you all I want. You ain't shit, babe. Now I went back through the guest book from Aubrey's obituary, and there's a post from the day after Aubrey's death from what appears to be Parker. And it says, I remember me, you, and Kylie hung out, and then we found kitties right outside of your house. We told your mom and we brought them inside and we named them Then, there's a second post a couple of days later by what appears to be Peyton's dad, which says, Jesus has you now. So many trips on our boat, spending the nights here and Peyton at your house. I've watched you grow into such a beautiful person. Jesus has you now. Heather, my heart pours out peace and love for you all. This breaks my heart.
Starting point is 00:38:19 Now, in a very disturbing detail, according to Aubrey's uncle, after Aubrey passed away, one of the girls posted a picture of a doll with a noose around its neck. That alleged picture has been circulating social media, and you can see a doll with red all over it, and it appears to be hanging. Now, it's wildly believed that the photo was taken in Molly's room because people have matched her door and a dreamcatcher that was in the photo to a photo that she apparently has posted previously of herself. But others have said that this doll photo was taken a couple of months before Aubrey died. Regardless, it is a disturbing, disturbing, disturbing photo. So now really, the question in all of this is why is the lawsuit there if there's all this evidence, and what are they seeking out of it? The local Sun-Herald newspaper posted about the documents
Starting point is 00:39:02 and said that the lawsuit states that the parents are seeking unspecified damages to compensate them for the girls' therapy and for any other medical bills that are caused by the emotional distress that they're suffering, as well as punitive damages and attorney's fees. It also says, quote, the minor children have been receiving insulting and revolting messages from around the world attacking them, calling them vulgar names, sexualizing them, etc. And they've had to live in fear every day that something may happen to them, any of them, their family, or their friends. The lawsuit also addresses a photo, which I believe they're speaking about the doll photo, saying that Heather knew or should have known that the picture was
Starting point is 00:39:40 taken months before Aubrey died without any intention of mocking her. The Sun-Herald also wrote that the lawsuit says, Investigators with the Ocean Spring Police Department and Jackson County Youth Court have investigated Wyatt's claims that her daughter was bullied to death, but found the allegations unsubstantiated. And apparently when those claims were unsubstantiated is when Heather said that she would post the evidence and started sharing more proof about what happened, but now she's been silenced and she's on the gag order. The current court filing actually ended up being sealed, but the order for Heather to take down her social media was leaked. Heather is due back in court on July 18th to review the emergency order for
Starting point is 00:40:19 social media. It's going to be decided then if she can get back on social media or not. The Sun Herald also reported that there is a second lawsuit that has been filed by the parents media. It's going to be decided then if she can get back on social media or not. The Sun-Herald also reported that there is a second lawsuit that has been filed by the parents accusing Heather of slander. I've inquired about the second lawsuit, but have not received confirmation yet. So while Heather is unable to speak, the public has now decided to be her voice. They've continued to share Aubrey's story over the last week and also share some concerning facts that may have contributed to the bullying continuing. See, Molly's dad is a local assistant superintendent for the Jackson County School District, and there have been petitions now created for him to be fired,
Starting point is 00:40:56 because many people believe that him being a superintendent is why the girls haven't really been disciplined for their behavior. There have also been claims that Molly's aunt or close family friend is the local DA. However, I want to be clear, I haven't been able to confirm that, so I can't say whether or not that is a fact or not. But some people believe that if it is true, that that is helping the parents in the lawsuit. Now, in the same post where Aubrey's uncle talked about this doll incident, he said that the girls were sent to alternative school for 45 days. I haven't seen that shared anywhere else, but if the bullying truly was so bad that it led to Aubrey's death, it shouldn't have gotten to the point of a death needing to happen for the school to do something about it. And 45 days really is not much in the grand scheme of things,
Starting point is 00:41:40 if that is really all that they received. There is also a video that has gone around that was from Molly's brother's Instagram where he directly addressed Aubrey's death. Take a listen. Molly and her friends killed Aubrey White. We don't want to speak on that. Damn, why y'all tripping like that, bro? We just want to chill. So like I said earlier, people are angry about this. They want justice for Aubrey, this little girl who was allegedly bullied by four other girls, bullied to where she felt like she had no other course of action but to take her own life. There's a GoFundMe that has now skyrocketed this week. It's raised nearly $100,000 for legal fees.
Starting point is 00:42:24 And Aubrey's mom, Heather, posted an update on it this week, as it's the only platform that she's currently allowed to speak on. In this update, she said, You guys have truly blessed our family. The love, the support, the overwhelming amount of people backing us, screaming for justice. For Aubrey and for me. As this week approaches, please continue to share.
Starting point is 00:42:43 Please continue to support. This week may provide some updates as well. In addition to the donations, please reach out to the governor or to any official that you may think can help in this situation. Please make the calls, write letters, reach whoever you can to make this right. If you are an attorney or you know an attorney that would like to help or add support, please reach out to me. I have new representation now, thankfully. Any additional support or advice, especially pertaining to constitutional law or civil rights, would be amazing. We love you guys so much.
Starting point is 00:43:22 And just know, my baby girl would be ecstatic to see how many people love her, how many people are fighting for her. I am honored to be able to share my baby girl with so many amazing people. Aubrey's army, or mob as some call it, have been such a light in this dark time. We love all of you. So hopefully if all of this is true, there will be justice for Aubrey, coming very, very soon. But keep in mind, while people are posting and wanting justice, there also have been some pretty hateful things being posted in regards to the other girls, as well as many different fake accounts popping up claiming to be those four girls, which is only adding fuel to the fire. Myself and Aubrey's family does not condone the bullying of these other four girls,
Starting point is 00:43:58 and we want people and they want people to respectfully fight for justice. Please, please be kind. Justice is good. Raising awareness is great, but do it in the right way. Aubrey's best friend Bailey even posted a video about it, and I think that she is saying it exactly right. Take a listen. Yes, I do not like Molly. We are not friends. This is not like me defending her anyway. This is just what I believe in and i what i think everybody should believe in and i'm not saying that you should but i'm just saying like yeah first off we were trying to prevent bullying yes she did some things that were wrong yes all of
Starting point is 00:44:37 those four girls did but us doing the same thing back isn't going to fix anything and it's not going to bring Aubrey back. Stop putting death threats on the people that bullied her. This is my best friend. This is not what she would want. In the most respectful way, Aubrey would not want us to go around and death threat people whenever this is what was happening to her. But this is what was happening to her but this is worse um yes a lot of things that aubrey went through were very bad everybody knows this and yes we can spread awareness and say what these four girls did but doing death threats is not something that she would want at all i just wanted to come out here and say that because everybody is taking this too far.
Starting point is 00:45:26 Yes, her story needs to be spread everywhere. I want it to be spread everywhere. I want everybody in this whole wide world to know the name Aubrey Paige Wyatt. But what I do not want is y'all death-threatening other people because of this. Yes, what they did was absolutely wrong, and I know this. Everybody knows this, but it's not right to do the same thing back to them. So I know that today was a long one, guys, but thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of Headline Highlights. As always, it is so much easier for me to jump on the mic week to week and give you these updates, so if you want to stay updated on all things true crime and on the cases that we talked about today, make sure you take a quick second, whatever podcast app you're listening to this
Starting point is 00:46:12 on, click the little box in the corner, make sure that you're subscribed or following it so that you don't miss these episodes as they get released. It's totally free. It'll just make sure that you're completely in tune with all of these updates. All right, guys, thank you again for tuning into another episode. I will be back on the mic with you first thing Monday morning, brand new deep dive case. But until then, please stay safe, take care of yourself, take care of your loved ones, and be nice. Don't kill people. All right. Thanks, guys. Bye. Thank you.

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