Serialously with Annie Elise - 51: 19 Year Old Andrea Vasquez Murdered, Sarah Boone Update, New BTK Victims, Safari Killer Husband Update, and Bryan Kohberger Waives Speedy Trial?!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey true crime besties, welcome back to an all's episode of Headline Highlights. Happy Thursday. I hope you are all having a fantastic week. I don't know if you can tell by my voice, hopefully it's getting a little bit better, but I am a little under the weather, so I apologize if my voice is raspier than usual, but hopefully it's not too you know, too big of a deal and you're able to listen okay without, you know, wanting to pull your ears off of your head. So anyways, welcome to this week's episode of Headline Highlights. We've got a lot to talk about, guys, because in today's episode, we are going to discuss the latest news on everything

Starting point is 00:01:01 that's going on this week in the true crime world and boy is there a lot. This week there have been some very disturbing new cases as well as updates to ongoing cases. This includes a targeted attack and kidnapping of a 19 year old college student in California, an update on the dentist who killed his wife on an African safari trip which I did a deep dive of that over on my YouTube channel not too long ago um Dennis Rader also known as BTK the serial killer we've got updates on him Sarah Boone the nut job who you know zipped her her partner in a suitcase and murdered him and is on trial and of of course, we also have updates in the case against Brian Koberger, the accused quadruple murderer of the Idaho students. So let's just

Starting point is 00:01:53 jump kind of right into everything, guys. Andrea Vasquez is a 19-year-old college student who was kidnapped just after midnight on Sunday in the Penn Park parking area in California. She was with her boyfriend in their vehicle when an armed individual approached them and then fired several shots. The police distributed an urgent missing persons poster as the hunt for Andrea ensued after her abduction. Her family used her phone location to try and track her down, which ultimately led the police to search in Moreno Valley, California. When the armed guy first came to the car, the boyfriend fled, and when he came back to the vehicle, he noticed a trail of blood, and Andrea wasn't there. So

Starting point is 00:02:36 from the jump, it was obviously very alarming and very concerning. So they were able to track everything down over into Moreno Valley. So police there initiated an expansive search operation, deploying drones and police dogs in all of the area. However, late on Monday at approximately 11.50 p.m., Andrea's body was found in an area near where the phone had last signaled, specifically at the cross section of Alessandro Boulevard and Merwin Street in Marino Valley. During the investigation, police linked a 2013 model white Toyota Tacoma and found a gun believed to be connected to the crime, and both the gun and the car, or truck I should say, all belonged to a 20-year-old from Whittier named Gabriel Esparza. He was taken into

Starting point is 00:03:27 custody in Lakewood at his job site in relation to Andrea's kidnapping and shooting. He was charged with murder, kidnapping, attempted murder on her boyfriend who fled, and attempted rape. In court on Wednesday, Gabriel made his initial appearance and entered a plea of not guilty to all of his charges. The Whittier Police Department currently believes that the attack on Andrea was random and not targeted, and there isn't any sort of connection between Gabriel and Andrea or her family members. So nobody knows why this sudden random attack after midnight happened on her and her boyfriend what led to this any sort of history about Gabriel all of the details are still being put together and coming out but right now he is in custody and does not have bail so hopefully some answers soon so that

Starting point is 00:04:19 Andrea's family members and friends can get a little bit more clarity into the situation and hopefully of course get justice and peace as they continue to grieve. Moving over into the safari murder case there is an update to a case that I previously did on YouTube about a dentist who had killed his wife while they were on a hunting trip in Africa. It was all part of a plot with an affair, life insurance scheme. It was very, very convoluted and very interesting actually. So I will link that in the show notes because it is a very bizarre case. You've got like the love triangle, you have the new money after the wife is gone, some really weird stuff. So just this week, Lawrence Rudolph, who is now 68 years old, received a life sentence for the murder of his wife, Bianca.

Starting point is 00:05:08 And that murder had taken place back in October of 2016. And it was the final day of their hunting trip, too. The details were like she was apparently like breaking down one of the shotguns and cleaning it. And then it fired. And that's what the story he was trying to tell again very very odd very crazy detail so i will link it in the show notes but anyways the prosecution believes that lawrence intentionally did shoot his wife bianca directly in her heart using that 12 gauge shotgun encased in a soft cover staging it as the accident as though she was cleaning it

Starting point is 00:05:42 lawrence's version was that the shotgun accidentally went off when she was trying to store it after cleaning it, packing for them to leave the trip. But the prosecution also believed that Lawrence's girlfriend, Lori Milleron, who was employed in Lawrence's office, had pressured Lawrence to separate from his wife. Like I said, a shady love triangle. On August 21st, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Colorado revealed Lawrence's sentencing details. Apart from life imprisonment for murder, he's serving a simultaneous 20-year term for insurance fraud. Judge William decreed Lawrence to remit nearly $4.9 million as restitution, a fine of $2 million, and an additional $200. The U.S. Attorney's Office also said, and I quote, regardless of wealth,

Starting point is 00:06:34 status, or influence, accountability for one's offenses is inevitable. Lawrence and his girlfriend Lori were found guilty in August of 2022. However, Lori faced convictions for being an accessory to murder, obstructing justice, and two perjury counts. So she received a 17-year sentence back in June of this year. Lawrence's attorney said that they do intend to appeal the verdict in his case. So TBD on that, but it's not looking good for old buddy boy Lawrence. Now I want to move over into BTK, also known as the horrific serial killer, Dennis Rader. There's been, of course, comparisons with Brian Koberger and him. But anyways, yesterday Brian Enten from News Nation tweeted out, and I'm going to read this verbatim for you so that I don't mess this up.

Starting point is 00:07:27 Investigators are at Dennis Rader's, BTK's, old property and they are digging. We are told Oklahoma authorities are in Kansas looking into what ties Rader may have to missing persons and murders in Oklahoma. I'm on the phone with Carrie Rawson, who is BTK's daughter, and he was on the phone with her while he was tweeting. He continues to say, she tells me she was flown to Oklahoma in June to help investigators in the county. Carrie also visited her dad in prison for a total of three hours in June and July to try to get information from him. Carrie tells me her dad was not cooperative with her and is not cooperating with the investigation, but she is having ongoing conversations with her father. So after the digging started, investigators said that items of interest were recovered at the

Starting point is 00:08:19 former residence of Dennis Rader. At this stage, investigators say BTK is a suspect in unsolved cases, including the Cynthia Dawn Kinney case from Pawhuska. So the items found that were of interest turned out to be pantyhose, among other things that weren't disclosed. Investigators believe those items could link him to other murders. We've got Sheriff Eddie Verdin. He actually oversaw the dig. Sheriff, thank you so much for being with us. I know your office has described what was found as items of interest. Sheriff, can you give us any more detail on exactly what you dug up out there at BTK's former house? Well, yesterday was our actual second time that we'd been to that location and done a dig. So originally there was a building in that location that had been removed back when they

Starting point is 00:09:14 removed the house and the other items, and then a sidewalk was constructed right over the top of the site. So basically through our investigation, we developed some information Dennis had sent to another person describing where items that he basically claimed as trophies and maybe driver's license from other victims had been placed and had not been found. On the first trip up under the edge of the concrete, we found a set of pantyhose that appeared to have been possibly tied around someone.

Starting point is 00:09:52 And from that information, we went back to Park City and visited with KBI. And yesterday, they removed the concrete for us to actually look where the information said those items were buried. And in those locations, we found several items that we feel like could possibly relate back to victims or maybe to bindings used with victims. So you found pantyhose. Are you able to link those pantyhose at this point to any specific case? Well, at this point, they're collected and they're in, and they'll be evaluated at a later time to see if there's any DNA

Starting point is 00:10:29 or any type of evidence that could be related. Any other items that you can share that were located? Sheriff, I saw we had the video. You can see where the sidewalk was split. I assume that's where the shed was at one point. Any other specifics on the items that you found? the items were all probab below ground. One of them

Starting point is 00:10:52 a manufactured uh construct that had been lined with to possibly protect the b as as kind of a base for that. And then items have been placed in there. We did not find driver's license, but we did find items that would be personal type items that obviously were significant for somebody to go through that effort to place those items there. And again, the information that we were working on was originally created by Dennis back in 2008, sent to non-law enforcement.

Starting point is 00:11:33 So we have no idea whether someone else had removed items from that location prior to that sidewalk being put there or not. Wow. This is a big development though. The fact that you found items that could be significant, including the pantyhose. I'm curious, Sheriff, you've actually went and talked with BTK Dennis Rader several times yourself as part of this investigation. What was that like? Has he been forthcoming with any information related to these cases that you're looking into? We l had long conversations, e information has came out relevant to our case and

Starting point is 00:12:14 items that we've discover with other law enforcemen search originally done ba have 05. Those items have tied in. And from those documents, we believe he's tied in with our case and our prime suspect and possibly on several other cases in Kansas and one in Missouri. Yeah, it's my understanding that this is almost a game to him, that he calls this whole investigation that you're working on something about like following the Yellow Brook Road and that he's even nicknamed you the cowboy i mean

Starting point is 00:12:49 do you get the sense that he's taking any of this seriously oh i think he's absolutely taking it seriously but again he's had a history of cat and mouse with police since the 70s. I'm up until this capture and I don't expect a change now. Carrie Rawson, BTK's daughter, also spoke to Ashley Banfield, where she says that BTK is in a wheelchair and rotting to his core. You volunteered to do something that I can't imagine was very easy for you. After 18 years of not seeing your father, you sat face to face with him tell me about it um well starting in january my dad was releasing news to another outlet about cynthia kenney after osage investigators were going and visiting him um what was happening was that osage was going in pretty cold not with much information and then my father was turning around making phone calls

Starting point is 00:13:45 to people after they left, like basically building a case like for why he could be involved in the kidnapping and disappearance of Cynthia Kinney. So this information then was coming out through another outlet. And so I had been on record for months saying, no, it was just the 10, you know, just like all experts would have told you until maybe yesterday that it was just the 10. Then in June, you know, we found out about Shauna Garber. She was found murdered in southwest Missouri in 1990 and and and that one actually really more fits his MO with the bondage um the way her body was found and the way she was dubbed so then I really was just wondering what was going on and I reached out to McDonald County Missouri and they quickly got me over to Osage County Oklahoma

Starting point is 00:14:41 and and flew me in within days. And then like, I literally met with my Osage team. And then the next morning I was meeting my dad in prison. I can't imagine that first moment when you were face to face, I guess a two-pronged question, what was it like for you? And did he say anything to you of value? Oh, goodness, Ashley. First, like we just had a reunion. I mean, I hadn't seen him in 18 years. He hadn't seen me. We had been cut off for two years. It had been letters all that time before that. So it took him a minute to process who I was. He's lost like seven inches and he's in a wheelchair. He's pretty much rotting like to his core. And so he didn't even necessarily recognize

Starting point is 00:15:32 me. So we had to have a family reunion. And then I just basically laid it out that I was there with Osage investigators. And at that time with McDonnell County, that my team literally was in a holding room and that we were there to talk about serious things. And it was the first time he ever dropped his mask and became BTK in front of me. So did he tell you anything of value or did he stonewall you like he's been stonewalling investigators? Oh, he was running me down rabbit holes. And then when I went back about a month later, he was running me down about 500 rabbit holes

Starting point is 00:16:10 where you can't get him to focus. You know, I asked him, like, do you, if, use your intellect here and tell us what you think happened to Shauna Garber, you know, apply that. It's say, put yourself in somebody's shoes. And he came up with these theories and things but then he he gave me an alibi and i'm literally believing him even though

Starting point is 00:16:30 i know he's a pathological liar and then i go meet out with my team and they're like he just lied to you and i was like prove it to me and they pulled up a calendar and proved it to me and then i was like okay he's yours taking like frying because he's literally sitting there lying to his daughter that he hadn't seen in 18 years. They have given him this immunity deal that pertains to this tri-state area where they believe at least these two women and maybe more could be. Is there is there anything that can actually entice your father to give up any goods? Would an immunity deal do anything given he's in prison for life anyway? Well, the idea is that if he would take immunity, like it would spare my family from having to go through possible grand juries and trials as like witnesses, his extended family.

Starting point is 00:17:27 It would spare the community. My dad basically said maybe he would like to go out like a Roman candle. It's important to understand, though, that it's not my dad pushing these. He's very unhappy with what's going on. It's the investigators doing the hard everyday work of investigating that are pushing these cases. We're coming up against a man that's playing lots of games. My father does not want to be put in a van and woken up in Oklahoma in a holding cell for, you know, the kidnapping of Cynthia Kinney. He wants to live his life out at the prison that he's at. So that's one pressing point, that if he's not going to

Starting point is 00:18:05 cooperate, then we're going to do this the legit hard way and he's going to wake up some morning somewhere he doesn't want to be. So while staying on the BTK train, let's move over into Brian Koberger, the accused murderer in Idaho. Brian was in court yesterday for a status conference after he had just had one last friday it was suspected his defense may have told him that he needed to waive his right to a speedy trial and that's exactly what happened the state accepted brian's waiver request saying while they would prefer to resolve this case sooner rather than later they want the prosecution and the defense to be properly prepared.

Starting point is 00:18:52 So now his trial will no longer start on October 2nd, 2023, and it could potentially take years. Now, although this was expected and everybody isn't surprised really that he did waive his right to a speedy trial, it is a devastating blow to the victim's families because now they have to continue to suffer and await justice to be had. The Gonsalves family issued a statement that they were worried about this outcome happening, saying that, you know, they just want it to be over. They just want this to end. His defense also filed a motion to remove cameras from the courtroom. According to KLXY News, the Death Penalty Information Center says in Idaho, capital cases with trials took 20.5 months to reach a conclusion, which is seven months longer than non-capital cases. A status hearing will be held on September 1st, where a new trial start date could

Starting point is 00:19:40 possibly be set. So stay tuned for that. Now moving into nut job Sarah Boone, and sorry, but this lady is a complete nut job in my opinion. The accused suitcase killer who stuffed her boyfriend in a suitcase while he was alive might now be representing herself in court after the attorney representing her has asked to withdraw from her case and also recommended that his client represent herself. This came after Sarah wrote yet another letter to the judge in her case complaining about the lack of communication with her lawyer. According to reports from Court TV, Sarah has gone through a number of attorneys in her case. Her initial attorney, Mauricio Padilla, withdrew from the case in May 2022

Starting point is 00:20:27 and was followed by a series of public defenders who each left the case citing conflicts of interest. Frank Bankowitz was formally named Sarah's attorney on July 11, 2022. Her attorney now has filed a motion to withdraw on august 22nd and he cited irreconcilable differences saying that the defendant will not be satisfied with any attorney unless said attorney does not have a caseload and can dedicate his or her time solely to miss boone's case also wrote in the motion that was submitted to the court that the best possible avenue is to have the defendant represent herself as no attorney can satisfy her. So going back to those letters sent to the judge, in a number of letters sent to Judge Wayne Wooten, who is overseeing the case,

Starting point is 00:21:17 Sarah has complained about access to her attorney. She had said in one, I, as Mr. Bankowitz's clients, cannot communicate with him via phone due to him still not activating one of two numbers he's given that do not work, and he keeps giving me different reasons why each time I ask, and says to keep trying. So she wrote that in a letter dated August 2nd and said that this has been ongoing for 13 months and counting. In the letter, Sarah asked the judge to communicate with her attorney on her behalf.

Starting point is 00:21:48 Her message included a letter sent to her from a private investigator who said that he could not proceed with her case unless her attorney contacted the jail on her behalf, saying in the letter continuing, What else can I do, Your Honor? It seems my only hope is for a court date which i am included in where my attorney's attendance is mandatory and i can vie for his attention during the minutes beforehand while in the courtroom i'm sure all of the allowed live cameras could provide footage of me doing so every time so in his motion to withdraw her attorney said that he has been in murder trials for the last 60 days

Starting point is 00:22:25 and is currently the attorney representing a defendant charged with capital murder, which absorbs all of his time, including weekends. Sarah's trial is currently scheduled for October 2nd, and she's being held without bond and faces life in prison if she's convicted. Now, look, she is a nut job in my opinion, don't get me wrong, but I do understand the frustration if this is true. If her trial is set to start on October 2nd in like a month and a half and she's not able to get in touch with her attorney and this private investigator doesn't

Starting point is 00:22:58 have access to Sarah in jail because her attorney has to allow that access, I get why that's frustrating. While I also certainly can understand a heavy workload being involved in capital murder cases, which involves so much heavy lifting on the attorney's end, it still would be worrisome to anybody that you can't get in touch with your attorney. But I think a lot of what's happening now here is because so many attorneys have withdrawn from her case, it's kind of not like the boy who cried wolf so to say but like kind of like are you the problem are you the common denominator or in this situation is the attorney really the issue so it's going to be interesting to see

Starting point is 00:23:36 what happens and if she gets another attorney or if she does represent herself which if she represents herself that kind of I think it'll be scary for her legally but I think it could be entertaining for all of us as spectators so more to come on that guys uh what else is happening this week in the headlines there hasn't really been much else movement besides the big things that I just told you guys about I think the Brian Koberger one was what everybody was kind of waiting for even though again it didn't really surprise a ton of people out there. So I will keep you guys posted with what happens in these. Again if there is a big enough update in

Starting point is 00:24:16 any of these cases that we've been talking about I will do a dedicated episode but I feel like having these headline highlights episodes as many recaps on Thursdays is just a good way to get all the bite-sized information to keep current with the cases. Here are the new cases coming down the pike so that, you know, you stay in the know of everything going on in the true crime world. But again, for bigger cases, I will, of course, always upload those over on my YouTube as sole episodes. And you know every Monday here over on Ser serialistly, we do a single dedicated episode to a deep dive on a case. So we have a new one coming up this Monday, which is crazy. I've covered it on my YouTube channel in the past, too. It's about the Microsoft murder, Jared Bright again, new information has come out in that this week, it's a wild one. So I will link

Starting point is 00:25:02 that video for you from my past episode coverage in the show notes, but we also are going to be doing all of the updates in that case this Monday. So you can get fully caught up with all of the new information on Monday. Also, so beyond excited to finally officially announce that merch will be live September 5th. Now, we have very, very, very limited quantities available for this first go-around, so the pre-order will open on the 5th. If you go to shop10tolife.com right now, you can put your email in there so you get notified as soon as the pre-order is open so that you don't miss out before it sells out.

Starting point is 00:25:39 But I'm really excited for you guys to see this merch because it's not just like logos or my channel name. It's actual like cool true crime merch for anybody who is into true crime whether you listen to this podcast other podcasts whether you have a friend who is into true crime and you want to gift them something it's a lot of cool stuff and we've been working really hard on it it's taken almost a year so I'm really excited we have it finally going anyway so that's um September 5th and other than that I will be seeing you guys fresh and early next Monday for an all new case deep dive.

Starting point is 00:26:09 Sorry again about my voice. I hope it's better by the time we talk on Monday, but hopefully it goes away soon because this voice is just not the business. All right, guys, thanks again for tuning into an all new episode of Headline Highlights. Please take a second to rate and review this podcast. Tell me what you like. Tell me what you want to hear more of so that I can always pivot and deliver you guys the content you want to hear. So let me know in the review section what you want to hear more about. All right, guys, thanks again. I will talk with you very soon. Signing

Starting point is 00:26:36 off and I'm going to go drink some honey tea. Bye. Thank you.

Serialously with Annie Elise - 51: 19 Year Old Andrea Vasquez Murdered, Sarah Boone Update, New BTK Victims, Safari Killer Husband Update, and Bryan Kohberger Waives Speedy Trial?!

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