SERIALously - 262: Real-Life White Lotus Murder, Austin Metcalf & Necrophilia on NYC Train

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, True Crime Besties, welcome back to an all new episode of Serialist Lee. I am your host, Annie Elise, and I'm here to break down everything happening this week in the true crime world. And we have a lot to go over. One of the cases too that we're going to be discussing, I might end up doing a deep dive on but a lot of you have been requesting it and it's the case of Austin Metcalf So just stand by for that. I'm gonna give you the breakdown fully in this episode But we may end up doing a deep dive aside from that

Starting point is 00:00:54 There are a lot of other cases that we need to talk about I'm talking like hotel guests checking into a hotel and finding a corpse hidden in the closet Some horrific stuff that once again happened in New York with again a corpse. I don't know why there's so many dead bodies, like post-mortem bodies in today's episode, but whatever there are. So need to talk about all of that. There's also a very disgusting and ironic case that I want to talk with you about regarding a bike gang who like, or a bike group, I guess, not gang group, but like a bike group that advocates for children. And now one of like the lead members was arrested for child crimes.

Starting point is 00:01:37 So I want to talk with you about that. We'll talk a little bit about Karen and Lori Valo at the end of this too and what's going on with that because opening statements were scheduled to start this week for Karen Reed. They just have not been able to seat a full jury. It has been really difficult. Hopefully at the time of this airing, they will have seated a full jury,

Starting point is 00:01:55 but it's been a struggle. They'll get one juror, they'll lose one. The details about like what, it's so messy guys. I don't even wanna get into it. It's just been kind of a circus, but that being said, I did receive a lot of feedback when I mentioned last week how we are going to be going to the Karen Reed trial and how I will be live streaming it starting, I guess now next week, every single day. And a lot of people were actually asking like, Hey, can you give us a full breakdown? We followed the case originally,

Starting point is 00:02:23 but we haven't kept up with the updates, what's been going on for the retrial, all of that. So we are gonna do a full deep dive on Monday into not only what the whole Karen Reed case is about but stuff that wasn't included in the docu series, stuff that's been going on from December to now with the retrial and the prep for that. So much shadiness too, guys. We have so much to talk about. Different third party witnesses, theories of what really went down inside that house,

Starting point is 00:02:52 certain experts who have said things who now are not even allowed to testify in the new trial. I mean, if it wasn't screaming coverup to begin with, and I'm not saying it is a coverup necessarily. I mean, you'd be the judge of that, of course, but there certainly is a lot of things that are not being handled properly and that are being handled unfairly. So I wanted to do a deep dive and just break it all down for you. So stay tuned. Make sure if you're not following this podcast yet,

Starting point is 00:03:18 you are so that you do not miss when I upload that. I believe it'll be Monday, but maybe sooner. Hopefully we'll have a jury right now. Lori Vallow, that dipshit. Her trial is still going on and she's been acting more like a jealous girlfriend than anything else during this trial. I mean, when she goes on cross and all these different things and when she's asking some of the witnesses questions, she's like more concerned about herself in true narcissist fashion. Like, do you remember the enchiladas that I used to make for every family gathering or, oh, so when you and Charles went on a date, you talked about me a lot, didn't you?

Starting point is 00:03:49 It's like, get a grip, Looney Tune Lori. Nobody cares about you. The only reason you're here is because you think it's a freaking field trip. You know you're facing life in prison. You're wanting to do this. And I don't, you know, I don't blame her for that. I get it if you're bored to tears in prison.

Starting point is 00:04:03 It's like, why not do this and represent yourself? It's like a little field trip for her, but I don't think anybody's buying anything that she is trying to peddle and sell in this. So hopefully it's just a matter of time before the judge goes out to deliberate or the jury goes out to deliberate and comes back and marks that psychopath as guilty,

Starting point is 00:04:22 but we will see. So let me get into today's cases, okay? And I want to start with this case about a convicted murderer who was accidentally released from jail, okay? And then went on the run for several weeks until ultimately being caught again. And let me break this down for you because it is a little bit of a wild story. So it's kind of good news, I guess, all in all, but it should have never happened in the first place, if I'm being honest.

Starting point is 00:04:46 But a man named Kathan Guzman was mistakenly released from jail in Georgia back on March 27. Then two weeks later, he was finally caught, and this time he had fled all the way to Georgia. And according to the authorities, Kathan was released from jail on a complete error. So it's not exactly clear how, you know, a convicted murderer was literally just given a get out of jail free card by mistake, but it said that he was waiting to be transferred to the Georgia Department of Corrections. So my guess, if I had to guess,

Starting point is 00:05:16 was that maybe something went wrong with the transfer and then somehow he was released instead of being transferred. Maybe he was mistaken for somebody else. I don't really know. Maybe it was a paperwork error, who the heck knows, but it did happen. So he was actually being transferred too so that he could serve out a life sentence. That's how horrific his charges were. So as you can imagine, once whatever error happened and he escaped, I mean, he was stoked. He was like, okay, freedom, I'm gonna get the hell out of here and like, I'll never go back. I mean,

Starting point is 00:05:44 why wouldn't anybody jump at the chance to escape if you were headed towards a life sentence in prison, right? So he books it and fully takes off. So let me tell you why he was even in prison to begin with. Obviously, we know it was bad enough because it was a life sentence, right? But it all started back in August of 2022 because Cathan had strangled his 19 year old girlfriend, Delilah, to death. And after strangling her to death, he reportedly put her dead body inside the bathroom and then just took off and left the apartment. He then waited more than 10 hours to call the police. Delilah's mother said he strangled her because Delilah was threatening to leave him.

Starting point is 00:06:20 So ultimately, in late 2024, he was found guilty of murder and aggravated assault. Then he was sentenced to life. So now fast forward to March 27th and at approximately 449 PM, this is when that release on error happened, which another crazy detail in all of this is that the jail didn't even realize that they had accidentally released him until April 8th, over a week later. And the only reason they even realized it is because the district attorney contacted the jail asking about him. And that's when the jail was like, uh, actually he's missing, sorry.

Starting point is 00:06:55 Like, can you imagine? So on April 10th, the DA's office released an official statement about his release. And they said that they were using every single available resource to find him. And people were obviously pretty pissed off that this could even happen in the first place. I mean, especially Delilah's family. Can you imagine? You're finally getting justice for your daughter, your loved one, your relative, and then this guy's out? He's back on the streets? So a reporter spoke

Starting point is 00:07:19 with Delilah's mother and this is what she had to say on the matter. Christina, how did you feel when you heard that he was on the loose? Disappointed, disbelief, um and fear, utter fear, utter fear. I needed answers. I was asking questions and I wasn't getting answers and I just and I'm still in fear. Do you think he could come back around here? Absolutely, absolutely. But what do the police say in Georgia? What have they told you? It was a coding era.

Starting point is 00:08:00 It was a coding era and he was accidentally released. The mother said, quote, The DA promised me that he would never get out. They looked me in my face and they promised me that he would never get out. I had nothing to worry about. And now he's out free. He's a trained killer with his hands and he looks nice and friendly. So no one is safe.

Starting point is 00:08:20 The public is not safe, which I can only imagine as a mom like freaking the heck out of this. So finally, after two weeks on the run, on April 11th, the police released a statement that they had found Cathan. They found him in Okohe, Florida, and he was apparently staying at or hiding at his mother's house. And that's when the U.S. Marshals came in and arrested him. Now, what's interesting, because I had a lot of que is Kathan's mother also s shortly after Kathan was what she had to say on th this is difficult. I met

Starting point is 00:08:54 your son was apprehended. put up a fight. He was ne was never out to hurt any was in jail for a serious crime for murder. He was let out. What happened at that time? Did you not check to see? I did. I actually followed through and called the Sheriff's

Starting point is 00:09:17 Department back to make sure that what was happening was legit. And they brushed me off and said, we just get a paper saying that they're gone and we send them. They said his indictment was dismissed. When I picked him up, his release paperwork had no instruction on where to go, who to follow through with or what to do.

Starting point is 00:09:42 So you brought him home? Not immediately, no. I made sure, I stayed behind and made sure that what I was doing was correct. In Georgia? In Georgia. He was never hiding, he was never on the run. So nobody contacted you, all of a sudden

Starting point is 00:09:57 the US Marshals were banging at your door? That's correct. He does not have a criminal or violent record. He's never harmed anyone. It's quite the opposite. They are painting him out to be a dangerous person because of what happened, not knowing the details of what happened.

Starting point is 00:10:14 So I don't know if she's in denial based on this statement. I mean, he was already convicted, so how are you gonna say he's not a threat and that he's a good person and he didn't do it? I mean, obviously that's not true. So there are definitely still a lot of unanswered questions. Meanwhile, Kathan is currently being held in Florida and will probably be transferred back to Georgia sometime soon. But the investigation into exactly how he got released is still ongoing.

Starting point is 00:10:36 The Clayton County Sheriff said, quote, The cause of the release is under investigation and disciplinary actions are pending. Once the investigation is complete, it may result in the termination of the employees within the Clayton County Sheriff's Office." Which, that's a pretty bold statement and rightfully so in my opinion. I have a feeling that there are some people who are about to get fired. Terminated. Goodbye. Let go. But honestly, it's no offense, but you definitely should if you're accidentally letting convicted murderers out of jail.

Starting point is 00:11:05 And was this just a clerical error? Was it just something that happened during the transfer? Or will they find out like, was somebody assisting him in this? Did he make a friend on the inside? Was somebody trying to help him? I mean, it'll be interesting to see what happens. So we'll watch that one.

Starting point is 00:11:21 Now let's talk about this freak in New York City because this is like, I have so many questions about this case, but it once again took place on a New York City subway train and the police are currently on the lookout for a man who violated a corpse on a moving train. The assault took place on a southbound R train at a stop near Lower Manhattan. Now at first, the name of this alleged attacker wasn't released, but this story, I mean, it's absolutely creepy and so gross. It makes me want to vom and please,

Starting point is 00:11:52 I hope you didn't eat recently because it is absolutely disgusting. But security footage had picked up what looked to be an unconscious male on this train. Now, so far in the investigation, this unconscious and unresponsive man is said to have died from natural causes. But then the suspect in this case approached this victim and started taking stuff out of his pockets, just you know, violating him and trying to rob him. But then he

Starting point is 00:12:16 took it one step further and he sexually abused the corpse, which what a freak. Police released photos of the suspect and said to the workers that he was wanted now for engaging in sexual intercourse with a dead human body. I mean, foul, foul, foul. And to make matters worse, this was the second time that this man's dead body was violated. Because earlier on the train,

Starting point is 00:12:40 the man's corpse was also robbed by a female train passenger. She too was caught on security camera female train passenger. She too was caught on security camera footage around 1050 p.m. and in that video it looks like she takes something from his body and then just flees the train station. She was last seen wearing a yellow hooded sweatshirt, black pants, and a black baseball cap and she had the black hat like strategically kind of you know pulled down over her eyes unrecogn. So she has not yet been identified.

Starting point is 00:13:06 But then just before midnight, this second man approaches, he steals from the corpse, and then committed unspeakable acts against him. He too then fled the scene a little after midnight. So the suspect in question in these videos, he was later identified as Carlos Garcia. His last known address is in the Bronx, and he also is supposedly a heroin addict. Not that that should matter at all for his actions though, right? So police reached out to Carlos' brother who said that his family is very shocked

Starting point is 00:13:35 and angered by what is said to have happened. And when the police spoke to his brother, he said, quote, I haven't seen him in a few days. He started staying out late. He's never done anything like this in his life. Not what they said he did. He's just not that type of person. They said he took his thing out and put it in the guy's dot dot dot. Yeah, I don't think he did that. He's not a pervert." Well, whether or not you think he's a pervert is kind of a moot point, right?

Starting point is 00:13:59 If they have him on video doing this, clearly he is a pervert. I mean, I get it, innocent until proven guilty, but also cctv footage don't lie my friend so maybe you didn't know your brother as well as you thought you did. So there still haven't been any arrests made and nobody has been charged yet, but police are of course urging anybody who has information on what happened or who may have been in the train station or the train cart itself to come forward. They're trying to get justice for this poor man who actually violated three different times, robbed twice, and then sexually assaulted once. It's disgusting. And imagine being that man's family member, trying to be like, like, finding out that somebody did that to him. It's so disgusting and depraved. The

Starting point is 00:14:40 identity of the victim in all this also has not been released, but which I think is honestly kind of good like protect his identity and just you know his privacy in all of this even though he's deceased. It's just I wouldn't want that information. I don't know. I like I want justice, but I also wouldn't want like that personal information out about me. I don't know. I don't know. just honestly blowing my mind because it is so vile, it is so disgusting. And to think that this man died on the train of natural causes and instead of people getting him help and coming together with New York community, which usually is so prevalent in New York City, people robbed him instead and then sexually assaulted him. It's sick. Now let's move into this case that I said at the top

Starting point is 00:15:22 of this episode was a little bit ironic, okay? Because a vice president of bikers against child abuse Now, let's move into this case that I said at the top of this episode was a little bit ironic, okay? Because a vice president of bikers against child abuse is now being accused of sex crimes against children. Like, what? What's that expression? Like, thou dost protest too much or however you say it. I know I'm butchering it, so, but you get what I mean.

Starting point is 00:15:40 And it's like the headline of this story is, yes, sheer irony, but I want you to listen to the actual details of this case. So the vice president of this biker group, not gang, I'm gonna be careful to say group here, it's called Bikers Against Child Abuse. And it's literally an organization that is supposed to protect children from abuse. And he has now been accused of sex crimes against kids.

Starting point is 00:16:03 Now he's a man from Buffalo and he was known to the public as truly being a literal advocate for children's safety, but he was arrested last week on charges related to possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material, otherwise known as CSAM. And more specifically, he's being charged with promoting a sexual performance by a child and for possessing a sexual performance by a child and for possessing a sexual performance by a child So child porn owning it and spreading it around now Let's put this guy on blast because this is disgusting and creep behavior and his name is John Tadaro And he is 49 years old

Starting point is 00:16:40 so the acronym for this group is called BACA and What's interesting is all of the members who are serving and acronym for this group is called BACA and what's interesting is all of the members who are serving and advocating in this group are volunteers which unfortunately when you get in a situation like that you would hope that all of the volunteers are there for the right reasons but it's also a really great guise to go under, pretend you're a volunteer, just to like get in there and then like do some disgusting things. Meanwhile members and volunteers are normally expected,

Starting point is 00:17:05 of course, to commit themselves to helping children. And according to the program, they do have to go through a background check before having contact with any child. And the program also said that two members of the group will meet with the children every single time so that it protects everybody from allegations of child abuse or from something happening.

Starting point is 00:17:21 It's like two people there at once, right? So John, though, as the vice president, he would have had plenty of time and opportunities to be around children. And with his position, it's also likely that most of the children trusted him without question. I mean, these were kids who were, of course, already vulnerable. So they were already looking for somebody that they could count on. Many of them were likely victims long before John even entered the picture. And it wasn't said what exactly tipped authorities off, but the investigators did a sweep of John's devices as part of the Internet Crimes Against Children Act. So he ended up being arrested in a city in Buffalo, but for whatever reason, was released shortly after. Which, I gotta say,

Starting point is 00:18:01 anytime there's a case involving a child, I don't understand why bail is even allowed. Personally, I don't. I get it. Innocent until proven guilty. But like, I also think err on the side of caution, right? Like, what about witness intimidation? What about going after more children? What about being a danger to the community? Like, I don't know. It just doesn't sit right with me. So he is out and he's supposed to return to court sometime in May. Now it's come out that this isn't the first time that Baca members have run into some child abuse allegations. Back in 2009, a member named David Garvey was arrested for possession of child pornography as well, this time though in Houston, not New York. His membership was revoked and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Then in 2018, two members in Texas were arrested for 23 counts of abusing their

Starting point is 00:18:49 foster children. And these charges even included indecency with a child. Their names were Daniel and Shirley Rodriguez. So a couple, like a man and a woman. It's just so gross. A year after that in 2019, an Oklahoma member named Richard West was also charged with lewd and indecent acts to a child under the age of 16. Which, first of all, that is a lot of arrests and charges and child predators, right? So it kind of goes back to what I was saying. This is a volunteer-type group, so is it a predator's perfect playground? Like they go into this knowing they're gonna have access to children.

Starting point is 00:19:28 Children who more than likely are victims of previous assaults. So they could not only have an excuse as how to work in with them, but like they might be more likely to stay quiet because they already have a history with that. It's just sick. It is sick sick sick. So far the Bikers Against Child Abuse organization itself hasn't released any statements on the investigation or any statements on their past member charges or anything like that. So stay tuned, we'll see what happens here.

Starting point is 00:19:56 But it really grosses me out. And if you're a parent and you unfortunately have had a child go through something in their life, keep them away as a precaution from this group in my opinion. And while we're at it from the Explorers program in Massachusetts, because if you know about Sandra Burchmore, you know why I'm saying that. Now I want to talk to you about the Austin Metcalfe case because so many of you have been asking me to cover this case and it is very unsettling and the deeper we dig, I definitely

Starting point is 00:20:41 do think we will do a deep dive on this, but I at least wanted to jump on here and talk with you about it now. So a 17-year-old boy named Carmelo Anthony is being charged with first-degree murder for stabbing another student. And now, after all of this, a judge has reduced his bail. So as I said, Carmelo is just 17 years old, and on April 2nd, he allegedly stabbed another student to death at a high school track meet in Texas. The victim's name is Austin Metcalfe, and he was also only 17 years old. And what's interesting is the two of them went to different schools,

Starting point is 00:21:13 so it's unclear what the relationship between the two of them was. Witnesses said that the two of them started arguing at the stadium on the bleachers. Apparently Austin told Carmelo to get out from underneath his team's tent, and Carmelo was said to have been waiting out some sort of weather delay. So there was some sort of altercation because of this, which I don't know why that would erupt

Starting point is 00:21:35 into a stabbing altercation, but immature boys, heated arguments, heated tempers, I don't know. So Carmelo during this allegedly then reached into his bag and he said, touch me I don't know. So Carmelo during this allegedly then reached into his bag and he said, touch me, see what happens. Austin then tried to grab him and move him, but that's when a witness said that Carmelo grabbed a black knife from his backpack and stabbed Austin in the chest. Then he just took off and ran away. After the police arrested Carmelo, he confessed to the stabbing, but he also said to the police

Starting point is 00:22:05 that the only reason he did it was because he was defending himself. Originally, Carmelo was being held on a $1 million bond, but after a recent hearing, the judge agreed to lower the bond to $250,000. Now, if Carmelo's family does post his bond, it doesn't mean he just gets to walk free and still kind of terrorize the town or do anything else.

Starting point is 00:22:25 Not that he was terrorizing the town, but you get what I'm saying. He would actually end up being on house arrest and he would have to be supervised by a parent or an adult at all times. He also would not be allowed to have any contact with Austin's family. Yeah, I feel it's fair. You know, bond, as the judge said bond is not supposed to be an It's not supposed to keep not supposed to punish. I ensure that a person show

Starting point is 00:22:55 with all conditions and i the community safe. So th bond and the judge has I uh, reasonable conditions substantial bond and the judge has. I think rightly imposed reasonable conditions that will ensure both Carmelo and the Anthony family safety, but also the safety of the community. Carmelo's defense team was hoping

Starting point is 00:23:13 to get the bond lowered to $150,000, and the reason why is they argued that Carmelo is the oldest of four siblings that he works two jobs that he was the captain of the track and football team, that he has no past criminal history, that if he's not going to be released on his own recognizance, that he should at least have a lower bail amount

Starting point is 00:23:34 given his history, his family connections, his work ties, all of those things. But again, the whole situation, it makes you just wonder how it escalated so fast. How did they just get into this argument and it ended with Carmelo stabbing Austin? Did they ever know each other before? Were they rivals from the two different schools? I mean, literally, this argument apparently just started from something as simple as Austin

Starting point is 00:23:57 telling Carmelo to move out of their tent. And now Austin is dead. Now, during this hearing where the bond was lowered, Austin's family, including his mother and his twin brother Hunter, were present in the courtroom. And I can't imagine they were very happy with this bond reduction. Here's a snippet from an interview with Austin's mother and from his twin brother the day of the stabbing. So I'm not sure senseless act of a boy that was in the wrong tent and my son doing the right thing by telling that boy that he needed to be removed from where he was and

Starting point is 00:24:34 Just doesn't make any sense. I mean that's my Just because the kid was mad. My son is not here anymore, and I don't Understand it. He was the most amazing kid. Oh so smart. He had college football. Guys looking at him to play in college, his goal was to play in college. He just wanted to play football. His life was going to the gym and working out and being a leader on his football team and he just had such ambitions and a drive that is hard to find in a kid.

Starting point is 00:25:09 And he's just such a good spirit and so many kids loved him and his brothers lost his best friend. They're twins right? Yeah, identical twins. There was this kid, before I knew his name now, this kid was sitting under our tent at track. We asked him to move. He started getting aggressive and talking reckless.

Starting point is 00:25:35 And my brother stopped at his and said, you need to move. And he's like, make me move. Also, he grabbed his backpack. This kid, I tried to whip around as fast as I could, but I didn't see the stab. But then I waked my brother and I'm not going to talk about the rest. That's just what I saw. I tried to help him.

Starting point is 00:25:56 It was just senseless. It was really senseless. I don't know why a person would do that to someone just over that little argument. It's just crazy in this world nowadays how people just up and do that. Like, a man has a family, a man has people that care about him all the time, and he did everything for our family too. He was a strong man. He was a strong kid.

Starting point is 00:26:19 He was strong. And I know I'm strong too, but he's a little stronger, but He's just he's just he did a lot for our family and a bunch of stuff that we just don't recognize And it's just like especially throughout our friends to like everyone everyone knew like he was the peacemaker He was so I'm saying he heard someone who really makes peace really calms peace. He makes everything sail smoothly and you cannot because I I He makes everything sail soodly. Because I get upset, but then he calls me down. He's just always there for me.

Starting point is 00:26:49 So it's just heartbreaking to see how this happened. They also said that before the stabbing, they had no idea who Carmelo was, that they had never interacted with him before. I don't know anything about him. We have nothing to say. I've never met this kid until right then. It really was under 30 seconds, this altercation. I've never met this kid until right, right then. It really was under 30 seconds.

Starting point is 00:27:05 This altercation, I've never met this kid in my entire life. And it's just... And to be honest with you, we don't want to give him any recognition or any care because that's not, we're not, we have no desire to have anything to do with that man. It's just so crazy how in the span of 30 seconds, a mother lost her son, a boy lost his life, and another

Starting point is 00:27:25 boy lost his twin brother. It is devastating. At Carmelo's bond hearing, family members, close friends, a football coach, and a manager from one of his part-time jobs showed up to speak on Carmelo's behalf. And this played a massive role in his bond reduction. Which I also do have to say, how does a kid with no criminal history, no sort of checkered past or history of fights or being violent, how does he just have a knife in his backpack at a track meet? I mean, not saying that he does have a history, I'm not trying

Starting point is 00:27:56 to imply that, but like it does raise the question. Do people really just carry knives with them around now in high school? They definitely didn't back in my day, but I'm old now, so I don't know, what do I know? Carmelo's family has also started an online platform for people to donate funds to Carmelo. And so far, the platform has raised over $400,000. However, Carmelo's dad said they don't have access to those funds yet. The next step in Carmelo's case is a presentation before a grand jury, and that will determine whether he'll be indicted and face trial. Carmelo's attorney hasn't shared any specific details about the case so far, but he did say there are two sides to every story. And he added that after a full investigation, he's confident that, quote, the truth will come out.

Starting point is 00:28:41 The judge on this case promised that her decision was based on the law and not the court of public opinion. And the judge also repeatedly said that this case has caused so much safety and security concerns for everybody involved. Which it's going to be interesting to see what happens, right, because obviously the case is devastating from every single angle. I mean, one young boy is gone,

Starting point is 00:29:02 Austin's family is now living through the unimaginable. On the other side, Carmelo's life, at least the life as he knew it, is changed forever, essentially maybe even over. His family's also grappling with the loss of a son in a different but still painful way. And there are a lot of people who are taking Carmelo's side in this.

Starting point is 00:29:21 I mean, you heard it. So far they have raised over 400 grand in defense funds. So is there more to the story? That's why I said we're going to end up doing probably a deep dive on this because there is a lot of information out there and let me know if you've been following this case and what you've heard about it because we are definitely all over it and there's still a long road ahead before the case is fully resolved, but one thing is clear, it's just devastating for everybody. Now this next case, it's going to take us over to what should have been a nice fun little like vacation night out at a hotel, but it is truly wild because picture

Starting point is 00:29:58 this, you're heading off on vacation. You're looking for the perfect tropical escape, so you make your way down to Key Largo, Florida. It's everything you dreamed of. I mean, snorkeling, swimming, tanning, fishing, just soaking up the sun, the natural beauty, all of it. So you check into a resort, the beach is just steps away, and everything feels picture perfect. The only problem in all of this is your dreamy hotel. It turns out it's the scene of a murder. And I'm not talking White Lotus, guys. This is way creepier than any sort of White Lotus plot, okay?

Starting point is 00:30:31 Because to make it even worse, it's not like you unknowingly spent the night in this room and it had once upon a time been the scene of a murder in there. But now you spend the night in that hotel room, not knowing that you were sharing the room with a human corpse. Because that is exactly what happened to a couple of guests back on April 8th at the

Starting point is 00:30:51 Amari Dive Resort. Police showed up to their room responding to a missing persons report, and what they found inside the air conditioning closet of the room was a woman's dead body. I don't think I'd ever be comfortable checking into a hotel ever again I know already people get a little nervous about the hidden cameras and things like that Now you have to worry about a body being hidden in the vent Like can you imagine and also in the air conditioning closet? I'm just gonna say guys and it's probably gonna make you want to vomit, but I'm gonna just say it Florida's hot, right? So wouldn't you turn the AC on and wouldn't the smell of that

Starting point is 00:31:26 dead body be like all throughout the room? I don't know. It makes me sick thinking about it. So the biggest question obviously, what the heck happened here? The body of 43-year-old Nadine Tillman was found beaten to death inside this crawl space of the air conditioning closet. She was found on April 8th, which was a Tuesday morning, and her family had reported her missing since they hadn't heard from her since the previous Saturday morning. They said not hearing from her was very unusual. Now the hotel room itself had been registered to a 33 year old man named

Starting point is 00:32:00 Dylan Lamb. He was from Florida and he also worked as a kayak tour guide. He had checked into the hotel on Friday. Now according to Dylan, he actually met Nadine through an escort website. They had arranged to meet Saturday morning at this resort and, you know, do their thing. One can only assume obviously what they were meeting for, except apparently this is when everything went south. Because Dylan allegedly paid Nadine $200 for sexual services, but then he says that she tried to leave. So Dylan says he went to go block the door, not letting Nadine leave with the money, or until she did what he paid her to do.

Starting point is 00:32:36 And he said he was standing in front of the door, but Nadine started hitting him. He said that she had hit him a few times and so then trying to protect himself, he quote, struck her in the face. Then she fell to the ground and she was completely unconscious. Dylan said he then went to the bathroom so that he could calm himself down. But he saw that Nadine was laying lifeless on the floor and that now not only was she unconscious but she was no longer breathing. So he checked on her and she had no pulse.

Starting point is 00:33:04 He told the police that when he realized what he had done, he panicked. So he used the hotel's towels and linens to clean up the room. And then he hid Nadine's body in the closet, shoving her body underneath the water heater. He then stuffed all the towels and the sheets into a trash bag, put Nadine's cell phone

Starting point is 00:33:22 and other belongings into two other trash bags, and disposed of everything. Hotel staff also tried to move him to another room during the weekend, but he refused to move. He also wouldn't even open the hotel room door to talk with them. He would only yell through the closed door back at them, you know, I'm not leaving, I'm not moving. However, on Sunday, he apparently finally budged and agreed to switch rooms. Now, this next part of the case is truly mind boggling to me because after he switched to another room to make room for new guests, housekeeping came to the room and went to clean it up to prepare it for the new guests who were going to be checking in.

Starting point is 00:33:58 But when they got to the room, it turns out Dylan didn't dispose of those trash bags. He had actually left them behind. He left all of this evidence inside the room. Which for refusing to leave the room at first because you're so freaked out and nervous and you're trying to cover up a murder, but then to agree to leave but you leave all of the evidence behind. I mean, maybe he would truly was just panicking and not thinking straight. We love it when people leave a trail behind but but like, this is mind boggling to me. So housekeeping found those three trash bags. And when they looked inside,

Starting point is 00:34:31 they found all sorts of bloodied towels, sheets. They found the victim's clothing, her cell phone, and the staff described the bags as quote, heavily stained with substances consistent with blood, urine, and feces. But get this, they didn't do anything with the bags. The hotel's general manager admitted to the authorities too that they didn't call the police, they didn't warn anyone, they just threw the trash bags in the dumpster. Then the staff went on preparing the

Starting point is 00:35:00 room for the next guests like nothing ever happened. Which, I get it, housekeeping has probably seen a lot of shit in their day. I would imagine some of the cleanup they've had in certain hotels has been disgusting. So sheets and towels with blood, urine, and feces in and of itself. Maybe not so alarming. I mean, gross for sure. And let's just talk about that. Why are there feces on these towels? Why is he not pooping in the toilet? Or was it because her body emptied and he was cleaning it up?

Starting point is 00:35:31 That actually seems way more likely now that I say it out loud. But I could see where they see all these like contaminated and stained sheets and towels and they're like, oh great, we had another like disgusting person in here or a party person or whatever. But if they found her cell phone as well and found her clothing, maybe again could be explained

Starting point is 00:35:51 away as being soiled, but a cell phone like doesn't that then strike you as something's afoot? This it might be the evidence of something going down in this room. Maybe at least warrants a little bit of a look or follow up with the person who, by the way, is still in your hotel just in a different room. Like certainly warrants them to go knock on his door and be like, hey, uh, Dylan, is this cell phone yours? Uh, what happened in here? Are you okay? Do you need medical attention? We see a lot of blood. They just didn't do anything, nothing, just threw it away. So the next guests came along and they

Starting point is 00:36:25 ended up staying in that hotel room for a single night with Nadine's dead body, which I don't think I will ever get over that. That is so haunting and scary. Nadine's friends and family reported her missing, which is when the police tracked down her last known location and found her car parked inside that hotel parking lot. Then when the police arrived, the general manager did tell them that one of the guests had been acting, according to him, quote, strange and told them which room Dillon Lamb had been staying in. The manager also finally told them about the trash bags and all those bloody towels and the stuff that they found inside. However, when they went to go check it out, it turned out that the dumpsters had already been emptied. So because of that,

Starting point is 00:37:04 they lost all the evidence. When they searched the room, that's when they found Nadine's body. And I can only imagine that the guests who were staying there were absolutely horrified. But in all of this, even though Dylan told the police his whole story, his whole version of events and what happened, that's not what really panned out, because once they found her body, it was crystal clear that she had not just been struck once, like Dylan said, you know, he said he hit her once because she was attacking him. She was violently beaten to death. Her body was partially clothed, and she had two black eyes.

Starting point is 00:37:39 She also had swollen and bruised lips and other injuries all over her face and body. So Dylan was arrested later that same day at the kayak place where he worked as a guide. And once taken into custody, he confessed to the murder, telling them all about the escort website, the fight, how he tried to clean everything up, I mean all of it. So as of now, Dylan has been charged with second-degree murder, kidnapping, destruction of evidence, and exploiting someone for prostitution. Meanwhile, the hotel has remained silent, choosing not to release any statements regarding the murder. Now as for the victim Nadine, she was reportedly a mother, and from her Facebook profile,

Starting point is 00:38:17 it appears that she is leaving behind two daughters and a son, which is so incredibly heartbreaking and sad. Witnesses say that her oldest daughter was actually present when the police discovered her mother's body, and I can't even begin to imagine the trauma and the heartbreak that that must have caused for her. Dylan's arraignment is reportedly set for May 13th, so we will see what happens there. And I can't help but wonder, I can't imagine that there's any legal things that the guests can do, but is there any sort of civil action they could take about not cleaning the room thoroughly or not investigating it to where then they have the PTSD of spending the night with a dead body in their room? I don't know. I don't know what the legal

Starting point is 00:39:00 loopholes or strategies would be with that, maybe, but hopefully they can actually sleep without having nightmares because that is just haunting. So that's what we have this week for Headline Highlights. Now if you missed it, yesterday I posted a bonus episode right here on the feed, completely free, but it's all about updates in the Idaho Four case because not only has there been so much information that has been released over the past several weeks, but lots of hearings are taking place as well. And I imagine it's kind of going to be this like, not even slow drip, but drip of information all the way until the trial in August. And for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, it's about Brian Coburger,

Starting point is 00:39:38 who is being accused of the quadruple murder of four Idaho students that were killed in November of 2022. Just a violent, violent crime. So anyway, there was a hearing that recently happened and there's been a lot of information that has come out, right? Like the 911 call, the text messages, the social media activity, Brian's selfie, all of these things. But there's now even more information being released regarding his connection with the victims or lack thereof, what actual terminology is going to be allowed

Starting point is 00:40:07 to be used in the trial, more details about the Amazon purchase history. So I put that episode out yesterday. It was outside of the normal release schedule. So if you didn't see it, you can definitely go take a look now and get fully caught up. But aside from that too,

Starting point is 00:40:21 if you are listening on Spotify, I'm gonna put a poll up today and I would love to get your way in on this. If you feel like you ever need more content to binge and you are strictly a podcast listener, not a 10 to life viewer on YouTube, we have a whole archive of episodes from 10 to life from all the way back from 2020 of I think at this point, like 700 case episodes. So my thought was if you're a podcast listener and you've never been exposed to those episodes in those cases before, should we start doing like a weekly Wednesday

Starting point is 00:40:51 upload over here and we could call it I don't know like recycle tend to life or throwback episode or something like that where we it's something else for you to binge during the week and it would be one of those episodes. So if you're somebody which I know there are a few of you out there but if you're one of the people who listens to the podcast and then watches it also on YouTube, it may not apply to you. Please don't vote because more than likely have already seen the episodes.

Starting point is 00:41:13 If you're a YouTube viewer, this is only for the people who only listen on the podcast and don't watch the video version. So let me know because if that's something that you guys want, I certainly can start uploading those on here maybe every Wednesday or whatever day works. So I'll put that poll up over on Spotify. I wish Apple had a poll feature but they don't. They don't have a comment feature either but you can also

Starting point is 00:41:36 let me know I guess if you do listen on Apple in the feedback section if you leave a rating and a review and let me know if you want them there. It sucks that that's the only way I'm able to communicate with the Apple listeners, but hopefully they'll start putting in some stuff like Spotify has where you can like comment on episodes, where I can reply and you can have polls, all of those things. Other than that, there of course is always the Friday episodes that we put out. Last week I actually put out two cases, one about a breaking case and then one about a horrific murder of a young girl and the

Starting point is 00:42:06 girl was then found in her mother's freezer years later. And then this week we are talking about a current case and this comes out tomorrow. And it's, you may have heard about it, but it's a very creepy and fascinating case, but it's about this girl who is a 17 year old influencer and she stabbed her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend. She like hunted them down, stabbed her. I mean it's horrific. So we're talking about all of that tomorrow on tomorrow's episode. Other than that what else? I talked to you about the Lori Vallow trial, talked to you about Karen Reed. We will start the live streaming of Karen Reed every single week. I also did do a poll again for my listeners, on this Monday's episode. So even if you already heard it, you can go back

Starting point is 00:42:48 and vote on the poll. But I wanted to know from you guys, when we are covering the Karen Reed trial, we are live streaming, as I said, every day. But we also have our correspondent who is there in Boston and who will be attending the trial. So we're going to be doing recaps of the trial. And part of me was thinking, OK, we'll do a weekly recap and that'll get everybody caught up from the whole week. But then

Starting point is 00:43:09 I was like, do people want to know more like midweek of what's happening rather than end of week? So should we do two recaps, like a midweek and an end of week? Or is that too much for you guys to keep up with? Is one a week easier? So let me know. You can go vote on that and we'll kind of pivot as we go. I wanna cater it to you. I don't wanna like overwhelm you with content, but I also wanna give you what it is you're looking for and give you the updates as they're happening.

Starting point is 00:43:33 And of course, in real time, we'll be able to talk about it on the live stream, which is over on my YouTube channel, 10 to life. All right, guys, that is it. I know I just threw a lot at you, but I hope you are all having a great week. It's almost over. We are almost at the weekend. And then I'll be back with you on Monday with an all new deep dive into a case. Probably all the shadiness that's been going on in Karen Reed and

Starting point is 00:43:54 talking about all those theories and all those things that don't add up and all the sketchiness that people are conveniently not allowing into the trial. So stay tuned for that. All right, guys, thank you so much and until the next one, be nice, don't kill people, be a good human, and just stay safe and protect yourself. Alright, bye.

SERIALously - 262: Real-Life White Lotus Murder, Austin Metcalf & Necrophilia on NYC Train

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