SERIALously - 267: Parking Lot Horror, Teen Hides Dead Baby, & Jello Shot Scandal

Starting point is 00:00:00 Here at Ritual, we know that a mother's support isn't limited to one day a year, and we believe that yours shouldn't be either. So this Mother's Day, we're honoring the world's biggest supporters with science-backed daily rituals that center you not just today, but every day. Whether you're thinking about motherhood, actively trying, or already there, we've got you covered for when it matters most. From fertility support and natal-coline to our best-selling clinically-backed prenatal multivitamin, know that you're getting clean, traceable key ingredients

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Starting point is 00:00:54 sales from industry data, including Nielsen IQ stack line and numerator as of Q4 2024 and top five products. Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly with me, Annie Elise, your true crime bestie and your host of this podcast. Now today's episode is a little bit different than the ones we normally talk about, or not that we normally talk about, than you're normally seeing because right now next to me, you can tell if we are watching the YouTube version of this, I'm streaming the Karen Reed trial. They're quickly on lunch right now, so I took a quick break to come over here, record this

Starting point is 00:01:52 for you. But I've got the live chat going. I actually have people watching the behind the scenes of me recording this episode, so it's a little bit different of a dynamic here. Okay, so let's a little bit different of a dynamic here. Okay so let's start with today. We are going over at headline highlights which obviously there is a lot happening this week in true crime. Not only of course the Karen Reed trial but also a lot of new cases that are breaking and a lot of these are very

Starting point is 00:02:19 actually all of them are deeply disturbing and unsettling. Before we get into them though I did want to give you guys a quick reminder. We did launch spring merch this week, so it is live right now. Some of the items have already sold out, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but we do have a few left. They're almost gone, so if you're interested in getting your spring merch, you can go to AnnieElyse.com, grab some goodies. As always, we give patreon first access a day early so another reason to be a patreon member so that you can shop before it sold out but we have a lot of fun things over there if you want to go take a look we usually design all of our merch directly from requests from you guys so I'm really

Starting point is 00:02:57 excited about this launch but you can check that out AnnieElyse.com and as always a portion of our proceeds goes directly to the Child Rescue Coalition, which is an organization that we work very closely with and that is very near and dear to my heart. Now let's jump into the cases we are talking about today. We've got a lot of wild ones. We have one where there is yet again chaos happening at a school, teachers inflicting that chaos, and it's very unsettling.

Starting point is 00:03:24 It's like a makeshift fight club, but as I that chaos, and it's very unsettling. It's like a makeshift fight club. But as I give you the details, it's going to probably make you want to vomit and punch people at the same time. It's just atrocious. There's also a case where a little girl in Florida was found wandering around and she had blood stains on her face. This was shortly after her mother was murdered.

Starting point is 00:03:44 We also are going to talk about a case that is breaking out in Dallas right now of a young woman who was brutally murdered, who should have never even been in the area in which this happened. And we're going to talk about some more. So I'm going to stop teeing it up and let's just get right into it. And I want to kick it off with that case I just mentioned about teachers who were running a makeshift fight club at school. Because as if that's not grotesque enough, the school director was in on it. It is appalling and it's like my worst freaking nightmare as a parent. So four teachers and parents in Arkansas were arrested for allegedly running a makeshift

Starting point is 00:04:23 child fight club. And get a load of this. The ringleader, as mentioned, was the school's director. Now in a very heartbreaking detail, as if this wasn't already heartbreaking at the foot of it, right? But it happened at a school called the Delta Institute for the Developing Brain and the Engaged Mind, which this school has a program that is meant to help kids with autism. And I'm going to get into the details shortly here, but let me start with this.

Starting point is 00:04:48 The four people who were arrested were Mary Morrison, Michael Bean, Kristen Bell, and Katherine Lipscomb. Mary is the owner and the school director, and Katherine is a teacher there. Michael and Kristen are both parents of children who attend that school. Now this whole situation came to light when a video of one of these fights surfaced online. Which first of all, who would be having these fights to begin with? Who would then take it a step further and video them? And then who would take it a step even beyond that and publish them online?

Starting point is 00:05:18 Clearly somebody who was like deranged, right? So after this video was leaked, a prosecutor filed charges against the four of these adults, and they all turned themselves into the police willingly. But I still can just not believe that teachers and parents were literally encouraging these children to fight each other. And they were fifth grade students, okay? Now the video is about 30 minutes long, and in the video, one of these teachers can even be heard telling a kid to, quote, hit that other kid right in the private area, specifically a boy.

Starting point is 00:05:47 Just egging them on and trying to encourage this behavior. And they just sat around, watched it, and videoed it. So all four of them were booked into jail on April 21st. And Catherine, the teacher, her bail was set at $100,000. Michael and Kristen, the parents, theirs was set at $10,000. And Mary, the ringleader, the head honcho, her bail was set at $250,000. The judge also issued a no-contact order for her, meaning that she cannot interact with any schools or any students, which thank goodness, right? So all four of them posted their bond and they were released shortly after they were arrested.

Starting point is 00:06:24 They're set to appear again in court on May 22nd. But what I wanted to talk about with this case is because at the surface, obviously it's disgusting and sickening making young children fight each other, encourage them to fight each other, some of whom may have autism and you're just preying on them as like some disgusting predator. But it makes you wonder how many of these incidents are happening out there that are not being videoed, that are not then being publicized. It's just very scary to think about and extremely, extremely sick. Now, we're going to stay on the topic of schools for a moment here, and also, coincidentally, fifth grade, but we're now moving over to Texas. And this case is so deranged because you know what comes to mind?

Starting point is 00:07:07 The quote from Mean Girls, which I don't know if I'm dating myself or if everybody will get the reference, but you know when she's like, I'm not a regular mom, I'm a cool mom. That's kind of what this case is giving because all jokes aside, a Texas mom has now been arrested for bringing jello shots to a group of fifth graders. Alcoholic jello shots. I mean, talk about chaos, right? Now this happened a little while ago, but it's sort of just now coming to light since

Starting point is 00:07:32 she's been arrested, and I want to go through the details of this and get your opinion on whether this was intentional or whether or not this was done by accident, which she is claiming it to be. So 33-year-old Teresa Bernal is a mother at Jones Elementary School in Tyler, Texas, and her child's class was having a school Christmas party back on December 20th. So all of the parents brought things for their kids, for their classmates, you know, whether it's baked goods, candy, drinks, things to celebrate these class parties. So Teresa thought that it would be a good idea to bring jello shots for the group.

Starting point is 00:08:06 Why she thought jello shots was appropriate for a group of fifth graders, I don't know. Maybe she was just trying to be funny, but that's what she decided to sign up for and bring. Personally, I usually go for fruit, like I'll sign up for the grapes, the strawberries. Every now and then, if I'm feeling a little bit wild, I'll sign up for cupcakes, but she went ahead

Starting point is 00:08:24 and took it upon herself to bring jello shots. So the teachers at the party were obviously a little bit skeptical about this being like, okay, why would you bring jello shots? It doesn't really feel appropriate. But if they're non-alcoholic, I get where maybe you're just trying to be hip or innovative and have the kids feel like they're participating. I don't know. Still weird, obviously, right?

Starting point is 00:08:45 And doesn't really track. But they assumed, okay, these are just gonna be jello. Surely there will be no alcohol in them because what kind of parent would bring jello shots that are alcoholic to a kid's child classroom party? The teachers also all knew Teresa pretty well and said she was a very present mom. She attended school events often.

Starting point is 00:09:03 She didn't really seem like this rando who would throw a wrench in everything. But Teresa supposedly bought these jello shots from a business that she found on Facebook Marketplace. Which I gotta just stop right there and say red flag number one, right? Who is buying jello shots off of Facebook Marketplace? No less jello shots for a child's class party, right? But she did. So she buys these jello shots off Facebook and then she brings them to the party, puts it right there smack on a table with all of the other classroom stuff. You know, the cookies, the muffins, the fruit, all of the things. And people start eating. They start grubbing out on all this food. And 15 students reportedly ate these jello shots. And right away, clearly something was wrong

Starting point is 00:09:46 because all of these kids started having stomach issues, headaches, one student even vomited twice and another student passed out. I mean, one of these students even had six of these jello shots by themselves. Six jello shots, a fifth grade student. They ended up feeling so dizzy that they couldn't even feel their own feet.

Starting point is 00:10:04 I mean, drunk, obviously, right? Which, fifth grade, you're what? Eleven years old. So these eleven year olds are unknowingly getting drunk for the first time. Not understanding why they don't feel good, why they're throwing up, why they can't feel their body parts. How scary would that be? Not only for them, but for the parents who are witnessing like the weird behavior start to kick in. It's just, again, it makes you wonder, how could somebody like this bring these to the school? So then after seeing all of the kids kind of react strangely

Starting point is 00:10:33 after they were consuming these, two of the teachers tried the Jell-O shots and they immediately believed that the shots tasted like alcohol. So I can imagine that this party turned very chaotic very quickly. All 15 kids who ate the jello shots ended up having to be sent to the nurse's office as well. Meanwhile, Teresa said she had absolutely no clue that

Starting point is 00:10:52 these jello shots contained alcohol. However, this Facebook business that sold Teresa these jello shots said it says very explicitly in black and white on the listing that the jello shots are prepared with vodka, more specifically with Smirnoff vodka. So unless she just didn't read the listing, which feels pretty reckless and careless in my opinion, I'm not really saying how it wasn't super clear. The investigating officer even wrote, quote, In my opinion, there is no way she could have missed the fact that the jello shots she purchased and brought to her daughter's fifth grade Christmas party contained drinking alcohol.

Starting point is 00:11:27 Which, same, I don't understand how you missed that. Again, though, I don't understand why you're buying something like that off Facebook to bring to your kid's classroom. But whatever, I'm not the judge and jury of it. Now the investigation into this whole thing didn't start until January, when all of the students and all of the teachers returned from their winter break. So Theresa just ended up being arrested last Monday, and she was charged with injury to a child. Her bond was set at $75,000, which she did post the same day of her arrest, and she was released.

Starting point is 00:11:55 She hasn't released any public statement on the incident so far. She hasn't spoken out publicly in any way. So she is remaining quiet during this time. However, the school district did release a statement on the matter and it reads, "'At the time, a parent volunteer brought homemade jello to the celebration, which was later found to contain alcohol. Unfortunately, some students consumed the jello

Starting point is 00:12:18 before the situation was discovered. Staff acted immediately to address the situation, informing parents and working with law enforcement. We take this matter very seriously and we remain committed to the safety and the well-being of our students." They also said that she is not allowed to set foot on the school's campus, which I understand. I would also wonder what's happening with her child that's enrolled in the school. Surely they can't be suspended or expelled. It's not their fault. But then if she can't set foot on the campus,

Starting point is 00:12:45 how does the child get picked up from school? How does that work? I mean, it's just a very messy, messy situation. So we will see what happens and where this goes. Now this next case is very harrowing and I wanna give a little bit of a warning. It is very difficult to hear because this is the case that takes us to Florida

Starting point is 00:13:04 and it involves a little girl who was found wandering around with blood on her face. So this takes us back to Saturday, April 24th and some neighbors in Miami, Florida were very shocked to find this little three-year-old girl wandering around a building's parking lot. Not only wandering by herself, but her face was covered in blood.

Starting point is 00:13:23 Sadly, shortly after this little girl was found wandering around, her mother, 24-year-old Maria Camilla Garcia Molina, was discovered in her car, and her mother had been stabbed to death. Which that terrifies me, because if you really break that down for a moment and think about it, this three-year-old little girl was covered

Starting point is 00:13:41 in her mother's blood. Her mother was found stabbed to death in the car, meaning that this little girl was in the car with her and somehow was left unharmed, escaped, then went to go get help. We don't know the details and I'm going to get into more of this shortly, but terrifying, right? A terrifying moment. Now this all started because as I said before, the residents saw this little girl walking around the Twin Lakes apartment complex and had blood stains on her face and her clothing.

Starting point is 00:14:06 And this was around 4 p.m. One of the neighbors recognized this little girl luckily and then took her over to her grandmother, which the grandmother then flagged down a sheriff's deputy. So first, the police tried looking inside the apartment that they lived at, seeing if they could find her mother there. But she of course was not there. So then they went and searched the entire area and that's when they found Maria in her car. Now in a more unsettling detail and kind of gives us a little more color

Starting point is 00:14:32 as to what happened, there was blood visible on the passenger seat and Maria's body was wrapped in blankets and then placed on the floor of the car. She had stab wounds to her neck, her torso and her arms. And unfortunately she was pronounced dead at the scene. All of the car. She had stab wounds to her neck, her torso and her arms. And unfortunately she was pronounced dead at the scene. All of the residents at the apartment complex Twin Lakes were absolutely shocked to see

Starting point is 00:14:52 that Maria had been killed and killed in such a brutal way, which here are some of the residents speaking out just so you can get a sense of what that moment was like. All I know is that there was a bad girl on the side of my house, like, even six feet from my fence. And it's horrible. It's tragic. It's a shame that this young girl has to go through that and the family and now a little

Starting point is 00:15:14 girl is without a mom. So now they were left wondering who did this. And really, the only plausible eyewitness was this three-year-old little girl. So the police questioned the three-year-old, asking her what happened. And in what I think is just a really heartbreaking statement, she said her mother had been hit in the head and now she was sleeping.

Starting point is 00:15:33 She also said that the person who hurt her mother was somebody named Joy. Now, as soon as the daughter said this, family members told the police that the person that this little girl was referring to, this person, Joy, was actually a 29-year-old man named Joy Chandra Nath. And surprise, surprise, like we see in so many of these cases, Joy was Maria's very toxic ex-boyfriend. Joy and Maria had reportedly

Starting point is 00:15:59 been dating for about five months, and they broke up in November. However, after they broke up, Maria told the authorities that Joy was stalking her. She even received a temporary restraining order against him because she was really scared that this was going to get out of hand and that he would escalate to violence and turns out she was exactly right. In her petition for the restraining order, she talked about several examples of stalking too. One of those being one time she saw him hiding behind a trash can near her car. But when she saw him there, she quickly drove away. Another time, shortly after their breakup,

Starting point is 00:16:31 Joy apparently came into Maria's job bringing chocolates and flowers, trying to woo her, trying to win her over. Later, he said to her, quote, "'I left something on your car.' And not long later, she discovered an Apple AirTag device that was attached to her vehicle. And for those of you who, she discovered an Apple AirTag device that was attached to her vehicle. And for those of you who are unfamiliar

Starting point is 00:16:48 with an Apple AirTag device, it's like a little electronic coin. It's about the size of a quarter, and it's basically a GPS tracker. You can put them in your backpack, in your purse, in your luggage if you don't want it to get lost, and he had attached one to her vehicle. Then, literally the day before her death,

Starting point is 00:17:03 Joy allegedly followed Maria to a mall where she was spending time with her current boyfriend, just staking her out, watching all of her activities, seeing who she was with. He was there, stalking them, and reportedly even started a fight with her new boyfriend. Which this escalated really quickly, right? I mean, they only were dating for five months. So for him to become that dangerous, that unhinged and unbalanced, that's really scary. You don't know what somebody like that is capable of, right? She clearly was very scared and that's why she got the TRO. So the following day, Joy drove back to Maria's apartment complex and the police

Starting point is 00:17:39 stopped his car to question him. And originally, Joy admitted to the police that yeah, he did see Maria on the day of her death. But he said it's because he and Maria and Maria's three-year-old daughter all went to breakfast. Then they went off their separate ways. He says after they broke apart and like went on their separate ways, Maria's brother called Joy and told him that Maria was missing.

Starting point is 00:17:59 That's the whole reason he was coming back to her apartment to check on her. Which of course sounds like bullshit, right? Now not only did this story not really compute, but Joy also had visible scratches on his arms, his face and his neck. And we know that Maria had stab wounds to her chest, her torso, her arms, which if there are ever stab wounds to somebody's arms,

Starting point is 00:18:20 that's usually indicative of defensive wounds. So the fact that he too had scratches all over his face and neck and arms clearly shows that there was a struggle, right, that she was fighting back. So police then searched his car and inside of it, they found Maria's purse and cell phone. So they went through the phone, looking at the digital footprint.

Starting point is 00:18:38 And sure enough, it showed on the location that her phone was at her house, then it went to Joy's house, then it went back to the area where her body was found. So with that, there was absolutely no way that they could have gone their separate ways like Joy was telling the police. After all of that, Joy was arrested and charged

Starting point is 00:18:54 with second degree murder and child abuse. And as of right now, he remains behind bars with no bond because at his first arraignment on Monday, he was denied bail, which thank goodness, keep this guy locked up and throw away the key, right? Just because he didn't physically harm the three-year-old little girl, who's to say if he was out, he wouldn't,

Starting point is 00:19:13 if she was the only eyewitness and if she named him by name, certainly he may try to silence her, right? Which my heart, speaking of her, just breaks for not only Maria, but her three-year-old daughter, because this little girl not only has to grow up without a mother, but surely will have some sort of footprint left on her about the traumatic event of witnessing her mother's death and

Starting point is 00:19:35 then leaving and having blood on her. Hopefully memories aren't so good from when you're three years old. I know some of them do leave impressions even if you can't remember them and it just, you know, manifests in your body, but it's horrible. I know some of them do leave impressions even if you can't remember them and it just you know Manifests in your body, but it's horrible. It is absolutely horrible And Maria's mother this little girl's grandmother said that Maria was just so beautiful So hard-working and of course was taken from the world way too soon So I just hope that Maria gets justice and her family and her loved ones find a way to move forward with some kind of peace And I hope that we get more answers Maria gets justice and her family and her loved ones find a way to move forward with some kind of peace.

Starting point is 00:20:05 And I hope that we get more answers. I don't know if the reason the three-year-old was left unharmed was because maybe this guy has a soul somewhere and didn't want to kill an innocent toddler. Who knows if she got out of the car and that's why she was then on foot wandering around. We don't know all of those details. I imagine that we'll learn them as things progress in this case, but it's just so senseless and so scary because again they only dated for five months and he became this unhinged. So it makes you wonder who you're really dating and sleeping next to at night, right? And I guess you can never be too cautious.

Starting point is 00:20:41 cautious. Here at Ritual, we know that a mother's support isn't limited to one day a year, and we believe that yours shouldn't be either. So this Mother's Day, we're honoring the world's biggest supporters with science-backed daily rituals that center you not just today, but every day. Whether you're thinking about motherhood, actively trying, or already there, we've got you covered for when it matters most. From fertility support and natal-coline to our best-selling clinically-backed

Starting point is 00:21:14 prenatal multivitamin, know that you're getting clean, traceable key ingredients in bioavailable forms. Because let's be honest, you don't have time for guesswork. Find your ritual. Go to ritual.com slash podcast and for a limited time get 40% off your first month. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease based on net sales from industry data including

Starting point is 00:21:41 Nielsen IQ, Stackline, and numerator as of Q4 2024 and top 5 products. At Ritual, we're celebrating all moms this Mother's Day. Current and aspiring. So whether you're looking for fertility support, natal coline, or our best-selling clinically backed prenatal, we've got you covered. Find your Ritual. Go to ritual.com slash podcast, and for a limited time, get 40% off your first month. These statements have not been evaluated Next, I want to talk to you about this case that is breaking in Dallas right now, and it has gone completely viral for quite a few reasons, but let me break it down for you. And it really does start as an example of somebody being in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, the consequences of it are just heartbreaking. So on April 5th, this

Starting point is 00:22:45 beautiful 28-year-old woman named Ashley Long, long blonde hair, realtor, had her whole life ahead of her, was shot and killed in Dallas. Her family is now forced to say their goodbyes and laying Ashley to rest, but the whole thing happened over something that was so senseless. So Ashley was a successful real estate agent in the Houston area. And on April 5th, she went to Dallas for a networking event. So that night after this networking event, Ashley went out to a bar in downtown Dallas

Starting point is 00:23:14 with some friends, just drinking, having a fun night out, right? Then just after 2 a.m., she left the bar with a man. The two of them were walking across the street and the man that she was with kind of reached his arm out and he brushed his hand alongside the passenger side of a Mercedes car that was right there on, you know, the side of the road. But then out of nowhere, 34-year-old Kendrick Finch got out of this Mercedes and was holding a gun. The man that Ashley was with also pulled a gun out of Ashley's purse. I don't know if it was his gun or Ashley's gun. I'm not really

Starting point is 00:23:44 sure, but he pulled the gun out of Ashley's purse. And I'm assuming that they had some sort of altercation or some words were exchanged. It's not really detailed how it escalated so quickly, but Kendrick, the guy who got out of the Mercedes that this other man had, you know, brushed his hand against, started firing, shooting not only the man, but also shooting Ashley multiple times. The two of them were rushed to the hospital and the man that she was with was able to pull through and survive.

Starting point is 00:24:11 But unfortunately, Ashley was not able to make it. She passed away at the hospital. And police said that this entire incident was caught on security camera footage. Now Ashley's family was of course shocked and devastated because of what had happened, but also because it happened far away from all of them. So they just felt powerless, like there was nothing that they could do. Night out on the town and then being in the wrong place

Starting point is 00:24:33 at the wrong time. It was heartbreaking. Nothing I could do. I was so far away. It was just like I was in a nightmare. I couldn't wake up from it. She would have been there five minutes earlier, five minutes later, you know, things would be different. Now, authorities searched for the shooter for weeks, but they couldn't find him. Dallas police even put out a public statement on social media urging the public to come forward with any information that they had.

Starting point is 00:24:57 Then in a very interesting turn that we don't really see too often, the killer actually turned himself in. Kendrick turned himself into the police on April 18th and he admitted that he was the shooter who exited that Mercedes vehicle that night. So he's now being held in Dallas County Jail with his bond set at $500,000. He faces multiple murder charges. Now obviously, one thing that Ashley's family is really struggling with during this is that this was a completely random act of violence.

Starting point is 00:25:25 She was 100% just in the wrong place at the wrong time. One of the first words from the detective was if she would have been in a place five minutes before or five minutes after this would have never happened. It literally was a random act and that's what's so saddening. Ashley's family wants everybody to kind, joyful and very har very big dreams. And to r left pictures of her all

Starting point is 00:25:55 where she was killed and talk about her is absolu even text her because I' devastating. I can't even text her because I text her every night. You know, good night, love you, and that's gone. You've got Mother's Day, you've got Father's Day. We don't get to have that now. I love you and I miss you baby girl. I miss our time together. I miss hearing your voice. So I know that we all hope that Ashley is able to get justice and her family is able to find some closure from that. We will see what happens. What made this guy snap? Was he just pissed that somebody touched his car? Was there something else? Had he been in the bar earlier that night? It's going to be interesting to see if more information comes out and I'm sure more will start to surface.

Starting point is 00:26:39 Like I said, this case is going viral right now. Everybody's talking about it because people are trying to really make sense about it, even though it's one of those cases it's very difficult to make sense of. So we'll see what happens here. Now this next case is from 2023. However, there has been a major update in the sentencing and that's why I wanna talk with you guys about it today. So Chloe Copeland Anderson is a teenager from Nebraska.

Starting point is 00:27:02 She's 18 years old now, but she was 16 years old when this whole thing first went down. And basically what happened is that Chloe's parents called the police right after she gave birth saying that Chloe gave birth to a baby that wasn't breathing. So when the police got there, Chloe's father said that he believed that the baby was born as a stillborn and that it was too late, the baby couldn't be saved. Chloe's mom, however, said that Chloe was the killer, that she had murdered her baby on purpose. The responding officers immediately tried to find this baby

Starting point is 00:27:31 to perform first aid, but that is when they made a gruesome discovery. Through tears, her mother told the police that Chloe had quote, hurt him, and then she pointed out marks on the baby where the baby had been stabbed. And this is going to get a little bit graphic and remember we are talking about a baby here so I just want to give you a little bit of warning.

Starting point is 00:27:49 The baby boy was found in Chloe's bedroom. He was wrapped inside a towel and he had multiple stab wounds to his neck and on the left side of his chest. And even worse, his throat was completely slit. Both of the parents also told the officers that they witnessed Chloe take a knife from the kitchen earlier that day, and by the time the police were there, that knife was still missing. But then a little bit later, Chloe's father found this bloody knife apparently and it had been hidden in the back of Chloe's closet. It's just so vile and haunting

Starting point is 00:28:23 and it looks like it was definitely her plan from the very beginning to hide this entire thing, to secretly kill the baby and then not say a word. Although I don't understand how she thought that she was gonna pass this off as the baby being a stillborn when there were visible stab wounds to the baby and a slit throat on this infant.

Starting point is 00:28:41 Then, of course, finding the bloody knife in the closet. It's just so cold hearted and so demonic. That's the only word I really know to use to describe it. So Chloe was originally being tried on first degree murder charges, but her lawyers then decided to argue this, saying that she had been abused by her family members. And because of that,

Starting point is 00:28:59 it caused a lot of psychological trauma. They also said that she suffered from multiple mental health conditions. Her lawyers also said that Chloe was 15 years old when she got pregnant and the father was 19 years old. And that when a person who's 19 years old has sex with somebody who's 15 years old or younger, it is considered sexual assault in Nebraska.

Starting point is 00:29:19 In addition to that, her lawyers argued that her parents or her parental figures had never stepped up to help take care of Chloe. Which, don't get me wrong, I get that. That feels like a really shitty hand to have been dealt and a rough situation and I definitely don't condone a 19 year old having sex with a 15 year old. But sexual assault or not? That does not justify or excuse cold-blooded, premeditated, calculated murder of a child.

Starting point is 00:29:48 Certainly not. Certainly not. Not of anybody, but like, no less, your infant child, right? And I'm not saying again that she didn't have a rough childhood. I'm sure that she did. But I just don't think that there's any excuse for this. I mean, slitting a newborn baby's throat? Are you kidding me?

Starting point is 00:30:03 And your own baby? It's like, it's so, again, demented and demonic. She clearly was very callous in doing all this because, mind you, her parents were right downstairs the entire time. She could have taken this baby downstairs to her parents, dropped the baby off at a fire station,

Starting point is 00:30:18 done a million other things, rather than take a raw kitchen knife and slit her baby's throat and stab it multiple times. That is a different kind of person. That is something completely evil in my opinion. So that all went down. And then this past August of 2024, Chloe entered a deal with the prosecuting attorneys. She wouldn't plead guilty to first-degree murder, but she did agree to plead guilty to second-degree murder. And in exchange for this, the prosecution would drop the charges of child abuse resulting in death and the use of a deadly weapon.

Starting point is 00:30:51 In the state of Nebraska, second degree murder carries a sentence of anywhere from 20 years to life in prison. And last Thursday, Chloe was sentenced to 35 to 60 years in prison, which I personally think that it should have been life in prison, but I get it. She was really young at the time this happened, so maybe they're trying to take that into account that her frontal lobe wasn't fully formed or something like that. I don't really know, but it is disgusting and vile, and it's just such a very sad story because, again, she had multiple options, multiple things that she could have done, right? So aside from those new cases,

Starting point is 00:31:25 we also still are in the fourth rows of the Karen Reed retrial. I know a lot of you are interested in it, but some of you aren't. That's why I haven't been talking about the Karen Reed trial specifically here on Headline Highlights, but we have been doing a recap every single week on Friday

Starting point is 00:31:40 that's released right here on the podcast. And we do that because I know most of you don't have, you know, seven hours a day to watch trial footage. And so I wanted to do that so that you guys have a full recap going into the next week so that you're fully caught up. And so far this week, it has been pretty interesting. We have had cell phone experts testify. We have had information come to light that showed and proved

Starting point is 00:32:02 that John's phone could have in fact entered the house of 34 Fairview. A lot of things that are conflicting with prior testimony. So I'm going to give you guys that full rundown on the recap tomorrow. Check back for it. It's free. It's just an extra bonus episode in the feed. And we also have our correspondent who is there live attending these court dates, boots on the ground watching all of this unfold who is giving us a these court dates, boots on the ground watching all of this unfold who is giving us a first-hand account of what's going down during the week. And some of you may have listened to the recap already last week and I just want to give you guys a shout out for those of you who were supportive of Elena, our correspondent's

Starting point is 00:32:37 coverage. It was her very first time getting on the mic and giving any sort of actual professional correspondent type coverage in this way. So, it's still a muscle that she's trying to exercise. I think she did a great job, but I know that there was some feedback about how many times she paused or said um and little things like that that I think translate maybe differently on audio versus if you were watching the video version of it.

Starting point is 00:33:00 But again, I appreciate the supportive comments and everything is going to improve with time. We got her a new mic this week too, so I appreciate your patience as we work out any technical issues and audio issues and all of that. So that recap will be here first thing tomorrow morning. Other than that we also have our regular Friday bonus episodes that come out every Friday where it is a exclusive mini deep dive totally ad free too and you can get access to that either directly on Patreon, which is patreon.com slash Annie Elise, or on Apple podcasts on the Apple app. And don't forget merch, last call for merch,

Starting point is 00:33:33 AnnieElise.com and that is what I've got for you guys. So thank you guys so much for tuning in to another episode of Headline Highlights. I appreciate you guys being here. I'll be back with you with an all new mega deep dive this upcoming Monday, so check in for that. And other than that, just have a great weekend. Stay safe, be nice, don't kill people, be a good human, and that's all I got.

Starting point is 00:33:56 All right, guys, thank you so much, and until the next one, bye. you

SERIALously - 267: Parking Lot Horror, Teen Hides Dead Baby, & Jello Shot Scandal

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