SERIALously - 297: Teen Killed at House Party, Son Decapitates Father & Mushroom Murderer

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly with me, Annie Elise. And today we are going over headline highlights, everything that is going on this week in true crime. And we have a lot to talk about, which it feels like we do every single week, right? There is always a lot to go over. However, before we get into all of the topics and cases that we're going to be discussing today, I do just quickly at the top of this episode

Starting point is 00:00:49 want to mention what's going on in Texas. I'm sure so many of you have heard by now and it is just absolutely devastating. The floods, the disaster, the devastation, and of course what happened at Camp Mystic. So many counselors, so many campers losing their lives, many still missing. The death count is now well over 100 people

Starting point is 00:01:11 and it is just absolutely devastating what is happening there. So please, if you are there, know that our hearts and our prayers are with you. And if you feel as though you are called to help, you can help in person. There are a lot of opportunities. There are also different drives happening

Starting point is 00:01:28 where you can donate particular items that they're looking for. There's a huge list out there of available items that they need, and you can always donate financially as well. Again, no pressure to do so, but if you are being called to help, I will leave some resource links in the show notes below,

Starting point is 00:01:43 but please just keep everybody in your thoughts and prayers because it is absolutely devastating and just heartbreaking for everybody involved. Those who were so young and lost their lives, those who tried to intervene and help and lost their lives, the parents who are still looking for their missing campers and family members. It's just absolutely horrific. So I just wanted to speak out on that before we get into today's episode because it is a very important and very heavy topic. But also again, all of the resource links will be in the show notes below for you. Now moving into what we are going to be discussing true crime wise today. Like I said, we have a lot.

Starting point is 00:02:22 We have some case updates. We have some brand new cases that are like just out of this world insane. I can't even believe it's real and a lot to go over. So we're going to jump into this first case and it's one that I've been following for quite a while in Australia. along here and there because I have seen a couple requests or even you know DMs asking me what my take is on this case. So we now had a full-on conviction and let me just talk you through this case start to finish because it has to do with poison mushrooms, a woman, a triple homicide, and like finally now a conviction and it's again pretty wild. So this case, like I said, has received a lot of media attention in the past two years and it's definitely not for the faint of stomach because it was a case that gripped most of Australia and now it has finally come to a close. So it was July of 2023 in Leongatha, Australia and it all started when a 50-year-old woman named Erin Patterson invited her in-laws over

Starting point is 00:03:26 for a nice casual family lunch. At the time, Erin was estranged from her husband Simon. So even though he was invited, he didn't go to this family lunch. They were estranged, you know, not horribly bad blood, but enough to where he wasn't going to go. However, that being said, who did come over to Erin's house were Simon's parents, Gail and Dawn. And along with them was Gail's sister, Heather,

Starting point is 00:03:48 and Heather's husband, Ian. So it was the start of a beautiful picturesque little family luncheon, nothing major, right? Erin had two kids, but before everybody came over, she sent these two kids over to the movie theater for the day to get them out of the house, go see a movie. And according to Erin, she sent them out so that she could talk about a health problem. She told her family members that had come over that she had been diagnosed with cancer,

Starting point is 00:04:12 and she didn't know how to tell her kids. She was really struggling with it, which, of course, they felt for her. They were really trying to be there and support her. Even though she was estranged from their family member, her husband, they cared about her, and they certainly didn't want these kids to have to lose their mother, right? So they're talking about all of these things and then Erin serves the meal. And for the meal she served individual beef Wellington pies and then she had a little side of mashed potatoes with them. And very quickly each of the guests started just like chowing down on this meal. But then everything turned into a complete disaster because within hours, all of these guests

Starting point is 00:04:49 started getting extremely sick. They became nauseous, they started vomiting, they started having to these just like extreme, extreme stomach pains. And as it turns out, Aaron's wholesome, little, nice support system family luncheon was nothing like it seemed. And it was now turning deadly.

Starting point is 00:05:09 Aaron's guests had just unknowingly consumed death cap mushrooms, which death cap mushrooms, which are also known by the name and I'm probably going to butcher it as Amanila phalloids, causes liver and kidney failure. And like it says in the names, death cap mushrooms, it can also lead to death. Now, when you first hear of this case, you kind of step back for a moment. You're like, wait, what?

Starting point is 00:05:33 Why on earth would this person invite everybody over to lunch and then bake this death cap poisonous mushroom into everybody's meal? How the heck does that even happen? Is it an accident? Was it intentional? What was going on?

Starting point is 00:05:47 In any event, all four of the guests, the parents and the sister and her husband were rushed to the hospital. But unfortunately for most of them, it was too late. Gail, Dawn and Heather, the parents and the sister, all unfortunately died within days. Ian, the sister's husband, was however able to pull through, but in order to pull through he needed a liver transplant just to make it. So everybody was just

Starting point is 00:06:12 in shock and obviously completely heartbroken, and here are some members of the community talking about them. They were beautiful people. Dom was just a really lovely lovely blo bloke. And I miss him. I don't think there'd be any person in this town that wouldn't be feeling grief. It's not Midsomer Murders. This is, this is Curran Burrow. This is Real People's Lives. Now it started raising some major suspicions

Starting point is 00:06:36 that Aaron didn't really get sick and everybody else did, right? I mean, how can that happen? Three people die from this meal that you cooked, that you prepared, yet you were the only one who didn't get sick. It all was really, really fishy. But it was also only the very beginning.

Starting point is 00:06:53 So it also turns out that Erin had faked that entire cancer story, the whole diagnosis. She was never diagnosed with cancer. And you pair that with the fact too that Erin sent her kids out intentionally that day to the movie theater So they would be out of the house. Everything was starting to look very suspicious She also started having a lot of inconsistencies in her stories when she was speaking with the authorities

Starting point is 00:07:15 She claimed that she had never foraged for any mushrooms that these are the ones that she bought at some random grocery store They weren't like wild mushrooms or anything that she went and forged intentionally. But then when they asked her and pressed her, okay, well what grocery store we need to contact them to let them know that they have poisonous mushrooms that they're selling. She said that she couldn't remember which one it was, which I don't know how many grocery stores you're going to

Starting point is 00:07:39 that you don't remember or can't at least give a range of a couple of stores that maybe you shop at, but it of course, like I'm saying, is looking pretty shady. Then when the authorities went through her phone, they found evidence of Erin searching for death cap mushrooms, even visiting known growth sites just months before these deaths occurred. So it was clear at this point that Erin was lying about a lot of things, right? She also had tried to reset her phone multiple times after the deaths as if that was somehow going to wipe everything and get rid of her digital footprint, which we all know that ain't how it works. But you know, you can, I guess, try it. So all of these things are starting to surface, all of this information.

Starting point is 00:08:21 Then there was a food dehydrator that was found dumped in a landfill, and sure enough this had fingerprints on it. The food dehydrator also had traces of the poisonous mushrooms inside of it as well. But once again, when Erin was confronted with this information and pressed on this issue, she proceeded to tell the authorities that she never even owned a food dehydrator. Which if there's fingerprints on it, if there's also the death cap mushroom residue in it, I don't know. Maybe you got to get your story straight a little bit or think of a better lie. Just my opinion. So then when she was pressed more about why she was the one who didn't get sick, she told the investigators that it was because

Starting point is 00:09:00 she suffered from an eating disorder. She had told them that just before lunch, she fully had a binge moment on a cake and then she made herself sick because of it. So because of that, she also must have thrown up the poison along with it, which I know how that sounds, but at this point she was trying just about anything, okay? So throughout the whole investigation, she continuously said, you know, I love my in-laws, I love my sister-in-law, my parent-in-laws.

Starting point is 00:09:25 I would never, ever poison them, we're family, all of the things. She even claimed that she genuinely had no idea that these mushrooms were poisonous. Yet she did say that she did lie about the food dehydrator. But she said the only reason she lied about that is because she was nervous and she felt guilty that the meal that she had prepared had killed her family.

Starting point is 00:09:44 And here's an interview with Erin shortly after the deaths. Take a listen. Can you tell us what happened on Saturday? What happened on Saturday was devastating. It's a tragedy what's happened. Can you tell us about the meal that you cooked? what you thought? I'm so devastated by what's happened by the loss of Donnie. Don is still in hospital. The loss of Ian and Heather. They were some of the best people that I've ever met. Gail was like... Take your time. Gail was the mum that I didn't have because my mum passed away four years ago. And Gail's never been anything but good and kind to me. And Ian and Heather were some of the best people I've ever met.

Starting point is 00:10:35 They never did anything wrong to me. And I'm so devastated about what's happened. It's that I just can't fathom what has happened. I just can't fathom what has happened. Now at the end of the video, he tries to ask her about the mushrooms, yet she just ends up walking away completely crying. Take a listen. Police say you're a suspect.

Starting point is 00:10:54 Do you have anything to say about that? Yes, I say I didn't do anything. I loved them. That's what I have to say. Where did the mushrooms come from? Were they picked by you or where did they come from, Erin? Can you tell us? So as I'm sure you can understand, the evidence was overwhelming, and she just kind of kept on contradicting her own stories. So ultimately, Erin was arrested, and her trial, where she faced multiple murder charges,

Starting point is 00:11:27 along with attempted murder charges, lasted nine weeks in total. And it just finally came to a close. Erin pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, still maintaining that this was just a total complete accident, and that she never meant to ever hurt anyone. On the witness stand, Erin even told the jury

Starting point is 00:11:44 that the only reason that she even lied about the cancer to her family was because she was actually having weight loss surgery, but she was embarrassed to tell them and embarrassed to tell her children. So she decided to mask it with this fake cancer diagnosis, which look, I get it. Sometimes people wanna do things in private.

Starting point is 00:12:02 They don't wanna be super forthcoming with things like that. But also like, hello, we also live in a day and age right now where GLP ones are literally like sold on the street corner if you need it. And I only mean that meaning they're so accessible that like weight loss surgery, why would you need to have shame in that? Nobody should feel shame in anything that makes them feel better, but whatever she did. So that's why she says she lied about the cancer diagnosis.

Starting point is 00:12:25 She also said that there was a chance that she could have mixed in some mushrooms that she had picked in the forest with the mushrooms that she did buy at the grocery store, still having no idea that they were poisonous. Her legal team also talked about how Erin had no reason to kill her family. She had no money issues, she had a nice house,

Starting point is 00:12:42 she pretty much had full custody of her two children. Her kids were very close with their grandparents, so she would never wanna take that away from them. And the whole time that she was on the stand herself, she was described as calm, collected, just very even keeled. However, the prosecution pointed out some major facts during the trial.

Starting point is 00:13:01 In addition to the fact that Erin had sent her kids out of the house that day, that food dehydrator with the poison inside of it was dumped in a landfill. Clearly intentional and trying to dispose of evidence. Her phone also had evidence of her searching these poisonous mushrooms. The prosecution also pointed out that in the beef wellington recipe that Erin was using, there was absolutely no need to use mushrooms. So she would have had to add those on her own, which again, not often do you add different things that aren't called for in a recipe. I mean, I don't know, maybe

Starting point is 00:13:33 you do. Y'all know I don't really cook. But they didn't call for mushrooms, so she just chose to add those in on her own accord. And even though the prosecutors didn't point out a specific motive for these killings, they did talk about the strained relationship that Erin had with her estranged husband, Simon, saying that she had some frustrations in this estranged relationship about her in-laws from the past, that she was still carrying a little bit of resentment, things like that. So they told the jury too, that there were two sides to Erin.

Starting point is 00:14:03 One that she showed the outside world where she had a good relationship with her in-laws, but then she had this hidden face, this hidden one where she showed that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with them. So in the end, the jury found Erin guilty of all three charges of murder and with that additional charge of attempted murder. And right now she faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, but she is scheduled to be sentenced at a later date, a date that has not yet been set. But when you really break this whole thing down, and that's why I was so fascinated with it

Starting point is 00:14:34 from the beginning, it's kind of wild, right? I can't imagine how all of the family grapples with all of this and how the friends are feeling, because it's gotta be very surreal for everybody. Not very often do we hear of, I guess you could call her a family annihilator of sorts, right? Taking out the extended family, the in-laws, not the spouse themself or your children as a way of retaliating, but instead retaliating against your estranged partner by going after his family, your extended family.

Starting point is 00:15:06 I don't know, it's kind of surreal. And Simon was at the trial, but has not released any comments or statements so far. He has just asked for privacy and for respect of his family. But I am curious to know what you guys think of this case. Do you guys want a deep dive into it? I mean, there are a lot more details, a lot more text messages, family history, things like that.

Starting point is 00:15:25 So we certainly could do a deep dive. There is a lot of information. But also, I just kind of want to keep an eye on the sentencing too. And I want to know what you think. What do you think the motive was? Getting back at her estranged husband by proxy or what? Now let's move into this next case because this one actually took place on YouTube. Okay. And this case is just all around insane. So a 33 year old man named Justin Moan is currently facing some really crazy charges.

Starting point is 00:15:53 Justin was living in the Philadelphia suburbs and in January of 2024, he went out and had lunch with his parents, Denise and Michael. Justin was also living with his parents at the time, I should mention that. And honestly, he seemed to have a pretty good relationship with his parents. Kind of just seemed like an ordinary day, going out to lunch with his parents, they'd all return back home. However, hours later, everything was about to change. Something inside Justin must have snapped,

Starting point is 00:16:19 because without warning, he ended up murdering his father. He shot his father straight in the head, just in cold blood with this newly bought pistol that he had. And then after he shot his father in the head, he decapitated him with a kitchen knife and a machete, which I wish that that was the end of it guys, but it just gets crazier. Because after killing his father, he then decided he was going to upload a video to his YouTube channel called

Starting point is 00:16:47 Moan's Militia Call to Arms for American Patriots. Now, in this 14-minute YouTube video that he recorded and posted, he apparently said a bunch of things about the US government, specifically calling for the overthrow of the US government. Then during this video, he actually held up his father's decapitated head. He identified his dad by name, Michael Moan, and he told everybody that this person was his father. Now, Michael, his father,

Starting point is 00:17:16 was a semi-retired civil engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers, and Justin called him a 20-year federal employee who was, quote, according to him, a traitor. So in this YouTube video, after showing the decapitated head to the camera, he says directly to the lens, he's now in hell for eternity. He is now in hell for eternity as a traitor to his country. It is said that those who commit treason and betray others occupy the lowest pits of hell for all time.

Starting point is 00:17:46 I mean, this is just insane. Talk about no remorse, no trying to cover up your crime, but arguably proud of what you're doing. So much so that you're posting a 14 minute video showing your dead father's decapitated head and saying he's gonna rot in hell. It's insane. And the video was up for several hours

Starting point is 00:18:06 before YouTube eventually took it down. Now, Justin's mother had no idea at all what she was gonna be arriving home to that day. But as you can imagine, she was in pure and utter shock. When she got home, she found her husband's decapitated body just right there in the downstairs bathroom. And obviously she immediately called the police, which I cannot even imagine how terrified she must have been.

Starting point is 00:18:28 They had all just had fun together that day. Her husband, their son, they went to dinner and then she just walks into the house and finds his decapitated body in the downstairs bathroom. Like, what do you even do with that, right? So police responded to the house and sure enough, they did find Michael's remains in the bathroom. They also found the kitchen knife and the machete right inside the bathtub next to his body.

Starting point is 00:18:50 Now as for Michael's head, now that the video was done, his head was found in a plastic bag inside a cooking pot in one of the bedrooms. However, Justin at this point was nowhere to be found. It turns out that after the murder, Justin fled the scene with his pistol, with that handgun. He took his dad's car, which was a Toyota Corolla, and he just booked it, drove away, took off. Police did eventually end up finding him though, because they tracked his cell phone. And sure enough, they found him

Starting point is 00:19:17 at the National Guard Training Center. And get this, the prosecutors on this case believe that he went to this training center to try and convince the National Guard to rally against the government. I don't know if mental illness is at play here or what, but it seems like a pretty tall order. So the trial started on Monday, July 7th, and Justin is facing a lot of charges, including first degree murder, abuse of a corpse, possession of a weapon, and even terrorism-related charges. And from the looks of it all, Justin really does not seem to feel any type of remorse for this murder. Take a listen. I and a lot of other people around America believe that the federal government has betrayed America.

Starting point is 00:19:57 They're destroying the country, and we have to do something to take our country back. What does killing your father have to do with that? Well, he was a federal employee and betrayed me. I was trying to perform a citizen's arrest. He resisted that citizen's arrest. It's lawful to use deadly force in that event. Prosecutors on the case are saying that Justin callously used his father as propaganda

Starting point is 00:20:16 and used it just to make this huge, fully charged political statement and video, which I just cannot imagine somebody doing that to their own father And then posting a video and I know I keep saying that it's just it's so difficult to wrap my mind around it is so Unhinged on the first day of trial his mother Denise gave a very emotional testimony Talking about how her son how he changed after going and living in Colorado for a little bit Yet she said that even though he changed, she never expected anything like this would ever happen.

Starting point is 00:20:49 And my heart just goes out to her because the whole case is shocking and sad. But for her to lose her husband in such a gruesome way, to also effectively lose her son now this way, it's just another case of poor mental health. And unfortunately, somebody lost their life in such a brutal way because of it and at the hands of their own family member. It's extremely extremely disturbing. Okay so I have to tell you guys about something that I've been using lately

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Starting point is 00:23:06 I had summer Fridays where the office would close at one and give us like a longer weekend. I even implemented that now with my team here because I just feel like it's such a nice little perk and benefit to have, but workplace stress is real. And it's also one of the top causes of declining mental health with 61% of the global workforce experiencing higher

Starting point is 00:23:25 than normal levels of stress. And to battle that stress, I mean, let's be honest, most of us can't just like wave goodbye to work, but we can start small with a focus on wellness, whether that's sitting in the sun for a few minutes a day, going for a walk, maybe taking time to just focus on yourself, whether it's playing, you know, a puzzle game on your phone or watching a TV episode like me with Love Island and just these small little steps and vacation and summer is great, but it's not a long-term solution to that stress. It's basically like a band-aid.

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Starting point is 00:24:52 And our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com slash AE. That's better, H-E-L-P dot com slash AE. Now this next case that we're going to talk about has to do with a doctor and a child and someone who apparently thought that they were wise enough, smart enough, you know, intelligent and educated enough to possibly get away with murder. Dr. Neha Gupta was a pediatrician in Oklahoma, and she took a vacation with her four-year-old daughter. The two of them went to Miami for a nice little getaway, and it started out completely amazing.

Starting point is 00:25:34 A nice little vacation. On June 26, the day started out great. She and her daughter Aria spent the day at the beach. They rode jet skis together. They got home and had dinner around 9 p.m. and then they went to bed together in the master bedroom at around 1230 a.m. But then, at around 330 a.m., things took a very tragic turn. The mother called 911 saying that her daughter Aria was drowning in the pool.

Starting point is 00:26:00 Police and fire rescue arrived on the scene and when they got there, sure enough, they did find Aria unresponsive still in the pool. Which I have a lot of questions about that, right? Because first of all, why are you, I get it, it's vacation, but you're letting a four-year-old go to bed after midnight, that doesn't really sit well with me. Don't judge me, that's just my personal opinion. So maybe I shouldn't be judging you if you do that.

Starting point is 00:26:21 But also like calling the police at 3.30 in the morning, saying that she's in the pool and drowning, like why is your four-year-old daughter swimming at three in the morning? It makes no sense. It's a lot of red flags to me just at the jump. So anyway, the police arrive, they pull her out of the pool, and they immediately start giving this four-year-old CPR. They also of course rushed her to the hospital, but unfortunately Aria didn't make it and she died about an hour after her mother called 911. Which when you think of this at the surface, it is really sad.

Starting point is 00:26:49 The mother and daughter went on this family vacation together, but now she had to return after this vacation back home without her daughter. Now, how it all happened, I know I just threw out a lot of weird timestamps and things like that, so let me backtrack a little bit. How it happened is she had told the authorities that she heard a noise around 3 20 a.m. and when she heard that noise she ran out to the pool and she found Aria drowning. She also said that she didn't know how

Starting point is 00:27:15 to swim herself so she tried to save her herself for 10 minutes before finally then calling 911. Which everyone at the surface hearing this story was shocked and just felt terrible. I mean, this poor mother, right? What started out as this nice mother daughter vacation ended in her losing her daughter in such a tragic way. But we know there were some red flags there. So was everything exactly as it seemed?

Starting point is 00:27:40 And sure enough, as the investigator started taking a closer look into the case, there were certain things that started looking a little fishy. And here's what some of the community members thought. Just the fact of the time that this occurred, where the child was actually found, you know, it didn't sit right with me. A small kid drowning at 3, 3.30 in the morning. How could this have happened? Was it, I mean, did she suffer from sleepwalking?

Starting point is 00:28:08 After an autopsy was performed on Aria, they discovered that there actually was no water in her lungs, which for somebody who had just drowned and their death resulted because of that, that was definitely odd. There should have been water in the lungs. The medical examiner also said

Starting point is 00:28:24 that Aria's stomach was empty, which is really strange considering that her mother said that they ate dinner around 9 p.m. And as they were evaluating Aria's little body, what they did find was that she had injuries to her mouth and her cheeks, suggesting that she could have died from asphyxiation by smothering. The medical examiner also went on to say that this little girl most likely died before she was ever placed inside the pool. Which that's a bold allegation, right?

Starting point is 00:28:55 Because that's insinuating that this mother killed her own daughter and then tried to stage this. This well-respected pediatrician murdering her own four-year-old daughter. Now, even though the investigators were not able to find a specific motive, is there really ever a motive that makes sense when a parent tries to kill their child?

Starting point is 00:29:13 No. However, they did find out through all of this that Neha and Aria's father had been going through a very heated divorce, toxic even. Back in 2024, the judges had denied the mother's request to pursue sole custody of Aria. And they also ordered her to pay her ex-husband $79,000 in attorney fees.

Starting point is 00:29:34 She also had lost her job apparently as a pediatrician back in May of 2025. So that definitely now started raising some red flags for the investigators. But they still didn't have a lot of evidence. So they continued investigating for a few days. And when the authorities then had enough evidence to get a warrant, she had already returned back to Oklahoma.

Starting point is 00:29:54 So on July 1st, the Miami detectives flew to Oklahoma. And with the help of the US Marshals, they tracked her down and they arrested her. And she didn't deny the extradition back to Florida. So she is going to be facing trial in Miami. She's facing first degree murder charges and she's currently being held without bond until her flight to Miami. So far, a specific trial date has not yet been set

Starting point is 00:30:17 at the time of this recording, but her lawyer says that she is without a doubt innocent. He said, she is a caring and attentive mother, fully dedicated to her child. The idea that she could have harmed her child is completely inconsistent with her character and the life that she has led. This is a grieving mother facing unimaginable loss, not a criminal. We are confident the truth will emerge and when it does, it will show that she is innocent. So this is definitely a case that I'm going to be keeping an eye on because similarly to

Starting point is 00:30:45 the first case that we had talked about with like family annihilation and things like that, this and I'm not saying that is what happened, she hasn't been found guilty, but this is what traditionally fits that mold. Not the in-laws, not the extended family, but this where you are estranged or divorced from your partner, there's financial turmoil, there's custody disputes, and to do that, you try to retaliate and hurt them by getting rid of a child. Or if she lost her job and feeling like there was no way

Starting point is 00:31:15 she had any fight left in her to try to fight for sole custody, seeing this as her answer in some sort of demented way. So we're going to try to figure out what's going on here, okay? Now, this next case I wanna talk with you about is an update in a case that we covered about a year ago on my, I guess here, it was on the podcast, it was also on YouTube. I may resurface that episode if you haven't heard it,

Starting point is 00:31:40 but I also will link it in the show notes because if you haven't heard it, you need to. It is one of the wildest cases I have covered in recent years. And what I mean by wild is that I think it's so obvious what happened yet because of what the evidence suggests, yet there had been no arrests. It involves a teenager. He dies after going to this house party over the weekend. He's naked, but then his clothes are folded up

Starting point is 00:32:05 like nicely off to the side. It's so bizarre. And now I wanna talk with you about an update and I'll give you a little bit of backstory. So this September is coming up on two years since the very mysterious and tragic death of Noah Pressgrove. Like I said, I will link that deep dive for you,

Starting point is 00:32:21 but let me just give you a little bit of a backstory. If you don't remember Noah, here's the brief recap of what happened. It was September 4th, 2023. Noah was 19 years old and he was celebrating Labor Day weekend with his friends. After a night or I think it was actually a couple of days, maybe, but after a night of partying,

Starting point is 00:32:39 Noah ended up being found dead on the side of the highway in Oklahoma. And his remains were in very, very bad shape. He was found completely naked with nothing on but two mismatched shoes. Then near his body, there was a pair of shorts that was found, a metal chain, and some of his teeth and a clump of hair.

Starting point is 00:33:00 His death was listed as multiple blunt force injuries. But from what exactly? The whole thing was a mystery. He could have been hit by a car, but there was no vehicle. There was also no car debris nearby at all, indicating that there was any sort of collision. Now, before Noah went missing from this party, he was partying and drinking,

Starting point is 00:33:19 and then he went out, took a spin on an ATV through the woods. He then came back to the party, alive, after this drive on the ATV. And once he had returned back, he fought with his girlfriend. Right after that, he went missing for hours until finally his body was found on the side of the road. And like I said, there had been no arrests and no official suspects in this case, but the media went into a frenzy about the whole thing. Because again, in the deep dive, I talk more about the girlfriend, the friends that were fighting, a lot of like slapping and

Starting point is 00:33:50 Sharpies and just a very chaotic full party that extended over multiple days over Labor Day. And so once you go back and listen to that, I'd be curious to know what conclusions you come to on your own, especially about specific people involved and then specific family members after Noah's body was found who got involved. And that's all I'm going to say because it is still ongoing, but I want you to listen to that deep dive. And so now my whole point in bringing it up again today is because the case has taken a slight twist. Noah's parents have filed a new lawsuit, and it alleges that Noah was beaten to death by friends before he was found dead on the highway. His parents filed this wrongful death suit on Monday, June 23rd, 2025. Now, the police have

Starting point is 00:34:38 never said that they believed that Noah's death was a murder, but they also were never able to confirm what exactly led to Noah's death. So this lawsuit is the biggest allegation of who could be responsible in this case that has come out so far. The suit is seeking $75,000 in damages, and even though it doesn't list evidence for the claims, the family's lawyer has said

Starting point is 00:35:00 that they do have more evidence that they can share. Take a listen. You know, as for the responsibility, there's several people that we believe are liable for Noah's death. The medical examiner, you know, as you know, the blood alcohol level in Noah was extremely high. And that is directly related to his attendance at this party and directly related to people providing alcohol to a minor. If NOAA would not have been provided that alcohol, if NOAA would not have been in attendance at this party, it is very likely NOAA would still be here today and I wouldn't be on here discussing this matter with you. We feel very

Starting point is 00:35:37 confident that NOAA was not killed from a hit and run. When we look at the story so far, we see that this, as you mentioned in your intro, this was a multiple day party where alcohol was being provided. Throughout this multiple day party, we believe that two or more defendants entered into a conspiracy to beat NOAA. And then intentionally or accidentally, this beating resulted in Noah's death. And that's all within our filed petition that's public record through OSCN. So far the authorities have not given any new statements on the case, even with this new suit in action. But the new suit accuses seven different defendants and numerous other unnamed individuals and even a convenience store that allegedly provided alcohol for this party, where there were of course underage kids drinking, of being responsible and being

Starting point is 00:36:30 involved. The defendants include the kid whose house the party was at, Noah's best friend, a father who allegedly provided the ATV that Noah rode on, and many more. Now some believe that this lawsuit is a step toward closure and getting the truth out there, you know, fully transparent out on the table. But others who are involved in the suit are looking at this as like a Hail Mary

Starting point is 00:36:53 and a disappointment that doesn't really carry any truth to it. Which I just can't imagine what Noah's friends and families have gone through these past two years because just imagine seeing your 19 year old son who had his whole life ahead of him, go to this party and then never returned. Then on top of that, never having a clear answer

Starting point is 00:37:12 as to what happened, it's just devastating and absolutely heartbreaking. So I'm gonna link the deep dive and I also am gonna keep updates and see if this new lawsuit moves the needle on any charges, any suspects, anything like that. However, after you listen to that deep dive, I am very curious to know what you think and who you think is responsible because I definitely have my theories and ideas, which I share

Starting point is 00:37:35 in the episode too. And it kind of then not only who's involved, but then like who steps in after the fact and assists with potentially covering it up. I get it. We don't love conspiracies, but it's not really conspiracy when you hear everything. So again, I will link that. Anyways, thank you guys so much for tuning in to today's episode of Headline Highlights. As a reminder, we totally completely just revamped Patreon, giving you guys more perks than ever before. Ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, access to our 24-7 group chat where we're talking

Starting point is 00:38:06 all things true crime. I even just added a Love Island tab because I want to talk about Love Island in there. And there's giveaways, there's free gifts, there's discounts, there's tons of bonus content, access to over 100 extra exclusive episodes that you've never heard or watched before. So you can check all of that out and sign up at patreon.com slash Annie Elise. That is where the true crime club is meeting and where all of the bonus content is

Starting point is 00:38:34 and ad free content if you hate ads. All right guys, thank you so much for tuning in today. I will be back on the mic with you. First thing, Monday morning. And as a reminder, this week's Monday episode released on Tuesday because there was the embargo on it. It's the Idaho case. The new docu-series that is now released as of today called One Night in Idaho on Prime. I had access to it many weeks ago and I did a full episode deep dive on it, used audio clips from it, and that released on

Starting point is 00:39:02 Tuesday instead of Monday because there was an embargo on the screeners, but that's out now too. So if you missed the Monday episode, just go back in the feed and you'll see it now. And it's wild because new people are speaking out, new witnesses from that morning, new people who knew Brian, who saw him study, who saw him study Elliot Roger, his fascination with Elliot Roger, who is an infamous incel. And so we have, we go through everything in this episode. So make sure to go and take a listen. All right guys, thank you so much and I will be back with you very soon. Until the next one, be nice, don't kill people, don't join any cults, and just stay safe. Okay, bye.

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SERIALously - 297: Teen Killed at House Party, Son Decapitates Father & Mushroom Murderer

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