SERIALously - 416: Teen Marly Kinney Vanishes At Boat Party, Sisters Murder and Smile After & Influencer Found in Suitcase

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

A missing 19-year-old vanishes during a lake party before her body is discovered days later, raising difficult questions about what really happened on the water. Then, two sisters are accused of committing a brutal murder together—and their shocking behavior after the arrest leaves everyone stunned. Plus, the disturbing case of a popular influencer allegedly killed, hidden inside a suitcase, and the international manhunt that followed. .If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow the show for weekly deep dives into the darkest true crime cases! To watch the video version of this episode, head over to youtube.com/@annieelise. .🔎Join Our True Crime Club & Get Exclusive Content & Perks..🎧 Need More to Binge? Listen to both of my weekly true crime series 10 to Life & Serialously with Annie Elise wherever you get your podcasts on the Annie Elise Channel!🍎 Apple Podcasts | Where you can also unlock access to 100+ and growing extra exclusive deep dives.💚 Spotify🔴 YouTube🎙️ All Other Platforms.🚩 Announcements 🖤 Want more Annie? Check out our Summer deals on our Subscription plans today!🖤🔎 Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/annieelise🎙️ Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3WpfSP8.📸 Follow Annie on Socials Instagram: @_annieeliseTikTok: @_annieeliseSubstack: @annieeliseFacebook: @10toLife.⭐SponsorsWhatnot: Download Whatnot today and get $20 Off and free shipping on your first purchase..👗 Shop Annie’s Must-Haves! ShopMY: bit.ly/AnnieElise_ShopMy Amazon: bit.ly/AnnieElise_Amazon.🫵🏻 Get Involved or Recommend a CaseAbout Annie: www.annieelise.comFor Business Inquiries: [e-mail].📚 Episode Sources ABC 7 News | BBC News | Boston 25 News | CBS News | Facebook | GoFundMe | Metro | People | The Guardian | The Sun | Upper Michigan’s Source | WFSB | WKYT | KTVU | New York Post | YouTube••••••••••••••••••🚨Disclaimers1️⃣ Some links may be affiliate links, they do not cost you anything, but I make a small percentage from the sale. Thank you so much for watching and supporting me. 2️⃣ Sources used to collect this information include various public news sites, interviews, court documents, FB groups dedicated to the case, and various news channel segments. When quoting statements made by others, they are strictly alleged until confirmed otherwise. Please remember my videos are my independent opinion and to always do your own research. 3️⃣ The views and opinions expressed in this video are personal and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the creator(s). These views are subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time and are not to be held in perpetuity. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information on this video and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts.

Hey, true crime besties, welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialessly. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialessly with me, your host, Annie E. Lees, coming to you from New York, and I can't really do a big T-Up intro because you're on the screen the whole time. I'm right here. There's no surprise. So, hello, hello, hello. Can you just like show how close we are? It's like, hey, we're really close. No, welcome back. So happy Thursday. That means headline highlights today and there are so many cases to discuss, which I swear, I feel like I say that every single week, but it's because there are so many cases to discuss every single week. And there are certainly no shortage in cases

today or certainly is no shortage in cases today. Is our is? Is. Is? Yeah, is. Guys, you can already see I have brain rot. I'm on vacam mode. Just kidding. But still, you know, I'm here. I'm clocking in for duty. No, there is so much to talk about. But really quickly, before I get to the housekeeping of like case updates, I got to give a shout out. My girl, CJ, if you are listening right now, I want to tell you, it was so, so, so nice meeting you on Sunday. I love, I've told you guys this before. I love when people will come up to me in the wild and be like, oh my gosh, I listen or I have followed you for years. And, kind of a little bit of an embarrassing story on Sunday. We were recovering from Palm Tree Festival out here in New York. And my husband Jeremiah ordered a massive McDonald's delivery. And when I tell you massive, I'm talking handle bag, massive. It was heavy. It was very heavy. And CJ, she came through and we started chatting at the door. She recognized me. We were talking. She's like, oh my gosh, I've been listening to you for years. She met Amy. I want to apologize CJ as well. I didn't look my best that day.

I think I just woke up from a nap. Yeah, it was rough. And like, of course, in true Emmy fashion, as I'm in the doorway talking with CJ, she just walks up, grabs the McDonald's bag and, like, walks away. I'm all, okay, get out of my face. But yes, so nice meeting you. Thank you so much for listening with your daughter and for taking the time to chat with me that afternoon.

It was just, I loved getting to know you. And glad we got some pictures together too and just like, I love meeting you guys out in the wild. So shout out. to CJ and and please don't share my address since you obviously know where I'm at. Okay. Other housekeeping news. Okay.

Alex Murdoch. He had a hearing earlier this week and we all know that his double murder conviction was thrown out and that he's going to retrial and officially a retrial has been set for tentatively beginning on April 5th, 27. And there's not too much I want to go into this case on right out of the jump, but right off the jump. But like what I do want to say here is I'm confident that he will still be found guilty. However, I want to put that big however in there.

I am a little bit concerned only because I don't believe that they're allowed to bring in the financial crimes as much as they did in the last trial. I think there's going to be more, I don't know if I want to say, accusations or speculation brought up to create the reasonable doubt that Buster is the one who did this and that he's covering for his son. And so while I'm confident there will still be a conviction, I am a little bit, not nervous, but like apprehensive, like, oh, I could see where maybe there's like a thin line where maybe it won't happen. Yeah, which with Letitia Stalk, I think it's a no-brainer. I think that bitch is going down, down, down. And like, fat chance

you're ever going to be released. But there is something with him. I could see them weaseling their way out a little bit. They tend to always weasel their way out. Weasel is the best word to describe him in his face. Like, you're a weasel. Yes. And yeah, especially if they're not able to really like harp on the financial crimes as much,

this go around, I don't know. There's something that gives me a little bit of pause. But you guys tell me what you think. Now, in other housekeeping news and some good. good news that I think a lot of people are going to be happy about. We have an up, well, I shouldn't say some people will be happy, some won't. We do have an update in the McKenzie Shirilla case. And before I go any further, let me just say this, I hear you when you say, I'm so done talking about this trashy brat. Why are we bringing her name up? I get it. I hear you. We are leaving her behind,

but I do have some good news right now to share with you about her because it has, it's good news, and it has pretty much closed the door on her most recent appeal completely. So we talked a few weeks ago about how McKenzie and her team were asking to have the Ohio Supreme Court review her appeal after it had been rejected by the lower court for being filed a day late due to the, you know, quote unquote, miscalculation because of the leap year. And the appeal was based on the, quote, medical evidence that McKenzie had suffered from a preexisting medical condition that could have caused her to blackout while driving. However, so let me backtrack a little bit.

They filed it one day late. Rules are rules. If they made exceptions for everybody who filed a little bit late, it would create chaos. So I get that. However, because it was a leapier and it was only one day late, I think people thought, like, maybe there would be a way for her to also weasel her way in and get that appeal going. But now the Ohio Supreme Court has officially declined to hear the appeal, meaning they won't even take the case up for review.

Thank God. I know. Now, this is the second time that the Supreme Court has declined to hear her appeal, the first being back in May of 2025. So like I said, good news. This is yet again another major legal loss for McKenzie and her family. She's now had three appeals be rejected since she was first convicted. So as of now, she's going to continue serving her sentence of 15 years to life. And her first opportunity for parole is scheduled for 20. 2037. I mean, this girl doesn't do herself any favors. Well, I was just going to say that. I get the anger or annoyance, I should say, of people being like, stop talking about her case. She wants her 15 minutes of fame. We don't want to hear this girl anymore. We know she has no remorse. We know that she's an asshole, all of these things. However, she doesn't do herself any favors, yes, with all of these jail calls being released and all those things. Also, her parents did not do her any favors with doing the Netflix documentary. And I think that, not by continuing to talk about it now because the ritual, the appeal has been rejected, but leading up to that, it is important to put it out there as to who this girl truly is. There is no remorse. Here are her actions. Here are her parents' actions. Yeah, they're enablers because all of that goes and ties directly into somebody's character

when you're taking things into consideration and all of that. So now that that's been rejected, I feel like, adios, good written. We don't care about you at all. see ya never i mean she just needs to fly under the radar beyond her best behavior and like pray that when her parole hearing is there that she's like she's got 10 years 11 years turned a corner and hopefully she got 11 years to get her shit together yeah and just stop being like yeah stop being regina george so can you do what mackenzie can you stay off the phone i'm not going to hold my breath now in another quick before we get into all the cases another little housekeeping update this

one pisses me the hell off. And so I'm very angry about this. But this is related to another case that you have been following very closely with me for the last several months. And we just received the sentencing. And it's pretty disheartening, if I'm going to be honest. And I'm sure you'll be frustrated by this as well. But if you remember, we talked a couple weeks ago. And actually, we've been talking over the last couple of months intermittently, but we talked about Michaela Settles. She's the girl who moved from the Carolinas to California to live with her biological father to go to school and to, you know, have a California life only to then be sexually assaulted by her biological father for over four hours so badly that she had to be carried into the ER. And then she took her own life over it. And this scumbag, and I know it's enraging, but just for those who have not followed in, I'll link the deep dive into this.

Actually, did we do a deep dive? remember if I just talked about it on headline highlights or if we did a deep dive, but if you aren't familiar with this case, basically because she took her life, there wasn't any witness testimony to say that their exchange was not consensual, which is infuriating to hear like, yeah, it's her father. She is technically 18, so not a child, but still pretty much a child, right? But he was arguing that it was consensual, that they got drunk, all of these things. Meanwhile, hello, she had to be carried in by her uncle into the ER. She was so physically damaged by this and then so emotionally damaged that she took her own life. But my point is because she was no longer there to testify

against him, even though she did file the police report, the state just didn't believe that they had a strong enough case to pursue any sort of manslaughter or murder, anything excess or whatever it is. So all they were going to pursue were these incest charges and abuse. of a vulnerable person by a trusted adult. And so like, let me read what that means for him in terms of sentencing because we knew that based on now these minimal charges that he was only going to face, I believe it was like three years and then time on the registry. However, even though he faced up to three years, he could have only, there was a chance he

may only be sentenced to a few months or a year. And it's just, again, infuriating. And so now he has officially been sentenced and he's been sentenced. and he's been sentenced to one year in county jail, three years of probation, and he is going to be on the registry for the next 20 years. Now, this sentence was in exchange for him pleading guilty to felony incest and to misdemeanors for giving alcohol to a minor. Because remember, although she was 18, she was not 21. He also admitted to abusing a position of trust and that Michaela was particularly, vulnerable. Now, prosecutors had asked for that maximum sentence of three years in state prison,

but the judge, I guess, just decided ultimately that because of Stephen's lack of criminal history, one year would suffice. That's disgusting. It is. And he was in, I believe he was an electrician, if I'm remembering correctly, meaning he was like going in and out of houses, which, hello, this guy's a predator. Now that he's on the registry, I know you're not allowed to go to schools and parks and things like that. I would imagine he's not allowed to go into any sort of houses. Well, since he pled guilty to a felony, I think usually you have to disclose that on an application. That's true. Yeah. So I mean, at least he won't be in a position to pray on people as easily. And I say that as easily. He still is certainly going to be able to pray on people because

he is going to be out in a year, probably even less, because, hello, let's talk about California, overpopulated. People end up serving a couple weeks or a couple months. And they're letting the creepiest of the creepy guys out. Like not saying this guy isn't one of those, but like, they're letting serial killers and serial abusers out, saying that like, oh, they age out of it at 60 years old, which that's a whole other fucking argument I could go into on another day and why the system is so broken. But this is incredibly frustrating. It's like, oh, you get to rape your daughter for four hours straight, she takes her own life and you get a slap on the wrist. Well, even if your argument is it's consensual, which it's not and that's irrelevant,

but she was so injured and it's your own daughter that I can't imagine that those two things didn't equal more than a year. No, it's unbelievable. And like, hi, I'm just going to say, like, felony incest is a crime for a reason. And I am so safe. of talking about these incest cases, which I feel like are just like up, up, up, like there's so many. And it's like, stop having sex with your family. Like, is that the new tag? Like, is it really that hard to go? Well, it must be some sort of a like. It's like a control thing. Yeah, it's sick.

But I also was like thinking hopefully or I was hopeful that the uncle would break and like that the father would have confided in the uncle. If the uncle was the one carrying her into the hospital, to like in a moment of weakness say what had happened and that he would then come forward. I know. It's, it's one of those cases that just like you lose sleep at night over it. So the Ventura County District Attorney's Office later released a statement saying, of course, they were very disappointed with this outcome and that a prison sentence, not county jail,

which is what he was sentenced to, but a prison sentence was the only punishment that truly reflected how serious this crime was and also reflected the devastating impact that it had on Michaela and her family. During the hearing, several of Michaela's loved ones also addressed the court, asking the judge to impose the maximum sentence. But as we know, those requests were ultimately denied. And my heart breaks for Michaela's mother all the way from that first moment of getting that phone call from Michaela, flying out to California, seeing her, trying to repair the emotional damage when you brought her back home and then to lose her. It's just not that I would ever advocate for vigilante justice.

But this is one of those moments where as a mother, I don't even know how you would restrain yourself from going after this creep. Well, and that's, I was thinking, you know, there's no way in hell. He's going to be able to enter society when he's out of prison. And anyone is going to, I hope. that they... Right. I don't know.

There's a lot of freaks out there. They take care of things. Well, the good news is that, yeah, prison justice is a real thing. However, county jail justice sometimes is a little bit different. There's different restrictions in terms of like when you're like socializing. And it's just like it's not as hardened criminals in county jail usually, which is kind of, I think, why the prosecutor's office is or the district attorney's office is so angry because they're like, high, the severity of this crime, he belongs in prison.

with these like-minded offenders, whereas he's going to county jail where people go when they get a DUI, which it's like, DUIs are obviously serious and dangerous and like take lives too, yes, but like that's not necessarily someone who is going to attack him.

I think it's the community of dads when he gets out. Yeah. That are like, you're not coming around our kids. You're not coming around our families. Yeah. Shun for life. He disappears.

Whatever. Disappears. Yes. Dispheres. is under my driveway slab. No, I'm just kidding. It is what it is. It is what it is.

Actually, I shouldn't have said that because the story you're about to talk about is about sisters who kill together. Well, I know. No, I know. When I was reading, I was like, oh. So maybe we shouldn't joke about murdering together because people will take us seriously. Well, you guys have probably seen this one all over social media because the last few days it's kind of what everyone's talking about.

You saw it, right? It's the two sisters that were smiling. I don't know all the details, but I saw it and I saw that it happened at like a sonic drive-thru. Yes. In the middle of the day. Well, yeah. So it's not just super crazy because of what happened, basically in broad daylight in a very small town out inside of Texas, right actually close to the border of Mexico. But what has everybody talking is actually the videos that surfaced after the police made the arrests.

Authorities say that three women, including two sisters, were identified and taken into. custody within just a couple of hours. But even though investigators were able to arrest them quickly, the biggest question is why. And they still don't really have any answers as to why. So this all happened in the afternoon of June 25th in Del Rio, Texas, around 2.10 p.m. when officers were called to Valverde Regional Medical Center after a woman by the name of Caroline was brought in with multiple stab wounds. She had been attacked in broad daylight and, was stabbed twice in the back and once in her side. And one of those stab wounds had actually punctured Caroline's lung.

And because of how severe these injuries were, she was airlifted to a hospital in San Antonio for emergency treatment. But sadly, despite all of the doctor's efforts, 32-year-old Caroline Pena died later that evening just after 9 p.m. So police pretty quickly learned that the attack happened about five minutes away at an intersection near the local sonic drive-in. And so from there, they immediately started reviewing all of the surveillance footage and interviewing witnesses that might have been in the area. And it only took two hours for them to identify the three

suspects. So around 4 p.m., officers arrested 21-year-old Kitty Mia Diaz and her 19-year-old sister, Amaya Cookie Diaz. And then shortly after, they arrested their 21-year-old friend, Khyandra Renee Faz. So after Caroline died from her injuries later that, night, all three women were formally charged with murder, and they're being held as the investigation continues, and police say there could be additional charges that are possible because they still don't have all the answers. Yeah, like, were they stalking her? Were they following her? Was it road rage? They have no idea. And investigators haven't released any type of answers or any context that led up to the confrontation, or if the girls even knew each other. And her loved one,

are also trying to make sense of what happened and trying to make sure that the public just really knows who Caroline was and that she was a twin, a mother to five kids, and someone they said would absolutely do anything for anyone that she loved. She was just an amazing person and took such great care of her children and two of her children have autism and now all five are left without their mom.

It's so sad. It's so sad. She was described as someone who greeted everyone with the biggest smile and hug, no matter how much time had passed. They say that she was fiercely protective of her family and would give someone her last dollar without even thinking twice. One of Caroline's close friends, Christina, said the two had just spent the evening together the night before cooking with Caroline's daughter.

Then just minutes before the attack, Caroline had called her, but Christina had missed the call. And Christina feels like, of course, as we all would. Like, had I been able to get that call? Could I have done something? And then later that afternoon, she came across a photo that was circulating across a Facebook page

showing a woman covered in blood. She said, her hair was in the same bun. That's all I needed to see. I knew it was her right off the bat. I have the chills. Can you imagine that's how you're notified and then you see her in a photo?

And you're like, oh my God. And like that's how you find it. I have the chills right now. Like I just saw her. Oh, my God. She also said that after being stabbed, Caroline was still standing her ground and fighting through the attack. Yeah, she was going down without a fight, which, I mean, I know we don't know a motive yet, but it's also crazy to think, like, these three girls, 19 to 21 years old. Like young girls. Yeah, young girls. Maybe they knew she knew her somehow, maybe not. But like, what would motivate these young girls, not only to attack someone, but like attack a 32-year-old woman in broad daylight? So I have a theory. I don't know.

know. I'm just a guess. To me, it kind of sounds a little bit potentially, like gang-related maybe. Okay. I don't know. I'm just thinking like three girls. It's on the border near Mexico. Okay. And I'm just thinking three girls, it's like a gang. I mean, it's a big task, three-on-one. And like if she is somebody they didn't know and it's unplanned, it's like, was it this, I don't know what gang you call it, like a challenge or like whatever they have to do. possibly and maybe that's why they were smiling after yeah like it was like an accomplishment or something yeah so then came the video arrests which these are and this is what is so viral because there isn't a lot of audio in this video so if you want to watch it head over to the video version on youtube but it's

disgusting and chilling and you actually can see one of the girls like flash a peace sign at the camera when she's walking out she's smiling and then she's all stop recording or says something like that And they're in these little booty shorts and she has that shirt that has like hands on her chest. And I'm like, who are these trash girls? Yeah. Yeah. Let's play that video. So within hours, these videos had spread all over TikTok, as you can imagine, Facebook, Instagram, all over social media, pretty much everywhere.

And people have just been flooding the comments saying they were shocked by the whole thing. And a lot of people described the sisters as smiling, joking and just cold. and it was unsettling, completely disconnected from this obviously incredibly serious crime that they're facing. So like I said, police haven't said what actually led to the attack. So we don't know that yet. They haven't said whether Caroline knows these three suspects or what may have caused the violence. But the investigation is still continuing. So as more court documents become public, hopefully we'll get some answers.

The gang initiation theory is an interesting one because, yeah, it will be interesting to know if they knew her or yeah if there was I would imagine if they collected all the surveillance they would have identified if it was a road rage incident or something like that at this point which it doesn't sound like but it's like these kinds of crimes the only word you can even use to describe it is senseless like you ripped this mother away from her five children you she had her whole she was 32 years old had her whole life ahead of her cooking with her daughter yeah and you're just like laughing about it after well that's what kind of made me think potentially a gang thing because it's like I think they weren't shocked that they were caught.

Obviously, they did it in a way where they weren't trying to conceal it. There wasn't any type of messaging or any obvious friends coming forward saying, there was a rivalry or there was some sort of argument that led up to this crime of passion or wherever where they're going intentionally to hurt this person. Well, and who knows, maybe by the time this episode releases, there will be more information out there. but yeah, as of right now, not much. Okay, so this next case is from Connecticut, and it actually first happened back in March,

but there has been a very significant update, and we haven't talked about this case before, so I want to, like, take it back and walk you through everything. So a young woman had been found dead at the bottom of a staircase, and at first, investigators weren't really saying much beyond the fact that her death was, yes, a little bit suspicious. However, as they began digging into what happened inside, the home where she was found, the evidence started pointing to something very, very dark.

So again, back on March 29th, police were called to a home in Burlington, Connecticut. After 28-year-old Cole Warhans' father called 911, in this 911 call, he said that his son had told him that his girlfriend had fallen down the stairs and that she needed medical attention. Now, when first responders arrived, they found 26-year-old Janina Brooke Murphy dead inside the home after what appeared to be this fall down the stairs. Now at the time, as I said, her death was labeled as suspicious, but the investigators needed to spend some time investigating it, piecing things together. And they spent the next three months really trying to put the puzzle pieces together to figure out what had happened. As they were investigating everything, Cole had told the

detectives that he and Brooke had been drinking, they had been smoking marijuana together, and he claimed that he woke up after Brooke had found old deleted text messages between him and two women. When she saw these text messages of him talking to other women, according to him, she became so enraged that she started hitting her own head against the wall. Then, threw her body down the stairs. Just almost one of those things like, if I can't have you, no one can, or like, but doing it to herself and self-harm trying to get him to pay attention to her, all of these things that Cole was saying to the detectives. He said that he then carried her into the living room after she threw herself down the stairs, where in the living

room she was apparently still alive, still trying to breathe. He said that he didn't know what to do, so he called his parents, and that's when his dad called 911. However, as the investigators were building the case behind the scenes after Cole admitted all of this, an autopsy was performed on Brooke. And on June 23rd, the medical examiner officially ruled Brooke's death as a homicide, not as an accidental fall down the stairs. And while yes, he did say she was banging her own head against the wall, they ruled the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head. So that same day, Cole was arrested and he was charged with her murder.

Because investigators say that Cole's version of events and what really happened inside that house are two very different stories. According to court documents, police found blood in several rooms throughout the house. including the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, the hallway, the living room, the staircase, and also outside on the deck and the driveway. So not just right here, begging my head against the wall, throwing myself down the stairs, but blood all throughout the house, which you could argue, it was blood that was transferred to him as he's panicking. He's walking through the house. No way. It's a lot. Brooke also was found lying under a blanket in the living room with visible injuries

to her face, arms, and legs. Her phone also was found with a smashed screen. The autopsy also reported multiple bruises in all different stages of healing, suggesting that some of these injuries had possibly occurred before the night that she died, that she was in this ongoing abusive relationship. And then, as investigators dug deeper,

they also started to hear from the other women. Prosecutors say that Cole currently has several pending domestic dispute cases with several different women. And his arrest warrant shows that the allegations against him date all the way back 10 years, back to 2017, so nine years, but almost 10 years. So there you go. Yeah. History, pattern. Ski-y guy. Several women who met Cole through dating apps have described having relationships with him that allegedly became controlling and violent. Some say he physically assaulted them, that he strangled them, held them against their will. and even gave them death threats.

One woman told investigators that she believed that if she had gone back to him, she would, quote, end up dead. And then another woman came forward after Brooke's death, and she told the police that she just felt like she could not stay silent anymore. Now, Brooks' mom, Beth, said that her daughter had only recently moved in with Cole when all of this happened. The two of them were supposed to come and visit for Easter weekend so that she could finally meet him because she hadn't met him yet,

But instead, she got a phone call from the detectives telling her that Brooke, quote, didn't just fall down the stairs. Now, Cole has pleaded not guilty and he's being held on a $5 million bond while the case moves forward. But many of the domestic dispute allegations against him are still pending, and the investigators are continuing to look into whether they show a pattern leading up to Brooke's death. Because I do think, although it seems like the writing is on the wall, the pattern and the history is what's going to really come into play here because I could see a very good defense attorney saying the blunt force trauma was from her hitting her own head. The bruises and injuries on her arms and legs are from the fall down the stairs. The smashed phone screen happened from the fall down the stairs or she smashed it herself.

The blood in all the different rooms is because he had picked her up, carried her to the living room. It transferred. Then he went outside to greet EMS and that's why I got on the deck. Like I could see that, but what's going to seal the deal, assuming that he is guilty, innocent and proven guilty. I'm trying to be better about that, guys. What will seal the deal is the pattern establishing history and determining if those old bruises were inflicted once you get expert testimony in. If it appears that she would, yeah, was she in an ongoing abusive relationship?

Well, I have a few thoughts. number one, I think to your point, 100% the pattern. And it just speaks to why it's so important to report things, even if you don't feel like it matters. And unfortunately, if it doesn't rule in your favor and we've seen how those things go unfairly all the time, but at least there's then a record of it. So if it happens again, and so like, thank God for that. But then also, you know, you hear of these toxic relationships and like I've seen or heard. like, you know, you're frustrated, you hit your head on the, whatever, like, not me. But, you know, I haven't heard it.

Like kids, you maybe like throw a tantrum and they're like, I'm so, you know, I don't know. Yeah. But when there's like some mental health in way. But when there's blood gushing out, you're not doing that because usually I think people do that for like attention and as like a coping in the moment. It's not something where you're starting to injure yourself to the point of like blood flying everywhere and you've got scrapes on your face. Yeah.

I mean, that doesn't sound. at all likely. I also have to say, like, is it easy? And this might be a really ignorant question. Is it easy to throw yourself down the stairs? No, but what I kind of see is like, imagine like if there, if the source of this argument was text messages. So that was actually what I was going to say next.

Once we have more information about the text messages and things coming out, I wonder if he found messages on her phone. Right. Or the way around. But they're fighting. They're grabbing the phone. They're at the top of the stairs and the land. landing and then somebody falls.

So it could have been like accidental. Obviously there's signs of abuse. But not her being like, I hate you. I'm going to throw myself down. No, no. You know what? I don't trust him. Innocent until proven guilty.

I don't think so. But guilty in my eyes. But guilty to us. Yeah. You guys know I absolutely love finding a good deal. I get way too excited when I find something amazing without paying full price. And I have to just tell you, I am the queen of internet hunting, reverse image searching, all the things to where it's like I'm finding it at the lowest price possible. But lately, one of my

favorite places to shop has been whatnot. I've told you about them before. My, I guess you would call him brother-in-law, brother-in-law in law, whatever. He introduced it to me back on Christmas Eve. And it's actually the largest live shopping marketplace in the United States. And it's such a different experience than just scrolling through a regular shopping app. What's cool about it is you're shopping live with real people, which makes it so much more interactive. and honestly, a lot of fun. You're like seeing these people show the products. You can ask questions.

They'll zoom in on things. And it's just very interactive. And like I said, one thing I really love is that the sellers actually will show you everything up close while they are live. So you can see the stitching, the details, the quality. And if you're looking at a handbag or a piece of clothing, they'll zoom in right on there. They'll explain the sizing, the condition. They'll answer your questions in real time.

So it makes you feel so much more confident about what you're buying. And honestly, the deals are in crazy. I almost never pay full price. I recently had picked up some brand new Lulu Lemon loungeware for literally under $30 when I had seen it listed elsewhere for hundreds of dollars. And it just felt like such a win. So I also loved being able to chat with the seller while I was shopping. If you love fashion, beauty, handbags, jewelry, or honestly just love discovering great products without paying full price, I definitely would recommend checking it out. Even just download it and browse and like see what it's all about. Download What Not today and get $20 off and free shipping on your first

purchase. Search What Not W-H-A-T-N-O-T in the app store, sign up and start finding the best deals on the products you love with $20 off and free shipping on your first purchase. All right, this next case is one that just keeps getting more and more disturbing with every detail that's released because what started as a missed checkout at a luxury apartment quickly turned into a homicide investigation spanning through multiple countries. I know. So 36-year-old Natalia Vialba, a Colombian model and influencer, had been staying at a luxury short-term apartment in an upscale bagata neighborhood since June 3rd.

She was scheduled to check out on June 21st, but when she never did and no one could get in touch with her, staff became very concerned. And the next day, when a cleaner went into the apartment to clean it, expecting to prepare it for the next guest, that's when they walked in and found something that was just straight out of a horror movie. According to authorities, Natalia's body had been stuffed inside of a suitcase, which had then been placed in the shower with the water running. Okay, what was the grand plan here? That's kind of, I was confused. Obviously, well, we'll get into it. But the water running to me, I'm like, I don't understand they're in the suitcase with the water running. What is that going to do?

To wash away evidence, but also like, why you're in the suitcase? case in the shower. Yeah. Keep going, what? So a homicide investigation was started immediately, and according to Columbia's Attorney General's office, investigators found evidence in the apartment that ultimately did point them to a suspect. The suspect was identified as 46-year-old British man named Matthew Foster Smith.

And according to Columbia prosecutors, Matthew had entered Natalia's apartment on June 18th while she was alone, beat her, sealed her body inside the suitcase before attempting to stage the scene to hide what had happened. Okay. Hold on. That's not how you stage you see in my name. I know. Like, okay. Well, just wait. Okay. He didn't get very far. Yeah. He then left Columbia soon after. So authorities quickly issued an arrest warrant and asked Interpol to issue a red notice to help find him, turning this into an international search. So authorities in Colombia, Ecuador, and the UK were all working together

to track Matthew down. And just days later, he was arrested in Keto International Airport in Ecuador, where investigators say he was actually getting ready to board a flight back to the UK. He was charged with aggravated femicide and tampering with evidence. Now, I had never heard femicide. Have you? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So I didn't know that there was actually a specific crime, which for those of you that might not know, maybe I'm the only one that didn't know, it's a homicide, but that's intentionally towards female.

Yeah, it's not just like if you happen to kill a female. It's like if you have a hate... You kill them because they're a woman. And it's like proven that it was based on gender. Yes. I had no idea about that. Yeah.

Wild. That is wild. And Matthew knew this was coming because just hours before his arrest, he was giving interviews, and this is what's bizarre. Oh my God. He was giving interviews to media outlets

denying involvement with Natalia's death. He claimed that he'd been watching England's World Cup match at an Irish pub before spending the rest of the day walking through a shopping center, buying an ice cream, and returning later to watch more games. He also claimed, get this, that he had been receiving death threats over an unpaid debt. So, few things. Why are media outlets even coming up to him before his arrest? Like, how did they know that they were searching for him?

So they obviously, it was public knowledge at that point. Yeah. And so he's being interviewed by outlets, but they're still searching for him. That's what I was kind of confused about. Yeah, maybe they still couldn't find him kind of like even when Caitlin Armstrong went on the run. But yeah, if he's giving interviews, it's like, hello, obviously you know the location he's at. Maybe there's something weird with that. But the fact that he's bringing up the unpaid debt, that's what struck me as on.

I'm like, oh, so are you going to say that somebody was going after you, but I killed her instead? Yeah, because that's what I'm thinking. I'm like, okay, your alibi, you went to a game, you got an ice cream, you're shopping. I would imagine there's plenty of cameras around. There are witnesses. There's receipts. What's the score? Tell us the details of the game.

So I feel like you could probably check out that alibi, but what's this unpaid debt? I feel like that's bullshit. So after the announcement of his arrest, people started really, as you could imagine, digging into Matthew's criminal history. So here it is, guys. Court records show that he had only recently been released from, from prison in the UK after serving more than two years for stalking offenses. And there you go.

There's the pattern. And even after his release, he was still under a court-ordered stalking prevention order that prohibited him from contacting any of his previous victims. It also required him to make regular check-ins to report his address and vehicle information to the police so that they could obviously keep an eye on him and placed also restrictions on his electronics. So I'm like, is that why he then went to another country because he was so tightly monitored in the UK?

Investigators haven't publicly explained how Matthew and Natalia knew each other or what possibly led up to this attack. But officials in Columbia are very clear that they are going to pursue justice. And the city mayor has even gone on to say that this painful case will not go unpunished, which that feels good that they're taking it seriously. But yeah, I'm curious to know if they knew each other or did he follow her. And as someone who does solo traveling and sometimes wants to like cut costs, you get an Airbnb. It's like those are kind of the reasons I don't because I like the idea of being in a hotel even though things happen everywhere.

Yeah. But was he watching her? Because she was saying there since June 3rd and this happened on the 18th. So that's two weeks. And if he's a stalker, was he watching her? Maybe she was at the pub watching the game too and he followed her home. Who knows? But this is actually, I don't know the details.

This is the second suitcase case I've heard about in the last few days. There was another one with an Australian man. And I believe, did he kill a 17-year-old girl? And put her in a suitcase and they ended up arresting him as well after he. Maybe she wasn't 17. Again, I don't know the details. You guys probably know more than I do. But these are back-to-back happening.

I'm like, what in the Sarah Boone is going on here? Why are people using suitcases? I don't know. So this next case that we're going to be talking. about is one that I know so many of you have been following. We have been following it internally very, very closely. It is so sad and devastating. And I got to say, pretty shady. Pretty freaking shady. So this next case out of Kentucky basically had everybody glued to their phones for days, looking on social media, scrolling for updates, hoping for a miracle. And what makes this

one, especially heartbreaking, isn't just the fact that 19-year-old Marley Kinney vanished without a trace after spending the day at the lake, or I should say while spending the day at the lake, but it's that her family had documented the search in real time. So as they were getting updates, they were sharing them on social media before any official announcements were being made. And like, everybody was just collectively following this case together. So let me break down what happened, where the red flags are and where things stand as of now at the time of this recording. So on Wednesday, June 24th, 19-year-old Marley had spent the day on Grayson Lake with a group of her friends. They had rented a pontoon boat. They went out on the lake. It's summertime,

having fun, doing their thing. Now, according to early reports, the group had stopped right along the shoreline so that Marley could hop off the boat and use the bathroom. There was some mixed messaging too that she hopped off the boat and used the bathroom in the water, you know, just peeing in the lake. Then some people saying she hopped onto the actual land to like coppa squat, different reports. But however, the point is after some time, allegedly, according to the report, early on, everyone got back on board of the pontoon boat and then headed back out onto the lake. But then they realized that Marley was no longer with them. The problem was, nobody could say exactly where she was or where she had last been seen.

So after everybody realized that Marley was missing, authorities were notified around 4 p.m. that afternoon. According to investigators, 23-year-old Cameron Conley, the man who was operating this pontoon boat, told the marina staff that nobody could find her. When Kentucky State Police arrived, they then began speaking with Cameron about what had happened. And according to police, they immediately noticed signs that he had been drinking,

which I get not a big surprise. I think like kids who are renting a pontoon boat going out on a lake, you expect there to be drinking. You hope that whoever is operating the boat is not under the influence, but you would expect people to like be drinking beer, listening to music. I mean, my first question was, is they're drinking? But then I'm like, obviously there will be. So the investigators reported smelling alcohol on him and also saying that he had bloodshot eyes.

So I mean, he was intoxicated. So they asked him if he had been drinking. drinking, and Cameron allegedly said that he had been drinking, and he agreed to take a breathalyzer test. Now, the results came back. The results were a 0.137%, which is well above the legal limit of a 0.08%, which that's for operating any kind of vehicle, boat, car, fucking scooter, I don't know, you name it. So he was clearly wasted. Then, by about 530 that evening, Cameron ended up being arrested. and he was charged with operating a boat under the influence. Now, investigators were very careful to point out that the boating under the influence charge

was separate from Marley's disappearance. Because at that point, they still had no idea what was going on, where Marley was, who, if anyone else was responsible, if it was accidental, but they knew that he had been operating this boat while drunk. So what investigators did know during all of this was that they had a major problem here. people had been drinking people's memory was foggy the group couldn't tell them exactly where marley had last gotten off the boat which that would make the search incredibly challenging if you don't even have an area necessarily of like where to begin when you're searching like this huge lake

and deep waters and all of these things and you have like what these drunk kids who can't remember where they were were parting probably didn't even like think to clock where they were at when they had to go the bathroom I just have to go now we're just going to pull it over where we are. Yeah, exactly. The lake looks the same everywhere. You know, who knows. So instead of having one specific area to search, they now knew that they needed to start piecing together her last known movements. So within hours, Kentucky State Police, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, local first responders, and specialized search and rescue teams launched a massive search operation. Divers went into the water, helicopters flew overhead, thermal drones scanned the shoreline,

K-9 teams searched the surrounding wooded areas. Boats were also on the lake combing through the water. And investigators also started reviewing phone data and other digital evidence, just really hoping to narrow down a timeline as to where Marley may have last been seen. When the timestamp was, the last photo taken, anything that could help them start to build out this timeline. And as the search grew with that, so did public attention. Around noon, the next day. day on June 25th, Marley's sister Willow shared on her own Facebook post to spread awareness about Marley being missing. She said that Marley had now been missing for almost 20 hours. She also asked people not to spread rumors or any sort of misinformation. She wanted only

legit facts being spread. She didn't want it to impede on the investigation. She wanted to find her sister. Search crews were doing everything that they could, but at this point, it's like, hello, the family needed facts, not speculation. That certainly wasn't going to help, right? So Willow shared every identifying detail that she could think of, hoping that someone had seen Marley. She said that Marley was last seen wearing a pink and orange strapless bikini and was also, quote, likely to have no shoes. She also said that Marley wore gold jewelry, usually had on a gold cross necklace, and she even shared as many photos of Marley's tattoos as she could find, just any identifiable type markers, right? Meanwhile, investigators continued trying to piece together what had

happened that afternoon. And at this point, they were covering a massive area of nearly, I think it was like 1,500 acres of this like vast lake. And again, using helicopters, drones, sonar equipment, boats, divers, canines, off-road vehicles, cruise on foot, anything they could, but like, hello, a 1,500-acre lake, that is massive. So as this. search moved into it second day, Marley's family continued, of course, to hold on to hope. In a statement, they thanked the overwhelming amount of law enforcement officers, first responders, volunteers, and community members who had joined in on the search, saying that they didn't even know how to express their gratitude and that they had faith that the people searching were doing

everything that they could do to bring Marley home. But as Thursday turned into Friday, there was still no sign of her. Then, just 48 hours after Marley disappeared, her sister Willow made another Facebook post. She said that there still weren't many updates, but she thanked everyone who continued searching, and she said that she hoped that she would have better news to share soon. Could you imagine having to, like, muster up the courage to post those type of updates and just putting together any identifying marker, just that, like, that's giving me chills

because I think, obviously, as a sister, having to do that. And, like, you feel that sense of responsibility of obviously trying to help and find, but also updating people. Right. It's awful. So by Saturday morning, the search had become so widespread that people from all over the area were offering to drive to Grayson Lake to help. Willow addressed those messages directly in her post, explaining that investigators were incredibly grateful for their support, but they were asking people not to launch their own searches, saying that extra boats could interfere with the divers who were already in the water and that people who were walking through the woods could trigger the thermal drones and that it would just kind of throw a wrench into the investigation forcing crews to then chase false leads. Even privately flown drones could make law enforcement have to ground their own air searches because of safety regulations. So as much as everybody wanted to help, investigators said that the best thing that people could do was let the search continue. But by Saturday evening,

Willow shared another heartbreaking update. Only this one had less to do with the search itself and more to do with the misinformation that had been spreading across social media. She said that she had to step away because she had become overwhelmed by fake videos, accusations, rumors, and complete strangers claiming they knew exactly what had happened. Which honestly, one line from that post really stuck with me. She wrote, quote, I could care less about how it happened. Who did it right now?

I just want her found. I will place the blame later when she is found. which to me, that really just showed that while the internet, you know, was doing what the internet does, it was interneting, trying to solve the mystery just two days after Marley had disappeared. Marley's family wasn't even thinking about blame yet. They weren't trying to say it was the driver of the boat or it was the friends who dropped her off or pushed her in the water because that's some of the rumors that were going around on social media. They were like, we don't even care who did what, who's responsible, we just want to find Marley, you know, that's all they cared about. So then on the

afternoon of June 28th, after almost four days of searching, the update that everyone had hoped would never happen, did happen. Marley had been found deceased in the water. Now, even through the unimaginable grief that her family was now feeling, they thanked every first responder, every diver, every volunteer, and the search team that had spent days searching for Marley. But they also made a final request. Stop speculating. The family. The family, family said that they would share more details when they were ready, but that until then, they asked people not to spread theories or claim to know how Marley died, calling that kind of speculation disrespectful. As of now, investigators have not publicly announced Marley's

official cause and manner of death, and they have not said whether any additional charges are expected. So while the search for Marley has, unfortunately, come to an end, many of the questions surrounding what happened on Grace and Lake that afternoon still remain unanswered. So I definitely will keep an eye out for updates. And I'm sure there probably will be updates as this episode airs and is published. And I know I spoke to Red Flags earlier. I don't want to speculate because I want to honor the family's wishes. So I'm going to kind of just leave it at that. Let, I want you to form your own conclusions and thoughts. But given the information we have and we know and what transpired, there are a lot of red flags. And let's leave it

there. I was going to say I have some questions and some thoughts, but I think out of respect for the family, like, obviously they must have information and they want to share it when it feels right and in the way they want. So I think we should definitely give them that. Yeah. A devastating loss. But so sad regardless and you know obviously just a reminder as we're in summer to be careful yeah i know um okay so before we go we should confess to your bff or ask advice we if you are haven't listened to one of these episodes in the last few weeks at crime con we had a phone booth for when the booth was shut down where people could leave a message asking either for advice or confessing to us which if you confessed an actual crime. I'm going to report your ass to the police. But we are going to cycle

through these. And what do we have today? Okay. I don't know. It's labeled by our team as high school. Okay. Do I need to put that? I'm going to move the mic down towards the speaker. Okay. In high school, I put Nair and my step sisters shampoo when she ratted me out one night. I fended out a little bit, but she was fine. Okay. For us. Us. Okay, number one, Annie has to thin out her hair. I do. I do. I have, I'm so jealous of her. If you guys follow me on Instagram. First of all, if you don't, you should. It's underscore Annie Ely. At underscore Annie Ely's. You know how thick my hair was. Let me just show those who don't follow me on Instagram, a photo that I posted. Open that baby up. Over the weekend. There you go.

So for Annie, she'd probably welcome a little surprised neer treatment. That's not one way I'd get back you, but if I did that to you, we'd still be in a fight over it. I know, you'd blame me forever. That's kind of diabolical. I get it's your step sister and that like she ratted you out. But like, and that, you know what? That is like the cliche though, right? In all the movies, they put hair loss stuff and shampoo. Or like hair coloring stuff. Yeah. But like, damn. Did she ever catch you? Are you guys still friends? Like, where's the follow up here? If this, if you're listening to this, follow up with us, email us at hello at Annie Elyse. And in the put follow up to the Nair story.

And I want to know, are you guys still cool? Did you ever tell her about it? Like, what happened? Did your parents say? Yeah. Do you get in trouble? And like, Nair smells sick nasty. Yeah, I remember like mom telling us that, because I wanted to try it. She'll peel the wallpaper off the walls.

It's so strong. Yeah. Mom, you're a, mom. The corduroy wallpaper that we had. Like, that must be strong. Yeah, that's a real strong ass shit. All right, guys, thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of headline highlights, New York Edition.

We will be back with you next week on Thursday with another headline highlights. But before then, full deep dive, brand new case this last Monday. It's out on the feed right now. And for all of you, OGs who have been listening to me for a while or have been following true crime and are familiar with the Harmony Montgomery case, I don't know if you knew this, but Adam Montgomery, her asshat father, the murder conviction has been overturned. And so I did a full deep dive into what that means, not only what that means, but the whole case, which if you aren't familiar with that case, guys, it's so disturbing.

I want to warn you, this guy murdered his daughter, disposed of her, carried her body around from place, place, and then disposed of her in a neutral bullet, okay? So anyways, my point is that case I released on Tuesday on my second true crime channel called 10 to Life for all my podcast listeners. For anybody watching on YouTube, it's right here on the same channel. But you have other cases you can go back and binge right now over the holiday weekend. If you are bored and not doing anything fun and need things to binge, brand new one here on this feed from Monday, which is a bad shit crazy one.

And then the Harmony Montgomery case as well. So they're just between the two feeds. So again, if you're a podcast listener, make sure that you're following both of the podcast so that you don't miss those new episodes as I post them. Other than that, I will be back with you on Monday with an all new case. I hope you all have a very safe holiday weekend for those of you who are celebrating the 4th of July. I know a lot of listeners are international, but have a safe weekend.

Do not drive, boat, or do anything while intoxicated, and watch your back and CJ. I love you. Yeah, travel safely. All right, guys. Thanks so much. Bye.