SERIALously - 450: CA Surrogacy Scandal, David Prevatte, Sandra Birchmore & Baby Angelita Updates

Starting point is 00:00:01 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 Serialously with me, your host, Annie Elise. Happy Thursday. Lots going on this week. Lots to discuss. I hope you're having a good week so far. It's Thursday.

Starting point is 00:00:40 So for any new listeners, Thursday is basically the day where instead of a deep dive, we go through everything that is happening this week. week in the true crime world. The segment is called headline highlights because that is what it is. We highlight different headlines and what is going on. And then the deep dives, of course, came out on Monday and Tuesday of this week, Monday on this feed, Tuesday on the 10 to Life feed, which is my second true crime podcast feed. And in case you missed any of those, there's actually two big deep dives that came out earlier this week. The first being here on this feed on the serialously feed, Krista Pike, not only talking about the botched execution, everything that went

Starting point is 00:01:22 wrong, what this means going forward, but more into the actual backstory of what sentenced, what she did to be sentenced to death and to be sentenced to execution. Because so many people, I think, are getting not confused. That's the wrong word. They're getting lost in everything regarding the failed execution that, in my opinion, there hasn't been enough highlighted on why she was even executed to begin with or attempted to be executed and what that crime was that she did. And it's a horrific one. We talked about it a little bit last week, 300 stab wounds, a carving of a pentagram, eating breakfast with a piece of the skull from her victim as like some sort of sick twisted trophy. So in the deep dive on Monday, went into the full backstory of that case

Starting point is 00:02:09 so that you really have a full understanding as to why she was even sentenced to death. Then on Tuesday, on the 10 to Life feed, deep dive into the Thomas Randolph case, which I'm sure many of you have been seeing on Netflix. If you're a Netflix watcher, it's called The Widower. And I think it's like number three on Netflix right now. But of course, like Netflix loves to do, they left out so much footage, a lot of weird interrogation and so many details. So did a whole, you know, what Netflix missed, what they left out in the full backstory deep dive on Tuesday. And now we are here today on Thursday. And like I said, lots to talk about because there are a lot of cases, a couple updates to cases and just things to get us going. So without further ado, I would like to welcome my co-host today, someone you have never met before, someone who is straight from the club right now, Amy Colette in your leather pants. My leather pants. I know. I am kind of in club wear. You are in club wear, like the mock neck, the leather pants. The leather pants.

Starting point is 00:03:12 pants. Well, I'm in a mock neck to hide. It's laser season. So it is laser season today. You look great. You look great. You are. I'm copying you. I know. We're just, it's laser season, guys. So if you don't know that, that means in the winter. If you're ever going to do skin care, now is the time to do it because you get to be bundled. You get to be cozy inside. You're not like out in the sun, which will reverse the effects. So don't judge. So it happens when you live in California. You want glass skin? You got to put in the work. Um, Okay, so today, let's get into these updates. Actually, I have a note right here in my notes.

Starting point is 00:03:47 Before we get into the updates, we're doing a Patreon giveaway. Yay! Wow. I feel like I just sounded like Dad. Yay. It sounds like a cartoon kind of. No, I'm excited about it. Can you know how to tell?

Starting point is 00:04:04 I'm excited about it. All right, let's see what this giveaway is. Okay. We're doing a Patreon giveaway. And we are giving away a mix of, ooh, new merch and vault-style merch, items that are not coming back. So if you have been wanting to get your hands on some of our old bestseller pieces that we have kept in the vault or some of our new pieces that you want to add to your collection, now is the time. Head on over to Patreon, enter the giveaway. All you have to do is be an official true crime BFF member or hire.

Starting point is 00:04:39 Entries close Friday at noon Pacific. So make sure you get in before the deadline and get your free merch. Get your merch on. What's that song? Get your, not get your freak on. Hold on. It's like, get your, not get your merch on. Jess, do you know what song I'm talking about?

Starting point is 00:04:59 Get your eagle on. Get your eagle on. I was going to say get your freak on. Get your eagle on, girl. Get your eagle on, girl. Is that a real song? Are we that dated? What is?

Starting point is 00:05:11 that even mean? Are you making this up also? Is this even a song? Get your eagle. No, like, get you, it's on the tip of my job, whatever. Drop down and get your eagle on. By trouble funk. Wow. What is, what is one mean when they say, get your eagle on? Yeah. You never know. All right. Well, get you eagle on. Yeah, get your eagle on. All right. So with that being said, let's jump in to today's cases. And I actually do want to kick off today's headline highlights with an update in a case, one that I don't know. I feel really indifferent about this case because we've been talking about it for the last few weeks in headline highlights. It's the baby Angelina case. And last week there was a good update. The 14-year-old girl was rescued. Her father was arrested. The mother was also being charged with something, but we weren't sure what. And if you remember, it's the case

Starting point is 00:06:11 where a newborn infant was found on the side of the road deceased, and the father and his 14-year-old daughter fled. And it was alleged that he had been sexually assaulting her, that the baby was a product of incest. They then killed the baby to cover it up. And then he went on the run with her. But like I said, last week we announced that he was arrested. She has been safely found. However, more information has now come out. And I might end up doing a deep dive into this case because I have it pieced out in so many past episodes. And you know how I am. I'm a little type A in the sense that I want all of the updates in one area or all the details about the case in one area. So let me know if you do want a deep dive into this. But like I said, I know last week we started

Starting point is 00:07:00 with some good news in this case. But unfortunately now it has taken a little bit of a turn. Because now we have some absolutely horrifying new details in the baby Angelina case. And this is coming like right out of our backyard here in California. And I just want to warn you, some of these details, not even some, all of these details are extremely disturbing. When I was first hearing about it, I think it was at the tail end of last week. Maybe it was over the weekend. I couldn't even believe what I was hearing in this press conference to where I had to go back and like, am I really hearing this right? Is this really what they are describing? So during a press conference, on October 8th, investigators revealed that they believe that the newborn that they had found

Starting point is 00:07:41 on the side of the road in Monterey County was actually run over by a car and that the car was driven by this newborn's own mother, 14-year-old Diana Ortega, and that this was shortly after giving birth on August 1st. And when they went into the details of this, again, I know I already gave you a warning, but I want to give you another warning because it is, Probably one of the most gruesome things that I have heard of a mother doing to a child in order to get rid of the baby. I'm talking worse than Alexei Treviso, worse than Lake and Snelling, worse than Megan Boswell. While all of it is bad, yes, this is just so evil. I don't even know what other word to describe it.

Starting point is 00:08:31 And while I say that, I also am torn a little bit because I understand that this. this girl is 14 years old, was sexually assaulted by her father. I would imagine a lot of this was at his instruction as well, but let me just tell you. So baby Angelida was found with, quote, extensive crushing injuries, and she was found lying in the path of the tire tracks in blood-soaked dirt, which led the detectives to believe that she had been moved from where she was born, which was likely right there on the side of the road, then moved to underneath the car tire before the car drove away. And when they were describing this, as we know, baby Angelito was found on the side of the road.

Starting point is 00:09:13 So what they were saying is that they think that Diana gave birth off the side of the highway in the dirt, you know, kind of how like there's brush and dirt that is on either side of the highway or either side of the road, that she gave birth there, then carried the baby over to where the car was parked, placed the baby under the tire, got in the car, drove away, quite literally smashing this newborn infant. The car was also caught on surveillance footage, and investigators pretty quickly traced it back to the girls' parents, Sergio Perez, and Ophelia Ortega. Then, while they searched the family's home two days later, they actually found Diana hiding underneath a pile of clothing. Now, during an interview separate from her parents, Diana told the detectives that she had given birth

Starting point is 00:09:59 after having a sexual relationship with a teenage boy. But it was about to get way more complicated than that. And I want you to take a listen to this press conference first before I give you those details. The 14-year-old was interviewed in a comfortable setting outside the presence of her parents where she could speak freely. She said she had a sexual relationship

Starting point is 00:10:19 with an unidentified juvenile male and later gave birth. She added she had not received any medical attention. immediately a separate sexual assault investigation was opened. Due to her age and concerns for her physical well-being, as investigators believed that she had recently given birth, she was transported to the hospital by detectives. At that point in time, there was no indication

Starting point is 00:10:46 such as disclosures from the 14-year-old or her mother that her father, meaning the 14-year-old's father, was also the father of baby Angelida, or had in any other way abused the 14-year-old. So when the DNA results came back, the investigators actually discovered that the baby's father was not a teenage boy. The baby's father was Diana's father, Sergio.

Starting point is 00:11:09 Text messages between Diana and Sergio show that Diana was actively hiding her pregnancy from her mom, and she had texted her father, Sergio, about four hours after she gave birth, saying that she, quote, couldn't hold it in anymore, and the baby came out. And that because of that, her mom was going to see. She also went on to say that she thought that her mom would kill her.

Starting point is 00:11:30 She said that the baby also was very big. Then when the investigators were scrubbing the digital devices, investigators found searches on her phone about hiding or, quote, terminating a pregnancy, including a search which read, what happens if the cops find a newborn baby from a minor, which they say that Diana searched that about four hours after she gave birth, which was right around the time that she also texted her father. And like we talked about last week, Sergio then fled to Mexico with Diana after the baby was found, where he was eventually then arrested and she was rescued, and we talked about that last week. So now he's awaiting extradition on multiple charges, including incest and sexual offenses involving a minor. And as I said at the top of this

Starting point is 00:12:15 segment, Diana's mother, 36-year-old Ophelia Ortega, has also now been arrested. However, what's interesting is she has not been arrested or charged in connection with the sexual assault, the murder, or any of that, which I think is very interesting because to me, that leads me to believe that maybe she didn't know about the sexual assault that was going on inside the home. We know that Diana said that she was scared that her mom was going to find out that she was going to kill her, which why she would think that this is her fault. I would imagine that's a thought that Sergio put in her head. But what her mom was actually arrested on was being accused of using forged documents to put Diana to work in agricultural fields.

Starting point is 00:12:57 And that started back when Diana was only 13 years old. She's also accused of forging documents allowing her to drive without a license and also keeping Diana out of school. So she's now facing felony forgery related charges and misdemeanor charges related to child endangerment and delinquency. And I think that this is interesting because on one hand, you could argue, she didn't know what was. going on inside the house and that that is evident in the text messages that Diana was sending to her father talking about how fearful she was that her mom was going to find out. However, the fact that she was sent to work, she wasn't in school. Was she not in school because they were worried that she would disclose something or that somebody would notice something? Was it strictly so that she

Starting point is 00:13:41 could be a workhorse for them and make them money? I think there's a lot of different things that are open to interpretation here and the why behind all of it. But where I'm conflicted, and I'm curious to know your thoughts, Amy, obviously it is a whole new kind of level of evil to give birth and put the child under the tire and drive off. It's tough, though, when you talk about a 14-year-old girl who has been groomed and sexually assaulted by her father and is keeping secrets seemingly from her mom and doesn't have friends because she's not going to school, doesn't have a teacher looking out for her, and her mind is probably so warped. And what really was known inside that house, I don't know. I, like, because I know that she needs

Starting point is 00:14:26 to be held accountable in some respect, but she's also a victim in this. So, like, I don't know. I mean, anytime you talk about anything happening to a baby, it's devastating and unimaginable. And then you talk about something like this. I mean, as you were describing it, it's like, sometimes I can't even believe the things that people are capable of. So, yes, there obviously needs to be a consequence. But then you think this girl was really forced to grow up at a young age. I mean, not only with what was going on with her father, which that just kind of distorts your entire reality and your whole world. I mean, your parents are supposed to be your two safest trusted people. So like to have that happening. And then you're not in school, like you said. So not only are you isolated, but you're not experiencing any of the joys that like children do. I mean, and then now you're working. And who knows? Were you like being bred? Like, I mean, I don't know.

Starting point is 00:15:21 I have all these questions. Or was it just like a mistake that the dad, you know, that happened and now they're trying to hide it or not meaning a mistake, meaning like an accidental pregnancy? Oh, yeah. Well, and that kind of brings me to my next question is like, when did the sexual assault start? How young was she? Because I don't know if you're familiar with the Madeline Soto case. But it's very similar in the sense that Stefan wasn't the biologian. father. And I believe that her mother, Jen, knew what was going on. I believe that in my core. But

Starting point is 00:15:51 I think that from what we had seen from when they did the day to dump on the devices and all that, the grooming and the sexual assault had started at such a young age. But as she grew older and got her period, then like you say, it's a mistake in the sense that nobody planned for a pregnancy to happen. They didn't expect it because who knows how long before she hit puberty, this was going on. So yeah, and I think you said too, was she like bred to be this workhorse child servant almost to her parents to whatever they needed? Well, and then him fleeing with her when you initially had said that, I'm like, oh, so were they in a romantic relationship and they were like fleeing after because now they like committed this murder and were like fleeing away. But then it's like that kind of doesn't make sense. No, I would imagine he took her because he didn't want her to like.

Starting point is 00:16:43 say anything once the DNA results came back and once the baby was found. But then that brings me a question to the mom, Ophelia, what was she if she didn't know about the sexual assault happening? What were you thinking? Your husband and daughter just fled with her? Right. What would be the reason? That's why I was something. There's definitely a lot of questions there. There are a lot of questions. So I know I said let me know if you want me to do a deep dive. But I think I'm going to do a deep dive coming. I have too many questions. I need to get into this. I'm actually going to make a note right now. Yeah, we're going to work on steep dive because there is a lot, I feel like, that is still out there in terms of questions. And I guess it's tough too because who knows how much information I'll be able to dig up given that she's a

Starting point is 00:17:24 minor. But I think we could probably start piecing some things together. One, do they should have siblings? It's just devastating. The whole thing. And yeah, why was her mom pulling her from school and making her work in field and forging her identification? And I don't know. Yeah, what was the dynamic in the home then? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Jeez. Well, the next one is also one that is disgusting and horribly sad. And it's one that I think you probably have seen like a lot of people have been messaging you about it. Yeah. So I guess maybe a deep dive might be coming as well on this. Another one. Deep dive's for all. One for all. It's like Oprah, you get a deep dive. You get a deep dive. There's been so much craziness lately.

Starting point is 00:18:05 No, I know. And it's like, again, I'm so type A. I need to do the deep dive because I feel like I need to know every single thing about it. And I mean, there is so much more information that keeps coming out. Yeah. Speaking of which, this one dates back to 2017, and it's the case of David Pravatt, a North Carolina man who's currently on trial for the sexual assault and murder of his five-year-old niece, Peyton Fields. Now, this is a case we're talking goes back nine years ago, but it's now just finally

Starting point is 00:18:30 going to trial. So this goes back all the way to November 13th, 2017, when medical staff at Pender Memorial Hospital in North Carolina contacted the sheriff's office around 6 o'clock in the morning about a five-year-old little girl who had been brought into the emergency room in critical condition. Her name was Peyton Fields, and according to police records, she'd been sexually assaulted and strangled. Her injuries were so bad that when she first got to the hospital, she was completely limp and had no vital signs, meaning doctors couldn't find a measurable heartbeat, and she wasn't breathing on her own. Now, they eventually did get Peyton stable enough to be transported to a

Starting point is 00:19:09 hospital that was better equipped, she was transferred to New Hanover Regional Medical Center. However, just a few days later, she tragically passed away from her injuries on November 16th. Her autopsy ultimately confirmed that she had been strangled to death and had been the victim of sexual assault. So obviously, at that point, this case had gone from bad to worse. They had a sexual assault, a strangulation, and now a murder. But the sheriff's office was pretty tight-lipped about what they were finding. And after a few weeks in the community, as you could imagine, the community was just starting to get extremely frustrated and all kind of rumors started circulating. They were speculating about what happened. And eventually on December 8th, the sheriff's

Starting point is 00:19:51 office released a statement. But basically, they didn't really say much. What they said is that they understood the people wanted answers, but that they needed to protect the investigation. They also assured the public that they were staying in contact with Peyton's immediate family and were keeping them updated of everything, but that they weren't willing to really say much else and believe that it was an isolated incident and that nobody else needed to be concerned about their safety in the community. But then fast forward just six months later to June 2018, investigators finally gave a clear picture of what they were looking at and more specifically who it is that they were looking for. Because on June 22nd, 2018, Peyton's uncle,

Starting point is 00:20:32 David Pravatt, was publicly identified as a suspect in her murder and not because he had actually been charged with killing her. Instead, David had threatened the life of the investigator working on Peyton's case, which ultimately made them believe that he had something to do with it. And here's where things got interesting, because David was already behind bars at the time. He had been arrested in April of 2018 on a completely set of unrelated charges, including intimidating a witness, breaking and entering, larceny after breaking and entering, and burning a building under construction. And he was only around 19 years old. And apparently while he's sitting in jail, he decided to make some pretty serious threats against the detective investigating his niece's murder while on a recorded jail line,

Starting point is 00:21:17 which when I saw that, I'm like, are you effing kidding? Who does that? According to arrest warrants, on April 28th, David called his mother Lisa Hunt from jail and told her that when he got out, the investigator had, quote, got it coming to him, and that he would probably end up going right back to jail. He also had said that the investigator was, quote, coming to an end. So obviously, very incriminating statements. Why would you ever say that on a recorded line? I have no idea.

Starting point is 00:21:45 Obviously an idiot. Now, David gave a jailhouse interview when he was first named a suspect and he denied having anything to do with Peyton's death. He actually said that he was the person who had found her unresponsive and apparently having a seizure in the morning and rushed her to the hospital. And he said that the fact that he had tried to help her and was the one that found her should be proof that he was innocent, which I felt the exact opposite. Yeah, how many times are people like, I found the body.

Starting point is 00:22:13 At 6 a.m. She happened to be having a seizure, but then we brought her in and she was limp and appeared to be assaulted. That doesn't mean you're innocent. Exactly. And despite being publicly named as a suspect, David wasn't charged with anything related to Peyton's murder at that point. Investigators didn't even have enough evidence to move forward,

Starting point is 00:22:31 so he just remained as a suspect while the case stayed open. He eventually served 10 months on those unrelated charges and then was released in January of 2020. And that's pretty much where everything stood for the next few years. Nobody had been charged with Peyton's murder. And although investigators suspected David was responsible, they still needed the evidence to be able to prove that. But around 2020, 2021, the North Carolina State Crime Lab started using DNA analysis software and investigators were able to go back in and reexamine that. physical evidence from Peyton's case. And when they did, they found David's DNA on the pair of earbuds that investigators believed were used to strangle Peyton. So on February 4th, 2022,

Starting point is 00:23:16 more than four years after her death, the Pender County Sheriff held a press conference announcing that David Pravatt had finally been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree statutory rape, and first-degree statutory sex offense. David was arrested in Louisiana and was held on a $1 million bond. And since then, he stayed in jail awaiting trial, which means he's now been in custody for over four years. So David's trial began on September 28th, and it's been a pretty normal trial. But there's been two things specifically that have been getting people talking. The first is the way that David's been acting. The way he's been spending his time in the courtroom, blowing kisses to people, smirking at the cameras, reacting to testimonies. It's kind of been

Starting point is 00:24:02 overall just very animated, which in a courtroom, especially in the middle of a murder trial, doesn't really land well. The other thing that people are talking about actually happened on Monday of this week when David's rape charge was dropped mid-trial. And this actually goes back to that DNA evidence. The judge ruled that the state didn't have enough evidence to support both necessary requirements for that charged, so he dropped it all together. Primarily, because his DNA wasn't found anywhere on her that would suggest he was the one who sexually assaulted her and her DNA wasn't found on him when they swabbed him. So now he's just looking at that one murder charge. And I know we just wanted to get the detail of Peyton's story out there because a lot of you've been asking about it.

Starting point is 00:24:46 But like I said, there's going to probably be a deep dive coming because it sounds like as the trial moves on there will be more information. Yeah. And I think that a lot of people are split right now based on what he did, what he didn't do, especially now that the DNA evidence was like, or the rape charge was thrown out because of the lack of DNA evidence. I think people are like, so did he really not do it? Did he do? Like a lot of people are torn. So I don't know. It's pretty divided out there. That was kind of my question to you is like the way it was kind of worded was, was it dropped because on a technicality and it just didn't. I think just lack of evidence. Or was it that he actually wasn't there? No, yeah. I think just lock.

Starting point is 00:25:25 of evidence. Yeah. I don't know. It's rough. I would imagine for for their family, it's like they've waited all this time. I know. And then now it's this charge is being dropped midway through. And that's a roller coaster I can't even imagine. Yeah. Well, speaking of trials, this next case is one that has been all over my feed once again. It's one that we have covered extensively years ago and again did a more recent deep dive back in, gosh, when was it, 20, 25, I think. And it's the case of 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore because Matthew Farwell is officially on trial. And to give you a little bit of backstory in this, Sandra was only 12 years old when she joined the Stoughton Police Explores program in Massachusetts. And then a couple of years later, she met an officer through the program

Starting point is 00:26:17 named Matthew Farwell. He was a police officer who worked at the program. He worked, you know, patrol, all of the different things. And sometimes shortly after they met, he had started messaging her online before allegedly starting a sexual relationship with her back in 2013. And she was only 15 years old when that started, which Matthew was a full-grown man in his late 20s at that point. He was a cop. He was someone she should have been able to trust because she was in this Explorers program. And I I can't remember if the Explorers program was for not at-risk youth, but troubled youth. No, I think I'm misremembering that. But my point being, he was somebody that she definitely should have looked to for guidance and

Starting point is 00:27:00 trust, and he absolutely prayed on her and groomed her. But in my deep dive, it goes way farther than just him. Like, there was so much bad behavior with all of these men involved. And it seemed like it was really just their own personal praying ground. Disgusting. So they were having this sexual relationship from 2013 to 2020, about seven years. And in that time period, he also got married. So he was cheating on his wife pretty much the entire time.

Starting point is 00:27:30 But then, according to prosecutors, not only did the relationship continue for years, but in late 2020, Sandra decided that she wanted to have a baby. So prosecutors allege that Matthew agreed to get her pregnant in exchange for her keeping quiet about the relationship. and his affair, because, as I said, he was married. So one of these things were, okay, I'll appease you, I'll give you a child, but you can't tell anyone we're doing this. You can't. I don't want you to disrupt my family life, my marriage, or anything like that.

Starting point is 00:27:59 So by December, Sandra told him that she was pregnant and that he was the father. However, in January of 2021, one of Sandra's friends reported the inappropriate relationship to the police. And then, just weeks later, on February 4th, Sandra was found dead inside her apartment. There was a duffel bag strap that had been wrapped around her neck and it appeared on the surface to investigators that she had taken her own life. So her death was initially ruled a suicide. However, in 2024, an independent pathologist that was hired by her family determined that she had actually died from strangulation. So Matthew was arrested by the FBI that August and he was charged in connection with her death.

Starting point is 00:28:39 And at the time, it was suspected that he killed her because he didn't want her to have the baby. and there to be DNA testing that would then trace back to him that would expose not only his affair, but the underage relationship, the predator nature of him being a cop and him praying on Sandra and grooming her and all of these things. So now he's on trial. And prosecutors alleged that Matthew had murdered Sandra all to keep their relationship quiet, while the defense is saying that she did in fact take her own life after he ended things with her and told her that the baby wasn't his. Interestingly enough, too, because everybody thought that the motivation in all of this was that he was trying to silence her, keep the relationship for being exposed, keep the baby from being exposed that it was his. Everybody thought myself included, oh yeah, she was pregnant from him, she was in love with him, and she wanted to have his baby, and she was about to blow up his whole life.

Starting point is 00:29:32 Well, interestingly enough, DNA testing in 2025 actually confirmed that Matthew was not the biological father of Sandra's child. So not that he murdered her for nothing, but kind of. Like he, I mean, obviously the relationship was being exposed. It was reported to the police, but maybe what he thought, maybe he thought he was the father and that he was covering that up. Well, the truth is he wasn't the father. So Matthew has pleaded not guilty to all charges of killing a witness or victim and also causing the death of an unborn child.

Starting point is 00:30:04 However, if convicted on the first charge, he faces a mandatory life sentence. So arguments officially started on Tuesday. of this week. The trial is expected to last about five weeks. So I will definitely keep an eye on it. I will keep you posted. I will link the deep dive here in the show notes for you if you want to go back and just hear the whole backstory, how the dynamic was between the two of them, what the other cops involved did, the cover up, because there was a lot of bad behavior, like I said. And this is also very close to the Karen Reid situation, shit show, I should say, and people covering up and being involved.

Starting point is 00:30:40 And this actually got brought up in the Karen Reed trial too because there were a couple of the same key players involved. So you can go listen to that deep dive, but I will certainly keep you updated here. You lost me at it seems like a good idea to appease your mistress by allowing her to have a baby. Yeah. But that doesn't screen evidence. I know. But like just trying to make them happy kind of how they say, well, get married or yeah,

Starting point is 00:31:06 we're having it. We'll start a family. Like I'll get pregnant. I know. I mean, that's just more evidence against you. Idiot. And a responsibility for your whole life and that poor baby. I mean, most importantly. Well, he obviously doesn't give a shit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wild. Well, unfortunately, this next case is another one dealing with babies, children. I mean, it's just, why is that all we're covering today? Mm-hmm. This is a really disturbing one, and it's coming out of Kentucky. On September 23rd, police in Pineville, Kentucky responded to a 911 call about a person.

Starting point is 00:31:39 found dead inside of a home. And when they got there, they discovered the body of a woman, 41-year-old April Barlow Cellio. Now, details have not been released yet about how exactly April died, but investigators quickly determined that she had been murdered. But it wasn't until the next day when the medical examiner conducted an autopsy that they discovered something even more awful. April had been pregnant when she died, but her unborn baby had been removed from her womb. And as investigators went back through the crime scene, they actually recovered what they believed to be the baby's remains. Now, I know you probably have a million questions as I did too, but unfortunately, the police have been extremely tight-lipped about the details of this case. They haven't said how April was killed, how her baby was removed, or even how far along in the pregnancy April was.

Starting point is 00:32:30 We also don't know whether the baby was alive when it was taken from her. Now, as investigators started looking into who could have done something so absolutely horrific, their attention turned to a man named Demarcus Johnson Wright, who was from Tennessee and apparently already had a very extensive criminal history. According to authorities, DeMarcus had several outstanding warrants in Tennessee for violent offenses, including allegations of aggravated robbery, kidnapping, domestic violence, and unlawful possession of a firearm. Investigators haven't said what led them to believe.

Starting point is 00:33:04 DeMarcus was a suspect, but just two days after April's body was discovered on September 25th, a judge in Kentucky issued warrants for his arrests on charges of first-degree robbery and kidnapping. Then on September 30th, additional warrants were issued charging him with murder, involving domestic violence, and tampering with physical evidence. And by that point, investigators believed DeMarcus had fled Kentucky, and they eventually tracked him down in a home in Clarksville, Tennessee, which is more than 250 miles away from where April was killed. So that's when the U.S. Marshals got involved in around 11 p.m. on September 30th,

Starting point is 00:33:42 a team of federal, state, and local officers arrested him at that residence. Investigators later searched the home and recovered what they described as evidence connected to April's murder, although they haven't said exactly what it is that they found. DeMarcus was booked into the Montgomery County Detention Center in Tennessee, where he's being held while he awaits for extradition back to Kentucky. But here's the thing. We still don't know whether April and DeMarcus even knew each other or what their relationship even may have been, which was something that was really surprising to me. So we don't even know what his motive could have been.

Starting point is 00:34:15 And like I said, police haven't said how they exactly what led them to DeMarcus or why they think that he may be connected to April's murder in the first place. And while investigators are still trying to piece that all together, April's family is now trying to process a lot of that, which I can't even imagine. imagine not only did they lose April but they lost her unborn baby. April was married to a man named Antonio and she was a mother of three children who now have to grow up without their mother. Her sister spoke out about how April was someone they could always call, hug and laugh with and how difficult it has even been to understand how they're supposed to say goodbye to her. But she also talked about April's three children now who are left trying to understand why their mother was taken from them. And that's just what's so heartbreaking about this. They not only lost her. But that's

Starting point is 00:35:02 they lost her unborn baby. And I'm, I'm curious to know about the details and what the connection might be. Because when I first was doing the research on this case, I thought perhaps the baby was DeMarcuses. It doesn't seem like it. Well, no. And then to find out that she was married with three kids. So then I'm like, what would the motive be? And yeah, yeah, I mean, my mind goes to a lot of dark places, but I don't want to really share that until we know anything. But yeah, what their connection was, what the motive was, which I'm sure they have. If, I mean, if they may the arrest they have evidence, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time until we find out. Yeah. So sad. Well, this next case has been all over my feet lately, and it is one that is super strange. And I will just

Starting point is 00:35:46 say it now, a deep dive is coming. But a couple in California is accused of abusing their own children, some of them as young as two months old. And while yes, on its own, on the surface, that is horrifying enough. What makes this case even more bizarre is that the couple had 21 kids, most of whom were born through surrogates. Now, to understand how all of this unfolded, we have to rewind a little bit to May of 2025, when police in Arcadia, California, had been contacted by a local hospital about a possible case of child abuse. A two-month-old baby had been admitted with a traumatic head injury and was bleeding inside the skull. So the detectives started investigating what happened. That then led them to the family's home. And this wasn't

Starting point is 00:36:32 just any type of home. We're talking about a massive mansion, a 10,000 square foot home worth around $4 million. And honestly, looking at the photos of this property, it looks like a freaking castle. Like, it looks so huge. It had nine bedrooms. And according to neighbors, it was set up almost like a hotel. It had a lobby, individual suites, kind of like not a bed and breakfast, but almost like that. I mean, I guess hotel is the best way to describe it, but certainly not just your warm, cozy house. So detectives obtained a search warrant for the property, and they seized surveillance footage from inside the home.

Starting point is 00:37:11 And when they reviewed it, they allegedly saw a nanny, 56-year-old Chunmei Lee, violently shaking and hitting this two-month-old baby. Now, that had happened on May 5th of 2025 right before this baby was admitted to the hospital. and these hits were apparently so hard it caused the infant to lose consciousness. Now somehow, according to the police, the baby's parents knew what had happened, but didn't immediately seek medical attention. Instead, they waited until the baby started having seizures, which was two days later, and then took the baby to the hospital. So on May 9th, arrest warrants were issued for the nanny, as well as the baby's parents.

Starting point is 00:37:54 65-year-old Guajun Schwain and 38-year-old Sylvia Jong. The couple was arrested without incident, but Chou Mae is still on the run to this day, the nanny, totally left, you know, vanish and still is on the run. However, as detectives continued reviewing the surveillance footage after the arrests, they allegedly discovered that this wasn't just one isolated incident. Other nannies, who were working inside the home, also had been physically abusing the kids. And there were a lot of them living at this home. So obviously because of that, the police contacted DCFS, and by July of that year,

Starting point is 00:38:33 21 children had been removed from the couple's care. 15 of them were taken away from the mansion itself, while another six had been found living somewhere else. And these children ranged in ages from just two months old to 13 years old. However, the majority of the kids were between one and three years old, which, first of all, having that many kids under one roof is wild in and of itself. I mean, I think to what the Turpin family, they had what, 11, I think it was. I can't remember exactly, but like 21 kids. And I'm going to share in a little bit what I think is really happening inside this house. But anyways, as news of the

Starting point is 00:39:15 investigation spread, neighbors started coming forward with some pretty disturbing stories about what they had witnessed at the house. Several of them even said that they, had actually called the police in the past because they were concerned about how the children were being treated. One neighbor said that the kids all looked very similar, that they always had shaved heads, and that they would sometimes be lined up together on the porch to use the bathroom. He also claimed that he had seen them being, quote, physically disciplined more than once. But according to the police, when the couple was asked why they had so many children, their explanation was pretty simple. They said that they just wanted a large family. So the children, so the two,

Starting point is 00:39:53 two of them were ultimately charged with felony child endangerment and neglect. They pleaded not guilty, and they were each held on a $20 million bail, despite the DA seeking a $100 million bail for each of them. So now fast forward to last week when prosecutors revealed even more disturbing allegations about what had allegedly been happening inside that house. Also, the L.A. County District Attorney actually referred to this property as a House of Horrors. Prosecutor said that this was, wasn't just a situation where the nannies were abusing the kids behind the parents back. They alleged that the parents were actually watching this abuse go down and that they had hooked up a system of 32 surveillance cameras all throughout the home. And in some instances, they were

Starting point is 00:40:39 even encouraging the abuse to happen. In one particular incident, prosecutors say that the father walked into a room that they called, quote, the learning center. And he saw a nanny hitting a child. However, instead of stopping her, he allegedly told her to hit the child harder. Then he reportedly struck the child in the head multiple times with an open hand before lifting the child into the air by one arm. Later, when his attorney was asked about these allegations, he insisted that his client was innocent, and he claimed that he was only caught up in all of this because he was being targeted for exercising his constitutional right to have a big family.

Starting point is 00:41:19 Sorry, that's not how it works. when you have surveillance footage and you have evidence on camera of him being a participant in the abuse, it's not his constitutional right to have a big family and that they're like wrongfully targeting him. It has nothing to do with that. And the abuse allegations are only part of what makes this case so unusual because investigators also started looking into how this couple has ended up with so many children in the first place. And apparently, they actually operated their own surrogacy company and they paid women from all over the country. to have the kids for them. According to prosecutors, they allegedly lied to at least two women who had agreed to carry babies

Starting point is 00:41:57 for them, telling them that Sylvia was struggling to conceive, and that's why they were hiring the surrogates. But once those 21 kids were removed from the couple's care, that wasn't the end of it, because the two of them were, yeah, arrested, but at least five more babies were born into the family via surrogate, and they were born in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Those babies were also taken into state custody, although none are included in the criminal charges that have been filed in L.A. County because they, of course, weren't born yet, so they weren't subject to the abuse inside that house, which thank God for that. So as of right now, the parents are still in jail. At least one nanny, the one that is facing charges, is out on the run and the case is spreading through the headlines like wildfire. And listen, this case has so many different elements to it that that's why I want to do the deep dive because,

Starting point is 00:42:48 There are certain people involved who are talking, past surrogates who are talking. There's also what I believe the motivation was behind all of this. There are just so many different layers. So the deep dive is coming very soon. But I will just say this, based on them classifying certain rooms as the learning centers, what I believe may have been happening here, especially given that the majority of the children who were recovered, even though the range is aged from two months to 13 years old, the majority were between one and three years old.

Starting point is 00:43:23 I think that these kids were being bred to have American citizenship and then being like corporal punishment and corporal learning and being sent back to China. That is what I think is happening. And that maybe they were sent back to either work there, to be obedient there. I don't know. And I go into more of this in the deep dive, but I certainly have a lot of thoughts as to what was going on inside that house and why the father was an active participant, why they had these quote unquote learning centers, why there were so many nannies slash teachers.

Starting point is 00:44:00 Why, once they aged out at a certain point, they were then nowhere to be seen and sent off. There's a lot of things going on here. So I've, you know, I sent this the second I saw it and I find this very interesting because right when I got into real estate, in like 2011, it was a very random market, like distressed market. I was like cold calling, like desperate for clients. And I was getting an influx of calls from people overseas who wanted to rent homes that were distressed. And they were offering exorbitant amount of money. And they're like, we'll pay all cash. We'll pay the year up front. They wanted big homes with a lot of bedrooms, a lot of bathrooms. And there was a language barrier. So oftentimes I would need to get people,

Starting point is 00:44:45 in to help and like my broker was like this described exactly what you were saying like this is what this is likely happening and here's the documentation and like they could never really provide the adequate documentation it was like more led with finances but that's what they were doing and they would bring in these surrogates and these nurses and have these birthing centers is what they would call them and it'd be sometimes eight nine mothers at a time and it was I mean really ramp it back then. Yeah. And so when this came up, I thought, oh my gosh. Yeah. I wonder like if there's going to be more, I would imagine coming forward. Oh, absolutely. And all of the nannies now, I'm sure, like I said, some of them are talking. Some of the surrogates are talking. It's going to explode.

Starting point is 00:45:32 And there it's just. And can you imagine being that landlord of this home assuming that they're renting it, which I would imagine they are? I would, maybe you don't know what's going on inside there, but I have a rental home and I know what my tenants are doing. Yeah. And so it's like at what point do you look at what's happening and then look at your other hand with the money that you're receiving and decide you're not going to report what you know is going on inside your home because you're getting such a large amount of money. I mean, a lot of people do that. It is wild. It is so sick and wild.

Starting point is 00:46:05 I guess the theme of today was babies who are being wronged, right? Children and babies. children being wronged, which... By their own family. By their own family. Which, how the hell did that happen? That's... But it's disgusting.

Starting point is 00:46:19 So I know today's episode was definitely a more difficult one, guys. Thank you for tuning in. As a reminder, we are doing that Patreon giveaway. Old vault styles of merch that will never come back. And also new merch, which, by the way, is coming very, very soon. So head on over to patreon.com slash Annie Elise. Check that out. Also, two previous deep dives this week, the one on Krista Pike.

Starting point is 00:46:40 and her whole backstory, what landed her in that execution chamber, and Thomas Randolph, the What Netflix Left Out, the Widor, all of that. It's on this feed and also my second true crime podcast feed. If you're not following yet, go follow it. Ten to Life. And until the next one, be nice, don't kill people, and stop hurting children. All right, bye.

SERIALously - 450: CA Surrogacy Scandal, David Prevatte, Sandra Birchmore & Baby Angelita Updates

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.