Small Town Murder - #536 - Cooking Up Murder - Lomita, California

Episode Date: October 18, 2024

This week, in Lomita, California, a couple runs their own restaurant, and seems to be doing well, until the wife leaves in a drunken rage. The husband tells people she moved "to the mountains...", but the truth is much darker. He ends up telling his daughter what happened, leading to an insane police confession, after a splashy suicide attempt. This chef ended up disposing of his wife's body, in the most appropriate way, for his profession!!Along the way, we find out that you definitely want that "best Halloween decorations" lawn sign, that you can always score drugs at any restaurant in the country, and that if you're going to murder your spouse, do it in a way that meshes well with your profession!!Hosted by James Pietragallo and Jimmie WhismanNew episodes every Thursday!Donate at: patreon.com/crimeinsports or go to paypal.com and use our email: crimeinsports@gmail.comGo to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder & Crime In Sports!Follow us on...twitter.com/@murdersmallfacebook.com/smalltownpodinstagram.com/smalltownmurderAlso, check out James & Jimmie's other show, Crime In Sports! On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Wondery, Wondery+, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:02:15 Yay indeed. My name is James Petragallo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman. Thank you folks so much for joining us all aboard the murder train, pulling away from the station with some insanity today, absolute insanity. It's one of those stories that it starts out one way
Starting point is 00:02:31 and you think it's going one way and you go, oh wow, that took quite the turn. That's one of those kinds of stories. It was definitely 10 pounds of murder in a two pound bag this week. So we'll get to all that before we do. Shutupandgivemur me murder.com head there right now for your tickets get tickets to live shows also merchandise tons of stuff there but tickets
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Starting point is 00:04:35 and you get a shout out at the end of the show. That said, I think it's time, everybody, to dip into this. We got a lot of show here. Let's all clear the lungs. What do you say? I think it's time, and let's all shout. Shut up and give me murder.
Starting point is 00:04:54 Let's do this everybody. Here we go. What do you say? Let's go on a trip, shall we? Let's get on it, yeah. We are going this week all the way to the West Coast. Oh yeah. California, here we come. Here we go. Let's put it on. We're going to Lomita, California.
Starting point is 00:05:07 Oh, not Alameda. Not Alameda, it's kinda in between, like Torrance is, it's by Torrance and kinda Long Beach and that area over there. It's in LA County, but it's its own little suburb over here. Here, Lomita, obviously in Southern California, it's Los Angeles County as a matter of fact.
Starting point is 00:05:24 That's about 30 minutes, anywhere from 30 minutes to seven, eight hours. Tomorrow. Depending on traffic to downtown LA, you never know. See, you know, middle of the night you can zoom there, but any other time. That's the luck. Good luck.
Starting point is 00:05:37 It's seven hours and 25 minutes to Grass Valley, California, which is our last episode there, which was episode 481, Layers of Evil. I remember that one, wild shit there. Population of this town, 20,884. So not a huge town. It's weird because it's like its own little thing over here, even though it's technically in the Los Angeles metro area. Median household income here is a little higher than the national average, $85,852, which is good, $15,000 above the national average, but the median home cost makes that completely irrelevant. Median home cost
Starting point is 00:06:12 here $846,100. So you're making a hundred grand a year and live in an apartment is what that is. That's tough. History, a little bit of history here. the Sepulveda family established and started raising cattle on Rancho Los Palos Verdes, which pissed off another family, the Dominguez family. Yeah, because the Sepulveda hadn't actually got a land grant, they just started using the land. So the Dominguez's were like, you fence jumping bitches, I don't think so. They fought all the time And part of the present-day low meter is like right where they were fighting all the time
Starting point is 00:06:56 They didn't resolve this until 1841 when the Sepulveda's finally got a signed deed and then everyone was like, okay fine. That's fine Yeah, this area they did well until the 1860s when a shitload of natural disasters hit the Southern California area Oh what happened? Too much rain in 1861 fucked up all the crops and everything. Too little rain in 1862 fucked up all the crops and everything. So there's that. A quote paralyzing smallpox epidemic happened in 1862 also when there's no rain. That's not good. The grasslands were ravaged by swarms
Starting point is 00:07:27 of grasshoppers in 1863. Oh, that had to be frightening. It didn't rain at all in 1864. And by 1865, basically there's no cattle here anymore. That five-year period just destroyed the entire Southern California ranching industry. All the rain, none of the rain, none of the rain, none of the rain, all the rain. All the rain, smallpox, smallpox, grasshoppers. Great, this is doing great.
Starting point is 00:07:53 Then it was grasshoppers with smallpox, which you really don't wanna fuck with them. They're especially dangerous. Yeah. In 1935, a vaudevillian actor, you know, showbiz guy, named Frank Gumm of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, leased the Lomita Theater, which, here, and to present his singing and dancing daughters,
Starting point is 00:08:13 who were Mary Jane, Dorothy Virginia, and Judy, who was Judy Garland. So her dad's father, yeah, that's how that worked out. Wow. Interesting, right? Reviews of this town, there's a bunch and they're hilarious, so I'll get to a few of them here. Here's a five-star, real kind of simple.
Starting point is 00:08:31 I love Lomita. Aside from living near a hospital and hearing the ambulance frequently, it's pretty quiet here. Apart from the sirens. You bought a house where sirens go. I don't know what to tell you. Outside of the fire department, always busting out of there with their sirens on. It's not bad. I also love it. I love that when graffiti appears anywhere, someone covers
Starting point is 00:08:50 it. The only thing I would... Someone. We don't know the graffiti guy. The only thing I would like to see change is for the grass to be cut regularly on some of the side streets again. Again, it used to be. Not a lot of complaints if you're just wishing they'd cut the grass on the side street more. Pretty good day. Here's three stars.
Starting point is 00:09:08 I wish there were less drug addicts everywhere. Well, that's a pretty general statement. Yeah, that's a let's all wish that. Also, the drinking water in low meter is absolutely disgusting and is not safe for human consumption. That goes the entire Southwest. Arizona, New Mexico. That's those the entire Southwest. That's California. Yeah. Arizona, New Mexico. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:27 Those are your like three worst water states. New Mexico is the worst. Arizona is the second worst. But Nevada is not so great. Nevada is bad too. Yeah. The desert, they don't have a lot of good water here. Two stars, bad, I wouldn't want a vacation here.
Starting point is 00:09:39 Well, it's not a vacation spot, so that's probably why. That makes sense. Yeah. Good news for you. And then finally, five stars, great little neighborhood has a small town feel, yet only 15 minutes from Redondo Beach and 20 from LA. Lots of fairs and festivals year round reminds me of home. It does?
Starting point is 00:10:00 Okay. Where's home? That's what I'm wondering. Where's home? Is home Anaheim? Well, there's a reply here to this this which is great. What the hell are you talking about is the reply? I love when it starts out aggressive like that. I disagree Yeah, what the hell are you talking about? It's totally overcrowded nasty and dirty homeless poop on lawns and bums everywhere What freak what freaking small towns are you talking about? Meth towns? Maybe. Maybe
Starting point is 00:10:26 they're from a little Midwestern meth town. We have no idea. Suburban Cleveland. We're not sure. Homeless pooping on your lawn? That's not true, right? You know what? Even if it was, I'm actually, we've been to Sacramento where the poop covers the sidewalk. I prefer they poop on the lawns. I'm not walking on the lawns. Because that's where dogs are going too. So the dogs are allowed to shit there, but not the people. So interesting here. So things to do, not a lot going on here, I'll be honest with you. Things to do, you could go to LA, which is right there,
Starting point is 00:10:56 and have anything to do on Earth that you wanna do. Sure. Go to the beach. Instead, they also have the home Halloween decorating contest. Oh, they got a contest. When you look at their shit, they really try to make it like it's a small town there. They really want that feel of like, we're not in LA, we're in a small town.
Starting point is 00:11:13 We're not LA. They said, we're looking for the spookiest house in the neighborhood. Oh boy, contest will run. Oh my God, they're going to have the commission, the Lomita Parks and Recreation Commission is going to go around like scoring your house. Just parking in front and counting how many headstones. It's running. You have bulbs burned out.
Starting point is 00:11:34 It's so weird. It's running right now from October 1st to the 18th. And look at this. I don't like that. That ghost is last year's model. You know what? Target's got new ones. That cobweb is obviously caught.
Starting point is 00:11:45 That is a, it's obviously a large plastic spider in there. I give it one star. Not even close. So you have to send a photo of your home and yard to enter. And then I think they come out and check at, check on it and prizes and custom lawn signs will be awarded to the best decorated homes. You get a lawn sign. Wow. Oh my. There's also the Lomita Railroad Museum. Sure. It is devoted to the California's railroad history. Exhibits include a full
Starting point is 00:12:12 sized steam locomotive with tender and caboose and a station housing scale models, photographs and paintings of trains. Yeah. That's what I want to go look at. Oh look, it's a painting of a train. Painting of a train. Great. I think look at paint. Oh look. It's a painting of a train I think you have the train right? That's a full-size look at that Lucky you do it. It was founded in the early 1960s and The museum building is a replica of a 19th century Depot, which is kind of neat the way they do that That's I guess the it's a replica of the station that was in Wakefield, Massachusetts in the 1800s Sick. I do love a train depot. Yeah, that's a cool shit
Starting point is 00:12:50 Yeah, they look really deep on salt lakes that we play there is that's an old train depot That's the fucking thing on the planet. That's dope and you don't have to hear trains anymore Which is also here and you can go to the Lomita Railroad Museum night at the museum here So you can spend, it says calling all railroad enthusiasts. So if you're an autistic 70 year old man, this is for you. The only railroad enthusiasts I know are autistic 70 year old men. There's an autistic 40 something on, on tick tock that just loves trains, man. He just goes and tells you all about it. It's the coolest thing. My son used to like them too. It's a thing.
Starting point is 00:13:27 It's a common thing. I think it's because they're on a schedule, on time, on a track. So it's all very... And it's got a... There's a whole reason that it does what it does. Yeah. You know what I mean? That's a good point. Well, that said, let's talk about a murder and some really, really disturbing shit here. Okay. Jets, go back to 1993. We'll start. All right. Yeah. And we'll talk to a guy, talk about a guy named David Robert Vines here, a V I E N S so veins veins, almost veins there. So Vines is how it said now at this point he is going through a divorce in
Starting point is 00:14:02 1993 is in the middle of a marriage falling apart. He has three kids from this marriage. Yeah, this is in Vermont he lives in, and including his youngest daughter who was born about 1990, so he's got named Jacqueline. So he's got a young daughter, he's got three kids. There's a lot going on. He's a chef, David, and we'll talk about this.
Starting point is 00:14:22 Now in 1993, he is convicted in Vermont for distribution of cocaine. Oh. Which you might go, oh, that's weird, he's a family man chef, but if you ever worked in the restaurant business, that's just. Yeah, he's just helping you get through table nine and 12 and 13.
Starting point is 00:14:41 If you really, really ever want drugs, just go hang out by the back door of a restaurant. Someone there sells Coke, I guarantee it. The bartender, one of the sous chefs, someone's selling Coke, someone's selling everything. They've got enough to sell you. Or there's a guy at the bar, they know who sells it. There's always somebody in a restaurant
Starting point is 00:14:59 that's willing to give drugs away. There's Coke here. There's Coke here, for sure. So I guess police asked him to help break up, help cooperate with police to get out of this, and he does. So he cooperates. Now, the cop who worked with him over this said he was an agent's dream to work with. He returned calls.
Starting point is 00:15:18 He was there for every deal that we needed him to be there for, and he was on time. So HR loves this guy. Drug HR, he is punching in on time. A punctual drug addict. Isn't that nice? That's rare. He's a dealer, not really an addict. That's why. That's a good point.
Starting point is 00:15:36 Yeah. Because what he's trying to do is he's always trying to open a restaurant. He's a chef. So when you're trying to open a restaurant, if you have a small restaurant, it just bleeds money for the first two years. So you're supplemented. You have to figure out a way to make a living. And that's what he's trying to do here. So he meets a young woman here in the midst of all this, because this is the perfect guy to get settled into a relationship. He's trying to, trying to like snitch off his Coke bust in the middle of a divorce with three kids.
Starting point is 00:16:05 He's like, this is the guy you wanna start a relationship with right here. But the kitchen somehow always just has a flow of women. Chefs, there's always two, three women strung along somewhere. And he's a very like forceful kind of in charge guy as well, was what we'll find out. So I think maybe that's part of it.
Starting point is 00:16:23 And the fact that he can cook. People like food. Maybe that's, yeah, that's what it is. It's got to be, right? And it's something you can watch somebody do what they're good at. Like if you're a chef and you cook at home for someone, most chefs don't really want to cook at home, but if they do, you can watch somebody do like this amazing thing. Most people don't get to see the person that they love do what they're good at ever. you know what I mean? Like if they're at work or doing something, you're gonna sit there and go, man look at him co-alate, that's amazing, or look at him, you know, that's not what it's not normally like that. Spread the shit out
Starting point is 00:16:55 of that. Yeah. So that's why comedians get more, way more women than they're really entitled to honestly, and like you know, musicians, they can be hideous, it doesn't matter. Yeah, but there's also like, you know. Musicians, singing. Musicians, yeah. They can be hideous, it doesn't matter. But there's also like the food, water, shelter is your fucking three basics. And if you can do one of those fucking incredibly, that's amazing. I think that's probably something coming
Starting point is 00:17:17 from the inside of caveman shit. You know what I mean? Of like, oh wow, they can, that's probably part of it. They can feed me, that's incredible. Makes it attractive. So he meets Dawn here. Now he meets Dawn, this is around 1994, they get together, and they marry in 1997.
Starting point is 00:17:33 That was fast. So yeah, it's David and Dawn here getting married, about three years and they get married, but I don't know when his divorce was final or any of that. When his coke shit was over, like this is, that's, he's got a lot going, a lot of pots with shit in them, James. He's got a lot of fucking irons in the fire. Pots on the fire.
Starting point is 00:17:53 A lot of steaks on the grill right now. There it is. He's touching them for temperatures all over the play. Oh shit, that's, fuck, that's supposed to be medium rare. That's medium now. But he's all got to come off. It's a mess. So they get married.
Starting point is 00:18:04 They're going gonna move around a whole bunch around the country. They're gonna be in Florida, they're gonna be all over the country before they end up in California in a two-bedroom apartment in Lomita. So he owns his own restaurants, he tries to open up restaurants wherever he goes,
Starting point is 00:18:18 and Dawn is usually like front of house hostess, manager, whatever, she's the front of house person, he's the back of house person, he's the back of house person. Dawn's brother, David, another David, so Dawn might as well, Dawn's brother said, when I knew him, he was very dominant, I guess is the best word, very charismatic. He was very charismatic. He walked into a room and you knew he was there. And he was, this guy said he was just a kid when David Vine started dating Dawn, his older sister, because they worked at the same restaurant. He was the chef and she was
Starting point is 00:18:50 waiting tables. That's how they met. And he said about about David quote, he was very passionate about his food. We would have Sunday dinners, him and I and Dawn. I mean, it was a spectacle to have him in the kitchen. I ever never ate so good in my life. I believe it Yeah, that's pretty awesome So and also heard his daughter Jackie here the one who was born in 1990 says he was a good dad said every time We would visit him. We'd always have fun things to do and we always really looked forward to being with him I always just really loved him I think everybody that ever met him thought he was a great person to be around and I also
Starting point is 00:19:26 Really liked dawn. She didn't have any kids. So she treated me like her daughter. That's nice That's nice stepmom. This just seems to be working out A lot of her friends and family everybody describes their marriage as a typical marriage. Nothing crazy. Nobody does anything nuts There's not cheating scandals or you know any of that. They appear to like each other at least. They work together every day too. Right. They work in this restaurant. I mean that's a god damn hour of every god damn day. Yeah. That's a 12 hour day of working. Yeah. And then they're making it happen. They're making it work. So I mean they argued at times but who the fuck doesn't? And if you're in the restaurant business, everybody argues
Starting point is 00:20:02 with everybody in the restaurant business. The whole goddamn time. Whether you're married or not, it's just the way it works. Whether you're married or not, working there or eating there, we're all arguing with each other. On a busy Friday night, everybody's arguing with everybody. It's a lot of arguments. It's all arg- it's so busy, it's so much. It's just so much.
Starting point is 00:20:19 So no one ever witnessed David beat up Dawn or any physical violence or any of that stuff. Great relationship. Yeah. But he did say some funny things, I guess. You could funny in quotes. I don't know, haha, or just funny, weird. But when Jacqueline and the other siblings were younger, David would make jokes that if he ever needed to kill somebody, he'd get rid of the body by cooking it. But he'd say it as a joke, like, I'll kill that guy and cook him up.
Starting point is 00:20:45 No one will ever find him. You know, shit like that. So Jackie, Jackie was close with everybody though. Close with her father, close with Dawn. Even lived with them for a time when she was a teenager. She came in and stayed with them for a while. They moved all around the country, like I said, they lived on Anna Maria Island off Florida's Gulf Coast,
Starting point is 00:21:04 which I don't know if that still exists anymore after this last week, but It was off the Gulf Coast. That's yeah, who knows how far south it was it might be all the way It might be fine. It might be by Key West or something when then it'd be fine That's that was the that was where right where it came through. Yeah, so This is David the dawns brother, not David Vines. Don's brother said, we would wake up early, early in the morning, and we would walk an hour, hour and a half, and down the beach power walk just to get our day off right. He would say this would be the three of them.
Starting point is 00:21:41 David Vines, our main guy, made Don's brother the manager of Beach City Market and Grill, which was a restaurant he owned at the time. So that meant he could concentrate on his other business because he had to, because running a restaurant, like I said, especially in the beginning, you're just hemorrhaging money. Hemorrhaging money, shit breaks, need a new fridge, all this shit, you don't have that guy.
Starting point is 00:22:02 You don't have 20 grand to just drop. Yeah, fires, fucking shit has to be done for inspection. So to do this, he was wholesaling hundreds of pounds of weed and selling it to other people. Sure, sure. To smaller dealers. So he's just doing a wholesale weed guy. And he said later on when asked about it,
Starting point is 00:22:24 the younger brother, Don's brother said they asked said did you know about his pot smuggling and Don's brother said I knew about his business sure but that business was separate separate from the business He and I had together like the restaurant that was a separate thing In 2005 though David is arrested for selling weed wholesale lots of weed. And this is obviously not his first drug arrest either. So they end up, guys end up working on the case and he was sentenced to, again, he did
Starting point is 00:22:55 some cooperation this time. David knows how to get out of drug shit. Because if you're willing to cooperate, you can always get out of drug shit. There's always somebody bigger than you. Yeah, that if you're willing to cooperate you can always get out of drug shit. There's always somebody bigger than you Yeah, that's true. Yeah, you know, so if you're deep enough in it, you know who that is You know who that is or you know the guy just above you and that's all they want is that guy Then they're gonna go get the guy above him. That's it and he ends up Getting about a year in prison. He's sentenced to a pretty large bus too. So not bad
Starting point is 00:23:24 So in 2008 that is when he and dawn head to, California Really and end up in Lomita in a two-bedroom apartment Whoo, so here they are. Yeah, this is so there's some history behind them restaurants failed and opened in this and that Drug arrests all that kind of shit now at the bottomed out market of the housing crisis, that's kind of nice. That's not bad, yeah. It's still working. So now Jackie, the daughter, said both she,
Starting point is 00:23:53 meaning Jackie and Dawn, were both heavy drinkers. Dawn is a drinker, boy, and there's nobody who doesn't say that. Yeah, she's one of those hair of the dog type of people. You know what I mean? Is that right? Ever just waking up to fix yesterday. That's kind of those hair of the dog type of people. You know what I mean? Is that right? Everdeen's waking up to fix yesterday. That's kind of how it works here.
Starting point is 00:24:08 And she said that Jackie said she and Dawn would drink booze throughout the day together. Booze. Well before she's 21, obviously, Jackie. Yeah. So they said they also would use drugs together from time to time. Oh, is that right?
Starting point is 00:24:23 Yeah. They're not drinking beer. They're drinking booze. is that right? Yeah, and if you're not. They're not drinking beer, they're drinking booze. They're drinking booze, yeah. They're not drinking wine, they're drinking booze, man. And with Dawn, a lot of people say when they're talking about drugs, they're not talking about weed, they're talking about coke and meth.
Starting point is 00:24:37 Coke and meth, yeah. That's what they're into, uppers. So Jackie said, quote, I remember waking up and she'd be in the kitchen just chugging a beer at nine o'clock in the morning That's hardcore Once you're once you start doing like Homer Simpson shit, you really need to check your life and go wait a second This isn't going on. This isn't good, right? Mornin, I don't even know if I have a job anymore. What's happening?
Starting point is 00:25:02 Wow So she said and then she'd hide the can under the sink so that he wouldn't know that she'd been drinking already. I think he's not gonna smell. I was gonna say, beer at nine in the morning is like, Jesus, what the fuck is that? You might as well shit on the kitchen floor. Have the same impact.
Starting point is 00:25:20 I can smell you in the bedroom. Wow. Jackie said, I think she was just confused with her life and as to how she got to where she was. You know, I think she wanted things to be different. She just basically let my dad take care of her whole life. So spring of 2009, they opened a restaurant in Lomita called the Time Contemporary Cafe. Okay. What do they do there? in Lomita called the Time Contemporary Cafe.
Starting point is 00:25:45 And they make like healthy California type of food. Now, if you would like to hear some reviews of this because there's a bunch of them. Love to. Absolutely listen to this week's Your Stupid Opinions because they are gonna be on there. It's called the Time, not like a clock, Time like the spice.
Starting point is 00:26:04 Time Contemporary Cafe is what it's called. So we're absolutely gonna do the reviews of that on Your Stupid Opinions, which are, and you'll see in a whole new light when the story's over, let me tell you. So- Keep in mind, this isn't a murder story. This isn't a murder story.
Starting point is 00:26:20 So the restaurant's open from Tuesday to Saturday usually, but they close it for a major remodel. I don't know where the fuck he's getting the money to do a major remodel if he borrows everything from the bank or what, but a huge remodel between May and September 2009. So the whole summer basically it's closed down. He would spend long hours working, David, he'd be there 80 hours a week at least on the remodel. And Dawn, while this is going on, she is waiting tables at another restaurant so they can pay their bills because otherwise they can't pay their bills.
Starting point is 00:26:53 He's working on this. Yeah. So summer of 2009, there's a guy named Joe Cacase here and he owns a motorcycle repair shop in the same shopping center as the cafe. Oh, Joey C over here. Now, Kakey is friends with both of them with David and Dawn and would see them at the restaurant every day and they work right next to each other.
Starting point is 00:27:16 During the summer as they became better friends, Dawn came to Kakey's with an envelope with $640 in cash in it. And she doesn't want drugs either. She asked him if he would hold this for her. And she said the money was a nest egg and she wanted to put it aside for later. So rather than put it in a bank.
Starting point is 00:27:38 Give it to a guy that runs a motorcycle show. Give it to the motorcycle guy, I guess, to put in a saddle bag for later. So worked out for a chick that sued the electric company in California. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Must have been a trustworthy guy, I guess. So August 2009, goddamn it, everyone's named David or Karen in this whole fucking story. Karen Patterson, who's an interior designer for restaurants and a close friend of David and Dawn for years, she works with David on the remodel of the Time Cafe and she saw the
Starting point is 00:28:11 couple at the restaurant several times a week. During that summer, Karen Patterson and Dawn became very close after Dawn's mother died of cancer. So they became, she was helping her get through that. On one occasion in August 2009, Karen Patterson saw red marks on Dawn's neck She's never a good sign Patterson asked her about it which good for her for asking about it didn't just push that under the rug Dawn started crying and said that David had been drinking and tried to choke her
Starting point is 00:28:40 Not good So Dawn also said that David had been very angry with her and that there were other incidents in the past where he had hurt her. So now it's coming to the surface that he's been abusing her here. September 2009 Dawn called Karen Patterson late at home one night and said that she had locked herself in the bathroom of her home. Not by accident. She wasn't like, can you come over with the key and get and spring me from the bathroom? Locked herself in there to keep him out. Yeah. She said David was angry with her and she was afraid he was going to beat her.
Starting point is 00:29:10 Hotshot Australian attorney Nicola Gabba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld and she's informing on them all. I'm Marcia Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases. And this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created.
Starting point is 00:29:47 She just didn't know how to stop. Now through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informants Lawyer X exclusively on Wondry+. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify and listen to more Exhibit C, True Crime shows early and ad free right now. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little known British territory called Pitcairn and it harbored a deep dark scandal.
Starting point is 00:30:27 There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still emerge. It just happens to all of them. I'm journalist Luke Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction.
Starting point is 00:31:02 Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple podcasts, or Spotify. Karen could hear David pounding on the door and yelling, but couldn't understand what he was saying. So Patterson said, let me call the police. But Dawn said, please don't, because David will lose his restaurant. Well, that's all we have, basically. So we'll lose everything.
Starting point is 00:31:23 So Dawn decided to wait in the locked bathroom until David went to sleep. Dawn called Patterson back a short time later and said David had gone to bed and I'll be all right. He's sleeping it off now. Now, there's drugs are a bit of a problem here. And people on the outside who don't know her very well, Dawn don't know about the drugs really, they just know she likes to drink, but people who know her very well know about it, as a lot of people hide that kind of shit. Jackie said, this is the daughter,
Starting point is 00:31:53 Jackie said, I couldn't even go home without her asking me to find something for her. And the interviewer said, something meaning what? And she said, like coke or meth. Find coke for me, not in the house, I didn't use police. No, no, no, yeah, go out and get it for me. Yeah. Yeah. Go out 18 year old and get me coke. So also in September 2009 the cafe reopens. Okay. And so he David works as the chef in the kitchen while Dawn is the hostess and a server as well. And Matt does managerial
Starting point is 00:32:21 shit too. So Sunday October 18 2009, this guy by the way in different documents has different names but the court document has him as Richard Stagnito. Dicky Staggs over here. Old Dicky Staggs is a friend of David and a former business associate of David's family. On this night Dicky Staggs here went to the Time Cafe to install a pot and pan rack in the kitchen. About 10pm he got done doing that. This guy sits down with David and another man who was interviewing for a chef position, for like a sous chef. So he's got people here. David is complaining that the restaurant wasn't working out the way he wanted and that Dawn was drinking too much and not doing her job as a hostess.
Starting point is 00:33:05 He said Dawn was a quote sloppy mess at work and that it was embarrassing to have her in the restaurant while he was trying to start this business and run it. Like a junkie for a wife. Yeah, I got a junkie for a wife. Yeah, that's exactly right. You're going full De Niro here. So David was reviewing the restaurant receipts as he talked and he became very angry when the receipts didn't balance out He yelled out that bitch is stealing from me
Starting point is 00:33:30 They're married by the way for like it's I mean, she's just taking the house money Yeah, that bitch is stealing from me and nobody steals from me and I will kill that bitch and Dickie stags told him to calm down. He goes, why don't you chill out? He goes, you got to relax a little bit. Don't get so upset about this. He said, why don't you send her to rehab? Maybe that'll work. Yeah. Yeah. And which is a reasonable response. David says, you're just a pussy. That's how that works. So, uh, Vines then is shortly after that, David and the chef guy interviewing for the position, left to go to a club.
Starting point is 00:34:08 They went to a pool hall to have a couple beers. Get to know each other. I think it's to see if you can work together. You know, that's, you'd want to hang out with somebody because kitchen's long hours, man. Find out what he'd do if his wife was stealing from him. What about you? You'd beat her ass, right?
Starting point is 00:34:24 That's what I'm saying. You choke her. That's, you know, come on. Let's go to the pool hall and get weapons and beat our wives together. Jesus, what are you saying? Get a stick. The ones that unscrew, a half a stick will really, you gotta wield that thing.
Starting point is 00:34:34 Stick one down your pant leg, we can walk out of here together. So at 1101 p.m. that night, Dawn called Cacace now, the biker guy. Motorcycle guy. Motor motorcycle on the phone she told him she had some more money saved that she would drop off at the motorcycle shop. I gotta make a deposit. I gotta make a deposit. Okay well when will a teller be available is basically what she's saying so she said next day out tomorrow I'm
Starting point is 00:34:58 gonna bring you the money. So 1149 that night, Don called Dicky Staggs. During their phone conversation, Stagnito told Don that David was upset with her and had accused her of stealing money from the restaurant. Don became very upset on the phone, started crying hysterically, and they had a few more phone calls back and forth that night, mainly about if she knew where David was and how he would get home.
Starting point is 00:35:27 And after that call, he didn't hear from her anymore after a few calls that night. Dawn never shows up the next day to drop off the money to the motorcycle guy. So in the morning, Monday, October 19th, early in the morning here, David had a meeting with the employees at the Time Cafe. He looked tired and pissed off, and he told them that Dawn wouldn't be working there anymore and that they needed to figure out a new management system to keep the restaurant running smoothly. So to do that, he taps a waitress here who's a 22-year-old waitress who just started working
Starting point is 00:36:01 here. Kathy Galvin is her name. See? More Cathys. She'd been working here. Oh, was Karen. You're right this is Kathy. So she'd been working as a part-time server at the restaurant for a few weeks. Barely got there. So during that time she worked with Dawn. She observed that Dawn was moody, got pissed off really easy and yelled at the staff whenever there was an error in an order or any regular restaurant mishap that happened. At this meeting, David asked this woman, Kathy Galvin, to take on some of the managerial
Starting point is 00:36:30 duties. So she started working at the restaurant full time. And soon they'll be living together and hooking up. David and Kathy. Now, Tuesday, the next day, October 20th, 2009, Dawn is supposed to meet Karen Patterson at the hospital where Patterson's undergoing treatment for cancer. Oh my, fuck. Dawn doesn't show up. So Patterson and her husband decided to stop by the restaurant to see if she was okay. They didn't find Dawn, but they talked to David, who seemed disheveled and agitated
Starting point is 00:37:03 and not himself and Now Karen Patterson said he was drained or drenched in sweat seemed to be distraught and had a large bandage on his hand Interesting David told Karen that he and dawn had an argument because she refused to go to rehab and that she left him on Sunday night. She packed her shit up and left He also said that he was reviewing restaurant receipts and was concerned that Dawn was taking money from the business for a long time. So at David's request, Patterson reviewed a large pile of receipts,
Starting point is 00:37:35 but found only a small difference in the balance of about $25, which is nothing in the course of a restaurant's evening, you know what I mean? Yeah, that's, Jesus, that's so easy. That's somebody doing bad math, not adding two drinks together, you know. So Patterson asked David whether Dawn had taken her belongings with her and why her car is still in the parking lot if she took off. David said Dawn took some luggage but not her car because it wasn't registered and
Starting point is 00:38:02 was breaking down. So she took off some other way. She described David as nervous throughout the conversation and appeared very irritated by the questions he was being asked. At one point when they were asking about Dawn, he said, good riddance to her. I don't care. Fucking tired of it. Glad she's gone. So a few days go by October 23rd 2009 now Patterson Karen Patterson asked David about dawn again and David said he'd been communicating with dawn via telephone and text messages And that she'd conveyed that to him that she needed some time away So David she asked David to have dawn call her because she's worried about her that same afternoon
Starting point is 00:38:44 She gets a text message from Dawn. Karen does. Okay. And it's said that she just needs some time to think. So, you know, just take it off, need some time to think, which is fine. Sure. But at the same time, she signs it. She has a nickname here, with her friend Karen here, and that is Pixie. It's P-I-X-I-E, or Pixie. So she signs every text, Love Pixie, every one of them. This text, by the way, contained a number of spelling errors,
Starting point is 00:39:20 which is unusual for Dawn, she's very good at spelling, and it says Love Pixie P-I-X-Y, which she's never spelled it like that before. And this is- I don't think anybody's ever spelled it like that. Never, never, I don't know why anybody would. I think the only one that's ever spelled that way is the sticks.
Starting point is 00:39:35 Yeah, no shit. So this is, you know, not usual behavior. And she signs, every text is Love Pixie, so although that's really weird, and she's a little bit distraught over that. And the message stated that Dawn was moving back east and would provide a new phone number once she was settled down.
Starting point is 00:39:57 So a neighbor, by the way, says during this time, she heard a fight last week and backs up David's rendition here. This is Donna Morton lives in the same apartment complex. She said in October 2009 she doesn't know the exact date but she overheard an argument between David and Dawn. Didn't know what they were saying but they were both yelling and it sounded like objects were being thrown around their apartment. She said after about 15 minutes Dawn stormed out of the apartment with some bags and she
Starting point is 00:40:26 never saw Dawn again. So she did leave with the bags. So that's what David said. That's backing her up. She doesn't know what day this was though. That's the thing. They said it's the 18th. She said beats the shit out of me.
Starting point is 00:40:37 Could have been the 12th, could have been the 18th. I don't know. That's our lead. It's that day. That's it. So later on this lady asked David about Dawn and he said they were no longer together because Dawn didn't want him to stay in the restaurant business. He also said Dawn had a drinking problem and didn't want to get help and she decided to quote go live in the mountains.
Starting point is 00:40:56 Just in a cave somewhere, just in a tent on a mountain. So over the next several weeks, Karen Patterson repeatedly tries to get a hold of Dawn on her phone but can never get a hold of her. On multiple occasions, Karen asked David about Dawn's whereabouts and he told different stories about who Dawn might be with and what she might be doing. Now, Cacace, the motorcycle guy, also asked David about Dawn when he noticed he hadn't seen her in a week or so, two weeks, and David said he fired her because she was drinking on the job and making mistakes with money.
Starting point is 00:41:31 Interesting. Now, a week after Stagnito last spoke with Dawn, he received a text message from her cell phone and the message said that Dawn was leaving town for a while and needed to clear her head. David later told Stagnito that Dawn refused to go to rehab and had left him. So November 8, 2009, Dawn's sister files a missing persons report with the LA County Sheriff's Department. So they took numerous steps to locate Dawn.
Starting point is 00:41:58 They distributed flyers with her photograph to law enforcement. They reviewed her cell phone records for activity and her banking records, interviewing her friends and family and doing a nationwide missing persons database search of all of her shit. So they're looking for her. What they find is no leads, nothing. No one's, her bank account has not been used since the 18th.
Starting point is 00:42:22 Yeah. It's very interesting. So that's right away. Meanwhile, Casey's gotta be wondering, what am I supposed to do with this eight grand that she gave me? Yeah, $640 or whatever. Right, I don't, what's $640?
Starting point is 00:42:35 Yeah. So they're saying, and that's what they're saying, they're saying if she didn't take the money that she was saving from him, and she's not using her bank account, how the hell is she surviving, or how is she getting anywhere, what's she doing? So it's really difficult. They interview David at their apartment on November 11, 2009, and he said, listen,
Starting point is 00:42:55 he and Dawn, we had ongoing marital problems, Dawn's drug use and alcohol abuse had got out of control, we got an argument about me working too hard at the restaurant. And he said that Dawn left that day after the argument and hadn't contacted him since. What do you want from me? She does drugs and she drinks. She's not reliable, man. I don't tell you. And he said, they said, well, why didn't you report her missing? He goes, because she left. What am I going to do? That's that wouldn't that be stalking after a while? If you're if your ex-wife won't talk to you and your report are missing? If I call the police every time somebody leaves the room,
Starting point is 00:43:29 I run a restaurant, man. Yeah, I don't know. That's a lot of people I'm gonna have to file reports on. No shit. So about two weeks after the disappearance, David and Kathy Galvin begin their romantic relationship. When Kathy first visited the apartment, she noticed that all of Dawn's belongings were still there. So she was like, is she coming back? Like,
Starting point is 00:43:51 what am I doing here? Am I, is this like a hookup or what's going on? David assured her that Dawn had left him. The marriage is over. I'm all, all about you. So he ends up, David calls his daughter, Jackie, who was living in South Carolina and asked her to come out here and help him with the restaurant. So I can trust you. You're my daughter. So he made no mention of Dawn, but later told her that Dawn had taken off for a few days because they had a fight. Jackie gets here in November 2009 stays for about six weeks. David right after she got there. David asked Jackie to pick up Dawn's clothes, her pack up Dawn's clothes and place them in storage because Dawn's not coming back. Kathy came over to the apartment and helped Jackie move Dawn's clothes into a rental storage unit. Wow. And then Kathy ends up moving into the apartment in mid November with David. Later, Vane showed David shows both Kathy
Starting point is 00:44:46 and Jackie text messages he claims were from Dawn, said, you know, Dawn's phone, and stated that Dawn still loved David but was leaving him. Okay. End of 2009 now. David and Jackie were driving home together from the restaurant. They were both drunk and Jackie was stoned as well. So driving home, good example to set for your teen daughter. As he's driving, David begins crying out of nowhere. All right. I don't know how much have you drank, sir? It's a good dad to get hand-bogged and cry to his daughter. I just wanted to tell you I love you. That's gonna go real great. That won't fuck up her future of how she sees men.
Starting point is 00:45:28 So he confessed that Dawn's not coming back. He said he and Dawn had an argument at the apartment one night. He said he had taken a sleeping pill and had asked Dawn to leave the room so that he could sleep, but she just kept badgering him and trying to talk, is the way he put it. So David moved a dresser in front of the bedroom door
Starting point is 00:45:45 to keep Dawn out, but she got back in the room anyway. Shit, she's like a stray cat. Fuck, yeah, she's like a fucking, like a mouse. She needs a tiny little hole, he's saying. So David then brought Dawn into the living room, and this seems like a reasonable next step, right? Okay. Decided to tie her up and restrain her mouth you
Starting point is 00:46:05 stay here he duct taped her up he duct tape her hands and ankles together and put duct tape over her mouth and said there now I can get some sleep walked away uh-huh he said when the next when he woke up the next morning Dawn was dead she must have choked on her own vomit he said. He told her repeatedly it was an accident it was an accident I didn't mean for it to happen and he also said she he said Jackie said well where the fuck is she what did you do and he said her body will never be found don't worry and then he requested Jackie send a text message to one of Dawn's friends from Dawn's cell phone which he still has and he shows her, oh yeah, all these messages have been coming from me.
Starting point is 00:46:48 Idiot. Which states that Dawn is okay and starting over in Florida. So Jackie does this, sends a text message, and then keeps the phone and throws it out as an attempt to go, Dad, you can't have her phone on you if you're going to try to get away with some shit here. This is insane. I am 19 and stoned get away with some shit here. This is insane. I am 19 and stoned and I'm smarter than you. This is terrifying.
Starting point is 00:47:09 I'm already a better murderer. Wow, so December 9th, 2009, police do a phone interview with David. I don't know why they wouldn't just go see him. It makes no sense, but. He's busy. They tape record the phone interview and he said prior to her disappearance, dawn had been drinking about 18 beers a day
Starting point is 00:47:29 She is drinking beers beers. That's what she's into and she's skinny too. That's the thing her her like missing persons poster She's like five seven a buck. Oh five. She must she must not be eating food. She must just be drinking That's a lot of meth and coke, man. Yeah. And he said she was yelling at restaurant staff, causing cash shortages of $200 to $300 by miscalculating customer bills. He said October 18th, he said, I left her at home while I went to the restaurant and to a bar with a guy I was interviewing for a chef position.
Starting point is 00:48:01 I returned home later that night. Dawn was gone. He said she did come home a week later on October 25th and begged him to leave their life in Lomita and run away with her to the mountains. He said she was completely unkempt wearing dirty clothes and reeking of alcohol. I've been in the mountains. I've been sleeping on the ground. I've been doing all sorts of shit in the mountains guy You'd be surprised how comfy a tree stump is come with me. She comes in smelling like she's been sleeping on Venice Beach
Starting point is 00:48:35 And David said no you need to get into rehab and he said that dawn agreed But then two days later she took off with some of her shit. She had a couple of suitcases and she took off. So over the next few weeks he received some text messages from her and they spoke on the telephone twice. In one text message, Dawn said that she loved him and they needed time to work things out. And again, they asked him why didn't he call the police and he said after she left, a few days later, maybe a week to two weeks, I'm not exactly sure when it was but I got a text message from her and she said I'm okay I'm with a friend and by the way I talked to her my wife
Starting point is 00:49:13 Dawn on the phone I talked to her the day I picked my daughter Jackie up from the airport and when I spoke to Dawn on the telephone she told me she was with a friend and needed time to herself so why would I call the cops? So now lots of time goes by. That was November 2009. Now we're talking about August 2010. Ten months later, there's been no contact from Dawn, the detective at this point, after ten months of no contact and no trace of this woman existing on earth, he finally starts to form the opinion that Dawn might not have left her home voluntarily. I wonder where she is. This guy, he really should wear that detective sleeve strong.
Starting point is 00:49:53 That's a title right there. Sherlock Holmes would be jealous. Wow. So he and Sergeant Richard Garcia led the homicide investigation. In October 2010, Sergeant Garcia arranged for a search of David's apartment in Lomita, which by the way David and Kathy Galvin had recently moved out of. So it's not a search because he's letting them search, it's a search because the apartment complex doesn't give a shit. So they ended up finding blood stains on the bedroom wall and bathroom floor.
Starting point is 00:50:28 But these samples were too degraded for any kind of testing, so they couldn't tell DNA or anything like that. No other physical evidence is recovered from the apartment. Now, February 22, 2011 is going by. Jackie is contacted by two LA County Sheriff's Detectives as a part of the investigation. During the interview with the detectives, this is in South Carolina, they go out there to talk to her. They did a fucking phone interview with a guy who lived two miles away. But they go to... Wow, okay.
Starting point is 00:50:58 South Carolina's beautiful in February. Everybody loves it there. Everyone knows that. So when they're talking to her her they say the detectives asked Jackie to call her dad Basically, well, they're talking to her. She admits she said this is what my father told me. Yeah, she's a 19 20 year old kid She's not gonna you know, this is a homicide fucking interrogation so Then the detectives asked Jackie to call her dad and let him know that she talked to the police
Starting point is 00:51:25 They did this to as I would call it to anger the hive a bit basically To kick it a little yeah see that hornets nest spray the hose at it once and see what happens That's what they're doing inside and see just shake it give it a good smack with your one hand That's what they're doing to see if maybe he starts doing some weird shit Yeah, and they said and she did that and she said to her dad that in one call, dad, I told the police they're going to come after you. I told them everything. So that's the 22nd of February, 2011. On the morning of February 23rd, David showed Kathy Galvin an article in the local paper, which indicated that Dawn's disappearance was now being investigated as a homicide. So that was in there too. They wanted this, they timed
Starting point is 00:52:09 this perfectly. So he would hear this from his daughter, then see this and be like, holy shit. After reading the article, David tells Kathy he's really sorry, but Dawn's not coming back. What happens when a hacker uncovers hundreds of murder plots targeting people all over the world? Each of them posted on a hitman for hire site on the dark web, with their photos, habits and intimate details all used against them. What happens when they learn that the threat is coming from the person closest to them? Or what is the psychological profile of a father who would murder his own
Starting point is 00:52:45 son and wife all to hide a drug addiction and years of embezzlement? How do we understand the actions of the most complex and twisted minds? From cases of serial killers, relationships turned dark, to manipulative scammers preying on the insecurities of regular people. Wondries Exhibit C is your partner in crime. Listen to the best of True Crime by following Exhibit C on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to hit True Crime shows like Kill List and Killer Psyche early and ad free right now
Starting point is 00:53:18 by joining Wondry+. In a quiet suburb, a community is shattered by the death of a beloved wife and mother. But this tragic loss of life quickly turns into something even darker. Her husband had tried to hire a hitman on the dark web to kill her. And she wasn't the only target. Because buried in the depths of the internet is the Kill List, a cache of chilling documents containing names,
Starting point is 00:53:44 photos, addresses and specific instructions for people's murders. This podcast is the true story of how I ended up in a race against time to warn those who lives were in danger. And it turns out, convincing a total stranger someone wants them dead is not easy. Follow Kill List on the Wondry app wherever you get your podcasts You can listen to kill list and more exhibit see true crumb shows like morbid Early and add free right now by joining one group plus check out exhibit see in the Wondry app for all your true from listening
Starting point is 00:54:18 He also said that it was an accident so now he's telling her about it, so yeah David and Kathy Galvin got in his car and drove to them, drove to the nearby cliffs. Okay. There's cliffs overlooking the ocean. David was crying as he drove and told Kathy Galvin, he's going to jump off the cliffs, man. He's going to do it. Now a police car began following them on purpose because this is what they were trying to do. And he tries to initiate a traffic stop, but David guns it. He floors it. Won't stop. This is LA, sir. We're driving. We're driving. They stop at the at the cliffs now. He dry
Starting point is 00:54:56 he guns it to the cliffs. He gets out of the car, walks to the edge of the cliff with Kathy behind him. Yeah, he apologizes to Kathy and said, no one's gonna believe him and they're never going to get to be together after this. He also said to tell his mother and brother that he loved them very much and then he leapt off the fucking cliff. Jumped off a giant cliff.
Starting point is 00:55:18 Holy shit. He survives the jump. He falls into the rocks, Yeah. Fucks his back. I mean, fucks himself up royally, but survives this. He's rescued by a police helicopter and taken to the hospital. For you know that stuff you told Kathy, you can tell them yourself. Wow. Once you can regain, once you regain the gift of speech, well, uh, you can tell
Starting point is 00:55:43 him anything you want. He said, I decided I didn't want to live. I didn't want to go to prison. I did not want to take responsibility for the harm I've caused. I tried to kill myself jumping off that 80 foot cliff. He thought it was sure suicide. Somehow he survived. Imagine landing and I go, fuck, I'm still alive, god damn it!
Starting point is 00:56:05 And I'm too fucked up to hurt myself now. And then the water came in or some shit and the waves saved him. High tide, high tide! Shit! You son of a bitch. So following this, Sergeant Garcia executes search warrants on his new residence, which is his mother's house, and the Time Cafe. No physical evidence relating to Dawn's death is recovered during those searches. However,
Starting point is 00:56:29 a cadaver dog that was used for the search of the Time Cafe stopped at a shed and several other areas behind the restaurant, but they didn't find anything. Did he keep her there, you think? They didn't find anything. We'll find out in a minute here. March. We know where exactly what he did with her. March 1st, 2011. The cops come to his hospital bed to talk to him. Wakey wakey. Yeah. Wakey wakey. Eggs and bakey fucker. Let's do this. statements here. He said on October 18th 2009, Don wanted to use cocaine with David. He said to try to get me to do some lines. He agreed, but he didn't like it. He said he wasn't into coke. And some people don't like it and I can sympathize with that because I'm one of them.
Starting point is 00:57:17 Do you ever over it? No, I don't. I go, oh God, I don't ever want to do this again. Why'd you give me that? I'm going to sell your head off. I need weed now is what it is. Later that night, David got violent, he said, quote unquote, because he had caught Dawn stealing money from the business. And when he found her with the money, he said he just snapped, quote unquote. He said she started the fight with him as he was trying to fall asleep after they fought
Starting point is 00:57:42 about the money. He said, I came home at about 1230 dawn still wasn't home. I assumed she'd gone to get cocaine and I really needed to sleep. I worked 90 hours that week. David said he thought he suspected dawn would be high when she got home. So that's why he blockaded the bedroom door. Because you don't want to argue with her when she's high. He said I go in I take the ambient. I move the big Bureau in front of the door. Because you don't want to argue with her when she's high. He said, I go in, I take the ambient, I move the big bureau in front of the door, she gets
Starting point is 00:58:09 in, she just raising hell outside the door. And I keep saying the same thing over and over. I keep telling her, and I keep telling her, either go spend the night somewhere else or you're not, or something, because you're not staying here because I can tell I'm going to jail any minute for this domestic violence He's like I'm gonna hit you if I if you don't leave Yeah, you keep talking like this while I try to sleep He said and up until this point I haven't seen her or laid her hand on her So I lay back down and the ambient kicks my ass. I got real light headed on these things
Starting point is 00:58:41 So I'm laying there and the next thing I know She's all over me and she's got the light in my face calling me all kinds of mean names and stuff. Oh, not mean names and stuff. The ambient man. Not that. Yeah. And I keep telling her the same thing.
Starting point is 00:58:55 Just leave me alone. I just need to sleep. I just need to sleep. Just let me sleep. And then I get up, I grab her right by the hand, both hands, and I bring her out to the living room and I go ahead and I grab her right by the hand, both hands, and I bring her out to the living room. And I go ahead and I force her onto the floor. And I wrap her hands up real quick, wrap her feet up real quick.
Starting point is 00:59:13 And I take a piece of clear duct tape, wrapping tape, and I put that over her mouth. And I said, that was it. I said, good night. And I walked away. So he placed duct tape around her. First of all, he had easily accessible duct tape to be able to pull off long, like seems like you had a plan when you left the bedroom there. He said that she didn't cry, scream or even resist as he restrained her. And he said he didn't recall seeing any blood or anything. He said he woke
Starting point is 00:59:42 up the next morning and she was dead. He said she was dead. He said he panicked and he placed her in her body in a plastic garbage bag and brought her to work to the restaurant. Yeah. He said for some reason I just got violent. It seemed like I it seemed like it had to do with her stealing money. So you found and they said so you found her with the money and you snapped? And he said, yes. He said, and I go out there and I wake her up and I find her and her body was cold and hard.
Starting point is 01:00:12 She was dead. And oh my God, I couldn't believe it. Oh my God, I was just numb. He said, I walked around. I said, you need to think about this. This doesn't look good. Yeah, no, it doesn't look good. Your dead wife?
Starting point is 01:00:24 Your dead wife, who you duct taped fucking in a restrained way on the living room floor. That looks real bad. And you're giving an account that is incredibly nonviolent and then saying, I got violent. What the fuck? What'd you do, man? Tying someone up with duct tape is pretty violent. Is it? I don't know. Fuck yeah. If someone tackled you and tied your hands and feet and mouth with duct tape, you go, why are you being violent? Why are you doing this to me?
Starting point is 01:00:49 This is how violent crime starts. I don't like it. Yeah. I'm not a fan. Yeah. I wasn't bleeding when they did it to me. And when they sucked, right. And stuck me, it was frightening. It's incredibly violent. So you said you're going to be in trouble. And so they asked him, let's be clear. Did you mean to kill her that night? He said, absolutely not. They said, did you have homicide in your heart, Mr. Vines?
Starting point is 01:01:18 Homicide in your heart. He said, no, I just wanted to sleep. I just wanted to calm the situation down so we could deal with it in the morning. I'll just duct tape her till I'm ready to wake up." He said he initially put her body in the closet and later in a garbage bag and then he placed that garbage bag in a dumpster behind the restaurant. Yeah, that dog's chasing it. He said, yeah, he had had to, he said, this wasn't new. I have duct taped her before
Starting point is 01:01:42 and this didn't happen. They said, what? You did what now? He said, this wasn't new, I have duct taped her before and this didn't happen. I said, what? You did what now? He said, I did it before because I didn't want her driving around wasted, whacked out on coke and drinking. He's like, she was out of control and she was trying to go back out for more coke and she was all drunk and wasted. And I was like, no, it's dangerous. I taped her to a chair.
Starting point is 01:01:57 I taped her to a fucking chair. Like walking in suicide kings. So later that day he says he triple bagged Don's body, put it in his car, drove to the restaurant and that's when he spotted a garbage truck. He said I picked the bags up and I put them in the dumpster and I went back there, washed my hands and thought to myself, you're going to hell David. No shit man. Now that's not what actually happened though. No.
Starting point is 01:02:25 The first part might be, but the disposal is not it. And searching, there's a way they can search where that dumpster ended up getting dumped and all that kind of thing. They can't find her. All the grid that they put it in the. Yeah. Yeah. They come back and go, hey, David, about four days later.
Starting point is 01:02:40 The grid's empty. Can't find her anywhere. Yeah. And so, yeah, he said, oh, you know, they talked about it again. He said, I worked 100 hours, I'm drinking, she's drinking, using coke, she's doing all this. I was at the restaurant, he does his whole thing, the ambient, everything else is the same except later on, he said, you know, he woke up and she was dead and they said, what
Starting point is 01:03:02 did you do with her? And he said, after realizing I was dead, I came up and she was dead and they said what'd you do with her? And he said after realizing I was dead I came up with the idea of cleaning the grease traps in the restaurant and commingling the excess proteins in those units What? He placed Dawn's body in a 55 gallon Vat of boiling water and slow cooked it for four days Four days four days
Starting point is 01:03:27 He slow cooked his fucking wife and then put her into the grease trap and then mixed it all up together with that shit So we get dumped Wow This is die a fucking bollacle man boiled her to a tour days to a slurry to a slurry Yeah, why yes? Oh my god Boiled her to a broth. Made a broth out of his wife. Yes. Oh my god. He made a, my miso wife over here is what he made. This is a bisque of wife.
Starting point is 01:03:54 Oh my Christ man. Terrifying. Wow. I don't know what the fuck to say about this. Four days. He said he slow cooked her for four days and then disposed of what was left in the grease pit or garbage bags because it could look like regular restaurant right shit. He said he said I manipulated her so the face was the faces down and I took
Starting point is 01:04:18 some some things like weights that we use and I put them on top of her body and I just slowly cooked it and I ended up cooking her for four days. So the detective, this is the first time he hears this, he said you cooked her body for four days. Which is about all you could say. What now? Okay, what the fuck did you say? 96, is that right? 96 hours. He said I cooked her for four days. I let her cool. I strained it out. I mixed her in with some of the other shit
Starting point is 01:04:48 So the other shit that's his exact quote When you put an exact quote in it really makes it much crazier doesn't it See what I'm saying Unbelievable mixed it up with some other shit. Then he told detectives that he hid his wife's skull and jawbone, because they wouldn't break down, for safekeeping in his mother's attic in Torrance. Stop it. So he said, that's the only thing I didn't want to get rid of in case I wanted to leave
Starting point is 01:05:22 it somewhere. Like in case to set up what she's ran away He can go up in the mountains and just leave it there He said yeah He mixed her Bromains up with grease and other debris from the restaurant place them in large garbage bags inside the dumpster The only body part was the skull that he didn't get rid of He said he appeared they said he appeared to be in pain during the interview
Starting point is 01:05:41 But didn't show signs of being overly medicated or confused or anything So following the interview they do a search of the attic in the mother's house but they can't find her skull. How deep is it? And they never do find her skull. Ever. They never find her skull. Where the fuck did he put it? Why would he say it's in his mother's attic if it's not there? It's crazy. It's a good point. They're gonna go look for it. It's fucking nuts. And you just told them you boiled your wife for four days. What are we doing here? Are we trying to save face now? What's the shocking part, man?
Starting point is 01:06:09 I think it's over, bro. Whatever you did, you could say it now because you just told them you boiled your wife for four days. So the trial, he's obviously charged with murder here. They didn't go, well, it was an accident. I mean, everybody duct tapes their wife. That happens. So the, everybody duct tapes their wife, you know, that happens.
Starting point is 01:06:26 So the prosecutors say he killed his wife in a fit of rage over missing money. They said, in this case, you're going to learn about a once happy couple, a couple who had hopes and dreams and use their efforts to build a future. The evidence in this case will reveal to you just how tragic a once hopeful relationship can turn. Now, he's in a wheelchair in court, by the way, because he's all fucking messed up. Sure.
Starting point is 01:06:49 He pleads not guilty, says he didn't try to kill his wife intentionally, but during the trial, he told the judge that he would not be taking the stand in his own defense as well, so. Now, what is their defense? Because he's admitted to everything. What can the defense possibly be? Well, one guy here, a chef who had worked with him,
Starting point is 01:07:09 he said he met, this is the guy who he met for the job that night, he said that they talked to him and he said that he spoke briefly with Vines and another man, which is the dicky stags there, but he couldn't recall their conversation. He said he didn't remember Vines making any statements about Dawn. Later that night, this guy said they left the Time Cafe, went to a couple bars where
Starting point is 01:07:30 they drank, they returned to the cafe, then went their separate ways. That's his testimony. So they were like, what was he doing that night? So the detective who talks about Karen Patterson, he talked to her in November 2009, and he said he could not recall Patterson's exact words during the interview, but her report indicated that Patterson said that she had seen Dawn strike David in the past. So their defense is Dawn's hit him,
Starting point is 01:07:56 so he can boil her for four days and that's fine. Yeah. Unbelievable. She didn't mention in the interview that she had seen bruises on Dawn's neck or that Dawn had told her that David had previously choked her. So she does not didn't say that in the initial interview. She did say in the initial interview, Dawn had hit David, but not the other way around.
Starting point is 01:08:18 But later on, she said that David switches it. Yeah, she switches it. So I don't know if she switches it or just adds to it or what. But Karen, I want to say she's lying. I don't know that. So Patterson also said that she didn't not mention that David had said good riddance in reference to Dawn, which you think he would have said she would have mentioned that to the cops in the first place. The detective who also interviewed Stagnito or Stagnito in December said Stagnito did not disclose in the interview that David said, I'll kill that bitch when talking about Dawn or had
Starting point is 01:08:49 made any statements about Dawn stealing. So all this came later. None of the people said that shit at the time, which is strange. So his main defense is ambient, fucking ambient, all whacked out. You get a little loopy. Why does everybody? All right. I mean, I get it fucks you up and makes you sleepwalk and shit, but. It's a very common defense in these cases. It is. It's a really powerful substance.
Starting point is 01:09:11 I mean, it is. It's a wild drug. It is. But at the same time, I can't say I did a bunch of fucking coke and then killed somebody, so that's an excuse. Like, I don't know why that's an excuse. So the Dr. Marvin Pietruska was a forensic toxicologist and pathologist. He testified the drug ambient could create significant confused states in which the user
Starting point is 01:09:31 might not be aware of his or her surroundings and might have a problem with alertness. None of that says you would murder somebody by accident, though. Other potential side effects include drowsiness, lightheadedness, fatigue, delusion, hallucination, tremors, and irritability. That sounds great. Sign me up for a bunch of that. Alcohol use while taking Ambien could aggravate the side effects and could cause the user to become irrational, experience memory loss, or develop delusions such as seeing or hearing
Starting point is 01:09:58 things. That aren't there. They reviewed David's medical records from March 2011 when he was hospitalized. He had been prescribed lorazepam, hydrocodone, morphine and benadryl. Trevor Burrus Lots of lay down shit. David Yeah, lots of get tie. Well, I guess in the hospital if you're all fucked up. Yeah, that's what you'd want. So that's really his only defense as I took Ambien because they play his whole confession in court. So the jury hears him say, I boiled my wife, I did it for four days.
Starting point is 01:10:28 Rendered her. Yeah, it's not a detective testifying that he said, it is his voice with him sitting there in a wheelchair. It looks terrible. If you're a juror and they're playing it and you're listening to it, then you look over at him and you're like, that voice comes out of that fucking head. Yeah. And that guy's got to go shadow of a doubt.
Starting point is 01:10:46 Come on. Yeah. Give me a fucking break here. So the verdict comes in. The trial court instructs the jury on first and second degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and excusable manslaughter, excusable homicide, but refused the defense request to instruct the jury on involuntary manslaughter. As at the prosecution's request, the trial court gave a special pinpoint instruction to that verbal
Starting point is 01:11:11 provocation was insufficient to reduce an intentional homicide to manslaughter. Can't just talk shit to somebody and then it's okay. The jurors come in, they find him guilty, obviously, of second degree murder yeah we can't prove that it was pretty meditated yeah although why he had duct tape just yeah where'd he get duct tape you have to go into your junk drawer to get done he said the clear packing tape that's not even that's not even duct tape that's way higher on the shelf that's in the closet waiting for Christmas waiting for the Christmas presents to come around that's that's a, waiting for Christmas. Waiting for the Christmas presents to come around.
Starting point is 01:11:46 That's in the closet waiting for the lease to be up. Yeah, to move. Yeah. It's not duct tape. That's way further back. So sentencing comes in, you, sir. They fuck off. Court sentences him to 15 years to life in state prison.
Starting point is 01:12:03 Okay. Because it's second degree murder? That's the guidelines there. So in 2014, he appeals for from what he says is insufficient evidence, which is the craziest thing ever. Yeah. They just hit play and they're like, sounds pretty sufficient to me to appeal denied. Fuck off.
Starting point is 01:12:22 Come on, man. Then in 2021, he's going to appeal again on a minor technicality and that gets thrown out too. In 2021 he's up for parole already. Press play and what the fuck? Yeah, that's nuts. He's 58 at this point. Um, and way too young. Yeah. We need you to calm down a lot. Yeah. A lot. Like, I mean, I get it, your legs probably don't work real well, but still, calm down. Old men can boil water.
Starting point is 01:12:50 I don't like this. Nope. He had a six-hour hearing. Six hours they had to talk to this fucking guy for. He had to provide a detailed account of how he killed his wife in a jealous rage, he said. He also backpedaled, though, on his 2011 confession that he boiled her corpse for four days in a 55 Gallon drum and instead called the story outlandish Dog you did it and you said it
Starting point is 01:13:14 Fuck are you talking about man giant pot? Wow, he said I'm so sorry for what I've done. I regret it. I will live with it forever He said I don't expect your forgiveness. There is no justification for this ugly crime I committed. I was selfish, cruel, and cowardly. He said that to Dawn's siblings. Asked by one of the board members what he would say to Dawn, he said, quote, I'm just so sorry.
Starting point is 01:13:41 My God, I'm sorry I didn't treat you better. I'm sorry that I murdered you. That's you better. I'm sorry that I murdered you. That's a good, I'm sorry that I murdered you. And I'm sorry I told people I mixed what was left with some other shit. Some other shit. Jesus, it's just so cold. My wife's remains are, quote, some other shit.
Starting point is 01:14:01 He said, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, didn't appreciate you, didn't get help. I'm going to live the rest of my life in regret, remorseful for what I've done. It was horrible. They, him and his attorney provide positive reports showing he had attended Alcoholics Anonymous and other counseling programs. He was working toward a bachelor's degree while jailed at the substance abuse treatment facility at the state prison in Corcoran.
Starting point is 01:14:24 He said, I lived after jumping off that cliff for some reason. It was a pivotal moment. I guess so, yeah. I really worked hard at becoming a better person. I see myself being in service to others. I'd like to become a certified counselor in anger management that specializes in domestic violence.
Starting point is 01:14:41 Anger, take it from me, man. You don't wanna hurt her. No, trust me. Check out, take it from me, man. You don't want to hurt her. No, trust me. Check out my legs and I'm in prison. It's bad. The commissioner, Maria Gutierrez, took less than a half hour to come back and tell him, get the fuck out of here, white boiler.
Starting point is 01:14:59 Ain't happening, Chief. No, we're going to hang on to you for a bit here. There's nothing left of her. Nope. He's still in prison. Yeah, and There you go. That is soup and one of the craziest. Yeah Unbelievable. He made a fucking stew out of her. So Wow a stew slurry. That is horrific say fucking my wife the bouillabaisse is not what you want so Unbelievable fucking my wife the bull you base is not what you want so unbelievable terrifying shit here
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