Sword and Scale - Episode 136

Episode Date: April 21, 2019

Serious psychological issues can develop, fester, and become toxic in the cover of darkness when not addressed and treated properly. None of us are immune to the dangers or pitfalls of mental illness or where dark thoughts could lead us. On March 10th, 2017, Anjum Coffland learned this lesson the hard way when she went to her husband Randall’s residence in order to retrieve her work computer.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sort and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences Listener discretion is advised Welcome to season 6, Episode 136 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. Life can change in an instant. Everything you've ever known can change in an instant. Everything you've ever known can change in an instant. Mental illness is something that can affect every single one of us. Not you, not I, or a moon.

To the outside world, it may seem like business is usual. It's nearly impossible for anyone to know what's going through your head. And even those closest to us cannot guess exactly how bad things have become inside our minds. Many of us who are going through some tough times actively try to hide our telltale signs. It's easier than having to deal with doctors, and medicine, and all the stigma that comes with it. But that's why it's incredibly important to tell stories like this, to show

what can happen if we ignore the symptoms, pretend like everything's okay, and try to do all the heavy lifting ourselves. Granted, the following story is a worst-case scenario and is not the norm, but pretending like everything is fine when dealing with serious mental health issues can lead to some dire consequences as you're about to hear. St. Charles, Illinois is an area rich with history. It was once the home to chief Black Hawk of the Padawatami tribe that not only had inhabited the area, but had gone to war with the United States for failing to live up to a treaty that allowed the indigenous tribes to live and thrive upon the Fox River.

During the Civil War, it was considered a hub for the underground railroad, with many of the homes and businesses concealing tunnels and false doorways. Presently, roughly 33,000 people inhabit this town. We spoke to Anjum Kaufflin, a resident of St. Charles, who gave us a description of what life is like in her community. It's a very typical suburban town, but where I live more in a downtown St. Charles where there's facts river, the buildings are different. It's very, you know, downtown feel to it. A lot of restaurants, a lot of kindos, and not like your, you know, each house

is different than the others. So it's a different area of St. Charles than your cookie cutter houses. I love this town just because it's just how it's located. I think you almost have to be here to understand how amazing the downtown St. Charles really is. So it's a really good place to live. It really is. When Anjum was a young girl, her family migrated to the United States from Pakistan. It was

quite a transition for her, but nothing she couldn't handle. I came to America when I was 12 years old. I came from Pakistan. I didn't know word of English. Maybe yes, maybe no. Those are the only things I really knew. So pretty much learned everything here, watching TV and being in school. My parents were very...

I don't want to say our culture, but you know, there were Muslim parents strict. You're not allowed to go anywhere without another, you know, or their brother or sister or something like that, so I really didn't have any friends. Anything we did, it was the family, nothing with friends of schools, which is pretty much not allowed. Between the change in scenery, language barrier, food, and cultural values, it was all a bit of a shock to say the least. It was. It was very different.

I didn't understand the language. It was hard for me to come to a completely different country and clothes were different. What we eat was different. There weren't that many lot of stores, like Indian stores or Pakistani stores to go buy the food. There were two. It's different, definitely, different now, definitely.

As life went on, and she grew into the adjustments of living in a new country. Andum got a job working at a store called Venture. While working there, she had an encounter with a man that would change her life. I met Randy when I started working at a docker venture. Kind of like Target, and I met him there. He approached me, and because I'm from a culture when you're not, when you're not allowed to date, you're not allowed to go out, you're not allowed to tell a guy you like someone.

And we would take bricks together, lunches together. I didn't feel that way about him. And he was actually leaving. He said, you know, he applied for a different job. So we were kind of, you know, getting our stuff together. He came and I worked at the store so I was in an aisle cleaning it up and he comes up to me and says, I just want to let you know, I am completely in love with you. And after that, we just started calling each other,

talking to each other, try to set the same schedule so we can work together. My family didn't know anything, nothing about it, nothing. I couldn't tell them because I would be in huge trouble. Anger's family were very true to their Muslim culture. They have their own way of marrying their daughter, their son, they want to follow certain religions, certain rules, certain cultural rights, I guess. But you bring somebody to the United States as 12-year-old.

And yet you want to just tie them into this culture. You're in the United States, but there's nothing you can do that other kids are doing. You still have to follow rules and which people do all the time. That's fine, but everybody's different, not everybody's saying, not everybody's having the same thinking. That was different. To be dating someone outside of her religion was a huge risk, but one she was willing to take. Randall Cofflin came from an average middle-class family and was the second of two children. He had a happy childhood till his parents got divorced, I think he was five years old. He was not outgoing, he didn't have a lot of friends, he kept to himself, he was a quiet person, he was very shy. He didn't know how to

start conversation. He didn't know how to do any of those social going out with friends kind of thing. And he was just quiet. But his family, he didn't have any family, except for his dad, who passed away a year ago, other than that, he didn't talk to anybody, he didn't talk to his mom, he didn't talk to his brother for years. Romance blossomed between Randall and Angem quickly, and both of them felt as if they had found the love of their lives in one another. Within months, they decided to get married. I met him when I was 17, I married him when I was turned 18. Shortly after the two were married, Anjum's family completely disowned her

due to her leaving her home to live with her new husband and breaking their cultural values. They were angry, they were upset, they came and tried to take me. I was 18 year old, they called the cops. They said Randy had kidnapped me and did it everything in their power, but the cops were They said Randy had kidnapped me and did it everything in their power, but the cops were keep telling.

She's a team. She can do whatever she wants. So she wants to stay with them. She's staying with them. They were in bearers. They were brokenhearted. I will put myself in their place. And I will say that it would have been hard on me as well,

if I was in their shoes. Gosh, it breaks my heart to say that, but when you're 18, then you're just kind of want to follow your heart, and they don't want to support you. And there was a little bit of force from Randy. If I leave him, my parent might send me to Pakistan, where I came from. If I stay with him, I'm going to lose my parents. In that short amount of time, the moment that I moved in with him as an 18 year old, I

had to decide where I'm going to go with this. And it was looking at Randy, Randy looks looks at me and goes you go with them. We're done. Parents look at me and going you'll go with them. We're done. Ultimately, as she said, she had to follow her heart, deciding to stay with Randall. She thought maybe her family would come around and want to be part of the new life she was trying to create. But they never did. Even though they

were quite young, both of them knew they wanted to start a family. It became more a matter of when would be the right time to do so. And when the news of their expecting pregnancy came, it was a surprise, not because of it being the wrong time, but because they were pregnant with twins. We really wanted to be on our feet before we have, you know, kids and stuff, so we really worked hard. We both worked hard. The plans were a cue for me to stay home when the girls, we didn't know where we were having twins, so it was kind of a shot. After being together for 10 years on March 14th, 2000, Randall and Anjum welcomed their twin baby girls into the world. Brittany and Tiffany.

It was a brand new start for a brand new family. I became a stay-at-home mom at that point. He went to work and I took care of the girls and kind of started doing, you know, all the household stuff, shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, all that stuff. So obviously I loved it. I get to raise my daughters, I mean, who wouldn't want that. So that was a good part of it that I really got to spend a lot of time with them. As the years passed, the girls had started to grow into their own.

Their music was everything to them, and I don't know how it got started because Randy and I aren't big, you know, it's not like we had music blasting through our house or whatever. They just wanted to go to concert, they just wanted to have fun and you know went to Justin Beaver and Miley Cyrus and one direction and you know Shawn Mendes and it's just these things that they always wanted to go and do and for some reason music was just very important to them. Brittany was known for her outgoing personality, earning a spot on the cheerleading team. Tiffany was more reserved, but she was just as outgoing when people got to know her. They loved spending time with friends, attending concerts of the bands and artists they loved.

Eventually, the girls entered high school where they were very well known and liked. But with any marriage comes the ups and downs. The good times and the bad. It's not always perfect. Both Angem and Randall experience such. You know, there were obviously ups and downs with our marriages started happening at that point. The girls were born and then I think we bought a house

when they were two years old. So, you know, you just start your life. It was okay. It was, you know, he was still okay. When Randall was okay, things were good. He went above and beyond for his children. He did take care of us. He did get a good job, always looked for opportunity to get better jobs so he can support

as well. He boiled his daughters like Pravee. Every concert, everything of the girls wanted to go somewhere. He would be the first one on the phone or first one on something so trying to figure out how to get the concert ticket for them. The Cations were amazing, he planned amazing vacations, he went to Disney World. I remember the first time we went to Disney World with the girls and he had everything planned out. It was all about the girls, all about the princesses. We've all had times in our lives where things change.

We get better jobs. We buy a house, a new car, or our podcast network drops us. Life is about moving forward and embracing these changes. Big or small. Randall got a job as an IT manager for a Chicago law firm. A look at his Twitter profile shows a man retweeting self-help tips, IT news, and show him and Anjum as a happy couple enjoying kayaking trips together. Quickly though, things start changing in the Cofflin household.

Anjum began noticing differences in Randall's behavior. You know, you get married young, marriage is kind of rocky. Whenever I really dated each other, we just learn to accept each other's faults. And I definitely, because again, my culture or whatever you want to call it, when I moved in with him, I started taking over cleaning the cooking, the laundry, the ironing. Either I was working as well, but I just thought it was my duty to take over all the household chores and everything else. He was really nice in the beginning. And then I started noticing his anger. He would get angry and he would get angry enough to punch a wall.

And I just looked at him and I said, you cannot do that. I started noticing when he started getting better and better and better jobs, which he deserved it. And he just became, well, I do everything. Well, I bring in the money I pay the bills. So you have to be pretty much in charge of everything else. I go to work. Either though I went back to work when the girls were

about six years old, when they went into elementary school, I went back to work. He's like, well, your job is in as hard as mine, so, you know, like little things. He started saying little things like that to make me feel like, okay, I understand. Kind of slowly started to show, yours is not as important. What else do you do around the house? What I mean, how is that complicated? It is not that hard. It started slow. It started very slow and he slowly started saying negative things about me, well you didn't go to school.

You don't, you know, you don't notice like to have hard jobs and you don't know what it's you know this it's not easy you know I have to worry about the bills which I completely understand I mean at that point you sit there and go yeah you know I understand it is hard it is you know you're the breadwinner of the family and what we decided on that we decided that you are the one who's going to be doing this but then now you're starting to kind of resent me for it. Those are the thoughts started going through my head. I'm like, oh, he's changing his mind about what he wanted.

Out of me, as a wife, I started feeling this was like, oh, he wants somebody who's well educated. He wanted somebody who could make it, bring in a lot of money. And just the feeling of, I'm not doing enough for the family as a moment. He was a man who took pride in his schooling, his career, and his accomplishments. Randall described himself as his work and his LinkedIn profile, stating,

a veteran hands-on IT manager who enthusiastically learns new technologies. My background is in the Windows VMware Arena. Though I consider myself a hands-on manager with a large technical set, I also enjoy leading and directing the IT department and setting the overall vision and strategy. Although Randall's change in behavior started slow, it became something much more. As if with time, anger and rage was slowly building up inside. He had temper, he had, you know, he was controlling. If he couldn't figure something out or if he did like what I did, you know, he did get

angry. If I, you know, wanted him to take a left instead of a right, he was like, well, why would you want to do that? You know, this way to do it. You know, it's just, I don't know, he got controlling because we just relied on him for everything, for money, for how to fix this, and you know, pay the bills, just the girls with the homework and me with, you know, if I needed help with writing paper or if I needed, just, he knew we were, we depended on him for pretty much everything. He was controlling, he controlled to the point where the girls grades, he checked the girls grades every day to make sure that, you know, they were doing good in school, you know, he checked the credit card payments every single day to make sure, you know, you check the credit card payments every single day

and make sure, you know, what's going on with that. So it was to the point where it's like, if I go shopping and I pick something up, I would be like, oh no, he's going to look at the credit card thing. According to Anjum, she had repeatedly asked Randall for a divorce. He was unwilling to grant her wish. After all, he was the primary caregiver for the family, and he used that to his advantage. He brought home the money and the benefits that he had worked hard for. When she wanted to leave, he told her something that showed just how much power he had in their marriage. He told me if I left him, he would quit his job, and then who's going to support you? in their marriage wasn't in perfect shape. Yet, Anjum pushed through the best she could for her girls. Eventually, Randall recognized that he was suffering from increasing anxiety and depression,

so he went to his doctor to get on medication in hopes of life getting back to normal. He told me that he had been started taking antidepressant. He told me that he went to the doctor. He said he was taking 2 or 3 at a time and it wasn't helping him. So he went back to the doctor to get a different one. I think when we were talking on the phone, you know, he did say, I take two or three at a time and he was drinking heavily and he was like, they're not helping at all. They're just not helping.

As time went on, nothing seemed to be getting better. Anjum took a step towards gaining back some sense of independence by getting a job as a claims adjuster for an insurance company. Unfortunately, Randall was hell-bent on a path of self-destruction, secretly abusing his medication and drinking heavily, all the while leaving Angem and the girls in the middle of it all. Teachers were alerted to keep an eye on the girls. One of them was quoted as saying,

Our teachers see these kids almost every day. They know what kind of issues they have surrounding their lives. We have an expectation that every one of our staff members is looking out for our kids. Imagine everything you know in life changing in an instant. For the girls, everything they had known about a good life at home was quickly fading away. Their parents were constantly fighting. And for Angem, she was faced with finding a new place to live, not knowing what the next day would hold for herself,

her children, or the person she spent the majority of her life with. That's the situation, Angem quickly found herself in. We were talking one day, and he pretty much told me, get out, go find a place to live, I don't want to see you. So I'm gonna say it was probably around three o'clock in the afternoon. I went out, I started looking like literally started driving around in St. Charles looking for a place where I can find a foreign sign or something. I found a place and I called the lady as like I need to see this place.

I got to move out so I had pretty much, you know, a day to go find out the place, get out. To make matters worse for Anjum, Randall told her that she was not allowed to text her daughters and that she wasn't allowed to spend time with them unless he was around. According to an article posted on a website called The First Ward, a site that tracks politics in Illinois, prior to the Coffin family moving to St. Charles, they lived in the city of Oswego, roughly 17 miles away. The article claims that in 2013, Angem hired a turning Michael Clancy to file a medical malpractice lawsuit against Rush Coply Hospital. And that in 2015 Randall had found out a secret anthem had been harboring. She had been having an affair with her attorney.

Affairs are emotionally traumatic for many people, and the consequences from them quickly can change or alter the mental status of just about anyone. The article goes on to state that Randall stood up for his marriage, taking his discovery to Michael Clancy's wife, as well as the Attorney Registration and Discipline Committee, and in doing so, it created a ripple effect that couldn't be undone. When faced with the possibility of losing his wife, his career and everything he had fought to create, Michael Clancy made the choice to take his own life. He was found in a forest preserve near St. Charles with a gunshot wound to his head on February 4th, 2017. It was a claim that Angem has vehemently denied. In early 2017, Randall, Angem, Brittany and Tiffany were trying to get used to the new

adjustments that came with their family separating. Both of the girls stayed with Randall and Angem found a condominium down the road from their house so they could still be close. It was hard, but the reason I left the girls with him is because they were living in a nice condo. They had their room set up, they had everything set up, and either though it was a mutual decision, the marriage wasn't working. But I'm the one who was okay to, like, you know what, I'm going to do this on my own.

I'm going to just get out and do this on my own. I'm gonna just get out and do this on my own. I can figure this out. And the girls were, you know, understanding of the fact that yeah, their bedroom is here. I am only moving a couple of streets over. So the girls were okay living with them. And I was okay that he was with them. While things were okay temporarily,

Randall knew that he wanted to reconcile their marriage and really try to make it work. Unfortunately, enough time passed for Angem to move on with her life, beginning to learn and find her own independence, something she hadn't really had before. Randall was not happy with the change. And on February 9th, when Anjum came to pick up some of her items, including a computer for work from their old home, he confronted her. He was just angry for me moving out. You know, he was just angry and he was not happy. And then he was trying to ask me to come back.

And I said, I know I'm going to just do this. So I decided he just got angry. That's all. And then he broke my phone and there was no other way for me to get in touch with anyone. Randall broke her phone. And Anjum was left with no other option than to call the police in order to retrieve her personal effects from the house. I had to just call the cops and say, Hey, can you try to get my stuff away from him? I was pretty much it. And I didn't want it to report it as a, he was a horrible husband or a father.

I mean, I could file a report at the time, but I really didn't. No, I wasn't going to do that. So I didn't. Two weeks later, on February 21st, Randall showed back up to his doctor claiming the medication he was taking wasn't working and had increased bouts of anxiety. He was prescribed a dose of stronger medication, but Randall decided it was time to put plans in motion to make things right in his life and to take complete control, even if it meant taking drastic measures.

March 10th, I went to work and I would get long texts from him. I love you, I miss you, and you know, I have them still, but I also said, I can't text you right now because I am at work. I have them still. But then I also said, I can't text you right now because I am at work. I have to work. And he's like, you don't have to text me back. I'm just gonna send you messages. And he literally sent me messages after messages. And I'm like, Randy, I cannot do this right now.

I am at work. We can discuss this after work. But he just kept sending me messages. Just one message after another. And that's March 10th. Due to the nature of the messages she was receiving, Anjum thought it would be a good opportunity to get some personal paperwork she needed. At the time, it seemed like Randall was in a good mood for her to ask for those items.

I had asked him that I want paperwork, like things that you need to apply for you know crack card or whatever it's like I want my social security card my passport all that and he said well I'll keep everything I'll bring it to you and I said okay I'll meet you I'll you know come over after work and there's bringing all the paperwork and then I think he texted me back and said you know what why don't you come pick all this up? I owe, well, I said, well, you don't want me in the tandoor. Are you going to be comfortable me coming in? And he's like, yeah, yeah, it's fine. Just come in and just get everything. And I said, okay, then I'll see you after I leave work. Later that day, Anjum started to receive some bizarre text messages from Randall.

The messages asked that she come over so that he could share his secrets with her, because he had secrets too. He wasn't aware of what he was talking about and thought it was strange. But nonetheless, she passed the messages off as harmless. When I left work, he texted me and said, call me when you're 15 minutes away from home. I said, okay, I'll call you. Not thinking nothing. Thinking absolutely nothing.

But I called him 15 minutes away and I said, hey, I'm almost, I'll be there in 15 minutes. He's like, okay, by the way, I changed the code to the condo so you can't get an outcome I'll come and get you. I said, all right, not a problem. Still not thinking anything. So I meet him at the condo downstairs. He comes out.

He finds me. And then he's like, oh, by the way, the girls are sleeping and please don't interrupt them. Don't wake them up. I said, okay, I won't. You know, they're sleeping. Friday night it was the routine to, you know, come home from school, you know, they were like, we don't wanna go out,

we just wanna sleep. So teenagers, that's what they wanted to do. I said, okay, fine, no problem. I won't wake them up and walked in, went straight in the kitchen, tried to grab all my paperwork, as see the paperwork there, and he just tells me to turn around.

What came next was something any normal human being would consider a nightmare. And he had a gun in his hand. He had it pointed to his head. I'm like, what the heck is that? Is this like, you know, it's that, you know, you don't think it's real. I really don't know what real gun fake guns, I don't know.

I can think he would ever actually have a gun in his hand. And I said, what are you doing? You're going to wake up the girls. And he said, oh, they're already dead. And I'm like, what? And he started walking away. And I ran after him and I grabbed him. And he just pointed a gun on my head and then he just shot me.

Where do you need help? Where on St. Charles? Oh my God, my husband shot my kid. I need help. I need help. Where are you? I need help. I need help. Please help me. Okay, ma'am, what address are you at? Ma'am, what address are you at? I need help. I need help.

I need help. I need help. I need help. I need help. I need help. I need help. I need help. I need help.

I need help. I need help. I need help. I need help. I need help. I need help. I need help. I need help. I need help. I need help. I need help. I'm in the dark! Clouds are more fun! Man, what address are you at? I'm in the dark. I can't believe it.

I'm in the dark! I'm in the dark! Man, where are you at? I'm in the dark! I'm in the dark! Man, I can help you, but I need to know where you are. I'm in the dark. I'm in the dark.

I'm in the dark. I'm in the dark. I'm in the dark! I'm in the dark! Man, I can help remember my address. Okay, could it be four, five, zero, south, first, street? Five, zero, first street? Yes. Okay, one apartment.

I'm going to head that way. What apartment are you in? What was that? My girlfriend died. My girlfriend was born on sex. Okay, stand up. I mean, you get any of the meals that way. Yup, you're gonna be on the way. Don't hang up, okay? What's your name?

My name is Oh my God! What's your name? I'm hanging up, okay? I'm gonna talk to the medic, don't hang up, okay? I'm gonna talk to the medic, okay? I'm gonna talk to my gi- I'm gonna- I'm gonna- I'm gonna- I'm gonna- I'm gonna- I'm gonna- I'm gonna- Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!

Oh my God! He killed my girl! He fucking killed my girl! Okay, ma'am, and I can help you, but I need you to calm down. Where is he? He's in a vacuum. I don't know what he's done. I don't know if he's doing it. Okay, is he still in the apartment? Oh my God! He's in a vacuum. Okay, okay, okay. And Jim gathered what strength she could while talking to the dispatchers.

While she was on the phone, Randall called 911 to confess what he had done. Randall had a message for Angem as he dialed. He also told her he wanted her to live, so she could live with this the rest of her life. I got to myself now too. Sir sir sir. Sir sir. Sir sir sir. Sir sir sir. Sir sir. Alright so 4, 50, I'll first show you the same Charles. Sir sir, stand on the way. Ok man, the lock.

Sir sir. Yes sir. Man, sir. Sir sir. I can't go away from the chamber of the gun and fires a shot, ending his life while still on the phone with the dispatcher, a neighbor that was nearby heard the gunshot and rushed inside of the unlocked condo to find Yes I do. I'm at, sorry, 450 South-Burk Street. We did an ambulance for Unit 406. Okay, yeah, we already got on the way. What's going on? Okay.

She said her goal card are dead. Okay. Something happened. Is she injured at all? She's not injured. She's not injured. What unit are you in? I'm in Unit 405. She's not in here. She's not in here. What are you in? I'm in U-405. She's in 406. Just make sure you lock the door and get into a safe place. Me? Okay. And then I'm in right away. They already on the way. Okay. Who was so good with the first person? Who is this person? Who is this person? Who is this person? Do we know? Oh, OK. I think it's the mother.

The mother? I think it's the mother. And she's sitting in a full guise. You can hear how chaotic the scene was in the background. The neighbor tries to assist Angem and keeping calm until the officers arrive. Man, man. Yes? tries to assist Angem in the side of the face still. Face still as you can. Okay.

Face still as you can. Practice, breathe, just take a breathe, just press, and then, and out. Alright, ma'am, I want you to, yeah, then. Yeah, I want you to, if you can't put a clean cloth over the one applied direct pressure, do it, just keep it elevated as much as possible, okay? Okay. Okay. Officer arrived to the unit and carried Anjum down to an awaiting medic for transport to a hospital, but she pled with the officers to look for the girls. I'm going to keep you on the phone, okay? Somebody's able to help you, okay? I don't know. There's a bathroom in the room, so...

Alright, go away. You can't get away. You can't get away. I don't want to go out there. I don't want to go out there. I don't want to go out there. I don't want to go out there. I don't want to go out there.

I don't want to go out there. I don't want to go out there., I'm going to go away. Here, here, here. Here, here, here. Here, here. I don't want to go away. I don't want to go away. I'm going to get the bathroom in the room. Here, here, here.

I don't want to go away. Here, here, here. Here, here. I'm going to get the bathroom in the room for a while. All right, here, here. I need my dog to be checked. Please check my girls. I'm going to take my girls. One of them is a lot of you. Man, give it an officer there.

First man, I can't take my guy. I don't want to fight for his face. I just want to take my guy. Man, give it an officer with you. No, no. Let's be guys. I'm going to bit of object. Man, can I have an officer with you? No, no. What do you guys think? I'm just curious.

The officers arrived. They made entry in the apartment number 406. They found a female who was later identified in Jim Copeland, just inside the apartment with a gunshot wound to the leg. Officers carried her downstairs to awaiting ambulance. Officers also found two teenage girls who were deceased. They were identified as twin sisters, Brittany and Tiffany Copeland. Officers also found the father Randall Copeland who was also deceased. Randall had a single gunshot wound to the head. Brittany and Tiffany each had a single gunshot wound to the head. When police arrived at 5.12 pm, they found Angem in the hallway, shot in the leg, covered in

blood. Down the hall in the bathroom they found Randall in the tub with a single gunshot wound to the head. An officer wrote in his report. Immediately upon kicking the door open I could smell gunpowder. We saw a male subject floating in the bathtub. The water was completely mixed with blood. They found his cell phone sitting on the edge of the bathtub and a single shell casing next to the faucet on the corner of the tub. The 16-year-old twins that Randall and Angem spent their life raising together were each found dead with a single gunshot wound to their heads.

One of the girls had been found on the couch in the living room while the other had been found in her bed where music videos continued to play on a laptop. When he shot me I knew he killed my girls. When you're sitting in a pool of blood you know it's over. My girls are gone. They were gone. I knew that moment, that second I realized they were gone. I knew that moment. That second I realized they were gone. After he shot me, he pretty much called 911 and I called 911. There was no talking to him.

I mean, he just wanted to do what he wanted to do. He was dead set against doing what he wanted to do. Andam was taken to the hospital to be treated for her wounds. It wasn't until after she was released and sent home that she learned everything that had happened in the days leading up to March 10th. In all honesty, it happened so fast and even going to the hospital and not even realizing kind of a blur, but you know, obviously the ambulance, the cops, they all came and they got me downstairs. Next thing I remember is cops coming in saying what I already knew that they were gone. I didn't really find out much about how he got the gun till after I went home and started going through his stuff. He had purchased two guns from us

store 15 minutes away from here, within week of each other. He had gone to shooting range. There was a card for that. It's more like finding out things after he did, what he did, it's coming home and realizing going through his stuff in his wallet. I see all these, you know, receipts for the gun.

I'm like, how did he get a gun? He was on medication. We're going through a divorce. Nobody, it was so easy for them to go get a gun, never had a gun before. When I picked up a gun, then I one picked up another one a few days later. Yes, I know there's a hip avialation and all that.

But let's be honest, if we could have stopped Randy from getting a gun in his hand, or maybe if you had to wait two weeks, or maybe you had to wait a month, maybe you had to wait two months to get even the first gun, things could have changed, things could have changed in his heart, maybe I would have changed, maybe we could have talked things through or. Maybe I would have changed. Maybe we could have

talked things through or maybe we would have figured something out. I didn't get that. It was just taken away from me because he got a hold of that gun so fast, so quickly, and just did this. Randall had made homicidal and suicidal threats prior to this, but he was not put on a list, barring him from purchasing firearms. It should have been known to his doctors that Randall's mental state was not fit enough to purchase a firearm.

Within one week of his first purchase, he was able to pick up a second. How were the red flags and signs that something was wrong, not seen by others? Both Tiffany and Brittany were just four days away from celebrating their 17th birthday. A makeshift memorial was made outside of the condominium for friends and family to share pictures and stories of the loved ones they had lost. For most, it was hard to understand what had happened and why it had to happen to two pure and innocent teenagers.

And I was on the 2-2 team too. And I just remember that every day, because we always partner next to them going into school and we just admire them every single day because they always park next to them going into school and we just admire them every single day because they were such amazing people. They had such innocent souls, they did not deserve anything like this to happen to them at all. You see them and they just instantly put a smile on your face. They make you feel like everything is good. She, Brittany, seemed more bubbly, very kind, kind-hearted. One of the best and everyone wanted to see the best and everyone.

Students at their school, St. Charles East High School, wore blue and purple, respectively, to honor each of the girls' favorite colors. On March 14th, the day the girls were supposed to turn 17, their classmates and teachers held a moment of silence for the girls who were deeply missed by their friends, family, and their community. As if losing her daughters and husband wasn't enough, Angem was on the verge of another battle Randall left her to fight. Just in the few days prior to Randall murdering his daughters, shooting his estranged wife and killing himself, he changed his life insurance policy.

He appointed his brother Russell and close friend Terry as beneficiaries to his $500,000 policy. Angem was left wondering how she would be able to afford to bury her daughters and her husband. Again, he was not in his right mind to make the right decisions. And, you know, he was definitely thinking about how he was going to make this a very hard life to live, very hard if you want to meet meet a live or I don't know, I even question that sometime. I'm not sure if you really want to meet a live or he changed his mind. Why would he ask me to come there then? I think when somebody changes life insurance policy and does this, how do

you not sit there and go? Well, he has other intentions than just not making, you know, making sure that I, you don't get my life insurance are for separated or divorced or whatever. He had Well, he had other intentions than just not making you know making sure that You don't get my life insurance are for separated or divorce or whatever He had intention of hurting me and making me live a tough life He did that on purpose and he killed he murdered murdered my daughters How does that makes it okay for somebody like that to change life insurance and go okay he may change it in life insurance we just have to follow the rules because it's so black and white.

It's not black and white. This was not black and white. He had intention of killing my daughters and doing this to me. This was not, oh, he changed it. Okay, we can do that. He murdered people afterward. He murdered them and left the money for someone else. Angem was awarded $150,000 with the remaining money split between Russell and Terry. While the road ahead hasn't been easy, and Terry. While the road ahead hasn't been easy, Angem has had many of Brittany and Tiffany's friends reach out to tell her so many things about them. She had not known. I found out things after the cast away that I didn't know anything about it, because they wouldn't, you know, teenagers. They don't come and talk to me.

So when I was at the memorial, I had, I'm going to say at least five or six kids from school that had come up to me and said, you don't understand how much we love your daughter or Tiffany or Brittany because they saved my life. Brittany saved my life, Tiffany saved my life. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. And I just like in shock of my daughters, they're like, they were just the sweetest, nicest, kindest people that I ever met and they were always there for their friends like nobody else and it made me feel so good that my girls were out there and just wanted to be there for their friends. They were such good kids, they were great. The things they said about Britney and Tiffany, they were always smiling in the

hallway. They always looked happy, they were always smiling in the hallway. They always looked happy. They always looked like we can walk up to them and talk to them. And they were just, they were sweet, sweet girls. Since this tragedy, Angem has been contacted by hundreds of women from here in the United States, as well as other countries, who have heard her story and have been through similar circumstances. Since it's just me now, I do worry about my future.

Family obviously doesn't talk to me because they have disowned me, so it's just me trying to figure out how I'm going to survive this life, pay my bills, find out how I can help other women learn the signs of somebody who is chipping away at your soul. Slowly, over time, this narcissist develops over time for someone. I see if I can help somebody realize, listen, he or she is slowly taking your soul away. It seems easy to solve all of your problems yourself, and sometimes it's hard to acknowledge

that there even is a real problem with your mental state. These issues can often be overlooked, but easily remedied by reaching out and talking to a friend, family member, or medical professional. Too often, we tend to let life and problems that come with it pile on top of other issues until we become a ticking time bomb, ready to explode. You're not always stuck in a rut. And there's ways to get around the bad things that happen, ways that are healthier than the alternative. It's just a matter of letting yourself be vulnerable enough to ask for help.

You may be surprised by how many people around you are willing to drop everything and give you a head. you