Sword and Scale - Episode 164

Episode Date: June 15, 2020

Orange County California has seen its fair share of bizarre crimes. When Sam Herr, a decorated combat veteran is nowhere to be found and his best friend Julie Kibuishi is discovered dead in Sam’s apartment, police are quick to begin a manhunt. As the investigation continues, more bizarre details begin to emerge, leaving the entire county stunned. The many people affected by this case have learned, if nothing else, that you never truly know who someone is, or what goes through their mind. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. You know, murders were taking place and then singing and dancing was taking place. Hello and welcome the season 7 episode 164 of Sword and Scale. A show that reveals that the war monsters are real. Hey people or shit, if you haven't figured that out in the last 163 episodes, it's worth saying again. They'll do all kinds of things, evil things, when it benefits them. Humans deep down are self-centered, narcissistic, selfish, evil little creatures.

Yeah, you are too. It's all mine. But most of us find a way to repress that, to push it back, and live normal, civilized lives. But others can't seem to figure that out. Today's story is about one of those little evil creatures. So keep your play bill handy and settle into your theater chair. The curtain is rising. Enjoy the show. To be or not to be. Best being culture is a world of its own. Entire off-stage drama performances occur between cast members, sometimes having an

even more titillating storyline, then the player musical they're all rehearsing to perform in front of a real audience on a real stage. The classic Shakespearean tragedy follows a formula ending with a disastrous conclusion. Usually as a result of the main characters internal conflict and subsequently succumbing to his or her own negative traits, the things that we call demons that live within them, so to speak. We all have them, you know, those demons. What we once considered very real supernatural beings associated with evil,

that have been prevalent in our religions, our literature, our mythology, the idea that these spirits with divine power could inhabit our souls and drive us to evil places, is one that has been permanently affixed to Western culture. Hell, even human culture. Today's story is about those demons. It was Saturday, May 22, 2010, when Steve Hurr was trying to get a hold of his son, Sam, who lived in an apartment complex in Costa Mesa, California. Sam was Steve's best friend, his only child, and he planned to spend the whole weekend with both of his parents at their place in Anaheim Hills.

So of course, it was strange that he never showed up to his parents' house, and even strange or still, that he wasn't answering his phone. Towards the latter part of the evening, around 9pm, Steve drove over to Sam's apartment to check in on him. He was getting really nervous at this point, not having heard anything from his son for the previous two days. He let himself in and started to look around, calling for Sam, but he got no response. When he entered his son's bedroom, he saw something that would be burned into his memory for the rest of his life.

Did she just ask him if he's truly seeing a dead body? Yes. She did. I can see you. No, man, I'm sure. Okay. I see you. You can see skull.

Okay, hold on. Just a minute. Is it someone that you know, sir? I'm not a huge, you know, place. I don't know. I don't know. Does your son know who it is? He's not here. He was hungry. Okay. Do you know where your son is? No, I don't know who to go. Does your son know who it is? He's not here.

He was coming. Do you know where your son is? No, I don't. I told you. He's going to walk. Okay. Just keep breathing for me, sir. Okay.

Where in the apartment is she? She's in the bedroom. She's got pictures of psychoactive. She's dead. There's blood from her head. I have blood. I can't see what she's looking for. There was blood from her head. Steve Herr mentions to the operator that he didn't know who this woman was. He still couldn't locate his son, and the woman's body in the bedroom gave Steve the impression that there had been some sexual activity before her death. I feel like these are the key to stop my life.

Uh, I'm not going to hang up, okay? Tell there's someone there with you. Is anybody else in the apartment besides you? Oh, no. No one else is in there? No, I heard someone say that. Okay. It was beautiful.

So who are you talking to now? I'm a tiny baby. You can go through my desk. So, you know who I am? You don't want to talk about my all-grade desk? I'm so sorry. Here you go. You're not in this desk.

You're not in this desk. I'm in here. So I'm telling you. Here you go. You're not in this go. I'm not in this go. I don't know. You're still in this go. I'm not in this go. I'm still in this go. I got the cops coming. No, no, no.

Who is that that you're talking to? One of his friends. One of your son's friends? No. I don't know what it works. Has Jake talk to your son today? No. I don't need you on the line. Okay. I don't need you on the line.

OK. I don't need you on the line. I'm good. The dead girl laying partially across Samher's bed was 23-year-old Julie Kibuyishi. She was bleeding all over the mattress from one single gunshot wound to the head. On her back were words written.

They said, all yours, fuck you. Police found out quickly who she was because her purse with her ID was found in the kitchen. It seemed like she had gone into the apartment willingly, gone there to die, or perhaps some horrible fate awaited her there unexpectedly. But where was Sam? Before we get further into this story,

it's important to mention that we spoke to a woman writing a book about this case. She has a personal connection to the people involved, and she does a great job filling in some of the gaps the mainstream media left out when this crime occurred. Her name is Glendale. Julie and Sam were only friends. She didn't live with him.

She lived at home in Irvine with her parents. Not romantically involved at all. That was emphasized dozens of times by the prosecution during the trial. This is an interesting fact given that Julie was found in a position suggesting some sort of sexual assault. Could this have been an instance of unrequited attraction? They had met each other when they were both students at Orange Coast College and they were in an anthropology class together

and Julie was doing really well in the class. Sam was failing in the class. They had met and she offered to help tutor him in the anthropology class. And then they just became very close friends. Sam, in any interviews that were given in any testimonies was always described as like a big brother kind of thing to Julie Julie that it wasn't a romantic thing but that he felt very protective of her as a person. She did not

live there, she did occasionally sleep on the couch if she was out late and didn't want to drive home but yeah that's important to note. When Steve heard called 911 the evening of May 22nd, it's clear that there is fear in his voice. An undertone indicating his worry that his son may have had something to do with Julie Kibuyishis demise. After all, Sam was nowhere to be found, and there was a dead girl on his bed. To make matters even more compelling, this was not the first time Sam found himself accused

of murder. The 26 year old was a well-built, good-looking veteran who had served time in Afghanistan, but his previous murder charges had nothing to do with his military time. Yeah, Sam had actually been on trial when he was a teenager about like a gang activity related situation where he was accused of luring a friend to an area where a rival gang jumped the guy and killed him. It's also another strange story. And Sam's his own confession to this got thrown out because of technical reasons. So he didn't end up serving any time for that.

This did not make the situation look any better in the eyes of the police. This was the murder of a young innocent girl, and a man with a criminal history and time spent in military combat, beginning to show signs of PTSD. And now was seemingly on the run. When the police took a look through Julie's cell phone, they saw the texts.

Texts from Sam Hurr to Julie's phone, starting the previous day, Friday, May 21st. He first tells Julie that he was helping his neighbor Dan move some things. But later in the night, it seemed that Sam decided not to go to his parents' house, and instead began to text Julie in what seemed to be some sort of emotional distress. Can you come over tonight at midnight alone? Very upset. Need to talk. I'm hurting with some bad family crap. I can't be alone. No sex.

Julie reminds Sam via text that she's there for him, like family. Sam says, this seemed to be an obvious conclusion for authorities. Sam had lured Julie to his apartment, sexually assaulted her, and ended up killing her. Now they just needed to locate Sam. The Costa Mesa Police Department immediately issued a flyer stating this. Murder suspect considered armed and dangerous. On 5.22-10 at approximately 21-22 hours, Costa Mesa Police Department responded to an apartment

building on Pine Creek in reference to a report of deceased female Officers who arrived on the scene determined this to be a homicide. The 23-year-old female victim did not reside at the apartment with the suspect and was determined to be a friend only. Suspect Samuel Aliza Hurr had the victim come to his apartment on 521-10 to speak with him due to him being depressed, possibly over a recent breakup. Victim was found in Hurr's apartment deceased with a gunshot wound to the head. At this time, CMPD has been unable to locate Hurr. Hurr previously served in the military, served time in Afghanistan, and received a combat medal. Her is considered to be armed and dangerous and is possibly suicidal.

Use extreme caution. Her is believed to be in possession of an unknown model handgun. Suspect is 26 years old, male, white, 6 feet tall, 205 pounds, brown hair, blue eyes, both arms sleeved with tattoos. As police began monitoring credit card and cell phone activity, Sam's bank notified them of withdrawals made at an ATM in Long Beach with Sam's bank card. Two separate ATMs were used, and four separate cash withdrawals were made using this particular card. When they finally got the opportunity to view the footage from the cameras inside the ATM machines, they saw not Sam, but a teenage boy withdrawing the cash from his account.

They noticed this same bank card was used to order pizza, so police went to the shop and got the address the pizza was delivered to. Because they didn't know what they'd be walking into, authorities prepared to surround the home in Long Beach with not only a full-swat team, but a helicopter and a fully developed tactical plan. When they arrived, a scared 17-year-old boy came out of the home and was forced onto the ground. After thoroughly raiding the home, Sam Hurr was nowhere to be found.

The teenage boy was Wesley Freilich, and he truthfully had no idea what was going on, nor did he know anything about Sam Hurr or the murder of Julie Kibuyishi. He did, however, have a debit card with Samher's name on it. But what was the link between Wesley and the murder? How did he end up with Sam's bank card? Exactly what the hell was going on here. Okay, I actually met Daniel Wozniak almost exactly 10 years from today. I met him in 2010. He seemed just like a musical theater actor, which might not relate to everybody, but he was Happy-go-lucky, or at least that was the persona. He made a lot of jokes.

He liked, you know, singing randomly. He had a loud voice. He was gregarious, very friendly, very outgoing. And it seemed to me like most people liked him, at least what I could see on the surface, most people liked him, but he also seemed sort of like everybody else, you know, or not like

everybody else, but like many other musical theater guys. Nothing about him stood out in particular. Come on, you know the type. It's always like they're on stage performing. It's a whole personality. I've met a few of this type of person. They're pretty annoying. All the world's a stage and that sort of thing. It's like the entire universe was designed for the performance of their life. Glendale is very familiar with this type of person, having been a community theater director in Orange County. Back in 2010, she started scoping out other local productions for actors and

actresses for her own upcoming production. And especially in this case I was a hunt on a hunt for actors who could sing. So that brought nine into my view. Those actors came into our theater and I sort of started to make communication with them and sort of open up the ideas of, hey, I'm doing this show this summer, I would really love to see you come out and read for it, you've got a great voice, etc., etc. That is how I met Daniel Wazniak. The production Glendell is speaking about. None.

Was one in which Daniel was performing just a few months prior to the one she would be holding auditions for. She really needed a man with a loud, deep voice who could pull off a role of characters in his 40s. And Dan was the man for the job. You know, did Daniel Wozniak have the greatest singing voice in the world? No, did he have a nice deep loud voice? Yes, could he hold a tune?

Yes, was he likable on stage? Yes, was he a brilliant actor? He was okay." For those that don't know, it's generally pretty difficult to find decent male actors who could also sing. Women in the theater world with these talents seem to be abundant and diverse, but good male actors are hard to find for community theater especially. In the musical 9, Daniel would be co-starring with his fiance, Rachel Buffett. The interesting thing is the show 9,

it had very few company members. Well, they weren't company members. They were sort of just visitors, guests that came in. And this was the first show for either Dan or Rachel. So none of us knew them before they came in. It was all very much early first impressions. And while his first impression was that of Gregorius, friendly, likable, and likes everybody, friendly, likable, and likes everybody. Her first impression gave more of a, don't really want to talk to you, not that interested in what you have to say, a little bit snobbish. Rachel must have really turned the charm on and off,

depending on whether she was acting on stage or acting in the character department at Disneyland, which was another one of her jobs. She was 22 at the time, acute petite blonde, who often played Alice in Wonderland at the theme park among other similar characters. These two, to say the least, were well-versed in putting on a friendly, happy, carefree mask facing the public. Here's a blooper for a promotional video from one of the other shows Daniel co-starred in with his fiance, Rachel. Daniel was the apple of Gl. Once nine had concluded. I went through so much effort to get him to audition for Batboy and I was positive he was

going to show up and then the day of my Batboy auditions. One of the other people who worked in the theater told me, don't hold your breath about Daniel Wozniak coming to your auditions. One of the other people who worked in the theater told me, don't hold your breath about Daniel Wozniak coming to your auditions. He's just been arrested." During his bachelor party on May 26, Daniel was accosted by police and taken into custody for his presumed connection to what seemed to be a bank card scheme. Dan had just finished up one performance, only to begin another one inside the interrogation room with police.

So at this point, police had determined that Dan Wasniak was probably the last person to have seen Sam Hurr. Perhaps he knew where Sam was now. And this was proven by a series of texts from Sam to Julie stating that Sam would be helping Daniel move some things that evening. The 17 year old kid Wesley Frailick had been handed over Sam's bank card by Daniel Wozniak and Daniel asked him to withdraw money.

When they finally had him in the interview room to nail down why exactly he seemed to be linked to all these people, Daniel explained that he had manipulated naive Wesley into helping him run this money scheme. I said, here's what you need to do. I'm part of your cross-street life part. It was across the street, but thanks were getting the whole story. They had arrested Daniel for his financial crimes against Sam Hurr. But during the time between the murder of Julie Kibuishi and Daniel's arrest, the crime scene unit had processed the murder scene. They knew more than they were telling Daniel, but wanted to see what kinds of stories Daniel would come up with throughout the course of the interrogation.

By now, I'm sure you all know how common this technique is. Daniel vehemently claimed that on Saturday evening, May 22nd, Sam Herschot up to his apartment and told him that he had just killed Julie Daniel recounted to police that Sam told him he had quote done something bad quote, and that there was a dead body in his apartment He told Daniel he had just shot somebody in a fit of rage. He allegedly then vocalized Daniel that he didn't know what to do. Daniel claimed that he was

so caught off guard by being dragged into the mess he didn't want to help Sam escape, but Sam was a big intimidating guy and a threatened Daniel." Saying quote, He went on to tell investigators that he did end up helping Sam escape, but only because he was forced into it, and he assured them that he had nothing to do with the physical murder of Julie. The police didn't seem to be buying this story, so they asked him for a DNA sample. They wanted to take some of his saliva. It was at this point that Dan realized they would soon know whether or not he had been to the murder scene. And his performance became even more aggressive. What would your DNA get on her? What's that? Because that was right. Okay.

So how did DNA get on her? That DNA doesn't just fall off. I don't know. I didn't care. I didn't do anything. Truth be told, if Sam Hair had just been missing, then I don't think the police would have looked into it that carefully. It was the finding of an actual body in Sam's apartment that made the police take interest, and they didn't take interest because they were worried Sam was missing.

They took interest because they thought Sam had murdered his friend and gone on the lamb. Every step along the way of this investigation made officials think they had it all figured out, until each jaw-dropping revelation or piece of evidence came into view one at a time. At first, it seemed like a simple case of a veteran with PTSD murdering his friend and going on the run. Then, as evidence began to point to Dan Wozniak, it seemed like he may have gotten sucked in and helped Sam make his escape.

While initially sitting in jail for these minor credit card fraud charges, Dan made a call to his fiance, Rachel. During this call, he asked her not to tell police about the murder weapon and not to give up any incriminating evidence. Rachel knew the line was recorded and reminded Dan of that. Shortly after making this call, Dan requested to go back into the interview room so he could speak to detectives one final time. And that's when he dropped this bomb. You said you wanted to talk to me, what's going on? I'm crazy and I did it.

You did what? I killed Julie and I killed Sam. This case, in just a few seconds, was completely turned on its head. Okay. Tony, how you killed Sam? Two shots using my father's gun that I had. And the emotors behind killing Sam was money and saving money. Tell me about how the Sam incident and what you did.

I told him that I needed to know some stuff from the theater. I said you need to bend down and help me lift this thing up. I'm really bent down. I grabbed you gun. And you were really fired at the gun before, so I pulled it back in a shot. Sam Hare is murdered on Friday, March 21st. He's murdered Friday, March 21st, to 2010, in the afternoon. In that night, Dan and Rachel go and perform in the musical 9.

So Sam is murdered and his body has been left in the attic of a theater in Los Alamedos. And then Dan and Rachel are now in Fullerton performing in a musical in an entirely different theater. Because you have to remember the weekend of the murders, they were both acting in this play at the theater where I worked. And so, they, you know, murders were taking place and then singing and dancing was taking place. So just to recap here, Sam was dead the entire time police were on the hunt for him. They thought he was Julie Kibushi's murderer, but instead he had been murdered himself. Friday, May 21st in the afternoon, Daniel Wozniak lured Sam into a theater right

in the middle of an active military training base in Los Alamedos, California. Like he mentions in his confession, he asked Sam to bend down to grab something, and then he shot him, in the back of the head twice. He left the body in the attic of the theater until he could deal with it at a later date. Now, this is in the attic of a theater that is still in use. It's not a theater that is abandoned. And so later on, there was like a children's performance in that same theater. So he knew that he couldn't, you know, a body needed to remove the mare.

He just didn't have the necessary tools to remove the body. So Dan goes back home, then he tells Rachel that he just murdered Sam here. According to his confession, he didn't tell her that, but he did tell her that. And then the two of them went and performed on Friday night. After the show concluded, Daniel returned to his apartment complex where he killed Julie inside of Sam's bedroom Shooting her with the same gun he used to a text messaging. Did you have a phone call? Yes. What sort of text message were you going to say before I was saying, you need to come over tonight.

What did you say to Julie? Julie was wearing a good crowned T.R. She had just come from her brothers. I had said, like, um, Sam just called with me and he was going through some stuff. She said, yeah, me too. I said, well, I'm key. Let's go in. Soon after he admits this to Rachel, Julie Kibouishi starts receiving texts on her phone

from the telephone of Sam Hare. Dan Wozniak and Rachel Buffett are the ones now from the telephone of Sam Hare. Dan Wozniak and Rachel Buffett are the ones now in possession of Sam Hare's telephone. Dan had taken the telephone when he left Sam's body at the theater in the attic. He'd also taken Sam's wallet. He had gone and gotten this teenage boy to take some money out of Sam's bank account so that it would look like Sam was still

moving around out there. And then Julie is texting back and forth with Sam Harris' telephone. Now, obviously, this isn't Sam who's texting her. The reason Daniel thought Julie needed to be killed too? Well, here it is, in all its stupid glory. Dan tells Rachel that while he was driving home, he got a cell phone text from this girl they all know, Julie Kibwishi. She's part of their group of friends. She hangs out with Sam Heralot, even though she doesn't live there.

Everyone knows her, everyone is friends with Julie. Sam's message from Julie was basically, hey buddy, how are you doing? And Dan Wozniak using Sam's phone had replied, oh, I'm just helping out, Dan. So, kind of in his own stupidity, Dan told somebody immediately that he was, you know, as Sam, Sam is with Dan. So later on when Sam goes missing, they obviously want to talk to Dan. And then later, once Dan arrived home, and this is actually, you know, proven from the cell phone towers and the records and

such, that the other texts, the ones that were very different in nature, the ones where a supposedly depressed Sam Hare was begging his friend Julie Kibuishi to come over and hang out with him and talk to him because he's going through some rough things. None of those texts took place until after Dan got back to Costa Mesa with Sam Spon. So even the prosecution believes that Rachel was completely involved in sending those texts. You know, Dan's confession was he was the one that sent the texts to Julie that He had Rachel came home from their show from their performance at around 1030 they hung out they you know watch some TV

He gave her a massage and then she fell asleep on the couch. And during that time, he sneaked out of the apartment, went up to the fourth floor, which is where Sam Hare's apartment was. He met Julie Kibbleeshi outside of Sam's apartment instead of Sam being there. Now keep in mind, Julie's getting these messages all night. Where are you? I'm really upset.

Don't bring anyone. Please be alone. I only want to talk to you. I don't want anyone else to talk to me. And the whole time she's like, you're my brother, Sam. I would never let down a friend. So this part has always been confusing to me that this young woman met, you know, went up to Sam's hair as a apartment, knocked on the door.

Sam didn't answer the door and then suddenly Dan Wozniak shows up and says, oh, I can let you into the apartment. As a woman, I would not feel comfortable in that situation. It's possible that because Julie had met Daniel before and he seemed like a nice, trustworthy guy that her danger radar was just turned off. She had no reason to think Dan was dangerous, but sometimes in life there are lessons you learn a little

late, sometimes too late. Once Dan let Julian to Sam's apartment and followed her in, it was all over. to the bathroom and put it because of the joy nervous. We wanted to go in again. We went back out into the hallway and then said, oh, when did you see this? I'm so sad. I said, we're going over. We'll get it right there. She was like, over at the top. We'll go back around. Okay. When did you feel you had to kill Julie?

What was the rationale behind it? It was kind of crazy. Seriously, serenously, and covered on Kup Sam. So, why, how would that come to my question to make it look like he was on the run and he did? He was on the dead. Let's take a moment to clap for Dan's outrageous performance. Before we go over, not only his true and horrendously

selfish motives for this crime, but also what he eventually did with Sam's body. The day after killing Julie Kibuyishi on Saturday, Dan returned to the Liberty Theater on the military base in Los Alamedos to take care of Sam's corpse. This time, he brought with them a few tools. The next day Dan returns and he does some scouting out to make sure he can get back on the base without going through security. And then that's the day that he went back and did the really, who, the really awful stuff. I mean, the murder is really awful, but I think one of the things that freaks people out so much is the, you know, the decapitation of Sam Hare's body and cutting off his arms.

I honestly think that takes people over the edge of, okay, people kill people, but once you're cutting off someone's head, that's a whole other level. So I think he tells me as much as he can remember, but I also think that there's, you know, the possibility he does attempt to paint himself in at least a little less horrific a light. But he's never denied certain facts to me. He's never denied that he killed Sam Hare and he has never denied that he cut off Sam Hare's head and cut off Sam Hare's arms and his hand and took those

body parts with him in a backpack, carried them to his car, drove to a nearby nature center, the El Dorado nature center, and kind of tossed the man's head and arm slash hand into this you know wooded area in hopes that animals would take care of that evidence. His plan had been to do that over time. He hadn't realized how long the process would take, I guess, to quote him the TV lies when they make it seem like that's a very quick thing to do. But his plan, if he, if things hadn't gone awry, well, obviously things had already gone awry for Sam and Julie, but his plan had been to get rid of Sam's body piece by piece out of that attic and then make it seem like Sam was still alive but just kind of on the run. Sam Hurr was a war hero. During his time in Afghanistan he was forced to run through enemy fire over and over again to make sure generators remained functioning for the sake

of the rest of the soldiers and their mission. Over the course of his time served, he earned a National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan campaign medal with two campaign stars, Army Service Ribbon, overseas service ribbon, parachute badge, combat action badge, NATO medal, and several other awards. He had finished up his time in Afghanistan and was enrolling back in college on his GI bill when he was ruthlessly murdered by a weird theater actor. What a way to go. Sam had survived all the horror and treachery overseas only to be disrespected and dismembered by someone who thought only about himself.

These murders were committed strictly for the personal gain of a Thespian. If you were a father, you would know what I'm thinking. Give me five minutes with him. The ironic thing is Sam was a decorated combat better than that he understands. And to come back. And this happened to him. It's surreal. We miss our boy, and we just miss our boy.

If there's ever a case for keeping the death penalty in this state, that's it right there. For what he did to my son and what he did to do. I am currently the writer of a blog called Daniel Wozniak is my friend. It's not an easy thing to write about and also there's a lot of controversy just wrapped around it and wrapped around the idea that I even call myself Daniel Wozniak's friend quote unquote. You know, people have been bothered by that specifically. When Glendale found out that Daniel Wozniak had officially been charged with the murder. She, just like everyone else who knew him, was absolutely floored. Oh, there was a great deal of chatter. As you can imagine, because you know theater people, we don't like to

chatter and gossip, right? So, um, yeah, first of all, everyone was just shocked, stunned, in awe. And then there were the interesting things that people would start to talk about about like, a friend of mine talked about one time when he saw Rachel and Dan arguing in the lobby. And he narrowed it down to, hey wait, that was the weekend of the murders. Friends and acquaintances of both Dan and Rachel followed the story closely and kept up to date as things were happening. When Glendale found herself sharing the story with people frequently over dinner or parties. She figured she might have an inn with Dan. No one that she knew of was writing anything on him or had interviewed him. And she figured Daniel might be willing to talk to her, because he already knew who

she was. So I went to see where he was. Honestly, I was surprised to find out he was still at the Orange County Jail five years after his arrest, but that gave me the opportunity to write to him at the Orange County Jail and sort of reintroduce myself, reminding him who I was, and how we'd met, and that, you know, I was sort of just curious how he was doing in his situation, how, you know, he was handling everything, and he wrote me back, and he was quick to write me back, and very friendly in his letter. His early letters, especially, talked a lot about Rachel still, and you know, about his broken heart, how she was the love of his life, everything to him, kind of things. So you definitely knew that he wasn't over her. And then we just sort of chatted back and forth about things, but while we were chatting,

I would ask questions, you know, little questions here and there. During a research and correspondence with Daniel, Glendale soon learned that Rachel was more than likely much more involved in the crimes than anyone could have ever imagined. Rachel was only charged with lying to police and spent a measly 32 months in prison for accessory to murder. She along with her defense team claimed to this day that she was duped by Daniel Wozniak, sucked into crimes by a pathological liar and manipulator. It was like the first night I've never really existed. It's hard to eat when your stomach is in knots. Do I have just a horrible judgment of character?

I think this is a very interesting case. When it comes to planned murders, they're fascinating, I think, because it's basically like, they're puzzles. And first, you got to take all the pieces apart and then you got to put them back together and figure out what really happened, because when somebody plans a murder, they also plan for police activity and they plan for an investigation. And they oftentimes will leave false clues and they oftentimes will leave false clues and things like that. So in cases like this, it's the job of the police and most importantly, the jury to think and to use your minds, your common sense as we figure out what happened.

And it's interesting. And this is one of those cases. There was certainly some planning involved in this crime, because the overall motive, believe it or not, was money. Yes, you see, Daniel and Rachel, as we all know by now, were planning to get married. Them's weddings are expensive. I would know, unfortunately. Dan and Rachel were set to wed just two days after Danial was arrested. In fact, the arrest took place at his bachelor party, kind of a buzzkill, when you say,

Dan and Rachel needed money to wrap up their wedding and go on a nice honeymoon. Everyone deserves a nice honeymoon. But the couple was so far in debt that they were allegedly about to be evicted from their own apartment, such as the life of an actor. They owed lots of people money and were struggling to make ends meet in their basic daily life. They certainly didn't have any money to go on a lavish post-nuptial vacation. You know what's a good solution to that though? Don't have a honeymoon, or postpone it until you pay off your bills, but Dan was determined to have one. He set his sights on his innocent neighbor Sam, who Daniel knew had over $60,000 saved up in his bank account from his time in the military due to his frugality.

A skilled Dan and Rachel clearly didn't have. One tiny tidbit that confirms Rachel's involvement in the entire murder for money scheme is a man named Chris Williams. Chris Williams is, he's likely an unlucky person in this situation or lucky because he ended up still a lot. But Chris Williams about two or three days before the murder of Sam here, loaned Dan $2,000. And he'd only known Dan for maybe two or three days, maximum. But he ended up loaning him $2,000.

And so Dan was gonna pay Chris back on Friday morning. That's what the story is, that's what's been given to the police. Chris loaned Dan $2,000. Dan was going to give Chris Williams money back on Friday morning. And Chris Williams waited around Dan's apartment for the next, at least two hours with Dan's fiance,

Rachel waiting for Dan to come back from getting money to pay back Chris Williams. Chris Williams' story is very interesting because, and the murder of Sam Hare, but he was also sort of Rachel's downfall for her getting sentenced to accessory after the fact. He was with Rachel the entire time that Sam Hare was murdered, where as he also stated that Rachel seemed like she was aware of the fact that there were money issues. She didn't seem like she didn't understand what was going on. So they don't get $2,000 to pay back Chris Williams.

He only has $400 to pay back Chris Williams. He only has $400 to pay back Chris Williams. He gives him the $400 and Chris Williams leaves. Rachel neglected to mention Chris Williams or his visit to their apartment when she was interviewed by police. Even though Chris was her obvious alibi. Something that may have contributed to Sam her ending up as Daniel's target is that Daniel was under the impression that Sam had been having an affair with his fiance Rachel, which in and of itself is kind of weird, that you're killing someone to pay for a honeymoon with the woman who's cheating on you with that same person. So not only did this guy have money that Dan could steal from, he could also wipe him out of the picture, remove him as a threat, killing two birds with one stone, if you will. This is when he told me after the fact that his anger at Sam came about from anger

more than it came about from wanting to steal money that he found out from Rachel that she and Sam had been sleeping with each other and now the thing that's interesting is Dan never necessarily got a yes from Sam that

he slept with Rachel, but he didn't get it denied either. I have always said, I think jealousy is the main motive and for both murders. I believe that Dan was extremely jealous of Sam. You know, I have writings with him talking about, you know, what was so great about that guy, what did he have that I didn't have? Oh, you know, just a job and education, good looks, $60,000 in the bank, and a possible

career working his way up the ranks of the military. Probably the most terrifying thing for Dan would be to see Sam and Rachel together. This jailhouse phone call between Rachel and Daniel is telling on so many levels. It's almost as if the call is scripted and acted out. Poorly, I would add. But the correspondence, I couldn't be the man that you needed. Okay? So, maybe why do we have your family then? I left them is I almost reached the point where I almost killed them.

Did you almost reach the point where you told me? No, never. I promise. You're my only light. You're never gonna see me again. I'm never gonna see you again. Maybe you're gonna see me again. I'm gonna come back to you all the time. Maybe we'll figure this out, okay?

Maybe we'll figure this out, okay? I still love you very much. You are so insane and so stupid. But I know in your twisted little mind, you are doing it. I wanted to be happy with you. And I hate you for throwing it up. I'm almost there. I'm sorry. Okay, I love you, baby.

I love you, like, Dan. I love you, like, Dan. Dan was the act as a monster. He's a psychopath, and he's a pathological liar. He lies to everyone in his life. Lies do his family, lies to his family, steals from his family, lies to his friends, his best friends, strangers, employers,

fellow employees, and anyone he comes into contact with. The desperation came to a culmination a couple of weeks before this wedding. You heard in the people's opening that Dan was frantic He had no money at all They were in debt. They were getting evicted Dan was panicking. He was worried this wedding was not gonna go through. He was worried Rachel was gonna leave him So out of an act of desperation

He started asking people for money of desperation, he started asking people for money, random people. People he didn't really know. Friends, old employers, neighbors, anything he could to provide and keep up this deception to show that he was someone she could rely on. This person you're hearing is Rachel Buffett's defense attorney, and all of what he's saying is true, but he had an obligation to paint her as the victim for the trial. The jury didn't see her as the victim.

They found her guilty of accessory after the fact, and she was sentenced to those 32 months in jail. You've done the math. She's out already. And truthfully, believe with all my heart that if Dan Wasniak and Rachel Buffett had never met, nobody would have been murdered. And I'm not the only one too. It's like people who knew him beforehand, people I've talked to knew him beforehand. He's only ever been described as a big teddy bear, a nice guy, fun, life of the party,

do anything for a friend, never leave you in the lurch. Unless of course you sleep with his girlfriend or you have something you want like money, then he'll leave you not in the Lurch, but the attic of a theater without your head. As the key blueishies are experiencing the worst news, the worst news that a family can get, what is our hero doing? He's back on stage. Let's talk about Steve here. Steve was his best friend. These are his quotes for the record.

Saturday, May 29, was my son's 27th birthday. And here I am, his father, praying that they find my son's head. Rock Hellhair, Sam was her prince, and her only son. She has no children now. Because of the horrific nature of Daniel's crimes, the prosecution sought the death penalty in this case, and they got it. How many layers of awful do we need before the death penalty is appropriate?

Before the death penalty is the only possible way we can satisfy justice in the case. He did not care about those people, and now I'm asking you to care about those people. There will not be any executions in California for who knows how long that haven't been for decades, and the idea, you know, the lifeliness that Daniel Wozniak will ever face justice via the lethal injection, that's just not going to happen. Guaranteed that will not happen in California. He is more likely to die of old age on death row, then he is to actually be executed. In Dan's case, it's probably better for him that he is separated from the general population in prison, given what he did to a decorated combat veteran and an innocent young girl. On death row, he is surrounded every single day by

only the worst of the worst, and they're not acting. But I'll bet he fits right in. That does it for this episode of Sword and Scale. We hope you've enjoyed it. If you love the show, you can get a whole lot more of it. You can get Sword and Scale Plus. 69 exclusive episodes are available right now and they come out every two weeks. Just head on over to swordandscale.com slash plus. It starts at just five bucks a month and includes all sorts of goodies such as store discounts, a 320 kilobyte feed and tons of bonus content. If you join one of the higher tiers,

you'll be eligible for physical perks. The next one is going to be a really cool your local theater and stay safe. Thank you. you