Sword and Scale - Episode 184

Episode Date: April 11, 2021

When 29-year-old Natasha Waalen was found dead next to her dirt bike, police assumed it had been a terrible accident. They were wrong. Natasha had been murdered and her death was sloppily covered up to look like a motorcycle crash. Who would want this young mother, acupuncturist, and university graduate dead? Fingers soon pointed towards the father of her child and former boyfriend, Ryan Boland as the police uncovered the violent, questionable past behind Ryan’s good ol’ boy facade. But the town soon questioned if he had acted alone.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 Hey, this is season 8. Episode 184 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. Welcome back. I'm saying welcome back even though you've noticed maybe that we haven't taken a break and we won't be taking a break at all this year. This was supposed to be our spring break that just occurred. Didn't happen because we're just putting out episodes like wild banshees. Congratulations. This is your prize for the shit that was 2020.

In any case, we have a two-parter today. This is the first part. The next part will be next week, unless you're on plus. In which case, everything is a week early. So if you're on the regular feed, then part two is already available. It gets complicated, I know. Just join plus since five bucks a month. Do what the media tells you to do.

Like everyone else, stop with the individualism. Just be part of the collective sheep like masses. Swingscale.com slash plus! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! The following is not e-recorded statement. We are going to case number 08-226-480.

Statement is being taken from Sabrina SABRIN, Marie M.A.R.I.E. Collique KHALEQ. So you were, do you remember which road you were on, Sabrina? Hey, let's stay, I think, that's what I'm told. I wasn't driving, I don't have a license, I kind of would say, right? Okay, you're free, who are you with them? I wasn't driving, I don't have a license. It kind of was driving. Okay. You're free. Who are you with? Cassie, woman, and Andy.

Andy, you said you didn't remember Andy's name. No, yeah, I don't know his last name. I haven't known him that long. Okay. And where are we, Gary's heading? We're just driving around. Many guests here, like really good friends, and we're just going to talk about our day and stuff. Sabrina Kaleck was driving around and over Minnesota, with her best friend Cassie and another

friend Andy on the night of September 18th, 2008. The three were doing what most young adults who still live with their parents do late at night, drive around aimlessly, listening to music, talking, and thinking about the future. It was just about midnight and the road was dark when they turned into tulip street in a sleepy residential area. That's when Sabrina noticed something strange lying in the road. At first, from all that further away, we thought maybe it was a deer in the road or something like someone had a deer. At least slowed down, we went ahead at them

and then we got closer. I saw the cat too on the back, we realized it was a person. Saw her body in the road and I saw the remove it with a dirt bike or a motorcycle but I saw that too. In the middle of the street was a young, white female slumped on the pavement. A few feet from her lay an orange dirt bike. Sabrina and Cassie got out of the car in horror, wondering if this woman was even still alive.

Sabrina fished out her cell phone and called 911 to report the crash. I suppose I have a weird question. It didn't look like she crashed to me, I mean, I know that skater and anything like that I just all looked weird. What would mean to see that? I didn't see any blood around her, but it was dark so I don't know, I don't know, I don't drive a dirt bike or motorcycle, but I just couldn't piece together how she would have crashed and the way her body was laying. A Sabrina and Cassie waited for an ambulance to arrive. They realized something was wrong.

This did not look like a motorcycle crash. There were no visible skid marks on the pavement or debris around the scene. The woman had no helmet, no jacket, and no shoes. It was late September in Minnesota. Who rides a dirt bike with bare feet dressed only in a tank top in jeans? I just couldn't make sense of how she was riding a dirt bike without shoes.

And so, I don't know. I don't know if that has anything to do with it, but that's just something that stuck out in my mind. I'm like, how can she ride a bike with our shoes? One of the pedals have those little polka things at her at your feet. Being a woman, I know we don't like to rough up our feet, and the mufflers have, so that transfers heat to the foot pedal. So it's just one of those weird things that caught my attention that just didn't seem right. Motorcycle wasn't steaming or anything?

No. Okay. So you know what she didn't have shoes on? Yeah. Sabrina and Cassie were terrified. There were no cars around. No neighbors had come out of their houses to see what happened.

Had they not heard the crash? You would think that in a quiet neighborhood like this, a fatal motorcycle accident would wake up the entire block. The girls shook nervously in disbelief as they waited for police. Something wasn't right. They could feel it. I pretty much knew I could feel the presence of death, so... When the Inoka County police and first responders arrived 10 minutes later. The accident was marked as a fatal motorcycle crash and they began processing the scene.

The bike's engine was cold. How long had this woman been lying on the road? There was no damage to the front of the bike. The woman clearly didn't crash into a car or an animal head on. So what happened? Did she swerve to miss a deer and lose control? There were a few blood smears, but it appeared that the dirt bike had rolled alongside the woman, rather than her being tossed off of it.

She had two red ratchet straps, otherwise known in the motorcycle world as tie-down straps. They were wrapped around her waist and elbow. Also strange was the fact that the bike's headlights were switched off. Officers couldn't ignore the same oddities that Cassie and Sabrina also noticed. The woman's outfit didn't make any sense, especially the fact that she was not wearing socks or shoes. The officers searched the surrounding area thinking perhaps her shoes flew off in the crash But all they found was a hair accessory that had flung a few feet away. The jerk bike the woman was riding was a KTM

525 EXC an Enduro motorbike from the early 2000s. This KTM Dirk Bike Model had very sharp foot pegs, so riding without some kind of foot protection would be painful, to say the least. Plus, the bottoms of Natasha's feet had no markings indicating that she even rode the bike barefoot. The officers then turned their attention to the woman herself. Her injuries weren't consistent with a motorcycle crash.

She had one large abrasion on her bare arm and small scratch marks on her wrists. There was a large laceration on her right cheek and her right eye was bulging with blood. The woman had severe injuries. Her blonde hair was soaked, dark red. Her skull had been violently pummeled to the point where it was nearly impossible to recognize her face. Yet, there was barely any blood on the road around her. Her head had been violently attacked. This wasn't the type of injury you got falling off a bike. This was the kind of malicious

injury inflicted by a very angry person. It didn't make any sense. It was almost as if she had been placed there. The coroner soon arrived on the scene and pronounced the woman dead. He then ordered that her body be taken to the nearby Mercy Hospital. After a thorough examination of the woman's body, the Inoka County Medical Examiner's office stated that her injuries were inconsistent with a motorcycle crash and determined her death was a homicide. Because the woman had no purse, police ran the motorcycle's plates and soon identified the female victim as 29-year-old Natasha Lee Whalen.

Natasha was a young mother and an acupuncturist who lived a few miles away from the accident scene with her four-year-old daughter and her daughter's father, her former boyfriend Ryan Patrick Boland. This wasn't an accident. Natasha had been murdered. A noca county police have discovered 29-year-old Natasha Whalen dead. Next to her dirt bike just after midnight on September 19, 2008. After a thorough examination, it was determined that Natasha's death was no motorcycle accident. It was homicide. She had died from severe blunt force trauma to the head. The police soon turned their sights towards Natasha's home life, zeroing in on her former boyfriend

and father of her child, Ryan Patrick Bowland. Natasha and Ryan had originally met in their high school in Anoka County, but didn't start dating until 1998 after they both graduated. Ryan was four years older than Natasha. He was tall and muscular with a square chin, blonde hair and blue eyes. Ryan looked like your typical upper middle class midwestern boy. He came from a good family. His father, Patrick, was a former vice principal who now owned and operated a construction company. And his mother, Sonia, was a teacher. He had a younger brother, and because their birthdays were just under two years apart, the two boys were very close. Despite Ryan's loving parents and seemingly wholesome upbringing, he had a dark side,

and many people saw through his squeaky clean facade for the trouble that he really was. Natasha Whalen was a striking young mother. She turned heads with her slender frame, sparkling eyes, blonde hair and heartwarming smile. Natasha was sweet, social, and smart. She even had a master's degree. She made and kept friends very easily. Natasha's parents were divorced, but the wailin siblings were very close. Natasha was the middle child with an older sister and a younger brother. The wailin family loved outdoor activities, especially motorcycles. All the wailin's

road motor bikes and loved being on two wheels. Natasha and Ryan's courtship started off pretty good. They both loved dirt biking and the outdoors. The two were happy, so they moved in together after a year of dating. But three months into their domestic relationship, one awful night changed things forever. On October 17, 1999, Natasha came home later than usual and Ryan snapped. He unloaded on Natasha, calling her a stupid bitch, before he headbutted her so hard she stumbled over. Natasha was stunned. He had never exhibited violent behavior like this before. Where was this coming from?

What had she done wrong? It didn't seem to matter to Ryan that he had friends in the house who witnessed him beating his girlfriend. He went on like this, like no one was watching. Natasha tried to get her car keys so she could leave, but Ryan stopped her and their fight moved from the house to the couple's front yard. Ryan continued hitting and kicking Natasha until he finally threw her into a tree. After Ryan had stormed back inside Natasha, picked herself up and walked to the nearest police station to report what had happened. Officers noticed the scratches all over her arms and the back of her shirt was ripped open.

arms and the back of her shirt was ripped open. Police asked Natasha if she wanted to press charges. She nervously wavered as many victims of domestic abuse like this do. And then she left the police station. Despite her indecision, police later went to the couple's house and arrested Ryan for domestic assault. Later that night, Natasha called her mother and revealed what had happened. She called me at 2 o'clock in the morning and I got the letter even still at home that I saved. I couldn't have hit feet to crap out of her. And she was bruised.

Black eyes and whatever. And birthed all over on her. She made a statement and went to the police station and called me up to him in the morning and had woken up and I couldn't speak. There was something wrong and I was on the phone of Ryan and Natasha's relationship forever. An abusive power dynamic had been initiated, and it would run its course over the next 10 years. We don't know what happened after the initial fight, but in most abusive relationships, there tends to be a pattern. After the first spout of physical abuse, the abuser will often profusely apologize. It's most likely that Ryan spent the next few weeks trying to prove

to Natasha that what had occurred was a one-time incident and would never ever happen again. He was stressed and drunk and he didn't mean to do it. This false promise wrapped in a guilt trip is what often convinces women to stay. Ryan was a master manipulator. He kept Natasha in his grasp by not only instilling fear in her, but he counterbalanced that by being a sweet, loving boyfriend and giving her hope when she leased expected it. Ryan followed the cycle of abuse like clockwork.

The couple continued to date on and off, but in 2003 Natasha found out she was pregnant and gave birth to their daughter in the summer of the following year. Natasha wanted to make it work with Ryan for the sake of their baby. She tried for years, despite Ryan's violence and occasional cheating with random women in their friend circles. The couple would get back together and then split again for the same reasons. All the while, Ryan was furthering his control over Natasha. She was embarrassed, scared, and felt trapped. Can you just describe Natasha and what her whole life

in a relationship with Ryan was like? It wasn't happy for her. She didn't know how to get out of the situation. She didn't want anybody knowing how bad everything was. And I told her over and over and then that she could come over and love with me, my daughter is open for her in Savannah, always. And they fought all of the time.

And she cried all the time at work. She was never happy. But these be verbal fights, physical fights, physical fights. And she had bruised on her. Have you ever seen Ryan be physical with her? No. And whenever I go by there, he had lead. So he had never hang around or anything. But she would tell you what they were from, what the bruises were from. Yeah. How long have had this been going on? Ever since she met him.

Natasha studied acupuncture and developed a solid client base that she would treat from an office space she rented from a local chiropractor. She also worked part-time at Achieve Services, an organization that provides vocational training and community-based education for adults with disabilities. Natasha's mother also worked there, which kept them close. In the fall of 2004, Natasha and Ryan bought a house on Adam Street in Inoka County, but the house remained solely in her name because according to one friend, Ryan's credit sucked. Natasha may have had a better credit score, but she still needed help with the mortgage

and bills. So Ryan lived there in an effort to co-parent their growing daughter together. Despite any rare moments of happiness between them the abuse really never let up Things would be good for a while and then Ryan would snap She used my house for Christmas I had my whole family over and It's a big Christmas party and Open presents and everything and she was down in the basement downstairs

wrapping presents and doing the last minute stuff, stuffing the stockings. And she ended up, she went to bed, she said that Ryan came home drunk, and didn't try to just truck. Somebody had dropped him off. And she'd gone to bed and she could see the shape of his body in front of the door looking at her.

She opened her eyes because she felt somebody staring at her. You picked her up by her neck and threw her next to a wall. She fell on through the floor and you went through the fan-hatter. And she says she's got to be kidding. You drop the fan and turn around and went right back into bed like nothing happened. And she ended up, she'd come around outside and call the police and she said, there's been so many times, I think. And she called the police and Ryan took off on foot and met his dad in a parking lot somewhere.

And so thanksgiving was the same thing. You beat her up after Thanksgiving, which was giving me. Natasha kept the misery of her relationship hidden, as she tried to create some semblance of normalcy for her daughter. But those attempts at being a family slowly faded as their relationship deteriorated. She was scared of Ryan and thought it was better to tough it out than risk losing her daughter. After all, Ryan looked great on paper. He had a steady job working construction with his family business. He had manners and knew how to turn on the charm.

She tried to be gone all the time. She says she couldn't be in the house with him. So he'd come home and she'd leave. He'd be there, she'd be gone. I mean, they would never be in the house the same time. And as all they did was fight. No, she was scared of him. Really bad.

And we would talk. Yeah, he threatened her all the time. Do you know what those threats were? What he said? But he's gonna kill her and whatever. She didn't try to invent to the family much. I didn't confirm I'm very happy situation either. According to friends, Natasha and Ryan managed their parenting duties like two ships passing in the night.

They worked separate hours and escaped to different social circles, though their friends all knew of one another. After all, Inoka County felt like a small town. By the time their daughter was four years old, Ryan and Natasha no longer shared a bedroom, and were both secretly seeing new people. Natasha knew that Ryan was sleeping with a few different girls around town, but when Ryan found out that Natasha was dating a new guy, he flipped out. Clearly, it was all right for Ryan to do whatever he wanted with whom he wanted, but Natasha didn't have the same freedoms. All the couples, friends and family knew the

deal and tried to just accept the way Ryan and Natasha had decided to co-parent even if they weren't happy about it. But they really were not a couple anymore. She wanted them all and never would leave. So if I were to say they were sort of like roommates, would that be kind of... Kind of more accurate? Kind of. Yeah, pretty much. They didn't have any relations, like sexual relations anymore.

Nothing's really out of it. They can get along in any single room. It's not very long. So it's just we haven't lived like... Despite how crappy things were at home, Natasha had supportive friends she fell their time with and tried to enjoy her social life when she had a night off from parenthood. She also busied herself with work, helping the disabled at a chief and practicing acupuncture. At a chief, she was tasked with covering shifts for a woman named Denise and the two soon developed a bond. So you've worked with Natasha for the last two years at a chief and she started working

more closely with you. More closely, yes. As far as us being together for a solid street, we were together for over five hours each day. During that time, Natasha kind of looked at me at one important time, and this was the very first day that we were working together, and she said, oh, I heard rumors about you. And I said, laugh, and heard rumors about you. And I started laughing. And I'm like, what? Just well, that we kind of have similar past and present.

So what do you mean? And just what you have a child, and you are married, and you have had problems with her father. Denise had been in an abusive relationship with her child's father and wasn't shy about her past. Natasha had found someone who truly understood how complicated her situation was, and she told Denise all about her life with Ryan. The last beating that she had gotten, it was in front of her daughter, and she said, well, Denise, I don't know how much my daughter would remember. She's four years old. And I commented to her that my daughter's 13 and she still remembers an incident of her

dad choking me at the age of three. I said, children, remember. And she started to cry. I told her that when I was in my abusive relationship that I would tell people, I know how I will die. I just don't know when I will die. I will die by Randy's hand. And she I will die. I will die by my hand." And she goes, I understand what you're saying Denise.

Denise told Natasha to write everything down so there was a record of it. She urged her to go to the police even when Ryan did so much as threatened to harm her via text message. Natasha listened and said she would start writing these things down. Then she admitted to Denise that things were getting worse financially. He wasn't hoping to pay in any of the bills there. He wasn't doing anything that she was trying to be losing this house. Denise had already lost one of her best friends to domestic abuse 17 years ago and didn't want to see Natasha suffer the way she and her

friend both had. So she offered her some serious advice that would help Natasha and her daughter get away from Ryan. I said, but what made me a men's sort of statute state that if you are an unwed mother, you have the rights to your child. You can take them out of state. You can change their name.

You can do whatever you want to do. The father has to go back to court to get the visitation rights. And I said, in my instance, my daughter's father has a history of abuse and is on his record. He has felony, it's on his record. She shared with me that the father, her daughter Savannah, was very abusive towards her and that he has felonies, but that she always felt that he would have the same rights as she did.

And I reassured her that I went to Tennessee, he's my lawyer, I've got all this information, I said, please let me give it to you. I said, they'll make you feel that much better and you can just leave. What Denise had told Natasha is true. Under Minnesota law, if a man and a woman are unwed at the time of their child's birth, then the mother has sole legal and physical custody of the child, unless the court issues an order stating otherwise.

The day before she was found dead, Denise had given Natasha an envelope with the legal information about her custody rights as well as a pamphlet about debt consolidation. This newfound information about her parental rights gave Natasha some hope. Despite her money struggles, she was going to find a way to get Ryan out of the house. She now knew that she had the law on her side. Before saying anything to Ryan, Natasha needed to find some roommates to take his place.

When he was tight and she was seriously concerned about her growing debt. Furthermore, she'd fallen behind on rent for her office space, and she'd started seeing clients at home. On the day of her death, Natasha had met up with the doctor who owned the practice she rented space from. He was compassionate about her situation at home and offered to help her with a business plan to pay back what she owed. They agreed that she could rent his space hourly until she was up to date on her payments. Natasha knew she couldn't afford her mortgage on her own. Her friend Amanda was like an aunt to Natasha's daughter and she needed a place. So the girls decided that she would eventually move in. Natasha and Amanda had a friend in common who was also a single mom and needed a place.

It all seemed to line up. She was really happy it was a new beginning for her like finally getting rid of him and all the stress that he caused. Besides not paying his share of bills anymore and treating Natasha like garbage, Ryan had started to deliberately mess with Natasha's credit rating.

According to one friend, Ryan had allegedly gone so far as to intercept her mortgage payments to make it seem like she'd fallen behind. In addition, Ryan was acting bizarre and sketchy. It's unclear if Natasha picked up on his behavior, but their neighbors definitely noticed. In fact, a few of them suspected that Ryan was dealing drugs out of the house.

I've always been aware that Ryan doesn't seem to have any visible means of support and that he makes many, many, many, little 10 to 20 minute runs in and out of his driveway just a lot. That's very typical of him. A lot of neighbors had always seen him up at SA and he's just, I don't know what the guy's up to, he it's no good. I'm not the one that can say about the drugs but my neighbor is completely trustworthy and saw what she's off and heard what she heard and so we know he dealt drugs out of the house and that explained a lot of things. I have just heard from other people that know him. I've never seen myself personally

that when he was younger, he was in the drugs. How do you know that from neighbors or from? Yes, well, actually the neighbor across the way went to school with him and Ryan and his friends used to pick on him. And he said that Ryan was into drugs when he was in high school. This same neighbor also saw random people drive up to Natasha and Ryan's house, park in the driveway and open the passenger door to Ryan's truck like they were grabbing something,

then quickly leave. This neighbor became more and more concerned as there had been some break-ins on their block, so she decided to talk to Ryan about it. When she confronted Ryan, he calmly explained the situation away by saying it was just his friend who grabbed the tool from his truck and not to worry. I mean, he was like completely cool. I mean, it kind of scared me. But he said, oh, that was my friend's cell and cell. And he was here to get some sort of tool catalog. And he did not have any kind of tool catalog that you would

get in his hand. And he just acted really smooth. And he's like, oh, so you noticed that. And I said, yeah, I said, I was just concerned because our neighbors have been broken in. And I was just concerned. And he's like, oh, it's really nice to know that, you know, yeah. As much as the neighbors were catching on to Ryan's concerning behavior, he was fully aware of their watchful eyes and wasn't afraid to let them know that he was on to them. I felt menace by Ryan when he very quietly accused me of watching him. That was last summer and I don't watch him.

I make a point of turning my back when he comes near, but, or I'll even go to the backyard and not work in the front yard because I'm so uncomfortable when he's at home. But he said to me very quietly and I felt menacingly, you are always watching aren't you, Kay? And I was very taken aback I have absolutely no idea where that came from except his own guilty conscience. We were there was a whole group of neighbors out enjoying a lovely probably a weekend after noon because there were so many people we were watching a little girl learn how to ride her bike up and down and cheering her on. And he walked

over to this group of neighbors and amidst all the laughter and various conversations that were going on, he came up right at my shoulder and said that kind of in my ear. And I was just very taken aback by that and thought, you know, you are just such a bad dude. I just really got the chills." Armed with this new information, that she had full legal rights to her daughter, Natasha finally got the courage to tell Ryan to move out. He was not happy, but by the end of their conversation he apparently agreed to leave by September 30th. Natasha told her friend about her confrontation with Ryan, how she finally stood up to him,

and told him he had no legal rights to their daughter, that it didn't matter if his name was on the birth certificate. She had had enough, and she wanted him out. Once she said that to him, he kind of hung his head a little bit and said, okay, boss, you're the boss, man. Okay, boss. And that he kind of like was being like that for the rest of the evening, like when she would say something here, just say, okay, boss, you know, their relationship obviously wasn't good for quite some time. She said that if I would have known all he needed was to be told what to do, our relationship would have been fixed at one time ago. The morning after Natasha's body was found dead on the road, news shot through the couple's

social circle and around town. Natasha's superior at work was concerned about the well-being of Natasha's daughter, so she decided to call Natasha's emergency contact Ryan Boland. But when she got a hold of Ryan, he acted like nothing was wrong, stating that he was about to take their daughter to school. A couple things struck me the first thing was when I first introduced who I was, the response was kind of short, kind of like, why are you bothering me or why are you calling. And then the second thing that struck me as odd is that he was taking her to school, like nothing had happened when this was obviously a very substantial thing

that had occurred, so that struck me as odd as well. After dropping his daughter at school, Ryan drove over to Natasha's father's house. Natasha's father Jeff was there grieving with Natasha's brother and friend. The three men were devastated at the loss of Natasha yet, Ryan acted emotionless. Friends and family weren't the only ones to notice Ryan's inappropriate behavior. The police had also been on to Ryan all day. On the morning after Natasha's death, at around 7.45 a.m., lead detective Kurt Klosterman went to Natasha's house on Adam's street to try to find Ryan. But when he arrived, no one was home. As

detective Klosterman continued to search around the outside of the single family residents, he found himself near the breezeway between the house and the attached garage. Peering through the window, Closterman noticed three red tie-down straps hanging on the garage wall. They were identical to the ones that officers had found haphazardly tied around Natasha's waist and elbow. The tie-down straps in the garage were neatly hanging in a row with a four inch gap between them,

just enough space to accommodate the straps found around her body. Closterman returned to the police station and immediately applied for a search warrant. Around lunchtime when Detective Clostman was back at his desk, he received an unexpected phone call from Ryan Bowland. Ryan told the detective that he had heard the news that Natasha was dead. A friend had called him, saying she had died in a motorcycle crash.

Without missing a beat, Ryan launched into a story about how Natasha had been drunk and fiery last night. She had just taken off on her bike, even though he tried to stop her. Closterman interrupted Ryan to ask him if he could come down to the police station to talk rather than do it over the phone. Ryan complied saying that he was at his parents' house, but he could be there within an hour. Right on time, Ryan walked into the Inoka County Sheriff's Office

with his father, Patrick Bowland. Detective Closterman left Ryan's father in the hallway and led Ryan into an interrogation room. Now I'm going to seem like I'm coming in here completely blind and I'm kind of into we can't get it and have a lot of information so I need to help me. Okay. This is a death that we respond to, we handle all the destiny, it's only just that I know exactly what all happened. Okay. Millie led.

Patrick. And last name. Paul and B-O-L-A-N-D. You understand, called you today is because I saw it all. Please contact me over a year ago. The head, your name? I mean, well, I think it was something that maybe had the massive effect. I was calling the police, so I mean, that's where you were going to go.

Yeah, so why? I saw your name and there was a cell phone number, so that's why I called. I didn't get any trouble. Yeah, I knew you'd live there. I didn't know you'd live in place. Yeah, we got that place hot over four years ago. Detective Closterman initiated a few basic questions about Ryan and Natasha's home life.

How long have they been together? What was Natasha's job? How was he holding up through all of this? Ryan was nervous. He even asked about counseling for his child, and if he should bring his daughter to Natasha's funeral. Detective Closterman acted chummy with Ryan, trying to coax out long detailed answers as he quizzed him about Natasha's motorbike, the car she occasionally drove, and her work schedule. Then Detective Clostrum and asked him what happened

the night of Thursday, September 18th, 2008. She had come over from work at 7.30. Come through. How far does it go this way? It's a generator. 35 cents a piece. OK. And do I think I don't want to win? Oh, 9.30. How are you still, maybe? Ryan told the detective that after picking up chicken wings

at spectators, like he always did on Thursday nights, he arrived home to find Natasha and his daughter hanging out. It was almost his daughter's bedtime so Natasha helped her get ready and then tucked the child in. Ryan told Detective Clusterman that he thought Natasha had already had about six beers. After their daughter was asleep, he said he watched Natasha take three shots of tequila out of a bottle in their freezer.

Then she came back home with a kitchen, had another beer and we were going to be asked a little bit. I was watching TV and she got on a cell phone trying to call somebody but she didn't talk to anybody. I don't know who or what. I was going to try calling somebody but she didn't talk to anybody. I don't know who or what. And that's when I was in the garage and opened the door and started, like she was going to take off on the bike.

And I went all the time and tried to stop her. What time was that? I thought it was about 10.45. She didn't want to stay home. I thought it was about 10.45. She didn't want to stay home. No, no. Did you say why? No, no, she usually doesn't. She just, she's pretty independent,

but she's, let's me know that, I guess. We've said on the point of that she was angry. Well, when I tried to stop her on the motorcycle, she got a little angry. And she said, no, she, you know what, I tried, you know, I put my hands on the bike to try to shut it off. And, you know, I grabbed the bad fender in the handlebar and tried to sort of get it in the side. And, you know, so hit my hand and I hand grab my wrist. Okay. Did you get fiscal effort at all to stop her? No.

Ryan claimed that he tried to stop her from leaving the house. They got into a scuffle, then Natasha just revved up the bike and sped off. But Closterman was onto the holes in Ryan's story. We don't know yet. And we're going to treat this as the worst thing, and I know that the father, the very child that you've used to want to, you know, has heard of nothing else for dollars in a white answer to this. And I think we can't go back five years to that of A and check this stuff out. Ryan told Detective Closterman that the next morning around 5am, he woke up and noticed that he had a vo voice mail on his phone from

one of Natasha's friends. The friend had heard a rumor that a blonde girl who looked like Natasha had died in a dirt bike accident. Ryan said he processed the information, then tried to go back to sleep. An hour later, calls from Natasha's family started coming in, but he ignored them because he was trying to get his daughter ready for school. He claimed he was in shock and just tried to focus on his child. Detective Closterman then stopped to Ryan and asked if Natasha had any enemies. I'm going to be using this. I just want to make sure it don't fall, but it happens. Not this magnitude. Yeah.

And check everybody out. Well, a client getting an indication from you, that when I started digging into the background, I made a fine out some stuff that doesn't quite fit the picture that you look at by her driver's license. Maybe. I don't want to see anyone. No, I don't.

You can answer the fast. I don't want to speculate or what you think they have. And the fact of the fact that somebody was looking to do her wrong for any reason, that's what I'm trying to find out. Detective Closterman pressed on, asking Ryan the same questions with different phrasing, testing him to see if his story changed at all. Kind of like in those standardized tests in high school. What was the red strap about?

Why wouldn't Natasha have taken off on her dirt bike with tie-down straps on her body, but no shoes or socks. Detective Closterman said it just wasn't adding up. Then he left the room for 15 minutes leaving Ryan to sit with his own thoughts as the wall clock ticked and ticked and ticked. I'm trying to find a look at the results of all that. Okay, well, I don't know what you're thinking right now. I'm sorry. Well, I'm thinking right now that it was more than just a accident. It's what I'm thinking.

I really do. Do you know how this happened? I don't know. But I don't believe according to the corners office, we'll see this crap all the time. And they know what real rash, acid victims, bicycles, the more psychosoid, what it looks like. I can't see in that mess. I'm not seeing it. It was so obvious that Ryan was lying. Besides the fact that the medical examiner had ruled Natasha's death

the homicide caused by blunt force trauma, Ryan's story just didn't make any sense. Natasha was an experienced motorcycle writer of 20 years. Even if she was drunk, there's no way she would have left the house on her bike without her phone, wallet, and more importantly, her shoes. Regardless, Ryan continued to deny his involvement. I pretty much told you what I didn't get to go with there.

There's a few things that I want to let you know. We are going to find out what it is. And doing this all these years, what you do is like drop in a rock in a lake. You look into rock as a person who has injuries and you work your way out like the ripples. You start with who is the closest to that person. You eliminate that person, you will run. You eliminate that person, you will run. When you get to the end, you don't end. You come back to the center again and start over. It's kind of tell us taken care of.

So that's why right now, with some of these inconsistencies on how somebody would leave the house in what way and the injuries and positive confirmed by a corner occurred to her not in this crash didn't happen she said injuries that did not occur in this motorcycle crash. Okay. Okay. I want to eliminate you. Yeah. I know the way to follow those. I can't go on until I get past you.

Right. I want to eliminate you. How can I eliminate you? And help me out. I want to go to the next person. Yeah. I think you've got to shoot you fast. You're telling me that.

I don't know her. Yeah. I want to get to those people. But I can't do it until I get ready to do it. I can just stop. It's over. And it's not a way to do that. Detective Closterman had had enough of Ryan's playing dumb routine. Closterman was sure that Ryan knew more than he was telling him, and it was time to try a new tactic.

Did you have anything to do with her device? No, I didn't. No. I take a polygraph so I can move on. Yeah. How does that come up for you? Should be OK. Now that Ryan agreed to a polygraph test, Detective Closterman started to make arrangements to set it up. Let's do that.

OK? Yeah, I'm going to get up. OK? We're going to do it right now. Well, I got to get something set up. Yeah, I get it all over with, I can get you out of here. I guess, you know, we're gonna do something like that, if I'm gonna, should I have representation here?

Or, um, if you guys are gonna do it, this young bastard, I can not do this. But the thing about polygraph, I'm a new polygraph, it's been quite a few years. There's detectors and balls, there's an examiner involved, there's a subject that takes the polygraph involved, but there's one person that already knows any results. All the rest of no idea what's going to end up, one person is already knows the results. And it's actually the person that's taking it.

So when you take a water out of them and I tell them there's some results, they're never surprised. Don't they have a point of dotting, point of show, what's in the line? But they're not surprised. And that's not what I'm going to do. I don't want to delay this. I want to get going on. Sure. Help me with a chain. Can we do it? Yeah, I like that. You know, I guess I like to get some of my ass jointed and see what I should do. Let's go there. Detective Clostrum and you Ryan wasn't going to take the polygraph.

The polygraph question was a test in itself, and Ryan had failed. Detective Closterman left Ryan alone in the room and brought his father back in so they could all talk. Ryan's father was stern. If this is a homicide investigation, then representation should have been offered to his son before the interview. Detective Clostum in reminded Mr. Bowling that his son was not in custody. He could get up and leave the interview any time he wanted. The three men continued to discuss the options. Mr. Bowling was cautious as he should have been, but he wanted to know more.

He was in the dark. Ryan sat silently as Detective Clostum and filled his father in on the suspicious nature of Natasha's death, as well as Ryan's story about what had happened the night before. I'll say you're looking at, I mean, are there any other people? I'm giving you a list of names that I'm going to be contacting, who will be the next people in this chair. But none of those names are cultured, do you? I understand. Yeah, they're the ones that they have child, yeah. I mean, they're one on the same. Yep, yep.

But I can't believe my son would be turned to death. Maybe Mr. Bowlin couldn't believe that his son would beat Natasha to death. Maybe Mr. Bowlin couldn't believe that his son would beat Natasha to death, because Mr. Bowlin had no clue about Ryan's history of beating Natasha over the last 10 years. Apparently, he was unaware of his son's prior domestic assault charges. Mr. Bowlin didn't know how many times Natasha

had called the cops after Ryan had beat her. He wasn't there to witness Ryan head button Natasha so hard she couldn't stand up or see all the bruises on her face and arms over and over. It appeared that Mr. Bowland had no clue that Ryan had beat Natasha in front of their daughter many, many times, and that their daughter had told other family members about it. In fact, when Natasha's sister was eight months pregnant, Natasha and Ryan's daughter had kicked her in the stomach. Natasha's sister explained that violence was wrong and asked the little girl why she did

that. The child replied, quote, because that's what daddy does to mommy." And quote, maybe if Mr. Bolin had known what Ryan did behind closed doors, then he wouldn't be so quick to defend his son's innocence. Mr. Bolin soon left the interview room, detectives wrapped up by taking some photographs of Ryan's injuries. Despite it being 80 degrees out all day, Ryan was dressed in a long sleeve shirt covering up various defense wounds and scrapes all over his body, which he claimed were a result of a scuffle with Natasha. His scratches were suspicious, to say the least. Detective Closterman had Ryan alone now, and he took the opportunity to give Ryan one more chance to come clean.

Why do you think that's the only thing I don't know, honestly, that you crashed or did she have a beat up? There's so many of her out the road or... Well, I believe she was killed. She was killed? Yeah, I do. Yep. I thought the information coming in.

Okay, what I believe is, YouTube, according to neighbors, are kind of like when she's going south, you're going north, and you have that common neutral area, which is her daughter, but as far as the relationship that you have with Tasha, it's not really exciting, but I use that not even girlfriend boyfriend,

and I think a confrontation happened last night. I think it got out of hand. And I think either you wanted for a dead in the daughter to yourself, or she was on a bike and she lost her electrician balance or whatever, because she'd been drinking and she fell and hit her head in any fucking panic. That's what I think.

It's either one of those two, because either this is the heinous fucking killing act, and then you'll be trying to cover it up, and then dead is dead is dead. Doesn't matter. And you just try to, because you didn't want any bad to happen to you, you want to just, if she's dead, she's dead, okay?

Doesn't matter if you died in the ones like Jackson, or killed or shot or whatever, dead is dead. Okay? It doesn't matter if you're dying. The ones like you're at the end of the line, or if you're killed or shot, or whatever, dead is dead. You know, you're in a choice. You're going to be a fucking killer, or some accident happened. One of the other happened here. No doubt in my mind. No doubt.

And we're doing a search warrant at your house right now, where we do have your vehicle. We're watching that. We're going to're undertaking that. I think that's going to help a little bit of information, but you know one of those two things happen. I know you do. Yes, I know.

I hate your life. You don't tell. I know a little. I know a little. OK. So either yet, you know, premeditated killer or an accident happened and she died That's it. It's a repeat and I have put the coin it could be one of the other

Which one is it okay? You that you she did not die and that motorcycle accident she did not die and There's no possible way she's got gases in her forehead It didn't happen that way. She came down in something, probably accidentally. She came down in some kind of a blunt force object. I think she wasn't intentionally killed. I honestly believed that because nobody would've done it stupid. But the thing is she is dead and it was an accident. It should never have been covered up, but if it's intentional, murdered, which it could be,

I need to know. Is this your one opportunity to tell me? This is your one opportunity, and you want, you know why? Because you don't even walk out that door anytime you want, and you're not doing it. You want to tell me, because you're afraid what's going to happen down the road. Was it an accident? Or did you take it? Was it an accident? No, we're not going anywhere else because I don't need to. I know the facts of the case right now. They've been calling you that's right. I'm not leaving there because I'm taking, leaving this room all the time. It's been taking a piss. Okay. I'm getting information. I know what happened here. Did you mean to do it or wasn't an answer?

I didn't do it. I mean, you're dead. You did a place on the blame on me like that. No, because you did. You did. We know what you did. I didn't. Need to do it. No, I didn't I didn't take your life She may be responsible for her life being taken But you were there what it happened and you know exactly how it happened Exactly

Well, I'm a bit of stop the circus. We've taken you thought we're taking your house We're gonna go through the whole thing. Okay, let's stop this. Let's stop this. It's still going to get bigger as it goes down the hill. It's only like the bigger. All this stuff. I mean, as she drives off, I didn't see this neon red strap that she took with her.

She had no clothes. No, no, she was no socks. You know how we were going to find her, so you knew what you had to tell. Detective Closterman grilled Ryan over and over about the inconsistencies of Natasha's death. Ryan was clearly nervous, his voice often cracking, but he still didn't budge. He said he wanted a lawyer, so Detective Clostoman opened the door. Later that evening, police issued a search warrant for Ryan's parents' house.

They showed up at 9.30 p.m. and found him standing nervously in a spare bedroom. The police cuffed him downstairs and confiscated his cell phone and wallet. In a dresser, they found two bags of weed and a spoon covered in cocaine. Ryan was taken back to the police station where he was read as Miranda writes,

refused to speak without an attorney, and then booked for the murder of Natasha Lee Wailin. Around this time, detectives had also searched Ryan's truck as well as the Adam's street house where he and Natasha lived. According to the police records, they found a broken plastic hand clamp in Ryan's truck with a few missing pieces.

Then those exact missing pieces were recovered at the staged motorcycle crash. Inside the couple's house, they found blood on the interior of the garage, the wall of the breezeway, the kitchen screened door and in the kitchen screened door, and in the kitchen itself. I wonder how often the kitchen ends up being the preferred crime scene room in the house. Seems like it's pretty often. More traces of blood were found on the tailgate of Ryan's pickup truck as well as the interior of the cab. But after Luminol testing, it was confirmed that the garage had a significant presence

of blood that had recently been cleaned up. Natasha's death had definitely occurred in the couple's garage. But how she died was still a mystery. Detective Closterman wasn't sure if Ryan had killed Natasha, but what he was sure of was that Ryan was present when she died and that he played a major part in the grizzly way her body had been discarded. Ryan's life was disintegrating.

Neighbors were starting to question his weird behavior. Natasha had stood up to him and told him that he had to move out of the house. Ryan was at risk of losing his daughter. The grippy had held tight on Natasha for the last decade, had finally started to slip. Ryan had a million reasons to want Natasha gone. But as Detective Closterman interviewed more and more of the couple's friends and family, he realized that Ryan had lied about a very important detail. Natasha did have enemies. Well, one enemy to be exact, who despised to have to do it for now.

The next part, part 2 of this story, comes out a week from the release date of this episode. And as you know, or should should know episodes are released a week early on plus so by the time this hits the regular feed it will already be available Join Plus, it's $5 a month. Support your favorite show. Get tons of additional content, commercial free, and a 320 kilobyte feed. Store discounts, lots of additional content, head on over to swordandscale.com slash plus, or download the Sword and Scale app in the Apple App Store or Google Play. The number is plus one, 9, eight nine six eight five four call us Let us know what you think especially if you hate the show because those calls are just more interesting

All right, that's gonna do it and until next week watch those foot pegs in stay safe I'm sorry but I'm gonna be a super fanboy here. I need you to know how much you've helped me. I'm going to be a super fanboy here. I need you to know how much you've helped me. I'm going to school to be a psychiatrist. I've always had serious empathetic issues. So I've been listening to these as a sort of exposure therapy if you will. I've started off trying a lot. Now I'm starting to look at things though, and like an objective matter, looking at all the interest in the psychology these things.

As opposed to the extreme trauma that they caused to everybody that's actually affected by the horror. Thank you, thank you, thank you for turning me into a Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you