Sword and Scale - Episode 216

Episode Date: July 25, 2022

On March 6th, 2015, the body of 85-year-old Anthony Tomaselli was discovered two weeks after the death of his long-time partner. According to his adult daughters, Mary Beth and Linda, their family was relieved. His daughters claimed that Anthony’s health was in poor condition before his passing, and they could finally relax. Anthony’s official cause of death was a broken heart. Unfortunately, broken heart syndrome is extremely rare, and the Tomaselli family’s relief would become sorrow and regret after a mysterious man entered into the mix four years later.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sort and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences Listener discretion is advised You know what time it is? This is season 9, episode 216 of Sword and scale. Show that reveals that the murder genre these days, not only to the game I would say. The true crime space has become flooded, somewhat saturated with those following in my footsteps. Nearly all of them failed to reinforce the fact that homicide has a butterfly effect. People far removed from the murder itself are often affected in a negative way. Here at Sword and Scale, we've interviewed a lot of those people over the years,

giving them a platform to share their stories with you for your entertainment. You might forget that there's a human being behind that voice that has to go on with their life after you've heard their story and especially after you've gone online on your social media platform of choice and talked all kinds of shit about them. The world outside of your headphones can be cruel to those forced into the spotlight from a homicide. When a police interrogation hits the internet, people's past, a past that they're sometimes not proud of, gets dragged through the dirt.

All I ask from you, the listener, is to keep this in mind, as you hear the following story. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I have a question for you. Have you ever watched someone you love suffer? Everyone's heard a story of a family member riddled with COVID stuck on a ventilator, alone in isolation that will never recover. Almost all these stories are second-hand for some reason, but I digress. Wanting to stop the suffering of a loved one is inevitable. In fact, it's human compassion

really. But when you cross over from a feeling into an act, things change a little bit. Euthanasia is the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable or painful disease and is illegal, not only here in the US, but in a lot of other countries as well. The problem with euthanasia is that the practice is a slippery slope.

Once we give a human being the ability to decide when someone dies, he might as well open Pandora's box. It's only a matter of time before that authority falls into the wrong hands, and euthanasia becomes execution. At 5.30am on March 6th, 2015, Pinellas County, Florida Dispatch received a 911 call from the family of 85-year-old Anthony Thomas Celle. According to the caller, Anthony was found on the couch unresponsive. When paramedics arrived, they moved Anthony from the sofa to the floor and performed CPR,

but they pronounced him dead 20 minutes later. I don't know if you've ever found someone you love who died unexpectedly at home. But it's common for law enforcement to investigate. The detectives quickly examined Anthony's body and saw no signs of foul play. So they counted his medications and to close the investigation the detectives interviewed everyone at the house that night, including Anthony's two daughters, 58-year-old Mary Beth Thomaselli and 57-year-old Linda Roberts.

Also at home was Mary Beth's youngest daughter Lauren. The night before I had taken him to a doctor's appointment. And who's this at your time? My grandfather, Anthony. That day I took him to a doctor's appointment. And who's this at your time? My grandfather, Anthony, that day I took him to a doctor's appointment and they told him that he needed to have a chest x-ray because they thought his cancer was coming back. So we went downstairs at least countryside. We set up the appointment for an avid chest x-ray the

next morning and then I took him home. So that night he always took a drive every night. So we took him to the beach my mom drove and who went with you? Just me my mom and my grandpa. But I noticed that he wasn't like himself. He wanted to make phone calls and call old like Shirley's family and just say how much he missed them. Just weird. He wasn't himself. But the last like two nights my mom and my aunt had been there. Shirley was Anthony's partner. They'd been together for 20 years.

And she passed away about two weeks before he did. How long have you been staying there? I had been there for about two weeks, 10 days. OK. And the reason because that's... Because Shirley passed away. And he just was Distraught emotionally because he had outlived pretty much two wives

So he just needed rights to appointments and things like that So I made sure he eat and make sure he would take his medicine because he had high blood pressure and cholesterol So I would make sure his meds were in his little container and that he would take them so he was really hurt He was hurt and he was starting to become confused. It is not uncommon for older people to lose it a little after a significant change like the death of a loved one. And he would go on a ride between seven and eight. He liked to take a ride. After real afforded it. No, just to take a ride. He liked to get out of the house. Oh really? Every night. I would have to take him. But Just a real important. No, just to take a ride. You like to get out of the house. Oh, really? Every night, I would have to take them. But the last, the two nights prior, my mom and my aunt were there.

Did they always stay there? They didn't. I was staying there. Like, they'd come visit him, but I was the one after Shirley died that they wanted to move in, because I wasn't working. Lauren wasn't looking for a particular reason, but we'll get to that soon. So, in terms of, were they ever mentioned to you that they were unhappy with how you were taking care of them? No.

I'm not saying that you were, that they did. I'm asking you how they were saying the same thing. They wanted him to go to an assisted living. Right. They had me go look at a place with him nearby. Nearby. Nearby. It was on McMullen Booth. They wanted him to go there because they just felt like it was too much for me to take care of him full time if I wanted a job. But I had no problem because he did not want to go.

The man was alone for the first time in 20 years. It wasn't unreasonable to put him in a nursing home. But his reluctance was also understandable. Especially after the phone call, they just received from Anthony's doctor. That night they called and talked to my aunt. Were you there with? Mm-hmm, and my mom, and they said that they found a spot on his lung. And that they think the cancer came back. So they wanted him to go to the cardiologist the next morning

and the pulmonologist. And I was going to take him. He set up the appointments. It was at 10 in the morning they wanted me to take him. He set up the appointments. It was at 10 in the morning, they wanted me to take him." Anthony had cancer years earlier, which removed a portion of his lung. But he had been cancer-free since then. Probably about 8 a.m. A third of us got back, and he would always read his prayers at 9.

And he always liked to have a drink before he went to bed. You know, he'd like his little vodka and his diet coke. Well, that's what he'd like to drink. So he would mix it, then he'd wait like an hour or two and then he would take his normal sleeping pill, which was the tomazapam. And he took one of those every night. One every night?

Mm-hmm. But this night, when he was doing his prayers, he dropped the, after he had drank, my mom was sitting there, Linda was sitting there. So who gave him the drink? Do you remember? I don't sitting there Linda was saying there who gave him the drink Do you remember I don't know? I don't remember who gave him the drink But it was in every night thing like he would just have a drink to relax himself and the doctor

I remember his doctor would tell him that was fine because he was 85 years old So if you wanted to drink fine at 85 years old You better be able to do whatever the hell he wants So about nine he was like shaking a little bit and dropped his book At 85 years old, he better be able to do whatever the hell he wants. So about 9, he was like shaking a little bit and dropped his book. I looked at something was wrong from my told Linda, I said there's something wrong with him. Like that's just not normal.

He never sat on the couch, he would always sit in his recliner. This night he sat and were surely sits, was always on the couch. That's where he sat. My mom gave me something, said here this will relax you and just go take a shower and go lay down. It was about 11 o'clock. So who gave you that? My mom. And she told me, go ahead. She's going to take a shower and go to bed.

Did you know what it was? I don't know what it was because she was my mom. You know what I mean? So I remember feeling really tired. It was about 11 or 12. What a terrible thing to have happened. Lauren dropped her guard for the first time in two weeks. And the moment she did, her grandfather died. And she told me to go ahead and go to sleep.

The day would stay up with him because you start to call my mom Rosalie. So she was a little concerned. And then he was shaking. And being Linda was a nurse. I thought both of them could handle it. And then about four or five, I would say, I heard my mom screaming because my mom had to go to work the next morning. I hear her screaming and I come out in the living room

and Linda's on top of him. She's calling the old doctor. She used to work for Dr. Mazer and she was saying I think my dad passed away. I'm trying to do CPR. She was on top of his chest and I remember her pressing his chest and my mom couldn't call 911. She was shaking too bad. So I went in the bedroom and called and I told him the address and I told him that I think my grandpa just had a heart attack. I know that my Linda was on top of him because when the paramedics came,

they pulled her off of him. And my mom was standing in his doorway, his bedroom doorway, because it was right by the living room. And she was shaking and screaming. And what else did she say? She said he's dead, oh my God, he's dead. She said he must have died in his sleep.

Dr. Mazer said, lift his back over and his back was purple. So he said he's already gone, Linda. That's what Dr. Mazer said, lift his back over and his back was purple, so he said he's already gone Linda. That's what Dr. Mauser said on the phone. And when the paramedics came, they put him on the floor and it looked like he had wet the couch because there was a big wet spot on the couch like he had here and at himself. And then mom walked after that, the sheriff's came.

According to the report, the detectives found absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. I know I have to surely headdye. Was he walking around fine? Did he walk or needed some assistance? Did he... He didn't need assistance in the shower. He was starting to become forgetful. Which is 85, but he was still driving in the daytime.

He was driving. Yeah, they told him not to drive at night because he had a cataract, I think in his left eye. So he still had to drive though. They never took his license, no. And so he would drive in the daytime and say, Lauren, come on, let's go for a ride, let's go to Arby's, let's just take a drive.

Everyone's day, he wanted Arby's, we would. And if it was nighttime, he'd have me drive because he couldn't see. Otherwise, he drove to public, he would drive to go shopping, he could do all this, he could manage his money. I mean I saw a decline after she died because he was confused. But not medically. No except for him coughing a lot, he was having the cough and that's why we took him to his primary, I did. Many older people would kill to have this level of independence. Now let me ask you this and I know this. I'm just trying to get everything on the table here.

So when you moved in there, that was when you got out of prison. Yeah, not I mean it was probably about, it could have been about a year maybe, but I had been out. I had a place in Largo. And at that time were you working on getting clean or were you? No, I was already clean. You were? Oh yeah, I didn't have a truck problem. Okay.

I mean, I was... Because I know you had a history. Right, but I didn't have like the, I wasn't shooting up or anything like that. So like it was not an issue. Like I didn't have drug problem moving in with him. Okay, more was, let me ask, what was your, and I know?

Drug of choice. Drug of choice. It was normally like maybe vikin'in or like Xanaxings like that. It was not like, I never did math or heroin or crack or Coke, none of that. I was not, and it was more like, I'll be honest, like I got caught.

It's not, but I got caught selling it, so I wasn't really like addicted to it. I've been clean now for years. Like I don't have a drug problem. So when I moved in with him, like it was nothing for me to drop everything and move in with him. Lauren taking care of Anthony seemed understandable.

It gave her a free place to live, as she spent time with her grandfather. After the detectives interviewed all three women, whose stories lined up perfectly, the investigation was closed. Anthony's primary care physician signed a death certificate, and the National Cremation Society removed the body. As far as anyone was concerned, Anthony Thomaselli died of a broken heart. But of course, this is sword and scale, so shows not over yet. But that's how the story would have ended, if it weren't for this man who asked to remain

anonymous. I met Mary Beth somewhere around July, I believe, or August of 2018, and subsequently met her sister Linda within a couple months of that. Mary Beth came to some of my shows and She seemed like a nice enough lady. I could tell that she liked to drink she was physically in decent shape for her age which I think at the time was maybe 61 Linda might have been a year younger and

Linda was also I think in pretty good shape physically for her age. She had something wrong with her hair and she wore some type of hair piece like a wig, if you will. I think she was a little awkward socially because she seemed to be desperately hunting for men. I saw her at a couple of my shows and she would literally hop back and forth on barstools to talk to different men. So, during the months that he and Linda became acquainted, she became obsessed with them. That infatuation led to her divulging some exciting information about herself. You know, she had shared some of her troubles that she was having all the way along,

which at that time included nightmares about her father standing at the foot of her bed. She couldn't sleep, and so we had talked about that prior to my meeting her after she came back from the cruise. So in these discussions, she talked about her nightmares about her father, and she told me the story about her father, how he had died in her arms, and how traumatizing that experience was. And then, at some some point she had told me that there were things from her past that really affected her day to day and that she wanted to tell me about it some

day. And I started to get an inkling since she talked about her father and how important he was and how she worshipped him. I mean, she really, she fond over the memory of her father so much, you know, as how much she loved him and he loved her and how closely we're and all this stuff. So, it started to get weird the way she talked about him. I can't really, you know, remember everything she said, but it's just a feeling that I had. Eventually, Linda's compulsion to confess that secret became uncontrollable. Well, Linda got back from a cruise she was on where she didn't have any cell phone service and when she hit the port she started texting me

pretty much blowing up my phone and telling me she had to talk to me about something important and I needed to understand something. But eventually, I agreed to meet with her. She invited me to her home. And I did go to meet with her. I'm not sure of the date. That was on February 12, 2019. She within minutes of me arriving told me

that the thing she needed to tell me that she couldn't live with and why she couldn't sleep, was she hemmed in haught a little bit and then she blurted out that she killed her father. And then she quickly changed that to we, we killed my father, meaning her and her sister, Marybeth. Thankfully, he had a bright idea. Before she began spewing, the details of that murder. 4 years after Anthony Thomaselli was found dead in his home of what was presumed natural causes, his daughter Linda became obsessed with our anonymous interview e. On February 12, 2019, Linda invited that man over to her home, where she confessed

that she and her sister Mary Beth murdered their father. As soon as she said that, I thought I should record it. So I took out my phone and told her to hold on a second and I needed to look at something and I hit the record button. I didn't know exactly why, but that's what I felt compelled to do. We missed the story's beginning, but Linda instructed her sister to poison their father's nightly drink using sleeping pills. But Mary Beth made the glass too large, diluting the lethal dose. The following clips are from that recording.

She is so sure and in the drink, he takes about four swathes of it by, and in about 15 minutes, his hands are shaking, he. And in about 15 minutes, his answers are changing. He would drop in his prayer, so that he was saying his holy card. And, but I knew he didn't have enough in his system. Enough what? Of the Halcyon. What is Halcyon?

Halcyon to sleep in, though. It's strong, it's a strong chicken. Hey, wait a minute your father was taking Halcyon on his own even though he's losing his mind no the doctor was giving it to him He's prescribing it to your father. Yes Our anonymous source was unaware that Anthony didn't take Halcyon Linda Was lying So he took enough to knock him for a loo.

Really knock him for a loo. But this is very hard for me. I've never told anybody this. I guess not. And obviously, I would deny it if you were so anybody. Why would I tell somebody what good is going to do? You said the body's cremated. Yes, it's cremated.

Your father's cremated. Yes, it's cremated. Your father's cremated. There's been through an investigation. Don't get it twisted. Linda wasn't struggling to talk about what she did to her father. She was having second thoughts about confessing. You killed your father four years ago. You have to say it like that.

Well, but that's what I'm saying. And don't just say it to me because it was my sister too. And Mary Beth. We're using eyes, don't we didn't kill him. We're using eye, euthanasia is not legal. Well, it is because hospice tests are all the time they're giving the lethal dose of morphine. I've seen it, I've done it myself.

Our anonymous source was unaware that Linda never worked in hospice, and certainly never pulled the plug on a patient. But you told me, I asked you in the beginning of this, if he asked for you, then, Asian, you said no. Well, in his will, he had a DNR, but he didn't ask for you, then Asian. Well, you do, if you want it, that's why they bring in that jack of working guy to help them. But what I'm trying to say is the very first thing I asked you when this conversation started is like you euthanized your father. You said yes.

And I said, did he ask for euthanasia? And you said no. We made the decision, okay? Right. You made the decision. You and Mary Beth made the decision. Yes. Your sister and you decided that Euthanasia was the best thing for him? Yes, because medically wise I knew what the big giant mass in this long, that he had maybe months to live and he had lost his mind. Maybe it was wrong. Why do you think I barrel every day with it?

Right or wrong killing your father, regardless of his health condition, is illegal. But there was more to the story because Mary Beth messed up the lethal dose. So anyway, you went to sleep. Okay. We thought he was dead. Dead.

And he wasn't. Open his eyes. Open his eyes. I looked at us. I looked to you. And I said, now what do we do? You asked her now what to do? Yes, but what do we do now?

Imagine the shock when Linda and her sister were waiting for their father to die, and he just opens his eyes. To be honest, it's almost gangster that this old man drank enough sleeping pills mixed with vodka and knock out a horse, and he took it on the chin. Who pinched his nose? She did. And did you hold his mouth? I put a wash cloth in it.

You put a wash cloth in his mouth? How can you live with yourself? It's very hard But he was he was alive and you ended his life. I know I did Did you did did you guys discuss money before you did this how you could inherit? No, it had nothing to do with money. Nothing to do with money Are you sure we were living with what we saw and the doctor just told me your father has a massive cancerous, his whole long, his skull of cancer.

He may have two months left to live. But what, but there's been miracles in the past. Okay, so what do you want me to do now? Go confess to the police? I didn't say to do that. Only you know what we'll set you free. Nothing will set me free. This was another lie.

Linda and her sister weren't living with the constant burden of their father. Mary Beth's daughter took care of them and she cherished every minute of it. You can't decide that a miracle of modern medicine couldn't have saved him and cleared his cancer out. Never. You never ran a million years. You can't decide that a miracle of modern medicine couldn't have saved him and clears cancer out. Never. Never in a million years. You can't decide that. The doctor said it. He told me. Fuck the doctor. Die. But he's not dead. You can't end his life. You know this. You know you can't end the life. You know it's murder. Yes, I do. So why do you think now what are you gonna do? What do you mean? That I've told you. I'm just- I can't believe that you- you murdered me and my sister. I can't believe that you didn't just tell me. We made the decision together as a-

She's a dumbass, you're the ringleader. You know that. That wouldn't be the only time during the recording where Linda asked what his plans were now that he knew the truth. Linda must have remembered that Benjamin Franklin quote, 3 can keep a secret if two of them are dead. The first person to think, let's just euthanize him, was you. And she agreed.

No, that's not true. Oh, you both said it at the same time. Wee. You went one, two, three, let's you the nice. Both decided at the same time because actually, you don't know my sister. My sister has a temper 10 times worse than I do. You don't know my heart.

But why did she have a temper? Why was this ending his life anything to do with the temper? She was mad at him? Yes, they had terrible arguments because he didn't want to go into Brookfield. So she was mad at him when she murdered him? Yes, she was mad at him. So that really is murder. I talked to the doctor and I knew he was dying, but him and her had been fighting for

since Shirley died. Who's Shirley? His first name's so in 20 years. It seems like Mary Beth wasn't worried about putting her father out of his misery, but at least Linda was, right? Linda was becoming more and more concerned with what would come of that confession, but our anonymous source excelled in keeping our calm.

I asked you to tell me what your secret was, and you said, let me begin by telling you, and I'm telling you, my own free will. I said, tell me, it'll set you free. So you were not co-hairs to make this a mission. It gets set me free. Do you feel better? I'll never feel better.

It's tough to fucking rag in your father's mouth so he couldn't breathe and your sister held his nose. I don't think there's anything worse. And I thought I was somebody who could, like I said possibly all the fighting I used to do or whatever I thought I could maybe kill somebody someday. But I don't look at it as killing him. Why not? He was breathing, and then by your hand, he stopped breathing. With a rag in his mouth.

Look at these forensic files shows that I watch all the tunnels telling you about. That's how we were thoroughly investigated because the past this was not involved the police was there for My didn't take my day late my father on the floor. He was there for 10 hours So you told me the fun thing you did tell me about your father's day you tried to give your father CPR And that's the one say that's a lie

Now you have to admit that's a lie. You're like, I was giving him a... Yes. It's a lie. I knew it was dead. You knew it was dead. But you said that the paramedic... I know he is a dead because he... Because you killed him. Because he...

He was pants. And... I know it was... Yes, I knew it was dead. But you did it for more of a show. When the paramedics came in, you were doing chest compressions. Admit it.

Admit it. I admit it. It made it. I made it. Now that's some imaginative thinking. Linna's admission strayed far from the spur of the moment manslaughter into a premeditated murder and cover up. You think the material person? I think you're confused and deranged person. And my sister is too obvious. I think she has mental issues that go beyond yours.

I think it's deranged that you killed your father with a rag. Well... I've never met anybody that murdered anybody that admitted it. I'm kind of shocked to be sitting. I don't think there's people. We didn't murder him. We used to know. Oh my God.

You're smart lady. You're going to get into semantics. See, now that scares me that you have a gun. Like you could, you murder. You're a murderer. No, I would never murder anybody. Just to keep that gun sitting next to your bed saying Ted was going to come after you. I would never murder anybody. Just to keep that gun sitting next to your bed saying Ted was gonna come after you. I would never hurt anybody.

But you killed your father. Why can't you use the word kill? He was alive and then at your hand he was dead. Say I killed my father, say it. Say it. No, I'm not gonna say it because I don't feel that's what we did to him. I feel like we put him out of his misery. Linda truly stuck to her guns, which meant she was either telling the truth a good liar or was trying to convince herself that she really had put Anthony out of his misery.

That's when our anonymous source fabricated an excuse to get the hell out of there. I was shocked and I'm sure I've been around people walking, you know, throughout the world that have probably killed somebody and have that secret, but I don't know who they are. Now I knew somebody told me they killed somebody and it's just a, it was pretty weird. At that point, I wasn't sure I was what I was going to do with her confession, but I had an inkling that I'd end up at the police station if it was true. At that point, he had a decision to make.

The right thing to do would have been to give police his recording, but that didn't make it easy. As you can tell, he prefers to stay low key and inserting yourself into a homicide investigation would put your name on every local paper. Well, that was in the late afternoon. You know, I was pretty much in shock. I thought about it the rest of the day. You know, I went to sleep that evening and I had a hard time sleeping. I had nobody to tell this to or nobody that I wanted to tell it to, you know, friends or anything. I wasn't going to divulge that to somebody that, you know, wasn't directly involved with me and her.

I had already thought about going to the police that afternoon. I thought about it. I did not make the decision till the next morning and I contacted the Pinellas County Sheriff to report that I had information on a possible homicide from four years earlier. Although he chose the right thing to do, he sacrificed his privacy for justice. They heard my story that I just told you about the confession, told them that I also had a video on my phone. I told them I had this video, but that I was reluctant to share it for several reasons until I knew what was going to happen with me as far as I didn't want to, I was really

not wanting to be involved as much as I ended up involved. So I was really trying to find a way not to be in the spotlight. So I was talking to the police about, how can I stay out of this? Can I just give you this video or what? I think a lot of people wouldn't want to be involved in a trial and publicity and name in the paper and all that stuff. I don't know. So that was a thought. I think it's a natural, you know, thought process. Although the police had his secret recording,

they felt it wasn't enough for a solid conviction. Instead, the officers asked our anonymous source if he would wear a wire to question Linda, an air sister in a controlled environment. Reluctantly, he agreed. The following clips are from that wire. You determined the hour that he would stop breathing is what I'm saying. Yeah, and the kicker of my dad had a pacemaker. So I'm taking a pulse and his heart is beating, but he said. Because the pacemaker was making his heart beat. What do you mean that's the kicker?

Do you think that was funny? No, it was terrible because I thought it was still alive Because he had a fault now. I'm thinking in my head my father has a pacemaker The pacemaker makes you wonder how long the girls held their father down After he died Waiting for his heart to stop After he died, waiting for his heart to stop. He refused to leave Bethel. So he was being on-ray and you girls were kind of pissed off with his on-riness? No, it wasn't.

I never had an argument my father might... Please, Mary Beth did. But Mary Beth did. She argued with a machine-fluss in me. Because he took out his anger on her. I was his favorite, so he never... We never had words. Okay, but he took out his anger. He took his favorite. So he never, we never had words. Okay, but he took out his anger.

He took his anger out of my sister a lot. And she was your grin about that. She was upset. She was upset about that, no? Yeah, I think she was upset. Yes, they were screaming at each other. Don't you think when you suggested that you euthanize them, she was happy and said, yeah, fuck fuck this let's get him out of the way. He's an old bastard anyway. Be honest. I don't know. I mean wait what will you say she's my sister. This conversation is about to get a lot more

interesting for the police listening outside the building. No. I'm the only living person besides Mary Bethes. That's right. No's about. That's right. How do you feel? I feel that I hope I can trust you. What do you mean? The only living person besides Mary Beth is. That's right. Knows about. That's right. How do you feel? I feel that I hope I can trust you. What do you mean? I mean, you may hate me. I don't know.

But I feel sorry for you. I feel anything to mean there's something you can do at this point. I thought it was cream-ed. It's cream-ed, so there's nothing that'd be done. But you can do something. You can get right with it. How can I get right with it? Go confess and go to jail. You think that's the right one? Both of us? You and Mary Beth?

Yeah. I think she did it out of spite. I think maybe she does belong in jail. Maybe not you, but to admit that you think she did it out of spite. Her part holds his nose. I don't know. You don't remember my sister was bankrupt at that point in time. Here we go. Ta-da. The real motive.

Peaking its nasty head out from hiding. Mary Beth needed the money. And quick. Tell me. She was bankrupt at this point. I do remember you telling me this story. Go ahead. And?

Well, I don't know. I choose. Hey, yeah, let's do it. I can get this money. She never said that. But you know that was if you had to guess, you're smart. If you had to guess her going along with her part of the murder, what he was going to be going on anyway?

Did you make it sound? I've never, this is probably why I've never told anybody. Because they would shove it in your face to the murder? Yeah. Yes, but it is. Say it, say murder. No, I did not murder my father.

Please. I feel like put it out of his misery. He was prying a bit here because the cops were listening, but they don't give a shit what term she used. The police wanted to know if she kept any evidence. Do you save the rag that you put in his mouth? No, I saved his wallet. Yeah, $150 in it.

I would have saved the rag maybe because that was the thing that ended his life. I mean, if you cared about, you didn't save that rag, did you? No. No, we didn't. We had to remove it. Did you remove it for the paramedics? Came, obviously. I rented it, lost it.

Rinseed it, lost it. Just moved away the next day. You threw it away. So it's gone. You could have had at least something that touched your father's mouth before he died. I have my list that touched his mouth. As you tried to administer fake CPR that you knew wouldn't work. I just didn't before. I kissed him before you. I kissed him a good night when he was on the couch. Before you gave him the hellswean? Yes. The police got their motive, admission,

and any possible evidence she kept. He just needed to wrap it up. So you would give him 15 hellsion, he would die, and you would be happier for him because he'd be gone out of pain. Right. Right. But Mary Beth wanted the money.

She was going bankrupt. Well, I can't say that. Yes, she can. We're not dumb. She's already burnt through her money, hasn't she? Mm-hmm. How stupid is she? But she did want the money.

She was going bankrupt. True? True? Yes. Yes, it is true. Why do you have to? You won't lie to me, Clip. She was bankrupt, but she wanted the money.

That's her motive. And don't you think that's evil? Say it. Yes, I think it is. Yes. Yes. You helped your sister commit an evil act. Take notice of how Linda called her sister evil.

Just then. How do you think he felt when his eyes popped open and his daughters were looking at him and start stuffing rags in his mouth? He only opened his eyes from all the care within and stuff. So now you're the arbiter of how alive somebody is. Because you're, you know, because you're in medical. So you know when someone's like,

what if he was fucking scared and He realized his daughters were outside of his person outside of his body stuff and rags his mouth. Can you imagine his last loss? Imagine it Then why was he having a bed telling me it was okay? Why was he at your bed telling you oh in your dreams? Well, I think I know the reason he was at your bed I know the reason he was at your bed. I do not love him, Jim. In real life, an apparition of ghosts. Now we're talking about ghosts. Okay, so the ghost of your father came and told you it was okay. They murdered him. Police didn't arrest Linda after the recording was over. Instead, law enforcement followed our anonymous source over to Mary Beth's house, where they repeated the process.

Mary Beth, conversely, seemed like some of a puncture and stomach and took the wind out of her. When I told her I knew what she did with her sister and she spilled her guts. I mean, she was concerned that I knew and she mentioned many times about, you know, her life is over

now that this secret is out. Linda, for some reason, didn't seem like she thought anything could come of her talking to me about this. There was plenty to come of Linda's confession, because law enforcement would soon uncover the absolute truth behind the murder of Anthony Thomas Celi. 4 years after Linda Roberts and her sister, Mary Beth Thomas-Selley, murdered their father, Linda confessed to someone she believed would keep their secret. Instead, that man recorded the confession and brought it to police. After law enforcement recorded Linda and Mary Beth confessing using a wire, they spent a few weeks putting together enough evidence for arrest warrants. On March 5, 2019, police arrested Linda and Mary Beth.

Mary Beth was no hardened criminal and cracked immediately. She knew why she was there and she accepted her fate. This one night I came home and my sister, who's in the medical field, she's a certified medical assistant. Oh, she's an assistant? The CLA. Okay, let's get your name, okay. We'll learn the words.

Okay, let's get your name on her. Linda Roberts. Okay, continue. She said to me that she had been thinking about Dad and his situation with his one cancer coming back, with what we're going to deal with, his dementia, him not understanding, and what it was going to be like for him. And he was the way we felt he was suffering, the way we felt he was suffering, that we, she said she thought that perhaps we could put him out of this suffering. We could put him out of his suffering. Notice that Mary Beth accused her sister of being the first to suggest murder. According to Mary Beth, she watched her father for three days and couldn't handle watching

him suffer. Yeah, right. And so I then want to put the sleeping pills in. I mean, I mean, as she is your daughter. She might, sister, I didn't realize it. My dad had two bedrooms. My daughter was in the other bedroom, but she, my sister had given her a sleeping belt. So she was asleep. So she could sleep through, so this?

Right, and her door was closed. So she did not know what he was going on this morning? No, I'm fine. You didn't know this at the time, but she told you subsequently that she gave her a sleeping pill? Oh, yeah. She could tell me that she gave her a sleeping belt. Okay. Go ahead.

So you sleep. You're fine. That was a half-truth. If you remember back to the beginning of this episode, it was Mary Beth that drugged her daughter. Mary Beth then proceeded to tell the officers about how she messed up poisoning her father's drink. It didn't. It didn't pass away.

So what did he do? So he was kind of struggling around. And at this point, you can't, you had seconds, this after this, wasn't planned after this, what to do next. Okay. Leave it to the amateurs to not have a plan B. So she said, OK, now we'll have to be quiet.

She said let's put a pillow over a dead face. OK. OK. And that didn't work. Because you saw him in his drawer. I don't remember which one of us put the pillow over his skin. Where was your dad when you were with him? He was in the cow.

He was in the living room. He lived in the living room. I don't know quite. Okay. He didn't know what. That wasn't me. No, I'm not smiling. That was not working.

And that wasn't working. Because he was very strong. And he was pushing it off. And so she said, okay, the next thing we'll have to do is we have to get a washcloth, put it in a smell, and once you're gonna have to hold this in place, and hold this on. And to finish what we had stuck it.

Linda must have forgotten about the pillow, because when asked about it earlier, she denied using one. Okay. So, at that time, I believe I held his... I don't know how I held his nose, and I had to try to hold his arms down because... So you kind of pinned him down? Yeah.

It was like his hand on his... It was he was fighting. So he was fighting. Of course he was spying? Of course he was spying to get breath. Okay, so then. But to this happen, I mean it didn't take very long for this, then once there was no air coming in,

I don't know, a few minutes maybe. I honestly, I didn't black out, but I can't, it was like an out of body experience. That doesn't sound like euthanasia to me. physically fought for several minutes. meeting landed just on the fair. I did that. Okay. So she couldn't have less in her bottle or he couldn't, we couldn't have taken 15 pills out of his saving pills and then you'd be sure. I understand. So we didn't touch his, it was, I believe it was hers. Okay, so this was still being tacked if I'm on there, maybe

it's pregnancy in the pill count. Right. If you could take that man out of his and just put it in his drink. Exactly. So then we decided, it was decided between you guys that you would take the stuff out of, out of Linnis then and use her prescription medication

or this. Okay. One issue, who decided to, or was it a joint effort and who decided to use her pills versus his That explains why the police didn't find Halsian in Anthony's home. It's important to note here that according to the investigative record, Linda's doctor didn't prescribe her Halsian either. Meaning she had to have gotten it from a third party. Yes. She's evil.

I'm sorry. Your sister is? Yes. Evil person. I'm sorry your sister is yes evil person she felt like Everything she does is always centered around her as being a victim like the way this man would treat her or the way she got The way Ted did this to her. She feels God is punishing her for what we did Remember when Linda previously called her sister evil? Well, Mary Beth just returned the favor. Throughout the rest of the interview, Mary Beth refused to admit that she killed

her father for any reason other than that he was suffering. After this interrogation, detectives arrested Mary Beth and brought her sister in next. Unlike Mary Beth, Linda was a lot more difficult to crack. Linda retulled the lie that her father died mysteriously during the night and pretended to be very confused when the detectives called her out on it. So this is your opportunity. You have to tell me who told you something different happened that night. Who told you something different happened? There has to be something to tell you something.

I know. I know about the drink. But who told you? I'm just going to... Okay, just a little bit to walk you through this a little bit. Just to bring up to speed. Okay, the conversation that you had with Mr. Yes. We were listening that conversation. Okay.

Okay. So we can cut to the chase that there was no joking about this. I have a digital crystal clear clarity. So you move between the lines. Okay. I actually had the same clarity with your sister. I thought you talked to him? About an hour ago. So I'm going to tell you one more time, you're not going to come out on the end of this in a very good fashion because you're telling the truth about what happened.

We try to give you an ample opportunity to tell what happened, but now you know that I know what happened. I wanted to know who told it. I just told you that. So we're going to cut through the BS. Agreed? Agreed. Okay.

Now answer this questions, unless you forward with this. Okay? You understand? I understand what you're going to have to be. Not with me. Ma'am, I've given you three or four opportunities to tell the truth, and remember, we were very upfront with you, and you're not being upfront with us. He said, I'm and we were very upfront with you and you're not

being upfront with us. He said, I'm going to be very upfront with you about what happened and you kind of disrespected him a little bit by not doing that. I'm just trying to put us on the right path here. Do you understand that? We will be fine, but I can't hand you water off the reservation. Do you understand? Okay, so now let's walk through this again. Linda then told the same story that her sister did, but she changed one detail. Whose idea it was. I was fine, both me and my sister, but my mother's name, he was, I knew he was dying because he had this mask as long as cancer. And she said to me, she held my hand and she said, I can't run in the exact words,

but you can't let dad suffer like this. And we were both crying. And so, she said, Pammy, youth and I some some way to make put him out of his misery. After Linda was in cuffs, the detectives brought in Mary Beth and sat the sisters across from one another.

Sword and Scale listeners will probably guess by now that of course they were recording all of this. Crossed and wide. I had a hard time. I was having a drink. I was, yeah, you heard me. I was speaking to one of my mom to talk to you. You were in the speaking to me.

Y'all look at us. We're going to fucking check on. My life is over. So it's mine? I thought I was taking the string and hanging myself in the other room. Taking these off me here and hanging them in the room. I'm just going to take them off. What?

The string is coming in my boots. Well, you're going to hang yourself up. Oh, I'm going to tie it up. I think I couldn't breathe. You might have missed it there because Mary Beth was whispering, but she scolded her sister for confessing in the first place. After the sisters were in jail, law enforcement spoke with Mary Beth's daughter to discover just how sick Anthony was. So when you went to the doctor initially when the doctor said let's get you an extra. What was his condition before, I mean was he like terminal? He had lung cancer years before and he had part of his lung removed. But for years he's been okay, like he had high cholesterol and blood pressure.

But other than that the cancer had not come back to my knowledge, because I was never aware of it until we went to have the chest X-ray. And they just told her that they saw a spot as long or a mass on as long, and so they wanted him to go see the pulmonologist. So it wasn't like a huge, massive, like, something very... Not from what I know, no. What do you know? Anthony Thomaselli was not on his deathbed, and his daughters did not need to put him out of his misery.

The state's attorney that worked on the case during a phone call he made to me to check in, you know, my availability is a witness in what was going on. And he told me, first of all, the big thing he told me, which kind of came as a shock to me, um, was this. He said, although the girls Linda specifically thought that her father had this inoperable cancer, he did not have anything like that. The doctor that was treating him talked to investigators and in no way shape or form did that man

have something that was he was engraved danger of dying from. Law enforcement determined that Linda and Mary Beth killed their father for their inheritance. Am measly 110 grand each. At the time, Mary Beth barely had a dollar to her name, and Linda was scamming money from her ex-husbands just to get by. What a pair. When police brought Lauren in, she heard for the first time the truth about how her grandfather died. But she's never said anything.

I know my aunt's gone a little crazy, just kind of became a drinker. Some guy that my mom had dated and then he ended up sleeping with my aunt and my mom went nuts. I mean stuff like that but never about my grandpa. Nothing's ever been brought up about him And so one of my old patients sends me a link I thought it was a joke So then I press through the TV on and there's my mom and my aunt

That's all I've been getting all day I couldn't even go to work I should have he had to come because they don't want to leave me by myself Like I have nobody now that's like to think, you know, like I know he was sick and I'm going to be honest, like I've disliked a lot of people but not enough to do that. That's understandable. Just like he died all over again. You know what I mean?

Like it's just all over again. And to know that my mom would do that to me just is more sickening when I saw the news. Like that was your purpose, not to help me sleep, but so I wouldn't hear what you were doing. Mary Beth offered to testify against her sister in exchange for a 15-year prison sentence. The judge took no pity on her sister and gave Linda a 20-year term for the murder. After the trial, the sister's family reached out to our anonymous source. He also told me that her brother, the third sibling, he literally cried and told him to

thank me for turning his sister sisters in for killing his father. Alia and the state attorney did add that not only the brother but he said the whole entire family is nobody's mad at you. They're really glad about this because they had inklings, I guess, some family members along the line, but they did. They didn't do an autopsy because he was old and he had some other ailments. And so they just figured, died in natural causes. And so, but people had inklings, I guess, in the family. And they were happy to find this out.

Not happy, but they were glad to resolve it. Regardless of how the family felt, our anonymous source was met with backlash online for turning Linda and Mary Beth in to the police. Those who believe the sister's excuses after only listening to their side of the story have come after him, believing he had ulterior motives. Instead, he was just doing the right thing. I did the right thing, period, amen. That's it. People that are naysayers are ridiculous.

I mean, if someone killed their father and you knew about it, if you didn't tell anybody, you would be, I think you'd be culpable too for not reporting a crime that you knew about. I don't need a pat on the back and an add-on boy. I don't need money. The police didn't offer me money to help them, not a dime. I mean, anything I did was my own time didn't offer me money to help them not a dime. I mean anything I did was my own time and my own expense. This isn't for me. It's not a money grab or a book deal. I hope nobody ever asks me about it again to be honest with you. This is not a good experience of my life. I can always live knowing I did the right thing, and I know I did. We worked hard to track him down to be fully transparent and fair, and he was pissed off when we found him.

But after researching Sword and Scale himself, he finally agreed to the interview, because he could trust that our audience would respect his anonymity. You know, if I had any remorse at all in getting involved, that's my only remorse that I, you know, was possibly going to end up in a trial situation. I mean, I live in this community. I didn't really want to be involved in that. So that's the only...

It's not a regret, but if there was a regret that would be it that I gave up up as you said, you summed it up. Privacy. It's strange to me that people want to wonder about my motivation. I mean, that's really, you know, that's the very definition of throwing up a smoke screen. Who cares? This guy brought these women to justice. Let's talk about what the women did. They killed their fucking father period. They had no right to do it even if he had terminal cancer and he had three months to live three weeks to live three Days to live three hours three seconds. You can't stop a person's heart on your own

Or it's murder Plain and simple Plain and simple is correct. Linda Roberts and Mary Beth Thomaselli drugged and expixiated their father in cold blood. The sisters covered up a murder and then went on living with the money they made from it. That was until Linda couldn't keep the secret anymore. She couldn't keep her big mouth shut and confessed under the guise of euthanasia, as if that wasn't illegal anyway. The problem was that Anthony's death was anything but euthanasia. Anthony Thomas Selly was not suffering from an incurable disease, but at the very

end, he did suffer. He did not die painlessly. He was murdered by his own blood, by his own daughters. By confessing to the murder, Linda got her and her sister arrested. But she also selfishly ruined the man's life. She chose, as her priest, for her confession. Since then, he has suffered ridicule online, and his privacy invaded by so-called internet sleuths. Board housewives with nothing better to do with their time, then go what they call real life, stepping outside of the story and trying to become a detective of sorts, having only part of the information.

It's a real problem in this community. protective of sorts, having only part of the information. It's a real problem in this community. It gives everyone in this space a bad name. So next time you listen to an episode of your favorite true crime podcast, which of course is this one. And you hear an interview with someone about some murder somewhere.

Remember that that person in your ear actually exists. There are real human beings with a real life outside of this podcast. That person's life is important to them. And they keep on living well after you've heard this story and comments it on it. Well after you've done your own web sleuthing. And they, just like you, and everyone else, is burdened every day by the hustle and bustle and the run of the mill nonsense we all have to deal with. But on top of that, they are burdened by the trauma that they're kind enough to share for your episode.

Thank you so much for joining us. We hope you've enjoyed it. As always, you can get more content on plus, head on over to sword andcale.com slash plus-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1. Hey Mike, my name is Claire and I've been following your show forever. I just listened to a plus episode 110 regarding Teandra Christian and Tampama and I hate you. But I love you because I cried. You did such a wonderful job of presenting these things and also pointing out the deficits and both the mother and the boyfriend. Anyways, they finished the show and stopped making cry.

Okay? All right, have a good one. ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ ʻ‿ʻ‿ʻ you