Sword and Scale - Episode 234

Episode Date: February 19, 2023

In 2018, 25-year-old Amelia Bissoon worked as a personal banker in Florida. In July of that year, Orlando detectives questioned Amelia about 50,000 dollars that she had stolen from one of her banking clients, but as the police continued interviewing her, it became clear that what they really wanted was information about a much more serious crime. They wanted to know what role Amelia had played in a recent and gruesome double homicide.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 We just got done talking with your husband and I will tell you exactly what I told him You are throwing him under the bus. He's throwing you under the bus. One of you is one of the world's worst people Hello lovers of true crime One of you is one of the world's worst people. Hello lovers of True Crime. This is season 10 episode 234 of Sword and Scale. A show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. Well, happy Valentine's Day! We have a very, very special love themed episode for you.

How exciting! A wonderful episode to snuggle up with your boo and listen to, who you've already threatened with violence if they don't listen to your favorite podcast with you, and enjoy some chocolate treats. You know? Hopefully you got you some. Otherwise there may be someone other than the protagonist in this story getting murdered tonight. Alright that's enough for play. Let's get down to business, shall we? The worst prison in the world is a home without peace, so be careful who you marry. This quote has been recently attributed to actor Johnny Depp, even though he's not really the first person to say it. You may have heard of Mr. Depp.

He is or was kind of famous, and in May and June of 2022, he was in the news quite a bit. Something about defamation and a shitty marriage. Anyway, regardless of who first warned others to be careful about who they chose to marry, it's good advice. In some cases, a bad marriage can absolutely feel like a prison sentence. And when this happens, walking away from one's spouse is usually much easier said than done. A husband or wife might feel trapped and decide to stay in what has become an unhealthy and unbearable relationship. Maybe there are reasons involved in finance. Maybe it's for the children. Maybe it's just an overwhelming sense of obligation to live up to some family traditions

or your own promises. Whatever the reason, many unhappy spouses have chosen to remain in their self-made prison. But in other, more extreme cases, a marriage can be so bad and so lacking in all the things that make up a strong relationship, that it can lead to a very real and very long stay in an actual prison, where the only thing a person is committed to for life is their prison cell walls. July 18, 2018 was a hot and muggy day in the city of Orlando, Florida. That morning, a young woman stepped out of her apartment to do what she did most mornings,

walk her dog. But before she would even make it out of her apartment complex, her day became anything but typical. Just a few steps from her front door, this young lady ended up making a phone call to 911. Sir, did you see that? Everyone, did you have any recording? I didn't know how you doing, man. My next door was a door.

She was like, you know, over, her front door was wide open. My dog was thinking, all right, I guess she can't let the run, and I see. She was running over to the door, so I said, come have probably a bell. And I see the next door, the next door, the next door, she's going to know the bleeding. She, I think. I probably had a dumpster and I've seen the next building. The neighbor, she's her nose is bleeding, she unresponsive. She's sitting on the couch and her door is wide open. Okay, and you said that is this a house or an apartment?

A apartment. Okay, so it's just her apartment? Yes, we're out. Okay, does it look like she was maybe injured by someone or does it look like she was maybe sick? I really don't know, I just want to make sure she knows. Yes, and she is not moving there, but she looks purple. Not long after this 911 call was placed, Orlando police responded to the scene, and their investigation ultimately led them to question a different young woman named Amelia, Julia, the soon. All right, Amelia. So, how long have you lived at that house over there? We lived in June. Either June or July, we just purchased that home. Okay, it's a big home.

Yeah, we just moved here from New York. Oh, really? Where in New York? From Queens. Queens? Yeah. And you married, you said your husband's name is? Joshua.

Where are you working right now? I'm for Chase and I know. How long are you? You said your husband's name is Joshua. Where are you working right now? I'm for Chase and I know. How many were for Chase? December will be three years I live. Any issues while you're working at Chase? No, I got to write up recently. You did? Yeah. What happened?

I used to do checks for a customer and I got to ride up for that because they weren't in the branch. 25-year-old Amelia worked as a personal banker at Chase Bank in Orlando, and she had recently been given a written warning for issuing $225,000 cashier's checks for a client that was not present in the bank when she issued them. This was, of course, against the bank's policy, as the client always needs to be present when money is taken out of their account. What was the name of the customer? Gerald.

You know his last name? Stuck, I think. I mean, had you been a banker for a while? I mean... Yeah, so I've been a banker since I moved here. How do you appear to you? Is he a young guy, okay? Yeah, old. How did you appear to you when you talked to him?

Yeah, okay. He was okay. He never had any issues when he talked to him about remembering things or anything like that. No, he told me I had brains. Like I know a little bot in itself, like you had brain surgery. So what happened with these checks?

I think just I should to call them, I've thought record over all the security. They wanted to make sure that I wasn't like, I guess, stealing. 73-year-old Gerald Stack was a military veteran that suffered from dementia. And he trusted Amelia, as she'd been his banker for a few years. Despite his mental issues, Gerald was aware that his health was in decline, and that he might be on borrowed time. Should the worst happen, Gerald wanted to set aside some money for his grandson. So Amelia convinced Gerald to put $50,000 into a very special account. When he came in to get the cashiers checks,

who were they made out to? The grandson? No, they were made out to my son, Julian, New York. Really? Yeah. Why is that? So he didn't want his son to have the funds right away. So he said that if we can keep the funds,

I'll just keep it safe for him. Why did you write it in your son's name? I put it in my son's name. So he didn't ask you to do that? No. I don't make sure I summed it up right. So you convinced a 73-year-old man with a lot of money. Did he talk to you about giving his grandson $50,000?

He did, yes. OK. And so we're talking about giving this $50,000 to his grandson. You convinced him to take that money and put it in your son's name and put it in an account and hold on to them. Yes. Essentially, Amelia persuaded this elderly, trusting, and disabled man to issue $225,000

checks to her son. And the agreement was that Amelia would hold on to those checks for safe keeping. Shockingly, Amelia didn't keep those checks safe. Instead, she gave them to her husband. Where did you put them? My husband took them. What would he do with them? I guess he opened an account with them.

Where? I don't know. And what were you supposed to do with the checks? Keep them until he's granted to me. It's not so. Did you tell you that yet? So you gave them money back, right? No. Where's the money?

My husband, I guess, and you said I don't know. Yeah, I don't know what happened. Amelia and her husband, 28-year-old Josh Ram Sommie, were newlyweds. They had been married for less than a year. When Amelia gave Gerald's checks to Josh, he opened a new account at Bank of America and deposited them. Then, the two of them quickly began spending that money.

They bought home appliances, they paid off some credit card bills, covered their mortgage payments, and even purchased a shiny new laptop. So we trust you this morning we're supposed to give it back to him at some point in time. Yes sir. Yeah, but you spent it. Is that the good thing to do? No sir. How are you going to pay him back?

Over time I guess. Why am I supposed to give him his grandson? In a sense. What do you mean in a sense? I mean in a sense, yeah. But you did give me permission to put the truck in my sense. But you didn't give me permission to set this to spend it? I guess not.

Well, we talked to Gerald. All right. Gerald can't barely tell you what day it is, okay? So, in anybody who talks to him should know that. He has mental issues. Right now, you look like somebody wanted to steal from a confused old man. Amelia didn't just look like someone that wanted to steal money from a confused old man.

She was someone that did steal money from a confused old man. And the way she went about it was pretty clever. In an attempt to cover her track, Amelia had added a computerized note to Gerald's bank account. And this note explained that Gerald had mental issues and would frequently forget about purchases he made and money he withdrew. Of course, anyone taking a close look at the account would see that Amelia was the one who added this note. To avoid that, Amelia convinced a coworker to let her use their login. Were you at the Tyler line or were you at your desk? At my desk.

At your desk. Okay, so Malia came over to you at your desk. And she said, she wanted to borrow my computer to put notes in the system because her system went down. So I was busy with that customer. She typed the notes in the system. You know what she typed in the system? I don't know what she typed in the system.

Obviously, the theft of Mr. Stacks' money wasn't something that just happened. It was a well planned and premeditated operation. Interestingly, despite that Amelia's boss notified the bank security, and even though Amelia had been investigated, she did not lose her job. Chase didn't fire her, and they didn't report any of their findings to the police.

Which reminds me, I need to change bank accounts immediately. So when you were made aware that a million had done these two transactions for $25,000 each and that you had told her not to, what did you do next? I went into that account and I reviewed it myself. So you reviewed the account as well? Okay. Okay. And did that indicate anything to you? Well, it indicated that she went avoided, you know, getting someone else involved.

Sure. Which was, you know, suspicious. Okay. So what stuff did you take next? I submitted a global security investigation. Okay. Did she get suspended or how did the investigation turn out? She was placed on a written morning.

A written morning. Okay. The reason that Amelia didn't get fired was because the savvy security at Chase Bank didn't put it together that the two checks were written out to Amelia's son. She wasn't fired for stealing her client's money because nobody knew that she stole it. Amelia only received a written warning for issuing two checks without a customer being present in the bank and that was it. She had seemingly gotten away with it.

That is, until one of Gerald's family members noticed that the money was missing from Gerald's account. Do you know any of Gerald's family members? I know his grandson, he can't help any account. And I know he is a daughter, his daughter named Cindy, she called me. She called you? Okay. And what does she say to you?

She acts about the charks. Mm-hmm. Now, really? How many times did she call you? She called me that day, which I'm the day after. I think she skipped a day, called me, and I think it was on cell phone. Yes, my cell phone. In case you didn't know, it is not common practice for a personal banker to give out their

cell phone number to family members of their clients. For obvious reasons, Amelia didn't want Gerald's daughter calling the bank, so she convinced Cynthia to call her cell phone instead. I want to see that I'm not this person. If I can pay him back the money, I can give him everything. Well, I think that's kind of what happened when Cindy wasn't it. She was pushing for that money and getting the turn. Wasn't she?

I wish she got a call, please. No, she was just like... Make a report. Okay. The last time she was supposed to call me back last week Friday, I mean, bad hair from her self. You think it's unusual that Cindy hasn't called you since then? She just stopped.

Well, she had told me that she was gonna reach back out to me Friday. So today is Thursday. She's been almost a week. She hasn't reached out to you at all. I've back out to me Friday. So today's Thursday, just been almost a week. She hasn't reached out to you at all. I've reached out to her. 52-year-old Cynthia Stack lived in a small apartment with her 22-year-old son, Sean Stack. And the two of them were the only people caring for elderly and disabled Gerald.

But on the morning of July 18th, one of Cynthia's neighbors saw that the apartment door was left wide open. When this neighbor peered into the apartment, she saw Cynthia on her living room couch. And I've seen the next door. Maple, she's her nose, it's bleeding, she always farts. Okay. She's sitting on the

couch and her door is wide open. Is this a house or an apartment? A apartment. Okay so it's just her an apartment? Yes, around. Okay. Does it look like she was maybe injured by someone or does it look like she was maybe sick or? I really don't know. I just want to make sure she doesn't. And she does not move in there but she looks purple. Oh God. OK. All right, hang on one second. I'm going to transfer you over to the paramedics so they can give you instructions, OK? After this 911 call was placed, Orlando police arrived on the scene, and they quickly determined

that Cynthia's stack was dead. She'd been shot in the head, and the police also found something else, or rather, someone else. So, she didn't go all the way and we didn't know there was a second one in there. I feel like we're going to have a chat or? Yeah, well, I just haven't moved or anything. They're just still chatting with her and one of the back is totally covered in blood, male in the bathroom.

After walking further into the home, the police found Gerald's 22-year-old son, Sean Stack, dead, on the bathroom floor. He was covered in blood, and he'd also been shot to death. As the police continued processing the scene, they questioned many of the apartment complex residents. Before long, the events surrounding this double murder started to become a little more clear.

I heard the guys said it was really like slow like like someone's like shooting and trying to aim. But I could hear it and after that you get a tire and it's pretty loud. It didn't look that side of it. It was going to go still open. You know, I don't know why they out here. We didn't actually access you to car. In the early morning hours of July 18, 2018, someone had gunned down Gerald Stacks' daughter, Cynthia and his grandson, Sean. The killer or killers apparently left in a hurry, leaving the apartment door wide open and screeching their car tires as they fled. Police say a man and woman found dead in an Orlando

apartment complex yesterday morning are a mother and her son. Cynthia Stack and her son Sean Stack were found in their home on West Jefferson Street. The cause of their deaths has not been released, but police say it is being investigated as a double homicide. Following the discovery of Cynthia and Sean's bodies, the Orlando Police Department quickly learned that Gerald Stack was Cynthia's father. From there, all they had to do was follow the money, and it led all the way back to 25-year-old personal banker Amelia Bess Stack and her 22-year-old son, Sean Stack, were found in their Orlando, Florida apartment. Both Cynthia and Sean had been ruthlessly gunned down in their own home, and the killer

or killers had left in a hurry. Aside from Cynthia's 73-year-old father, the only other surviving family member was Cynthia's daughter, Emily. It's never anything Emily Rivera ever imagined having to deal with. Her brother, Sean Stack, and mom Cynthia Stack, killed on July 18 inside their paramour apartment. her love for other people. I was trying to help other people. I'm sure this is the weirdest woman. After the cold-blooded murders of her mother and older brother, 19-year-old Emily was left to fend for herself. The GoFundMe that was set up for her reads as follows.

My best friend, Emily, a 19-year-old college student, needs your support. Earlier this year, she dealt with the tragic loss of her father, and on July 18th, her beautiful selfless loving mother and brother were taken from us in a cold-blooded act of violence, leaving Emily completely alone in the world. She must now find out how to survive with the challenge of balancing school and her traumas. Her world has been completely turned around and she's now trapped in a void of uncertainty surrounding the loss of her family. As Emily was dealing with the trauma of unexpectedly losing two members of her family in a brutal double homicide, the police continued investigating the crime. They eventually learned that Cynthia Stack had recently been asking questions about the $50,000 that was missing from her father's bank account, and that she had been directing

those questions at her father's banker 25-year-old Amelia Bessoon. Before long, homicide detectives brought Amelia in for questioning, and after playing Koi, she eventually admitted that she had stolen Mr. Stacks' money and given it to her husband. Interestingly, at the start of this interview, Amelia seemed unaware that Mr. Stack's daughter and grandson had been murdered. I think you need to start understanding that how this interview goes and what decisions you make here are going to affect your life for a long, long, long time. There's a lot more going on here, and you know whose name is all over this right now.

You didn't just hand Josh with $225,000,. Check. He said, Oh, okay. I went open a bank of America. I kept dead and happy. Well, don't listen. When we came in here, you're like, Oh, it's Josh. Uh-huh. All right. You're spending money. It's going on a style. All right. His money. You're the one who figured this whole thing out. You're the one who put this together. You understand what I'm saying? This isn't Josh's idea. This is your idea. So not Josh is not the mastermind of this you are. When it came to the stolen money, Amelia was more than willing to throw her husband Josh

under the bus. But the cops that were questioning her didn't usually investigate financial crimes. They were two homicide detectives. They investigated murders, and they wanted to know exactly how involved Amelia's husband became when Cynthia started asking questions about the stolen money. Okay, so he knew that there was, they were asking about it. No, he knew about it. He knew

about the situation in general. What was his response to it? What was he saying when he told him, hey, Cindy's asking questions about this. Okay was just like, why? Like, what was she like, no? He was, he's normally there when I talk to him sometimes. But I would imagine, like, for two people like you that have never been in Joe in your lives, that's going to cause you some stress, wouldn't it? Because like, hey, we have a family member. When you and you guys knew that you would spend money. Yeah, of course.

I mean, we're never set the fact that she kept calling us, but we didn't think anything of it. Just what could she do? Because it's not her account. It's not her money. It's not her anything. Amelia continued to play Koi, and detectives kept pressing her. If her husband Josh was somehow involved in the murders, Amelia must have known something about it. If Josh grew up, he'd screw it up. That's not you. But I didn't even know about that. We need to know about it. I don't want to go to jail.

I don't want to tell us the thing. You have to trust us. I don't want to get in trouble for any of this. We know what you didn't do. I don't want to get in trouble for any of this. What did he do? Nothing to do with it. What did he do?

It's a possible Josh one over there. You didn't know? I mean, how would he know where they lived though? I'm just not the question I was asking. Is it possible that he went over there? Nothing I know, no. So you can't say for sure he did it, do you? I can say no.

I can say no. Because he doesn't know where that he doesn't know that. Repeat after me. Women do not receive favorable treatment in the criminal justice system. Amelia's husband owned at least two handguns, one of which had been fired a few months before this interview when Josh accidentally shot himself in the leg. Yes, we are dealing with a real criminal mastermind here. The other gun, the one that police were more interested in, Josh had purchased from a pawn shop just days before Cynthia and Sean stack were killed. And you don't know where his gun is now. No, I don't even know where it was to be

in my body. Showed it to you. I saw it. You saw it. That's how I found out about it. I saw it. Where was it when you saw it? It was in a holster. Eventually, after poking at Amelia for some time, the detectives finally revealed the real reason that they were questioning her. the detectives finally revealed the real reason that they were questioning her. A reason that Amelia was likely already aware of. They're both dead. What? Yeah. They're dead. So now we really need to talk. How did they die? They were murdered. There's anything that you know.

Anything you know about is okay. Now I'm just telling you, okay, because let's listen to me. Listen to me. You're all over there, stuff talking to them. You took money from their father. This was not an amicable, let's talk about this. Of course, yeah, I don't, that pull. Someone go get this girl an Oscar.

And maybe we can also invite Will Smith back to slap her across the face. This is how you get in trouble for murder. Me? Yeah, if we find out in any stretch of the imagination and any way, shape, or form that you're providing some type of alibi That you're lying to us about where he was what you know what you don't know about the gun about any of it We find that out. Guess what you've become I don't know become a principal

Principal to homicide in the first degree My biggest thing right now is I need to know that I'm going home I need to know that I'm going to see my son. I need to know that I'm going home. I need to know that I'm going to see my son. I need to know that I have no part of this whatsoever. If you didn't know he was going to go over there and do that, then that's it. I have no... Okay, so we can Josh and we don't communicate. Okay. And I can say that it's a bad thing that we don't, but we don't. We don't communicate with one another. If he's going somewhere, he's going somewhere. If I'm going somewhere, I'm going somewhere.

Now remember, Amelia and Josh had only been married for less than a year. They were newlyweds. For police, if Josh had killed two people, two people whom Amelia had recently been in contact with about $50,000 that she stole, it didn't seem likely that Amelia wouldn't know anything about the murders. Naturally, the police kept pressing her, and they wanted to know where Josh was on the day that Cynthia and Sean were killed. That day he told me that he was, I saw him at lunch.

When I got home, he was home. When I left to go back to work, he was still at home, getting ready to leave. Who were? What did he tell me he was going out? Where? He didn't say where. He just told me where he was going out.

OK. I didn't talk to him for the rest of that day, because we were fighting. He got I didn't see where. I just saw me on the road and I'm okay. I didn't talk to him for the rest of that day because we were fighting and we got into a huge fight. According to Amelia, on the night that the murders took place, Josh wasn't home and he didn't show up until the following morning. He was nervous when he got home. He was really nervous. Do you think Josh killed these people?

Do I think so? Yeah. I would know. I don't hope not. I mean... So it's just a coincidence that they ended up dead that day? And he wasn't home? Is he capable of killing people? Over this. He's capable of killing someone, yes. I mean, he was in the Navy.

Even as disconnected as you two are, I find it hard to believe that something like that happened and you have absolutely no knowledge of a whatsoever. You know more about what he did. So I don't think there's a loyalty to him. I don't think you're worried about telling us what he did. I don't think that's that. Am I right in that? I mean, you're not worried about telling us what he did. I don't care about him. And he knows how I am with my job. I don't want to lose my job. I don't want to get fired. Like, I have a great job. I have an easy job. I'm really young. Like, this is my career. I don't want to lose my job. I don't want to get fired. Like, I have a great job. I have an easy job.

I'm really young. Like, this is my career. I don't want to mess anything up. He forced me to withdraw the funds out of the guys to come, and I did it. And he took the two checks, and he did whatever he wanted to do with it. Amelia claimed that her husband forced her to steal Gerald's

money. You know, that same husband forced her to steal Gerald's money. You know, that same husband she never communicated with? Amelia also explained that she had no clue where Josh was on the night that Gerald's family members were killed. I know he did buy a gun. I don't know if he had intention to do something to her. I didn't know that Josh was going to do what he was going to do or if he did whatever it is that happened

or if he's the one that did this. Okay. What do you think your responsibility is in all this? Just, I was the one that initiated the transaction. That's what I did. Do you feel like a burden of having, it looks like these two people got killed over this too? I mean, I don't know what, like,

like the whole extent to me, but I've, I mean, I don't know how to react to that. Like, that's a thing. I've covered a lot of stories about a lot of terrible people, but I have to say, this woman might be the most insufferable bitch I've ever heard of. Not only was Amelia clearly holding back and not telling detectives everything she knew, but she was also playing dumb.

Unconvincingly, Amelia pretended that she couldn't put two and two together and was unable to recognize her role in getting two innocent people killed. That poor guy right now, he lost his daughter in his grandson. I said he would gladly let you keep the 50 grand if he could have them back. In the end, these two people lost their lives because of it. It doesn't happen unless you take that money out of the account. So I mean, the ending of the It's Back to Me? There are moments throughout this interview where it can be hard to tell if Amelia is an awful person trying to lie her way out of trouble

Or if she's just stupid But let's not forget that this is the same woman that was able to outsmart the security at her bank This is the same woman that was able to outsmart the security at her bank. The detectives were well aware of this, but even so, they played a long and spelled everything out for Amelia. That you and your husband stole $50,000 from an elderly man, and then a couple days after a family member inquires about these withdraws, her and her son are murdered in their apartment. And I know you did some things to cover your tracks.

You did. You got away with it. Until Cynthia started asking questions about it. Let me just tell you right now, just so you know, okay? If we find out that you knew about this murder, contributed to it anyway, knew about it before, after it happened, you're going to be charged with first to remurder, and that is life in prison. Even if you didn't pull the trigger. As the detectives wrapped up this interview, they also placed Amelia under arrest. And at a minimum, she was going to be charged with the crimes associated with stealing Mr. Stacks money. As for the potential murder charges,

there was still some investigating that needed to be done. I'm getting fired, aren't I? Oh yeah, that's definitely going to happen. That's the least of your problems. I'm going to jail basically for the... The financial stuff. And what kind of crime is that can I know? I don't know anything about this.

It's a lot of different charges actually, but like I said, the big ones that you need to be concerned about are the felonies. And he's... The biggest charge in this is the exploitation of the elderly. When it comes to exploiting the elderly, the state of Florida doesn't fuck around. In fact, if the funds are property involved in that kind of crime, meat, or exceed $50,000, as it did in this case, it is considered a first degree felony and carries a possible sentence of 30 years in prison. After Amelia was made aware of her charges, the detectives left the interview room and let her stew in the potential consequences she was facing. Then, when a different detective

checked in on her, Amelia decided to reveal a little talking about the Czech situation. Talk about the homicide subpar. What do you know? Um, my husband called. He was people. He pretended he was somebody else. He got their address. The next day he went and he got a gun. He went over there.

I didn't know. What did he tell you? Oh, he kept saying to me, I'll take care of it. What did he tell you afterwards? he kept saying to me is I'll take care of it. What did he tell you afterwards? When he got home, he took the gun apart. He was shaking. He took all his clothes off.

He put it in a garbage bag. He didn't tell me what he was going to do. I don't know just a very, a situation. I didn't know. He described how what... He never physically said. Did he tell you that he shot him? Yes. He said he shot him. So he knew he killed him. You knew he killed him. I just don't want anyone to think that I like I didn't know that it was going to like

I didn't know because it was going to happen. To absolutely no one's surprise, Amelia knew that Cynthia and Sean's stack were dead long before the police questioned her. And she also knew that her husband had killed them. After this admission, the original detectives returned to the interview room. I was told you wanted to talk to us a little bit more. Okay.

What's going on? I just know the severity of the situation. And I don't want to be like held like that. I'm a part of any of this or that. So I know what Josh did. And I know what he went to do. Okay. And he told me if I were to get involved. And if I were to say anything that he would kill me,

he would come on mom and dad, and he would come with me. There it is. You were waiting for it, weren't you? Of course, you were because... You're a sasshole. That's heard one or two of these tales before. You already knew. And I don't have to remind you that every single time a woman gets in trouble for doing something reprehensible, they end up saying

that a man forced them to do it. Well, that's exactly what happened. Amelia's story had changed. Now, not only was she aware of what her husband had done, but allegedly he threatened her, warning her that he would murder her entire family if she talked about it. Sure, Amelia. Sure. Of course, after hearing this, the detectives had some more questions. And now, Rgo, you said you didn't know anything about it. Now, I'll have said you know, how do you know the Josh did this besides? How do you know? When he came home, he told me that he handled the situation.

He told me that she was sitting down, and that the kid was like, I guess, trying to run away or something. What made you decide to tell us? I don't want to go to prison. I don't want to go to prison. I don't want to go to prison. So we told you before that they were both dead. That was a complete act. No, well, I didn't know that they,

like, I didn't know the severity of, like, if this was true, I didn't know that this, like, these people were gone. You could think they were alive after a shot? I mean, I don't know the severity of the situation. And you did nothing to try to find this out. Look on the internet. Watch the news. Did you show you any articles?

No, we didn't. I didn't Google anything. I didn't look anything out. That kind of defies logic. Tell you a thing. That your husband would come home and confess to killing two people and you would be like, wouldn't even try to find out if it was true. But it's just, I don't want any piece of this.

This is why I don't want my minimum anything. I don't want to look up anything. I don't want any part of any of this. Well, it's a little late for that. Needless to say, the police weren't entirely convinced that Amelia was telling them everything that she knew. And at the very least, they needed to verify or discredit what she was saying. The detectives wrapped up this interview and prepared to question someone else that was

very important to their investigation. Amelia's husband, Josh. Now clearly, Amelia had no issue with throwing her husband under the bus, and when detectives questioned him, they quickly realized that Josh wasn't much different than his wife. Much like Amelia, Josh was more than willing to give police information that might send their spouse to prison for the rest of their life. In July of 2018, 25-year-old personal banker Amelia Bison confessed to Orlando Florida homicide detectives that her husband Josh had murdered the daughter and grandson of one of her banking clients.

The murder victims were 52-year-old Cynthia and her son, 22-year-old Sean Stack. The presumed motive for the murders involved $50,000 that Amelia had stolen from her dementia-ridden, elderly client Gerald Stack. After Gerald's daughter started asking questions about that money, both she and her son were found shot to death in their home. After Amelia was questioned by police, it was time for her husband, 28-year-old Josh Ram Sommi, to answer some questions as well. Are you married?

Yes, two. I'm really married. Really? Okay. We actually just got married so time for a blast. Hey, congratulations. Thank you. All right, so, um, you work at Chase? Yes.

How many of you work at Chase? Um, May 7th. It's kind of a new job. Yeah. You like work at Chase? Oh, I love it. Yeah. One of the best jobs I have ever had.

What do you do at Chase? Card collections. Credit card. Oh, boy. Yeah. The best, one of the best jobs I have ever had. What do you do to change car collections? Credit card call. Oh boy. Yeah. Like his wife, Josh also worked at Chase Bank, but he hadn't been there nearly as long as she had. Before he was hired at Chase, Josh was out of work for several months because he had accidentally shot himself in the leg.

Since Josh was recovering from this injury and not bringing in any income, times were tight. Hence, the likely reason why he and Amelia decided to steal Mr. Stacks' money. Now, when the police sat down to question Josh, they didn't outright tell him why he was there. Instead, they wanted to hear it from him. Why do you think you're sitting here right now? I honestly have no idea. No idea. What was the last bank account that you opened?

Bank of America, okay. Tell me about that. My wife came home and she gave me two checks. I think there were 25,000 of each. And she told me, hey, you know, she might have a customer. He basically gave her the money for, I guess, to save keeping or something like that. That was it, we started using the money, you know,

to pay for our mortgage, credit card bills. Just like Amelia Josh played Coy with the detectives, and if it meant saving his own ass, it was more than willing to direct blame elsewhere. Specifically, at his wife. I'm really getting in kind of trouble already, like, that that you're no longer what happened and anything happened. Not that I know of. Oh, no, she said, um, at the branch corporate security, I think, came a question to her about it.

Nothing else came up recently. Not that I know of. Somebody who was questioning you knew Drill? No, I don't know him. Do you know Drill's grandson? No. You know anybody in Drill's family? Mm-hmm.

According to Josh, he didn't know anyone in the stacked family. The only problem with that is that eye witnesses had placed Josh, or at least someone that looked a hell of a lot like him at Cynthia's stacks apartment. How is it that you want a good Cynthia's house, Cynthia's apartment, or run Jefferson, because I have eye witnesses that put you there, or the guy that's your high hair part in two earrings, everything. You're there, okay? I have no question about that, All right. So we're trying to understand why you were there. Why are you in Cynthia's place? And then again,

that was never a hard place. Okay. Initially Josh denied ever being at Cynthia's apartment. But it didn't take long for the police to break through this denial. Eventually Josh did admit he was at the apartment on the day of the murders. the conversation though. I told her, you know, I was there on Amelia's behalf because she fucked up for what I understand because apparently the money was not given to Amelia correctly. And I told her, I found out about it. I talked to her and then I guess I left. Josh explained that he and Cynthia reached an agreement. Amelia would return Mr. Stacks money and that would be the end of it.

After this conversation, Josh simply left the apartment, or so he claimed. Of course, that didn't explain how Cynthia and her son ended up shot to death. But Josh was ready with a possible explanation. But after I got done talking to them, I got my car sat down. I was vaping in my car. After that, that's when the guy approached me. And you were in your car. I was sitting in my car. And he told you put a gun to your head. I put a gun to my head. I had my gun sitting next to my next to my my my shifter in my car.

So you let you get the gun out of the gun at the console? It was sitting. He got a gun to my head my shifter in my car. So you let you get the gun out of the you let you get the gun out of the console? It was sitting at he got a gun to my head. He said, give me the piece. We've been watching you. We know why you're here. And I said, okay, I put my vape down, grab my gun, and I give it to him. According to Josh, after he left Cynthia's apartment,

a tall black man wearing a do-rag approached him, put a gun to Josh's head, and demanded that Josh hand over his weapon. Josh complied, and then left the apartment complex. Josh explained that he didn't know the man's name, but he did recognize the gunman from an earlier encounter. Josh claimed that when Amelia came to him and explained that the money was stolen and that Cynthia Stack

was asking questions about it, Amelia had decided that their best course of action would be to hire someone to handle the situation. If I'm understanding you right here, you're saying Amelia is the one that talked to somebody to take care of them? Yeah, and I don't know. Why?

I have no idea. Well, I mean, how do you know that? Well, there was a kid that came to our house and I know she gave him some money or something like that. And he texted me about money and I'm like, what are you talking about? How much money did you give him? I think she gave him like 10,000 dollars. She gave him $10,000 to what?

I have no idea. And from my understanding, I think she gave 10,000 dollars for it. To kill him or something. I don't know. I realize that Josh's story might be a little hard to follow, but Josh told police that Amelia had hired two hitmen to kill Cynthia Stack and he knew about it. Josh also admitted that he went with Amelia to pay these two men and one of them was the same mysterious tall black man that would later hold Josh at gunpoint. We gave him like a thousand dollars that night. Did you know what you were going to do when you went there? Why you were going there?

To give him money. For what? To fix the whole issue. I don't know what you were going to do when you went there? Why you were going there? To give him money. For what? To fix the whole issue. I don't know what they were going to do. I don't know if they were going to get money back for drugs. He said, well, make things right. Well, the first conversation was we'll get her to shut up. Josh claimed that he didn't know the tall black man that they gave money to, but he

did know the second hit man, and Josh provided detectives with a name, 23-year-old Jay Persaud. I do know Amelia? Once I was with her, I've known her for almost like over 10 years. She's like a big sister of mine. Mom was last time you talked to Amelia. That would be last week. That's when she further explains to me,

she's like, you know, I'm gonna go to jail on Monday. So I need to, you know, like send her a message, you know, scare her or something. And why did she say she was going to jail on Monday? Because the lady's going to report her on Monday. So she needs to stop the lady from reporting her. And what exactly did she want you to find a person to do? Scare the lady.

How did she say that? Like, what did she want you to do? She just said just, um, scared the lady so she doesn't come in on Monday make sure she doesn't come in on Monday to reward me. What information did she give you about this lady, specifically? She said that, um,

she has all the information on her. Let me know when I'm ready to give the people that I find so she can give them the address and all that stuff." It turned out that Amelia and Josh had met and hired Jay Persaud. Together they gave Jay $1,000 and the agreement was that he would find someone to scare Cynthia Stack into keeping quiet about the stolen money. This meeting took place at a Walgreens parking lot of all places, which happened to have plenty

of surveillance cameras. To no one's surprise, there was no tall, black second hitman like Josh had claimed. It was just Amelia, Josh, and Jay. The fact of the matter is, these two people that she wanted you to go higher, somebody to go, scare, they're dead. Yeah. Okay. So you understand how important we are now, right?

That's just dead. They were murdered. After the police made Jay aware of the seriousness of this situation, he was ready to tell all, and he explained that he did take money from Amelia and Josh, but he never intended to hire anyone. Nor did he. It's Amelia gave herself up and said that she's on the jail on Monday. It's sunken on me on Friday. I said, fuck her. She did some old people wrong like this.

She has some money. Let me get a little something out of it. Okay. Let me, I'm paying bills. It's hard out here. Right. You know what I can't even, I can't even, I can't even, I can't even pay my phone bill, man.

Yeah. So you're, it's tough times. Yep. So I said, I gotta show you know, if I do talk to someone, I gotta to show you know, if I do talk to someone, I got to have, you know, from my past experience, I got to have show good, you know, faith, you know, I got to at least have some kind of money. I'm talking to them like, hey, like show that I'm serious or something. Maybe if I go find someone, so I did meet up with Josh

and he did give me $1,000, okay. And I never spoke back to that. Jay took Josh and Amelia's money and ran. The scammers had been scammed. Of course, when the detectives questioned Amelia about this, she played innocent. And once again pointed the finger at her husband. And then she just questioned who's Jay. Jay is like a friend from high school.

Who's less heavy talker? Josh called him from high school. What was the last time you talked to him? Josh called him from my phone. My box, what? Josh called him from your phone? What? He took my phone, he called him, and he said for him. Because I saw the text messages, he's a friend to come to my house, like, he's up.

Listen, if you, if you called him, a text, then we need to know. All right, all right. All right, wait. Again, we're starting to get this little convenience thing. This is like a marriage made in hell. I gotta be honest with you guys, because you're even throwing each other on the bus. Needless to say, the detectives had had enough of Amelia's storytelling, and they had pretty much figured out what had happened. Josh and Amelia tried to hire someone to scare Cynthia Stack.

When that didn't work, Josh likely took matters into his own hands. We just got done talking with your husband, and I will tell you exactly what I told him. You were throwing him under the bus, he's throwing you under the bus. One of you is one of the world's worst people. Okay. I'm not sure which, but he, this is what, you know, he's bringing this J. Persaud into it. Did you and him on Friday and Saturday go to Walgreens in Metro West and meet with J? Yes. What? Josh was giving him money. Or I I don't know Do you think Josh is that Mad or I don't know what is to just to make this up to say that instead of taking responsibility Say yeah, I didn't want my wife to go to prison. So

I went over there in Chattano and steady saying I had nothing to do with this. She paid Jay Persaud to go do this Why would I want to kill these two people if I'm in contact with them? Because Amelia, realistically you're the one that you're the one. Again, I don't know how many times we can say this without you taking in. If it weren't for you, I'm going to fly out and say it. If it wasn't for you, those two people will be alive. Both Amelia and Josh were culpable, and both of them were more than willing to let their spouse take the fall.

There is no honor among thieves, but in this case, it appears there's also no honor in marriage. Yeah, here's the thing. We've talked to Amelia already. She's spell on it, because she's looking at the prospect of never seeing

her son again except for her through bars. She's over there saying that you kill these people. I didn't. I don't have a bone in me to kill anybody. Is that I will tell you right now straight up. I was there. My gun was taken from me by some black guy Amelia gave him $10,000. Josh maintained his story, but detectives seems pretty confident that Josh was the one that pulled the trigger. And they were clearly as fed up with him as they were with Amelia, if not more so. I feel like Amelia paid him the money to go kill him. That's how I...

You paid him the money. We voted. Yeah. We both did. Yeah. We both did. Something monetary- So why would you go behind your back and talk- Again, I get lost. Why would you go behind your back? And tell him to go take care of business.

I don't know. She's not that kind of person. Let's be real. Hey, let me explain something to you. You know who's all over that account? You know who's all over that account? You are. Okay, so don't say-

You know this whole thing of- Oh, she came home and she just gave me these $22,000 checks and I just did this. That's bullshit. At this point Josh had lied himself into a corner. Since he admitted to paying a hitman, he only had two options and neither of them were good. He could either fess up and admit that he murdered two people, remained that he paid someone else to do it. Because you're basically saying that she paid this guy Jay to go kill her. If that's the way you want to go then guess what?

When she gets in trouble for her she's going away. Then Julian goes out without a mother, okay? Now I don't know about that but to me if that's not the case, that's really shitty thing to do. If that's what it has to be, it has to be because for me, all I know is she gave Jay the money. For me? You gave him the money, too. Exactly.

Don't see what you're doing. You keep doing that. Stop doing that. You gave him the money. Both of you. So guess what? It's easier for him. Yeah, exactly.

So one way or another, you're in trouble. Correct. So let's figure that out. I'll own up to that. Oh, you're going to own up to the fact that you get this guy money to go kill these two people. I did not. No. Yes. No, I'm not owning up to that. Well that you get the family go kill these two people. I did not know yes No, no, no, no

Well, it doesn't work. Oh, wait. Josh. It doesn't work. Well, you can't sit there. It's if she didn't what you're there with her You're there with her right. You're right. So don't say she went outside and had a conversation. That's bullshit No, it's not you can. No, it's not just you can stop you listen for a second now because ask her parents That's not Josh Josh I don't want to ask her parents. I'm talking to you. You're a grown man. I don't understand right you can't say that she's responsible for you No matter how hard detectives pressed him, Josh would not admit to committing the murders, but he did admit to hiring someone else to do it. And Josh wasn't willing to assume that blame alone. If he was going down for conspiring to commit double murder,

he seemed intent on taking Amelia down with him. That Thursday night she told me she's gonna call Jay and have him take care of it. And I'm guilty for that. I paid Jay to go ahead. Josh, I think you shot and killed these people. I mean, and that's what happened in your lying to us, then you absolutely are throwing her in the bus.

She could have sent in motion something and she didn't know what you were gonna do. And that's what she's claiming. If your objective is to not get her in trouble and what both of us truly believe happened that you were over there and kill both those people Then you need to tell us the truth about that No, I didn't

Okay, yeah, but you can aspire to have them kill Despite this admission Josh's story still didn't make any sense If he and Amelia had hired someone or multiple people to murder Cynthia Stack Why then would Josh go talk to her in an attempt to amicably resolve the stolen money situation? It didn't make any sense. This is after you pay these people to take care of her, correct? Why would you be worried about paying her back the money when you repay these people $10,000 to kill her? Why would you go over there and try to talk her?

Why would you talk to Amelia about pay-and-back? Because they're two innocent people. Okay, did you pick any efforts to call Jay and tell him to not to do it? And we want the money back, and we're going to go pay her? No, no. Why not? I don't know. You don't know? That's the best answer you have.

I don't know. I don't know. I know, is I went there. No, it's not all you know. Stop saying that. I'm going to tell you, Josh, I think both of us are totally baffled after talking with both you and your wife for the whole day. I hope two people like you end up in a situation like this. And it's compounded by the fact that one of you is trying to send the other one to present for the rest of their lives because you're telling totally different stories.

After several hours of questioning the detectives had had enough of both Josh and Amelia. Both of them had tried to implicate the other in this weird, deranged plot, but in the end, it didn't matter. Rightfully so, this married couple was booked and both of them faced murder charges. And you know what, here's the thing, you've painted, because like I said, at this point,

I really, I don't believe either of you. You've done nothing but lie to us since we've walked in this door. I'm not trying to lie. I'm not trying. I'm just, I'm just, I'm, it's not happening by accident. My question really is, how is this, how is this time to me? I don't know how it asks back. How is it not? But how, why?

You stole money from a guy, a woman, and makes inquiries about it and your husband murders both of them. That's what you're telling us. How are you not? Neither one of you were very nice people. I'll be honest with you. Because both of you stole from an elderly disabled veteran, which is a real crappy thing to do.

And then some people, two people get killed, and then neither one of you were taking responsibility and pointing the finger at each other. I mean, that is just awful. After Josh and Amelia were taken to jail, Josh made several phone calls to his family. During these calls he seemed more than willing to cut all ties with his wife. I guess some people don't take that whole, till death do us part thing very seriously. It seemed to be, until my wife

accuses me of murder. Yeah, I'm not saying with her, this is it. I just got married with this divorce. That's fine. For her to pin me in that do something like that to me and try to throw me under the bus for something she did yeah they have me on uttering forgery forgery fraud and personal fraud use without consent um... victi victim sixty like i didn't do any of this all i did was deposit two checks for Amelia. Strangely, when Josh talked to his family, he only talked about the financial crimes.

He never mentioned the murder charges. Perhaps due to shame, he couldn't bring himself to tell them. But his family eventually did learn about it by simply watching the news. to was remodeled uh... but it's all over the news and everything yeah it's all over the news 28 year old Joshua Ramms saw me in 25 year old Amelia bassoon each face a long list

of charges at the top of that list is two counts of first-degree murder, and also face charges in another case. Those charges include theft, fraud, forgery, and exploitation of the elderly. Needless to say, when Josh's family found out about the murder charges, they didn't take it very well. And it was clear that the collateral damage and emotional pain that he and his wife had caused was immense. In listening to Josh's jailhouse phone calls, it's difficult to make sense of the fact that Josh clearly came from a very loving and supportive family.

As a young man, his character and the way he treated others certainly needed a lot of work, but Josh never comes across as a murder for money kind of guy. At the very least, we know that he didn't come from an environment or family that would encourage or excuse that kind of behavior. We're all standing with you. Just hold on to your hands. I'm going to wear your feet like that, all right? All right, all right, thank you.

We all love you. We're here for you. Given that Josh had never been in any kind of trouble with the law before, this was likely the case of terrible decision-making caused by very bad circumstances. Namely, Josh's marriage to Amelia. Of course, a bad marriage doesn't excuse what Josh did. He's a grown-ass man and responsible for the choices that he makes. But it's probably safe to say that none of this would have happened if Josh hadn't met

and married Amelia. Unfortunately for him, Josh's circumstances didn't matter. All that mattered was that two innocent people were gunned down in their own home over a measly 50 grand, and because of that, Josh was on the hook for two counts of first degree murder. As for Amelia, she was charged as a principal to first degree murder, and amazingly, was able to bond out of jail while she waited trial. But surprise, surprise, she wasn't out for very long before she got arrested again. In April of 2021, while out on bond, Amelia was picked up on the side of a freeway and

charged with assault after getting into a fight with a new boyfriend. I was kidnapped. That's the problem that I'm having right now and that's why I'm so upset. Things you guys are arresting me. I asked you multiple times if you ever did anything to him and every single time you said you did it. No, I told you while we were in the car. You never said you started hitting him.

I asked you multiple times and you said you didn't. You're going to jail. What a prize. Never put your male genitalia in crazy, fellas. Okay, now let's all just collectively take a deep breath for a second, okay? I'm gonna count to three, just breathe in. One, two, three, exhale. One, two, three. Why did we do that?

Well, it's because you're about to get pissed off and your blood pressure is going to rise. You ready? You ready to get mad? Alright, here we go. Florida prosecutors did not pursue murder charges against Amelia. But no, yeah, yeah, the criminal justice system totally treats women and men the same. Amelia agreed to work with prosecutors and testify against her now ex-husband, Josh. But she was still on the hook, at least, for the fraud and exploitation of the elderly

charges. So at least there's, you know, a silver lining of sorts, right? Should we do another breath? No? All right, here we go. In July of 2021, Amelia was sentenced to a grand total of three years in prison and is scheduled to be released in 2024. Okay? You all right guys? Check your blood pressure, you don't want to get out of control. Ugh.

Fuck this place. I don't even want to be here anymore. As for Josh, he was convicted of two counts of first degree murder and given 30 years in prison. Total fairness, right? Completely fair. Just go ahead and type your comments in the show notes. Let us know what you think of this whole... debacle. This girl set me up for failure in the abode, and I should have knew it from the gait girl. I listened to her parents,

I should have listened to her friends, and I should have her... for now, I mean, it's not the jail. There is no denying that Josh and Amelia are terrible people. At least they were when they were arrested. The flaws in their characters and selfish natures are a big part of why this all happened. Even if they had never met and gotten married,

they very well might have found themselves in some kind of trouble, but maybe, and perhaps more than likely, had they not tied the knot, Cynthia's stack and her son, Sean, would still be alive. Marriage is a complicated adventure, and getting married is not something that should be taken lightly. and getting married is not something that should be taken lightly. Yet oftentimes people get married for reasons that don't always produce the best results. Maybe it's to overcome loneliness. Maybe it's to have kids, or maybe it's to live up to some societal or religious expectation. Whatever their reasons, Josh and Amelia were obviously lacking in many

important qualities that are required to make a marriage work. The two qualities that really stand out are devotion and loyalty. Unless than a year of being hitched, Josh and Amelia had no loyalty or devotion for each other. If it meant saving their own selfish ass, both of them were willing to send the other spouse to prison for the rest of their life. Notably, this also meant that they were both willing and actually hoping to pursue their own lives without the person they agreed to stay with forever. The modern-day institution of marriage is the result of historical, religious, and cultural

norms. Every day more and more people are seeing this institution as a bit outdated. But for those considering the traditional route and for those that might soon be saying those two powerful words, I do, it's probably best not to see them to someone simply because they can live with you. Instead, if you decide to take the plunge, make sure it's to someone that can't live without you. Otherwise, you might find yourself yourself in an actual prism. Well, that's going to do it.

Hey, by the way, we have an Instagram premium, which shows extra pictures of crime scenes. Go to Instagram.com slash short and scale to join for 99 cents. Stay safe. 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5%

1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% I'm going to go to the beach. Jesus, Foxhitt, Bride, I just became a plus member starting in October 18th. I'm on plus episode 90. Jesus, Foxhitt, Bride, right by doing through the band, helping us with all the sudden stuff.

I just literally stopped letting go of my other clock as I did when I was directly here. To be a parent, I fucking hate everybody else around here. And that's because I'm used. So thank you for having me become a bunch of daughter parents. Buddy, you're true in the world service good. That's it!

Every week, every two weeks, it's all here, man. Alright, stay safe, keep my dude fast. 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5%

1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1. Draw the line on the left side of the head. 1. Draw the line on the right side of the head. you you