Sword and Scale - Episode 322

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

The small city of Watertown, New York was rocked when 62-year-old Navy veteran, Randy Bent, was stabbed 46 times then set on fire in his home. When police caught up with his killer, they unraveled a twisted story from the most unlikely suspect.Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unreleased episodes, commercial-free at swordandscale.com

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Good day to. Well, over a million of you go to Ireland's number one radio station. RTE Radio 1. Listen now on RTE Radio Player. Sword and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advice. My arms are all shot, Mama, literally my chest. Oh.

Bellevue, Washington is a clean suburb. Bellevue, Washington is a clean suburb, just outside Seattle, where tech wealth keeps the housing costs high, and the lawns neatly trimmed. Just how I like them. It's a family-oriented town, filled with gorgeous parks and trails, a place of true Pacific Northwest tranquility. But on the morning of July 10, 2020, that tranquility was broken. As the sun shone over the neat hedges and parked cars, gunshots rang out in an apartment parking lot. There was a man down, gasping for air. We just heard several gunshots and people screaming right there.

It sounds like it's right outside. I live in a residence in Lakemont behind the apartment, so about five or six shots. It sounded like a light caliber weapon. I think I just heard seven gunshots. Someone's screaming outside. Help. It sounds like it's outside building 16, and we can hear screaming. I just heard seven shots, and it looks like somebody has been shot.

I mean, the overlook at Lakemont. The calls were all coming from the same complex. Neighbors peered through blinds, clutching their phones, straining to make sense of it all by the sound alone. Then, amidst the beeping dispatch board, the most crucial 911 call finally got through. Okay, is this over Lake at Lakemont? Yes. Okay, and what's going on there?

My husband's such not. Okay, it's your husband? Yeah. The woman on the phone was Dee Dee Fo Moon. Her husband, 48-year-old Baron Lee, was the one bleeding out on the pavement. And is it possible for me to speak to him? Is he awake? Yes, once again, leave.

Okay. Reluctantly, Didi passed the phone to her bloody husband, as other neighbors rushed over to help. Hi, sir. Okay, and where are you shot? Sir, can you hear me? Hello, one two, wait, three shots. More than three, mama. There's where you are.

Okay. Okay, I can speak to your lines. My arms all shot, my leg, my chest. Okay, sir, okay, where is the gun? The guy ran with the gun. It's not here. Please hurry. Okay, can you hand the phone to my phone?

Please, hurry. Can you have the phone back to your phone? Didi took the phone back after Barron dropped it on the ground in agony. He's high. Yes, hi, hi, hi, I'm here. Okay, who shot him? him. We don't know.

We don't know. Okay. Okay. So the person's no longer there? No. Okay. I need you to get some clean dry cloth and apply pressure, okay? Even in the harsh, unforgiving sunlight, it took a moment.

It took a moment to realize Barron's black shirt was drenched. Three shots had torn through his chest. Didi fought to stay calm. Her hands trembled as she tried to help. Then out of nowhere, a female neighbor appeared, clutching a first aid kit and reaching for the phone. Hi, I knew. Hi. Hello, ma'am.

Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Yes. Yes. Yes, can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you.

Hi. Okay, so someone applying pressure right now? Yes, my name is Krista. I'm applying pressure to the chest room. Okay. Did you see which way the person went? You said he left on foot. Did you see which way?

Yeah. He went towards Lakemont Boulevard. Okay. Where's the answer? I hear, I hear. Okay. And is it just his chest or is it also his arm? The arms were legs.

His arms, he's been shot multiple times. Okay. We have a... It's okay. I'm so sorry, sir. Okay, and just to verify, was it one person or multiple people? Did you see? Yes, one.

Okay. Finally, the chaos cracked open with a wall of sirens. The crowd parted as police cars tore into the complex. No one knew yet if the gunman was a man or a woman. All anyone could say was this. The assailant in the green hood. hoodie vanished under the bridge towards the shopping center across the road. Is the person still there with, did you just hear this?

Yeah, so I just heard this and I looked up my back window and I watched someone run away. The person that shopped them, they had a great hoodie with their hood up, green kitchen gloves, and they picked up their shell case students as they ran off. As the caller walked outside to see if he could help, he noticed a clue abandoned on the pavement. And they were picking up their... They're going to touch that shellcase in there. He's out there because he picked up over the other cellcase. The shooter had chosen to attack Baron at 8.30 a.m.

Just as he was heading out to his car to go to work. Barron hadn't been robbed. His car was left with the keys right beside it. And his wallet was on his person. This was a personal attack. The gunman had targeted Barron, and stalked him and chosen the perfect time to strike. But who could harbor such a deep grudge against Baron Lee?

A middle-aged car salesman with a wife, three kids, and a quiet, uneventful life. Baron and his wife, Didi, had blended their families and had been together for years. They had two teenage kids from Dee Dee's first marriage and one son from Baron's first marriage. As Baron lay in surgery fighting for his life, police started piecing together the few clues left behind. The good thing was that witnesses were everywhere. This was a large apartment complex, and people all looked outside when they heard the gun going off.

So I just walked out to the window in my master bedroom, and I saw an individual sprinting down the stairs toward the street. Okay. And then did he go to the... building across the parking lot from you, or the carports, or where did he go? Right along the carports down the stairs. Okay, so right between the building and the carports. Yeah, but I heard the footsteps on the concrete as I was walking to the window,

and then I saw the individual jump up on the curb there and then run down the stairs. Okay. Using canines, the police tracked the scent of the shooter all across the complex, under a bridge and into the parking lot across the street. but then the dogs stopped this indicated that whoever did this got into a car and fled the suspect was at large

what kind of stature did that person have it looked slim bill that's why I thought at first it might have been fireworks because it looked like it could have been a kid almost probably five four five six somewhere in that range it's hard to tell looking down but definitely not taller than me based off of

running next to the car real quickly gray hoodie fully over it could not see skin color long pants on I can't remember if they were blue or red it's weird how some things you remember so vividly and other things are just a blur yeah

and then holding something I thought it would look like a bag in the right hand like a football as the person was running down okay like I said I couldn't see skin color or anything else so okay so no skin color can you tell gender was either a teenage boy most likely or could have been a woman if you were to think about things

that have happened in the last 24 hours 48 hours over the last week do any incidents or concerns stand out in your mind in this complex here that would have resulted in a situation like that no i mean as far as i know the family wonderful family i think they have a special needs kid and they've never done anything but smile and be polite along with everybody else in the area so it just was a complete shock

it was a complete shock Baron Lee was a kind-hearted car salesman who smiled at every person he met now he was at Harborview Medical Center full of bullet holes Baron had been shot nine times all over his body

from his legs to his arms arms and chest. At Harborview Medical Center, surgeons worked fast, pulling bullets, tying off limbs, fighting to keep him from slipping away. The cops were already writing it up as a homicide, but inside the OR, no one gave up. After hours of surgery, Baron opened his eyes. He didn't just live. He remembered everything. Hi, my name is Baron Lee. I'm originally from Hawaii. I now reside here in Issaquah, Washington. Barron's survival was a miracle.

There was no way he should have lived, but he did. Total nine shots. I took two to the arm, two to the right arm, two to the left leg, I believe one on the right leg, two on the left arm, one in the chest, and one in my hip, I believe. Barron said that the morning was like every other, except that his stepchildren were in Florida visiting their grandparents. So it was just his wife, Didi, and his son, Eric.

Baron kissed his wife and child goodbye, then headed down the stairs towards his car. And I come out of the house, and I'm probably about 25, 30 feet from my car, and I just unlocked it with my fob, and I hear, pop. So this is July 10th, 2020, so I'm thinking, oh, someone's still firing fireworks, right? So I look to my left, I didn't see anything. As soon as I look to my right, a second shot goes off. And that's the one that hits my right arm and shatters my right arm completely, end up dropping my keys and my fob.

And I see this person with green gloves and a mask aiming a revolver, I mean, just shooting at me. Barron's first instinct was to use his car as a shield so he moved as quickly as he could while the rounds kept coming So I run to the car He's still firing at me As I open my car door with my left hand

I take a shot into the back of my leg And then another shot in the back of my leg And I end up falling to the ground I end up pulling myself behind the car door While the person is firing at my car building it with bullets And then a few seconds later it seems like instantaneously

that person's standing over me he comes around the car door and he's standing over me first shot goes right through my chest and out and I'm thinking oh shit I'm going to die like what am I going to do that's when it all hit him

the reality of what was happening but nothing compared to the pain it's like initially feels like you're getting punched and pierced at the same time. So, like, you feel that searing pain that goes from the bullet,

but the impact feels like someone just punched the crap out of it. You know, it's like... That's when Barron made a quick decision that probably saved his life. So I decide I'm going to throw my head and body under the wheel well of my steering wheel, the steering wheel column, and protect at least that part.

So if they're going to shoot me, they got to shoot my body or my legs or whatever and not any fatal parts hopefully, right? So I dive in and he unloads the rest about, I think, six more shots on the left side and then runs out of ammunition. I see him bend down, pick up some shell casings, and then I hear him run off.

That's when neighbors arrived and started tending to bear it. He screamed for them to get his wife, afraid he was going to die right then and there, right in that parking lot. They do that. She comes out. My wife's like, oh, you'll be okay. You'll make it. You're strong. Don't worry about it. And I remember having a full-blown conversation where they're asking her to take care of the kids that I love them. When officers arrived, they tied tourniquets on Barron's limbs. He was losing his vision. The pain was overwhelming as they lifted him. into the stretcher.

As the adrenaline start wearing off and I'm taking a breath, what's going through my head every time I'm breathing is this my last breath? You know, I felt like I'm dying, right? Like I was in so much pain and I was like, oh my God, am I going to end up to stop breathing?

You know, because I know people get shot, you see it on TV, right? They're slowly fading out. And I'm thinking, oh my God, I'm going to be, you know, this is my last breath. This is my last breath. Am I dead now? that type of thing.

As his strength started to fade, Barron's racing thoughts about who would care for his family faded into something different. The ambulance raced across town while the paramedics ripped off Barron's clothes desperately trying to locate all the bullet wounds. That's when he felt himself slipping away.

And I remember I felt at ease at one point. I was imagining myself in a metal or pasture very calm, serene and I was tired and I just wanted to go to sleep and the paramedic basically shook me and said hey

you gotta stay awake you gotta stay awake and I'm like okay okay and then I remember I was like almost gone I was like my eyes had closed and all I felt was this searing pain he stuck his finger in my wound to wake me up and I was like

oh fuck don't do that I'm up I'm up I won't go to sleep sleep, right? And from that on, I was up until surgery. When Barron finally woke up from surgery, he was bewildered. But his first concern was his children. Dede assured him that everyone was safe, and then detectives arrived. Actually, the investigation started right away. I remember Detective Parrott and Detective Granis both showed up at Harborview. They had told me that I was under protection.

media, no one was allowed into the hospital to come visit. The only person that allowed was Didi. Didi was the only one that was authorized to come up and see me. The detectives wanted the obvious answers. Like, oh, I don't know. Who the hell would do this? When they interviewed me the first time, I basically said that it was Sharon.

Without a doll, it was her. Sharon Kelly was Barron's first wife. I know, I know. Sharon and Barron. Let's just be adults here and try to move past it, okay? But Baron's wife, Didi, shook her head. Sharon was Eric's mother. She would never do something so horrible to the father of her son.

Was this just Baron's trauma talking? And Didy had told him, oh, no, it could be disgruntled worker at his job. You know, he works in the car business. Maybe they're mad or, I don't know, maybe her ex-husband. sent, you know, Deity's ex-husband sent somebody, you know, they said there's all kinds of possibilities, and in my mind there was no other possibility. It was easy to dismiss. A man shot nine times, confused, scared, and searching for answers. His divorce from Sharon had been nasty, but now they barely talked unless it was a drop-off

when they exchanged care of Eric. And yet, what if he wasn't wrong? Dee Dee said Barron was crazy. Sharon was not responsible. Still, the cops promised they'd look into it. They had to. But first, they chased the leads they did have. CCTV footage from nearby businesses and traffic lights around Barron's apartment complex. And on those tapes, something stuck.

A red Ford truck idling on the other side of the bridge, just after the attack. Then the shooter ran up and climbed in. This vehicle was distinct. It was a Ford F-Series single cab with diamond plate bedcap and tinted headlight covers. Using traffic cameras across Bellevue, police tracked the truck. Thank goodness for 24-7 government surveillance, eh? Well, it worked because they got lucky.

One frame had the plate. They ran it and discovered that the Red Ford was registered to a middle-aged man named Arthur Mendez. And just like that, the case had a new name, a new direction, and a very unexpected term. new avonore protein coffee a delicious blend of fresh avonmore milk and 100% arabica beans with 27 grams of protein and 60 milligrams of caffeine per carton this is the perfect combo for all you coffee lovers whether you're up early hitting the pavement or hitting the gym this is your shot protein supports the growth and maintenance of muscle mass and joy as part of a varied and balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. At Dairy Gold, we've been at the heart of your family's table for 40 years, spreading joy on every slice of toast. So, for our 40th birthday, we're giving you the chance to win two and a half thousand euro to mark life's special moments, from weekend escapes

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up to 50 euro back with an Irish life health benefit plan. Just one more reason to keep running. Because every run counts. A better life with Irish life. Available on Benefit plans. Cashback depends on level of cover. Terms and conditions apply. Irish Life Health Act is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. In July of 2020, 48-year-old Baron Lee was on his way to work at the car dealership when he was ambushed outside his apartment by a stranger.

shot nine times in the legs, chest, and arms, and left for dead. But somehow, Barron survived. While detectives were stalking out a house in Mount Vernon, tracking the Red Ford pickup that helped the shooter vanish, Baron was facing something else entirely. A long, brutal recovery without the use of his legs or his left arm. The first three months, I was in a wheelchair. I couldn't walk.

I couldn't do anything other than go in a wheelchair. When I was in the hospital, they wanted, because it was the middle of COVID, they wanted to send me home immediately. So they basically said, every day we're going to have you try and walk a little bit. And since you have two steps at home, your goal is to walk down two steps. If you can walk down two steps, we're sending you home. So I ended up going home in seven days. But when I was at home, you know, obviously I wasn't walking around.

I was still in a wheelchair. With Barron immobilized, Dede, his wife, was the glue that held the family together. Dede's amazing, an amazing woman, and I owe a lot to her. Not for just a shooting, but what she went through while I was going through rehab was amazing. Emotionally, physically, I don't know how she did it. Every day I had to have my wound stress. twice a day. So she had to go through all the bullet wounds and take out the gauze and put in new gauze and you know clean it all out every single day on top of taking care of Eric feeding medications

all that and then taking care of Sophia and Ethan cooking cleaning laundry all of that by herself with no help and still smiling still being positive still being supportive still encouraging and not asking for anything back at the time. Because that's the thing. Not only did D.D. have to take care of Baron and her two teenage children, but Baron's son from his first marriage, Eric, is special needs. Eric has dystonia and carnictorus. These are two very serious conditions, which means he will require 24-7 care for the rest of

his life. Dystonia is a developmental disorder that causes a person to have awkward posture and move with twisted, repetitive motions. Krenictorus is a condition developed at birth when Billy Rubin builds up in the baby's brain. I think I said all those things correctly, but I'm sure you'll let me know anyway in the comments. Anyway, this results in cerebral palsy, learning disabilities and hearing loss. But the reason this all happened to Eric was not an act of God, but instead it was due to negligence from the medical system when Eric was born. You see, Sharon decided at the last minute to change from her OBGYN to a midwife at a

birthing center, after her OBGYN told her she had to watch her weight during pregnancy. Guess she didn't like that. Anyway, Eric was born safely at the birthing center, and then the new family returned home. But after a few days, Barron noticed something was off. After they sent us home, the very next day, the birthing center sends a home nurse to get Eric's heel prick test, which is genetic testing. And so they come over and then they leave. And then over the next few days, I start noticing that Eric is severely jaundiced. He looks yellow.

So I call the birthing center and tell him, hey, you know, Eric's getting yellow and a little concerned. And they're like, oh, yeah, that's normal. Babies usually are a little jaundice. Just put him in some sunlight and he should be okay. So I did that next day, he's not getting better. And so I call him up again. They're like, oh, no, no, that's normal. He's Asian.

Of course, he's going to be a little yellow. you know, like, that's normal. I was like, that's a weird, you know, it seemed weird. But as a first time parent, I wasn't, you know, completely sure. So it wasn't until day seven or the evening of day seven. My son was just crying, he wouldn't stop crying. And he had been pretty even keel. I mean, his demeanor was really quiet.

You know, he smiled, but he didn't cry or do anything. So this was concerning that he kept crying. the very next morning, this day eight, I go to my normal doctor, and I take him there, and my doctor says, hey, you need to take him to the emergency room. So Barron rushed his eight-year-old son to the emergency room, praying that everything would be all right. I'm headed to the ER with Sharon,

and basically she's like, no, no, we need to stop at the birthing center. They'll know what's wrong with him. And so, you know, against my better judgment, and I listened to her to her to go to the birthing center. We get to the birthing center. They're like, oh, yeah, he's jaundiced. We need to probably give him some milk. So they get bottled milk, and they start feeding my son.

And about an hour later, they realized that his temperature is going up. It's spiking, and he's not getting better. And they're like, oh, you need to get to the hospital. Barron was beside himself, a million thoughts, rushing through his head. As he packed up Eric and Sharon in the car to go to the place he originally wanted to go, the emergency room. As soon as we get into the ER,

a whole team comes into the room, grabs him, puts them on the stretcher, and takes them up to the newborn ICU. And like, we don't even know what's going on. And so they're like, we'll have someone meet with you, and they end up putting us into this room. And about a few minutes later, there's like 10 or 11 doctors and nurses come in,

and they're like, you know, we got to, you have some things to discuss with you about Eric and they tell us that he has a severe case of hyper bilirubin. They say that most children, when their bilirubin levels are at 15 or so, they'll put them under the blue light and that usually brings them down. And they said if it goes over 20, typically they have to do a blood transfusion, taking out the bad blood and putting in new blood. They said my son was a 47.

Eric's Billy Rubin levels were astronomical. Barron knew that this was serious, but he had no idea why it happened. Why had Eric's levels spiked so severely? Apparently, the person that did his genetic testing didn't submit it right away. And so my son had a genetic disorder called Galactosemia where he can't break down Galactos. and galactos is one of the components in lactose. Lactose breaks down into two parts, glucose and galactose. And the glucose gets burned up as fuel,

and galactose usually gets passed through the body through your urine. But a person that has galactosemia is not able to break that down, and that galactos will flow through the bloodstream and get trapped up inside of the brain, and that's what happened to my son. The nurse from the birthing center had neglected to send Eric's genetic testing, off in time. This very serious and life-threatening condition went unchecked, and

then Eric was given milk by the birthing center, which was essentially like giving him poison. So the doctors are telling me all these scenarios about how he could die. If he does survive, he's going to be a vegetable, or

best case scenario, if he does survive, he'll have no motor skills, and he won't be able to talk or walk. And fortunately, He did survive, but they were correct. Eric was six years old when Baron was shot, and though he was not a vegetable by any means, he did require constant help as a medically fragile kid.

So not only was Dee Dee Tending to a frustrated and traumatized husband in a wheelchair, she also had a son in the same condition, plus two teenagers who were terrified that there was a crazed psycho on the loose, wanting to kill their stepfather. It was absolute hell for Didi, but she kept a smile on her face the entire time. Just goes to show some women are truly fantastic. She was the rock in this situation as Barron struggled.

I wasn't easy to deal with as well. You know, through that rehab, I had emotional issues. I had physical issues, so, you know, I had temperaments. you know, obviously with what I went through, my patience was very low, and she had, she was the water to my fire, you know, and she made sure that she got me balanced and told me things were going to be okay, and we're going to make it, and we had financial issues that we were stressing about, and a lot of other things that, you know, we had to deal with that most people don't understand, you know.

While Barron worked on his physical rehabilitation, the police were setting their sights on the investigation. They checked out Dede's ex-husband as well as Sharon. Didy's ex was out of the state at the time of the shooting. And though he admitted to having some beef with Barron, he claimed he had nothing to do with it. He checked out. Sharon said the same thing. In fact, she told cops, the only person I know in Bellevue is my ex-husband, and we rarely talk.

The exes were checked off the list for now, and police narrowed their focus on the owner of the shooter's getaway car, Arthur Mendez. Arthur was about the same age as Baron, and he lived in Mount Vernon, a town about an hour and a half away from Baron's house in Bellevue. Instead of just going right up to the door and knocking, police decided to stake out the Mendez House to see if they could get some activity on the truck.

The Red F-150 was the key. Detectives had pulled even more footage from the day of the shooting. shooting and now confirmed that the truck had arrived at Barron's apartment two hours before the attack, circled back and exited. They were also able to secure traffic light footage that showed a clear shot of the passenger in the truck, a slender person wearing a distinctive gold chain. This person, the alleged shooter, also had a habit of tucking the seatbelt under his arm, rather than across his chest. They were certain that this truck was the key to finding Baron's killer.

As a group of officers staked out Arthur's house, another team investigated his life on social media. Arthur was 56 years old. He had a couple of kids, loved Jesus, and was a big football guy. But he had no known ties to Baron Lee. In fact, Arthur wasn't the one who drove the red F-150. It belonged to his son, 17-year-old Quincy Mendez. Quincy was your typical high schooler who flexed on social media by posing for bathroom selfies.

He also devoted his life to wrestling and had dreams of joining the military. He worked at a tire shop and drove his F-150 there for every shift, so the cops tracked him. One afternoon, they hit the jackpot when they noticed a friend in the car with him. This friend wore a gold chain, and he tucked his seatbelt under his arm, just like the passenger on the surveillance video had. Bingo. But the detectives had to keep Barron and his family in the dark. Jasing down Quincy was a covert operation, and they couldn't risk. any gossip.

I worked with the detectives. They kept asking me stuff here and there, but they wouldn't disclose anything that they found. They told me that they wouldn't because they wanted to keep the integrity of the investigation in place. And I said, I understand that. I said, I'm not in a rush.

I said, just do what you got to do to make sure you can get a conviction. That's all I care about. The detectives found out that Quincy Mendez went to Mount Vernon High School. and when they visited the school's administrators, they were able to identify the alleged shooter as Joseph Good. The school administrators confirmed that both Quincy and Joseph were good kids.

They never caused any trouble, and they had zero criminal records. Still, it was time to talk with Quincy and Joseph and find out what the hell was going on. At the station, Joseph folded his hands and listened to the detectives. So before you decide on that, okay, we have some information that we're willing to share with you at this point. Okay. So if you want, before we get into that, you can hear us out about what we have to say and then make a decision about that. Okay. Does that make sense?

Yeah, that sounds good. Okay. Yeah. So you're okay with talking to us at this point? Do I have to, like, answer questions and stuff? That's up to you. Like you said, you've managed your... right to answer questions. You don't have to answer questions. At any time, if you

feel uncomfortable, you can just say, yeah, I've heard what you wanted to say. I don't want to answer that. I'd just rather have, like, because I don't know anything of this stuff, so I'd rather have that as someone who knows. So, and that's fine. You're more than entitled to that. What we'd like to do is just have you give us the opportunity to share with you what we have, and then you can make a decision. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah. Joseph didn't seem to really grasp what was happening. But like a good, alleged hitman, he wanted to seem agreeable. So he nodded along as the cops told him about the attempted murder they were investigating in Bellevue.

So when, like I said, we had that shooting in Bellevue. After we went back, we found this vehicle pulling into a gas station down in Bellevue. You recognize that pickup at all? Kind of, yeah. Kind of? I don't know. You don't know? I'm not sure.

You're not sure? You've never seen that pickup before? I know a few people who've owned those. Anybody that you know that owns a pickup like that? Joseph said his friend Quincy had a truck like that, but they didn't hang out that much anymore. In fact, the last he heard, the clutch went out on Quincy's truck. You just have the clutch of denou for a long time.

I was just trying to put a reference on. Five, six months? I don't know. Five or six months? Clutch has been out? I don't know. I'm not exactly sure. Oh.

So, there's that picture there. Can I get an attorney before I answer all these questions or stuff? I feel like I'm doing it wrong. All right. That's fine. And just like that, Joseph, shut up. Smart boy. Because the cops weren't done with them.

not even close. They started churning out warrants, pulling everything they could from Joseph and Quincy's iCloud accounts, Instagram, Snapchat, emails, text, you know, the entire profile of your life you put online. At first, it was just teenage noise, selfies, memes, dumb jokes, all useless. But two months in, buried in the noise of selfies and memes, a detective spotted it. An email receipt from Brickhouse Security, a company that sells GPS trackers. Why would a teenager need a GPS tracker?

Barronly's car was still in evidence. Investigators checked under the tailgate and, lo and behold, there it was. The GPS tracker, still clinging to the frame with a strip of cheap duct tape. The detectives contacted Brickhouse. pulling every record they had related to the serial number on the device, and it was registered to none other than Sharon Kelly, Barron's, ex-wife. Yes, I purchased a GPS tractor from you guys about five years ago, and the subscription, of course, is no longer active.

I am able to log in, but it looks like you guys may have changed the website or service or whatever that you've used. I want to reactivate that device, and then I'm not sure how I can, if it's like track for you or what. Once your device is activated, it still looks the same. So would you like to reactivate your service or your tractor? I would like to reactivate it.

Barron was right. This was all Sharon. and apparently she'd been plotting this for five years. Now the cops had to figure out how 30-year-old Sharon got two teenage boys to shoot her ex-husband. I'll tell you what, some women out there are pure shit. Anyway, Joseph lawyered up when they took him into custody. But Quincy, Quincy wasn't quite as smart. Well, yeah, we had an incident in Bellevue that had.

And that's what we're here to talk to you about. They told you what you were arrested for. No, they didn't. I was asking and they were just like, shut up and just wait for the detective. That's all, that's all told me, you know. Okay. Yeah.

So like we said, it was a, it's a pretty serious thing, but as we said, we, right now, we think you're more minimal. What do you mean by that? Minimal and you're involvement in it? Like, I think there's other people that are more, I don't know, I'd best explain it. So there's other people that obviously have played a greater role in what happened.

I'm going to catch in a moment. I think as we talk about it, it'll probably make more sense, but... Okay. So, to be clear, you're under arrest for an assault. An assault, yes. And it's a pretty serious one. You want to assault this? Do you know like that mean, like beating up someone?

That's one of her. Harming another human being, yeah. Harming another human being. We also know that there is another person involved that needs to be held accountable for a much larger role in this than you seem to have played. Okay. And that's a big part of what we're interested in today.

All right. There's a reason we're talking to. So we know there's more to what you guys did when you are. about the one of your time. Because we've already talked about them. The detectives told Quincy they already knew what happened, which was, of course, a lie. And now they needed his side of the story. Who falls for that shit?

Oh, right, right, right, dumb people. Which are usually, you know, criminals. Quincy said that when Joseph approached him about driving to Bellevue, he wasn't in his right mind. Okay, I can't really remember, because I was on shrooms. Yeah, I was on shrooms. You know, you and Jada were smoking shrooms for the first time. Smoking shrooms, huh? To be fair, this cop's drug education probably came from a VHS tape.

Quincy admitted that he was at Joseph's house tripping on shrooms with Joseph's sister when Joseph came home and said they were going to Bellevue the next day. Joseph said he had something big to do. And there'd be money in it, too. He told you, told me at the end, like, do you want to, do you want five grand? I pretty much gave me the option. Okay. I said, yeah.

How much did he say he was getting? I don't know. I didn't. That's a standard question. Negotiating 101. You say, well, you give me five. How are you getting? I mean, that's a lot of money, five grand.

I mean, I just. How much does he get him? What is his guy? Well, I think he said, like, probably 13. His cat was 13, yours was. five so 18 total or was there another person in there that was getting a cut of that that I don't know like he just told me for me said it was just he's getting paid in on gay pay that that was okay so the question becomes where did that money come from right because he's basically i haven't

gotten any money but what i'm saying is he didn't have that money to pay you right he's getting 13 from somebody right yeah so so what does that lead to you to believe is happening here? Someone told him to do it. Right? Yeah. He's being paid. He's breaking you off a piece for being his driver, basically.

Right. Okay. Quincy swore he had no idea who the money was coming from, but he was high, and $5,000 sounded pretty good money was coming from, but he was high and $5,000 sounded pretty good for a drive to Bellevue. even if it was some sketchy shit, like, oh, I don't know, emptying a clip. Oh, and before you say it's a magazine, not a clip, just shut the fuck up. What does it mean to take a whole clip?

Or catch someone, shoot someone. But you know what? Yeah, but in my head, I was just like, I thought it was just bluffing, honestly. Like, I, like, who does... know that could have put him onto a job like that? Put him on a job like that? Like, who's going to say, I need somebody to get shot? I know. I'll call a job.

Not anyone I would know of. All my friends are high schoolers. The more they talk, the more it really did seem like Quincy was just the tag-along who got roped into something too big for his warped little mind to handle. We are only showing you about 2%. This excruciating interrogation went on for nearly four hours. So is it some scrap you were supposed to go knock off or what? No.

You don't know what kind of person? No. Did you ever find out what kind of person it was? Did you ever talk about it? It could have been just a normal Joe Moe citizen who's walking down the street, or was it a gangbanger or what? Who was? The person I was supposed to be taken out.

Oh, I don't know. He just talked about the dude, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that was it. He didn't say anything, you know, he was just like, this dude right here. I was like, what about him? He's like, we need to, um, he, he, we need on the club. So, yeah, he told me. We need to do what? You say again, I didn't... The clip. I don't know the clip.

I don't know the clip. What does that mean to you? That he was going to cap him? Yeah. So that's why I'm trying to get your side. And I'm telling you guys straight up. I'm being honest, I'm being everything I am right now to be helpful to you guys right now. I do not know who he's connected with. I do not know who his big homies are. He told me, I did it. It was fucked up that I did it. I regret it. I should have to just remind you or anything. but I don't know who his connections are.

But the cops didn't need Quincy to confirm what they already knew. Sharon Kelly was behind it. They had the Brickhouse GPS data. They had the emails to Joseph. They also had the texts between Sharon and the boys, solidifying their guilt. And the conversation between Sharon and Joseph was that the job wasn't done, that they'll need to go back.

And Joseph will say, well, We need money up front because you didn't pay us anything yet. So we need some of that money or at least half up front. And apparently Quincy said he didn't want to take part of any of it. They didn't want to participate or help or have anything to do with it anymore. So when the cop showed up at Sharon's door with handcuffs, she didn't ask, what is this all about? She didn't feign ignorance.

She dropped her coffee cup and screamed inside to her brother. call my lawyer. But what still haunted detectives was the question no evidence could answer. Why? Why would the mother of a special needs child who saw him every weekend hire teenage boys to kill her ex-husband?

Sharon wasn't going to talk, but the cops didn't need her to, because Barron was alive and willing to tell them everything. Fatch cooking. Never used to be a thing, but make so much sense. A little effort up front and you're sorted for the week.

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Terms apply for more info cscar.com. In early July In early July of 2020, Baron Lee was shot nine times by a teenage hitman. He should have died, but somehow he didn't. Now his ex-wife Sharon Kelly sat behind bars the mastermind of it all. She wasn't talking, but to her dismay, Barron, was alive,

and he remembered everything. Because what no one knew then was that Sharon hadn't just tried to kill him once. She'd been laying the groundwork for years. She had tried to run me over twice prior. Once in 2015, this is before I ended up fleeing the state of Washington because I wasn't getting help. She actually had me on her hood, and she was, she actually tried to hit me.

I ended up jumping up and ended up on her hood, and she drove, you know, a couple hundred yards before I was able to roll off the car and get away from her. The second time was in front of the Kirkland Police Department during a custody transfer. And they said that basically it was a domestic issue and that we would have to deal with it in family court, which just boggled my mind. So someone tries to kill me, but it's a family issue. I end up going to family court, and I'm told in family court that we just need to learn to co-parent better. Sharon and Barron's amicable phase was short-lived.

They met online in 2005. Baron was working in Nevada at the time, and Sharon was young, pretty, and looking for someone to take care of her. Though they were over a decade apart, they pursued a relationship through phone calls and texts, And before long, Sharon left Washington to meet Barron in Nevada. And she wanted to come down to Vegas, and she asked if it was okay to bring her two younger brothers with her to meet me and, you know, stay a couple weeks. And so I was like, yeah, you know, you want to come down and visit, no problem.

You know, I was single at the time. Nobody lived with me at space. So she came down in Vegas, and she brought her brother Timmy and her brother Joshua, who were like five and, I want to say five and seven or five and eight at the time. With her young brothers in tow, Sharon showed up in Las Vegas, and surprisingly, Baron welcomed them with open arms. Being a product of the foster care system himself, Barron just couldn't turn anyone away.

We hit it off, and then, you know, the interaction I had with her brothers surprised her as well. Her brothers were so used to just doing one. whatever they wanted and having, you know, no discipline. And so when they came to stay with me, you know, set some ground rules. And basically the way they treated her was not very good. And I, you know, I told them that that's not, you know, allowed, you know, and that kind of stuff. And started parenting them.

And the two weeks that they were going to stay ended up turning into like four months staying with me. Their relationship moved quickly. They decided to move back to Washington so Sharon could be closer to family. baron agreed without hesitation after settling in they got married baron believed they shared the same ambitions a driven adventurous future Sharon had a way with words soon they decided to start a family then Eric was born his birth was traumatic leaving him severely medically fragile Barron stepped up. Sharon did not. I worked in the car industry at the time.

I worked for Toyota. And I worked 12-hour days. I'd get up in the morning at 6 and I'd come home about 6. And I would find Eric soaking wet in his walker or, you know, his little walker thing. And he'd be crying and screaming. And Sharon would be sitting on the couch watching Korean dramas or whatever it is that she was watching. And she would say, oh, yeah, he's been. like that all day. And I'm like, then why aren't you changing him? Why aren't you doing anything?

It would take me, you know, three, four hours to calm him down, you know, because he had been, you know, in that high emotional state for so long. Whether she was depressed, overwhelmed, or just plain lazy, Sharon's mothering went from bad to worse. Barron knew things were unmanageable. He tried to get help for his wife, but she insisted she was fine. and so was Eric. So the last draw for me was that I found out that she was having Eric, someone babysit Eric, like they're not medically trained to babysit him, but they were babysitting him while she was going out and having an affair.

Barron had enough, not out of anger, but fear. His son Eric's health was on the line. With dystonia and carnictorous, every day required constant specialized care. and Sharon couldn't handle it. She wasn't just failing as a mother. She couldn't even be trusted as his nurse. And so I was like, okay, I'm done. You know, like, this is it.

So I came home one day and I picked up Eric and I was trying to leave the house and she's asking what you're doing. And I'm saying, I'm leaving. I'm taking Eric with me. And she got mad and started pulling on Eric and I was afraid he was going to get hurt. So I gave him to her

and she starts screaming, you know, like she's being abused or something and just at the top of her boy, she's screaming. And the neighbors end up calling the police and the police come. And she says, oh, yeah, that I'm abusing her and abusing my son, breaking furniture and doing all this stuff.

And I'm like, I haven't even touched her. I haven't done anything to her. And I haven't broken anything. And so the police do their investigation and they realize that none of what she's saying is true. But they advise that one of us leave. And I said, well, she has my son. If she wants to go and leave with him, then go ahead. I'll just deal with it

in court. And so she takes off. It was the point of no return. Two weeks later, Sharon filed a restraining order and the state put Eric in her care. That's what the state does. Favors women in situations like this. It happens all the time. Must be that male privilege I keep hearing about. That's when the war started. For the next five years, Barron fought for custody while Sharon played the system, demanding support and collecting benefits. Her son wasn't a child doer anymore. He was a paycheck. At least, that's what her family convinced her of. The woman Barron had fallen in love with had transformed into a bitter, entitled mother who expected sympathy from the world because she had a special needs child.

A lot of that going around these days. Her family are, you know, what we call them, career welfare cases, you know. And then her mom basically lives off welfare, uses welfare because she has multiple kids. So she uses welfare to survive and their mentality. and I saw this in text where, like, you know, oh, you can do this, this, this, this, you don't have to work, you know, you can get welfare, you can live off his child support. So it was more of like, oh, you know, I don't have to do anything anymore and I can, you know, abuse the system and that type of stuff. It became clear that Sharon wanted sole custody of Eric, not to care for him, but because there was a million-dollar settlement tied to his birth injury. Though they could not sue the birthing center directly,

the insurance paid them for what happened to Eric. I took that money and I put it into a special needs trust. So later on when Eric's 18, hopefully that money will grow and help, you know, take care of them when we're not there anymore. One of the things that I found when we broke up because I accessed to all of her phone records as well. And so there was text messages where she had planned, you know,

to siphon money out of our accounts. Also, when we break up, that they were going to utilize the courts to force me to pay child support and that eventually she's wanting to get access to the trust fund money. Sharon had custody of Eric until he was three years old. And during that time, she did her best to put him in a more medically fragile state, demanding a feeding tube, a tracheotomy, and a do not resuscitate order. All things doctors said, he didn't need. So she hospital shopped until she got the feeding tube and the DNR.

What a bitch. During this time, I expressed a ton of concerns because he was being hospitalized, he was being sick, she was trying to do things that didn't seem appropriate. but because I didn't have medical making decisions, she was able to go to the hospitals and convey what she wanted. That's when CPS stepped in. Sharon was diagnosed with Munchausen by proxy and deemed unfit. Eric was placed in foster care pending a parenting plan.

For Barron, it was a nightmare, a legal disaster. His life narrowed to one goal. bringing Eric home. But the courts leaned towards Sharon. I wonder why. Oh, right, right. Female. This was despite her erratic behavior

and her obvious lack of concern for her own child's well-being. Then came 2017, a custody exchange at the Kirkland Police Station. Sharon didn't just lose control. she threw Eric on the floor instead of placing him in a wheelchair. That changed everything. For the first time, someone besides Baron saw her rage firsthand.

Baron and Dedey took Eric home. He stayed with them full time, but legally Sharon was still considered the primary caregiver. Let's face it, the family court system is more than broken. It's pure shit. Anyway, Barron didn't want her to have contact with Eric for obvious reasons. Shared custody was just not an option for him. She was after Eric, it was the way that Eric was being hospitalized

or the things that she was doing. It looked to me like she wanted him to die, but in a way that no one was going to question to her and say that it's because he's medically fragile or this is the cause of his death because he had complications. There was one incident where Eric's home nurse aide found him nearly dead at Sharon's house, and he had to be rushed to the hospital.

Things like this just kept happening. And here's the thing is the family court system ignored it all. Like the GAL is saying, hey, this boy is not safe around her. And they ignored it all. When it came to whatever she did, it doesn't matter who's, spoke on my behalf, whether it was me, whether it was a G.L. Whether it was a social worker, it didn't matter. The courts never listened. Barron and Didi cared for Eric while Sharon

had visitation. What she really wanted was money. If Barron was gone and Eric returned to her care, she thought she could get it. So she went through her little brother. The same one Barron once looked after in Vegas. And she found Joseph Good. setting in motion her final plot to get rid of her ex-husband. Sharon's little brother put the word out amongst his friends at high school and Joseph took the bait. It was that easy. With Barron dead, the money would be all hers. Money, money, money,

money, money. Or so she thought. But what Sharon didn't realize is the way the trust is set up, unless it's needed for medical reasons, that money will never be pulled out. And it can't be pulled out. It's going to be pulled out to pay for medical reasons only. So in other words, if there's a medical bill, then it goes directly to the medical company, not to us and then we pay the medical company.

But that wasn't what she thought. She thought she would have access to it. For years, Sharon had threatened Baron. And worse, their son. But what she did was so outrageous, so unhinged, that when Barron spoke up, he sounded like a man describing the plot of a bad movie. No one believed him. And the family courts only emboldened her. Every time Eric landed in the hospital or CPS got involved, she was given a pass, because she's the mom.

Years of getting away with it convinced her of one thing. she could get away with murder. As horrible as you may think that the shooting was, the shooting was the best thing that happened to me. The shooting gave me a voice. A lot of men go through this, and this is one of the hardest things as a man sitting on an island by yourself.

I was telling people what was going on at work, my personal life, my family, and I would always get that eye roll, you know, not blatant, but you could tell, like, yeah, he's full of shit type of look, right? Like, oh, he's not telling all the truth, or he's exaggerating. But the shooting allowed people to see that now what I say is true, right? Like, what I've been saying all my life is true. Joseph Good was charged with attempted murder and unlawful possession of a firearm,

then sentenced to 13 years in prison. Quincy Mendez received eight years for the assault on Barron and was sent to a juvenile detention center. Barron has since forgiven both of the boys. Sharon, on the other hand, was eventually offered a plea deal, taking her charge down to solicitation of attempted murder in the second degree. She'd be looking at 13 years, not 25. Then, for shits and giggles, they lowered her charge a smidge more,

probably because of the tits and puss, you know? But in the plea deal, the prosecutor offered her 150 months. And my argument to the courts was that the fact that they were reducing the plea, she should have got the maximum of the reduction plea, not an agreed average of that plea. So the reason I wanted that was, one, at 150 months, she would get out when Eric is 17. And my concern is that I'd have to deal with this family court bullshit, again, on top of having to deal with her trying to kill me.

So I told the court that, one, she shouldn't get less time than the shooter or the driver. So she should get the maximum 165 months, which will allow me to set up guardianship and do everything that's needed before she gets out. So Eric would already be 18 by the time she gets out. It was abysmal. It was outrageous. How could Sharon receive a lighter sentence than the teenagers she hired to shoot Barron? Without her, none of this would have ever happened.

That's what appalled me to them all. I even stated that in court, you know, the fact that she not just ruined my life and my son's life, but she ruined two teenagers as well. You know, I said, like, you know, she deserves a lot more than what she. she was given. Sharon is behind bars, and she'll be there until her son turns 18.

But for now, one legal problem remains that Barron is still trying to fight. Technically, Sharon still has custody. I wanted to go to trial and get custody, but she was in county for three years, and during that time, they wouldn't allow me to move forward with the family court case, saying that she had a right to be there and that I couldn't move forward. So this whole time I've been waiting to get custody. And because it took so long, they closed the case. And I had to petition to reopen the family court case

so I can still fight for custody. I still don't have custody. It's unbelievable, but Barron is still fighting for custody, for control, for peace. Sharon is behind bars for literal murder. But not forever. One day she'll walk free, and as co-parents their parents, their parents,

paths will cross again. Can you imagine? They share a child, not just any child but Eric, a nonverbal, vulnerable boy who'll need care for the rest of his life. Will he ever say he wants to see his mother? Will she even care now that the money's gone? Sharon Kelly was evil, not misguided, just plain evil. Munchausen by proxy, delusions of growth, Granger, abusing a medically fragile child. She was dangerous and calculated, and for years she had Eric all to herself. Barron still lies awake, wondering what she did during that time. The early years shape a child forever, and if she left him in filth when they were married,

threw him on the police station floor in front of strangers, then what actually happened behind closed doors when she was alone? when she could get away with anything. But Barron can't live in those shadows, not anymore. This isn't just about Sharon's twisted plan to kill Barron. It's about the man who survived it to be a father. That should have been the end of it, but it wasn't. It was the start of something bigger, a second chance for Barron.

Now he's on the advisory board of a non-profit organization. for foster children called Route 21. And he's fighting to change the system, pushing laws to protect fathers and family court, including one bill in the House and another in the Senate. And at home, with his wife, Deity and his kids, he's building the life Sharon tried to destroy. Barandon just survived by luck.

He survived for a reason, for Eric. Everything he does. is for his son. What a great dad. The shooting didn't ruin him. It revealed the truth. Sharon is a threat. And in 2036, she'll be out.

Free to roam, free to plot. Baron knows she's not done. After 13 years in a cell to stew on vengeance. So maybe he'll move to another state, another country, whatever it takes. Because in 13 years, he'll need to disappear before she finds him again and does even worse. Who knows what that bitch is capable of? Well, that episode was produced by Mish Barber Way, one of our long-time producers.

We've had producers here for, I don't know, what? six, seven, eight years now. So it's hard to keep track of how long they've been around. She's very talented, though. Very talented lady. Always puts out great stuff. I'm your host, Mike Boudet, in case you're lost, just browsing through the Apple catalog. If you like this show, you can help support it.

You can go find a lot more of it at swordscale.com or download our app on iOS and Android. Thank you. You're going to be able to be. It's a lot of it. You know, I'm going to be able to do. It's a lot of it. You know, I'm going to be the

I don't know.