Sword and Scale - Episode 334

Episode Date: January 10, 2026

A young couple seemed to be building a quiet life together in a small Texas town. But everything changed when 21-year-old Anggy Diaz was found brutally murdered. What followed was a maze of grief, confusion, and unanswered questions, leaving two families searching for answers.Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unreleased episodes, commercial-free at swordandscale.com

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. So how did you kill it? Tell us how you kill it? I don't know because it wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't Jared. It wasn't Jared. So I come back from basically almost less than a week of a break, and I put out three episodes for you. I put out Sword and Scale television.

I put out nightmares. The return of nightmares, by the way, season three. And brand new Sword and Scale. And what do I get? I get complaints. I get some guy complaining. Oh my God. This isn't the kind of story I wanted.

So, oh my God, I'm going to complain. You guys are miserable. Would it kill you to just say thank you? I mean, really? You don't work this hard. I know it. I can tell. You're gonna miss me when I've gone.

I promise you that. I'm so negative. I'm always complaining. I bring you all the true crime in the world and all you do is complain. You people owe me. Go buy a shirt right now. Go buy a shirt.

You owe me a shirt. Go buy a hat. Go buy a hat. Store. That's written scale.com. Go right now. Is that enough sillyness? Can we start? This is

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podcast. Every family has a story that they don't expect to tell. In Waller County, Texas, two families were bound together by a relationship, a marriage, and a moment of unimaginable violence. On the 11th, yesterday, approximately 4.18 p.m., we received a call through dispatch. There's a possible deceased person, 21-year-old female, inside of residence, located behind. 206 O'Collo. Upon arrival, they did find a deceased person inside the house. It was a portion of a body dismembered and a residence that was covered in a in blood. And so a gruesome scene at best. Further investigation led to defamation. family being detained in the suspect placed into custody for what we're assuming is going to be a murder charge in the end.

On the flat coastal plains of southeast Texas, something unthinkable happened. It was January 12, 2023. The sheriff of Waller County stepped up to the microphones. He told the press what he could. By then, most of the facts were known. What happened? Who was involved? where, when, and how.

The only question left was why. That would take some time. Days later, investigators sat down with someone who knew her best, her uncle, Irvin O'Rejana. She hasn't been here very long, correct? Can you tell me about how she got here? She was a broad illegally, as you already know. You don't care about that.

She came along with her two brothers, okay. Angie Diaz came to the United States when she was just 17. She crossed the border with her two brothers. They were undocumented, but hopeful and determined. Like so many before her, she was chasing something simple, a better life. She landed in Waller County, just northwest of Houston, and moved in with her uncle. It wasn't glamorous, but it was safe, it was clean. And for Angie, it was a start.

She was always, uncle, teach me how to ride the lawn or how to do it for you. And she always, she always had that initiative of doing something for that house because she felt grateful that she was living with us. But in a way, she felt like I can't put so much weight on your shoulder, uncle. I got to help you somehow. Angie carried her weight, helping her uncle and contributing in any way she could. They were family, but she didn't want to be a burden. Her uncle didn't put any pressure on her about finding a job or contributing financially.

She was still young, but one eventuality worried him. And I even talked to her one day. If I know eventually you're going to meet someone. and when that time comes, there will be some set of rules at home for you to follow. Of course, Angie accepted her uncle's rules. She settled in, started to learn English, and found a job at the local Hispanic meat market called Chepe's. Chepe is Spanish slang for Jose.

It's like calling a place Joes for those monolingual people out there. And it wasn't long before she preached. proved her uncle right and met someone. She followed the rules and told her aunt and uncle she was just starting to get to know him. The relationship would build and the family would finally meet him. But not long after that, she broke it off. I broke up with us. It was very...

Before we went to vacation, she had even bought a wedding dress because they were thinking of getting married. And then we came from vacation and all the thousands, she... She booked up with Jose to us. I was very surprised, you think. Angie was young, but she was clear about what she wanted. She said there wasn't another guy. What bothered her was Jose's indecision and his reliance on his mother. He was a bit of a mama's boy.

Angie wanted something more. I need a real man in life. In my life, I can't keep wasting my time with a kid. Angie had large aspirations in life and had the work ethic to achieve them. The last thing she wanted to do was waste it with a mama's boy. She needed a man instead with similar life goals. Her uncle, though, suspected that maybe she'd already met him. Later, I had a conversation with her, just one-on-one.

I told her, I need you to be honest. with me. Is there anyone you're getting to know, anyone you're talking with? And I need to know, is there someone else in your life? Because I'm responsible of what happens to you. You're looking out for her. And she said, yes, yes, uncle. I met someone. And right now, we're not going out. We're just getting to know each other. And I say, okay, it's fine. Thank you for letting me know. That's when Jared Dykis showed up. He was quiet, but there was something about him.

Put it that way. Here's how his dad Rodney remembers the first time Jared met, Angie. The pickup line that he used to get her to call her. Apparently, he had gone into the store where she was working at, and he was looking at his phone, and he told her he said, I'm sorry I don't know what to do, She's up to that lines, and she's like, what? He said, I cannot find your number in here.

She gave him this number, and that's when they started dating. What kind of relationship did they have? Did she know? I thought that it was a pretty cool relationship, because every time you heard them two, they were laughing. It's just something special. It was just pretty cool. Pretty cool here that would have to laugh.

Jared wasn't anything like Jose. He had a career as an electrician, and more importantly, didn't have to ask his mom, for permission every time he did something. He was also white, with bright red hair, which earned him the nickname Rojo, around Chepa's meat market. In case you didn't know, Rojo is Spanish for red.

They talked constantly, video calls, voice messages, that sort of thing. They were falling in love. Eventually, she came home, she liked, Lou and Uncle, I really loved him a lot. and he loves me a lot and we have decided to get married and I would like you to be the witness.

He thought to himself, what can I do? I'm just the uncle. If Angie wanted to marry Jared, he wasn't going to stand in her way. By this time, she was 21 years old, a grown woman who could make her own decisions. She could do whatever she wanted

with or without his approval. But even before the first, family could meet Jared, she tied the knot. She texted her uncle a picture of her and her new husband on the steps of the courthouse. Jared carried Angie across his arms as they kissed. Her white dress shimmered in the sunlight. When Angie's uncle finally met Jared, he was impressed. Jared was always clean and well-dressed. He was polite. He always shook hands, but he was quiet. He couldn't speak Spanish, so he was often lost during conversations.

But he tried to be part of the family. During Christmas, he bought Angie's little cousins Nerf guns and played Nintendo with them. It was all very wholesome. He gave me this perspective of a mature person. It was a whirlwind relationship. They had been dating for a few months when they got married in the fall of two. 2022. But both Angie and Jared gave it their all. Jared started spending all his money to convert a small outbuilding on his parents' property into an efficiency apartment for them. Angie started

taking beach body training courses, even flying to Florida to attend. She had her sights on becoming a fitness instructor. They were happy with their whole lives ahead of them. Isn't that usually how it starts. Wallach County 9-1-1. Yes, ma'am. My name is Rodney. I guess. I need an ambulance and police.

A 206-0 called a bulletproofart. Okay, what's going on? I don't know everything, but my son's wife is dead. Please. Okay. Oh, my, gosh. Okay. Where is he at?

He's in my house. Okay, this is your house. They have a building on my property. Oh my God, please. Send me somebody. Oh, my God. Okay, sir, just calm down. We're getting people en route, okay?

And you said- Oh, my God. Oh, God. Okay, and you said this is who to you now? He's my daughter and wall. She's my daughter as well. Yeah. Angie was dead.

Rodney Dykis found his daughter-in-law lying in a pool of blood in Jared's apartment. It was clear, even to Rodney, that only one person could have been responsible. Oh, my God, please hurry. There's something wrong with my son? Please, hurry. He has no weapons. He's in my house. He's laying in the floor crying.

Please, hurry. Okay. Oh, my God damn. Oh, son. Rodney was clearly in anguish, but he had to call 911 because Jared's mother, Lynn, couldn't. She saw Angie's body, too, and just lost it.

Her legs gave. She went down on the ground in the front yard and couldn't get back up, crying, wailing, waiting for the police to arrive. Her husband, Jared, was bawled up on the floor inside his parents' house also, crying. The whole situation didn't make any sense, but Rodney had felt something was coming. Oh, my God, I told him how to keep him.

I had him in the hospital two days ago. He was hearing voices. I told him that he'd keep him in the doctor said near, flying. The scene got hectic quickly. While the dispatcher was relaying this information over the radio, the EMTs were out of the loop. They walked into something they never expected. There would look to be like a towel on the floor and pink socks from what I could originally see. As I began to step up the steps, I could see underneath the towel that looked like blood.

It looked like there was some blood on the floor as well. Because we had no information, didn't know what had happened had she committed suicide with a shotgun, and what we were walking into. There was a desk immediately to the right of me when I walked in the door. It looked like it had a computer on it. And as I looked around the desk, I could see her feet,

stepped in further, and I could see the rest of the body, and then I realized the patient did not have a head. At that point, my crew was coming up behind me. I stopped them. I said, back out. We're in a crime scene. And they said, they kind of looked at me,

and they realized a look on my face, but even told me later that we saw the look on your face, we knew that there was nothing we were going to do. So they backed out, I backed out, EMS got there, vice and paramedic what we had. I said there's nothing we can do. This wasn't a suicide or accidental death. This was a crime scene, and very obviously so.

I need crime scene and check this out to this location. Deputies were already en route. Still, more surprises were waiting on Oak Hollow Boulevard. Oh, Constable, thank you for coming. Who you got to attain? Come over there. Oh, no shit. Yeah.

Okay. The lead deputy assessed the scene. Jared was already in the back of a patrol car. His mom, Lynn, was weeping on the front lawn. His father, Rodney, paced back and forth when he wasn't seated on his riding mower. Other deputies kept them. separate and took all of their phones. The lead deputy had the big

picture, but the lead paramedic filled in the details. She was just brutally decapitated. I'm just got his dabble. She's in the bathtub. I mean, it's a little redhead? No, it's just darkest fingers.

No, no, no. The one you got in, the tiny little red-headed boy? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The responding deputy thought he knew exactly.

what this was. That redhead boy, he'd seen him before. But as the scene unfolded, something didn't sit right. What they found inside that small apartment was worse than anyone expected. And the truth was far stranger than the assumptions that had brought them there. Whatever happened wasn't just violent. It was something deeper. It was something harder to name.

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The body of Angie Diaz was found on the floor of a small apartment she shared with her husband, Jared Dykes. But her head was found in the bathtub. And this was taken place in a residence occupied by himself, the suspect, and the wife, the deceased, living behind the parents' house. Turning down to what appears to be a horrific case of domestic violent in Waller County. And we do want to warn you the details in this case are very disturbing. Everything happened on the property and all parts and pieces were recovered and submitted for evidence. She was found dead this past Wednesday. Investigators say that her husband, Jared Dykes, had killed her with a kitchen knife,

severing her head from her body. It is gruesome. It's a gruesome crime. and the best you can say is that's the world we live in today, and it's a gruesome scene. And both sides of these families are going to be altered by it. Either way, suspect and or the victims. They were only married in October, and now he is charged with her murder.

Newlyweds Jared and Angie had so much promise. Now Jared was charged with her murder. But the media, calling it a horrific case of domestic violence, didn't really tell the whole story. You see, the Sheriff's Department was familiar with the address. There has been prior calls, disturbance-wise, but nothing to this effect and to this level of violence. Is this old crazy boy? Yeah. You've been here before?

I've been here before? Yeah, I have. Where was old redhead? He was sitting down in the shit right here with his mom. Do you say anything to you? I'm a sick person and I didn't take shit up. Okay. When they got there, they assumed it would be more of the same.

But his deputies talked with the father, Rodney. What was done? Was that on the information you needed for me? You wouldn't have to know Miss Angie's maiden name. They said your wife's... P.S. D.S? A-Z.

And the mother, Lynn. Hello, ma'am, I'm Deputy Lewis. I think I've talked to you at the door here a while back about maybe some dogs or something. No, your son's truck. Remember I come knocking on your door one morning and I said, hey, you know where you know where that truck's at? And the brother, Wayne. I was telling you, Mom, I think that the last time I was here, your brother's truck was broke down or out of gas or something. That was yours?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They realized it wasn't what they thought at all. It's a mom and dead in two brothers. And then unbeknownst to me, one of the brothers got married back in September. A little girl at work at Chappies, and they're living in the shed back behind the house. But when I heard possible B-O-A at 206, O'Collo, I thought it was the brother that's sitting up in the carport.

I just figured he did a kid O.D. I didn't think this other one would be involved. Between Jared and his brother Wayne, Jared was the good son. Jared. Randy, does you remember me? You okay? You're okay? Wayne was the one who had previous run-ins with the law.

Even the deputy was surprised to find Jared in the back of the patrol car. But interviews with the parents, which shed light on Jared's recent behavior. He'd been acting unusual for some time. But the day of the murder, all the parents' worries would come to a head. I think it was around noon. When Jared came in and told me that we needed to go to, like, yeah, we needed to go to a Houston store and gave it his store number.

I kept telling him that doesn't tell me anything. I don't know. I don't have an app to look up store numbers like you did, because I don't work for an app. you have to give me an address so I know where we're going. He said, it's Houston. I said, Houston's fairly large. It doesn't tell me shit.

And he went back there and his mother was asleep and he came back. And that's when I stopped him and cornered it. And have you heard where we're going? I don't think he was going to talk to me at all. I don't get the impression that he was there to talk to me. I got the impression he was there to talk to his mother. And then I asked him, what does he need? he told me he needed his gun

What did you tell? Told him you're not getting that gun back right now or you're like this. I said, what do you need your gun for? And he did this. Already suspicious of his behavior, there was no way Rodney was going to give Jared his gun. When he asked him what he needed it for,

he pantomimed putting the gun up to his own head. But then quickly he tried to play it off like he was just scratching an itch. Odd, for sure. I just needed. And I said, that shit, and I went to walk his mother up. They started asking her, who do we call? Do we take him to the hospital?

Do you want to go to a hospital? Do you want to go to a mental hospital? What do you want to do? And that started the conversations, and I laid down, and the next thing I know, I woke up, yelling at him from my bedroom, to the hall bathroom, the common bathroom,

because she heard him on the phone and that was around 4, 4 p.m. today. And then his behavior just kept getting weirder and weirder and weirder. From 1 o'clock on? Yeah. He just wouldn't answer my questions. I said, Jared, do you need to take you somewhere? Do you need to talk to someone?

And then I just found him sitting in the bathroom on the toilet he's looking at his phone and he was talking to someone and I said well who are you talking to and he wouldn't like to answer me he felt like that's what that was my boss I said well you didn't say much

I said what did he want I mean he would give me my instructions for the tonight's job and then he came in my bedroom because I asked him to come here because he said wouldn't answer my questions you know and I heard a phone ring from the bathroom

and I was like, whose phone is that in the bathroom? Why do you have? He's like, well, I have two phones. And then I said, why do you have two phones? And then I didn't give me, no, I only have one phone. Like he would just go back and forth and back and forth these weird answers. And he went and picked it out of the bathroom and put in his pocket

and I said, why do you have two phones? And then I said, give me your phones. And he gave me both of them, and then I noticed one of them was mistaken. I said, well, this is Angie's son. Because I saw a picture of Jared and Angie on the phone. So I just recognized that as hers. Everything's not finished. And I just kept asking why you have Angie's phone.

When you thought you were supposed to be a work for? Yes. And then it just me and my husband just right away ran outside. Already worried about their son's behavior, their stomach sank. when they saw that he had Angie's phone. They didn't know what to expect, but they knew it wouldn't be good. I opened the door and I walked in and you couldn't see anything and I took a step in and I saw him in the floor.

And that's what I told my wife. This is you don't want to come in here. She came in. I knew she wasn't going to be able to. I grabbed my phone and I started calling. When you all walked in, what did you say? Can you describe that? I mean, I know it's hard, but.

Just she was on her stomach. Okay. And just blood on this side, the right side. So, and we just, Any other type of injuries you fell? But I don't know. You didn't see her head at all? No.

But I, it was a quick glance that I didn't see her hair because she had long, long, long hair. I didn't see her hair. I went to the house and I said, What have you done here? He was already on the floor crying. Where? And you're better no way.

What did he take? He just said, I'm sorry. He wouldn't give me any answers. None. I'm sorry. I'm not that person. Rodney and Lynn found Angie's body lying in the floor of the apartment. They knew it was already too late to help her.

While they scrambled to call the police and keep Jared from doing anything else, their minds flooded with all the little weird things Jared had been doing for a while now. At work, the night before, his father noticed some odd things. That was his demeanor. He was quiet. He was quiet. He's been, I don't know what the words are, but I think the word is lethargic. they just detached

away he was happy because he was going to work and it was too he was really happy that he was laid off from November it was because they're slow during that time of year

it happens every year and he doesn't like that but he was laid off during November and December and this was his first job back no I'm sorry this was his third job back he did have two other I was prior to then.

But he was happy and he was going to work. But other than that, he was just distant and we didn't talk. When Jared wasn't laid off, he was an electrician. And the company he worked for had a contract with Home Depot.

The night before the murder, he was supposed to work at two different store locations. At the first one, Rodney noticed Jared was just off. So I started the demo, and then he came over

and said, I'm sorry, Pop's you're on the wrong aisle. You need to put these back up. So I put them all back up. And he said, make it look like we weren't on this aisle, you know, kind of to say that, you know, we didn't mess up. I got them all back up. And as soon as I got them back up, because I said, I'm sorry,

Dad, he says, it is the right aisle. You need to go ahead and demo this. That was a little strange because they've been doing this so long, They don't, him and my older son, they don't usually start on the wrong spot, you know. Other than that, oddity, the rest of the job went fine. Afterwards, they headed to the second location. The store was closed by them, and the manager had to meet them at the door to let them in. That's when Rodney learned that Jared had gone to the two locations out of order.

Another uncharacteristic mistake by Jared. So when we got there, she said, oh, hold on, you're not going in. You've got to tell me what you're here for. And, of course, those managers, they know what's happening in their stores. They know what aisles people are supposed to be on. They know what people are supposed to be doing. And she was asking him that. And I don't have that information, so I don't say anything.

And she asked him for, and I don't remember the words that she used, is his ID code or job order code or something. And he said, I love you, father. She asked him what? And I looked at him and it's like, I can't believe he just said that. And he looked at her and he said, I love you, father. So he wasn't looking at you. He was looking at me.

He was answering her question. And it kind of took me back a little bit. I said, Jared, she needs your job number. is on your phone. So he started working on his phone, and it looked like he was just desponded and distracted. Eventually, Jared found the work order. He and his dad got the job done.

He read the blueprints, followed the instructions, and everything went the way it should. But something still felt off. Jared wasn't acting like himself, and on the drive home, his dad noticed. And did he ever make him? Like all the way home, he might get any remarks. He said, when we were just leaving this story, we were getting onto 290, what did he tell me?

He said, he said, I'll never give up again. And I said, you're not supposed to give up. You're supposed to keep going forward. So whatever was bothering him over the last few days or whatever was going to his mind over the last few days, I think I thought at the time that him going to work made him realize, he realized, he was bothering him. that, you know, you don't need to give up. You just need to, you know, and of course they were, you just need to keep going forward.

And I felt really relieved that he said that. Rodney took Jared's comment as a good sign that he was getting over whatever it was that was bothering him. Both Rodney and Lynn had noticed the change in their son of the last few months. And it all started with the death of his best friend. This is where, yeah, it was Tommy first. and his brother got on the road

and his brother lost his job. Then he got a DWI in November. So he don't know how he can't drive with his job. It started when he, I think, the night that he got the DWI, he was crying and wailing

with regard about it. In May of 2020? Yes. He said, really, I'm going to say that. In May of 2022, Jared's best friend died suddenly. It shook him. Not long after he met Angie, and by September they were married.

But whatever stability that brought didn't last very long. He was laid off from work, tried to start a business, but couldn't get it off the ground. The failure seemed to wear him down. Then came the DWI in November, and with it, the loss of his license. But it wasn't until the final week, the weekly. leading up to Angie's death that his parents started to fear something was truly wrong. And everything seemed normal with him at the time? No, nothing has seen wrong with Jerry since Sunday.

Okay, since the Sunday before he seemed, yes. But it seemed like he wasn't as bad as he was before. Okay, so no, he's not been himself for a few days. Explain to me how, describe it. He answers yes, sir, no sir, yes, there, no man. recently. Before, you know, you say, do you thirsty? Yeah, I'm thirsty. Here lately, are you thirsty? Yes, sir. It's just a quiet. It's not him. While being polite isn't the biggest red flag, it wasn't like Jared. Like parents do, they started asking him what was wrong. He kept saying that he was on meth. And then you would start grilling him about it, and then he would say it.

When Jared started acting strange, I kept asking, you know, what's wrong with you? He said, I said, are you on drugs? And he would say, no. Then the next time I was asking, what's wrong? He would say, I'm on drugs. Okay, well, are you or aren't you? Where is it? Where did you get it?

And he would convince us that he had gone and gotten meth, and that's what he was doing. He wasn't sure on how he was using it, you know, Because you're asking questions, are you smoking it, are you shooting it? Do I even look at your arms? You know, how are you using this? Are you snoring, smoking it, shooting it, what are you doing? I don't, I don't know. And things like that, it would be like, you would believe that he is.

But then you would be like, he's not telling the right stuff to be using that. They couldn't get a straight answer from Jared. He was acting like he was on drugs, but people on drugs can still tell you what they were doing. They were convinced he was having some sort of mental episode. And my husband did tell me that there was something that happened because there is something going on with him. Mentally physically. Mentally. This is dead.

I'm going to say about a week. When I asked him, are you doing drugs? When he'll say yes. I know. And then, I'm not sure what day it was. A couple of nights ago, he called an ambulance on a show. Wallach County, 911. Yes, this is Jared Dicus.

Hello? Wallachanis, go ahead. I'm just, I did a little bit of drugs and I need help. I don't see what's the so-called Lord. Okay, and what's the problem? I just don't feel well. Okay. And you said you took drugs?

No, ma'am. I'm too sorry. I don't know why I called. Okay. And are you there by yourself? Is there somebody with you? My family's here with me. Oh, your family's with you?

Okay. Okay, so you don't. Super, prodigies, everybody's here. Okay, but do you need an ambulance or no? Are you good? I need an ambulance. I gotcha. Okay.

I have an available North End unit to 206. O'Call of Boulevard, 206, O'Call of Boulevard, we have EMS en route for an unknown problem. Further information sounds like he is possibly under the influence. Jared called 911 for himself. He claimed he did drugs and now he didn't feel well. But then he changed his mind and then he changed it back.

Even more bizarre, after he called 911, he called again. Well, if you're 911, it's emergency. Yes, this is Jared. Mr. Jared, how can I help you? Um, yes, I'm at 2006 a caller, below board. Yes, sir. We have EMSing out to you.

Are you okay? Did something change? Yes, ma'am. No, I'm not okay. Okay, what's going on? I just, I, I, I, I, I, I just enjoy this way and I don't feel well. And I didn't do anything, so I don't, I don't know. I'm sorry.

That's okay. Yeah, have the MS and around to you. Okay, thank you. Yes, sir. He sounds confused, like a spun-out meth head. Regardless, the ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital. They ran various tests, including different types of drug tests. Then they said he was perfectly healthy.

And everybody believed that he was on drugs because that's what he called 911-for. And he told them, just like, I'm thinking out of doing that. So of course they did a urinalysis, Tombo, Regional, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Monday morning. And then they released it, even after I told him he's hearing voices. He's thinking that people are going to hurt the reason he can't stay in his hospital is all going to kill him. And things like that. And the doctor questioned him about this stuff. And he told the doctor, yeah.

And I told the doctor, please don't sit him home. Let's sit in somewhere. Instead, they referred him to a psychiatrist. So I don't know if he actually did some drugs. We didn't even get the results of his blood test for your analysis when I was at the hospital. So I don't know. I can't say that he wasn't, but I don't know that. Jared's parents didn't know what to do.

He wasn't violent. He wasn't angry. But something was wrong. something they couldn't quite put their finger on. They hoped the hospital would figure it out with all those fancy doctors and expensive equipment and whatnot. They hoped that someone, anyone, would see what they were seeing. But that's not what happened. That's not the state of our medical system.

So you know what they did? They just sent them home, as they usually do. He was released the next morning with a clean bill of health. Days later, Angie was dead. I had him in the hospital two days ago. He was hearing voices. I told the doctor to keep him to the doctor sitting there for it. Was it drugs?

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Getgoodfeels.com and use promo code Sword at checkout. That's shop. getgoodfields.com. Promocode S-W-O-R-D for 20% off. 21 and over only. Now, back to the story. In the aftermath, the focus shifted. The horror of what happened to Angie Diaz was undeniable.

But what no one could explain what haunted those left behind was what drove Jared to do it in the first place. You are Jared? Can you stay there? Okay. So I keep calling you Jared and you don't know. I used to know. And I didn't like somebody came in mind.

Jared didn't even recognize himself. It was like someone came in here, he said, pointing to his own head. So it's my understanding you were just in the hospital. Is that right? Yes. After that, I started to say. Jared said he went to the hospital after doing a substance. Mess, he said?

Mm-hmm. Okay. Um, is there something you use a lot or no dab or? Okay. Okay. Until recently. When's the last time that he used meth? Oh, I did it.

I did it all. Two weeks have been up for like two weeks. Is there up for two weeks? Okay. Okay. And it's the, When you just went to the hospital, what, two days ago, you said it was for the substance? And after that, that's what it?

Have you used again since then? Meth? Or is something different? Okay. When was your last time that you used that you remember? You don't remember when it was? Jared mumbled and shook his head to most of the questions. But when he did actually speak, it still didn't make any sense.

He claimed that he had never touched meth in his life. until that day. But then he said he'd been doing it for two weeks. The timeline was a little fuzzy. Jerry, this is, it's not a question. I've already told you that. It's not a question that you did it in the manner which you did it. But what matters is the why. What happened? You said it your own drugs. Okay, but that didn't that doesn't tell us what happened in that room? What was going on? Just drugs, and you need to stay away from drugs. Well, I understand that.

So you did it and tell us what happened. Have you you you done it? Drugs just make you go crazy. It makes you the same side. It makes up there with the street. All right, so what did it make you do this morning? Last night. Jared was blaming the whole thing on drugs,

but he was reluctant to be specific about it. what he did or why. Sometimes he would just stare back at the detectives, refusing to say a word. He would look as though he was about to cry, then returned to a dazed and confused state. That's clear. We're not asking for generalities. We're not asking about your personal relationship with God. Obviously, it's a struggle.

It's a struggle for everybody. That's not a question. Nobody has a perfect relationship with him. but we're going to ask you one last time what happened and if you don't want to talk about it that's fine your opportunity to have any kind of looking like a good guy

of this is what I did and I'm sorry and I can't believe I did it that door is closing on you I didn't do it you can't even keep it straight for anybody this dude cracks a joke it was hard to gauge where his head was at Almost crying one moment, stoic the next.

Then, making jokes. I'm crazy. So what did she say to make you mad to do that to her? She had to say something. To be that man, to do what you did? I don't know. Something that's trouble me. Okay, so it did.

So it made you do what? Something on... What did it make you do? I'm just doing it. It was... What did you tell you to do this? It would stop time. I would have no one too, something.

I would stop. Jared was speaking in broken sentences. It was hard to follow his train of thought, but he said that something took control of him. Something on the screen was telling him what to do, and it would stop time. He claimed he wasn't in control of himself. I was being forced.

Like, none of my free one of them. Okay, forced to do what? Forced to just walk, forced to go. Okay. What did it force you to do to her? What did it force you to do? What? To what?

To kill her. So how did you kill her? Tell us how you killed her. I don't know because it wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't a jerry. It wasn't jared. What did you do? What did you do? What did I see?

Tell me, that's all. Right. Cut her hell. That's what it did they do. It made you cut her head off. He tried to explain that when he got home, Angie turned on the TV. That's when he started hearing commands. Time stood still.

And the screen was filled with numbers. A voice told him what to do, and if he didn't listen, it would make him hurt. But after getting all of that off his chest, he started answering questions. How did the fight start? How did the knife get introduced? How did it walk us through that? We got into the fight. We were just talking the knife. We were just talking to the movie. And then, in terms of the TV, that's when that started. I did tell you. It didn't shut up. You told me it right, huh? You told me it right. It was unclear if he did rape Angie.

She was found fully clothed with no defensive wounds. There wasn't even a single side of a violent struggle, which is disturbing in it of itself. Why did you put her head in the bathtub? Her hair was wet. How come? Did you turn the shower to wash herself or to wash her hair or what was... To wash her? Because you have plans on hurting your mom or your dad when you went over to their house?

There were no voices that told you to hurt them? There were his voices to tell me that to shoot yourself. Jared's explanation did little to actually tell us why he did what he did. He contradicted his own account. He said drugs were involved, but he was also hearing voices. The only thing we know was true is that he cut her head off and put it in the bathtub to wash her hair. And she didn't fight back because he probably took her by surprise.

But after talking to Angie's family, friends, and coworkers, the police had a theory. Do you know what he did? Do you know anything? Right now it's just a theory. When I told you about theories, they could be wrong. But from what we're gathering, It was possibly a combination of him being on drugs and his jealousy.

Friends of Angie said her normally upbeat attitude changed shortly after she got married to Jared. When asked, she said he had changed. She was clearly having second thoughts. But this theory all hinged on drug use. And to be fair, Jared was high as a kite during his interrogation. In his intake photos, his pupils are the size of saucers, but that's where it gets weird. When the police checked his toxicology report from the hospital stay two days before the crime, when he called 911 claiming meth use, it was completely clean.

There were no drugs in a system whatsoever. If he did drugs the night before, it would have shown up. While the drug test the police conducted after his arrest showed drugs in his arrest showed drugs in his his system, it wasn't meth, it was cocaine. He didn't even know the difference, I guess. And it wasn't a lot, not enough to cause psychosis, that's for sure. So maybe the drugs didn't cause what happened. Maybe it just unleashed what was already in his brain. So an alternative theory is that Jared was unraveling mentally long before he ever tried drugs. He lost his best friend, the layoff, the failed side hustle, the DWI.

It all compounded, weighing on him at a time when he just wanted to be able to provide for his new wife and seemed to be failing at it. Meanwhile, she was living the dream. She had a job, she had friends, and was pursuing her goal of being a fitness trainer. She was succeeding while Jared was failing. Maybe there was some jealousy involved. Maybe he was jealous of Angie. But that didn't matter. Jared pleaded guilty. There would be no trial.

There would be no courtroom drama. No chance to explain what really happened. And no chance to be evaluated for mental illness. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He would be eligible for parole when he's 65. The family of a young woman found decapitated inside her Waller County home is planning a vigil for her this weekend. The person accused of killing her is her own husband, Jared Dykes.

And that's one to the people are really far. She didn't deserve that. Nobody ever does. Nobody deserves. And friends of the woman found decapitated inside her Waller County home held a vigil in her honor tonight. I mean, I'm sure she came here for their life. I mean, they met.

They got married. I just don't know what happened. I don't know what happened. I don't know. she didn't deserve to be taken away like this. Angie Diaz came to this country in search of a better life. She found it. She found family.

She found friends. And she found love. She was chasing something bigger than herself. Maybe Jared wanted that too, but somehow he lost himself along the way. Slowly. quietly, secretly, until... It was too late.

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