The Misery Machine - The Case of Ernie Ibarra

Starting point is 00:00:03 Ernie Ibarra Jr. was born on Christmas Day of 1985 in Mount Pleasant, Texas to parents Ernest Ibarra Sr. in Rhonda, actually, weighing 7 pounds, 9 ounces. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot. in the finale May 29. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win?

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Starting point is 00:03:03 From a very young age, Ernie was a bright student. According to his sister Abigail, he was kind of a bookworm. He attended Mount Pleasant High School and graduated with the class of 2004. Ernie enjoyed playing video games and went by the name Dagon Zaloney. But his interest in computers went far beyond gaming. According to Ronda, he could fix computers. He worked some for computer repair shops. I remember him telling me about working on computers at the hospital.

Starting point is 00:03:29 He was just smart. He could figure things out. However, his main profession was woodworking. He worked full-time at Talco Woodcrafters. The pay there was modest, so he also took a night shift at Little Caesar's Pizza. At some point, Ernie had also run bat manufacturing machines for a company in Mount Pleasant called DBAT. The shop was dismantled. He helped set up the machines at a new location.

Starting point is 00:03:51 Beyond his work and hobbies, Ernie found a genuine joy in helping others out. His mother Rhonda remembered one small but telling moment with, I remember one day when a neighbor was out mowing. It was so hot and Ernie went over and asked if he could mow. The way he was, he gave without expectations of return. At Little Caesars, Ernie's manager, Sandy Contreras, remembered him as more than just an employee, saying, as young as he was, he had maturity.

Starting point is 00:04:18 He had a heart for kids angry at the world. When life isn't fair, he'd tell them that was no reason they couldn't do better. Sandy also recalled a moment that showed his kindness. One of Ernie's co-workers had fallen on hard times and their daughter loved to draw. Despite barely being able to afford it, Ernie bought her a $100 sketch set as a Christmas present. One of his co-worker shared that he was one of those who had a rare ability to make you laugh even if you were irritated at him.

Starting point is 00:04:46 In 2008, four years after graduating high school, Ernie met Samantha Woolford at a local tattoo shop. Samantha was the oldest of three children. To Ernie, she was supposed to be the love of his life, or at least that's how he perceived it. At 19, she had given birth to twins with her high school boyfriend. Before long, the two began dating and their bond grew quickly. According to Samantha's sister Natasha Willoughby,

Starting point is 00:05:11 they were like soulmates. Samantha launched a YouTube channel in 2010, hoping it would become a second source of income to support her family. On her channel, she shared glimpses of her personal life, passions and her struggles. Hey guys, I'm doing a makeup tutorial today. It's my first one, so don't be too harsh. This is what it looks like.

Starting point is 00:05:38 A little sparkly, a little edgy, a little dark. Good for going out or just hanging out. If you like what you see, continue watching, and I'll show you exactly how to do it. I've had a couple people ask me to do makeup tutorials and I've put it off and put it off, so I'm finally going to do one. Her uploads grew more and more frequent during her relationship with Ernie, but not everyone saw this as a good thing. Ernie's sister, Abgale, described Samantha's growing obsession with her online presence,

Starting point is 00:06:05 saying, She felt like this was going somewhere. She kind of started paying less attention to her kids, and she acted like her so-called job was more important than that. She wanted to be internet famous. My brother didn't like that kind of thing. You're not going to lie a cigarette? Oh, yeah, I forgot about it.

Starting point is 00:06:21 Because you got that fucking iPad in your hands. Where, but where, where, where, where? At least you're paying attention. But only because this hilarious-ass episode. By 2011, Samantha was pregnant once again, and the couple soon welcomed another set of twins. Just two years later in 2013, Samantha, then 23 years old, gave birth to their fifth child.

Starting point is 00:06:43 I've decided to do a, I guess, pregnancy blog. I took a pregnancy test last night, and it came back. I couldn't tell whether it was positive or negative. The marks on it was so light. I honestly thought it was negative. Right now is not a good time for me to be pregnant. Not to mention I was taking birth control. So I didn't think it could be positive. But it freaked me out nonetheless and I had a few people look at it and they couldn't tell either if it was positive or negative. So I bought some of those clear blue pregnancy tests that say pregnant or not pregnant, so you can tell for sure. This growing family of seven was the reason Ernie pushed himself to work two separate jobs.

Starting point is 00:07:32 Yet despite all his efforts, the cracks in their home were visible from the very beginning. Samantha often took issue with Ernie's gaming habits, which is bizarre because on April 25, 2012, Samantha posted a video on YouTube talking about how she's such a gamer girl and how she plays with her brother all of the time. And I started playing video games with him. Anything and everything on Xbox Live. Anything from DDR, you know, Dance, Dance Revolution, all the way up to, you know, guitar, hero, all the sports games. Halo, oh my god, Halo, I love Halo. And I never really thought I would be a gamer.

Starting point is 00:08:11 I always thought it was stupid. And now I find myself ridiculously addicted to it. It's something me and my brother do all the time. And he's kind of became my best friend. We kind of sit at home all the time and play video games and goof off. And people will come over and play with us. We all play on Xbox Live with a little like headset and talk to other people. This clash became especially intense when Ernie's online avatar married the character of another female gamer.

Starting point is 00:08:41 Make up for this, Ernie agreed to marry Samantha. in 2014, but their marriage did not last long, and it was never a happy one to begin with. Reports confirmed that the same year, Samantha had called the police on Ernie for alleged family violence, and an emergency order of protection was issued in her favor. However, Ernie's family has always said these allegations were false. Detective Chris Bragg made a statement about the arrest saying, other than talking about his work and his kids, he had nothing to say. He didn't accuse Samantha, and at the same time, he refused.

Starting point is 00:09:13 to defend himself. According to his manager Sandy, Samantha manipulated the situation, saying, and I quote, then she called Ernie and asked him to come home. Then she called deputies. He was in the shower when they arrived to arrest him for violating the restraining order. Sandy shared that. The big thing was the kids. They were talking divorce. Nights he was working, she was blowing up his phone. You could hear her screaming, threatening him. Once when she was on a rant, he handed me his phone. When I told her to quit calling, she accused me of having an affair with him, adding, he wasn't blind. He'd been with Samantha long enough to recognize her for what she is.

Starting point is 00:09:51 He wanted out, and the whole thing came down to his fear of losing his kids. A post made to Ernie's Facebook account on November 3, 2014, confirmed much of what everyone else was sharing. In it, he shared, loving all that assumption rumor-mongering and lies. This life is getting ridiculous. I'm intentionally making this post completely public so as to be a very much. remind anyone who bothers looking here, there are two sides to everything, and only a fool assumes without proof. Samantha responded telling him, making it public to everyone does you no good,

Starting point is 00:10:23 and please do tell me who on earth that isn't directly involved with you would trash my house, and how on earth that would make any sense at all. To which Ernie replied, it would make perfect sense if it had nothing at all to do with me and you piss someone else off. I got no reason to trash my kid's house. As a matter of fact, one of my biggest gripes has always been the state of the house's cleanliness, right? What possible... You thought this was your run club era. Turns out, it was more of a thinking about run club era.

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Starting point is 00:11:11 where taste recognizes taste. The reason is good enough to put the kids through that. In the early morning hours of February 20th, 2015, someone broke into Ernie's home. According to Samantha, Ernie was beaten. Both of them were tied up and only Ernie was taken away. Despite being tied up, Samantha reportedly managed to use her nose

Starting point is 00:11:35 to call her mother Rosie Wolford from a saved contact. Now, rather than call the police, Rosie immediately contacted her sister, Ginger, at around 1230 a.m. Since Ginger lived nearby, Rosie urged her to check on Samantha. When Ginger arrived, she found Samantha upstairs gagged with her hands tied behind her back and her feet bound together. Samantha was freed and they called 911 immediately. Cause 9-1-1, what's your emergency? I have a home invasion. My niece is tied up.

Starting point is 00:12:06 I am at the birth of untying my niece at this particular mom. Okay, she's tied up. She is tied up and gag. And gagged. Is that what you're saying? Is there anybody else there? Where are the kids? We have five small infants asleep.

Starting point is 00:12:23 Five small infants asleep? Yes, ranging from seven to one. Seven to one years old? Yes, ma'am. Does she know, um, where they say? Did you know who the sex are? Three kids. Can I talk to her?

Starting point is 00:12:38 Is she able to speak? Yes, ma'am. Hello. Hi, Samantha. I know you're upset, but I'm going to ask you a couple questions. Do you need EMS? No, they didn't do anything to be the hit me once. She's advising no, they only hit her once.

Starting point is 00:12:53 Okay. I just asked my answer, who was bruising or anything and she said, no, they hit me in the face. Okay. They hit you in the face? Yeah, they had me tied up and they drove me down the stairs to face my husband. And when my husband wouldn't face me, they hit me in the face me. They hit me in the vase, like backhand flat me. And so he looked at me and then, and they said, I thought that would get your attention.

Starting point is 00:13:21 And I want you to stare at this woman. Do you want us to kill her? And he said, no. And they said, then tell us the truth. And he said, I don't know anything. But investigators would soon realize there was far more to the story than Samantha initially reported. When deputies from the Titus County Sheriff's Office arrived at.

Starting point is 00:13:40 Ernie's home on County Road 2630 at 2.18 a.m. They immediately found her story suspicious. To police, Samantha seemed to recall far too many details for someone who had just experienced an episode of intense trauma. So walk me through what happened? I don't honestly. Nobody opened my eyes. Somebody grabbed me and jerked me out of the bell and slammed me down on the ground and start to tie me up and put it enough to my phone. He told me don't move. Okay. They were watching over and over and over. And just being fighting back.

Starting point is 00:14:23 And I was just letting him do it. And one of them did say the name, Luke. But that's it. That was all, it's only identifying anything of God. One of them said, hey, Luke. And they got tired, but that's the only identifying anything else God. Throughout her statement, Samantha appeared to focus heavily on herself and showed a little to no concern for Ernie, who was still missing at the time.

Starting point is 00:14:48 Detectives also noted that while Ernie's phone had been taken by abductors, Samantha's phone was left behind. She explained this by saying that she had hidden it. Samantha claimed that the intruders had slapped her, pulled out her hair, and even held a knife to her throat, but the officers didn't observe any injuries consistent with her story. Investigators also noted that no valuables had been taken from the home, even though the front door was in pieces on the floor,

Starting point is 00:15:15 But strangely enough, the door frame and the security chain remained intact. The lock itself and the door was not broken, suggesting the door was unlocked when the door was smashed. According to Officer Chris Durant from the Titus County Sheriff's Office, there's some blood on the wall, which probably happened during the scuffle. Right by the door was a lock of hair. That hair belonged to Ernie. Meanwhile, both federal and local authorities were racing against time to locate Ernie alive. Officer Durant had already provided Ernie's phone number to the communications officer so it could be trapped. Choice Hotels gets you more of what you value. Comfort in, it's calling your name.

Starting point is 00:15:56 Save on the stay. Oh, and free waffles are yours to claim. Book direct at sourceotels.com. At around 3.17 a.m., Ernie's phone pinged just less than a mile from a home in Pittsburgh, Texas. Despite this, authorities were unable to locate any evidence of that. location and the phone signal later went dead. An officer then asked Samantha if she knew anyone from Pittsburgh. Although she was acquainted with a guy named Octavius Rhymes, who we'll hear more about later in the story, Samantha remained silent. Cell phone records and forensic testimony revealed that

Starting point is 00:16:30 approximately at 3.18 a.m. a text message was sent from Samantha to Octavius. The message read ditch phone move. Reports also indicated that an earlier message to the same number at 231 a.m. read, kill Ernie's phone, shut that shit down. Shortly after, Samantha was taken to the Titus County Sheriff's Office in northeastern Texas. It was there that detectives discovered Samantha had close connections with other men besides Ernie. Although she claimed that these connections were purely friendships, the detectives found this unusual for someone married with several children. Even more troubling, during the time while Ernie was missing, Samantha was speaking ill of him. Or in Samantha's account, there had been an intense struggle in the house.

Starting point is 00:17:12 yet all of her children remained asleep in their own rooms while the alleged events occurred. Moreover, investigator Chris Bragg observed that the children's rooms were highly unsanitary, which lent credibility to the Facebook posts that we shared with you earlier. A few hours into the investigation, detectives accused Samantha of playing a role in Ernie's disappearance. Samantha immediately panicked and it was to the point that she provided the first lead in the case. She told the investigators, there's this guy I met yesterday. his name's Johnny Reb. He could have done it. Johnny Reb was later identified as Jonathan Sanford, who recently was released from prison. Samantha claimed she had met Jonathan and she had loaned him

Starting point is 00:17:53 her car to drive a friend home. She had been at the hospital for her friend Charlotte Kemp's newborn. Charla was also Jonathan's girlfriend. During the visit, Samantha told Jonathan about Ernie's alleged violence, which reportedly enraged him. According to investigator Wayne Minor, he said he would take exception to someone hitting a woman or something like that and that he kind of offered to somehow intervene in her situation. When investigators asked Samantha about any other accomplices, she mentioned a man named Tay whom she had seen at the hospital the day before. Investigators later revealed that by Tay,

Starting point is 00:18:30 Samantha was referring to Octavius Rhymes, the same individual she had texted earlier. Samantha also implicated a third person named Jojo, whose real name was Jose Ponce as being among the perpetrators. She claimed that all three, Jonathan, Octavius, and Jose had broken into her home and had also been present at the hospital the day before. It so happened that both Octavius and Jose were residents of Pittsburgh, Texas. At around 9.39 a.m., police apprehended both Jonathan and Jose at the hospital. Both men were charged with aggravated kidnapping.

Starting point is 00:19:05 Jonathan was dressed in black and matched the description of the assailant that Samantha had provided. It is interesting to note that during interrogation, Jonathan never once denied that he was involved in the crime. In fact, it was the very opposite. Jonathan testified that he met Samantha in February 14, 2015 through his girlfriend, Charlotte. Five days later, Jonathan, Octavius, and Samantha were at the Titus County Regional Medical Center visiting Charlotte. It was during this visit that the group devised a plan to plant Crystal in Ernie's vehicle and make an anonymous tip to the police to have him arrested. On the night of February 19, 2015, the three of the three of the group, obtained the drugs from Octavius's cousin in Mount Vernon.

Starting point is 00:19:42 Samantha had even taken her kids along for the ride. Afterwards, they returned to Octavius' house in Pittsburgh, where Jose was cooking enchiladas with his girlfriend, Lacona Slayton. Jonathan and Jose decided it would be safer to carry out their plan without involving the police. They initially joked with Octavis that... This episode is brought to you by Palm Olive. Family time isn't just the big moments.

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Starting point is 00:20:54 with $20 rewards dollars in your loyalty account. At participating locations, terms and conditions apply. It would be better if they just killed Ernie. What started as a sarcastic suggestion would later turn out to be the unanimous vote on what to do. Jonathan told Samantha that he could get rid of Ernie for good and explained if that was what she wanted, all she had to do was leave her house unlocked. Jonathan later testified that Samantha was present and involved throughout these discussions, although he wasn't really sure whether or not Samantha fully grasp all the details,

Starting point is 00:21:23 but she did keep the house unlocked. Remember how the front door was completely smashed, but the lock was intact? The group's primary objective was now to kidnap Ernie and transport him to a remote location in Camp County with the intent to kill him. Jonathan and Octavius took Samantha and her children back to her house and removed the toddler's car seats from the vehicle. They then delivered the enchiladas to Charlotte at the hospital before going to Walmart where they shoplifted three pairs of black gloves.

Starting point is 00:21:50 After leaving Walmart, they returned to Octavius's house, picked a pose and then went to Ernie's home. Jonathan had visited Samantha's house two times before. He was familiar with the layout of her house and directed the others to where Ernie was sleeping. The group then dragged Ernie outside, where his hands. hands were bound behind his back with painter's masking tape. Octavius then came outside and struck Ernie in the mid-lower back with a small log. Finally, Octavius and Jose forced Ernie into the back of Ernie's

Starting point is 00:22:16 vehicle. Jonathan later testified that when he went back upstairs, he saw Samantha on the bed holding her phone. She was not tied up and told him that she had called her mother. Jonathan then returned downstairs and informed Octavius and Jose that they needed to leave. To create the appearance of a forced entry, Jonathan then smashed the front door. All three got into the car and drove to sand crossing in Camp County, where they removed Ernie from the vehicle and forced him to walk along the game trail through the woods. Jonathan led the way with Jose and Octavius following. About 50 yards in, Ernie tripped and fell face first into the ground. As he struggled to get back up to his knees, Jose shot him in the back of the head, killing him instantly. After confirming that Ernie was dead,

Starting point is 00:23:01 the three returned to Octavius's house where they removed their clothes and burnt them to eliminate evidence. During interrogations, Jonathan claimed that it was his brother-in-law, Jose, and another man, allegedly someone he did not personally know, but was connected to Octavius, who had beaten Ernie. This unknown accomplice was later proven to be Octavius himself. Jonathan also stated that he was forced to drive the two men with Ernie tied in the back of the truck to a wooded area. He claimed that Jose pulled the trigger on Ernie. However, when Jose was interrogated individually, he asserted that it was actually Jonathan who dealt the fatal blow.

Starting point is 00:23:39 Jonathan agreed to help the investigators recover Ernie's body. He was found half-dressed in thick brush at the edge of a bayou on the southeast side of Camp County. Jose and Jonathan were subsequently charged with his murder. Investigators needed to recover the gun used to shoot Ernie. They arrived at a house where Lacona Slayton, Jose's girlfriend at the time, was present. Kona initially denied any involvement with the gun, but when the investigators pressed her, she panicked and granted permission to search a tent in the yard, which served as her home.

Starting point is 00:24:08 I don't know where the guns at. I just told you that. Okay. I'm going to give you one more opportunity. Dude, you can hurt me. I don't know where the gun did you go there. That's probably about to happen, because I think you're a liar. I don't give a damn. You've got the freaking box. You've got the dead guv gun. Where'd the gun go then? I don't know. So why don't you get the box? Minutes later, they found the gun near the house. O'Conna broke down in tears, repeatedly insisting that she knew nothing about the case. However, when investigators asked if she could provide any information that might help bring justice for Ernie, she responded with the following. Because he's pulled it on me before.

Starting point is 00:24:41 He's pulled the gun out on you before? Yeah. All right. No, I've prayed, but damn, I didn't think I was going to split up with him like this. During the interrogation, Jose claimed that the gun belonged to Jonathan, which completely contradicted Jonathan's story. It appeared that both men were attempting to shift Blanky. onto each other. However, when Lekona was interrogated four days later on February 24th, she stated that the gun was hers and had been given to her as a gift by Jose. She also testified

Starting point is 00:25:08 that Samantha had left their residence to return to her home before midnight, as her children were getting sleepy and she didn't want her husband to wake up and become upset. This testimony differed from Samantha's version of events in which she claimed she had taken sleeping medication and was already asleep at that point. Additionally, cell tower records show that Samantha's phone was not near her home until after 10.30 p.m. just a few hours prior to the crime. Kona also told investigators that she didn't think Jose would have carried out the murder, because in her words, he was a coward. What's even harder to grasp is that Jose had never met Samantha until the day before the events. Described how Jonathan and Octavius had arrived at

Starting point is 00:25:44 his home with Samantha and her five children. There, Jonathan pulled into the side and said they needed to do something, though he didn't explain what that meant. Later testimony revealed that the three men had also used Crystal themselves on their way to Ernie's house. Octavius, who Samantha and Jonathan had initially tried to keep quiet about, was also taken into custody and interrogated. During questioning, Octavius admitted his role in the crime. He attempted to negotiate a deal with law enforcement, offering evidence in exchange for a more lenient sentence.

Starting point is 00:26:12 However, the negotiations were halted when he was informed that he would need a lawyer to handle any dealings with the DA's office. Regardless, everyone responsible for Ernie's murder was finally behind bars. In April of 2016, both Jonathan and Jose appeared before Judge Robert Rolston in the 276 District Court. Both men were sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to their respective charges. Their sentences were set to run concurrently, and neither would be eligible for parole until they had served at least half of the 50-year term. Octavius was convicted of aggravated kidnapping and sentenced to 23 years in prison. Later, in December of that same year, he faced.

Starting point is 00:26:53 a second trial in Camp County, Texas for his role in Ernie's death. A jury found him guilty of murder and he was sentenced to 75 years in prison. This sentence is to be served consecutively, bringing his total time behind bars to 98 years. In addition to his prison sentence, Octavius was also fined $10,000. Now, Samantha, the evil wife who orchestrated the kidnapping and murder of her husband with the help of her accomplices initially received a 50-year sentence. On September 11, 2017, she faced a second trial for her role in Ernie's murder. Two days later, on September 14, the jury found Samantha guilty and sentenced her to 99 years in prison. Considering the evidence and the severity of the crime, Judge Robert Ralston ordered that this 99-year sentence be served consecutively to the 50-year term she previously received for the aggravated kidnapping, bringing her total prison sentence to 149 years.

Starting point is 00:27:53 Samantha pursued multiple appeals challenging both of her convictions. Despite her efforts, the Texas appellate courts consistently upheld the rulings. Now, as of the date of this recording in September of 2025, Samantha's projected release date is in 2164, though. She'd be long dead before that. All of Ernie's children are reportedly living with both their grandmother and their aunt, ensuring they remain close to family following the tragedy. Ernie was laid to rest following funeral service.

Starting point is 00:28:25 held on February 26, 2015 at Bates-Coopers-Sloane Chapel. The tournament followed at Omaha Cemetery in Omaha, Texas. In his online obituary, many people shared their condolences. One woman named Doris had a lot to say and highlights ways in which men silently can put up with serious mistreatment and harm from a wife or girlfriend, thinking it to be normal. Her posts where she had harsh words for Samantha reads in part, Women like Ernie's wife can be charming. When you are young in your 20s, she's the mother of your children.

Starting point is 00:28:55 your children. Many times young men cannot see the danger. Ernie probably knew that something was off. He wasn't happy and couldn't make her happy. I pray for Ernie and wish we could go back in time and get that woman away from him and the kids. He would have made a terrific dad, a wonderful single father, and eventually would have met a woman who would love him and cherish him for his goodness. It's all too sad for words. The family, I am so sorry for your loss and will think of Ernie often. Now, normally this is something that we would share with you in the actual episode, but sometimes I find things in post-production that are a little bit interesting. So Samantha actually had one of those personal's ads for inmates. This one's on jailbabs.com, those ones that I really like to make fun of.

Starting point is 00:29:45 You got to be a little patient with us because this is just a screenshot we found. And part of it's cut off, but I'll read it how I think it's supposed to be. Since then removed, so this is what we have to work with. Yeah. My name is Sam. My nickname is Firefly. I enjoy reading, laughing, listening to music, playing video games, spending time with those I care about. I like sports.

Starting point is 00:30:06 My favorite college team is Oklahoma State. I'm a bit of a country girl at heart, but you never know it looking at me. I love to make people, I think that is probably smile. It's cut off. I'm looking for both legal help and people I can share letters. with and possibly phone calls. You missed it. You missed a line.

Starting point is 00:30:25 I missed it. I did. Okay. So it has to be smile. I love making people smile and have a big heart. I hate to cry. I'm silly at times. It can be outspoken.

Starting point is 00:30:35 I love finding magic in the world. Now we get to this part. I'm looking for both legal help and people I can share letters and possibly phone calls with. What she means is she wants you to put money on her J-pay. Please don't do that. If you feel like you might be interested, send me a letter. letter. And let's see how this turns out. She'll probably kill you. You won't regret it. I didn't know she was Mormon. So then there's her information there. She's actually shorter than me. And one other thing that should be noted here is this is the site,

Starting point is 00:31:07 jailbabs.com. Yes. It looks, this is clearly this picture here. This is very clearly AI. This is not a real person. And even reading some of this looks like AI to us. It looks like Chat GPT wrote it or something like that. Look at, look at, look at the disclaimer at the bottom. Scroll down to that part. Wee jailbapes.com except no responsibility for the accuracy of any content found within these pages. The appropriate safeguards should be used in communicating with any persons that you may meet through the service. But using the service, you agree not to hold us responsible for any cost, liabilities, attorneys fees, or attorneys fee or damages that you may incur. The ads placed on my, on my service are written by the inmates and we are only the means by which their ads are published.

Starting point is 00:31:51 To use the service, you must be at least 18 years of age. The current site is not associated with the jailbabs.com website that existed from 98 to 2001. The current jailbababes.com began in June of 2017. Look at that picture. Whenever I read stuff like this, I always wonder why do they go from referring to themselves as we and referring to themselves as my. So you see it says my service, but also we, like, whenever I see stuff that goes from like singular. to plural. I question that. Jailbames.com, Arlen Bishka,

Starting point is 00:32:26 and this is their P.O. Box in Winchester, Oregon, who runs this. So I don't know. You can apparently list a lady, newest ladies. I'm not going to, like, go through this and give any of them, any sort of publicity. You can do that. This podcast is brought to you by Carvana.

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Starting point is 00:33:23 So it looks like Arlen here is running quite a little racket. I mean, star opinion, but yes, so Samantha has stayed busy, still is looking for love in all the wrong places. I always wondered what she had going on with the other men in that story.

Starting point is 00:33:42 Now, I know one of them did have a girlfriend, but I'm kind of shocked to hear that she was not involved in any of them, that we know of. I know people have speculated on it, and I don't know if it's exactly been disproven. But I'm just surprised that these men at the drop of the hat want to go kill somebody because of basically Samantha said she's being harmed at home.

Starting point is 00:34:05 I think they just wanted to be tough. And they seemed like the whole bunch of people just seemed really sketchy. Like allow me to be mean for a second. They just probably were looking for something stupid to do and thought they were hard. You know, a lot of people do want to be tough guys, but this isn't usually how most men act this out. They just go and pick fights with people or something. They don't kidnap somebody, bring them out to the middle of nowhere and shoot them back in the head execution style. That's why it's just, it's just weird to me how just maybe these guys would have done it anyways.

Starting point is 00:34:38 Eventually, they would have killed somebody and this was their way out. But it's just so weird that she says, hey, I'm being hurt at home. And they're just like, yep, let's go. Let's do this. I find that very strange without any romantic ties. But people are strange. I mean, look at all those people in the Jessica Sacco case we just did. They didn't even really, like, two people didn't even know him that well. So if you haven't seen our coverage of Jessica Sacco's case, very tragic case, you could kind of connect these in some ways, I think.

Starting point is 00:35:09 Yeah. You know, Samantha and Ernie didn't meet online, but Samantha really wanted an online presence and cared about how she was viewed online. And her career, so to speak, didn't get off the ground. But the reason why we find similarities between Jessica Sacco's case and Ernie Abaris case is the fact how one person was able to get all of these people to cooperate for seemingly no reason whatsoever. With Jessica Sacco, Matthew Puchio wanted to kill her. And he brought all of his friends in to squat, completely trash the place. And when they knew she was being killed in the other room.

Starting point is 00:35:47 They were just like, all right, we'll help you cut up and move the body. Now some of them cut up the vice move it. And then have a happy meal after. And then have a happy meal afterwards. They went to McDonald's while they were taking a break from cut up the body. He had just met them in a library. Yes. And I just don't understand.

Starting point is 00:36:02 This is like a fascinating thing of why people are able to go along with something so heinous like this as if it's nothing. Most of those people in that murder are now walking free today because they didn't actually participate in the murder. There are other states where those people possibly would have done a lot more time. They would have got second degree murder because they were taking part in a crime while a murder was taking place. So a felony, I can't, I'm not good at words right now, but you know what I mean. But look at what happened in Ernie's case. Only one person fired that shot. But all of the people who were there for it all are now doing a long time in prison. So looking at Jessica Sacco's case and looking at Ernie's case, you really see the differences across state lines and situations.

Starting point is 00:36:55 And sometimes just even having a different judge can make the world of a difference.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Ernie Ibarra

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