True Crime Campfire - Blood Ties: An Asian-American Gothic

Episode Date: November 13, 2020

Have you ever wished you could undo one moment in your life? One harsh word you can’t take back? One horribly wrong turn? One zig that should have been a zag? I think we probably all have. There’s a theory that there are infinite universes, kind of like the reflections you see in an elevator with mirrors on both sides. But in every universe, ONE little thing is different. One choice went the opposite way—and the effects of that choice bloomed out into time, changing lots of other things in the process. Some big, some small. In one universe, your decision not to stop for that McFlurry means you didn’t get killed in a car crash. Your boyfriend didn’t marry someone else a few years later. They didn’t have kids. One of those kids didn’t grow up to be president, or cure cancer, or blow up a building. You get the idea. In the story we’re about to tell you, one choice made in anger and pain changed the course of several people’s lives, and ended several others’. Sources:https://www.washingtonian.com/2005/02/01/love-and-murder-in-great-falls/Investigation Discovery's "Deadline Crime with Tamron Hall," episode "Ghost of Great Falls"Follow us, campers!Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfireFacebook: True Crime CampfireInstagram: https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfireEmail: [e-mail] a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support.

Hello, campers. Grab your marshmallows and gather around the true crime campfire. We're your camp counselors. I'm Katie and I'm Whitney. And we're here to tell you a true story that is way stranger than fiction. We're roasting murderers and marshmallows around the true crime campfire. Have you ever wished you could undo one moment in your life? One harsh word you can't take back? One horribly wrong turn? One zig? That should have been a zag? I think we probably all have. There's a theory that there are infinite universes, kind of like the reflections you see in an elevator,

with mirrors on both sides. But in every universe, one little thing is different. One choice went the opposite way, and the effects of that choice bloomed out into time, changing lots of other things in the process. Some big, some small. In one universe, your decision not to stop for that McFlurry means you didn't get killed in a car crash.

Your boyfriend didn't marry someone else a few years later. They didn't have kids. One of those kids didn't grow up to be the president, or cure cancer, or blow up a building. You get the idea. In this story, we're about to tell you, One choice, made in anger and pain, changed the course of several people's lives and ended several others. This is Blood Ties, an Asian-American Gothic.

So, campers, we're in Great Falls, Virginia, Virginia. March 19th, 2002. Detective Steve Shillingford, who just happens, by the way, to be the first black homicide detective in Fairfax County, which is way cool, was on the phone with a tipster named Vicky Henry. Vicky had called the police department to report a crime, and one hell of a crime it was. She said, my ex killed his whole family, his mom, his dad, his brother, too. Whoa, right? Even the busiest homicide detectives don't tend to get reports about triple murder. every day. So taken aback, Detective Schillingford said,

okay, did you witness this yourself? Did you see the bodies? Vicky said, no, he just told me about it after the fact, like years after he did it. It happened years ago. At this point, Schillingford put her on hold and waved over his partner, Detective Tony, who by the way was the second Black homicide detective in Fairfax County. He said, I'm not sure I believe a word of this. She says it's her ex. Might be trying to get the dude in trouble. Tony thought he was probably right, but he said, let's set up a meeting anyway, hear what she has to say. Now, in fairness to these detectives, people call in bizarre stories all the time, and a lot of them do turn out to be total bollocks, especially stories as bug nuts as this one, and especially when it's somebody calling to rat out an X. Right.

But later that day, as they sat across from Vicky Henry and listened to her expand on her story, they started to wonder if there might actually be something to it. In 1998 she told them She'd been working as an exotic dancer At a club called the Camelot When she first met Ed Chin She said he stood out to her right away Where most guys at the strip club were crass and handsy Ed Chin seemed shy and nervous

Kind of sweet She said she felt compelled to go dance in front of him Make eye contact with him so he felt special Try and make him feel more comfortable And after her set was over She and Ed ended up talking for hours Before long they were dating then living together. Despite the fact that he didn't have a job, Ed had buckets of money.

Uh, that's a red flag. Right? Like, where are you getting all that, Edward? And he liked spreading all that cash around. He bought Vicky a new car, new designer clothes, beautiful jewelry, all kinds of stuff. She got the impression he had family money. Their relationship was passionate, but volatile too. On again, off again, big rip-roaring fights. Sometimes Vicky would get physically violent with Ed. And Ed's friends didn't like her at all. Not only because of their tumultuous relationship, but because, well, Ed was a generous guy. He liked throwing money at his friends, but once Vicky came around, that gravy train kind of got diverted. What great friends. They were clearly just looking out for Eddie. Right. Vicky found out right away that Ed was reluctant to talk about his family.

For quite a while, she just had to kind of wonder about them. But then one night she went looking for Ed in their house, and found him crumpled up on the bathroom floor crying. And when she asked him what was wrong, he told her this awful story. They were all dead, from a horrible series of events that had unfolded like evil dominoes, one falling after the other. First, his brother had been shot and killed on the rough streets of Taiwan, he said. Then his father had died of a heart attack not long after, from the stress, no doubt.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, his poor mother took her own life out of grief. So, dear God, like, could that be any worse? It's like a really depressing soap opera, or like a modern-day Chekhov play. So, of course, Vicky felt awful for him. His whole family just, poof, gone. He was all alone in the world. But then, one afternoon, Vicky went looking for something in the dresser drawer, and she found a whole big Pandora's box in there waiting for her.

Apparently, Ed didn't know how to cover his ass. Because there were three passports in there, recent ones, one for Wuhan Chen, one for Shia Yuma Chen, and one for Raymond Chen. Ed's parents and older brother, who were all supposed to have died back in Taiwan. Well, if that were true, then why were their passports here in the States? Not only that, Ed had their IDs. He had a stack of bills and bank statements in their names, recent ones, active bank accounts. Why the hell did he have bank accounts in his family's names? Why was he still getting bills for them? Ed tried to sidestep her questions about all this, but finally he cracked. It had all started, he told her, when he'd fallen in love with his

dream girl. The problem? She was white, and his parents were not having that. To keep him away from the woman, he said, his parents sent him back to Taiwan. It broke his heart, felt like a betrayal. And as soon as he could manage it, he told her, he'd snuck back to the States, bought a rifle, crept into the house in the dead of night, and shot them. And his older brother, too. Dang. The investigator stopped Vicky here.

This family has never been reported missing. No bodies matching their descriptions have ever turned up. What did he do to them after he killed them? Vicky's answer was a stunner. He just left them there, she said, in their big, beautiful mansion right where they took their last breaths for four years. And then finally, he'd disposed at them. Okay.

Holy shit. So the investigators had done a little homework on Vicky and Ed, and they discovered that there was a police record of their volatile relationship. In 2000, Ed had called the cops on Vicki for domestic assault. When the cops arrived, Vicky told the arresting officers that he'd stolen his brother's identity. But apparently nothing had come over that at the time. So between that and the fact that Vicky acknowledged she had no direct proof of any of this stuff, she hadn't seen the bodies herself, they wondered if she could be full of shit. This could be nothing. more than a false report by a vindictive ex.

Or, as Detective Tony put it, maybe she was putting a little cream on top. Embellishing a story with a tiny grain of truth. But Vicky said, ask Mandy. She'll back me up. Who was Mandy? Turns out, Mandy Colby was the true love who allegedly inspired the murders.

The white girl Ed's Taiwanese parents could never accept. She was also Ed Chen's first wife, married, obviously, after the murders. And according to Vicky, she and Mandy had talked about Ed's horror story before. Compared notes, I guess. Detectives Tony and Schillingford were still skeptical, but they hauled ass over to Mandy's address, wanting to get to her before Vicky could and prevent any chance of the two of them getting their stories straight. Mandy seemed confused about why they were there. She said, is this about my friend's car accident last week?

When the detective said no, she sort of dropped her head and said, oh, my ex-husband Ed Chen. He killed his family. Bingo. Somewhat surprisingly, Mandy agreed to talk. She said, that guy needs to be put away. She said she'd been expecting a visit like this from detectives for years. She told them, I never said anything, even after the divorce, because I was scared he'd come after me next. And it seemed like she might have good reasons to be scared.

In 2000, Mandy had stopped a police officer and told him a creepy story. She said she'd started having some car trouble, so she took her car to a mechanic, and the mechanic told her that her gas line had been cut. Fucking yikes, that gives me goosebumps. She thought Eddie must be behind it. She told the police officer the whole sordid story, but prepare to roll your eyes so hard they fall out your ears, the officer wrote down the wrong address, and then just never followed up.

The file was eventually marked closed. Kachah, bud. Way to serve and protect. Makes you feel so safe when you hear those stories, doesn't it? Mandy eventually told her boyfriend the whole story, but she was so scared that she wrote it out on a dry erase board for him to read, just in case Ed was somehow listening. And when the police never came to follow up with her, she thought Ed must have gotten out of it somehow.

Charmed the cops or bribed them, or just somehow lied convincingly enough to sloth. lied out of trouble. And then, of course, she was extra terrified. She wrote a two-page note and gave it a friend telling him, don't read it, put it in a safe place. If I'm ever murdered, take it out and give it to the police. What a way to live your life for years on end. Jesus, Murphy. She told Detective Schillingford and Tony that she'd met Ed Chen in high school. They were in ROTC together, and he used to drive her home. Such a nice, wholesome start to a very unwholesome story, isn't it? Back then, she thought Ed was the bee's knees, like pretty much everybody else seemed to.

He seemed kind, generous with his family's wealth. He drove nice cars. Everybody's parents thought he was a great influence because he was so polite. Yeah. Beware of the polite ones, y'all. Remember Eddie Haskell from Leave It to Beaver? Mm-hmm. Ed seemed to have decided that if he couldn't be popular because of his charisma or talents,

he wasn't good at sports or a super great student, he'd be popular because he had flashy cars and bought him. people's stuff. And it worked, unsurprisingly, because teenagers are greedy little shits. I mean, not that adults aren't, actually. I should just say humans generally tend to be greedy little shits. Ed was born in Taiwan, and his wealthy parents still spent a lot of their time over there, but they had a gorgeous big mansion in Great Falls, too. Ed's father, Wu Hong, owned an HVAC company in Taiwan called Super Enterprise Company, and he was a property manager for homes and apartments all over Virginia.

There were whispers around town that Wuhan might be involved in money laundering, but nobody seemed to have any proof. Ed's mom, Shia Yuma, worked at Taipei Engineering Development. She spoke no English, which obviously made it tough for her to socialize here in the States.

Raymond was Ed's older brother, and he was the one in charge of doling out Ed's allowance. Ed seemed to be the only member of the family who wanted to assimilate into American culture, probably because he was the youngest. Mandy liked Ed, but their relationship never really materialized in high school. When Mandy got pregnant by another boy at 16 and married him, Ed came to the wedding.

And I know it's going to shock everybody to hear that this first marriage didn't work out for Mandy. You're shitting me. I know. You mean they married at 16 and it didn't work out? With a child? Yeah, I know. I can't believe it. It's true.

It's true. Mandy's first marriage went down in flames, and soon after that, she and Ed reconnected. They were still in high school at this point, so they went to prom together. Can you imagine having a divorce under your belt before your high school graduation? I literally can't. But you know what, props to Mandy for staying in school despite a kid in a failing marriage. I mean, for real, I got to give a respect for that. Yeah. God, I can't even.

Ed and Mandy were in big hormonal teenage love, but Ed knew perfectly well his family were never going to accept her. When he started school at the University of Virginia, Ed used his allowance money to rent two apartments, one that his family knew about, and one secret one where he lived with Mandy. Very romantic. Ed's parents didn't know about the love nest, but they did know about Mandy, and they were as expected. did grumpy as fuck about it. They hated the idea of their son dating a divorcee with a child to take care of. And Big Brother Raymond was on the same page as his parents.

After Raymond got wind of the secret apartment, he showed up and invited one day and just ordered Ed to leave. And Ed did it. Good Lord. That's the kind of psychological grip his family had over him. He didn't even try to resist. Raymond also wrote Mandy this just charming note. Just because you eat Chinese food or learn a few kicks, you would not understand our culture. Ed is a good catch, and I can see why you're interested in him, but we expect more of him.

We expect him to go to the best school and marry the best girl. I wish you luck with you and your daughter. You must live with the consequences of your actions. My parents are heartbroken. and over your relationship. Damn. Ouch. Yeah, that must have been super fun for her to read.

So basically it's like, we can see why you'd want to snag him, but you're not good enough for our brother, you dirty, dirty whore. Basically, that was the gist. And by the way, Camper's, most of the direct quotes from letters and whatnot are from a terrific article by Anne Limpert

called Love and Murder in Great Falls. Soon after that, Ed went out of town for a job interview and just didn't come back. When Mandy led herself into Ed's apartment the next day, all his stuff was gone. When she finally heard from him, he told her he was in Taiwan, getting his wisdom teeth removed. He said he'd be there a little while, but he'd be sending her some money soon. Um, I guess there aren't any good dentists in Great Falls. Great story, man.

In reality, of course, the Chen's heads shipped their youngest boy off to get him away from his unacceptable girlfriend. Yeah, and there are rumors that they had him committed to a mental institution for a while over there, but I'm not sure if those have been confirmed, and the detectives involved with the case don't think so. They think the parents just sent him off for a while, just hoping that he'd forget about Mandy. At the end of summer, 1995, Ed got in touch with Mandy again. He seemed depressed, needy, but he told her they didn't have to worry about his parents anymore. They were going to leave him alone from now on. Mandy assumed he'd been disowned. Eventually, though, he told her a bizarre story. He said, his parents had made him a deal. If he'd kill someone,

they wanted out of the way, they'd let him do whatever he wanted. Date, whoever he wanted. Jesus Christ. So he said he'd done it. It was the only way to get him off his back, the only way he and Mandy could be together in peace. He said the body was in his parents' house. The Chen spent a lot of time in Taiwan, so this seemed plausible. But the more Mandy asked him about it, the more the little details of Ed's story changed. The body was upstairs. It was downstairs. It was this. It was that. Mandy had a feeling she was not getting the full story, so she kept at him about it. And finally, Ed cracked. He said, okay, I'm going to tell you the truth.

But if you ever tell anyone, I'll kill your daughter. Yikes. Ed said he'd come back from Taiwan. and found out some chilling news. His family was plotting to kill Mandy. When he found that out, he told her he just snapped. He went to Kmart and bought a hunting rifle, and on August 17th, he waited until they'd all gone to bed,

and the house was dark and quiet. He shot his brother Raymond first. Raymond wasn't asleep. He knew exactly who his killer was. What he must have been thinking in that last moment, we can only imagine. Next, Ed went to his parents' bedroom. His father woke up and saw him, tried to get up out of bed but got tangled up in the covers and panic.

Ed dropped him with one shot, and he fell at the foot of the bed. He shot his mother as she lay in bed, helpless to protect herself. Ed said he was sure that one of the neighbors must have heard the gunshots and called the police, so he sat on the front steps of the mansion and just waited. But nobody came. And eventually, Ed realized that nobody was going to, so he just got up and left. and went on with his life. He took care of the house to make sure the neighbors didn't suspect anything

and told people his family had gone back to Taiwan indefinitely. Now, speaking to the detectives, Mandy said, I was very, very much in love with that at the time, and that was unconditional and blind. I figured if he, who I cared so much about and was such a good person, did this, he must have had a good reason. She said she didn't really think his motive was to protect her from his family, though. The idea that they would be plotting to kill her seemed pretty far-fetched, and I'd actually agree with that.

Same. But, of course, it's also pretty bonkers to stay very, very much in love with a guy who's just threatened to murder your daughter if you narc on him. So, you know, who can say what's normal in this bad old world? Mandy said she didn't see the bodies, not then. But not long after he confessed to her, Ed and Mandy were over at the mansion doing yard work. Had to keep that homeowners association at Bay, see. In any camper who's ever dealt with one of these or a condo board, you know what I'm talking about. Those people are freaking relentless.

Uber, mega, supercarons on steroids. They live to catch people violating the rules. Your grass is 0.5 millimeters longer than regulation? Find. Got weeds? Find. Had the audacity to paint your front door orange or put a chicken coop in the backyard. Oh, my God, are you fined?

They will rain down their vengeance upon thee, and you will know their name is the H.R. Yeah, we used to have one of the chairwomen in the HOA in our neighborhood that drove around the neighborhood in a golf cart to write up citations. And now I have a visceral reaction upon seeing a golf cart. Like, I'm like, like, you hear the little v. And you're like, oh, God, she's coming. And like, you hear the apocalypse now music in your head. Exactly. Yeah, we have one in our neighborhood and it's not so bad now, but that's only because there was a coup a couple of years ago to overthrow this freaking walking nightmare of an ultra Karen who ruled with an iron fist

for years and years. This woman was out of control and it pains me to say it because she also has the cutest little golden doodle doggo. So obviously I absolve the golden doodle of any responsibility whatsoever, but his mama is a blue-haired fascist and I don't care who hairs

me to say it. She used to go around taking pictures of the yards that didn't meet her standards and then she'd shame the homeowners on Facebook. Wow. Yeah. Like, really mean, like in all caps. I used to blow dandelion fluff into her front yard whenever I'd walked by because she was a dictator campers and dictators must be overthrown.

Absolutely. This bitch would try to find you if you had like a weed in your yard. She was unequivocally the worst human being who has ever drawn breath. No exaggeration. But fortunately, a plucky band of neighbors got together at the library and overthrew her overpunch and cookies. So it's all good now. Man, the idea of smashing fascists over cookies and punch is delightful. Isn't it, though?

And let me tell you, you can accomplish a lot with little grassroots meetings in library conference rooms. Many a bad leader has been brought down by the three peas, perseverance, punch, and pecan swirls. It's true. It's true. Anyway, Ed and Mandy were doing yard work at his parents' house, and Mandy had to use the restroom. So Ed told her she could use the one inside. As soon as she walked into the house, she could smell a horrible, sickly, sweet odor. She didn't have to wonder what it was, but she used the restroom as fast as she could and then got the hell out of there.

And then, in November, she got pregnant. Feeling extra desperate to hold on to Ed now that they had a baby on the way and feeling like this would bind them together somehow, Mandy asked to see the bodies. Oh, my Lord. She told the detectives later that, quote, there was a certain amount of morbid curiosity, too. She wanted to see if it was really true. On some level, I think it wasn't real to her until this moment. She said that when they got inside the house, the smell was overpowering.

They dropped essential oils onto painters' masks to help with the smell. That's a mistake, by the way. It's just going to make it worse. Yeah. The silence of the lambs lied to you. All you're going to smell is a touch of lavender. with a whole lot of e d'amour. Gross.

Mandy said the smell burned her eyes. Oh, my God. In the parents' room, Mandy could see Mrs. Chen's little feet sticking out from under the blankets. Mr. Chen was on the floor

with a trash can over his head. Mandy stood transfixed, staring at the product of her boyfriend's rage, while Ed went to go look at the thermostat. She never went in. into Raymond's room. You know, a trash can over the head, that's remorse.

Yeah, on some level, right? Like, you doesn't want to see the face, doesn't want to see the eyes. But the fact that it's like a trash can versus a pillow is really, like, that is a detail. I didn't think about that, actually. I was just thinking of the aspect of trying to cover the eyes or trying to cover the face. But you're right, the fact that it's a trash can when there were pillows and bedding available, that might be a little something extra going on. That's a good point. That detail actually really messed me up for a few days because I was like, This is what he thought of his father. Yeah, put a trash can out of his head.

So maybe it's the opposite of remorse, actually, now that think about it. Yeah, I think it's probably a weird Freudian combination of both, actually. An example of true ambivalence. Ed, who, I'm sure, was tickled pink to have an accomplice, asked for advice on what to do with the bodies. He had considered arson, and the yard work he'd been doing included a little light grave diggin, which he hadn't finished yet because that shit is hard. And Mandy told him, no, wild animals will get to them. Helpful. See, she's helpful, is why I like about Mandy. Did it ever, you know, I don't know, occur to you to go to the police, girl?

I know you love the guy. I mean, how could you not? What was him threatening your child's life and all? I mean, that's going to warm the cockles of any mother's heart. But come on. The phone was right there. So for the time being, Ed just left them there, where they fell. And life went on for him and Mandy.

They eventually got married, and the generosity train didn't stop. He took a gang of their friends on their honeymoon in Mexico. He bought cars from Mandy and their friends, paid for lavish vacations, put down payments on houses. And, of course, all the money came from those three bodies lying in the dark of that big, empty house. Ed sold off his parents' properties, started playing the stock market, and took over his parents' accounts. Financial investigators would eventually find accounts in his family's names, with nearly $4 million in them. So after hearing this whole strange story from Mandy, Detective Schillingworth and Tony took her home and went straight to their boss. Then they called

the prosecutor, Robert Horan, and of course he was fascinated. But the problem was they didn't have much to go on. No bodies, no gun, no physical evidence, no eyewitnesses to the actual murders, and no clear motive, really. The accusers were both Ed Chen's exes. So presumably they each had a bone to pick with the guy. And in Mandy's case, Ed had custody of their daughter. That could be a terrific reason to lie. But after talking with both Vicky and Mandy, the detectives were convinced that Something bad had happened to the Chens, so they did some old-fashioned detective work. They went to the Chens' house, which Ed had sold a while back. Interestingly, the new owners had only paid $200,000 for it,

an incredible deal in a house with a market value of a million dollars. Hmm. Eager to unload the place for some reason, Ed? Bad memories? Or just sick of having to mow the damn lawn once a week? The new owner told the detectives that the house had been a mess inside when they first bought it. parts of the walls and ceilings had fallen in, the first floor had flooded when a pipe burst, they'd spent another 200 grand just to rehab it. They said there was no weird smell, though, apart from that whiff of mildew you usually get with a flooding. The owner showed them pictures of the damage and gave them a little tour of the place,

now renovated and beautiful again. In the main bedroom, they pointed out the new flooring they'd installed when they moved in. Detective Tony said, did you pull out the floor that was underneath the floorboards too, or is that still there? It was still there, the new owner said, and funny he should ask, there was a big circular stain on that sub-flooring, right at the foot of the bed, right where Wuhan Chen had died, according to Mandy and Vicky's story. The detectives didn't waste any time. They called in the crime scene investigators and got to work pulling up that floor. Meanwhile, they checked gun ownership registrations, and lo and behold, Ed Chen had indeed purchased a rifle on August 15, 1995. Now they were cooking with gas.

A little more digging confirmed Vicky and Mandy's allegation that Ed had been using his brother's identity. Ed had a driver's license on record with a picture of himself, but the name Raymond Chen. They confirmed that he'd been meticulously paying the property taxes on his parents' house. They also discovered that a neighbor had once gone over to talk to the Chens about the state of their pool. I guess Eddie Boy wasn't taken care of that very well, probably because it was in the backyard and less likely to arrive. roused suspicion, and it had basically turned into a frog habitat, which I have no problem with personally, but I guess it bothered the neighbor. When the neighbor got up to the door of the house, she could see through the windows that sheetrock had fallen down from the ceiling in one of

the front rooms, and somebody seemed to have been digging in the front yard. She told the detective she remembered thinking, I wonder if somebody's buried over there. Now, campers, we've said this before. The things we think and say in jest can sometimes be our intuition trying to come out. Humor, especially dark humor, can be like a steam valve for our instincts, so we should pay attention to it. But by and large, the neighbors hadn't given much thought to the Chens, or the fact that nobody had laid eyes on them for years. They knew they traveled back and forth to Taiwan a lot, and they'd never been a sociable family. They'd always kept themselves to themselves. This is totally how it would be, by the way, if my husband and I both croaked at the same time,

God forbid in our house, our neighbors wouldn't notice or care, and our cats would devour our bodies. And only then would anybody be alerted by their angry little faces in the window. Mowing. Hello. Treetos are gone now. We need help. Well, rest assured that I will know. You will know because we text each other constantly.

That's true. If one of us doesn't respond for like two hours, the other one's like, we're worried. Yes, definitely. Earlier tonight, I was like, you okay, baby? Maybe. Like, oh, I just woke up from now. Okay, good. Just checking. Very codependent. But, like, in a good way. Good codependency. So, anywho, Ed told some people his family had died in a car crash back in Taiwan. He told their Taiwanese friends they died in a car crash here. So that was how he kept a lid on things,

kept people from snooping around. While, of course, also spilling his guts to not one but two of his girlfriends. Dipshit. Okay, so remember earlier I told him. you about that two-page note Mandy wrote and sealed up and gave to a friend for safekeeping, the one that basically said, don't open this unless I end up dead. Well, detectives Tony and Schillingford figured that note might still be around and damned if they didn't manage to track down the friend and find it. He said he'd done just as Mandy asked him to. He'd put it in a box, still sealed and unread, and left it there. I wonder how much it tortured him over the years, don't you? I'd be so tempted to open it. Oh, so much. So the detectives, with Mandy's permission, of course, tore open

that bad boy. At the top of the page, Mandy had carefully written her name, birth date, and social security number. The letter began, I have contacted the police about the events I'm going to describe in this letter, she wrote, but I worry that I will be killed before I get to give all the crucial details needed to put this to rest. The letter went on to out. The letter went on to out line pretty much exactly what Mandy had already told them, with a few tantalizing extras. She said when she'd told Ed she was pregnant with his baby, he told her he'd stay with her if she'd help him bury his family. Pass.

I know, right? The bar was so effing low. Mandy, sweetheart, baby, I know you loved him. but you got to love yourself. And I actually hate that rhetoric so much because it insinuates that there are prerequisites to deserving love, which is not the case. But baby, sweetheart, you do not deserve to be loved by someone like Ed Chen. Amen to that.

Christ. Okay. But she married him. And it didn't last as relationships based on quid pro quo tend not to do. shocking. I know. He dumped her not long after their wedding to be with another woman. This guy has got a got dang nerve. Good Lord. He came back to her after a while though and they tried to make another go of it. But again, it didn't work. A year into their marriage, they were already filing for divorce. I'm so sorry, campers. I know you all thought these two

kids were going to make it work. I guess Vicky came along soon after their divorce. Mandy had ended her letter by saying, He told me he chopped them up and dumped them somewhere. I know his friend Bill showed him how to navigate a certain place. Bill. Who was Bill? They asked Mandy for the last name and she gave it up without hesitation. Bill Sturgis. So they put an officer to work to track him down. And in the meantime, they went back to talk to Vicky again, the recent ex, the one who'd alerted them to the story in the first place. She answered the door of her ritzy little townhouse drinking a glass of champagne. Oh, that's a look.

I'm going to start doing that anytime the UPS guy shows up. Or actually, maybe not, because now that just sounds like the start of a porno. But I would like to get one of those flowy, feathery penwar things that you see advertised. you know, the ones that make you look like a rich widow who just offered her husband for the life insurance money because those are really pretty. I think the world would be a much more fun place if people were more mysterious like that.

Oh, yes, officer, come in. My husband made the most incredible roast. Oh, I'm sorry, you can't speak to him. He just left. So they sat Vicky down and they told her, look, we're trying to put together a case here. but it would be a lot stronger if we could hear it from Ed's own mouth. They asked her if she'd be willing to call Ed so they could tape the call.

She was hesitant at first, scared she wouldn't be able to play it off, scared Ed would know immediately that she was trying to set him up. But Tony was a master at building rapport, and he just chatted with Vicky for a bit. He asked her about her interests, told her she'd be a good after, actress, found out her favorite drink was Jose Cuervo tequila, and after a while, Vicky warmed up enough to agree to the call. But as these things so often seemed to go, it fizzled. Ed didn't pick up his phone. Ugh. What, what? And after that, Vicky told Tony and Schillingford that she had to

go run a couple of errands, and she ushered them out the door. So worried she might be be headed over to warn Ed that they were onto him, the detectives called an unmarked car to follow her. But they needn't have worried. She was just meeting a gentleman caller at a hotel. Satisfied they didn't need to worry about her ratting them out to Ed, Detective Tony had a little brainstorm. He in Shillingford went to a liquor store and bought a nice bottle of Jose Cuervo, Vicki's favorite. And later that day, they went back to her townhouse. Obviously, she was feeling warmer toward the detectives by now. I mean, they brought her tequila, so why wouldn't she be? Which is that a normal thing?

for a detective to do to bring a witness in a case, a bottle of booze? I wouldn't think so, but whatever. I guess you do what works. At one point, she looked over at Schillingford, motioned at her boobs, and said, Hey, Steve, these are real.

Good to know. Good to know, Vicks. You know, I know I can't sleep nights until I'm sure everybody's clear on the status of my bazooms. Because, you know, if I didn't tell them, everybody just be killing themselves trying to figure it out. If you're not sending your pals a bazzoom status check every day, what's the point of friendship?

Still real. Still no silicone in there. So after they'd gotten those formalities out of the way, you know, the tequila and the titty talk, Vicky made her call. And this time, Ed answered. And for the next half hour, Vicky kept him on the phone. And we'll just read you a little snippet of the conversation. I'll be Vicky and Katie will be Ed. So, in this part of the conversation, Vicky's telling Ed that the police had been questioning her about Ed's family and she feels like she's about to crack.

Now, this is obviously designed to get him to say something like, if you tell the police I killed my parents, I'll make sure nobody ever finds your body or something like that. Okay, so here we go. I can't do this anymore. What? How would you feel if you had to hold a secret like that? I would hold it well. I wouldn't say shit. That's part of the deal.

You keep secrets. Do you miss your parents? Don't you know it's on my mind every minute of my life? Would you do it again? No way. If I could pick just one moment to change, just one, it would be that. So this was pretty hot stuff, but it wasn't exactly a confession. Vicky hadn't gotten Ed to come right out and say he'd killed his family.

Dang. Yeah, that was disappointing. Although, if you ask me, if you played that tape to a jury, they'd probably connect the dots just fine. But it was okay Because the devil works hard But campers, the crime scene unit works harder Damn right And back at the mansion in Great Falls

The Tex had pulled up the hardwood floors In the main bedroom revealing a dark Circular stain on the subfloor One of the CSIs took a little chunk of the wood And dunked it in phenothaline Which turns a sort of hot pink color In the presence of blood And y'all, that liquid blushed

Like a millennial at a Harry Styles concert Which meant it was was presumptive for blood. So the detectives went back to ADA Horan like, huh, now, huh? Can we put the gravis on him? But the prosecutor was squirrely. They still didn't have any bodies.

It was time to talk to Bill Sturgis. Bill had led a pretty tough life. His parents divorced when he was little, and his mother fell in with Hell's Angels. You know, the biker gang? Bill started using drugs really young, and he eventually dropped out of, of school because of addiction. After hitting rock bottom, though, he managed to put it, pull himself

up off the floor. He got clean, got his degree, and became a mechanic. He met Ed Chen through his work, and they became fast friends. In fact, Bill became Ed's main confidant. Ed told Bill all about his parents, how cruel and controlling they were, how they made Ed feel like he didn't have any say in his own life. For a while, Bill had sort of been the older brother figure for Ed. He thought of himself as a good guy, a good dad to the little girl he'd had with Mandy. By all accounts, this was true, by the way. Ed adored his daughter. So when Detective Tony arrived and started asking questions about Ed, Bill did not want to cooperate. But they told him, Look, man, we know what Ed asked you to do.

You might as well, come with me and have a talk. You help us out, we can work out a deal, and you can walk away free and clear. Bill was skeptical of this. He thought for sure he was going to the clink. At first, he only answered Tony's questions with yeses and knows. He didn't know yet what the crime scene text had found at the house. But pretty soon, as Tony talked and Bill listened, he realized he was pretty much fucked if he didn't cooperate.

The cops obviously knew a lot more than he thought they did, so Bill finally cracked. He said, one night he and Ed were watching a movie where the characters had to dispose of a dead body. And suddenly, Ed turned around and said, if you had to get rid of some bodies, how would you do it? Bill just figured it was movie talk. he said, well, I would take them apart, put them on a bag, and drop them in the ocean.

And at this point, who among us haven't had this conversation? Just, just me? Oh. No, me too. Okay, so us. All right, never mind. FBI agent, I know you're listening. Just disregard.

Bill didn't think much of this conversation at the time, but a few days later, Ed dropped a bomb. He actually had some bodies to dispose of, and he needed Bill's help. Yeah, that's a fun conversation. So I have some bodies, like not even a body. Some bodies. Jesus, creases. Three bodies, in fact. But, you know, Bill had been around the hell's angels as a kid.

For him, this was just kind of, huh. Okay. Although I imagine he didn't raise an eyebrow when Ed told him that the body. in question had sat moldering in a house for four years. Ed took Bill to the house and let Bill go upstairs to look at the bodies. By this point, they were completely mummified, and I assume pretty horrifying to look at. But Ed was his friend, and he was asking Bill for help. And in Bill's eyes, Ed was still Ed. Still a good father, a good friend, a good person. Yeah, well, Bill didn't have to be married to him, and I imagine he never threatened to kill Bill's daughter if he told on

him. So, you know, good for Bill, but no. But of course, Ed had told him for years about how awful his family were, so I'm sure he didn't really see them as people, just enemies of his friend. And now, standing in the room with the husks of his former parents, Ed made Bill a deal. If he'd help him get rid of the bodies, Ed would pay him a hundred grand and buy him a BMW. Bill said he was in. So he and Ed went shopping. They bought a boat, a reciprocal saw, plastic bags, cement, masks, coveralls, painter's masks, and gym bags for easy transport. Ed let Bill do all the hard work of cutting up the bodies. That was kind of him. He put the body parts in the gym bags and then poured concrete directly into the bags and left them to harden. Bill had done something for his buddy Ed that

most friends would never even consider doing. But after the dirty deed was done, Ed started pulling away from his friend slash accomplice. Imagine getting ghosted after helping somebody dispose of three bodies. That's cold, man. It's ice world right there. And I'm curious, would you help your best friend dispose of a body campers or three bodies?

Let us know on social media. We promise not to tell the FBI. Wink, wink. So after his interview with Detective Tony, Bill was free to go. After all, they'd promised him he could walk if he'd cooperate. Plus, the statute of limitations on disposing of bodies illegally was

only a year, and it had passed already. Tony called up his partner, and they went once again to the prosecutor. Okay, now can we go grab him? Come on, dude. And this time, Adia Horan said, yes. It was habeas-grabba's time for Eddie Chin. They found him at home with his daughter, who had a little friend over. When he answered the door, Detective Schillingford introduced himself, and then he said, Ed, the lie is over.

Ed took it calmly, even when his daughter, Samantha, had to watch him be handcuffed. detective shillingford went over to talk to the little girl and she asked him if he wanted to see her doll collection so as she showed him all her barbies and bears he gently explained as well as he could given her age that he had to take her dad away for a while he let ed hug her goodbye another detective watched the kids while ed chin was taken in and as they were driving away he looked back at his daughter and said i know i'll never see her again which is just horribly sad and something i really wish he'd thought about before he did what he did. I mean, I know she wasn't born yet then, but surely he knew that what he was doing would have consequences. Ed never ended up testifying in court, but he did tell Detective Shillingford, I bought a hunting rifle at Kmart,

and one night I really lost my nerve, lost my mind, and I did it. On December 9, 2002, Ed pled guilty to three counts of first-degree murder. His cohort of accomplices slash confidants, Vicky, Mandy, and Bill all agreed to testify against him. Bill said

Even though the crime of murder is a selfish crime, Ed is an unselfish person. He's already convicted himself. He spent the rest of his life making up for it. Getting away with it is harder than getting caught. He wasn't

a happy person. If it was my choice, I'd have him with his daughter. He was a great father, something I lacked as a child which just roughly translates to I have daddy issues and instead of dealing with them I'm suggesting that being a good dad makes up for triple murder which is just go to therapy bill

yeah I'm not a happy person isn't really a get out of jail free card for a triple homicide bill my dude you can't massacre your entire family because you don't like them telling you what to do you were a grown-ass man Ed you could have dated anybody you wanted. My parents didn't like any of my boyfriends until I met my husband, and they didn't want me dating them, and that had exactly

zero practical effect on my decision making process. I mean, they were right. I acknowledge now that they were right, and those dudes were scuss buckets, but at the time, I did what the hell I wanted. Like a pissed off 19-year-old is supposed to do Ed. So why didn't you get that memo?

And, you know, I get it. There was a sharp cultural divide going on, and his family obviously had a tight psychological grip on him. And for all we know, they might have sucked out loud, but he did not have the right to kill him for it. And I wonder if that was even the motive. I mean, what do you think? Did he kill them because they were trying to run his life and he felt trapped by their expectations?

Or was it about the money or a little bit of both? Yeah, that's an excellent question. I think it was probably a little column A, little column B. I think he was afraid if he defied them, they'd probably cut him off financially. And I think also Ed felt like the main reason he was well liked was because he had money. And he wasn't afraid to share it. So it was probably a little of both, I think. He probably did feel smothered, but also I think he was worried he was going to get cut off.

I agree. And in the end, Mandy got custody of Samantha, their daughter, got married, and had a third kid. She still writes to Ed in jail, and he's still in contact with the daughter. Yeah, and as for Ms. Vicky, this is pretty funny. She tried to take $12,000 from the Chen's bank account in Taiwan by pretending to be Ed's mom. good call, Vicky. So she ended up charged with concealing a felony, not reporting financial crimes, and committing wire fraud internationally, which was not smart. She pled guilty and spent 60 days in jail, and I'd say she got real lucky, because that's not a lot of time for those charges. She told the court that she was pulling out that 12K for Ed's daughter, Samantha, per his request, but it will probably surprise no one to hear that the authorities have not been able to substantiate that. And one more fun little detail, despite Vicky using Mandy as an ally to corroborate her story with detectives, those two apparently hated each other's guts.

Now why? I'm not sure, but I bet there are some stories to tell there, right? And I wish we knew them. So that was a wild one, right, campers? You know we'll have another one for you next week. But for now, lock your doors, light your lights, and stay safe until we get together again around the true crime campfire. and we want to send a shout out to a few of our newest patrons. Thank you so much to Taylor, Diane, Jennifer, and Maddie. We appreciate you to the moon and back. And if you're not yet a patron, you're missing out. Patrons of our show get every episode ad-free, at least today early, sometimes more,

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