True Crime with Kimbyr - Best Friends’ Summer Turns Deadly: The Elizabeth Peña Tragedy : Part 2

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

The heartbreaking story of Elizabeth Peña continues in Part 2 of True Crime with Kimbyr, where Kimbyrleigha unravels the events leading up to the girls’ final night. As Elizabeth and her best friend try to make the most of their summer, they unknowingly step into a dangerous situation that spirals beyond control. What began as a night of freedom turns into a descent into fear and betrayal. With intimate insight and careful detail, Kimbyrleigha breaks down the chilling timeline—raising the question: who could do this to two innocent teens? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Flies lay eggs that turn into maggots, which are tiny worm-like bugs, that then eat their surroundings, which again are remains. This cycle happens very quickly within 24 hours, and thousands of them could be in just one area of a body. And in this case, the region where the bugs had infested was in the southern region in the private part. And I'm sorry to say that, but I also want to tell you as much of the facts as I can without being too graphic. There were thousands in that area, which was now pretty non-existent. And the same went for other regions. The bugs were attracted to blood and the moist areas on the body and were also infested on cuts on the skin, wounds on the legs. And they were also concentrated on her belly button and her right rib cage, which were also wounded.

The investigators did not remove the shirt that was over her head for the time being as they moved on to the second victim, who was also partially clothed. Her body now bloated from the intense Texas heat, which was close to the mid-90s the entire week. And despite the advanced decomposition, one detail stood out, her fingernails. They were neatly manicured, painted with bright red nail polish. The gruesome aftermath of animal and insect activity had ravaged her body, leaving only a skull where her face once was. Her eyes and tongue were no longer. Her jaw had been broken and it appeared an animal had most likely pulled at it.

leaving it hanging on just one side. Her body was also red in color, and where wounds had once been on her arms, there was now just bone, the right wrist to her shoulder, as the muscle and skin had been eaten away. The left arm was almost completely black in color, and I wanted to discuss this discoloration or the different colors of remains

that they go through in this decomposition process, because it can be a sign of how long a body has been somewhere. We know in this case, there's a pretty solid timeline, but normally in death investigations, there's not. Since the officers mentioned red, this is most likely post-mortem suglation, which you probably know as liver mortis or levidity. I'm learning this in class right now. It's a pulling of the blood when circulation stops,

and the color becomes fixed within a few hours. Then it will go from red to green and then even to black, as one of the officers stated observing. It's sad, but this is also science. Now, back at Spring Hill apartment complex, Gina was waiting anxiously to hear an update. Her heart was heavy with worry. It had been days since her friends Elizabeth and Jennifer had disappeared, and the silence

wait on her. She knew she could have been one of the last people to have ever seen them. As she sat nervously waiting and watching the clock, the phone rang, jarring her from her thoughts. On the other end of the line was a mutual friend of theirs, Vanessa Rivera, and she delivered news that would shake Gina to her core. She told her that the police had found two dead bodies in T.C. Jester Park. But the way she said it was like, they found them.

They found their bodies. And Gina was like, what are you talking about? Vanessa was hysterical. And then she explained, Jennifer and Elizabeth, I think they found their bodies. Her voice was now shaking with fear. And panic was surging through Gina. She just kept saying, oh, my God. But she was finally able to get out the words, where?

Where are they? And Vanessa said, right outside your apartment, the police are out there right now. Vanessa then rushed over to me, Gina. so they could go down there together. Once they rushed outside, they crossed the street to where a crowd had already gathered near the crime scene. The air was so thick with tension,

they said they could feel it, and crime scene tape was everywhere. People were whispering amongst themselves, speculating about the identity of the bodies. Gina and Vanessa pushed their way through the crowd of onlookers desperate for answers about their friends, hoping it wasn't them, but it seemed way too close to home, not to be, sadly.

Amid the commotion, she spotted a familiar face, Sean O'Brien, a neighbor from her apartment complex, standing with two young boys. Sean's voice cut through the murmurs in the crowd. His words were laced with anger. He said, you two, he was shouting at the boys, are not allowed in T.C. Jester Park anymore. Those bastards who did this to those poor girls better get caught soon. But Gina barely registered his words because her mind was racing with one overwhelming question, where the bodies found in the park, her friends, Elizabeth and Jennifer, or not? Would she be able to breathe a sigh of relief, or would she be faced with grief? She stood there overwhelmed with dread, praying that the answer

wasn't what she feared the most. Meanwhile, Randy Ertman was grappling with the same desperate questions. He had heard the news about the bodies found at T.C. Jester Park, and he rushed to the scene. Barreling through the crowd, he shouted, does she have blonde hair? His voice cracked. He was panicked. An officer struggled to restrain him and maintain control over the scene. Tears were streaming down this man's face as he pleaded for answers about his daughter. He was desperate to know if one of the bodies was Jennifer's. I feel like that is so heartbreaking for him to be in this position. I can not even imagine and I don't want to.

And even though the police were almost certain that the bodies they had found were those of Jennifer and Elizabeth, the state of decomposition made a visual identification nearly impossible. Randy was told there was only one way to confirm their identities. They needed to go retrieve dental records. It was a devastating blow. Randy wanted answers and he wanted them now. So as he made his way home to gather the records he needed, he realized something was off.

He couldn't find his wife, Sandy. And it wasn't long before a family friend called with more bad news. Sandy had collapsed. She feigned when she heard the news of two partially clothed female bodies being found in the park. She was rushed to the hospital and she was being cared for. They were trying to calm her down. And she actually had to be safe.

sedated with medication because she was so hysterical over the news, which is to be expected. So for the meantime, Randy was left to face the painful reality by himself. Back at the scene, the medical technicians were preparing the bodies for transport to the medical examiner's office. Two gurneys were rolled out to the area in the woods, with onlookers taking in every second of what was happening. News cameras were also rolling, and I think we have a news clip of this moment where the victims were brought out to the medical examiner's van. One of the girls friends that was standing nearby was just taking it all in and she actually cried out when she saw the gurneys. Even though they had yet to be identified, I think everyone knew that it was

Jennifer and Elizabeth. She shouted, why? They were just walking home. They were walking home. It's not far away and somebody has to do this to them. They were just walking home. Just walking home, not even that far away. And somebody has to do that to them. Why, you know? Those raw emotions were felt by so many people in this community. The news spread quickly. Tragically, too quickly. Adolf and Melissa learned of their daughter's fate in the most heartbreaking way possible through a news report. Yeah. The media knew what the families didn't. As the couple were sitting watching TV that night, a broadcast confirmed what they feared the most. Their daughter Elizabeth was dead. Apparently the medical examiner had already made a positive

identification of both girls. The sight of Melissa's face as the news sank in was something Adolf said he would never forget. She was shattered. Her mouth was open and disbelief and tears were streaming down her face. It took Adolf a minute to realize that this was real. It wasn't a dream. They had lost their firstborn child. She was really gone. And just like that, the Pena household was inundated with phone calls from media outlets, hungry for a story. It was an infuriating twist for them because just days ago, when Elizabeth and Jennifer were missing, the media had shown little interest in their plight. But now, with their deaths confirmed,

reporters couldn't speak with them fast enough. And it felt like such a betrayal to the Peña family, who had desperately sought the media's attention during the search, only to be brushed off until it was too late. The Penyans were also furious at Houston Police Department. They dropped the ball in a major way. Their slow response was unacceptable, but sadly, even if they had jumped on this case sooner,

the truth is, the girls were probably dead. by the time they were reported missing. Later at the coroner's office, as the medical examiner began the process of examining the girl's bodies for an autopsy, the findings were chilling. Now, I'm not going to go through everything that you've already heard about the condition of the remains,

but Jennifer's cause of death was determined to be trauma to the neck, likely strangulation, but due to the advanced decomposition, the exact method could not be confirmed. Detectives suspected that a broken belt found at the scene could have been the murder wall. weapon. Elizabeth's body revealed equally horrifying details. Several of her teeth were missing, and one was broken, suggesting she had been brutally punched or kicked in the mouth. Like Jennifer,

Elizabeth's cause of death was determined to be strangulation. Given the state of the bodies, it was impossible to definitively determine whether the girls had been violated. But their partially nude condition led the medical examiner to believe that was likely. There was also a significant amount of trauma to those regions of their body. So that should tell you something. Now with the identities of the girls confirmed and the gruesome details of their deaths emerging, the focus shifted to finding the person responsible for taking away their vibrant lives so soon, too soon. The detectives, Ray Zaragoza and Sergeant Bob Parrish were working on Elizabeth and Jennifer's murders and they wasted no time investigating that anonymous tip that led to the discovery of their bodies. The tipster

called himself Gonzalez. He had reached out to both crime stoppers and 911. But since 911 calls are traceable, unlike the anonymous crime stoppers call, the detectives had a lead. With the help of a 911 record, they were able to trace the call back to a guy named Joe Can 2. Joe was a young man. He was about 20 years old and trying to build a stable life for himself in Houston. He had dropped out of high school his senior year, but he worked hard at a technical college to become a medical assistant. and he was currently working as a phlebotomist at a local blood donation center. That same year in 1993, Joe had just married Christina, a young woman he met through his job. They were currently living in Joe's parents' house at 1128, Ashland Street in Houston, Texas,

about a 10-minute drive from the crime scene. Detectives showed up at the Cantu residence on June 28th at 5 p.m. Just five hours after the bodies of Jennifer and Elizabeth had been found. When confronted by the police, Joe Cantu explained that he lived there with his parents and his younger brother, 18-year-old Peter Cantu. And Peter was the one they were looking for, not him. But since Joe and Christina were the only ones there, they immediately brought them in for questioning. And I could not believe the story that Joe and Christina were about to tell. I want to warn you. This is one of those parts of the story that could be very upsetting. So again, look below. But I also want to point out,

there are going to be a lot of names in this case going forward. Don't worry about keeping track of who is who. It's not as important as what happened. Okay? So I know it can make your head spin. Trust me. But just try your best stuff all along because everything's going to make sense. Joe began recounting the events of the previous Friday night on June 25th. It all started, he said, around 1230 a.m. when there was a loud knock on the front door. He was tired so his wife, Christina, answered and found a group of people standing outside. Among them were two young men that Joe knew, 18-year-old Jose Medellín, and 17-year-old Ephraim Perez. They were both friends of his 18-year-old brother, Peter.

Along with them was another teenage boy that neither Joe or Christina recognized. He was 17-year-old Raoul via Real. As Joe continued his story to the detectives, he explained, his younger brother, Peter, was the leader of a small, loosely formed gang called the Black and Whites. They were less of a real gang and more of a group of really close guy friends

who would sometimes pretend they were in a gang. But it wasn't unusual for Joe's brothers' friends to show up all hours of the day or night. So this visit seemed like just another late-night drop-in. But something was different. When Christina answered the door, she saw right away that Jose had been covered with blood. And there was a large red scratch on his neck. His eyes were wild, and his whole appearance was disheveled.

F.n Perez wasn't much better. His white shirt was stained right near his crotch. It looked like the stain was actually more of a smear down the front, with the concentration at the bottom, and he was also visibly shaken. Raoul had dried blood on his right brow and also on his pants. All three teenagers made their way into the living room as though they owned the place. It appeared that they had been in a fight, which wouldn't have come as a surprise. Jose introduced Raoul to Joe saying he was the newest member of the Black and Whites.

So now it seemed more obvious. Maybe there was some kind of initiation fight to welcome Raoul into the group. But when Joe asked what happened, Jose's response was chilling. With a grin that stretched across his face, Jose said, Let's just say we had a lot of fun. And then, as if they were sharing the world's funniest joke, Jose, Ephron, and Roel just burst into laughter, loud, unhinged laughter that echoed through the room. It was the kind of laugh that made Joe's stomach turn. Joe and Christina were stunned. They had seen Peter and his friends get into trouble before fights, clashes with other groups.

It was par for the course with them. But something about this felt different. It felt darker. The three boys didn't just look roughed up from a fight. They looked like they had been part of something much worse. To fully understand how these boys got to this point, we have to go back in time to the day before in the afternoon. But before I do, I just want to tell you a little more about the black and whites. It all started with Joe's younger brother, as I said, Peter can too.

For starters, Peter was a mama's boy. He was the youngest of three boys and babies like it. He could do no wrong in his mother Susie's eyes, but he did a lot of things wrong for from a very young age, only for his mother to continue coming to his defense and making excuse after excuse for his reckless behavior. Before he was even out of kindergarten, things were not going well for young Peter. He developed some speech issues, which he was bullied for, according to his mom, who took him to a speech pathologist. But he didn't seem to have much progress going forward. He wasn't a good student in school, and he was always in the lowest percentile in most of his subjects.

This continued through elementary and into middle school. But of course, he blamed his teachers, with his mother chiming in and taking his side, going so far as to go to the principal and claim that Peter was being physically picked on by his teachers, leaving bruises on his body. He was held back on at least two occasions, in third and fourth grade. When he was 11, he pushed an eight-year-old off of his new bike and stole it, only to bring it back when the young boy's mom put out a $10 reward for the bike's safe return. Two days later, Peter stole the poor boy's bike again. Juvenile officers came to Peter's home, but in the end, they let him off. easily and merely referred his parents to the Harris County Juvenile Detention Unit if they so

wished to bring him there. But they didn't. Two years later, in 1988, when Peter was still in middle school, he terrorized a classmate named Amber. At first, they were friends walking home together all the time. But when he tried to kiss her one day, she refused and ran into her house and shut the door on him. A couple days later, Peter came by after school and started banging on her front door screaming for her to let him inside. She refused. He moved to her bedroom window, shouting, you better let me in, you bitch. Amber was terrified. She was a fifth grader.

This is insane. He was banging on the window so hard, it actually shattered. Amber's father found out and marched over to Peter's house to speak with his parents and guess who came to his defense. Mommy. She said, no, not my Peter. He's not that kind of boy. Yikes. Amber's dad said he knew that she was telling the truth.

But Susie insisted she was lying. and that Peter wasn't over at their home, and he would never hurt a girl. Frustrated, Amber's dad just shouted at Peter telling him to never come around again. And Peter, this little middle schooler, said, I can do whatever the hell I want. And Susie stood around and did nothing. She didn't intervene, and she didn't say a word. The incident was later reported to the police by the girl's father,

and it resulted in little more than a warning due to Peter's age. However, this was only the beginning. of Peter's pattern of violent behavior. Months later, his actions escalated by attacking one of his teachers, leading to him getting expelled from school. His aggression didn't stop there. In 1989, he returned to torment the very same teacher

so relentlessly that she felt she had to transfer to another school for her safety. Over the next few years, Peter continued to find himself in trouble, frequently clashing with the law. His mom insisted that he was merely a follower being influenced by his friend, Jose Medellin, and Ephra.

But Peter's record painted a very different picture. By January 1993, the same year that Jennifer and Elizabeth were harmed, Peter faced felony charges for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Part of a sentence included reporting to a probation officer twice a month and completing 240 hours of community service. So now this brings us to the present. But what about Peter's friends? I know this is going to be a lot, like I said, a lot of people to mention, but you don't have to keep their name straight. I'm going to put their pictures up on the screen when I talk about them and it will all come together. The friends I'm talking about are the ones in the black and whites, a wannabe gang.

We could call it a gang if you want, but it was a loose gang. It was more like a bunch of bad kids hanging out together. To begin with, Peter met twin brothers Raymond and Frank Sandoval in middle school. Raymond became one of Peter's closest friends. Frank didn't. He had his own group of friends. But the twins lived right next door to the Cantus, and so did Jose Medellin on the other side. So Peter, Jose, and Raymond became close.

And then they added a fourth friend, Sean O'Brien, when Peter switched high schools. Then the four of them met Ephraim Perez, who lived in the same neighborhood. All of these kids were around the same age, and they were all bad in some way, which is why they stuck together. Now, I'm not going to go into full detail because I know all of their histories, but I'm going to highlight the top-level things and put their pictures on the screen, as I said, for a reference. I'll start with Sean O'Brien, who was pretty much disowned from his biological mother and grew up with his grandmother, who babyed him. He didn't have chores or punishments, mostly because his grandma thought that he was adorable. While this adorable toddler became an ornery four-year-old yelling and acting out all the time, he was uncontrollable. At five years old, he was having difficulty keeping up with his learning

abilities, and he even began drinking alcohol in kindergarten, after which he became very moody and withdrawn, and he even tortured animals. When he was eight, he broke one of his grandmother's dresser drawers, and instead of getting in trouble, grandma just started to fix it herself. But this old woman in the process fell, and the huge heavy dresser fell on top of her, splitting her head open. Sadly, she suffered a traumatic brain injury, and even after surgery, she was no longer able to function normally. So Sean was forced to live with his biological mother that never wanted him to begin with. By the fifth grade, he attempted to end his life by drinking a whole bottle of Tylenol, the first attempt of many over the years. He also got

into a number of fights, resulting in breaking kids' bones. He eventually attacked the bus driver, a woman named Mrs. Johnson, for telling him to stop fooling around on the bus. He was expelled from school for that. At 14, he was caught shoplifting, but he was a juvenile, so he was led off with just a warning and sent to an alternative high school where he ended up meeting Peter Cantu. The two of them began skipping school together, drinking and doing drugs. Eventually, Sean pulled a gun on one of the school security guards and even fired at him, but missed. Nothing ever happened to Sean. He transferred to a couple more high schools, but still got into trouble, even lighting a piece of paper on fire and threatening to burn the entire school

down. Later that same week, he stole a car and crashed it when he was running from the scene, and he was never caught. In 1991, he tried twice to end things. Once by swallowing sore throat medicine, and the next time with a sharp blade over a girlfriend that left him. Later that same mirror, he got into trouble for choking another student. And that August, he punched his mom in the chest so hard, she flew through a plate glass window. He had no charges were pressed against him, and he never apologized. He said, he never considered her his mother. I mean, that is a short list of Sean O'Brien and his past. But next, let's talk about Ephraim. Growing up, Ephraim came from poverty. In a home with a lot of fighting, his parents separated when he was just a baby.

And then he was tossed back and forth among different family members, so his childhood was never stable. But in the beginning, he was doing well. It was when he moved to Houston and met other Hispanic boys in his ESL class that he started to get into trouble. He was constantly getting into fistfights with other students, and one of his buddies from his ESL class would come and jump in. That was Jose Medellín. We've heard his name before now. He's another guy from the group. And the pair began skipping classes, and the two of them hung out with Peter during this time.

The school tried to reach Ephraim's parents or guardians, but no one ever reached back out for reprimand. Since Jose was in the mix, I'll tell you a little more about him. Jose Medellín got into trouble when he met Ephraim. The two 16-year-olds both stole a car and got caught the next day when the car that Jose was driving broke down, and Ephraim began pushing it with a stolen van. Both of them were taken into custody. But again, I feel like a broken record because of their age, they were released. But just a month later, they did it again. They stole more vehicles. This time, they were brought down to the juvenile detention center. And even though they weren't officially charged, Ephron was put on juvenile probation and had to complete a program. But he never did because his parents, who he didn't have at this point, never followed up. Just a month after this, he attempted to murder an 11th grader in order to steal an L.A. Raiders jacket from him. Yep. He pulled a gun on him and fired at this 11th grader.

and shot him twice. He survived. But Ephraim was never caught for this crime. After this, Jose, Peter and Ephron, three obviously terrible kids, killed a man and wounded his cousin while they were attempting to rob them. They were never caught for this crime. And just a month before, Effron shows up bloody at Peter's doorstep

at midnight of June 25th, he had been shot in the chest. It was superficial. He was rushed to the hospital, not ever revealing any information about how the shooting occurred. So as I said, all these boys were trouble. As for the twins, Raymond and Frank, well remember, Raymond was friends with the group, but Frank wasn't.

Raymond was actually one of the people who brought Effron to the hospital with Jose and Peter when he got shot. Raymond and Frank did, however, get charged with public intoxication once, when the group attempted to steal another car. But other than that, the twins were the most tame of the boys, so I don't know why they would get caught up with this crowd. So now that you're caught up to speed on the boys in the black and whites group, What happened on the night of June 24th that brought Ephrain and Jose to Peter's doorstep all bloody with their friend, Raoul? Did it have anything to do with Jennifer and Elizabeth?

Well, that evening, at around 10.05 p.m., Peter, Sean, Jose, Raymond, Frank, and Effron were hanging out at Peter's house drinking. Ephraim brought his 17-year-old friend Raul over, but Peter wasn't one to warm up quickly to new people. So he began giving Raul a hard time. And Raul wanted to be accepted, because he knew that Peter and his friend. his group of friends were considered the cool kids, the tough guys, in a gang, and he asked Peter about it. Peter kind of laughed because he didn't really consider it a gang, but he played along, telling Raoul that he would never be welcomed in, so he didn't have to worry what they did. But Raoul continued pressing Peter. So he told him, if he wanted to join, he would have to fight each and every one of them. And if he was still standing, he'd be welcome to hang out.

All the boys, including Jose's 14-year-old younger brother, Uni, went down to the T.C. Jester Park near the railroad tracks, which is a regular hangout spot for the guys for Raoul's initiation fight. This initiation ritual involved Raul fighting each guy in the black and whites one at a time for at least five minutes each to prove his toughness and earn membership. Raymond was the first to fight Raoul and it was intense with both of them fighting hard. But Raoul was still standing. Next, he fought Jose, who threw him to the ground a couple of times, but Raoul made it through. One of the twins that wasn't really a friend of the group, Frank, refused to fight, even though the guys called him names. And at first, Sean said he didn't want to fight either. But as things got going, he jumped in.

By this time, Raoul became increasingly exhausted. Sean took advantage of that and continuously punched him in the face and then finished him off with an uppercut. Raoul went down and he couldn't even stand back up. So the guys left him there and they went back to sit on the railroad trestle to talk about his initiation. And it was decided that Raoul had had passed the test and would be allowed to join the black and whites. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits, but by 10.45 p.m., Frank and Raymond noticed the atmosphere was starting to turn, as the group who'd been drinking all day became more rowdy.

Deciding it was time to leave, the twins departed along with Jose and his younger brother, Uni, and Sean followed a few minutes later. As Frank and Raymond walked away from the group, they noticed two young girls, who we know are Elizabeth and Jennifer, walking towards them up the gravel to the rover track. But they passed them without saying a word. These poor girls had no idea. There was a group of drunk and violent boys just ahead of them.

Jose and Sean crossed the girl's path next, with Jose shouting, oh, look at this, telling Sean who was behind him that there were a couple chicks walking up. So they had been in an initiation fight, and they had crossed paths with the girls. But the fight only involved Raoul, Jose, Sean, and Raymond. So why would Ephraim have blood on him and so much of it when he arrived at Peters?

Joe was now explaining the rest of the night to the detectives. He said that Ephraim took off his blood-stained shirt telling Joe he'd hear about what they did on the news. Joe knew there must be more to what these guys had done that night, and he sure as hell didn't want anything to do with it. So unsure of what to do next, he grabbed a lighter and burned the bloody shirt until there was nothing left. As they sat there, the boys started talking and Jose seemed all too eager to brag. With a twisted smirk, he was explaining how the guys had been hanging out by the railroad tracks when they ran into what he referred to as these two bitches. From there, things spiraled.

Jose spoke about what they had done to these girls in horrifying detail, with each word making it clear that he felt no remorse, only pride. He described how the girls had begged for their lives, begged for them to stop. but instead of feeling any guilt. Jose and the other guys just laughed about it. To them, the victim's cries for mercy were a source of their amusement. And then Jose said something

that made Christina's blood run cold. He said that the white girl had been a virgin, and as to prove it, he showed off what he referred to as virgin blood on his underwear, still laughing this whole time. For Christina, this was too much. She had her own trauma, having been recently violated by a group of men herself.

So hearing Jose, talk so casually about this horrific act that he had committed against two innocent girls was unbearable. This wasn't just a late night brawl or a bit of mischief. This was something evil, something that she and Joe just could not ignore. That night, Joe and Christina had heard enough. Even though the guys hadn't really gone into detail, they couldn't shake the feeling that something awful had happened, far worse than they had initially thought.

The darkness in those boys' eyes and their sickening laughter made that clear. The detectives now had a crucial lead. But the horror of what had actually unfolded was just beginning to reveal itself. Trust me. When you know everything, you'll probably want to cry. Jo Cantu told detectives that his brother Peter eventually did come home that night, casually explaining that he had been dropping off 14-year-old uni, Jose's younger brother, and he assured Jose that he wasn't going to talk.

He wasn't going to say a word about what they had done. Peter then pulled out a stash of cash and some jewelry from his pockets. He had about $40, and among the items were a heart-shaped gold ring with an E on it, a gold V-shaped ring, a gold rope chain with two rings attached, a bracelet, and a second gold chain with an S charm. Peter spread them out on the coffee table like they were trophies, and the other guys, Effron and Raoul, they started picking through the jewelry. Jose snatched up the E-ring because he wanted it for his girlfriend, Esther. As the conversation continued, Joe was growing even more and easy. something was gnawing at him, and he finally asked the question that had been haunting him.

What happened to the girls? The four evil teens exchanged a glance before dropping the bombshell, and it was kind of like they said it all at once. We had to kill them. And they said it with a chilling calm in their voice. They said the girls saw their faces, and they didn't want them identifying them. Peter added, yeah, we had to kill those bitches. We didn't want them identifying us and getting us in trouble with the cops. Joe told the detectives that this point, Jose, with no emotion in his voice, explained he'd used a shoelace to strangle one of the girls, that he and Ephron had held on either side of it and tightened it until she stopped breathing. Raoul then described how he and Sean used Sean's belt to strangle the other girl.

He said they pulled so hard, the belt snapped into. And then they started laughing about this. How anyone could laugh at this, like it's a joke, is absolutely terrifying. But according to Peter, one of the girls just wouldn't die. So he had to resort to using a swift kick to her mouth with his seal-toe boot, after which all the guys began stomping on both of them until they were no longer breathing. The casual and almost celebratory way they spoke about their actions sickened both Joe and Christina, but they didn't react in this moment.

Joe asked what they did with the bodies, and Ephrains said, oh, we just left them there. Out in the woods, what I found sickening was when Raoul, who was the newly initiated member of the group, he chimed in. Almost as if he was trying to look cool to his disgusting friends. He said, remember when one of them gave me her number? And then he began laughing hysterically. And he's like, I'm going to call it. See if they found the bodies yet. How callous and cruel.

Calling a presumably dead girl's phone. And then he went on to say, yeah, that was fun. Maybe I'll call you later and we can do it again, knowing she's not alive.