True Crime with Kimbyr - High School Teacher Killed 6 Days Before Her Wedding - They Had A Funeral Instead!

Episode Date: July 23, 2026

Six days before her wedding, a loving teacher, Stephanie Scott, went to school for what should have been an ordinary day of planning. She never came home. At first, they thought she could have cold feet about the wedding, but soon everyone who loved her KNEW something was horribly wrong. Stephanie had been murdered. Her body was found on her wedding day. Instead of her loved ones gathering to celebrate a union of love, they laid her to rest. In this true crime deep dive, we examine Stephanie’s final days, the unanswered questions surrounding her disappearance, and the investigation that followed. Through the timeline, evidence, and details of the case, we explore the tragic story of a bride-to-be whose life was cut short just days before she was supposed to say, “I do.” ❤️‍🔥 Support us by browsing our shop! https://darklivity.com/🔎 Come Find ME: https://www.instagram.com/kimbyrleigha/Thank you for making my podcast number ONE in true crime in 2025 and number 2 in the USA and Canada. I will keep showing up for you and hope to see you in the comments.

On a kitchen table in a quiet country town, the place cards for a wedding said have finished. 100 guests. A country vineyard booked, a first dance already chosen and rehearsed. The bride, a 26-year-old school teacher named Stephanie Scott, was six days away from marrying the man that she loved since they were teenagers. She stepped out that Easter Sunday to finish a few small things before the big day, and she never came home. And by the time anyone understood what had happened to her,

her wedding day would arrive with no bride, no vows, and a killer already sitting quietly among the people searching for her. Hi everyone, welcome back to my channel. And if you have never been here before, I am Kimberlea. It's nice to finally meet you. This today is another deep dive. So if you're the type of person that wants to go. go beyond the headlines and get way more detail in a true crime case, this is a type of video

for you. And to understand how a town lost Stephanie, we have to go back to the night before anyone even knew she was missing. And also, I'm going to do my best with pronouncing all of these locations because this case does take place in Australia. So please be kind. Now, it is Easter Sunday, April 5th of 2015 in Leighton, which is a small farming town in New South Wales, Australia, which is about six hours southwest of Sydney. Stephanie's fiancé, Aaron, Lisa, and Woolley, is driving home after a weekend away, and he's been trying to reach Stephanie the entire time. But there's no answer. Now, he isn't worried yet because she had a hundred things on her mind with their wedding only six days away. But when he's not, he doesn't worry. But when he doesn't worry, he's worried yet, because she had a hundred things on her mind,

but when he pulls up to their house, just after 7.20 p.m., it's completely dark. Her Mazda is not there. And inside, their wedding place cards are spread out across the kitchen table, and they're half-finished, as though Stephanie just stepped away midway through and meant to come right back. Aaron drives around town. He's looking for his fiancé. He calls all of her friends, and no one has seen her or heard from her. And he tells himself, she'd maybe stayed somewhere for the night, but by the next morning,

with still no word, Aaron does the thing that he has been dreading. He gets on the phone, and he reports the woman that he was about to marry missing. Now, before we go any further, I, of course, want you to know who Stephanie was. Stephanie Claire Scott was born on October 14th of 1988 in Sydney, Australia. She was a fourth child, born to her parents, Robert, who they called Bob, and Marilyn. She had two brothers and two sisters, Gordon, Stewart, Robin, and Kim. And the Scott family lived in the suburb of St. Clair. But when Stephanie was around nine, they moved to the town of Canandra.

And this is in the state's central west. And Stephanie enjoyed a typical carefree childhood in the country with her siblings. She shared a bedroom with her two sisters. and the three girls became extremely close. They would talk all the time, giggle into the night as they fell asleep. And having two brothers, there was never a dull moment in the Scott household.

And in addition to playing jokes on other people, Stephanie knew how to laugh at herself as well. And early on, her dad gave her the nickname. It was pretty adorable. It was button-nose. And looking back on pictures of her, it's easy to understand why. Stephanie loved being.

around other people, even from a young age. She joined the local girl guides and she played soccer, and she truly enjoyed learning and loved school. And this was something her dad, Bob, had really tried to instill in all of his children because he was a school teacher at the local high school. So, of course, he was thrilled that Stephanie shared his passion for education. Stephanie's bubbly personality meant that she was someone you could not easily forget. It was fitting that her favorite color was yellow. It was bright like she was. She loved playing pranks on her siblings, and like many girls, she also loved fashion, dressing up, and even sewing.

Stephanie showed early signs of being not just a team player, but a leader and someone who loved the spotlight. From the time she was about five. She and her siblings would perform little plays for their parents and grandparents. I did the same thing growing up, so I could really, truly relate to that, and I know a lot of you can as well. Stephanie knew what costumes she wanted to wear, and she had such a creative process. even at a young age, she had control over everything. And she never lost her love for acting.

And this grew into a passion for the dramatic arts as she got older. She balanced her love for performing with getting outside. Like I said, she loved playing soccer, and she did that well into high school. She also worked as a swimming instructor at the local pool. And like many teens in rural areas, Stephanie was definitely excited to get her driver's license. I think we can say that about many teens. and to mark the occasion, one of their family friends actually generously gifted her a car, a 1987 Holden Camira, which Stephanie promptly nicknamed La Fonda. She wanted to learn everything she could about La Fonda and all of LaFonda's needs, whether that be maintenance work or how to take care of her car.

Stephanie would be by her dad's side as he tinkered with a vehicle. She would even sit there and hand him the tools. Having her own car gave Stephanie the freedom, to drive around, listen to her favorite music, which I really liked her taste in music. It included Matchbox 20, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Killers, and Jack Johnson. She had really good taste. In addition to her outgoing personality and her great sense of humor, Stephanie had many other wonderful qualities about her. Everyone in her life knew her as someone who was compassionate, sensitive, and considerate. She always made a point of being the very first person to wish her

loved ones a happy birthday. This meant she would set an alarm for 12.01 a.m. And she would make sure to call you or text you right then. And when it came to life after graduation, Stephanie was always driven and focused. She knew exactly what she wanted to do. She had always seen the difference her father made in young people's lives as a teacher. And she immediately knew she was going to follow in his footsteps as a high school teacher. This was a way for Stephanie to embrace her love of learning, performing, encouraging, and leading others, and also leaning into her playful side. After graduating, she enrolled in a teaching degree at Charles Sturt University in the city of Wagga Wagga. This was a three-hour drive away from where she was living at the time.

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And going to college can be a very exciting time for any young person. They get to take the next step into independence, and Stephanie was in her element. She quickly made friends, and they were definitely drawn to her warmth, her fun-loving nature, her intelligence, her kindness, and also her goofiness. And Stephanie and her friends embraced everything about campus life,

whether that was attending costume parties on the weekends, just hanging out and getting to know the new town, or studying together. And Stephanie's passion for sports continued as well. She played for a local soccer club, the Tall and Wolves. where she actually captains a team. And as if she wasn't busy enough,

she also played three seasons for Riverina Lions. This is a woman's football team. And being the social butterfly that Stephanie was, she often went back home to visit all of her friends and her family in her hometown. And she loved keeping in touch with everyone that she cared about. And she nurtured those relationships.

And this included someone that she had known since grade school. Stephanie played soccer with a boy named Aaron Lison Willie. Now, he had also been taught and mentored by Stephanie's dad Bob. Aaron was a talented soccer player, and he and Stephanie worked together at the local IGA grocery store. The two of them grew close through spending many hours on road trips as teenagers when Bob drove them to regional soccer competitions. Stephanie felt like she could talk to Aaron for hours, and the feeling was mutual. And in Aaron's cousin's 21st birthday party in 2010, he and Stephanie finally made it official.

Everyone could see how in love they were. And it was difficult with Stephanie now being three hours away at university, but they were determined to make this long-distance relationship work. Now, when she finally graduated from college, Stephanie was gifted a ring by her mother and father. They had also given her sisters rings to celebrate their own university graduations, and Stephanie absolutely treasured hers. She always wanted to make her parents proud.

And that token was an outward sign that she had. Stephanie quickly landed a job as an English and drama teacher at the local high school in the town of Leighton. And she was absolutely thrilled about this. And so were her friends and family. Stephanie was embarking on a career where she could inspire a love of learning in other people as her father did. And Stephanie and Aaron also took the next step in the relationship and they moved in together.

Aaron couldn't wait to join Stephanie and Leighton. And when he did, he took a job. job as a slaughterhouse worker at JPS Riverina Beef Plant. Side note. I too worked at a butchery. I worked right in those below zero freezers surrounded by meat and it's not the best job that I've had. That's for sure. But now let me tell you about the town of Leighton because I had never been there. I had known nothing about it. This is a small, quiet farming community and at the time it was home to about 6,000 people. This is a place where no one is a stranger, newcomers are noticed, and locals look out for one another. It sits about six hours southwest of the state capital in

Sydney, and it's in that Riverina region where Stephanie had gone to university. Agriculture is the lifeblood of this town. This is rice and citrus country, and there is a network of man-made irrigation channels that run through the surrounding farmland. And now let me tell you a little bit more about where Stephanie was working. She taught at Leighton High School, which had about 450 students, and she quickly gained a reputation for professionalism, dedication, and kindness in her dealings with everyone from the staff to the students. She was known to her colleagues as Scotty. And what students liked about her was her quick wit, her infectious laugh, and she made learning fun. She wasn't afraid to make a fool of herself. And she instantly,

became a favorite teacher among many of the students. But she imparted so much more than a love for learning. Her lessons inspired her students beyond the classroom. Stephanie impressed upon her students that they should never walk away from someone who seemed to be struggling. Stephanie was approachable and pathetic and her classroom environment was one free of judgment. She really focused on building the confidence of more introverted students and she had a natural gift for reading the energy of a room in ways that other educators just didn't.

Teaching wasn't just a job for Stephanie. I think you can feel that by now. It was what she really truly felt like she was meant to do, to shape the future of the next generation. And as an English and drama teacher, she had a lot of extracurricular school activities on her plate. A lot of teachers would have struggled to just balance the demands of regular teaching, let alone the other activities that Stephanie was involved in, like student representative council, public speaking, debate, organizing drama excursions, and even assisting with musical productions. But for Stephanie, nothing brought her greater joy than seeing her students thrive and succeed. She would urge them all the time.

Please study, eat, and repeat, and that was her motto. Stephanie was loving her life in Leighton and between her teaching responsibilities. She still loved playing soccer and expanding horizons into volleyball, netball, and touch football. Both she and Aaron quickly made new friends, especially through the Leighton United Soccer Club, where they both played. Stephanie was also coaching Leighton High School's under 15s girls and senior teams. This woman was doing it all. It's a surprise she even had any downtime, but when she did, she liked to spend it gardening,

which is actually a new love of mine as well. Let me know if you have a green thumb, but she often would send her sister Kim pictures, proudly showing off her garden at home. And she made it a point when her mom came to visit to show her all of her plants and how they were coming along. Now, if you were wondering, Stephanie and Erin were still going strong. And in April of 2014, the couple headed off for a tropical vacation in Thailand. And Stephanie's sister Kim had a feeling that this was going to be a very special trip and she was right. On April 11th, while enjoying a romantic dinner, Aaron proposed.

And right away, Stephanie sent me. a very excited text message to her sister with a picture showing off her beautiful diamond ring. Stephanie was so ecstatic. She truly loved Erin. And now she was officially going to spend the rest of her life with him. They quickly set a date for their wedding, April 11th of 2015, exactly 12 months to the day of their engagement. It was going to be on a Saturday after the 2015 Easter weekend. Stephanie's friends could not wait. It was a very much. It was going to be on a Saturday. It was going to be on a Saturday. was the time in their lives when many of them were getting married themselves and she was always happy to share in their happiness but now it was Stephanie's turn. By early 2015, Stephanie was a

bridesmaid for her very good friend Beck Welsh's wedding and she spent a lot of time daydreaming about her own big day, which by that time was coming up in just a matter of months. Being a highly organized person, Stephanie threw herself into wedding planning. She had a very clear creative vision for the entire celebration and just the way she wanted it. Over a hundred guests, including some from overseas, were invited to a picturesque country venue. It was called Eat Your Greens in the small town of Yugawa, just 25 minutes from where Stephanie had grown up. Her color scheme was black and bronze, and that reflected in her invitations. There were going to be terracotta pots that would serve as table centerpieces with the names of all the guests on each table painted on the side

and flowing script. For songs for the couple, their first dance had already been chosen. It was making memories of us by Keith Urban. And Stephanie and Aaron had diligently been attending weekly dance lessons to prepare. And in March, Stephanie had her own bachelette party, a wine tour around the Canberra region. She updated her profile picture, showing herself in a cute white dress, a veil, and a pink bride-to-be sash. Her long, dark hair was flowing over her shoulders and everything was coming together. Now, because of the part of the year the wedding was scheduled, Stephanie planned to use school vacation time to cover the wedding preparations period, as well as part of her two-week honeymoon. But she also planned to take two weeks of school time off. This meant

that when the lessons resumed after Easter break, a substitute teacher would be taking Stephanie's classes until she returned. Now, I'm telling you all of this for a reason. Even though Stephanie could hardly contain her excitement about her honeymoon to Tahiti, one of the many things on her to-do list was to prepare lessons for that substitute teacher. She wanted everything to go as smoothly as possible for her students with minimal disruption. Of course, she was so excited about her upcoming wedding. She also loved her students so much that she knew that she would miss them while she was away. Now let's jump to April 2nd, the last day of school before her two-week vacation. period. Stephanie's coworkers threw her a party. She was radiant and glowing like a bride to be,

should be. And Stephanie's joy was infectious. She was telling everyone about her big day, including her students, and about her wedding dress. Her sister Kim was flying back from Abu Dhabi for the celebration, and Stephanie could not wait. She texted Kim just a month before saying she was so freaking excited. Now both Stephanie and Aaron had been invited to a farewell party over the 2015 Easter weekend, and this was back in Canandra, and it was for a mutual friend. Now, even though Stephanie really did want to go to this party, she didn't want to miss out. As it got closer, she knew she went. She would be rushing to get everything done in the final few days before her own wedding.

So that's a lot. But she thought it really wasn't fair that Aaron miss out. So she told him, you go, go without me, send my apologies. She told him she would stay home and prepare her. lesson plans and also run a few errands that she needed to get done. Aaron respected Stephanie's dedication to her work and he agreed it was the best course of action. At 12.30 p.m. on April 3rd, he kissed his fiance goodbye. He told her he loved her and he headed off out of town. He would be back in two days. If only that would have happened.

Now it's sad, looking at all of this with what I know and what you soon will find out. It was a long Easter weekend, slow and easy in Australia, four days off, people traveling to be with family. It's similar to how it would be here in the U.S. And Aaron spent it back in their hometown, reconnecting with family and their friends. But even in the middle of a good weekend, he was ready to get home to Stephanie. And I can only imagine the anticipation of a wedding. It is a rush.

Next day, Stephanie had breakfast with a close friend, Melissa Karn. She then drove the 45 minutes to Griffith to pick up cufflings for Aaron and his groomsmen. She also collected their honeymoon travel tickets, and she got herself a bikini for their trip. She and Aaron spoke that day, and they agreed to have dinner the next night at a local restaurant called the village after Aaron got back home. He made a reservation for 8 p.m. And that night, Stephanie spoke with her sister Robin for about 45 minutes on the phone, going over all the last minute details.

Robin was so happy for her sister. Stephanie was upbeat and her usual happy self. Now, around 10.30 p.m., Stephanie and Erin had a quick call just to say goodnight to one another, and everything was completely normal. And I say it all the time. But this is what scares me the most, the normalcy. The next morning, which was Sunday, April 5th, Stephanie texted Aaron to say that she was heading to school for the next few hours

to finish up her lesson plans. Aaron set off later that afternoon back to Leighton. He called his fiancé on the way home, but she did not answer. The calls just rang and rang and then went to voicemail. Her phone must be dead. That's what Aaron thought. With everything she had on her plate, maybe she hadn't had a chance to charge it. He sent her a text message, but there was still no response.

He figured he would just find out why she wasn't answering when he got back home. But as Aaron pulled up to their house, At around 7.20 p.m., it just sat there in darkness. Stephanie's red Mazda wasn't there, and inside the house, he saw all the place cards for their wedding receptions spread across the kitchen table. And to him, it appeared, as though Stephanie had been working on them. She got halfway through, and she clearly meant to finish, but she went somewhere. And she was nowhere to be found. And none of his follow-up text messages got any replies.

Aaron told himself there had to be an ordinary explanation. Maybe Stephanie had decided to go somewhere for the weekend. Maybe she didn't want to be all alone. Maybe she was feeling anxious with their enormous week ahead of them. But he couldn't just sit there in this empty house waiting. He got back in his car and he drove all around town looking for her. He drove past the high school on Myrtle Street and all around everywhere he could think of that Stephanie may have been. But her car was nowhere. at none of these places. And as the hours went by, Aaron couldn't shake how completely out of character this was for Stephanie. He eventually had to cancel their dinner reservations, and he started calling

all of her friends, but no one had seen her. Aaron decided to wait until the next morning to see if Stephanie had just stayed somewhere else overnight and somehow became separated from her phone. Now, I don't think I could wait that long, but we are avid true crime watchers, right? Most people are not going to be jumping to the worst-case scenario right away. But by the time Aaron opened his eyes the next morning on April 6th, his thoughts went straight to Stephanie. Her side of the bed was untouched. She hadn't come home. And when he checked his phone, there were no calls, no texts, and she still wasn't answering when he tried to reach out. It was at this point that Aaron knew that something was seriously wrong. Stephanie had the whole week off for the wedding, even if she had somehow gotten cold

feet and gone to visit family, she would never just vanish without a word. He just needed to know that she was safe. Everything else could be worked out. Aaron finally made the call that he had been dreading to Stephanie's parents, Bob and Marilyn, who lived several hours away. But they hadn't heard or seen from Stephanie either. That was the moment it stopped being something that Aaron could explain away. And later that morning, he walks into the Leighton police station and reported the woman and then he was about to marry, missing. Recently, our company's softball team lost the big game by one run. Then Dale tried to console us with the quote,

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Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please go to connectcentario.c.com. Now, as investigators began trying to locate Stephanie, they realized her phone was not on. It was not able to be pinged, and there had been no activity on her bank accounts

since her shopping day on Saturday. There was also nothing on her social media accounts either. And by now, her siblings knew in their gut that something was not right. Her older sister Kim, whose birthday was on that very day, April 6th, found the silence unbearable. Stephanie never missed a birthday. Remember, I told you she would set an alarm for 1201 a.m.

Just to be the first person to tell you happy birthday that day. The fact that she hadn't called gave Kim a terrible feeling, and Kim was helpless to do anything about it. And then she was mid-transit as well, flying home for the wedding. I can't even begin to imagine that feeling. And during the layover in Perth, Kim texted Stephanie, and this is what she said.

She said, right-o, Stephanie, I'm about to board my flight. I'm expecting good news when I switch my phone on in Sydney. I love you, X, X, X, X.X. It was so sad. Everyone was planning everything around the wedding, and Stephanie is nowhere to be found. By Monday afternoon, Stephanie's family and friends had taken to Facebook asking everyone to look out for her. They said she was last seen wearing a white shirt and cargo pants, driving her red Mazda 3 with a distinctive crack across the windshield. Within 24 hours, a single post by her brother Stewart,

have been shared over 1,500 times. Now, on April 7th, almost 48 hours after Stephanie was last heard from, police issued a description of the missing young woman and her car, and they appealed to the public for any information. Detective Sergeant Tim Clark and Detective Senior Constable Justin Milne went to Leighton High School with Stephanie's colleague Monique Hardy. They were there to trace Stephanie's last movements. Monique had explained, Stephanie didn't have her own key. or alarm codes to the school. So around 11 a.m. on Sunday, Stephanie had come by to Monique's house

to borrow Monique's set, which were on a red and white lanyard, including a key with a blue keycap on it. Monique had gone with her to the school to make sure she could get inside and she watched Stephanie park near the gates, walk into the school alone, and then Monique left.

When asked, Monique told investigators that neither she nor Stephanie expected anyone else to be around. It was a school, holiday. Now at Stephanie's desk in the staff room, the detectives found nothing out of the ordinary. Her lesson plans were finished, ready for the substitute teacher. So that suggested she had gotten her tasks done by the end of that day. And another clue was that Monique's keys were

nowhere to be found, which meant Stephanie must have left. So they pulled the security records, which showed that Stephanie had disarmed the administrative block at 1.30. p.m. And she rearmed the alarm seven minutes later at 138 p.m. But that was the last trace of Stephanie anywhere. Now this part initially kind of confused me and it's important so I'm going to break it down for you just in case it's confusing to you because it's important. The staff room where Stephanie worked was locked but not alarmed. So she could sit and work there without touching any alarm at all. But to actually leave the school grounds, she had to pass through what's called the administration block.

And that did have an alarm. So on her way out, she disarmed that block's alarm at 1.31 p.m. And she would have to rearm it after she walked through the gate, and that would account for the 1.38 p.m. rearming. Seven minutes is how long the walk would have taken. There was no sign of her. So the investigators presumed whatever happened to her happened after she walked out of those gates. I hope that all makes sense. And her loved ones were desperate. They wanted to

break into the school themselves and check that she wasn't held somewhere inside. But investigators talked them down. Search dogs and forensics were coming to look for her. And the search widened fast. There was a real fear that Stephanie's car may have run off the road outside of town and maybe it had gone into one of those irrigation canals that I told you about. This had happened before with other drivers. So police divers searched the canals and the farm dams, and officers ran painstaking line searches on the outskirts of town, and they combed every trail, every bike route,

and everyone who would plan to travel for Stephanie and Aaron's wedding came out there anyway. But now, instead of being there for a celebration, they were there looking for her. And again, thinking about that is so heartbreaking. And there's just irony to it that this trip was already planned, but of course, Stephanie goes missing. And that wasn't planned. The community rallied.

They raised more than $15,000 so that the family could actually hire a helicopter to search for her car from the air. The lead and volunteer rescue association turned out and they were in force. And Detective Inspector Paul Smith said, quote, The public are our eyes and ears. And any information which could assist would be greatly appreciated. end quote. Now, I have to address the early speculation. And it was that Stephanie had gotten cold feet and hey, it does happen. You've heard of runaway bride, I am sure. Some people get so far into planning their wedding, into the planning process itself, into the invitations, and they're too embarrassed

to abandon ship. But everyone who knew Stephanie said that was impossible. Her friend Melissa, who had breakfast with her the day before she vanished, told reporters that Stephanie was so excited. She was already wearing her wedding band around the house. And there were two of her students that said the same thing, that there was no way she got cold feet. She was too happy. At that point, they said they were just praying. She was still alive. And then, of course, the media dissented. And it wasn't always welcome. Local reporters understood the need for sensitivity, but bigger outlets, they came in for major cities, and they were more aggressive. And of course, the tabloids were the worst. They were running all kinds of tasteless plays on words

like Bride and Seek, which of course was keeping alive the whole runaway bride theory. There was also veil of mystery. And for a grieving town and family, it was like salt being rubbed in their wounds. I do understand better than most people, and I hate to say this, But if you want eyes on a story, not just to sell papers, but to get her story out there, you kind of have to be attention-grabbing. It happens here on YouTube as well. But I really can't tell you the tabloids' intentions. Mine are not theirs, I'm sure.

But they can be so ruthless. So I can understand the pain in all of that. But really the ugliest part really fell an errand himself. On April 8th, he made an emotional plea to the public. He said, it's baffling me where she could be. I just want her here so that we can get on with this stuff we need to. Anyone watching could see what it was costing him. But online in comment sections on places like Facebook, strangers began to insinuate that

Aaron knew more than he was saying. This happens a lot and it's bound to happen. We know this all too well. And of course it's devastating. Police are always going to look at the people closest to the victim. That's true. And they had looked at Aaron. His phone.

Put him on the road. On Sunday afternoon, he was miles and miles away in Canandra, exactly when Stephanie's phone went dark. He was never a suspect. Everyone who knew this couple knew that he would rather die than hurt Stephanie. And the focus was shifting anyway because they had a new person they needed to talk to. While the officers were searching the school grounds that night, a neighbor mentioned that he had seen the school a janitor, driving his white Toyota truck at the school over the weekend, another person that may have seen Stephanie. So of course, the investigators want to track him down, and they didn't have to look very

far. A truck matching that description drove past while they were still there. They stopped it, and the man driving gave his name, Vincent Stanford. He said he was the janitor, and he told them that he had been cleaning out garbage bins over the weekend, but unfortunately, he relayed that he never met Stephanie, and he had not seen her there. He told the officers he was very sorry that you cannot help them, and he said, good luck with the search. It seemed like a dead end. But like any potential lead, the investigators had to see it all the way through. It was true. Vincent was employed by a contractor for the state education department, but no cleaners had been on the roster to clean the high school over the Easter break. Not at all. He wasn't supposed to have been there. So this

opened things up. And now they want to talk to him as a potential suspect or as we call it first a person of interest. They wanted to ask him more questions. First, being why he was there. And detectives followed up with him on April 8th. And Vincent willingly came to the station and gave a statement. He said he'd been cleaning all weekend. And the only people he had seen there were someone. roller skaters. And he said that afterward, he had gone to the golden apple supermarket for groceries and an ice coffee. But here's the thing. Detective Milne knew that couldn't be true, because the golden apple was closed that Sunday. So he's thinking, why had Vincent lied? Now, could he have gotten his days mixed up? Or was he hiding something? And meanwhile, an early witness sighting of Stephanie actually

fell apart. One of Aaron's friends had told police that he thought he had seen Stephanie at a local Woolworths at 1 p.m. Sunday. But when they pulled up the CCTV footage that was actually on Saturday, he had simply confused the days. So you see, it is possible, especially when people have a routine. But the detectives only had one lead, and that was Vincent. So at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8th, the detectives returned to the home where Vincent lived on Maiden Avenue to clarify a statement. However, Vincent wasn't there. His mother, Anka, and older brother Luke were, and Anka gave the officer's permission to search the whole house. And nothing seemed out of place until Detective Milne reached Vincent's bedroom. And there, on a red and white lanyard was a set of keys

and one of them had a blue keycap on it. Exactly like this said, the Monique Hardy had described a lending to Stephanie on Sunday morning. So why in the world would this man have them in his bedroom? At that moment, the house was declared as a crime scene. And as detectives waited on a search warrant, Vincent arrived back home. And when asked if he had been at work, he said,

no, he had been outtaking photos. Are you ready for this? Because it's going to move pretty fast, so buckle up. If you were dozing off or you weren't paying attention, now is the time you should. They noticed a digital camera was sitting on the front passenger seat, but it was what was in the back of the truck that stopped the investigators. They were these large wooden boards, MDF boards, and they were smeared with something dark that looked like blood.

And there was more. They saw fresh tire tracks running from the front of the house into the backyard towards a shed. and they knew they were left by a vehicle with smaller wheelbase than Vincent's truck. So the Toyota was seized, and Vincent agreed to come to the station to answer even more questions. Now, he wasn't under arrest. He was just there for additional questioning, and he again denied seeing Stephanie or her red car. But as they spoke, Detective Clark noticed marks on Vincent's face and his left forearm, as well as small scratches on his forehead and on the bridge of his nose and underbrook.

both of his eyes, and they looked like fingernail marks. But Vincent said he just ran into a tree branch. Sure. How unlucky of him. While Vincent talked, his truck was being searched. And it was when they looked at what was on that camera that they were stunned. There was one particular image that stood out. It appeared to be a burnt, seemingly female corpse out in Bushland.

just think about how horrifying that would have been if you were looking at that photo. It's almost unbelievable that he would have something like that on his camera. But Vincent seemed to have a very reasonable explanation of why it was there because it wasn't real, he said. He calmly told investigators it was just a photo that he downloaded from a horror movie online. But why? Well, in his words, because he thought it was funny. Funny is a weird way to explain a deceased woman's body.

Plus, that really made no sense. Why would you download it and then upload it to the gallery on your digital camera? Yeah, no. Vincent was then placed under arrest for Stephanie's murder. He declined to be interviewed further, but he did consent to give a DNA sample and fingernail scrapings and to have his injuries photographed and also measured. By the next morning, the news of the original.

arrest was breaking nationally. But still, there was no sign of Stephanie, no sign of her car, or a weapon of any kind. Somewhere out there, Stephanie was still missing. And the man that investigators believed took her was now sitting in a jail cell saying nothing. Vincent was charged on the morning of April 9th and he didn't apply for bail, which was refused anyway. But investigators knew they still had a lot of work to do. At the top of their list was finding Stephanie. and bringing her home to her family. And part of that involved processing all the evidence seized from Vincent's home. Now in case you're wondering, they were confident that the woman they saw on that camera was unfortunately Stephanie and that she was already dead.

They just had to prove it. Part of that was looking through Vincent's cell phone. And under further examination, it revealed six photographs that were taken between 3.10 a.m. and 3.13 a.m. a.m. in the early hours of April 6th. Three minutes. Six photos. The first three were way too dark to show anything, but the last three clearly showed the unclothed corpse of a woman with a blue towel covering her head. The body was clean, no signs of blood anywhere, but what could be seen was an obvious neck wound. So let's step back for a moment. You'll recall that on April 7th, Detectives found what they believe were the keys the Monique had loaned to Stephanie to access the school.

And they were found in Vincent's bedroom. And these were Monique's keys. But there were other items at that home that were caused for concern as well. On the floor of Vincent's bedroom was, I'm going to just call it, a empty male prophylactic wrapper. I know you know what I'm trying to say here. I'm trying to be careful with my wording because YouTube has been a beast with me lately. And there were all kinds of other unopened ones scattered around, some kinds that are called Dirac's, some are called magnums, not in this case, but I'm just giving you an idea of what I'm talking about. Those were the items that were scattered around. Now, this wouldn't have been a big deal in and of itself. A man who used protection, that's fine. But there were other items found at this home. And that put them in a sinister context. Among the items was a trunk liner from a Mazda 3. the kind of car that Stephanie drove as well as a gas can.

And then in a cupboard in Vinson's bedroom was a bottle of lube, a box containing two unopened prophylactics, and a set of handcuffs, and nearby a 15-inch knife and a red braw. Now that painted a very different picture. And then there was what they found outside the home. On the ground in the backyard was another rubber. I'm just going to call it that. and it looked to be used and discarded.

They also found some yellow tape. The same day Vincent was charged, there was yet another breakthrough. And this came thanks to the media. So you see, the media is not all bad, and neither are YouTubers that do true crime, just saying. Just before 9.30 a.m., a helicopter belonging to the 9 News Network was flying over Pike Road in Wormoon. This was about 11 kilometers, so around 6.8 miles.

outside of Leighton when they spotted something distinctive down on the ground. Abandoned in a large field opposite of Vineyard was what looked like a red vehicle. Police were notified and the car was quickly confirmed as Stephanie's missing red Mazda. A crime scene was then declared at that location. Now there was no obvious damage to this vehicle, but there was still no sign of Stephanie. So how did her car end up here? Who left it there? And if it wasn't Stephanie, how did they get back into town? Could there be more than one person involved here? Now, as the news broke nationally, that Vincent had been charged with Stephanie's murder. Many people in Leighton had difficulty initially making sense of any of this, because here was this quiet man who kept to himself, who had no friends, and I'm saying sounds on brand to me. But word around town was that he spent much of his life in the Netherlands where his mother was from. And they'd only recently moved to Australia, so many people didn't really know much about this man, but on the surface, I guess he looked normal. I mean, is there really a normal look to someone? So what was known was that Vincent

was somewhat of a stranger in this area. And by now, of course, the detectives had broken the heartbreaking news to Aaron and Stephanie's families, telling them at five 30 a.m. But they believed happened to her. And no words could express how devastated everyone was. Their lives would never be the same. Her sister Kim, who had flown home for Stephanie's wedding, would now be attending her funeral instead. It's just unreal to think about it like that. The day that charges were announced, Kim posted to Facebook. She said, you may no longer be here, but the beautiful memory of you will forever live on. Thank you for 26. unforgettable years. Stephanie, our lives will never be the same without you. And her other sister

Robin also posted, she said, always and forever in our hearts. That he can't take away from us, that's ours to keep forever and always. In the same day, over 200 people including Aaron and the Scott family attended a memorial at Leight in high school to honor Stephanie's memory and the joy that she brought to everyone's life. Flowers, yellow balloons, ribbons and cards were all over the school's front fence with hundreds of signatures on a poster board surrounding two photos of Stephanie. Since Stephanie's disappearance, the tribute outside that high school had been growing, and this was due to her students who wanted to feel they were doing something. And now, with the news that someone had been charged with her murder, things were even more

real. Stephanie wasn't coming home alive, as everyone had hoped for. The school's front fence was just this shimmering mass of yellow in the fall sun as onlookers wept in silence. And the following day, while investigators processed Stephanie's car and worked tirelessly to locate her body, another tip came in. At 8 a.m. on April 10th, a local man named Paul Halls came down to Leighton Police Station. Like everyone else, he couldn't escape the saturation of Stephanie's coverage on TV and in articles and something he's seen the previous week. had been bothering him. Paul told investigators that on the afternoon of April 5th, he and some

friends had been working on a pickup truck in a shed opposite a canal on Griffith Road. This was a couple miles west of Leighton, and around 3.45 p.m., he said he saw a white Toyota pickup truck pull up, and a man got out. The man was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses and holding something that Paul thought could have been an iPad or a laptop. Paul initially thought the man was using it to maybe take some photographs. But then he saw this man throw the device into the canal. Now, that was odd. And then the man just ran back to his vehicle and quickly drove away,

heading back towards town. Paul's friend, Brendan Lyons, who actually owned the shed where they were working on their pickup truck, corroborated this story. And going back through Vincent Stanford's vehicle records, investigators learned that at 3.35 p.m. on April 7th, He was captured on dash cam footage by a police highway patrol car driving his pickup through Leighton away from the school and towards his home on Maiden Avenue.

This would have matched up to what Paul and Brendan had seen. Police divers head out to where these men had reported seeing the strange action of someone throwing something into the canal and they searched the six and a half foot deep canal. And within hours, they recovered a red Lenovo Thinkpad. laptop. And after forensic officers with the state evidence branch were able to dry this device out, they downloaded all of its contents. And as suspected, this was Stephanie's school laptop. It just kept getting worse. There was more to her timeline found with this new evidence as well. Investigator saw that just before 1 p.m. on April 5th, Stephanie had emailed the bus company

that she was hiring for the wedding to confirm the arrangement for the following Saturday. So now they know, she was alive at that time. Authorities knew the only way to find Stephanie was to trace Vincent's movements through his cell phone records and GPS in his pickup. Interestingly, he had turned off his phone in Leighton at 1.15 a.m. on April 6th,

and when he switched it back on just up at 3 a.m., it pinged about 30 miles north of town to a place called Kokopara National Park. The GPS and Vincent's pickup truck told the same story. Its recent destinations included the National Park and a gravel access road called Boundary Road. Soil deposits on the pickup confirmed it had been driven on gravel. Officers now had somewhere to look. So now out in that national park, officers on trail bikes faced a wide search area with the sun already going down. But around 5 p.m., riding along Witton Stock route,

they stopped 16 feet from the road in thick shrub by the body of a woman the body was burned and partially covered by charred remains of tree branches there's no shortcut for saving time but saving money is simple just combine your car and home insurance with bellair direct and save get a quote at bellair direct dot com there was no clothing and no jewelry found nearby and the scene itself was eerily and really like sickenly familiar because it matched the images that were saved on Vincent's camera. They were almost exact. The site was secured and the body which was presumed to be Stephanie's

was guarded through the night until the scene could be fully processed. Her remains were removed just after midnight. It was not lost on anyone that it was now April 11th, Stephanie's Wedding Day. And that made me so sad. It was supposed to be the happiest day of this woman's life, but instead, it's the day that her death is confirmed. With Stephanie found, detectives had a new question. Who was Vincent Stanford?

And how had he come to be working at that school? And how in the world did he cross paths with Stephanie? They began digging into his employment. Vincent had been working at Leiden High School as a temporary janitor since early March of 2015, so only about five weeks before the murder. He wasn't employed by the school, but by a cleaning company that was contracted to the State Department of Education, for whom he had worked since October of 2014. He was due to finish before Easter break. But somehow, for some reason, his contract had been extended. And it's just one of those cruel things of this case.

If that extension hadn't gone through, Vincent may have been nowhere near that school over Easter at all. And here's the thing. No cleaners were supposed to be working that long weekend. He wasn't supposed to be there. He simply chose to be, which we will get into. When he started the job, he'd been giving keys, but not the alarm codes, since, of course, he was only temporary. His hours were strict as well, 3.30 a.m. to 8.30 a.m.

Then 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, and only in areas tied to his cleaning duties, which meant he wasn't supposed to be there when students were there, when staff were Our faculty was he was there in the early morning hours until school started and then after school ended. Yet somehow Vincent had gotten hold of the alarm codes. He had also been seen at the school well outside his hours and places he had no business being, including around the girls' bathrooms during breaks. The deputy principal had even seen him there on a Friday, on a holiday, two days before Stephanie disappeared. And I kept wondering, why didn't anyone say anything?

His employers, they were horrified. They were just like everyone else surprised and they fully cooperated. There was also the matter of how Vincent behaved after the murder. Once the search was in full swing on April 7th, the first weekday after the long weekend, Vincent showed up for a shift at another location at 4.30 in the morning. And a coworker who knew he also cleaned the school at Leiden High School said, Do you know anything about Stephanie? thinking that, you know, he had seen all the coverage happening and knowing that she was missing,

and Vincent said he had not. When someone else offered that maybe she had just gotten cold feet about her wedding, Vincent smiled very oddly, and then he giggled. And I was thinking, yikes, it's just like he thought a dead body was funny, right? It's twisted. His mother, Anka, and his older brother, Luke, cooperated with authorities as well. There had been a lot of whispers around town that his family, had somehow helped cover for Vincent. But it became very clear that they had no idea.

They told police everything they knew. And Anka described meeting Vincent at the grocery store just after 7.30 a.m. on April 6th, and he seemed completely normal to her. She said that he told her he had just been for a walk as he often did. And Luke recalled waking in the early hours of April 8th and finding Vincent standing near the fireplace, burning something. Although Luke did not know what he was burning and he didn't ask him. Now, in the course of these conversations, Anka mentioned something in passing that Vincent had an identical twin brother Marcus, but that he lived in South Australia. Investigators made note of it, and they added him to a list of people to speak to. It was almost to suggest by the mother that maybe they were looking for someone else. But honestly,

come on between the giggles, the keys, the access to the school, the camera, everything, it's kind of obvious. Vincent was the one involved. But maybe Marcus was too. Who knows, right? They got to do their due diligence. What should have been the happiest day of Stephanie's life, evidence was still being processed across multiple crime scenes, and word came through that now Vincent wanted to talk. He had spoken to some of the officers at the Junior Correctional Center where he was being

held, and he asked to see the detective in charge of the investigation. So detectives Clark and Milne drive out to see what Vincent has to say. He was soft-spoken. He had a heavy Dutch accent that obviously reflected how much of his life he had spent in the Netherlands. And at this stage, Vincent had no idea that Stephanie's body had been found or what else had been seized from his home and his phone. The detectives were not going to tell him that yet. They wanted to hear what he had to say unprompted. They fully expected him to fish for information, to try to work out how much they knew, what they were doing, but instead, when they sat down across from this man, he was alert, he was calm, he wasn't in a rush, and he said something they were not prepared for.

Vincent opened with, I want to confess to the charges placed against me. I agree to the charges and confess to the murder of Stephanie. But I can't remember. remember her surname. I mean, these detectives nearly fell off their chairs. A confession was the last thing they expected. And he kept talking. And he explained that he spent most of the long weekend cleaning at the high school, simply because, in his words, he was bored, that he had been there Friday, emptying out and hosing down the garbage bins until about 2 p.m. And then he was back on Saturday, cleaning another building. And then on Easter Sunday, he said, he arrived at 7.30 a.m. and parked in the school lot. Just after 9 a.m., he deactivated the alarm to the administration block. And then he opened a

downstairs store room just inside the main entrance, a room that was once used as a dark room. And if you're not familiar, a dark room used to be used for developing photographs. But he was claiming that he had never been inside before and he just wanted to see what was in there. He left that door open. Think about that for a moment. He just randomly leaves his door open. No, I don't think so. But he insisted he also never met Stephanie and had no idea she was going to be at school that day. Also remember that statement. According to him, the first time you ever saw her was when she was working on her computer in the staff room. Well then, why did he have a knife in his pocket. Explain that. And there are other things he's not going to be able to explain away.

Vincent said that he waited for Stephanie to leave. And as she passed him near the open storeroom door, convenient, right? She said, I'm going home now. Have a happy Easter. And as Stephanie reached into her bag for her keys, and he told them, I picked her up from behind, put my right hand over her mouth and my left hand around her middle. And I dragged her into that storeroom. And then he described his surprise at how violently this woman fought back, scratching him as she was struggling. He said she didn't scream because he had his hand on her throat. And once the door was closed, he threw her to the floor and he started to beat her with his fist until she stopped moving. Then he removed the knife from his pocket. And these were his words

and they're just very chilling. So I want to repeat them word for word. He said, quote, I grab my sheath, my sword, and I hit her in the carotid artery to make sure she was dead. End quote. When asked by the detectives why he brought a knife to school, Vincent said that he thought he maybe had to open something up so that maybe he was opening up mail. That was his explanation. But he said they could find it at his house. He said they would also find blood in the storeroom that he could not remove,

even when he later said he cleaned it with a pressure washer. He then recounted picking up Stephanie's bag and her keys and leaving her body on the floor and then going home for about 10 minutes. You know what he did there? He said he calmly ate a cheese sandwich and drank a cup of coffee, as though he had done nothing sinister at this point. And then he drove back to the school, retrieved Stephanie's car, and brought it to the grounds near the main building, where he carried her body. to that Mazda and placed in the trunk on a sheet of plastic. He then took a piece of yellow masking tape and he tried to put it over her neck wound to stop the bleeding. He said he then cleaned the knife and that's when he got the high pressure washer and he tried to clean the storeroom

before driving Stephanie's car with her body in the trunk back to his house and parking it in the backyard near the shed. He walked back to the school, he says at this point, loaded the blood-spattered boards from the storeroom into his pickup truck because he couldn't wash them and drove home. Much later that night, Vincent tells the investigators that at this point, he drove Stephanie's car to a spot near a local gas station. He walked over on foot, filled a can with gasoline, and by now, it was the early hours of April 6th. He drove her body to that national park, arriving, he said, around 2 a.m., and parked, parked. near Wittenstock route, a place that he knew very well, he said, from camping there with his family. Think about that. It's like, this is a place that you've been to with happy moments in your life,

and now you're bringing someone's body out there. He said he pulled Stephanie's body from the trunk and laid it on the ground. She was described as stiff and in the fetal position, but Vincent said he could still move the joints, that he straightened her out, and then removed her clothing, which he said took a fair amount of effort. He had to even cut her shirt to get off of her. And when they asked him, why? Why would you undress her? He claimed he thought her clothes wouldn't burn.

Yeah, okay, buddy. I don't think anyone's believing much of what he's saying at this point. But, hey, there was an outline of what he did, and it was making sense. He then said he put her clothes, a sun visor from her car, and the plastic from the trunk, into a backpack to take back into town. He couldn't explain why he took those items because why wouldn't you just burn them? But I guess again, maybe he thought they wouldn't burn. He also couldn't explain why he took those photographs that were found on his device, but I bet I can tell you one reason because he's sick. Vincent then described laying branches

over Stephanie's body and pouring roughly five gallons of gasoline on top and setting a fire with the match. He claimed that he didn't stand there to find out what would happen next. So when you traveled, did you stay around long to watch your body burn? No, I left straight away. You left straight away? That he just turned around, immediately left, driving the Mazda to Pike Road, and then leaving it there and walking back into town. Did you get all that? That was his version of the murder, the cleanup, and the disposal.

Then he explains, when he gets back home, he changes his clothes, and then just around 7.30 a.m., he meets his mom at the grocery store and said he had been for a walk. So his mom corroborated that part. And then he said he went home, put Stephanie's belongings into his closet, ate something, and slept for a couple of hours. Then, in his words, went about his day, driving around Leighton and out to Grythes. dumping Stephanie's belongings in public trash cans in both of those towns. Vincent goes on to explain how he returned to the National Park in the late afternoon of April 8th. He told the detectives he just wanted to see if Stephanie was still there. Because in his words, I thought maybe the wildlife would have taken her.

Driving back, he stopped near Pike Road where he left her car just to have a look. Yeah. You know that he couldn't resist going back to these spots. You know it. When asked about the used prophylactic found in his backyard, Vincent said it must have just been an old one. He denied doing anything sexual to Stephanie. Nice try. Detective's Clark and Milne kept their composure this entire time, but they were honestly shaken by how freely this man spoke about what he had done. It was like, it was just like him explaining another day. He was cooperative to the point of eerieness.

There was just no hesitation, no evasion, but just no emotion and no hint of remorse. This man was completely flat with his words. I'm playing some of what he said while we've been talking about this. When they asked why he was angry with Stephanie and why he had killed her, his answer was that he He wasn't. He wasn't angry or anything, he said. Basically just emotionless he's telling them, I didn't really feel anger. I just wanted to kill her. How you never tell me why you got angry at Stephanie and why you wanted to kill her? I think what you feel anger? He just wanted to kill her. Oh, so you weren't, didn't feel like

no. And you just wanted to kill her. That he had a lot of violent thoughts, but he had never acted on them. He had thoughts about killing various people throughout his entire life that he had met and thought about hurting them. And that's all, really. And he said that he thought it probably had something to do with mental problems that he had, but that none of these people he fantasized about killing had ever done anything to deserve it. He said he didn't feel a lot of emotion. Wow, what a surprise. Like I said, he delivered this statement after statement as though he were describing maybe someone else's day, like far removed. It was just so matter of fact and unmoving, it's like, how can you not be moved by this? Like, how can you not feel?

And I kept thinking, can you believe that people like this walk among us every day? We just don't know it. Two days after Vincent's confession, Stephanie's autopsy was conducted by forensic pathologist Dr. Rainey Van Veren, and the findings laid out the violence of Stephanie's final moments. She had bruising that was mainly on the right side of her face. There was a small incision on her right eyebrow, a nasal fracture, and what they called a blowout fracture of her right eye socket. She had been punched around 40 times. On the right side of her neck were two stab wounds,

reaching to the front of the fourth cervical vertebra. There was also internal bleeding on and within her brain, and her cause of death was ultimately blunt-forced trauma to her head. Now, the broader evidence also established what police had suspected that Stephanie had been violated. And this is something that Vincent kept denying at this point. And while he admitted to setting her body on fire, she had not fully burned. Most of the gasoline had been concentrated on her upper thighs and her lower rib cage, leaving the rest of her body with relatively minor fire damage.

And to investigators, that specific pattern spoke for itself. Vincent had clearly been trying to destroy evidence specifically of a sexual nature because of the positioning of where the burning was. Now I'm going to tell you that no one would have blamed Aaron or Stephanie's family and friends for wanting to just shut themselves inside on what should have been her wedding day for them to just grieve in private. But what they did was truly remarkable. It shows their resilience and their generosity.

Instead, they invited the Leighton community to join them at an outdoor picnic that they called Make Mountford Park Yellow Day. That morning, all dressed in the color yellow, Stephanie's loved ones gathered with residents to celebrate their daughter, sister, fiancé, friend, and favorite teacher. Her father, Bob, addressed the entire crowd and he said Stephanie was a bubbly, bright, witty, intelligent, fun-loving girl who has obviously impacted many people here today. And our wishes for her future are that she will continue in your minds. I'm sure wherever she is now, she would wish that to be the case.

As you remember her as that great little girl that she was. And then everyone released yellow balloons into the air. Everyone was clapping and crying, and around the country, women were honoring Stephanie in their own way. I'd never heard of anything like this because this is such an extraordinary case. But after the news broke, that someone had been arrested, the hashtag, put your dress out, began trending online. On the day Stephanie was supposed to be married, women across Australia actually took out their wedding dresses and hung them on their front doors as a tribute. And those attending other weddings wore yellow. And I was just thinking about how amazing that is that people did that. Her sister Kim posted something on Facebook. It was a poem that she had

written. And she was supposed to read this at Stephanie and Aaron's wedding. It described how the couple met and the bond that they shared. And I'm going to read it to you. It said, quote, they make each other smile. They can fill a room with love. Joking and laughing, they fit each other like a glove. You're beautiful people when you stand alone. Together you're strong. You set the tone. I wish you all the happiness for the many years to come. May you fill each other with joy and never be glum. I'm sure you'd all agree that their bond is unique, special, and happy. Their love is what we seek. End quote. At the site where Stephanie's body was found, people quietly live. left yellow beckays and hung paper lanterns from the trees to mark her final resting place.

I remember seeing a photo of one single yellow balloon hanging right above where her body was found. And that itself, just that picture is such a statement. Her family planted daffodils and native plants there in her memory. And a week later, school resumed. But the mood at Leighton High School was heavy for all of the staff and the students. teens who would normally be so embarrassed to be walked in by their parents were now actually grateful for it, entering the ground slowly and in tears with yellow flowers and balloons and messages of love for Stephanie.

And where she had once brought joy to her students' lives, there was now just silence. The day after school resumed April 21st, Vincent was interviewed a second time. And this time, they wanted to confirm some of the things that Vincent's. had told them. Now, he was captured on CCTV footage, driving Stephanie's car past a gas station where he had gone to fill up the gas cans in the hours after the murder. But investigators wanted to clarify other details from Vincent's initial confession. They were hoping that he was going to be forthcoming about the fact that he forced himself on Stephanie probably after she died. And this was given some of the evidence at autopsy. And there were other reasons they said, after she died,

we'll get into them. Vincent stated that after coming home from the National Park, he washed Stephanie's clothes in the washer and hung them to dry. The police of course knew from their search of Vincent's home that he had kept Stephanie's bra. When he was asked why he kept it, he replied honestly, I don't know. Maybe I wanted a souvenir. When Vincent was asked if he liked the bra, he just shrugged and smiled, saying, I didn't really care to be honest. honest, and that was this whole theme. He doesn't care. Vincent was then asked to recount everything and told detectives in the first interview, including the reason that he even killed Stephanie. The only explanation he could give was a chilling one. He said that he really couldn't remember,

that he thought that maybe he went a little nuts and he couldn't stop himself from doing it. He also explained that he had these anger attacks in the past and that he had been treated for. it. But he just thinks he needs to see a psychiatrist about it. You think? I am letting you hear some of this and you can kind of feel this for yourself how cold he was. Then you, what did you, did you use match to light the fire or did you use cigarettes? Put some petrol on a stick and a, and I ate a match on that. Yep. And I chopped the stick on there. Yeah. And where the match, about the match where did you put it? I think it's still there, probably. You should throw that in the fire or just drop it? No, I dropped it where the stick was.

Okay. Is that far away from the body or? No. No. No. He just kept telling these officers that he really didn't think much about killing Stephanie and think about that. Because that haunted me, knowing that there are people out there who just don't care about the lives of other human beings. May we never come in contact with them. Vincent was just as remorseless and emotionless as the first interview. But this time around, the detectives noticed something slightly different.

There was actually an air of confidence about him. He was chuckling with them. He was smirking as he was answering their questions. It was as if he was actually getting a kick out of this about going over everything again. And you know that killers do that. But there was other information the police were after for Stephanie's family's sake. She had been wearing her engagement ring when she was killed. And though her loved ones couldn't have her.

her back, the ring. It was so sentimental. It was one physical object that they could have, that they could hold onto in Stephanie's memory. Metal detectors did not find any jewelry at the site where Stephanie's body was found. When the officers asked Vincent what he had done with Stephanie's engagement ring, he corrected them. He said she was wearing two rings, not one. They knew this wasn't her wedding band because that they did still have. She wasn't married yet, although she wore her on the house. That was still in errands possession. Police then quickly realized Vincent had also taken Stephanie's university graduation ring, the one that was gifted to her by her parents. I mean, how heartbreaking is that? Vincent said he removed the rings from Stephanie's

hands at the school after he killed her, which actually puzzled the police. They were like, why? Why bother removing these rings? I mean, I can think of one reason, but Vincent was vague about what he did next. His answer was that he probably just threw them away in the trash, that he had no idea where he threw them because he threw so much stuff away. He was so focused on not leaving anything behind at the school that he couldn't remember where the rings went. And you might think at this point that would be the end of these two small rings gone somewhere in a trash bin, somewhere out in this country town, impossible to trace. But the police knew something that Vincent didn't.

They knew he was lying about the rings because quietly, in the background, investigators had circled back to a detail from an early interview in the case from his own mother. She had mentioned, almost in passing, that Vincent had an identical twin brother, Marcus. And wow, do they look like, I know they're identical.

Sometimes identical twins don't look identical. They're identical in other ways, and there's reasons for calling them identical. But wow, did they look exactly like. His brother Marcus was living hundreds of miles away in South Australia, and had just become very interesting to investigators indeed. When Uncle Stanford, their mother, had told police that Vincent not only had another brother who lived interstate,

but that they were identical, the investigators, like I said, had to do their due diligence. Because guess what? You may or may not know this, but identical twins share the same DNA, which meant investigators couldn't simply rely on forensics to tell the brothers apart. They needed to confirm, from an alibi standpoint, that Marcus wasn't the killer they were after.

So at the request of Detective Clark, South Australia police contacted Marcus in order to eliminate him as a suspect. His boss where he worked at a flower farm confirmed as well as his two roommates independently that he was in South Australia on the day of Stephanie's murder. And he lived a nine-hour drive away from Leighton. So Marcus wasn't physically involved.

But could he tell them something about maybe what happened afterward? Because it is common, not always, for twins to be very close. So had Vincent confided in his twin with their unique bond? Well, in April 21st, the same day as Vincent's second police interview, South Australia Police actually took a statement from Marcus about the days leading up to you and following Stephanie's murder. Marcus admitted that he had a phone call with his brother Vincent on April 4th, and it was about 10 minutes in length.

Marcus said that Vincent sounded completely normal. nothing out of character. Now, this would have been obviously before the murder. And then Marcus recalled the following day at 6.56 p.m. Vincent called him again. When Marcus asked, what are you doing? Vincent replied, just driving around. Marcus asked where? And he got the same answer, just driving around. Marcus told the detectives that at this point, Vincent sounded weird. Now, Marcus was eating dinner, so he told his brother he would call him back. And then Marcus said he called Vinson back three days later on April 8th. And Vincent sounded more back to his usual self, and the brothers chatted about work and just everyday things. And Marcus told his detectives

that when he saw the news story the very next day about the arrest of a 24-year-old school janitor over a murder in Leighton, he felt sick to his stomach. He immediately called his mom, who confirmed to him that his twin brother was the one that was arrested. Now, four days after that, Marcus said, that Vincent called him from the correctional center. And they discussed how Vincent was doing and who was going to represent him in court. But let's pause on Marcus for just a moment. The next day, April 22nd, it was finally time for Stephanie's loved ones to say their goodbyes. Businesses across Leight and closed for one hour from 1 p.m. as a mark of respect.

Her family and Aaron agreed it was fitting for the service to be held at their intended wedding venue. The picturesque outdoor setting should have been the sight of Erin and Stephanie's celebration of love, and now it would still be a place of celebration, but have Stephanie's life lost. It was just heartbreaking. Locals who lived along the funeral procession route, they tied yellow balloons to the trees, and more than 1,500 people sat beneath those sprawling gum trees as they listened to the song Be Still by the killers being played. Stephanie's loved ones were all dressed in the outfits that they had planned to wear to her wedding. And on top of Stephanie's white coffin were purple, pink, and orange flowers, the color that was supposed to be in her wedding bouquet.

Her sister Kim spoke of Stephanie's way with people, how to her. she was secure in who she was, that she wasn't bothered by what other people thought of her. And Leighton High School's vice captain Grace Green also spoke, telling the crowd that Stephanie always knew how to brighten someone's day. She says, you've given me enough love to get me through these last few terms. You will be deep within my heart. And everyone gathered there, released hundreds of yellow balloons as the song Making Memories of Us by Keith Urban played. That was the song that she had chosen for her first dance with Erin. Griggs goes believes in the art of living in choosing the pleasurable over the practical. It's why we craft our premium vodka in France using pure spring water from

Jenzac and why you hear the celebratory club of our quirk reminding us to make every martini cocktail count. So go on and make every moment count because there's no better time than now. Gregus, make time wait. As the service came to a close, everyone there was comforting one another while the song Home by Edward Sharp and the magnetic zeros played in the background. And to me, the music made this so much sadder and the fact that these were all of her wedding songs and the wedding colors. That got to me personally.

But I now need to go back to something else. Marcus. Over the following weeks, investigators dug into his account of his phone contact with his brother Vincent in the days around the murder. And when they examined his cell phone, they found something kind of strange. Now, Marcus had text conversations with other people going all the way back to November of 2014. But every single message between him and his brother Vincent, had been deleted.

It was impossible to say exactly when they were deleted, but still that's suspicious. What had the brothers been discussing that they obviously didn't want anyone to see? They also noticed that on the morning of April 9th, Marcus had clicked on a news article titled Bride to Be Stephanie Scott missing from Leighton, New South Wales, one week before her wedding. And five days later on April 14th, Marcus actually Googled selling jewelry in Adelaide. And on May 4th, he searched for the price of diamond engagement rings and where and how to sell them. Huh. Remember Stephanie's engagement and graduation rings were still missing.

And Marcus had admitted Vincent asked him for his address at some point. So was it possible that Vincent had sent these rings to his brother and had asked him to sell him? If Marcus had followed through, he would be an accessory to murder. South Australia police began checking pawn shops and secondhand jewelry stores across Adelaide, and Detective Sergeant Baker did his own searching. And he found what's called the Adelaide Exchange jewelry store in a suburb of Modbury. When he showed the owner photos of Stephanie's missing rings, the owner confirmed that two rings matching the descriptions had been sold to his store

on May 9th for a total of $705. But here's probably the saddest part of this, because it gives you so much hope. The rings were no longer at that store, and they hadn't been bought by a customer. They had actually been scrapped. Another heartbreaking moment, because what that meant was that they were melted down

and they were used to make other jewelry. Our family would never get them back. Now, without Marcus' deleted phone records to show how he acquired those rings and why he sold them, police had to wait on Vincent's cell phone records. And in the meantime, they began monitoring Vincent's jailhouse calls. And on May 26th, Vincent called his twin Marcus, and he asked him something simple. What he had done with the stuff he'd sent him. And Marcus replied, exactly what you told me to do.

And then Vincent asked, did you get a fair bit for it? And Marcus said, yes. To which Vincent responded, that's good. When Vincent asked what he had done with the money, Marcus said he paid for a plane ticket for the trip. I'm saying it in that way for a reason, because investigators knew that Marcus flew to New South Wales to visit Vincent in jail. Was that what he meant? That trip? It just sickened me. Two days after that call on May 28th, police finally received Vincent's cell phone records. The April 4th call that Marcus had claimed was only 10 minutes was actually 40 minutes. So they were talking about a lot.

And the records veiled something else. On the morning of April 8th, three days after Stephanie was killed, the brothers had exchanged text messages. Vincent had written, I'm going to send you an envelope. Keep it safe from me. And can you let me know when you received the envelope? There was no recorded message in which Vincent explained.

Placidly asked his brother to sell the rings, but detectives were confident that instruction came during a phone call at 5.05 p.m. on April 8th before Vincent was arrested. One of the detectives asked Marcus on May 30th about whether Vincent had sent him the envelope containing jewelry and Marcus denied it. He said he didn't receive anything in the mail from his brother since the previous Christmas. Isn't that so obvious though? I'm like, give it up already. Meanwhile, the DNA testing of items seized during the investigation was underway. Stephanie's DNA was found. On the outside of that prophylactic that was recovered from Vincent's backyard, it was right where her car had been parked. Vincent's DNA was also found inside.

Inside that item, the rubber item? Yeah. And on June 3rd, Vincent was charged with aggravated essay, inflicting actual bodily harm. A week later, Marcus was arrested at his home, and the day following on June 11th, he was extradited to New South Wales and charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder. It convicted, he faced a maximum of 25 years in prison. It was shocking when news spread that not one person, but two people were implicated in Stephanie's murder and they were twin brothers. To many people, the revelation that Marcus had sold Stephanie's rings, which were now gone forever, was nearly as sickening as all the accusations against Vincent himself.

And I don't know if you feel the same way, but honestly, the whole time I kept thinking that is so disgusting, the lack of remorse, the lack of care that these two men were just so cold. Because his brother had to have known something happened, right? He read the articles, he looked things up about Stephanie. Prosecutors kept building their case against the twins. And then on August 5th, Marcus contacted the police like his brother had done months earlier because now he wanted to talk. Sure he did. Of course he did. Now that his ass is on the line, of course he wants to sit down with detectives.

He now admits he did receive an envelope from Vincent in the days after Stephanie's murder. And he said he kept it in his room for a week, only opening it after Vincent was arrested. And inside were the two rings and Stephanie's driver's license. When asked if he knew whose they were, Marcus said he didn't know for a search. but assumed they were Stephanie's. He admitted photographing her license before burning it in his fireplace two days later. He denied the photos were a momento. He said at the time, he thought he might need proof to show the police.

Then he explained that after pawning the rings, he used the money like we thought for a plane ticket to go visit his brother in jail. Marcus denied that his brother ever said anything about wanting to murder anyone on that call on April 4th. When he was asked why he deleted all their conversations, he claimed it was just a free-up space on his phone. But if that were true, why didn't he delete anyone else's? And the same explanation kept coming back again and again, and that was that he had gone along with Vincent's request out of what he called misplaced loyalty. Hmm. Okay? To the detectives, it was very clear.

These brothers were extremely close. but that Vincent was the dominant one of the two. And as I've mentioned by now, forensic testing had revealed Stephanie's DNA was on the used, I'm going to call it Dorex, found in Vincent's backyard. And when they examined the pickup truck,

they found the blood smears on those boards in the back were not only human, but they were also consistent with Stephanie's DNA. A significant amount of human blood consistent with Stephanie's was also found in the trunk of her car, on the trunk liner, and on the vehicle's rear bumper. Vincent's DNA had also been found inside the vehicle,

and the yellow duct tape that was found behind Vincent's backyard shed also contained Stephanie's DNA. And guess what? It was very similar to the tape that was used by painters at Leighton High School. Other items seized from Vincent's home carried traces of Stephanie's DNA, too. A bloody gas can. The murder weapon, which was a bloody knife, and blood-stained handcuffs, a bottle of lubrication, and some more prophylactics found inside his bedroom.

Those also had traces of Stephanie's blood on them. On the strap of Vincent's digital camera, there was a substance that was also found on her body that was on that strap. Investigators concluded that what Vincent's brother Luke saw him burning in the fireplace in the early hours of April 8th was actually Stephanie's belongings. None of her other clothing or shoes were ever found. But there was more evidence to examine, and police hoped that it would offer some insight into the kind of man Vincent really was. And what led him to do something like this?

And this was the part I was kind of waiting to talk about, because I always wonder why. We can chalk it up to a person being crazy, but I think that's a simple explanation, and there's always more to it. A computer seized from his bedroom revealed very alarming material, saved on the device, where surveillance style, photographs and videos of women and school-aged girls. Along with a very large collection, I'm talking about thousands and thousands, are very inappropriate images of animals. Yes. Vincent had also saved videos of murder for intercourse and bomb-making on his computer,

and his internet search history was very disturbing. He routinely searched for content involving the same things that I just mentioned to you, as well as what I'm going to call treating women in a violent manner during second. encounters. Also hardcore material, as well as having relations with deceased women, fantasies, if you will. On February 21st, about six weeks before Stephanie's murder, and while he was already working at the high school, they included bride rape, bride kidnapping, virgin bride brutally raped by drunk man, rape videos, bride raped with wedding dress, and Muslim man rapes child bride until she dies. He also clicked on a video titled Japanese teacher clothes cut off and gang raped by students.

Wow, I'm speechless. These weren't Vincent's only sinister interest. He ordered various adult devices online, and that's not damning in and of itself if you're not accused of a crime like this. But investigators then learned he held an account with a security company that sold handcuffs, batons, and knives as well. So put it all together. We know exactly what this man was about. On October 10th of 2014, he ordered handcuffs and a half sword. The day before Stephanie's murder, he ordered another knife and more handcuffs and even the leg cuffs. That same day, he searched terms like Widowmaker, Widow Knife.

sharpest puncture knives, sharpest knife tips, sharpest knife you can buy, best piercing knives, and serial killer knives. And the items he ordered, the day before the murder arrived at his home on April 14th. His mother handed them to police. With both of these brothers in custody and all of this forensic evidence against Vincent, police began piecing together a timeline of Stephanie's terrifying final moments and the aftermath. Just before she left the school, she emailed that bus company about her wedding that was at 12.58 p.m. shortly afterward, she went to the administration block. At 131 p.m. she disarmed the block's alarm.

And seven minutes later, she rearmed it at 138. That's the last thing she would ever do that left a record. Stephanie then walked along an enclosed corridor towards the lock school gates. That's where she saw Vincent standing there and she said, I'm going home now, have a happy Easter. As she paused to reach into her bag to get out the keys to unlock the gate, Vincent grabbed her from behind, put one hand over her mouth and the other around her waist. Walking her backward, he dragged Stephanie along that corridor towards the storeroom. She dropped the keys and her bag, which had her laptop inside. Stephanie fought for her life. She tried to scream, and she scratched Vincent in the process of struggling. Inside that storeroom, Vincent pushed her to the ground.

She fell face down between some of those boards and a locker. Vincent then got on top of her, his left arm on her throat, and he used his fists to do what he did. Forty times he struck her. And she fought back for at least about a minute before she lost consciousness. Vincent then unwrapped one of his rubbers, and he was probably trying to make sure his DNA wouldn't be on her, and he forced himself on her while she was alive. Then he pulled out the knife from his pocket, and he wounded her neck.

Leaving her in that storeroom, he went out to her car, drove it from the street into a secluded area inside the school grounds, carried her body outside, placed in the trunk, and at some point he also slipped the two rings from her fingers, her engagement ring, and the special graduation ring her parents had given her. He stuck yellow tape on her neck in a vain attempt to control bleeding and then went back into the school to briefly try to clean up. He then drove Stephanie's car to his house, parked it in the backyard behind his shed, and her body stayed in that trunk while Vincent went inside and ate lunch. Then he walked back to the school, pressure washed the store room, loaded the blood-stained boards that he couldn't clean into his pickup truck

and drove back home. Later that afternoon, he drove out of town to dispose of Stephanie's laptop in that canal, which he was seen by Brendan and Paul. Later that night, Vincent used Stephanie's car to fill up a gas can before driving her body out to the National Park under the cover of darkness. After placing her on the ground and removing her clothing, he laid tree branches over her pelvic area and took several photos. He then poured gas over the branches and set them on fire. Vincent then drove Stephanie's car

back towards Leighton, but rather than abandoning it right away, he most likely drove it home first where he got rid of the gas can and the plastic trunk liner, because remember, they were found. Then he drove back out of town, left the Mazda on Pike Road,

and walked the rest of the way home in the dark. In the following days, he drove around Leighton and Griffith, disposing of Stephanie's personal belongings in public trash cans. And then having spoken to his brother just before his arrest, Vincent mailed Stephanie's rings and her driver's license to Marcus. Prosecutors felt there was a possibility that Marcus knew that his brother had murdered Stephanie before even learning of his arrest.

This was obviously based on the searches and things like that, but it could not be 100% proven. The story of Stephanie's brutal murder continued to dominate Australian. news as both of these brothers were now awaiting their next public court appearance. What everyone really wanted to know, and I think it's probably a question you have, is how? Could a monster hide in plain sight in the small community that everyone thought was safe? Well, let's examine where it all started. Vincent and Marcus Stanford were born in Franklin, Tasmania in December of 1990,

joining their older brother, Luke. When the twins were around three years old, their parents, marriage broke down and their mother, Anka, took the three boys back to her home country, the Netherlands. Their father, Steve, returned to Australia not long afterward and had no further contact with his sons at that time. Anka worked very hard as a nurse to raise the boys on her own. Neighbors that knew them found the boys to be polite, but they did think that Vincent was strange. He was very soft-spoken and never made eye contact with anyone. The household kept as many as nine cats at one time. Don't know why that was mentioned, but they said the home was chaotic,

and there was a lot of wild, overgrown bushes in front of it, so you couldn't really see inside. The boys were apparently bullied at school because they had an Australian accent, but they never fought back, even though they were bigger than most of the boys and physically capable of beating up their peers. So they didn't resort to any violence at that point. At school, as a matter of fact, Vincent did have a nickname. It was psycho. And this was because, although he didn't act out physically, he did have violent outbursts. And that's pretty telling. He had very limited social skills. It was also said he suffered from oppositional behavior and he had very little, if any, friends at all. In 2003, when he was 12, Vincent was reprimanded by his school principal. This is because

he was on the school grounds outside of school hours. Isn't that interesting? When the principal grabbed his coat, he grabbed her throat. And she struggled to breathe and she thought she was going to die. Vincent was unapologetic and he was eventually expelled. Just a month before this, he had actually been in a fight with another student who he also grabbed by the throat. And he was admitted to a psychiatric facility where he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. But I do want to point out, that does not mean that someone will go on to become what he did. When he was discharged from the psychiatric facility, he was referred for behavior management and enrolled in a school for children with additional needs where he stayed until he was

16 years old. As the twins got into 13 years, Marcus regularly used alcohol and cannabis, but Vincent did not. According to forensic psychologists who later evaluated Vincent, there was nothing to indicate that he had any adverse childhood experiences. And I was like, okay, maybe not, but like, maybe not forced on him, but definitely on others, right? But when they asked him if he experienced any childhood disturbances in his family, he said no, and he described having an all right relationship with his family. Apart from a girlfriend he had at 14, Vincent never had another romantic relationship mainly because he said he didn't want one. Hmm, was that really it? Marcus graduated from high school and studied at a university, but he dropped out after six months

because of lack of interest. Vincent then applied to study information technology at a local college, and he then wanted to join the Army, but he was rejected both times. So school didn't want him, Army didn't want him. He struggled then to find steady work, and he finally landed a job as a janitor, a role that would require very minimal interaction with others, which suited him, but I'm thinking probably also suited others around him. He was also a very big person. He was around 265 pounds, and his coworkers were actually struck by his physical strength, and he earned himself a nickname, King Kong. Even though he did have this stature and he had that nickname, he got along well with his employers and his colleagues.

But he would react very badly, apparently when his routine was changed, and this so reminded me of the recent case of the Corrine Crapper, if you know, you know, Tanner Horner in the death of little Athena Strand. Brutal case. And his defense also tried to say, and use autism spectrum disorder to say that when his routine, his route changed at FedEx, it would set him off. It didn't work. And in Vincent's case, it was similar. Apparently, if he was moved to a different job, part way through his shift, he got angry. It would throw him off. And he felt that his boss

Richard was disorganized and didn't care about him or the other workers, which made Vincent upset. Clearly, we can tell he does not do well with authority. One day after Richard reprimanded him about slamming doors, Vincent attacked him. Do you see a pattern here? The way he attacked his principal. Vincent said, when he began having thoughts of killing Richard, he knew it was time to stop. And I was like, okay, he's attacking this man. Somehow he's thinking, oh, got to stop before I kill him. Marcus was actually the first one out of the family to come back to Australia. He settled in. He became a laborer on a flower farm. And in early 2014, Anka, Luke, and Vincent followed. Anka eventually found work at a local age care facility, and Vincent got the job with the cleaning company Colin, Joss, and Co.

And he worked temporarily at government educational sites, including Leighton High School. Both twins were passionate about online and video gaming. Vincent liked military style games, and he spent a lot of time on a site called Documenting Reality, where he styled his online presence after the Aztec serpent god, Katsoko Waddle. Gaming apparently gave him a way to disappear. There were no face-to-face contact with anyone, and guess what? Vincent even had a YouTube channel where he would post his gaming sessions. His brother even started a game company called Bulletproof Studios,

and Vincent did 2D game modeling for him. The venture never took off, though, and Marcus Schultz, the whole thing down. Vincent didn't make friends. He didn't socialize outside of his family, and he said it was because he found other people's company stressful. He felt he got all the connection he needed from his close relationship with his mother. Yikes. They played darts together, backgammon, and he handed most of his paycheck to his mom for all the household expenses. Vinson said he liked working alone before and after hours with minimal contact with anyone. He rarely spoke to anyone he encountered at the high school where he began working in early March of 2015.

Based on his own account and those of others who knew him, it was clear. Vincent had a long-standing, unaddressed anger issue. But evidence seized from the Stanford house revealed something that I have to mention that's far darker than that. And it made it very clear if Vincent had gotten away with step up. Stephanie's murderer, she would not have been his last victim. In his bedroom, police found a notebook with his name on the cover. And inside were drawings of a woman, a car, a gun, a sword, and an image of a woman's head being stabbed. Yeah. And alongside it was a list of sedating drugs, including Valium, chloroform, nitrous oxide, and the one that's used when you go on dates with someone,

that I hate that's associated with the word dating, because no one is asking for that. to happen to them on a date. Those things were listed there. And there was clear evidence that in the months before the murder, Vincent, had been following three separate women. The first was actually a young girl. She was someone from his neighborhood, only 12 years old, so we're going to say child here. The court only referred to her as Joanne. Vincent had been secretly watching her, taking photos of her, and what police recovered from his devices was a staggering amount. I'm talking like 15,000 or more. I think it was even 100,000.

I don't know, but thousands of images that were sickening in nature. In his notebook, he had tracked her comings and goings where she was when she was home alone. And it was so chilling that he was writing about when he could take her. Frozen lasagna, medium power, 15 minutes. It's like, Ojo time. Let's play. Feel the fun with Play-O-Joe. The online casino with all the latest slot and live casino games.

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And he acknowledged it if he had taken her, he probably would have killed her. So how is that baseless? If this isn't absolutely terrifying, I don't know what is. He referred to her by a word that rhymes with gut and starts with an S. Yeah, a little girl. He even wrote down the license plate numbers of her parents. He stole a photo of her from a bulletin board at the school he cleaned where she attended. It was a picture of her and her grandpa at a school dance.

And the second person he was following was a young woman. The court referred to as Jillian. This was not her name. She worked at Leighton supermarket. And she had seen Vincent there with his mother. But in the weeks before the murder, he started coming there alone. So you can tell. He was planning something with him.

someone, maybe all of these women. On two occasions in late March, he approached her and struck up a conversation, and days later, he searched for her online. He tried even finding her vehicle and tracing it. The next day, when Gillian arrived for an early shift, she found Vincent sitting in his pickup truck in the staff parking lot, not the public parking lot. She was freaked out. She waited in her car until two male co-workers came up, and she walked inside with them. Vincent sat there and took photos of her car that morning, which were found on his device. The third person he was following was a 28-year-old teacher at Leighton High School, not Stephanie. This was who the court referred to as Jennifer. She was often one of the teachers that worked late,

and her car would sometimes be the last car in the parking lot. She actually began noticing Vincent lingering nearby when she returned to her car in the evening. Sometimes she said hello, and he would say hello back. Police found a photo of her car on Vincent's phone taken in the school parking lot on March 27th at 4.57 p.m. Like, think about what he was compiling. Vincent's devices held numerous other photographs of women and girls taken as they passed by his house, along with images of people with animals, which I already kind of explained to you. There was no longer any question. The cumulative picture was of a man who had been escalating and who had been circling potential victims for a very long time. And if you're wondering, there were no photos or evidence

like this of Stephanie in his devices. He wasn't following her like he did with these other women, which I found was interesting. He specifically followed another teacher from the same high school but not Stephanie in the same manner. However, all the searches for bride-related violence meant at some point he saw her and he knew she was about to get married and he became obsessed with that fact. On March 31st of 2016, Stephanie's loved ones gathered for the twins' hearing before the court. Of course, Vincent's defense tried to stall things like they always do. I think they do that when they know they are going to lose and they really have nothing. But Crown Prosecutor Virginia Morgan had a massive 16 full binders of evidence against Vincent,

including his fingerprints, handwriting samples, and a trove of records that would go to just how deliberate his actions had been. Vincent did not enter a plea. He was definitely headed for trial. But someone who did enter a plea was his brother, Marcus. He pleaded guilty to be an accessory after the fact to murder. for Stephanie's murder, and her family and her fiance, Erin, it did bring some relief, some small piece of certainty, but they braced themselves for the long road that was still ahead of them. But almost four months later, an unexpected turn in the case. On July 20th of 2016,

before Justice Robert Hume in New South Wales Supreme Court, Vincent pleaded guilty to murdering Stephanie and to the aggravated essay, there would be no trial. And even though it brought relief, the families did want to see justice done. There's something about being an open court, bearing witness to everything the media didn't set forth, the things that were unknown. There's something about that that you lose when they plead guilty. But it also did save them the grief of having to see so many terrible things about her. Before Vincent, it was Marcus's turn to be sentenced, and because he pleaded guilty, he wouldn't face the maximum of 25 years. On August 23rd of 2016, before Justice Hume, the same judge, they sought a sentence of four

to five years. And I know what you're thinking. That doesn't seem like a lot of time. But with the facts of the case and the accessory after the fact being so enormously broad of a charge, there was no evidence Marcus knew of his brother's intentions beforehand. He wasn't present when Stephanie was murdered and he didn't help dispose of her body. And then he eventually confessed. So the judge agreed with that sentence. Then Stephanie's mother stood up to give her impact statement. This is what she said. And I quote, even as we searched, Stephanie's fate was known by a second person. Both were part of something so monstrous, so cruel and heartless, devoid of the qualities that make us mortal human beings.

Opportunities to assist the police were squandered, and now we must all suffer the consequences. Two little rings, how significant they were in life and now in death. These treasured little rings that had meant so much had become trophies. The vision of them being removed from Stephanie's gentle, loving hand sickens us and fills us with despair. As instructed, they were sold to the lowest bitter, so full of greed and so damning, Stephanie represented all that is good about humankind. She possessed all the qualities we value and was a source of pride, joy, and inspiration to our family,

her many friends, and all who knew her. A day has not passed that we have not shed a tear for our beautiful girl and for all that has been taken from her. We are all angry. There is no peace. There will be no end to the sorrow. And we can never make sense of losing our beautiful girl. It's still hard to imagine a future without Stephanie in it. She was truly one of the special ones, end quote.

Justice Hume told the court that on the evidence before him, he couldn't determine exactly what Marcus had known about the murder or when. All that was certain was at some point Marcus learned Stephanie had been taken and murdered and that his brother was responsible. Marcus also had no prior criminal history. And because he listened to his brother's instructions, He had disposed of evidence that could have helped prosecute a violent crime and made the recovery of those rings impossible.

He called that act utterly appalling. It was disgraceful and inexcusable. It was the act of a man who put morality and human decency secondary to the interest of his murderous brother, his words. The judge noted that without the plea of guilty, the sentence would have been a year and eight months. What Marcus actually received was a fixed term of a year and three. three months back dated to his arrest. And if you do the math from the sentencing dates,

that meant Marcus had 15 days left to serve. That's it. I know what you might be thinking. I'm probably thinking the same, but it is what it is. Then just two weeks later, Marcus himself issued a public apology. He said, I want to say sorry for what I've done and for the hurt I caused her family. I hope I won't cause any more trouble. I did a really stupid thing. And unfortunately, I can't take it back. I think we also have a video of him giving an apology, so I'll play it for you. I just want to say sorry for what I've done, you know, and for the hurt I caused family. And, you know, it's, oh, for now, I hope I won't cause any more trouble.

I did a really stupid thing and unfortunately I can't take it back. I'm sure for Stephanie's family that meant close to nothing. Marcus was free. And they were still waiting for Vincent to answer for what he had done to the loved one. October 13th of 2016, Vincent was sentenced, again, by the same judge. They were seeking the maximum life in prison with no parole. The judge did reject several parts of Vincent's own confession, and I think you remember hearing it and probably think the same. It reveals how carefully this judge weighed what Vincent claimed against what the evidence actually showed. Take the drive back

from the National Park. Vincent had told police he left Stephanie's car on Pike Road and walked into town from there. But the judge couldn't reconcile that with physical evidence if Vincent had gone straight from the park to Pike Road. He'd have to carry the heavy gas can and the plastic trunk liner nearly seven miles on foot. There would have been no reason when he had the car. The judge concluded that Vincent drove the Mazda home first, dumped the gas can in the liner there because they were later found, and only then did he drive out there and leave the car on Pike Road before walking back home. So that small correction, you know, it matters. Because it told the judge something larger, that even in the dark, hours after the murder, Vincent was thinking clearly and moving

deliberately. The same question, how much was deliberate, ran through this whole sentencing. For example, when he said he didn't commit any essay and he removed Stephanie's clothes because they wouldn't burn in his mind, yeah, that made no sense. And the judge rejected that as well. He tried to also make excuses about how the DNA got in certain places like handcuffs and lube and all kinds of things like that and rappers. He was like, oh, it was when I touched them later, when I placed them back after the murder. No, the judge found that explanation unlikely and not credible at all. The premeditation ran deeper still because the judge noted that Vincent had searched the internet for terms about brides. In the weeks before Easter, while already working at the school, raising the possibility that's

Stephanie had been a target well before that Sunday. I'm not going to go into all the details about the two psychiatrists, one by the state, one by the defense. They did not agree with one another at all. The one for the state talked about everything that was found, the notebook, the interviews, the search history, the photos. I mean, they mapped out a lot of violent behaviors that are present and other offenders as well. And it was clear with almost pure certainty that he would offend again and that he was just on a path of destruction. this was going to be maybe his first victim, but not his last. He placed Vincent in the high-risk category.

But the defense psychologist, she had much less to work with. She interviewed Vincent in April 2016 before he admitted to the essay. So all she had were his denials. She never examined what actually drove him to commit the crime at all. Never the braw, the photographs. Her conclusion was more that he couldn't help himself, he couldn't stop himself, that he had these thoughts, He was seven and that he just didn't know what to do with them.

And then, of course, Stephanie's mother stood up again during this sentencing, and she spoke for her whole family and everyone representing Stephanie. They all were wearing something yellow. Marilyn opened with a fragment of the speech she had written for the wedding, and that is just heartbreaking to think about. She said, quote, Now Stephanie and Aaron are starting life together as Mr. and Mrs. Leighton Wully. they will have time to make a history together, little jokes, family holidays, special events,

and places their own memories with milestones to celebrate." But then her words turned to what her daughter had endured. She said, I'm haunted by vision so terrible it's difficult to rest. It sickens me to think that in her last moments on earth, Stephanie, would have been at a loss to comprehend how this person, to whom she had only ever been polite and pleasant, could betray her so badly. Did she see the knife? Did she see the fist before we pounded her precious life into oblivion? We will never know what she suffered, but to know that she suffered at all is difficult for us to bear. She spent her wedding day in a morgue. There were no vows exchanged, no wedding

dance. Instead of enjoying every moment of her evening with loved ones, Stephanie was on a long and lonely journey to meet with the coroner. Her ordeal was coming to a close as ours was just beginning. Our lives had been shattered. How could this have happened to our beautiful girl? There will be no end for us. Such a tragic waste and a precious life unfulfilled. End quote. She closed by turning to the monster directly, and saying this despicable person was too pathetic and inept to make a life of his own, so he chose to take a life he had no right to. There were many behaviors that should have raised red flags. For the murder of Stephanie Scott, Vincent was sentenced to life in prison with no a role. He would die behind bars. Outside the courtroom, her mother spoke to reporters,

saying that the past 18 months have been the most difficult time for them. So much was taken. Stephanie had everything taken away from her, but that Stephanie would want them to resume their lives, to be kind to themselves, to let the music and fun back in, that they need to be able to fade from the public view to mourn their beautiful girl and work their way through their grief.

Two and a half weeks after Vincent was sentenced, the Scott family was dealt another day. devastating blow. Because on Halloween, on October 31st, Stephanie's father Bob, was clearing gum trees on the family's farm when he was struck by a falling tree and killed. Every time I hear something like this right after something so terrible has already happened to a family, it's shocking to me. Bob had been a pillar holding his family together through the worst of it. So it was only fitting that his funeral was held at the same venue where they had to say goodbye to Stephanie just months before. Nine months later in May of 2018, Stephanie's family actually

sued the New South Wales Department of Education and Vincent's employer, both the department and the cleaning company maintained that no one ever raised a concern about Vincent's conduct or his access to the school, that he passed the mandatory police and working with children checks. A spokesperson for the cleaning company told the reporters clearly if we had heard those sort of stories, we would have done something. We had nothing. If someone raised a concern, we would have immediately responded and investigated. No one ever raised any concerns, so they had no idea.

The lawyer representing the Scott family called for far more of a comprehensive screening for anyone that worked at schools in any capacity. There was at least one story of life moving forward. Aaron found love again. He was married in December of 2020 and became a proud father of two. And five months later in May of 2021, Stephanie's family reached a settlement with the New South Wales Education Department and Vincent's former employer. Now, those terms are confidential. But what is clear is that new terms were put in place to strengthen and protect teachers, staff, and beyond. Stephanie's legacy has endured in many communities and the events that are held in the aftermath of her death.

The high school she used to work out is one of the places. They now have an annual Stephanie Scott Gala, a sports day honoring her. And for her passion for music and performing, in June of 2016, they made a Memorial Outdoor Ample Theater at Leiden High School. And it has the words fly high step across the back of the stage. Even now, there are so many. questions about Stephanie's case that remain unanswered. Even the judge himself rejected several parts of Vincent's confession, like about her clothes that he planned to burn them, but then he didn't because he didn't think they would burn, so he took them off. Why did he wash her? Why go to such

lengths to destroy Stephanie's belongings and so much of the evidence? Yet keep the GPS in his truck and the photos of her body. Remember, when police first arrived at his house, he volunteered that he'd been out taking photos. It's almost as though he had given them an invitation to look at his devices. Why the man who planned so carefully left those particular doors open, only Vincent knows. There's another question that hangs over this whole case, and it's one of the cruelest details. Vincent's job at that high school was only meant to be temporary, but we know it was extended. If it hadn't been, he would have never been anywhere near that school over each of at all. So much of what happened to Stephanie turned on a handful of small, ordinary decisions

that no one could have known were leading anywhere terrible. Many people have wondered about Vincent's real reason for moving back to Australia as well. He'd had trouble with his employers in the Netherlands, thoughts of violence, an attack on his boss had this behavior been escalating there, and was he afraid it was going to bring more attention to the Dutch police? Because murders like Stephanie's don't happen out of nowhere. There is almost always a trail of warning behavior leading up to them. But I want to close with something else. On the front fence at Stephanie's family home, a single yellow bow still hangs. It's a permanent reminder of her, her smile, her love for life, and the way she always wanted to give something back. Stephanie's

mother misses her daughter desperately, but she feels Stephanie with her in every moment of every day. And she knows that anyone who was lucky enough to have met Stephanie came a way better for it. That's her legacy. And I want to now thank you so much for getting to know Stephanie yourself and being here for her story. Let's remember her. I will see you in my very next video.