True Crime with Kimbyr - Teen Murdered JUST DAYS After Her MOM Begged For Help!: Part 2

Episode Date: August 3, 2025

In Part 2 of this gripping case on True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha dives deeper into the hours and days following Joshan Ashbrook’s disappearance. As her family’s worry grows, law enforcement remains frustratingly passive. Kimbyrleigha walks us through the critical missteps, missed opportunities, and early red flags that could’ve changed everything. With each new detail, the mystery surrounding Yoshan’s final moments only deepens. Who last saw her? What clues were overlooked? And could her fate have been prevented? The heartbreak intensifies as the search takes a dark turn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sean's body was discovered. Her family tried to find comfort any way they could. At their house, they set up a small memorial on the dining room table. They displayed all of Yoshawn's cherished collections of stuffed frogs, along with a special handwritten poem. She had once given to a boyfriend that was moving to Kentucky. The poem was titled Loneliness. And it was carefully written in silver, purple, and blue ink on a simple index card.

Whether Yoshaun wrote it herself or she got it from somewhere else wasn't clear, but for her family, every word felt authentically hers, sincere, loving, and hopeful. It read, quote, when you get a case of loneliness and you think that nobody's there, to love, support, or even listen, or to show you they even care. Just reach into your pocket and pull out this little card. Nothing could be easier when life seems really hard. And every time you read it, it will help remind you that a very special part of me is always there with you. End quote. Own it all.

Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly, big board buck slot machine by aristocrat gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29. Don't pass go and own it all.

Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win? Details at yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. is not a sponsor of this promotion. Later, Yoshawn's mother would share how difficult it was to describe what she was feeling,

that her daughter would never come home again, never walk through their front door, that she would never get to see her graduate, or get married, or become a mother herself. The weight of those lost moments were beyond words. And it's heartbreaking to think about. It's sad. No mother wants to never experience things,

no parent ever wants to never experience things with someone they love so deeply. But let's jump right back into the investigation because her family wanted answers. Back at the scene, technicians documented those tire tracks in the sandy soil. The tracks were clear and deep enough, suggesting this was a heavy vehicle, possibly a truck or an SUV that had backed into the brush right near the spot where Yoshan was left. So they made plaster casts of this area. They poured out the cement, preserving every detail, detail of that tire tread, and then they were sent to the crime lab. There was a tire expert there named Paul Mancini.

It was also the owner of Mancini Automotive, and he was an authority on vehicle tires. He analyzed the plaster casts. He measured the tire tracks, the exact tread, the pattern, the width, and they took measurements and they entered it into the global database. This was a system containing details for over 20,000 different tire models. And by using the this information, he managed to narrow down the possibilities to just seven specific tire types. And all seven were made for larger vehicles like trucks, SUVs, or vans. So investigators also pointed out an important challenge. The tire molds often get reused.

So when a manufacturer makes the actual tire, those molds, they can sell them to a bunch of different manufacturers, meaning the same tire tread could appear with several brand names. This is going to make it tougher to pinpoint. the exact make and model of the vehicle. But it still gave detectives valuable clues to follow. But tire impressions alone was not going to catch a killer. Because they have to have a suspect, and then they have to match this evidence.

It's not going to lead you right to them. But also in the lab, Brian Higgins, a seasoned forensic DNA examiner with Florida's Department of Law Enforcement, FDLE. It definitely belonged to someone other than Yoshaun. It was somebody male. Yoshaun had helped investigators with the biggest clue possible, the killer's DNA. Now all they had to do, like I said, was find a suspect to compare with.

While Hagen's worked in the lab, detectives built Yoshawn's timeline out piece by piece. Who had last seen her? Where had she gone? They needed to backtrack and interview everyone close to her and work from there to where she was before she was killed. Now, one of their first, most critical leads came from Iris Mencero. She was the mother of Yoshan's boyfriend, Max. And Iris told the detectives Yoshaun had called her home at 8.20 a.m. in the morning that she went missing, July 31st. And the call came in from an unknown number

that showed up on her caller ID. Iris picked up, and she recognized Yoshawn's voice. She wanted to speak with Max, but he wasn't home. So then Yoshaun asked, can I go ahead and drop a note off for Max? And Iris said yes. A few minutes later, Iris sees a maroon or red pickup truck, enter her driveway. Yoshaun gets out of the passenger side.

She runs up to the front door, Iris greets her, and Yushan hands her that note. Then Iris watched her walk back to the truck and get back inside. Investigators asked Iris if she got a good look at the driver and recognize them. She said she had no idea who the driver was, but she noted he was middle-aged, he was white, and she couldn't see his face from her vantage point, but she did notice someone else in the truck, a little girl that didn't even look more than six or seven years old. Iris gave the police the phone number that appeared on her color, The number was 727-534-924-924.

The area code was from Pascoe County, so it was a local number. They planned to trace the number to its owner, but before they could, a local man became a possible suspect. His name was provided to detectives, six-year-old John Hansen. Now, he lived close by, and he visited the Ashbrook home on several occasions, and he was kind of considered a casual family acquaintance.

Hansen worked. Hansen worked as a day laborer, and Yoshon's mom remembered feeling uneasy about how much attention he seemed to be giving her children. He would interact with them more than with the adults when he was there. And because of this uncomfortable feeling, she specifically gave investigators his name

and said, you should speak to him. Less than a day after Yoshan's body was discovered, detectives went to John Hanson's mobile home to question him, but he wasn't there. Now, neighbors and the manager of the mobile home park said they hadn't seen him in a day or two, which raised even more suspicion. However, detectives found no signs of a crime

just by looking into the windows of his home while they were examining it from the exterior. They didn't have probable cause to do an actual search at this time, and soon the investigators tracked John Hansen down. They brought him in for questioning. He had no criminal record. He was fully cooperative with the detectives,

and he provided a solid alibi. And after thoroughly verifying historian details, law enforcement confidently cleared him as a suspect. So it was on to the next. And back to that local phone number. It actually belonged to a woman named Susan Salmon from North Carolina, which added to the mystery. But when they called it, a man answered.

When asked who he was, he said his name, Philip Thompson. The detectives asked him what his connection was to Yoshan. And right away, he said that him and his daughter saw her hitchhiking on the side of Ridge Road. He stopped to help. He let her use his cell phone to call someone, and then he gave her a ride to drop off a letter. And then they went to a nearby Walmart and parted ways, and that was it. Now, the detectives want to check out this story. So they visit the Walmart.

They pull up the CCTV footage on July 31st, and sure enough, at 8.54 a.m., it showed Yoshawn walking in with a man and a little girl dressed in pink. They were just casually walking down the aisles, picking up a few things along the way. Yoshaun got a few snacks, and Philip bought some fishing gear. There was nothing unusual about this trip. Yershan was relaxed. She was smiling. She looked completely at ease. And so did Philip and his daughter.

Philip explained he drove her to a street right next to the super center where she told him she was going to have a friend come get her. So far, the story checked out. But since they don't have the CCTV footage of every road near Walmart, they have no idea what happened to her next. Philip added that he gave her his phone number in case she needed another ride, and she even said she would call him but she never did. With the Walmart timestamp confirmed, detectives now had a growing timeline.

They began speaking with anyone who had seen Yoshon that day, and slowly new information filled in the gaps. They started with Susan Salmon. You remember, this is the person whose Phillips' phone was registered to. Now, because they knew that they were together that day, they want to kind of dig in and see more about Philip. She told detectives that Philip was her ex-boyfriend. He actually went by the name Sonny.

And she had lived with him in the past and helped him get the same truck that he was driving. She was also quick to tell them. Oh, his name isn't Philip Thompson. No, his name is Philip Ellen Parton. When asked why he would lie about his name, it was related to investigators that he wasn't fond of the police. Some people aren't. But he had been willing to talk to them,

so they figured they would at least try him. him again, so they called him on August 3rd. It was Detective Donna Maza that called back the same number, and the same man answered the phone. He once again provided the same information that his name was Philip Thompson, even though we know that's not true, that he'd picked up a girl on Ridge Road while he was driving his 1972 Red Chevy pickup, and he was traveling with his young daughter, Patricia. When asked where he lived, Philip admitted he was a bit transient at the moment. He had no permanent address, but he had been staying with friends. So at this point, Detective Maza could tell that Philip was not interested in giving them too much information about himself

beyond being helpful and providing the facts that he told them about. As his ex said, he wasn't fond of law enforcement, and that became more apparent when Detective Mazza had told him the news that Yushan Ashbrook, the girl that he had picked up, had been found murdered. She explained that the sheriff's office was reaching out to everyone who had contact with her in the 48 hours before her death and asking them to come in for a formal interview as well as provide a sample of their DNA. At that point, the man who by this point was believed to be Philip Parton, not Philip Thompson, refused to meet in person. He blatantly told them he didn't

trust the police, as in maybe they would be capable of framing someone. That's how he came off. Like, I don't trust you. You want my DNA? What to say that I did it? The call ended. But just three days later on August 6th, Philip called back Detective Mazza and he was furious. His ex-Susan informed him that they had reached out to her, and he did not appreciate them probing into his life. At this point, Detective Mazel explained that they were only doing their jobs. Besides, he was lying about his last name, so what's that about? If he didn't want them probing, why lie? But that was why he gave a different last name to begin with, he explained, because of this, because he knew that simply trying to cooperate with cops would insert him into something he wasn't involved in.

So he hung up the phone. When Detective Mazza attempted to call him back, he didn't answer. This only made him look more suspicious. Why was a 37-year-old man giving a teenager a ride? Why exchanged numbers with her? Was it truly just to be helpful so she wouldn't be stranded on the side of the road? Or was this no coincidence that he went by a different name that he didn't like law enforcement? He seemed suspicious and because they had no other leads, they kept him on.

their radar, but things had to pause for a moment, because it was time for Yoshaun's loved ones to lay her to rest. It was incredibly emotional for everyone involved. Her burial plot was actually donated to her family. Trinity Memorial Gardens was not far from where she grew up. There gathered to say goodbye were many familiar faces. Tara and Robert tried to hold themselves together, surrounded by friends and family. Robert, who we know raised Yoshawn since she was very young, bravely delivered the eulogy.

He talked openly about how devastating this loss was, how deeply Yoshaun was loved, how much she was going to be missed, and how determined the family was to find justice for her. He was so torn. Every time he stepped outside, he couldn't help, but studied the strangers around him, carefully reading their faces, their hands, their arms, desperately hoping to spot something, anything that might reveal the person who stole his daughter's life. He searched for scratches, bruises, even the slightest clue, hidden on their skin. He said his mind never rested, endlessly replaying Yoshawn's final moments, her fear, her strength, her determination to survive. Before Yoshaun's death, Robert had never seen someone deceased, let alone an autopsy. He would never imagine he would have to, but standing in that sterile coldness of the morgue, he was the one that looked when they pulled back the sheet, and he witnessed something that no one should ever endure. That moment was in his memory for

It was haunting. It was a reminder of this loss, of this beautiful teenager. I could not imagine having to identify a loved one so I can just imagine his pain. And at Yoshawn's funeral, her younger brothers carefully placed small frog stickers on their ties. This was a heartbreaking tribute to their sister and her favorite thing in the world. And inside the casket, Yoshawn cradled a plush frog against her chest, as if to to comfort her. And around her were pieces of her vibrant life, poems that she scribbled. Keepsakes collected over the years, even the worn softball jersey that she loved so much as a kid. Remember how I told you her plot was donated?

That was a generous gesture from the community, but even after she was buried, Yoshawn's grave site had no headstone. Just a simple, temporary marker. Sally, her family just couldn't afford it at the time, and Tara desperately wanted something permanent, something meaningful to honor her daughter's memory, but a proper headstone would cost them over $600.

And the family simply didn't have it. So they got together and the community helped to organize a garage sale and they carefully selected items that they could part with. Clothes, books, little treasures, and they waited. Everyone came out. Strangers showed up, purchasing, browsing. Some didn't even buy anything, but they just donated to them. And they would say, I'm so sorry.

That was a reminder that your Sean's story touched so many people, even people who had only heard about her and never met her. And as the devastating reality of Yoshawn's murder began to sink in, her parents found themselves having to have conversations they never thought they would have to have. They had to reach out to her friends, desperately trying to piece together her final days, hoping to understand where she had been, who she had seen, what happened before her tragic end.

Those were very difficult talks. They discovered that Yoshaun had a secret sanctuary, a tree house tucked away not far from her home in a quiet spot that she would go to escape. About two weeks after losing her, Yoshan's family gathered the courage to visit that tree house. They brace themselves for whatever clues they might uncover, and they are hidden away. They found Yoshawn's backpack, still filled with some of her clothes.

This was a painful reminder of how short her life was. But the most heartbreaking discovery was at home. On Yoshawn's bed carefully folded like a quiet goodbye, they found a handwritten note in her handwriting. The message was short, but it was haunting to them. It said, I love you guys, but I can't get locked up again. She simply signed it with a heart in her name. Tara actually believes that Yashon wrote that note during a previous moment when she was fearful,

when she thought she might have to stay at the harbor again. That was the treatment facility. But now it's just as painful. It's just as heartbreaking. It was her desperate wish for freedom, a freedom that she tragically would find in the worst way. And as investigators pushed forward with their case, Philip Parton became the name that was in every conversation. He wouldn't agree to meet, and then he just vanished. But a tip came in.

A Florida wildlife officer heard about the case, and he remembered an incident on July 31st. He recognized Yoshawn as being there when it occurred. He said around 10.45 a.m., so just a couple hours after, The CCTV footage showed Yoshon with Philip and his daughter at Walmart. The three of them were spotted swimming and fishing nearby. But you can't fish in that location without a fishing license. The officer approached the man that he believed was Philip Parton and asked for ID and his fishing license, which he could not produce.

So the officer issued him a verbal warning and described the encounter as routine. Nothing seemed suspicious. He thought that it was just a father with his two daughters, one teenager and the other about six or seven. But if this was true, then Philip never dropped Yoshon off after Walmart. And then there was another spotting of them after fishing. Later that night, they were seen at the home located at 7,425 Buchanan Drive in Newport, Ritchie. A neighbor reported that Philip and his daughter had been living there for the last few weeks. The house belonged to a couple, Fred and Diane Kaufman.

So, of course, investigators go to speak with them. Diane explained. Philip was a friend of her husband's, and he was down on his luck. They wanted to help, especially given that Philip had a daughter with him, so they agreed to let him stay with them in the spare bedroom, as long as he got a job, paid them a little something, and helped around the house. Diane even had the room painted for them, and she tried to do as much as she could to make them feel at home

in their small two-bedroom house. When questioned about whether Diane had ever seen you, Sean, surprisingly, she said yes. It was around 3 p.m. on the afternoon of July 31st. Philip arrived with both Patricia, his daughter, and Yoshaun, in his maroon pickup truck. They came inside, and they went straight into the spare bedroom, and Yashan began playing a video game and eating some snacks. Later, she said she saw them eating dinner together. Then she went to bed around 9.30 p.m. At that point, they were still in the living room, and Patricia was asleep on the couch. When asked what she remembered next, she said, she woke up at 11.30 p.m. and noticed

that Patricia was still sleeping in the living room, but the door to the spare room was open. and no one was inside. She looked outside and Phillips truck wasn't in the driveway. So she figured he left to go drop off Yoshawn. When detectives asked what happened the next morning, Diane explained she got up around 515 for work and she never saw Yoshaan again. As a matter of fact, the next day when she got home from work, Philip and Patricia were gone too. And she said she hadn't heard from them ever since. So now we have this full timeline. Her friends from Checkers saw her on the highway. We know that that Phillips says he picked her up.

They went to Walmart, then they went fishing, and then they went back to Diane and Fred's house. But after that, where did Yoshan go? Detectives asked what Diane's husband Fred was doing the whole time, and she explained he worked the graveyard shift. He was at work from 11.30 p.m. until 7 a.m. He wasn't home when detectives went there to speak to him and Diane. But they got the name of his workplace

and called to leave him a message to call them back. But he didn't. So they tried again and again to reach him, But it seemed like he was deliberately avoiding their calls. So they asked his employer about the night of July 31st, and they found out he left early that morning. Instead of seven, he clocked out at five. He said he had to go pick up a sister from the airport.

Well, that seemed like an interesting coincidence. The same night, Yoshaun, was last seen. While they keep digging into Fred and Philip, Phillips ex Susan Salmon contacted them again from North Carolina. saying that he had called her a couple times. He told her he was on the move, and he was avoiding law enforcement to protect her as well as himself.

That was kind of an odd statement. So he's trying to protect her and protect himself by not talking to police. And then she said, during one unsettling phone call, Philip asked Susan for ex-husband's social security number, clearly hinting that he intended to assume a new identity, her ex-husband's identity. So Susan refused, but she was shocked at that request.

But that wasn't even the most disturbing part. In these same conversations, Philip casually acknowledged detectives were looking for him in connection to a murder of a young girl. He insisted he had nothing to do with her death. Yet openly, he declared he had no intention of cooperating with law enforcement either. So you're not involved, but you don't want to speak to the cops. Why?

But what bothered Susan the most was just how calm he was. He wasn't panicked. He wasn't fearful. He sounded cold, indifferent, and almost emotionless. It was like none of this truly mattered to him. Meanwhile, back in Florida, Detective Scott Gattuso of the Pascoe County Sheriff's Office had begun trying to reach Philip Parton directly, dialing the same number they had for him.

Throughout August and September of 2002, the two men had a series of tense phone calls. These conversations were like a game of chess. Philip, always cautious, refusing to reveal, too much information. Now, during their first recorded exchange, Detective Gatuso tried gently coaxing Philip into meeting face-to-face, but Philip firmly declined. Surprisingly, he didn't end the call. Instead, he stayed on the line cautiously agreeing to answer a few questions. Now, it was during this conversation that Philip confirmed something that detectives

already knew. He had spent time with Eoshan after that trip to Walmart. Then days after that phone call, there was another phone call on September 4th. 4th of 2002, Philip called the detective back. Seemingly, he was now ready to open up, and this time he admitted outright. He had previously lied, including to Detective Donna Maza. The story he initially told them that he'd simply dropped Yoshon off at Walmart was not true. Again, something the detectives already knew was a lie. But just to confirm, Detective Gattuso was like, so you didn't drop her off at Walmart?

And Philip said, that's what I told you. but in actuality, no. Instead, Philip now admitted they had gone fishing and swimming together, but he insisted they hadn't spent the whole day together after that. Another lie. So the detective tried to press him on where he was during those missing hours from 9.30 p.m. onward, but he refused to specify. However, with more coaxing, Philip admitted he, Yoshaun, and his daughter did go back to Fred and Diane's. He said that Yoshaun wanted to go there to shower after they were done swimming and fishing. So he let her do that.

Later she changed her clothes and played some video games. But that night, she asked him to drop her off somewhere. And he did. But he doesn't recall exactly where or exactly what time. Well, isn't that convenient? Each one of these calls brought a different shifting timeline, which heightened the detective's concerns. When Detective Gattuso pressed him about precisely when he last saw Yoshan,

Philip provided yet another vague answer. He said, around sunset, not really. dark. What did that even mean? The lack of clarity was unsettling and frustrating. Sunset in late July in Florida happens around 8.15 p.m. But we know that Diane saw Yoshan at 9.30 p.m. So Gatuso pressed him harder, asking Philip if his young daughter had been with them during that final drive, and he said no. So he quickly claimed an alibi that he had been home around 11 p.m. when Fred Kaufman left for work that evening. They wanted to confirm this, but Fred was still avoiding them.

Plus, we know his truck was gone by 11.30 p.m. That's when Diane woke up in the middle of the night. She looked out and his truck wasn't there. But was it possible that Philip had dropped Yoshan off somewhere and then something bad happened to her and now he feels guilty? Or had he killed her? And he's merely trying to bide his time. Detectives were convinced it was the latter that he was guilty.

And as the calls with Detective Gautuso went on, it became clear that Philip was getting increasingly uncomfortable and evasive. Each conversation felt like a battle with him. Philip was constantly deflecting. He was dodging questions and quickly shifting topics to maintain control over the conversations. He even openly admitted to purposely calling at times when he knew the detective wouldn't pick up. He was playing a manipulative game. It was avoidance and delay back to back every time. When Gattuso directly confronted him about why he fled Florida instead of cooperating, Philip's reply was very defensive.

He said, I had to get away from y'all until you get that son of a bitch that did this. It wasn't an explanation. It was a diversion, and the detectives could sense it. Philip had never provided a convincing reason for his disappearance, only offering vague excuses rooted in supposed fear and distrust of law enforcement. Throughout all of their conversations, his tone would swing between being aggressive and defensive and also eerily detached.

There was never panic in his voice, But there wasn't sincerity or any believable hints of innocence either. In one conversation, the topic shifted towards punishment, and Philip himself brought it up. He stated, whoever you guys get for this is going to get the death sentence, am I lying? And Detective Katuso replied firmly, without hesitation, while murdering a 16-year-old girl, wouldn't you think that would be appropriate? Philip didn't argue. Instead, his next words, disgust, said the detective.

He said, just so you know, where I'm coming from and why I'm not sticking around. I mean, at the time, hell, I didn't know she was 16. Those were his words. So what does that mean? Again, Detective Gattuso pressed him even harder, this time on his shaky alibi. He stubbornly insisted that he had been at home when Fred had left for work that night. But this time, Gattuso confronted him head on, telling him, we know that he weren't there. Diane already stated otherwise. And then Philip provided another disturbing detail about Yoshawn's last moments at the Kaufman home. He told the detective she borrowed a pair of his shorts to change into after her shower. I didn't even want to think about what

could have been the real reason that she was wearing their shorts or what happened that night. That call on September 15th of 2002 marked the last time Detective Kutuso would ever hear Phillips voice, a final haunting conversation that left detectives more convinced than ever that the man on the other end of that phone call wasn't just being evasive. He was hiding something darker. Detectives finally had the opportunity to speak with Fred, who initially appeared confused when asked about Yoshan. He said he'd never seen her in the house

and claimed he had no idea where Philip had gone, and he said he had nothing to do with what happened to the girl. But detectives weren't convinced. By this time, the media was all over this case. But Fred told detectives that the news had it all wrong. He said, when the truth comes out, they're going to look like fools. Fred also claimed that investigators were harassing him and his family,

even though they had already told them everything they knew. But instead of arguing with Fred, the detectives obtained a search warrant for his home. If he wouldn't talk, maybe the walls of his house would. They couldn't trust 47-year-old Fred Kaufman anyway, not after they found out how he met 37-year-old Philip Parton. In prison. They met in prison.

It was back in 1987. out in Miami. Fred's past convictions, including selling marijuana, burglary, aggravated battery, armed robbery, and escaping from a Glade's correctional institution in 1984. So he, just like Philip, had reasons that he disliked authority. There was nothing Fred could do. They came back with a warrant signed by a judge. When investigators stepped into the room that Philip had called his own, they immediately noticed a few strange things that felt off. For starters, there was this small box, filled with hair clippings. That was random and unsettling,

but even more intriguing was a disposable camera casually left behind, almost like it was begging to be discovered. Detectives carefully bagged it up, hoping that it might offer them a glimpse into Phillips' hidden world. When they developed the photos, they painted a clear picture of his stay with Fred. He hadn't just passed through this house briefly. He had been completely settled there for months.

The images revealed his maroon, Ford F-150, parked casually outside in the driveway, the familiar exterior of the Kaufman home, and even Philip's daughter relaxing, clearly at ease around the property. But what struck investigators were the timestamps on those photos? They dated back to December of 2001 and January of 2002, several months before Yoshon's murder. These weren't just casual snapshots. They were evidence, confirming exactly how deeply rooted Philip was in this home.

This wasn't just some random crash-pubes. or temporary hiding spot, this had become his home base, the place he'd quietly settled into, so he wouldn't have just left so casually if he didn't have a better reason then not liking the cops. This prompted detectives to look deeper into Philip Parton. What was he in prison for? Initially, Philip had a few run-ins with law enforcement over his line of work.

He was in the business of selling his services to other men, if you know what I mean. But then in the night, In 1987, when Philip Parton was just 22 years old, he committed a horrifying crime that looking back was only a chilling preview of the violence he was capable of. He crossed paths with Gary Thorne, a Miami school teacher one night at a nightclub.

After hitting it off together, they went back to Gary's house to be intimate. But once inside, something took hold of Philip. He attacked Gary using a telephone cord to strangle him, ending his life. Then he coldly robbed the victim, took his money, credit cards, and even Gary's car, before casually driving away as if nothing had happened. Now, Philip didn't get far. Police soon arrested him in the stolen vehicle, and eventually, under the weight of undeniable evidence,

he ended up confessing to the murder. He was sentenced to 17 years behind bars. So why was he already out in 2002 and able to possibly harm someone else, someone like Yoshan? while there was a catch. In Florida prison at the time, it was overcrowded, combined with something called game time. Basically, this credits inmates, they could earn time to shorten their sentence.

Philip only had to serve six years, just six years for a callous murder. By 1995, he was out and living free again. According to Philip, though, that's not the way things happened. He claimed that Gary actually made a move on him, and tried kissing him. And that's when Philip just snapped. He was like, I'm not that way.

And I wrestled him to the floor, and ultimately we got into a fight, and it was self-defense, and I strangled him. But why not just call 911? Instead, you ransack the house and leave, and it didn't take long for his violent tendencies to resurface. Just a year after his release in 1996, Philip faced another arrest,

this time accused of viciously attacking a former girlfriend. And sadly, Those charges never made it to a trial, not because the allegations were not true, but because the victim was too terrified to testify against him. Horror records described a violent, traumatizing attack, but facing Philip in a courtroom was simply too much for her. Now investigators knew they weren't just dealing with a suspect. They were facing a convicted killer, a man known for explosive anger and severe violence,

someone who had proven he was willing to take a life without hesitation, A man who slipped through the cracks of a system that led him back into society after serving only a fraction of his original sentence. To make matters worse, police spoke to those around Philip, some acquaintances of his, and they had no idea about his violent history. Even Fred and Diane Kaufman, who agreed to open their home to him, knew that he went to prison, but they had no clue the depth of his brutality or the horrifying details of his past. How was he allowed to have custody of his daughter? That's what investigators wondered, and records showed that child protective services had previously intervened, placing her in foster care due to concerns about her well-being. For a time, Patricia had lived with a foster family in which rule of Florida,

while her dad was unable to provide a stable or safe condition at home. Her return to him had only happened recently, likely just before he moved in with Fred and Diane.