37 - Liminal Space

[0] This is exactly right.

[1] Hey, this is exciting.

[2] An all -new season of only murders in the building is coming to Hulu on August 27th.

[3] Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez are back as your favorite podcaster, detectives.

[4] But there's a mystery hanging over everyone.

[5] Who killed Saz?

[6] And were they really after Charles?

[7] Why would someone want to kill Charles?

[8] This season, murder hits close to home.

[9] With a threat against one of their own, the stakes are higher than ever.

[10] Plus, the gang is going to Hollywood to turn their podcast into a major movie.

[11] Amid the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles, more mysteries and twists arise.

[12] Who knows what will happen once the cameras start to roll?

[13] Get ready for the stariest season yet with Merrill Streep, Zach Alfinacus, Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria, Melissa McCarthy, DeVine, Joy Randolph, Molly Shannon, and more.

[14] Only Martyrs in the Building, premieres August 27th, streaming only on Hulu.

[15] Goodbye.

[16] Let's settle in.

[17] How do I look from this angle?

[18] It's very odd.

[19] It's weird, right?

[20] we switch seats tonight I think it's good for the liminal space creative upset whoa you know about that no there's this thing I can't I talked about it oh maybe it on the other podcast but I have seven podcasts I'm sorry you have another oh I didn't tell you we haven't discussed that so let's cut cut cut can we cut um there's a thing they call it's the space that you get into when you're unsure or you're upset or like right after something shocking happens or whatever.

[21] It's, they call it liminal space.

[22] And when you're in that place, your brain is working like at peak at top performance.

[23] So that's why like when they, it's good if you're a creative person.

[24] If you get too comfortable in anything or feel too secure, it's bad because then you can't, like the thoughts don't come the right way.

[25] But if you, you know, like get into a thing like, you.

[26] That's why, like, sometimes in stand -up, when you're on stage, like, you know you're going to open with a couple jokes, but then you go into something new and weird because you can come up with something you didn't even know you were thinking of.

[27] That's cool.

[28] So as you're saying, stop going to the same cafe for me every day and ordering two scrambled eggs and a side of fruit and an Americano every single fucking day of my life.

[29] Well, I mean, are you writing somewhere near there?

[30] Or like...

[31] Yes.

[32] Yeah, I would.

[33] Or you could order something different or go to a different cafe.

[34] Just do something that will make you uncomfortable.

[35] Okay.

[36] so that your brain works differently.

[37] I love it.

[38] I'm doing it.

[39] Getting out of a pattern.

[40] Okay.

[41] And that's what this is right now, Georgia.

[42] This of you and I looking at each other from a totally different perspective.

[43] Yeah.

[44] We just switch couches, everyone.

[45] Yeah, it's not that big the deal, actually.

[46] It is.

[47] Like, from the very beginning, that's how we've done it.

[48] So this is neat.

[49] I mean, episode 37, it's going to be all about, like, the brand new thing.

[50] Also, now we're talking about the Bible.

[51] So open your.

[52] there's so much murder in the Bible there really is we should do a biblical episode that would be that would be so boring that would just put me back to like fucking grammar and high school like these stories again scream my story at you too I'm gonna just the whole story is gonna be in caps at you like the anger as none yeah in all of St. Francis grammar school totally okay um this is our first so I was thinking that this is our first episode back from the last episode was the live episode yes which was so awesome it went really well right it was it went well which on to i can now tell you that i'm surprised yeah because i was like who the fuck knows what this is going to be like you and i sitting here talking about stuff we know what that it with that amounts to but like having people react in real time and whether or not they were going to i mean obviously if they were there they were slightly on board yeah those people i'm not not worried about it's like does it translate to like I'm not to be totally honest I don't fucking listen to live episodes of podcasts no I don't either no way I'm like that that doesn't that doesn't translate I'm not going to do that I don't want to hear you like pointing at things and talking about them right or yeah or just having a whole experience without me because in these it feels like when I listen to podcast I'm like I'm there too yeah that's the whole fun of it I think yeah so yes I but I was I was just nervous and I kind of was like I don't know.

[53] Are you nervous about me because you've never seen me on stage before?

[54] No, I'm too much of a narcissist to be nervous about you.

[55] I mean, let's, I was like, you're on your own.

[56] Sinkers whim, I got to get mine.

[57] You know what I think.

[58] What if we added Dave Anthony permanently to the podcast?

[59] Well, we probably shouldn't talk about this right now, but Dave, I did a show with Dave Anthony the other night and he was like, I think we should start doing like everything.

[60] three months.

[61] Oh my God.

[62] We all, do all our podcast together.

[63] That was like a, that was great.

[64] And also that was my sister's suggestion.

[65] Shut up.

[66] I swear to God, she's batting a thousand.

[67] She was like Dave was so funny on your show.

[68] I don't think I add a lot to the dollup.

[69] I just like laughing at whatever the fuck Garrett says.

[70] You do though.

[71] You do but here's the thing.

[72] It's learning to elbow your way into comedy conversations.

[73] No way.

[74] Takes a while.

[75] That's scary.

[76] It's scary and also it's that thing of like well am i going to stop this is the thing i'm going to say going to be worth it to stop what's happening it's a really hard thing to do interrupting people especially people who are like like fucking legit comedians that have been doing this for years and years is not my thing it's well and also if you do it and it's like a like a half tepid response it makes you never want to say anything again like a stupid idiot yeah when people would laugh when i said something I wanted to go hug and eat each and every one of them.

[77] I'm like, so much you guys wouldn't understand how hard this is for me. But you did great.

[78] It didn't seem like you were having a hard time at all.

[79] No, I had a lot of fun.

[80] You just got to say fuck it once you're in the moment.

[81] Exactly.

[82] Well, and it's for fun.

[83] Those guys love you.

[84] Dave thinks you're fucking hilarious.

[85] Oh, my God.

[86] It's so nice.

[87] Yeah.

[88] I never say that to my face, but I appreciate it.

[89] No, no, he can't.

[90] Okay.

[91] He's got emotional problems.

[92] Everyone go, the dollup live, their last one, we're guests on it.

[93] So if you really fucking love the live episode, yeah we were we were that's how we warmed it up that's how we heated it up that's nice um yeah so the live episode and that was awesome it was super fun and also we get to meet a bunch of people which is very cool afterwards which i have to say i went backstage because i was like i don't want to meet people like i don't i don't think i'll be good at it i don't like the idea of it and then i was standing back there and you were already talking to somebody and then i'm like what am i doing like that's not allowed and then the second i walked out whoever the first person I was at talk to.

[94] I was just like, hey, what's going on?

[95] And they were so regular and normal.

[96] It wasn't like I had to do anything.

[97] It was just like having a nice conversation with a person that was happy.

[98] I've had years and years of, of experience of like talking to strangers.

[99] Because Ali and I do the like cocktail like food thing and you go to these like cocktail parties and food parties and you have to fucking just talk to people and it's scary and hard.

[100] But the more you do it, the more you're just used to it.

[101] And it's not a big deal.

[102] Yeah.

[103] Especially strangers.

[104] But what was I going to say.

[105] I don't, I guess this would be a good, oh, and the episode before that was the Jean Bonnet episode, so it wasn't like a regular format.

[106] That's right.

[107] So this is like the first time we've done a regular form, like we're back for a long time, yeah, from camp.

[108] It's been, that's right, it's fun.

[109] My legs are really tan.

[110] My legs don't tan, only in my arm.

[111] And I'm burnt on the back of my neck.

[112] It's weird.

[113] And I'm starting to wear this necklace all the time that I never wore before.

[114] You have a friendship bracelet.

[115] It's camp stuff.

[116] It's camp stuff.

[117] It's good luck when it's, falls off on its own.

[118] You know those fucking bracelets that people are, oh, fuck you.

[119] That's a cabala.

[120] Oh.

[121] Fuck you, Madonna.

[122] No, I just mean like when you go to some party, like, and it's like sponsored by a company and they're like, put this bracelet on and when it falls off, your wish will come true.

[123] And I just like, it's falling off when I rip it off of my fucking arm.

[124] It always, that stuff always makes me want to go, yeah, well, since no wishes that I can think of, like stuff like this has ever come true, I don't need your bracelet.

[125] I'm sorry, wishes aren't a thing.

[126] I'm sorry to tell you I'm sorry to tell everyone.

[127] You know what?

[128] Karma and wishes are not true.

[129] Oh, God.

[130] Everyone just hung up on the podcast.

[131] Like half the women just hung up on this podcast.

[132] I'm sorry.

[133] I'm sorry.

[134] Mercury's in retrograde.

[135] What can I say?

[136] Wishes aren't true.

[137] It's not actually.

[138] Oh.

[139] There's a, at work, there's a website called is Mercury and Retrograde.

[140] And it either says yes or no. And we look it up all the time because people are constantly making that joke.

[141] And then we're like, wait, let's just check and see if it really is.

[142] So you actually know.

[143] Yes.

[144] I just almost spit this drink out of my nostril.

[145] when you said that.

[146] Because it really is no. Because someone made that and I just love that.

[147] That's such a great.

[148] It's the best.

[149] I love when people make simple, hilarious, stupid things.

[150] Oh, so speaking of live shows.

[151] Yes.

[152] You guys, we have two that we can plug right now.

[153] You guys, since that first one went good, now we're going to do more.

[154] Yeah.

[155] We're spreading our seed all over the country.

[156] Ew.

[157] We're spreading our DNA all over the country.

[158] That's right.

[159] Get ready to be impregnated by our life comedy.

[160] Let's see.

[161] The first one, that I'm like, it's cool because I feel like we should only pick places we want to go to.

[162] Yeah, that's a good idea.

[163] So, sorry, Indianapolis.

[164] We're never, I'm just kidding.

[165] I've never been there, but it's amazing.

[166] I'm totally kidding.

[167] They're like, not us again.

[168] Everybody always talks shit on us.

[169] So the first one is that we're doing the Chicago podcast festival, which I've been so excited to announce this because I fucking love Chicago.

[170] And there's actually some people who knew and were like, I'm sorry, are you doing it or not?

[171] And they were like, they were all that way on Twitter about it.

[172] So we finally, we waited.

[173] We had to wait until it was for sure.

[174] Yeah, you guys, there's legal shit that we have to.

[175] There's, oh my God, we have a team of attorneys.

[176] They're the ones from the Accidente commercials up on the back of buses.

[177] They actually wait in my kitchen while we podcast.

[178] And any time something happens, that's like legally not okay.

[179] They like mention it, like pop their heads out.

[180] Yeah, and they all look exactly the same.

[181] Yeah, Elvis hates them.

[182] Okay.

[183] So, Shaga Podcast Festival, Saturday, November 19th, 10 p .m. I'm in the Athenium, did I say that right, main stage.

[184] You guys were doing a main stage.

[185] We're a main stage act.

[186] You know what?

[187] I didn't think about at the LA Podfest is like, I'm not good at numbers.

[188] So like I see that crowd and I'm like, oh, there's like 100 people here.

[189] And then you were like, there was 450 people there.

[190] And I was like, no, there wasn't because I can't deal with it.

[191] Yeah.

[192] So this place holds 950 people.

[193] Sorry, should not have told you that?

[194] I'm freaking out.

[195] I would have found out anyway.

[196] I feel like I should tell our guy who books us, Joe is amazing.

[197] Don't tell us the number of seats in the auditorium because I can't fucking know exactly or see how many seats are empty.

[198] What if he's like, I did book you in Indianapolis and you're playing where the Colts play?

[199] There will be 30 ,000 people.

[200] What do you think the most we're ever going to like perform in front of will be like in the lifetime with this podcast before we both?

[201] I think we may have peaked at 450 and then it's going straight back down.

[202] Yeah, I can't deal with numbers.

[203] This is 150, like 150 people, right?

[204] Nope.

[205] Well, it was an intimate crowd.

[206] Yeah, it was a good little, like, it was like one of those like cordoned off wedding reception halls.

[207] It was like a very static, electric carpeting type of room.

[208] Yeah, like banquet chairs for all.

[209] So yes, we're, Chicago, get ready.

[210] We're excited to come and see you.

[211] Oh, it's some.

[212] Chicago PodcastFestable .org.

[213] Dot org.

[214] And then we're doing like our own, this is like the first, this is the first show we actually like put together ourselves.

[215] Yes.

[216] Before we like even thought to do live shows.

[217] Was the bell house?

[218] So we're also doing the bell house in Brooklyn on December 11th, right?

[219] It's a Sunday.

[220] It's a Sunday.

[221] And it's a, come and see us there.

[222] If you live in Brooklyn and you like this and stuff like that.

[223] Please do.

[224] I don't think that the L train is going to be shut down.

[225] yet so you can come in if you're from Manhattan did you see my like my knowledge of yeah that was good people that'll appeal to New Yorkers because they're going to be like she's local oh she knows her shit she knows her shit the bell house ny dot com and I think for all our shows we're going to have a guest right like yes either with us the whole time yeah like the way Dave did it we might have a guest in Chicago we've been like told that it's possible oh yeah that's like a don't say it'll a rad secret surprise guest that I guarantee will make you happy.

[226] It's like, it's not like a comedian.

[227] It's like a human person.

[228] Yes, it's not, it's not an alien.

[229] No. It's not a dog.

[230] Not a cat.

[231] Elvis is not coming.

[232] We should bring that painting that you gave me at the, we should bring it everywhere we go.

[233] There we go.

[234] yes.

[235] Chicago, New York.

[236] T -shirt report?

[237] T -shirt report.

[238] We have to, uh, yeah, T -shirt report.

[239] Sorry, you guys, this is so much housekeeping, but it's been that it's the first time back.

[240] do not do not apologize god i'm sorry i forgot to talk okay uh my favorite murder shirts dot com it's happening cat solin our friend who's a director is a true crime enthusiast fucking talented a shit person i begged her to make us a new design for our shirts and she did it and they look freaking incredible they look like an old like 1960s pulp fiction book cover and i'm so happy with them they're really cool we're going to keep posting new sayings and people can vote for what the sayings they want it to be oh did you know did you see the what they voted for they voted for fuck politeness to be the next one nice yeah cool uh yeah anyways yeah i didn't know there was voting going on i just fucking decided one sweet you went totally rogue sorry hot i was gonna pass it by you of course i don't please okay i mean of all the things i try to care about vote away i feel like we talked about that a while ago yeah but i just didn't i feel like i'm missing out on life if there was any tone in that it was not toward you yeah was, um, I'm spending a lot of time and this is not a complaint because I love my job, but it's the kind of thing where every once in a while, like, I'll pick up my phone and look at email and I'll watch you talking to all these people where I'm just like, thank fucking God, because, I'm a control freak and just deal with, like, I mean, just, I'm very grateful for you.

[241] Thank you.

[242] You have a hard job.

[243] I can't wait to have you for myself again.

[244] Yeah.

[245] You can go get tuna fucking melts at Cafe 101.

[246] For real.

[247] It's been so long.

[248] I can pick your fries out and eat all your fries.

[249] You can have all the fries.

[250] I can't eat fries anymore.

[251] Oh, yay.

[252] Good.

[253] I can't wait until you're free again.

[254] I'm happy and I love your job and I'm so happy for you and it's great.

[255] I'm lying.

[256] I fucking want you for myself and I want my favorite to be the only thing that matters in your life.

[257] I mean, that would be nice.

[258] It will be.

[259] But it, but it's also cool because it's, whatever, it's nice to have a job that actually takes up all my time and brain.

[260] But then it's, then there's things like that.

[261] We're just like, oh, is that what's happening?

[262] Good.

[263] I love that daddy has a job, but we miss daddy at home.

[264] Daddy wants to come home.

[265] That's what I'm saying.

[266] Okay.

[267] Jamie Lee.

[268] Our friend Jamie Lee has a podcast that we were on called The Best of the Worst.

[269] And it's on iTunes.

[270] Jamie is from Girl Code.

[271] She's a hilarious stand -of -comic.

[272] She's amazing.

[273] And her and her husband, Dan Black, do a show.

[274] And it's awesome.

[275] But we, this was a while ago.

[276] So it's kind of like early days of this podcast.

[277] And we all talk about John Bonnet.

[278] Yeah, they're big true crime freaks.

[279] I know one time Dan cornered me at a party, not cornered me, like talk to me at a, at his own party and was like, what do you think John Bonnet?

[280] And I was like, well, this is great because I don't want to talk to anyone else.

[281] And then we just talked about John Bonnet for a while.

[282] And then we just did it on stage.

[283] It's perfect for parties.

[284] Yeah, so they have, they record this show.

[285] And it was super fun.

[286] And there's also.

[287] other great people on it.

[288] Heather McDonald, who is from Chelsea lately, and Astra Povitsky's on it, I believe.

[289] She's it all Margaret Cho.

[290] And Margaret's on it, right?

[291] So that's a really good episode.

[292] So go listen to that.

[293] Yeah, best of the worst.

[294] And...

[295] Hey, let's take a quick P -break and then get started.

[296] Great.

[297] Karen, you know I'm all about vintage shopping.

[298] Absolutely.

[299] And when you say vintage, you mean when you physically drive to a store and actually purchase something with cash.

[300] Exactly.

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[313] Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify .com slash murder.

[314] Important note, that promo code is all lowercase.

[315] Go to Shopify .com slash murder to take your retail business to the next level today.

[316] That's Shopify .com slash murder.

[317] Goodbye.

[318] Hey, this is exciting.

[319] An all -new season of only murders in the building is coming to Hulu on August 27th.

[320] Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez are back as your favorite podcaster, detectives.

[321] But there's a mystery hanging over everyone.

[322] Who killed Saz?

[323] And were they really after Charles?

[324] Why would someone want to kill Charles?

[325] This season, murder hits close to home.

[326] With a threat against one of their own, the stakes are higher than ever.

[327] Plus, the gang is going to Hollywood to turn their podcast into a major movie.

[328] Amid the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles, more mysteries and twists arise.

[329] Who knows what will happen once the cameras start to roll?

[330] Get ready for the stariest season yet with Merrill Streep, Zach Alfinacus, Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria, Melissa McCarthy, DeVine, Joy Randolph, Molly Shannon, and more.

[331] Only murders in the building, premieres August 27th, streaming only on Hulu.

[332] Goodbye.

[333] Is it smelling something, that's weird.

[334] Oh, okay.

[335] Should we talk about...

[336] No, not toast.

[337] Roses?

[338] Not almonds, not roses.

[339] Okay.

[340] Can you see the Virgin Mary?

[341] Let's...

[342] Yeah, she's right.

[343] Okay.

[344] Can we record real quick?

[345] Yeah.

[346] Okay.

[347] Are you okay?

[348] I keep smelling maple syrup.

[349] I took a nap.

[350] I woke up and I can't stop smelling maple syrup.

[351] Ooh.

[352] I mean, it's great, but it's freaking me out a little bit.

[353] Should we look up what that means online?

[354] Yeah.

[355] Wait, did you...

[356] What did I eat today?

[357] Maple syrup.

[358] Is that like...

[359] I wonder if that's like a medicine thing.

[360] Are you taking medicine?

[361] That's word that.

[362] You say that because I went to an acupuncturist today for my back bullshit and she gave me some herbs, but they tasted like dirt and cow shit.

[363] Yeah.

[364] So I don't think that that smells like maple syrup.

[365] I need to tell you.

[366] What?

[367] Oh, no. What is saying?

[368] Did you look this up to?

[369] Oh, no. What is it?

[370] You're dying.

[371] The first thing I put in smelling ma 'a and it said smelling maple syrup immediately.

[372] You're an angel.

[373] And this is the first thing that came up.

[374] Maple syrup urine disease is a rare inherited metabolic disorder.

[375] The body cannot break down certain amino acids and individuals who have the disease produce urine that has a distinct...

[376] I wish that were true.

[377] That's not it?

[378] That's absolutely not it.

[379] You're not smelling your own maple syrup pee.

[380] It's not pee.

[381] Yeah, then there's like cities that have smelled like it.

[382] What the fuck?

[383] Someone's sweat smells.

[384] like it.

[385] Oh, I wish that were true.

[386] Have you had Chinese food?

[387] Because there's Fenugreek, which is found in Chinese food.

[388] Oh, that's probably where the herbs are from, Chinese medicine.

[389] Oh, maybe Fenugreek is in there.

[390] Oh, that's totally it.

[391] Oh, that's so cool.

[392] Also, they say it's a symptom of diabetes, but that's if you smell like it, not if you smell it.

[393] If you have sweet breath, it smells like.

[394] Oh, I absolutely don't have sweet pee smell or sweet breath smell or sweet sweat smell it's just on on reddit what it says why do my this has just came up as why do my wife's hands always smell like maple syrup oh um does she work at denny's let's put it together with your context she works so waffle why does it always smell like uh artificial maple syrup everything is smell like not smell okay well i then ooh wait yahoo answers which always is a good animation and some good crazy like people who english is not their mother tongue why do I keep smelling maple syrup oh this person says smelling and craving maple syrup here's the best answer sometimes we smell weird things I smell boogers sometimes if I have sinus issues smelling vomit is weird this is the best answer on Yahoo answers no no no no no this is why I love the internet this is the best of the internet chicken soup smells and tastes like vomit to me oh my god this has been weird fucking corner with Karen and Georgia where we talk about a weird ailments.

[395] Someone said any chance you're pregnant?

[396] No. That's what the second one says.

[397] Are you fucking kidding me?

[398] But it doesn't have any up votes and it has one down vote.

[399] Am I pregnant?

[400] Guys, there's no way.

[401] I'm a barren fucking landscape of sadness and cactus and fucking tumbleweed in my womb.

[402] Oh, you would have you a little snake, baby.

[403] It's a little rattle snake.

[404] This isn't mine.

[405] I'm terrified of these things.

[406] That's been Weird Corner with Karen and Georgia.

[407] It's been the whole podcast.

[408] All right.

[409] Well, now that we got that settled.

[410] And now you just have seven extra fears.

[411] Yeah.

[412] Perfect.

[413] So let's see.

[414] Who went first four episodes ago?

[415] Oh, my God.

[416] I want to say, I don't care.

[417] You want to go first?

[418] You want me to go first?

[419] Whatever you want.

[420] It's your choice.

[421] Okay, I'm going to go.

[422] Okay.

[423] Is that rude?

[424] No. All right.

[425] So this one actually, speaking of Kat Solon who made our shirts sign, she sent this to me and I'd never heard of it.

[426] And it's like pretty bananas to me. All right.

[427] So we start with 19 -year -old Ruth Talia Sayas.

[428] Let me start with 19 -year -old Ruth Talia Sayas.

[429] She was raised on the outskirts of the capital in a working class area.

[430] area of Peru.

[431] So outside of a working class area of Peru.

[432] And she was studying at a local university and she lived with her family, like normal girl, cute girl, regular 19 year old.

[433] On Saturday, July 12th, 2012, she was the very first contestant on the new reality show that was like a quiz show called El Valor de la Verdad, which is translated to the value of the truth.

[434] you knew that i just wanted to guess because i i've never taken spanish i know what verdad means so it's a new quiz reality quiz show that's just come to peru um the show's premise is that a contestant is asked a series of personal questions like during an interview a private interview with a production company on the producers uh varying seriousness the questions and they're hooked up to a fucking polygraph okay Okay.

[435] So the contestant is later asked the same questions, but in front of a crazy studio audience.

[436] And it's like, what's that, the money show?

[437] Do you want to be a millionaire?

[438] Who wants to be a million?

[439] Yeah.

[440] It's like that kind of seriousness level with like lights and shit.

[441] So they're given their questions again.

[442] And their answers are voted like by the polygraph, whether they're true or not.

[443] okay so for each truthful response that they give they win money if they lie according to the polygraph tests they lose all the money they made so they can keep going with questions and if they're correct and they are not lying about them they win money and the questions get more and more personal as the show goes on and the contestant has the option of calling it off after each answer so if they've only won a certain amount they can be like and they've answered like some really personal question like, I'm done.

[444] So she's a very first contestant on this show, this little 19 -year -old university student.

[445] And she went on because she wanted to open a salon and she had already saved a ton of money, but she needed the money from the show to bring her closer to buying that salon.

[446] And she was like, okay, making a spectacle of herself to get the money.

[447] So every contestant gets to bring on or has to bring on three guests to the show who are like sitting there, being interviewed and filmed the whole time she's answering these personal questions.

[448] So she brings her parents, it's Liancio and Vilma, and they're like, sweet baby angels.

[449] I watched it.

[450] And the dad said that he was afraid of what I might learn about my daughter when he was introduced, but they were all jovial.

[451] They were all like, you know, this is going to be fun.

[452] We're going to win some money.

[453] No one thought it would be that insane because they thought their daughter was like a normal human being.

[454] I mean, you know, so the third guest was her boyfriend.

[455] Brian Liva, he was a 20 -year -old cab driver.

[456] He was raised down the road for Mootalia, and he'd stuttered since an old boyfriend of his mother had pushed him down the stairs when he was only eight.

[457] So he's just like this normal dude.

[458] But he had a stutter.

[459] The host says, you seem nervous, what are he so nervous about?

[460] And he said that she may have cheated on me. And he was like a very stone face and like clearly nervous through the whole show.

[461] So here are the questions, some of the questions she was asked.

[462] Have you ever skipped school without your mother's knowledge?

[463] If you found 1 ,000 souls, would you return them?

[464] Souls?

[465] It's like, it's the money, yeah.

[466] So she revealed that she had.

[467] 1 ,000 wandering souls.

[468] Yeah.

[469] Would you return them to their homes?

[470] She revealed she had a nose job and that she didn't like her body and that she wished she was white and that she was only with her boyfriend, Brian, until someone better came along.

[471] The one that was there, the cab driver?

[472] Yeah.

[473] With the stutter.

[474] Yeah.

[475] And that she was ashamed of her parents' manners and that she didn't actually work at a call center like they thought she danced at a nightclub.

[476] Oh, shit.

[477] Here we go.

[478] Here we go.

[479] So the mom is begging her to stop.

[480] And at one point, Brian says, I don't want to hear anymore, the boyfriend.

[481] so okay we're at question number 18 and she had won at this point with this question she would have won the equivalent of 15 ,000 US dollars which is almost 10 months wages wait no no no I'm sorry she could have went up to 15 ,000 US dollars at that point she had won 5 ,300 dollars which was almost 10 months wages in Lima with this question she'll win this the question number 18 was have you ever accepted money for sex?

[482] And she answers yes.

[483] And the polygraph confirmed that it was true.

[484] And she says just twice, we needed money.

[485] We were in a bad situation.

[486] It hasn't happened since.

[487] And it won't happen again.

[488] And her parents are like crying and like clearly shaken badly.

[489] It's fucked up, man. She said, so at that point she was like, I'm done.

[490] I'm not going to win up to $15 ,000 US dollars.

[491] I can't do this anymore.

[492] I wonder what the other questions were if that was like, that was the one that was only $15 ,000 or $5 ,000.

[493] Yeah.

[494] What were the other questions?

[495] Who knows?

[496] She says, at the end, my mother, my father, my brother and sister are the most beautiful things in the world to me. I love them all with all my heart.

[497] Brian, forgive me for making you go through this.

[498] And as the credit's role, she goes down on her knees before them and begs them for forgiveness, her parents.

[499] What the fuck?

[500] Yeah.

[501] Kind of game show is this.

[502] yeah so the show finally aired on saturday july 12th huge fucking hit like becomes number one and she becomes like kind of a celebrity in that world but not like in a good way she's just like talked about all the time and brian her boyfriend becomes a public fool and the peru in peru machoism is such a big thing and he was humiliating for all these people and people um people in the small town recognize him and kind of humiliate him and he's like fucking broken.

[503] Wait, sorry, but did she get any of that money?

[504] Yeah, okay.

[505] She got all the money.

[506] She won what she, like, she at least got paid.

[507] She stopped, so she stopped after that true question.

[508] Okay.

[509] So she was, she wasn't lying about having had money, had sex for money.

[510] So she stopped at basically our equivalent of $5 ,300.

[511] Okay.

[512] So he's being followed around by like, by the media and being asked all these questions.

[513] Someone asked him how he felt about being made of a fool and he said, I'm ashamed.

[514] All the things I learned on that show, how would you feel?

[515] And the news person said, but they say that if you love someone, you can forgive them.

[516] And he says, depends on what they did.

[517] The things she said that day, I can't forgive.

[518] But then in other interviews, he says that it had all been a setup, that he and Ruth Talia had broken out months before the taping.

[519] And she had asked him to pretend to be her boyfriend on TV and that she'd share the money with him, and he hadn't given her any of the money.

[520] So it sounds like he's making the shit up to make himself sound a little bit better, right?

[521] Yeah.

[522] Because he's so fucking humiliated.

[523] Yeah.

[524] Eight weeks after the premiere of the show, on September 11th, 2012, Ruth Talia disappears.

[525] Uh -huh.

[526] Mm -hmm.

[527] So crazy media circus, all the news programs covered it in Lima.

[528] But one of the hosts called her the prostitute of El Valor de la Verdad.

[529] like she was known as like a whore and nobody cared about it because of that and their parents had to like beg to get me the attention and get this covered and to try to find their daughter 11 days after the disappearance police find a body of a young woman buried in a well and covered by rocks and concrete on a piece of land on the outskirts of lima and that land belongs to brian's uncle so later that day my because this is so fucked up and there's video of this.

[530] So the media and the mother, I'm sorry, the father and the sister are at the site where they're excavating, trying to figure out if it's their sister and daughter.

[531] And the dad is on the phone, on his cell phone, like, crying and it's awful.

[532] And it turns out that it is her.

[533] And he's just like losing it.

[534] And if you're sensitive, you shouldn't watch him break the fuck down.

[535] Then a reporter and her cameraman go to the home where Vilma, the mother is sitting vigil with some of her friends and doesn't yet know that it was her daughter that was found.

[536] And the reporter says she gave her her condolences and realized she didn't know about it.

[537] And then the reporter said, ma 'am, they found your girl.

[538] So this fucking reporter told her, which is so ugly.

[539] So Brian's brought in for questioning and he confesses.

[540] He says that he called Ruth Talia as she was leaving school and they made plans to meet up.

[541] He says, I waited for her by the bridge.

[542] She got into my motor taxi and I said, let's go have some wine.

[543] She says, okay.

[544] And they went to his house, his apartment that he rented.

[545] And they had sex.

[546] And then afterwards they started to fight.

[547] And she says, she tells me, I don't know what I'm doing with a poor motor taxi driver.

[548] And he says, that's when I grabbed her by the throat.

[549] and that he admitted that he choked her for 30 seconds or more.

[550] And he says, I thought she had passed out.

[551] I listened to her heart.

[552] I didn't hear anything.

[553] I grabbed her and shook her, but nothing.

[554] I got scared.

[555] And during the trial, Brian's lawyer tried to pin the blame on the TV show, saying that they had humiliated him.

[556] And so Beto Ortiz, who's one of the most famous television journalists there, they called him to testify.

[557] so it was later found that the majority of his confession was false and there was a witness who was a young boy from the neighborhood and he said that the night she disappeared Brian had paid him 50 souls to let him know when Ruth Talia got off the bus and he said he had seen Brian and another man force her into his motor taxi and the court determined that Brian's accomplice was his uncle who owned the property where her body was found.

[558] and the motive was robbery and they had tried to get Ruth Italia's bank security code so that they can get the winnings from the show for themselves and they were both sentenced to life in prison so then the second season of El Valora de la Verdad was they only had celebrity contestants because they said they can deal with the media which is like how could you even have a fucking second season but at least that's that and oh I wanted to say that a lot of this information, and it's really hard to find information, I mean, there's no, this isn't like a story I've ever heard about before.

[559] So the California Sunday magazine by Daniel Alar Khan, he wrote this really great story about it.

[560] And that's where I got a lot of this information and then all over the internet as well.

[561] That is fucking crazy.

[562] Dude.

[563] The idea, the idea that that show continued on after the first contestant was murdered.

[564] I mean, that's intense.

[565] Remember when Jenny Jones, the Jenny Jones show that a lot of young people won't remember?

[566] It was like one of those like 90s talk shows like Jerry Springer had on like a, it was like a confession episode of I'm in love with you.

[567] And a guy brought on his friend and told this guy that he was gay and he was in love with him.

[568] Yeah.

[569] And the guy he told shot and killed him.

[570] Yes, I do know that story because my old boss was one of the.

[571] EPs on that show and had to go to court.

[572] That was like a huge scandal at Telepictures.

[573] How heartbreaking.

[574] The company for that.

[575] No, it was horrible.

[576] And it's that kind of thing of like, what's the line?

[577] When you're producing TV, everything is two numbers.

[578] To butts and seats, eyes on screens.

[579] How do you do a show that's going to make people watch it?

[580] And especially in those days of like the early days of Springer and Jenny Jones, all that shit.

[581] Let's just keep going with this.

[582] But also why did they have a hit?

[583] Oh, they had a hit because it's a girl who is exposed that it wasn't hit that's not the baby daddy and blah, blah, blah, now they're in a fist fight and all that shit.

[584] And, like, that was the norm.

[585] So, like, you had, you had, you, they were trying to think of shows and produce shows that were exploiting people.

[586] Well, the article, the article that got a lot of this, like, basic information from, uh, was really interesting.

[587] So the show that this, the article that this is from where they talk a lot about the actual show and how much it had to do with it and what, like, about reality shows in Peru was called the contestant from California Sunday magazine.

[588] And so they talk a lot about that.

[589] And it's just like, I mean, who would agree to say those things?

[590] But if you're in a poor fucking city and you need money, I mean, you'll do anything.

[591] Exactly.

[592] It's total exploitation of people.

[593] And also that is such an ugly version.

[594] I think there was an American version of that show.

[595] And it wasn't on for very long.

[596] Oh, I didn't know that.

[597] Because you can't, the, the nature of a show like that is, is scandal.

[598] So, like, if people are admitting things that no one gives a shit about and no one wants to talk about and that aren't, that isn't like borderline, then you don't have a good show.

[599] And they're not going to find someone who's like, no, I've never had, never got paid for sex.

[600] Nope.

[601] I work in this place.

[602] You know, they find the most.

[603] Yes.

[604] They are only going to have people on there that are going to tell them what they want to hear and more so.

[605] Yeah.

[606] The one of the weirdest things that I ever experienced in working in television is there is this very strange subset of people.

[607] And if you work in casting in like any kind of reality version of television, you know there are people who try to get on every single show.

[608] Yeah.

[609] And they're not, it's like if it's a show about couples, they'll submit for that.

[610] If it's a show about, you know what?

[611] whatever the fuck it is.

[612] They want to be on TV.

[613] Matchmaking or whatever the fuck they'll do.

[614] Yeah.

[615] And they'll try to, like, they know TV well enough to know that they have to be interesting and certain personality types.

[616] And because it's, it is a good way to make money if you, you know, if you're the right person.

[617] But then don't you just get one chance?

[618] Yeah, you would think.

[619] But I mean, these are people that are just like, well, we'll go over here.

[620] Well, we'll try to be on the amazing race.

[621] Well, we'll try to be on the marriage rough.

[622] We'll be trying to be on this.

[623] And then.

[624] that's what happened.

[625] When I worked on the second season, the marriage ref, there was this one tape where they were, like, brought us down to casting because they're like, you're never going to believe what you're about to see.

[626] And it's like this weird couple that, like, it's there's sexual overtones who are like, this is, they don't know that this is inappropriate.

[627] That, like, this isn't going to get them.

[628] It's just this weird shit.

[629] And one of the people in that casting department was like, oh, yeah, we had them, they tried to be on whatever show she had worked on before.

[630] And it's just like these people that are kind of like we know we're kind of interesting and kind of weirdos and that that works yeah we're very different and we're wild and let's get on fucking television people just want to get on television do you see that the real world this season is like everyone thinks they're just going on the real world but for each person on the real world they find their like enemy and they have to live in the house too uh and it's like this show is interesting enough if you cast it well these people are just going to make their own fucking and then you can edit it back and say because no one's watching TV anymore so they don't have good ratings so it's not interesting enough to make a ratings hit and that's all anybody cares about and because all of television is owned by like four companies yeah they have this insane grasp on the money who gets the money this story is like nobody has any money but that's actually not true they're making millions of dollars because even in like a depression people still watch TV people still you know advertising still works but it's like it's this it's really sick and crazy that kind of shit where you like that thing where you're watching TV and you're just like oh this doesn't I don't feel like who I'm seeing is what I'm really seeing yeah so the idea that your story is about a person who actually did the thing a real person and suffered by it yeah but she I don't know if she felt it didn't seem like she was I mean I guess she she was kind of embarrassed and stayed at home a lot, but it's like, she didn't seem like she was, she seemed like confident about having done it for the right reason, for the reason, which was to make her life better, even though she like, you know, tore her family apart.

[631] Yeah.

[632] Well, you'd think that that, that makes your life way worse.

[633] Also being murdered.

[634] Yeah.

[635] I mean, because that shame, shame is the thing people can't deal with.

[636] Oh, Jesus.

[637] No. Shaming people, especially like you were saying, like, like, it, that culture where men have to be men, you can't come out and be like yeah yeah sometimes I do this which is like you know yeah not in a judgmental way of that person's lifestyle but this is like a cultural thing of where women are supposed to be like wives and mothers and especially in Peru I feel like it's you're not supposed to that's not it's like so much less accepted and understood than it is here as it is here crazy crazy right I mean That's the thing too when you were saying like you should You should watch it because he's all upset or whatever I would never watch that no it bothered me a lot I never watched that The fact that the cops didn't Keep him away from the cameras Is upsetting like his daughter His other daughter tries to shield his face a couple of times But there's nowhere to turn like there's cameras on every On every single angle of this man Telling someone on the other line that they found his daughter like there's nowhere for him to go to get out of the fucking out of the camera that's disgusting it's really sick and sad and then the woman who told the mother inadvertently the reporter yeah the reporter she quit doing news after that wow yeah there's a thing in this article someone's life yeah like to get that story here we're like go talk to her now go up to the room after she started crying and trying to get a conversation with her.

[638] And there's like some quotes in her in this article.

[639] It's like how awful she felt and that she quit.

[640] Yeah.

[641] Oh, that's, yeah.

[642] Yeah.

[643] You don't want to sell your soul for one paycheck.

[644] Uh -uh.

[645] One byline.

[646] Okay.

[647] You ready for your murder?

[648] It's the same one?

[649] Yeah.

[650] Turns out.

[651] Mine is the, um, shit.

[652] I can't think of the, what's the Howie Mandel show with all the suitcases?

[653] What?

[654] Sucase number seven.

[655] Is that one?

[656] I don't think so.

[657] I don't think so either.

[658] I was going to try to make a joke about that, but.

[659] I can't remember what it's called.

[660] I can't remember what's called and I don't care.

[661] What's in the suitcase?

[662] You know that show?

[663] What's in the suitcase?

[664] All right.

[665] So I picked my story this week.

[666] Actually, my sister suggested this, our number one fan, our newest and number oneest fan.

[667] And she suggested it because when I was, in high school.

[668] When I graduated from high school, she had gone to the JC for two years.

[669] So by the time I was ready to go to college, she was too.

[670] And so we both went to Sac State, which is Sacramento State University.

[671] It was precious.

[672] So we both moved to and lived in Sacramento for like the same amount of time.

[673] And I have of course talked massive shit about Sacramento on this podcast.

[674] Wonderful things happened there but not to me um and so near the end of right before i moved back home with my parents um as a abject failure uh in my early 20s i lived in this house on f street and it was in this weird like sacramento's weird because as you go downtown closer to the capital it's like all the old houses and they're old victorians and stuff and some of the streets are really gorgeous but the neighborhood itself is really bad and it's a very strange combination because it doesn't look like it should be bad but then there's like we one night in this apartment across the street there was an empty lot that people would just dump garbage in oh my god and two homeless people got into a fight and one of them was beating the other one with a vacuum cleaner that someone had dumped in this empty lot oh my god it was like that kind of area and it was a horrible time in my life because i had flunked out of college i think i worked at like two different cafes so I was making like five dollars an hour I remember those days and you like you couldn't get any hours so you're just like always just scraping together money I remember at one point we would we would rent a VCR from the video store.

[675] We did that when I was a kid too yeah because we didn't have one but we'd be like we I want to watch a movie um it was like just dark and then it was also summertime in Sacramento so it's always 110 degrees so everything is just awful and sucky special way also at the time um the person i was a roommate roommates with um she she had this friend i think she was from high school and together they were two of the most annoying people like i'm surprised i didn't try to punch one of them because it was like this obnoxious like like hard girl act but like but it was like the the sacramento version so there's a country element to it and it was really like just kind of ignorant and rude the kind of girls that are like I don't get along with other girls exactly yeah I only like guys where it's like well then go fucking hang out with some guys and get away from me there was yeah it was a lot of that kind of stuff or like they'd come home at four in the morning from a club and like knock on the door and be like let me it it was just everything was I was livid I was either livid or scared to death all the time oh my god so it turns out come to find out living in this apartment for a little while, that somebody who came over, put it together and goes, don't you realize that that is, two doors down, is Dorothea Puente's house?

[676] Who's Dorothea Puente?

[677] Well, Dorothea Puentes is the old lady in Sacramento that got caught.

[678] She ran a boarding house for old people and, like, handicapped people, and it turned out that she had been murdering them, taking their social security check, taking it across the street to the dive bar that was so scary we never even tried to go there.

[679] Holy shit, who doesn't go to a dive bar?

[680] Especially a couple of drunks like us would have been in there in a second.

[681] Those dive bars that you're like, oh, this isn't a quaint dive bar.

[682] This is a white slavery me. This is bad news, like serious bad news.

[683] like it might as well be on the docks but somehow it's to cross the street from our apartment is it still there i don't know i doubt it is though because i bet you with the way that architecture was they probably gentrified that whole area i would think um but it was like a scary it was very scary area so so dorothea puente is basically i'll tell you so here's her story let's hear it um she had a very sad childhood when she was eight her father died of tuberculosis and the next year her mother died in a car crash.

[684] Fuck, those are like two of the worst ways to die.

[685] So, so she was in an orphanage for a little while and then eventually she had to go live with family members in Fresno.

[686] Oh no. It just gets sad.

[687] That's one of the worst places to live.

[688] I mean, so in 1945 when she was 16, she got married for the first time.

[689] So she had between 1946 and 1948, she had two daughters.

[690] One, she went, sent to live with relatives in Sacramento and the other one she'd go up for adoption so she was not um able to deal with any kind of family situation at all and i think she definitely has some kind of mental disorder as you'll see so i'm sure she probably had it then being a 16 year old newlywed mother yeah who had grown up in an orphanage not good who had two huge traumatic experiences when she was young with her parents dying back to back back to back so yeah fact um that husband that married her when she was 16 left her and uh left her in 1948 like a couple years later so um she started telling people he died of cancer um so oh no sorry died of a heart attack a couple days after they got married so it was like even more tragic for her yeah so she's also in throughout this it's like she's basically a compulsive liar yeah um And she started forging checks, which she ends up doing throughout her life.

[691] That's kind of her forte.

[692] That's her favorite, that's her favorite crime.

[693] Such a weird crime.

[694] It's super weird.

[695] And the funny thing is that you get caught and then you get sentenced for like a couple years and you get out because it's nonviolent.

[696] And it's, I don't know, maybe it's kind of arty.

[697] So they're like, no, all right.

[698] It's such a weird.

[699] You paid your dues.

[700] Like you hear about so many people who are like, they never had a violent offense.

[701] They just forged checks.

[702] And it's like, well, that's, I would never think to do.

[703] do that.

[704] It's still a crime.

[705] I mean, You might have great penmanship and all.

[706] Sure.

[707] But you're still a criminal.

[708] In 1960, she based, and then she remarried a swede named Axel Johansson, which, you know that that was a party.

[709] Oh, yeah.

[710] Waiting to happen.

[711] Of course, a violent alcoholic.

[712] They were married for 14 years.

[713] And then they ended it.

[714] And then eight years later, or sorry, during that marriage two years before she got divorced she was arrested in a brothel and she told the cops that she was there visiting a friend we don't know what is true about that one of the articles I read said that she ran the brothel but it seems more likely since she only she was arrested and served 90 days I think she was probably just there either visiting her friend or visiting some friends, whatever you might do.

[715] You're running a brothel ain't an easy task.

[716] That's a big job and you don't just bail at the first arrest.

[717] So what she ended up doing is going into, she became a nurse's aide and she started caring for the disabled and the elderly and private homes.

[718] Well, she turned their life around.

[719] Well, you would like to think that one.

[720] End of story.

[721] Yeah, end of story.

[722] So in 1982, she did that for a while.

[723] In 1982, her 61 -year -old friend and business partner, Ruth Monroe, who was living in...

[724] So, Dorothea had this house on F Street, and is this big Victorian.

[725] Two doors down from Karen Kilgare.

[726] Two doors down from the future, miserable home of miserable Karen Kilgarev.

[727] So there was an upstairs apartment that she would rent out.

[728] So she rented it out to Ruth Monroe.

[729] And they were business partners, which I guess means that they were working together.

[730] taking care of old people and disabled people in private homes.

[731] But Ruth died from an overdose of codeine and acetaminophen.

[732] And Dorothea told the police that Ruth was very depressed because her husband was terminally ill, so they ruled Ruth's death a suicide.

[733] But then a few weeks later, the police had to come back because a 74 -year -old pensioner named Malcolm McKenzie had accused Dorothea of drugging and stealing from him so he had gone to the police and said that he had met Dorothy at a local bar called the Zebra Club and that they had several drinks together which I bet means in the 15s then he invites her back to his apartment and soon after they arrive he gets dizzy and even though he's conscious he can't move and he has to sit and watch as she searches his house for valuables, takes his rare penny collection, and forces the diamond ring off his finger.

[734] Rare penny.

[735] Can we go back to rare penny collection?

[736] I mean, fucking cool that is.

[737] Yeah.

[738] You know it was like in a cardboard book like this with all the years underneath the slots.

[739] That makes me happy.

[740] But sad.

[741] Well, so she gets convicted of three charges of theft on August 18th of 1982 and she gets sentenced to five years in jail.

[742] for that what happened to the rare penny collection we haven't been able to trace it so we're starting a foundation called find the rare pennies dot gov dot org so she's in jail and she starts being pen pals with a retiree a 77 year old retiree named Everson Gilmouth and they become friends through the mail and when she's released in 1985 after only serving three years he was there waiting for her to pick her up from jail in his 1980 red Ford pickup and everything was okay and everything turned great so soon they were making wedding plans and they opened a joint bank account and they were back in her house in Sacramento now we're cutting to five years later.

[743] Dorothea hires a handyman to come and put in some wood paneling in our apartment.

[744] And for that work, plus he paid her an additional $800.

[745] She gave him a red 1988 Ford pickup that was in good condition, almost totally not used, which she said had belonged to her ex -boyfriend who lived in Los Angeles.

[746] Yeah, where did she get that?

[747] So she asks this handyman that she hires to build her.

[748] a six by three by two foot box for her to store you know books and stuff as you do in a fucking coffin yeah a box a box that you want to store stuff in um and then she asks them once she fills it with her books i'm doing air quotes you can't see um she says we please take this to my storage depot and he agrees and she goes with him and then on the way she has him pull over and just has him dump it on a riverbank at a kind of unofficial dump site.

[749] Fuck these books.

[750] It sounds unlikely, but again, we did have an unofficial dump site across from our apartment.

[751] Right, where you put coffin shaped boxes.

[752] Yes.

[753] You know, or beat another person with a vacuum cleaner.

[754] Whatever needs to happen.

[755] So a lot of dumping going on up in Sacramento and Sutter counties.

[756] Shit.

[757] So they dump that.

[758] and oh she just told him the stuff in the box was junk well on January 1st 1986 a fisherman spots the box and it's sitting three feet from the bank of the river so he calls the police and they open the box and find a badly decomposed unidentified viable body of an elderly man inside well it turns out that Dorothea was still collected Everson Gilmouth's pension and she would write letters to his family explaining that he hadn't contacted them because he was ill and um so he was basically one of her first victims um now this was now a she was renting this apartment all the time this was her business and she had 40 new tenants in the house in the whole house um uh she was actually approached approached by a social worker named Peggy Nickerson she approached the social worker and just explained to her just so you know, people on fixed incomes, people on Social Security, elderly people they can come and stay in my boarding house.

[759] Everyone's welcome.

[760] Yeah, because she had the best system to offer.

[761] Her prices were really low and she took, quote unquote, took care of the people that lived there.

[762] Because people are nice.

[763] She made dinner every night.

[764] She had everybody come down and sit at dinner together um you know she like made sure there were people that stayed there that were homeless or like had mental problems she made sure they showered and clipped their nails if it was real that would be so beautiful i mean yeah right that's the that's the whole lure of it is people need that kind of care and she's saying that she's um going to be able to provide that for them uh so sorry keep making that mistake um Um, so she, uh, she also, she was known for taking tough cases, like all the social workers were like, you, if it's a person that can't get placed anywhere, you can take them to Dorothea's.

[765] She will take them in.

[766] Um, and she collected their monthly mail, um, before they saw, she paid them in stipends and then she pocketed the rest of their like social security check or whatever their check was for expenses quote unquote you got a fucking so parole agents uh would go to visit her um and she had been ordered to stay away from the elderly and to refrain from handling government checks oh my god um uh but no violations were ever noted and they think it's because she was known in like social welfare circles as being so good yeah that they would go in and check and be like You can't be around old people.

[767] You can't stay away from social security checks, but nothing official would ever go in.

[768] Well, in May of 1988, neighbors started complaining of a sickly sweet smell.

[769] God damn.

[770] Oh, maybe that's what's on my fingers.

[771] Oh, that's right.

[772] It's the dead bodies you've been hiding.

[773] Maybe I'm decomposing.

[774] So she blamed the aroma on applications of fish emulsion on her perfectly tended lawn.

[775] Uh -huh.

[776] And tended to the point, where if people walked on her lawn, she would scream at them and swear like a sailor.

[777] So she was very protective of her lawn, and she did a lot of gardening.

[778] So there was a man that stayed at the house, and people around the neighborhood knew him as chief.

[779] He was schizophrenic, and he was an alcoholic, and he was homeless.

[780] He went and stayed with Dorothea.

[781] She made him her handyman, and she cleaned him all up, made sure that he took a shower all the time, like made him presentable, made him come and eat dinner with everybody, made him take his anti -psychotic medication or his meds.

[782] So she had him digging in the basement and carting soil and rubbish away with a wheelbarrow.

[783] And he basically, there was a concrete slab on her basement floor.

[784] He was basically digging up the basement floor.

[785] What do you need it for?

[786] So he, uh, soon afterwards disappeared.

[787] And, um, so when, uh, there was a second, uh, tenant disappeared, a developmentally disabled man who had schizophrenia, when his social worker reported him missing, his name was Alberta Montoya, um, the police came and realized this is this, this keeps happening here.

[788] so they were looking around and they noticed in the backyard there was there was some ground that was had been recently disturbed so these investigators went to the car got the shovels that were in their car and they started digging and quickly turned up what looked like shreds of cloth and beef jerky is the report and so as they're trying to dig and find out what's under there um one of of the investigators said that he thought that he hit a tree root.

[789] And so he was whacking at it and jabbing at it with his shovel and it wouldn't move.

[790] So he decides to climb down into the hole where that they had dug up to get to pull it out.

[791] And he wrapped his hands around it, braced himself, started pulling, and it broke loose and it was a leg bone out of the sock.

[792] They had to, they had to suspect that at that point, or they wouldn't have been digging.

[793] right yes so why are you fucking yanking he thought it was a tree root come on though like you're looking for bodies but if it's well but I mean they're looking but a tree root is the most likely thing that's going to be there okay so if I'm sure that they've done stuff like that before and it's like yeah I mean that would be there 20 % of the time but most of the time it's that and also I think when bodies that aren't that are buried just straight into the ground they turned black and brown so it would have probably looked like a tree root too um so then they start digging up her whole backyard holy shit and uh oh she came out when he was down in the hole and he had this bone she came out and when they turned around they were like we just found a human bone she did they said they did this thing where she slapped her hands on her face like really over the top and in like trying to act like she was surprised.

[794] And they immediately were like, there's something going on.

[795] That's the weirdest reaction.

[796] Like straight up home alone style.

[797] Home alone style, exactly.

[798] That's where they got that from.

[799] And apparently neighbors said that she always talked about wanting to be an actress and planning on moving to Los Angeles.

[800] Oh, she's a bad actress, I guess.

[801] Yeah, yeah.

[802] She needed to take some classes.

[803] So this body that they eventually dug up was a woman named Leona Carpenter who was 78 years old and one of her Dorothy's very first victims that stayed in that house they basically had the coroner's office came in with heavy machinery and a whole work crew and just started and forensic anthropologists and started digging up this entire backyard and that I've seen the news footage that's basically taken from the angle of because they couldn't get in Yeah.

[804] So it's basically taken from our back porch.

[805] Holy shit.

[806] I mean, not literally, I don't know, because it was 1988, but they shot it over the fence.

[807] I want to see it.

[808] And you see these cops walking around.

[809] And it's just like the, you see a lot of sheets and like the, when they put out the string and the stakes.

[810] Yeah.

[811] You know, like this will be the next area.

[812] Oh, my God.

[813] It's so crazy.

[814] So since Dorothea Puentes wasn't immediately, Puente, singular, wasn't immediately a suspect.

[815] what she i mean like they didn't when they were doing that first digging it wasn't like keep her right there yeah yeah so she said she was going to go get a cup of coffee at the hotel up the street while they were doing that and then she fucking high tails it to los angeles well now they know it's you dude uh yeah but she i mean she left so she thought she was out of there yeah and she and she didn't think they were onto her yeah the way that they were so when she gets to los angeles she goes to a bar and she starts making friends with an old pensioner who's sitting at the bar she introduced herself as i think it was donna johansson what bar do we know uh it didn't oh god i wish it did the articles i read didn't say it's got to be something that we know something divey maybe the frolic room frolic room for that's exactly what i was thinking yeah uh but luckily this old pensioner probably been sitting at the bar watching the news a bunch for 50 years recognized her from the news and called the cops so they got her down in LA and brought her back up eventually seven bodies were found buried in her backyard wow she was charged with a total of nine murders because they they traced back the apparent the apparent suicide of her old's of Ruth Monroe Um, and then, uh, the other guy, the other, uh, the missing guy chief.

[816] Oh man, do you think that grandpa, the frolick room got a reward?

[817] I don't know.

[818] I bet he did.

[819] Um, here's what's interesting.

[820] When detectives were in that backyard, they realized that they were only blocks away from the home of serial killer Morris Solomon, where they had dug up from that house.

[821] bunch of dead bodies in 1987.

[822] Who's he?

[823] I don't know him.

[824] I have never heard of him either.

[825] Whoa.

[826] And Sacramento, I just got to say.

[827] I mean, like, I've talked about it.

[828] I've complained about it, but like, I must be a little bit right because we've already had, I think, four serial killers from Sacramento on this show alone.

[829] It's chock full of murders.

[830] It's nutto.

[831] So, basically, at the end of the day, She went to trial in February, 1993.

[832] She was convicted of three murders sentenced to two life sentences, received life without the possibility of parole.

[833] She went to Chow Chila, the ladies' facility.

[834] She always said that all those people died of natural causes, and she just buried them there.

[835] And that she herself, at age 82, March 27th, 2011, died of natural causes in prison.

[836] Wow.

[837] Yeah.

[838] That's our girl.

[839] Girl, Dorothea.

[840] That's our hometown girl.

[841] She would take their checks, walk across the street to that dive bar, and get her money.

[842] They cash checks at dive bars?

[843] They cash checks at, there's certain bars that are so divey, they will cash your social security check for you.

[844] So, like, they're like, second Friday of every month is, like, you got to get a couple bartenders on staff.

[845] That's right.

[846] because well and also it's Sacramento like literally the state capital was blocks away so they know they're getting their money if it's a government check yeah they know that thing is good so they don't if it's that little old lady that runs the boarding house of course they're going to do her favor she brings everyone over and she takes her portion and then she gives it to them she's so nice she's taking care of all those people inside that building what did it smell like in that fucking building in that dive bar too I mean the whole block smelled I bet it was carpeted that house no the dive bar oh yes for sure like dark maroon yeah like thin dark maroon like bowling alley carpet i bet they had like a uh it was a pretty small and they had a pool table that was too close to one wall so then they had to cut a pool queue in half so that you so that you could shoot from that side of the table is that what they do i've never seen that i've seen it in dive bars i guess i have not been in like real dive bars then you got to become a full -blown alcoholic it is so fun I went to one full -blown, like, real, real dive bar in Savannah, Georgia, but like on the outskirts of it.

[847] And I was like, oh, this isn't a charming L .A. dive bar.

[848] There's a confederate flag on the wall.

[849] And I'm the only Jew who's ever been in here.

[850] That's right.

[851] They should have taken your picture and put it up behind the bar.

[852] That was terrifying.

[853] Wow.

[854] Yeah.

[855] It's so sad.

[856] I mean, it's crazy.

[857] and when you see when you saw her on the news like she was on the news all the time i want to see her picture i totally remember it she looks like a cartoon of a little old lady no like not even big glasses she's really short gray hair the whole thing you was never thinking how did she just she just poison them or drug poison i mean i think so wow yeah oh man well that's fucked up pretty fucked up okay so now we're ending the show on We're ending on our positive now.

[858] That's right.

[859] One really great thing that happened to us this past week.

[860] Right.

[861] So, do you have yours?

[862] Do you have yours?

[863] Sure.

[864] A really great thing is that I hung out Sunday evening with a girlfriend that I like a lot and we've gotten to know each other a lot, but we had this great deep conversation.

[865] Like we hang out a lot of people together.

[866] Her name's Crystal.

[867] But she and I sat at a bar and just fucking talked and we're like, I'm not very happy.

[868] and just like we're very open with each other in a way that's like hard to define when you're an adult is someone to like be really open with and and just you know who understands you and you guys can get each other and that's that's hard to do and we just have this really great conversation and I felt a lot better after it and kind of feel like I've made a friend oh nice for a long time it's like kind of a deeper connection and it was nice that's great yeah that's very good it's all that matters yeah they say human connection is really it's nothing else makes people actually happy except for connecting with other human beings.

[869] Really?

[870] Yeah.

[871] Bull shit.

[872] I guess mine is that, well, I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about that because it's, it sucks because all I've been doing is working.

[873] So most of mine are work based, which is a little bit lame.

[874] But, well, you know what, I'll, I can.

[875] Okay, you're proud of yourself.

[876] Yeah, yeah.

[877] No, yeah.

[878] You just can't.

[879] But, I mean, it's like when you have one thing to talk about, whereas people are like, hey, what's up with you?

[880] It's like, just don't bother asking.

[881] It doesn't matter.

[882] But there's a guy that's a guest star.

[883] I guess I just won't say his name.

[884] And then when the show's actually on, I can say it.

[885] But he's on my episode.

[886] And he's so funny.

[887] It's like the most delightful thing in the world.

[888] I mean, everybody on this show is really good.

[889] And I'm very excited for this show to come out because I think people are really going to like it.

[890] but this one guy is hilarious and he looks like the guy that I adored in high school so it makes it even more fun to watch him because it's like it almost looks like a weird mix it like a mashup like you're rooting for him already because yes but then on top of that it's the kind of thing where you can't it's like single camera like you can't laugh out loud when things are happening because they need like perfect quiet and I have to keep my hand over my mouth he's so funny wow and that's the shit you've written too yeah some of it yeah I mean some of it but um but at one point I went up I had to finally introduce myself because I was actually he was so funny that I was nervous to I didn't want to be like hey what's up on the road or whatever I was just kind of like trying to stay away and when I finally did go up to introduce myself I said I in my head I thought I was going to say you know like you're great or today's been so great or something like that But what came out was, you're being so funny.

[891] And the second, the last word of that sentence came out of my mouth, I just turned and walked away.

[892] So I was just like, hopefully I just won't have to talk to him anymore.

[893] I can't wait until this cuts and I get to find out who it is.

[894] Yes.

[895] I mean, some people may have seen him before, but he's not well -known.

[896] Okay.

[897] And I feel like I'm not telling you until it airs either.

[898] You won't tell me. Yeah, we'll keep it a huge secret until next spring.

[899] because it's a mid -season replacement um well thanks for listening you guys this is oh we'd never introduced what the show was this is no one knows oh that's too bad this is my favorite murder this is what the fuck with mark merrin thanks for listening i'm merrin um go to twitter my favorite murder instagram my favorite murder we're on facebook at mfm podcast our shirts my favorite murder shirts .com, everything.

[900] Thank you so much for listening and supporting and being active, involved people.

[901] We love it.

[902] It's very fun.

[903] You guys are the best, and this is so great.

[904] Stay sexy.

[905] Don't get murdered.

[906] Elvis, do you want a cookie?

[907] Want a cookie?

[908] Awesome.

[909] The answer is yes.