S7 E4: The Killer Might Be Inside

[0] Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to something was wrong early and ad -free right now.

[1] Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.

[2] I'm Dan Tversky.

[3] In 2011, something strange began to happen at a high school in upstate New York.

[4] A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast.

[5] What's the answer?

[6] And what do you do if they tell you it's all in your head?

[7] Hysterical.

[8] A new podcast from Wondry and Pineapple Street Studios.

[9] Binge all episodes of hysterical early and ad -free on Wondery Plus.

[10] Something Was Wrong is intended for mature audiences.

[11] Episodes discuss topics that can be triggering, such as emotional, physical, and sexual violence, suicide, and murder.

[12] I'm not a therapist or a doctor.

[13] If you're in need of support, please visit something was wrong .com slash resources for a list of nonprofit organizations that can help.

[14] Some names on the podcast have been changed for anonymity purposes.

[15] Opinions expressed by guests on the show do not necessarily represent the views of myself or this podcast.

[16] Resources, references, source material, and sponsor info can be found in the episode notes.

[17] Thank you so much for listening.

[18] You don't know me well.

[19] You think you know me?

[20] You don't know me where.

[21] I remember 25th, 2007.

[22] My life completely changed.

[23] That week, the week preceding that date, it was a very tense week.

[24] I remember Mom's friend actually devastatingly, one of her closest, most recent closest friend, you know.

[25] Mom had actually, like, had a couple falling outs with friends and not really serious fallings out.

[26] They were always about something really silly.

[27] Mom, like, would make a boundary with a friend.

[28] And she always kind of, like, drew these people, not all of them, but like some people, I remember her very best friend.

[29] She brought her, her dog over her Fourth of July.

[30] And, like, there were fireworks right above her heads.

[31] My mom was like, yeah, no, you had, I told you you had to leave her dog at home.

[32] You can't bring them in.

[33] And she was like, no, I'm not going to go all the way home with my dog.

[34] I'll keep them, you know, in the house.

[35] My mom was like, no. And they, you know, got in a fight over it.

[36] And that was it.

[37] So she was tried to be really hard with boundaries outside of our home.

[38] And that, I think, sometimes cost her some friendships.

[39] Maybe the way she went about it sometimes.

[40] I don't know.

[41] But she had had some falling outs with friends.

[42] And then the week before everything happened, one of mom's most recent relationships that was probably born, the relationship was probably born a little bit from necessity and needing each other.

[43] This poor woman killed her.

[44] And it hit mom so hard.

[45] I know mom was kind of depressed, I think.

[46] And mom was just knocked for a loop.

[47] And she was home a lot.

[48] She was calling me a lot.

[49] And with that, Rory, because mom's home was her safe zone.

[50] She had finally gotten her own home.

[51] It was beautiful.

[52] She had an African gray parrot.

[53] She was trying to teach to talk.

[54] She was blowing her way through Desperate Housewives' DVDs.

[55] And I was there with her as much as possible when I could be at night or whatever.

[56] but work was picking up a bit and September 25th came around and I guess it was just a very frictional day for them I had finished school but by that time I had been promoted to being an after school director it was a full time job full time and a half basically and that day my students were actually going to a movie premiere we had like a lot of because Arnold's former attachment to the program I came with a lot of current I mean a lot of celebrities at that time that wanted to attach himself after because he was governor at that time he couldn't legally be a part of it anymore so they were going to a movie premiere and i had to stay out until really late like probably i think 10 o 'clock was my work time but i because i was the boss i kind of chose not to actually go to the movie premiere i delegated some of my staff to um attend and scheduled myself some me time the call started around four four 30 perhaps exact details are a little hazy but the first call was definitely for mom.

[57] What are you doing?

[58] I'm at school.

[59] And by that point, I had actually started, I'd launched a new school, so I wasn't on campus with her anymore.

[60] I was limited actually with my time.

[61] I was limited with my time period, but especially with her and for her and for Rory.

[62] And, you know, I'm at work.

[63] What's up?

[64] You know, when are you coming home?

[65] I don't know.

[66] Late?

[67] I told you I had work today.

[68] You know, I didn't really tell her anything else in between.

[69] Didn't really need to tell her more.

[70] I sometimes had discretion, not often.

[71] You know, I was like real late, probably around 10.

[72] Okay.

[73] And, you know, everything okay, I asked before.

[74] You know, I hung up and she said fine.

[75] I don't know if she was like saying fine.

[76] She's fine or fine.

[77] Okay, whatever, bye.

[78] But she didn't say bye.

[79] And that was that, you know, and I was like, oh, shit, okay, something is not right.

[80] We didn't talk rudely to each other very often.

[81] But if she was being that short with me, I could tell there was a lot more going on at home.

[82] And maybe five minutes later, I got a call from Rory and almost the same exact words, if not the exact words.

[83] Hey, what are you doing?

[84] You know, I'm at work.

[85] I'm going to be here late.

[86] And same, almost mimicking the same tension, the same exact conversation, same hang up, same everything.

[87] And it left me with kind of a pit in my stomach, but I moved on because I had plans.

[88] And I was at that point 22, and I was on my way to the tattoo parlor.

[89] I signed out of work maybe around, I don't know, 5 .5 .30, let my students go to the field trip with their responsible staffmates hopped on the bus.

[90] And I took my car to a local tattoo shop.

[91] It is officially the only tattoo, except the one I got on St. Patrick's Day in Ireland, that I can remember the date of gotten on September 25th.

[92] and that will be impossible to forget.

[93] Tattoo took me like five, ten minutes, honestly.

[94] It's tiny.

[95] It's on the outside of my left wrist.

[96] And ironically enough is that I had a little baby peace sign attached to my wrist.

[97] It was to counterbalance the then open heart on the other side that I had etched there.

[98] Kind of to symbolize that how important peace and love was to me and is to me in life.

[99] literally took me minutes hopped to my car saran wrapped around my wrist and went on a date phones were not computers at that point so there were no apps i was using like match dot com or even you know i was meeting people in college it's just um i don't think they were the connections i wanted and also i think i was learning i was learning about myself within dating i learned what i wanted it was almost like i'm not saying like sleeping with everybody and i don't judge that either i'm just saying, I was raised by a woman who taught me like, hey, you do you.

[100] You be confident.

[101] You celebrate yourself.

[102] You meet people if you want.

[103] You don't meet people if you don't want.

[104] Protect your energy kind of thing.

[105] And that evening, I was going on a date with somebody from Match .com, I think, or J -Dade or something, I don't know, some dating service.

[106] And I don't think I'd screen them that well.

[107] I mean, just reflecting on that date, I definitely I don't know why I went on it.

[108] Maybe the conversation was different beforehand.

[109] I can't remember.

[110] But, you know, we went to Sherman Oaks Castle Park, which is like a cute little arcade and mini golf place.

[111] And I remember, like, I think I was still wearing my work shirt.

[112] Like, I was nasty.

[113] In my own person, from my perspective, I was like a saran wrap around my wrist.

[114] And I was like, I mean, if he doesn't like me at my worst, he doesn't deserve me at my best.

[115] And I walked in.

[116] And I think that's how I approached dating and life.

[117] Take it or leave it.

[118] Just leave it faster if you don't want to take it.

[119] And like minutes into the date.

[120] I knew it was not not going to happen.

[121] But I just entertain the connection and the conversation.

[122] But within like 10 minutes, no joke.

[123] He was like talking about poop, which is like this, I know this is a true crime podcast.

[124] So the light, the, you know, the levity might be mildly inappropriate, but this is what happened.

[125] Like five minutes in the date.

[126] He is literally talking about his bowel movements.

[127] Not the first.

[128] conversation I wanted to dive into.

[129] I kind of checked out pretty quickly.

[130] I was just like, yeah, this is not going to happen.

[131] I'll just entertain it.

[132] Within 15 minutes of our conversation at the picnic tables, I was getting phone calls again from my family.

[133] She struck him with her motor vehicle.

[134] She had been under the influence and that she left him there.

[135] In January 2020, local woman Karen Reed was implicated in the mysterious death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O 'Keefe.

[136] It was alleged that after an innocent night out for drinks with friends, Karen and John got into a lover's quarrel en route to the next location.

[137] What happens next?

[138] Depends on who you ask.

[139] Was it a crime of passion?

[140] If you believe the prosecution, it's because the evidence was so compelling.

[141] This was clearly an intentional act.

[142] And his cause of death was blunt force trauma with hypothermia.

[143] Or a corrupt police cover -up.

[144] If you believe the defense theory, however, this was all a cover -up to prevent one of their own from going down.

[145] Everyone had an opinion.

[146] And after the 10 -week trial, the jury could not come to a unanimous decision.

[147] To end in a mistrial, it's just a confirmation of just how complicated this case is.

[148] Law and crime presents the most in -depth analysis to date of the sensational case in Karen.

[149] You can listen to Karen exclusively with Wondery Plus.

[150] Join Wondery Plus in the Wondry app, Apple Podcast, or Spotify.

[151] I'm Dan Tiberski.

[152] In 2011, something strange began to happen at the high school in Leroy, New York.

[153] I was like at my locker and she came up to me and she was like stuttering super bad.

[154] I'm like, stop fucking around.

[155] She's like, I can't.

[156] A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms and spreading fast.

[157] It's like doubling and tripling and it's all these girls.

[158] With a diagnosis, the state tried to keep on the down low.

[159] Everybody thought I was holding something back.

[160] Well, you were holding something back.

[161] Intentionally.

[162] Yeah, yeah.

[163] Well, yeah.

[164] No, it's hysteria.

[165] It's all in your head.

[166] It's not physical.

[167] Oh, my gosh, you're exaggerating.

[168] Is this the largest mass hysteria since the witches of Salem?

[169] Or is it something else entirely?

[170] Something's wrong here.

[171] Something's not right.

[172] Leroy was the new date line and everyone was trying to solve the murder.

[173] A new limited series from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios, Hysterical.

[174] Follow Hysterical on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast.

[175] You can binge all episodes of Hysterical early and ad -free right now by joining Wondry Plus.

[176] first I think it was mom and again like hey where are you what are you up to what time are you going to be home kind of thing hey I told you I had work I didn't I don't remember if I said I was on a date and I was like I told you late maybe 10 10 30 trying to account for traffic going from the recesses of the northridge area valley to like calabasis on the 405 and the 101 which can be very unpredictable and like why what's up nothing just okay bye that was the last time i talked to my mom our last words to me were okay fine bye or maybe those were my words or both of we said the same thing and like it breaks my heart to this day maybe that's why i've been talking about her and our story so much since then because i need her to know that i honestly feel way more deeply than that then i got a phone call from Rory and his voice was really like he like didn't yell at me a lot because he always wanted something for me I guess like at this point it was like a car ride or for me to like be there he was like who what time are you going to be home that's how kind of how he approached me that time I guess that I wouldn't allow a friend to talk to me like that but like you know not super mean not abusive but abrupt and I could tell something was happening and I was like well I'm on a date I told him.

[177] I was like, so, you know, I can't really talk.

[178] And he threw a slur at me like slut or something like that.

[179] I kind of just dismissed it.

[180] I was like, what?

[181] What's up?

[182] You want to come home and watch Quantum Leap with me?

[183] That was like our show, if you will, that we always kind of loved both of us.

[184] And no, I can't.

[185] I have to go to work after that.

[186] But, you know, I'll let you know if I'm done fast enough.

[187] But no, I probably won't be.

[188] Okay, bye.

[189] and he hung up.

[190] Went back to the date and I felt like this weird feeling, but I was distracted.

[191] I had, I guess, protected my energy by investing it into other things, trying to find a relationship, trying to learn about myself, trying to work.

[192] You know, and so I was a little worried but not super worried because, again, friction was not rare.

[193] Got to work.

[194] I had the backpacks, my students' backpacks.

[195] I had my staff leave.

[196] I made sure all my students got signed out.

[197] and probably around 945, 10, I started my way back home.

[198] As I kind of launched myself on the road and hit the freeway and the 4 or 5, and I thought about our conversations.

[199] And, you know, I kind of promised Rory that I would call him when I was done if, you know, if the timing aligned, maybe if he was, you know, still game to watch.

[200] So I didn't really want to, but I called Rory, probably much.

[201] out of due diligence, I guess, as much of my relationship with him and in our family unit was.

[202] And he picked up kind of immediately and his voice was very gruff.

[203] And I was like, hey, you know, I'm done with work.

[204] I'm trying to be chipper to take the edge off of his voice.

[205] I'm done with work.

[206] Hey, you know, I know it's late, but you want to watch Quantum Leap?

[207] And he was like, just really short.

[208] No. Okay.

[209] Like, do you, are you going to want to?

[210] Like, I don't.

[211] I think I have some time left to me. That's 22 at that time.

[212] I guess I had a lot of vigor and vim that I don't have now.

[213] And I was like, yeah, I got some time.

[214] You want to watch Quantum Leap?

[215] Let's do it.

[216] I could just sense I needed to do that.

[217] And he was like, no. No, I'm not home anymore.

[218] Okay, all right.

[219] And he hung up.

[220] And I was like, okay, fine, weird.

[221] But he hung up on me. And, like, I didn't like that he hung up on me. I could tell there was just more to that conversation and more to the anger.

[222] and I felt inclined to call mom.

[223] So I called home and nobody picked up.

[224] Called her cell phone.

[225] Nobody picked up.

[226] Which if she was home, she wouldn't have picked up her cell phone.

[227] There wasn't really receptionate in Calabasas at that time.

[228] But it was weird that she didn't pick up the house phone.

[229] Yes, she had been so industrious.

[230] She had like a private tutoring company for years.

[231] She had all these other side gigs.

[232] And her hours might have been weird because some of her clients were like celebrities.

[233] So, you know, they had weird demands.

[234] times and whatever.

[235] But lately, she had just paired that back.

[236] She had like quit on all her clients, kind of like, I'm retiring on that, gearing up for actual retirement.

[237] So she should have been home.

[238] And she never didn't pick up the phone if I was calling.

[239] Like it was just a Amy's calling.

[240] Even in the middle of the night, it would wake her up and she'd pick up house phones.

[241] People actually had them back then.

[242] And so I just, it was weird.

[243] She didn't pick up.

[244] So I called Rory again.

[245] And I was like, hey, dude, mom wasn't picking up.

[246] What's up?

[247] This is so.

[248] weird just doesn't feel right obviously you guys are going through something uh i don't know if i said those exact words or whatever but he said don't go home and i was like wait what and it just like i just want to vomit thinking about that because that was like literally it made me want to vomit the moment i heard that i knew something awful had happened i knew something was terribly wrong and i was like why why wouldn't i go home no i'm going home i'm on my way home it's It's 10 .30 at night.

[249] I'm done with fucking work.

[250] I am done.

[251] I want to go home and relax.

[252] And he just said, don't go home.

[253] And he hung up.

[254] Of course, I call home again.

[255] Mom didn't pick up.

[256] A couple times probably called both of that.

[257] Like his, her cell and her home probably a few times.

[258] And I called Rory back.

[259] And I was like, dude, what the fuck?

[260] And he said, I killed mom.

[261] don't go home.

[262] And he hung up again.

[263] And then he turned off his phone because when I tried him again, several times, it just went straight to voicemail.

[264] And so I tried home again, you know, maybe once or twice.

[265] And I was like, this has to be a sick fucking joke.

[266] It cannot be, this is not my reality.

[267] This is not my reality.

[268] No, no, no, no, no, no. I realized it was probably a better idea to stop calling home and to call 911.

[269] one even if this was a sick joke which that was a possibility to all signs pointed to yes that he had done what he said but even if this was a sick joke which he tried to do sometimes you know sick jokes anything to somebody else's expense i knew that like the the the good outweighed the bad if I like started a god we have so many car chases in the valley if I started a car chase that ended up on the news or whatever or I mean I could explain my way out of it was my thought process if this was all for not but I knew I had to call in case this was the truth so I started dialing and when you're calling from a cell phone 911 I don't know if the issue is the same I thankfully haven't had to call for a long time from a cell phone but you know sometimes it takes some time to connect I think it took me a couple times and I've as I'm on my way home.

[270] I have.

[271] I've reached a 911 operator.

[272] I'm telling the person what happened.

[273] Like, as I drive home, I told her everything.

[274] And as I arrive home, I pull into the driveway.

[275] My little tiny Ford Focus goes across all the parking spots that are empty.

[276] And I'm opening up our door.

[277] And she's like, don't go inside.

[278] The killer might be inside.

[279] The killer.

[280] The killer.

[281] Jeez.

[282] Like, I needed confirmation, I think, that this was even.

[283] that was even the situation.

[284] And I hadn't even thought that maybe he would be home.

[285] I guess I just assumed that he had told me the truth he had left.

[286] So I walked.

[287] I opened up the door and the way our house was built, Mom was so proud of it.

[288] It was her first one she had bought herself.

[289] You know, you walk in and to the left, there's like a little powder room.

[290] No one ever really used it.

[291] Pristine condition.

[292] Everything was, lights were off.

[293] Everything was fine.

[294] And to the right, immediately when you walk in, there's like a little entry bar thing, not bar, but like an entry height, half wall.

[295] And then our dining room over it.

[296] And it was like a formal dining area and everything was fine there.

[297] And, you know, I went further.

[298] And I'm still talking to the 911 operator.

[299] And like, I guess at that point her voice is kind of noise because I, I, my head is buzzing.

[300] And the next place is basically to the right after the dining room is stairs going up.

[301] And the stairs kind of break into, they go up, there's a little landing, and then they go up the opposite direction.

[302] So I can only see half of the stairs, but they look pretty normal.

[303] They're like white carpet.

[304] Everything is fine.

[305] So I didn't want to go upstairs yet because I figured I would check the whole downstairs first.

[306] And then so I turned to the left and that was the kitchen, which was her absolute favorite room.

[307] To know Dossie was to know she loved to cook.

[308] My dad would talk about her chili so good you know like 30 years later and that was where I found her she was a scene that will never leave my head and it has sparked arguments or conversations in my future about you know media and violence and how much we see and are allowed you know and how triggering that could be for survivors like me I Yeah, it was horrific You know, once you see that shit for real You never want to see it for fake in a movie or anything She was lying on the ground I Thankfully, God, I didn't see her face She was turned away from the entryway And I think like that's like a saving grace And all of that whole scene You know, I don't know what it would have been like Or maybe I forgot it.

[309] But I do remember, like, her hand was outstretched towards the phone, which was like, oh, I don't know if it was beeping, you know, deadline, but she was trying to call somebody, police me, I don't know.

[310] And there was a very large amount of undisturbed blood underneath her.

[311] The floor, this will never leave me. the floor was like green tile like slate and the green and the red my birthday is Christmas Eve like Christmas the colors not Christmas I love the happiness the joy but the colors are triggering to me even she had you know I guess she'd maybe been there for a while like so it was just kind of like undisturbed and there was the obviously the The blood was disturbing.

[312] I guess Rory had left a while ago.

[313] And I remember, like, the one thing that just disturbs me the most is the knife that was sticking out of her shoulder.

[314] As if, like, he had just, he had killed her with it and stuck it in her, in her shoulder in the top of it, all the way, like, through till the hilt.

[315] And, like, I just, it broke my heart.

[316] I, the, what she must have gone through.

[317] I can't even imagine I've tried not to.

[318] I've really tried hard not to imagine the preceding events much.

[319] But I had to, I had to give her a hug.

[320] I had to remind her that she wasn't alone in that moment.

[321] Or maybe I had to feel less alone.

[322] And I had this, like, operator squawking my ear.

[323] Like, step out of that.

[324] house.

[325] And I just quickly looked at her, tried to find a spot where I could hug her and her lower right calf was the only place I could.

[326] So I did.

[327] I hugged her and kissed her skin and I left.

[328] And like the moment I stepped out of the house, I remember the police lights just flooding our street.

[329] They pulled up instantly like that moment.

[330] It was like a movie almost.

[331] And I guess in Calabasas, something's going wrong.

[332] You call.

[333] Like, they're there.

[334] It probably took him about like 10 minutes at most.

[335] And I, sure, I'd been screaming that whole time, you know, but I just can't, can't remember any noise except sirens.

[336] And then very shortly after helicopters, which are super triggering for me too, which in the valley, they're all everywhere.

[337] We have helicopters all the time.

[338] And I flash back for sure.

[339] The cops.

[340] the sheriffs that arrived, the deputies, the sheriff's deputies that arrived, talked to me outside.

[341] They started questioning me immediately and started processing the house.

[342] Thankfully, we stayed outside.

[343] You know, I didn't have to go back in.

[344] And just as like the helicopters hovered above our heads, I also remember, like, just the police cruisers just flashing.

[345] We lived across, we lived, like, in the middle of Mulho and highway basically just as the canyon starts and it's like a community that's split by the highway and like half of it is just across literally a stone's throw and right across like directly across from our house was just a hillside and I just stood there kind of staring at the hillside and the lights flashing and the fucking helicopter is going and it was so surreal to have to just stand there and like answer questions but I went through my day again what I had told the operator and I just remember sweating profusely when they were questioning me and I think you know LA's always kind of hot but I don't know if it was hot I don't know if it was the lights like all of the lights I was just sweating and they were asking me the questions you know I don't remember exactly all of them I just remember they asked me well what happened today well I wasn't home and I told them like went on my day I went on a date I went on you know I was just like verbal diarrhea as per usual And what precedent in this?

[346] I don't know.

[347] I, you know, where is he?

[348] I don't know.

[349] Like, do you know where he went?

[350] I don't know.

[351] You know, he didn't have a license still.

[352] There was no driver's license to be had by him ever.

[353] You know, I think he had like a class, some other class, like a motorcycle license or something.

[354] So I didn't know where he could be.

[355] You know, he had kind of had an on and off girlfriend that time.

[356] I think I remember telling the cops about her and giving them her number.

[357] Maybe I didn't.

[358] There, it's so weird what happens.

[359] when you're part of, this sounds so weird to say, but when you've seen a murder scene in person, a real one, not like this trauma porn people share on the interweb, but like real, like in your face, it's so jarring that some things that never would have stood out to you, stand out to you.

[360] I don't know if I ever would have been bothered by helicopters.

[361] I had heard them.

[362] I lived in the valley my entire life.

[363] It's just that day, the sound of it, I think they, I was just assuming they were searching for him.

[364] And it would be like months before I realized that those were choppers for the news.

[365] Scammers are best known for living the high life until they're forced to trade it all in for handcuffs and an orange jumpsuit once they're finally caught.

[366] I'm Sachi Cole.

[367] And I'm Sarah Haggy.

[368] And we're the host of scam influencers, a weekly podcast from Wondery that takes you along the twists and turns of some of the most infamous scams of all time, the impact on victims and what's left once a facade falls away.

[369] We've covered stories like a Shark Tank certified entrepreneur who left the show with an investment, but soon faced mounting bills, an active lawsuit followed by Larry King, and no real product to push.

[370] He then began to prey on vulnerable women instead, selling the idea of a future together while stealing from them behind their backs.

[371] To the infamous scams of Real Housewives stars like Teresa Judice, what should have proven to be a major downfall only seemed to solidify her place in the Real Housewives Hall of Fame.

[372] Follow scam influencers on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[373] You can listen to scam influencers early and ad -free right now on OneDry Plus.

[374] I don't remember the questions they asked me directly.

[375] I do remember or what I told them directly.

[376] I played through my day and then things got fuzzy.

[377] I remember people just started arriving that night.

[378] Like as I'm being questioned, I don't know if I called or texted people.

[379] Would I like, Hey, Rory killed mom.

[380] I don't even know what I did.

[381] Those friends might remember.

[382] I must have called.

[383] I think I called my boss and said, hey, I'm not coming in tomorrow.

[384] My mom was murdered.

[385] Like, I don't, but my boss showed up with her, who would be her future husband.

[386] My best friend at the time showed up with her boyfriend, who would become her husband, you know, who mom was kind of their surrogate parent a little bit.

[387] She was like everybody's mom who needed a mom, except the unmotherable, I guess.

[388] you know, at a certain point, to avoid prying eyes, maybe, you know, from the neighbors, other neighbors, and maybe the cold, I don't know, I couldn't really tell.

[389] especially knowing how bad things had really gotten, he let us all in.

[390] There was just a hodgepodge of people.

[391] And I laugh only because that hodgepodge really filled my heart.

[392] You know, I think in retrospect, part of definitely what saved me, even in my childhood was the community I always felt and the connections I always felt.

[393] And that night was no different.

[394] You know, people arrived, like my ex -boyfriend who like probably cuddled mom.

[395] and like hit on mom more than me. Like they had a funny relationship.

[396] He lived up the street, probably very quickly heard about it through the news.

[397] He showed up.

[398] And I remember him just coming and giving me a big hug.

[399] Like just the most random mix of people that wanted to support.

[400] And, you know, let me know how much we meant to them.

[401] And, you know, we went to the neighbors and we found community and we waited.

[402] We waited.

[403] We waited.

[404] We waited for Rory to be captured.

[405] I hadn't really noticed, but when I pulled into the driveway, mom's car was missing.

[406] So he had stolen it.

[407] After the detectives did kind of like a thorough -ish search of the house, they found that he had showered and cleaned himself before going.

[408] He had fled, stolen mom's car, and they were trying to find it.

[409] So we sat there and we waited in my neighbor's home.

[410] I'm still going ever so thankful for that courtesy that they gave us, that safe space.

[411] that night.

[412] It was, we were all sitting on pins and needles, you know, and like, I don't know how long it took.

[413] I can't even time is so relative in those kinds of situations again.

[414] Like, something stick out when you've seen such horror that like normally wouldn't stick out and other things that you would totally remember, like timing of things and who you talk to or who said what.

[415] Just is such a blur.

[416] But, you know, I remember sitting there and waiting.

[417] And I remember like as time went on, people started talking people that hadn't seen each other for years like decades even some of them went to high school together and they're you know in their 50s now are chatting you know and as kind of it filled my heart later when I think about it but in that moment like it really just made my skin crawl a little um that like almost cheer that almost bonding when I felt so alone and so isolated like my family had just been stolen like that in an instant.

[418] And I just wanted to say, shut the fuck up.

[419] But I didn't.

[420] I just waited.

[421] You know, I let the platitudes come and the platitudes go.

[422] And then maybe about an hour and a half into the wait, the detectives that would be assigned to the case, Rory's case, my case perhaps, or the, you know, the state's case, in essence, arrived.

[423] And those gentlemen, you know, one of them was off.

[424] I think he retired almost instantly when given the, he was like, yeah, not this shit.

[425] I'm done.

[426] And he was off pretty quickly.

[427] But the younger detective gentleman, you know, over the years, he would become a great source of support for me and maybe hope even.

[428] But that night, you know, I remember he arrived.

[429] And I remember him like kind of smiling, but not.

[430] Like it was, you know, like I just remember warmth in him.

[431] And I remember him saying when he arrived, we've got the car.

[432] And And, like, everybody was excited, not excited, obviously, but in a very morbid way.

[433] But, like, oh, my God, you've got him.

[434] Yes, he's, he's captured.

[435] No, like, the detective was very clear to correct us.

[436] No, we didn't get Rory.

[437] We got the car.

[438] So Rory had ditched the car, like on Ventura Boulevard in, like, the earliest parts of Woodland Hills towards Calabasas.

[439] So he didn't get very far.

[440] He got, like, three, four, five miles at most, not even.

[441] and he had ditched the car and so they found the car I didn't even like I think that was the moment I had realized he had even taken the car like I didn't even realize when I had gotten home it was just all so I was so automatic in my movements and like in a trance almost in shock really so it was just a waiting game even more at that point you know we sat there we got that news we digested a little bit and it was getting really late at this point I really don't even know what time it was like no concept of time but people were like tired at that point obviously and they just wanted to go to the buck home like they wanted to get back in the comfort of their own beds and probably escape to their own safety a little bit and know that I would be at least a little safe away from the obvious harm and we waited and we waited and we waited and we waited and finally the detective came back and he said we've got him and like just this like huge collective sigh in the room and we everybody was hugging like he he was contained he was they had him and I remember we found out the detective told us that he had no he'd found out maybe from friends or something that I don't know why officially why he titched the car but maybe he had found out by from friends or maybe news or whatever that he was found out he was being looked for there was an APB out for the car at that point and somehow he found out about them knowing about the car missing and so he ditched it and he called a friend and when I say friend like again he was always having falling outs with people because he was so wild and unpredictable in his behavior and this particular friend he called I think he might have had a falling out at that time maybe not like He had been working odd jobs for him.

[442] He had a catering company, this friend, and Rory, like, could work a catering job.

[443] Like, occasionally, if he was having a day, he was being compliant, I guess, and wanted to make some tips.

[444] But I guess he called him that day, and this friend was like, nope, I'm not going to help you.

[445] I don't think Rory actually said, hey, I killed my mom.

[446] I don't know.

[447] Like, I'm hearing later on from friends that, like, yeah, he was bragging.

[448] Here's Amy's family friend, Lauren.

[449] I learned about Amy's mother's passing through my brother.

[450] After Rory murdered his mom, he called a friend, and that friend called my brother and left a message on the answering machine that said, he did it.

[451] He finally fucking did it.

[452] He killed her.

[453] dead.

[454] He's lost his mind.

[455] He finally fucking killed her.

[456] Call me. I don't know what to do.

[457] I'm freaking out.

[458] And then when my brother called Rory, he was in a parking lot and he informed him that he took a photo of his mom dead and sent it to his sister and said, don't go home.

[459] I just killed mom.

[460] I never thought that anything like this would happen because things like this just don't happen, especially where we are from.

[461] It is a nice, wholesome, upper middle class community where people don't murder their parents.

[462] People don't murder kept saying people don't murder their parents.

[463] You don't do that.

[464] You don't murder the people that have taken care of you and given up everything their entire life.

[465] And the fact that he took her life and was so selfish in the whole process and didn't think about any or anybody else but just the rage within him.

[466] Cynthia, can you recall how you found out?

[467] Was it from your son that you found out as well?

[468] Yes, my son called me in the middle of the night.

[469] I was living in Arizona at the time.

[470] My son called me in the middle of the night, and I could tell from the sound of his voice that something really horrible had happened.

[471] But my son was just, he was so shaken.

[472] I've never heard him.

[473] My son usually has a lot of intonation, his voice.

[474] He's a born salesperson.

[475] So that'll give you an idea of how he usually speaks.

[476] his voice was dead.

[477] He was in such shock that he just was not processing.

[478] I was shocked.

[479] I was dismayed.

[480] I was heartbroken.

[481] My son told me he had called him from the jail.

[482] And after one phone call, my son wouldn't take any more of his calls.

[483] But he told my son that he was in the kitchen.

[484] and he had made something to eat and his mom came in and I guess the kitchen and her eyes was a mess so she said you've got to clean this up and this story is what Rory told my son and he was so sick and tired of his mother's bitching that he reached for the one thing that was handy and that was the butcher knife and I mean I just I could not I could not fathom a son, and especially a son who had been treated so wonderfully all his life by this wonderful woman, I couldn't imagine not only that he would become so enraged that he would do that, but that there was no heart there.

[485] There was no feeling there.

[486] It was like, well, I did this, so I did it.

[487] And that was so troubling to me, even a year or two later.

[488] So he got picked up by somebody else, and they only made it so far.

[489] I mean, like, that guy who had picked him up was like, oh, shit.

[490] This guy, like, this isn't like a, hey, pick up a friend, they need a ride.

[491] This is like a, oh, shit, something is weird as fuck.

[492] This guy is not right.

[493] He alerted the cops.

[494] and pulled over, and I think they only made it, like, a mile or two.

[495] I mean, he was picked up in the grand scheme of things, I think, like, five miles from our home, if that.

[496] And I think there was, like, a little standoff, not the, he didn't have a gun.

[497] There was no, like, no weapon found on him.

[498] But, yeah, I don't think he was brandishing a weapon.

[499] I think he was just trying to figure out his next move.

[500] And he, I think, hid in the car for about half an hour or so, and eventually stepped out and turned himself.

[501] gave himself to the police.

[502] I know that at one point, my son was telling me that Rory was in the car, taking some drugs.

[503] He wouldn't get out of the car, and the police had surrounded this car, and it took quite some time for them to get him out.

[504] And in that room, oh, my God, we were like, hall of fucking looia, yes, put him behind bars.

[505] Well, he's gone.

[506] Life will go on.

[507] and I think we were all just kind of putting the cart before the horse.

[508] There was somebody, I know at that point, asked a question.

[509] I'll never leave my brain.

[510] Like, I don't know who said it.

[511] The very, like, logical approach to things makes me think it was maybe my uncle.

[512] But the person said, so what next?

[513] You know, like, okay, he's been captured.

[514] So what now?

[515] And the detective replied, we convict him.

[516] And I really do wish it was that kind of.

[517] Cut and dry.

[518] Next time.

[519] You think you know me, you don't know me well at all.

[520] Something Was Wrong is produced and hosted by me, Tiffany Reese.

[521] Music on this episode from Glad Rags.

[522] Check out their album, Wonder Under.

[523] If you'd like to help support the growth of something was wrong, you can help by leaving a positive review, sharing the podcast with your family, friends, and followers, and support at patreon .com slash something was wrong.

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