434 - How Many Last Names Are There?

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[1] And welcome to my favorite murder.

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[19] This is the second.

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[56] Just down my can of rosé.

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[58] And you know what that means.

[59] Do you know what that?

[60] I don't know what that means.

[61] Do you know what that means?

[62] So today's story straight up is about the murders of two children.

[63] It takes place in Tacoma, Washington.

[64] They went unsolved for more than 30 years.

[65] One of those ones that I've followed.

[66] It's just heartbreaking.

[67] And finally, thanks to the dogged work of some cold case detectives, families that never gave up their quest for answers and advances in technology, there was eventually some justice for these two girls and these cases were solved.

[68] Great.

[69] Yes.

[70] This is the story of Jennifer Bastion and Michelle Welch.

[71] And I think for a lot of people from the 80s in the Tacoma area, this is like an old wound that has stuck with them for sure.

[72] Yes.

[73] The main sources I use for this story are an episode of Dateline called Evil Was Watching and an episode of Cold Case Files called Taken in Tacoma.

[74] There's also a book called In My DNA and the book is written by Lindsay Wade, who's one of the cold case detectives.

[75] who eventually solves this case.

[76] She's really awesome.

[77] The rest of the sources can be found in the show notes.

[78] So here we are, Tacoma, Washington.

[79] It's 1986.

[80] Tacoma is a quiet blue -collar, working class town, quintessential Pacific Northwest, safe.

[81] It's the 80s.

[82] Kids are riding their bikes, you know, tell the streetlights go on, that kind of thing, you know.

[83] Jennifer Bastion is 13 years old and lives with her parents, obviously Patricia and Ralph and her 15 -year -old sister, Teresa.

[84] Her mom says, quote, of energy.

[85] She was ready to go at a moment's notice.

[86] Jennifer loves sports and never can never sit still.

[87] Her sister says she was prone to getting up from the dining room table and just starting to do acrobatics like in the middle of the living room during dinner.

[88] She just had a lot of energy.

[89] Yeah.

[90] It was a big time for back walkovers, the mid to early 80s, right?

[91] Yeah.

[92] Mary Lou Retton was all the rage.

[93] We all wanted to be like her.

[94] Yeah.

[95] So on August 4th, 1986, it's a beautiful day in Tacoma.

[96] Jennifer leaves the house on her bike.

[97] She's supposed to go on a long -distance cycling trip soon with a group from the YMCA.

[98] And so Jennifer is kind of small for her age.

[99] She's pretty and blonde, and she's determined not to be the slowest on this bike trip.

[100] So she's been practicing a lot.

[101] Usually she goes out with a friend, but today her friend is busy and she goes by herself.

[102] Jennifer heads out to Point Defiance Park.

[103] And Park is a misleading.

[104] It's a sprawling 760 -acre expanse.

[105] with densely wooded areas, Pacific Northwesty, a zoo, a beach.

[106] It juts out on a little peninsula into the Puget Sound, has sheer cliffs that drop off into the water.

[107] So it's actually, like, pretty wild.

[108] But people are always there.

[109] People love it.

[110] Her parents know this is her plan, and she leaves a note saying she'll be home by 6 .30.

[111] At 6 .30, Jennifer doesn't show up for dinner, and her parents just immediately know something is wrong.

[112] At 8 .30, they called the police.

[113] That evening, Teresa, Jennifer's sister, had been out at the movies and her father picks her up at 9 p .m. And he tells her that Jennifer hasn't come home.

[114] And Teresa says, quote, his voice cracked.

[115] And I could see he had been crying.

[116] And I knew that something was very wrong.

[117] Yeah.

[118] Police take a piece of Jennifer's clothing and give it to bloodhounds to try to track her from the park.

[119] The dogs track her to the park to an area called the five mile drive that goes around the peninsula.

[120] But after that, they lose the scent.

[121] So over the in the next three days, police officers are on foot and on horseback, along with volunteers, and they search the densely wooded park, and they don't find any trace of Jennifer.

[122] Meanwhile, back at the Bastion household, Patty, the mother, answers a knock at the door and finds a woman named Barbara Welch there.

[123] Barbara tells Patty she is there to offer emotional support, as just weeks earlier, on the other site of Puget Sound, Barbara's own pretty blonde daughter had gone missing.

[124] Oh, no. Yeah.

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[140] Goodbye.

[141] So we're going back to the morning of March 26, 1986.

[142] We were in August.

[143] Now we're back in March.

[144] And 12 -year -old Michelle Welch is at Puget Park with her two little sisters, Nicole and Angela.

[145] And this story, the set of circumstances, has stuck with me for so fucking long.

[146] The girls have a regular babysitter, but today Michelle is in charge.

[147] And the way her sisters describe her, she takes great care of them.

[148] She's a really great, kind of bossy older sister.

[149] The girl's mom, Barbara, is raising them on her own, and she works hard to support her family.

[150] she's recently bought the family home in Tacoma's North End Michelle has long blonde hair is on the small side for her age she wears glasses about her sister Nicole says she was just a beautiful child she loved music she was amazing artist she played the piano she played the violin she loved to read definitely the bossy older sister end quote it's spring break so Barbara the mom is working but there's no school so the girls are supposed to have a piano lesson later that day and the piano teacher lives right near Puget Park, so the girls had gotten permission to play at the park for a half hour before the piano lesson.

[151] But the girls decide to bend the rules, and they leave like almost three hours before the piano lesson to play around 10 a .m. At about 11 a .m., the girls realized they'd left their lunch at home.

[152] Hmm.

[153] Mishello bikes home to get it.

[154] While Michelle is at home, her sisters need to use the bathroom, so they leave the park and go to a local business.

[155] because there's no bathroom at the park.

[156] When they return to the playground area, they see their sister's bike.

[157] She had come back and their lunches on a picnic table, but there's no sign of their sister, Michelle.

[158] It's so scary.

[159] It looks like Michelle got back when they were using the bathroom and then maybe wandered off to look for them.

[160] Oh, my heartbreaks for them.

[161] Angela says, quote, her bike was locked up and the bag was ripped open.

[162] It was very bizarre, and we went looking.

[163] end quote.

[164] The two girls do their family call, which, you know, it's the pre -cell phone era.

[165] The family uses this call in crowds to locate each other.

[166] It's like a U -hoo.

[167] So they wander around doing the U -hoo.

[168] They don't hear anything.

[169] So they call the babysitter.

[170] The babysitter calls the girl's mom and the police and Barbara races to the scene.

[171] And police officers search the park starting at about 3 p .m. Barbara says about that period, waiting for her daughter to be found, quote, there's an emptiness there.

[172] time sort of stands still.

[173] At 11 p .m., police find Michelle's body in the gulch near a makeshift fire pit about a quarter of a mile from the picnic tables.

[174] She has been killed by blunt force trauma to the head as well as a cut to her neck, and there's evidence that she's been sexually assaulted.

[175] God.

[176] Michelle's mother Barbara is sitting in a police car when she gets the news that her daughter has been found.

[177] In the investigation that follows, police canvass the area and interview everyone they can find who is in the park.

[178] One of Michelle's classmates who was at the park that day says he saw a man standing under a bridge that was near the playground.

[179] He says he noticed this man seemed to be watching the girls.

[180] He's able to give enough details for a composite sketch and a long list of people are questioned.

[181] But over the next couple months, no one emerges as a compelling suspect.

[182] So when Barbara hears in August about another young girl going missing in the area, Jennifer Bastion, Barber, decides to act and goes to their house to offer emotional support.

[183] On August 26th, 22 days after Jennifer first goes missing, a jogger on one of the wooded trails in the park notices a smell.

[184] He alerts park police.

[185] They come and can't find anything.

[186] They bring a dog.

[187] They don't find anything.

[188] But I think they all kind of knew what they were looking for at that point.

[189] Because of the smell.

[190] So it takes two more days for searchers to find Jennifer's body.

[191] She's not far from five -mile drive.

[192] It appears she had been sexually assaulted, and she had a thin ligature mark on her neck, which a later autopsy will determine to be the cause of death.

[193] And her bike is found nearby about 60 feet away.

[194] The area where Jennifer is found is about 150 feet from the actual trail, and at the time the corner says it looks like the area had been chosen and prepared in advance.

[195] So obviously, life changes completely.

[196] for the children in Tacoma after these two girls, you know, are murdered.

[197] They're no longer allowed to go out and ride their bikes, unsupervised.

[198] Everyone is on edge thinking there's a potential serial killer targeting young girls.

[199] It's just terrifying time in Tacoma.

[200] Because of the similarities between Jennifer and Michelle's murders and the similarities between the girls themselves, they do look like.

[201] Law enforcement also believes they're looking for one killer.

[202] Puget Park and Point Defiance Park are both in Tacoma's north end.

[203] They're only about three miles from each other.

[204] So like in Michelle's case, many people reported crossing paths with Jennifer the afternoon and evening she went missing.

[205] Among them were some classmates of Jennifer's who said they saw a man, wearing reflective sunglasses, riding a bike closely behind Jennifer, like seemingly keeping pace with her.

[206] Echaposit sketch is made of this man too.

[207] The two sketches from both cases don't look terribly different from each other.

[208] They kind of look like the same person.

[209] So everyone's assuming this is one killer.

[210] Yeah.

[211] Detectives get lots of tips, but ultimately the investigation.

[212] doesn't make any headway.

[213] They have nothing to go on.

[214] It's the 80s.

[215] There's no DNA to like really test.

[216] They keep meticulous records of every lead, thousands of names.

[217] Eventually the leads dry up and the case goes cold.

[218] A patrol officer named Gene Miller works on these two cases when they first happen and then through the rest of his career as he becomes a detective and moves up through the ranks.

[219] Gene says, quote, it's a very difficult thing to be intimately involved in these investigations and to not be making progress, end quote.

[220] So still in the summer of 1986, there's another little girl who likes to ride her bike all over Tacoma.

[221] She's 11, and her name is Lindsay Jackson, though we'll eventually know her as Detective Lindsay Wade.

[222] Oh.

[223] Lindsay says that after the two killings, she and her friends were afraid to ride their bikes.

[224] In her book, in my DNA, she writes, quote, Before the killings, I was a carefree kid, oblivious to the dangers lurking behind my safe middle -class suburban neighborhood.

[225] After learning that two little girls have been murdered while they were out doing the kinds of things I liked to do, riding their bikes, I was scared.

[226] Yeah.

[227] So when Lindsay is a sophomore in high school, she stumbles across a book in the school library.

[228] It's Anne Rules the stranger beside me. So legendary.

[229] I know.

[230] I mean, but also like, so fateful.

[231] Yeah.

[232] Everybody found that book.

[233] Around that time, where it's like early junior high, where you're suddenly like, I need to know what's going on.

[234] It's almost like the librarians at junior highs and high schools are like, we need to at least have one copy of this so the cool lonely girl can come find this.

[235] Well, and especially for the kids in that area at that time, where it really...

[236] Green River Killer, Ted Bundy.

[237] But kids specific, that's the thing that happened in Petaluma when Polly Class was taken and eventually found dead.

[238] The kids themselves were changed, like implicitly changed.

[239] It's so heavy.

[240] Lindsay writes, quote, after absorbing every detail of the book, I knew I wanted to be a detective, just like Bob Keppel.

[241] I wanted to catch men like Ted Bundy and Anne Rule's book inspired the course of my life to come.

[242] Yeah.

[243] Lindsay graduates from the Police Academy in 1997 when she's about 22.

[244] Lindsay, who is biracial, is the only woman of color in her graduating class and is one of six women total.

[245] By the early 2000s, when she's in her early 30s, Lindsay is working on Tacoma's special assault unit, which focuses on solving sexual assaults.

[246] That's where she meets Jean Miller, the patrol cop, who had been working both cases from the start.

[247] The two of them stay close throughout their careers, and in 2011, Jean starts Tacoma's first cold case unit, and Lindsay eventually joins him there.

[248] So this is one of those cases where the evidence is preserved, and science gets a chance to catch up, which is great.

[249] In 2006, swab from Michelle Welch's autopsy are tested, and from them, investigators are able to create a DNA profile for her killer.

[250] The DNA from Michelle's body doesn't match anyone in the database, unfortunately, and Jennifer's body had been too badly decomposed to take the same kinds of samples when she was found.

[251] So from 2006 to 2013, there's no DNA profile from Jennifer's body, but police assume they're looking for the same person who killed Michellea.

[252] Then in 2013, Lindsay and Gene send the swimsuit Jennifer had been wearing when she was killed to the lab.

[253] It had been found like around one ankle, so they assumed that there wasn't any DNA on it.

[254] So they just wanted to get Jennifer's DNA profile, you know, just in case they needed it in the future.

[255] But a few months later, Lindsay gets a call from the lab, and the technician is like, do you also want the profile for the male DNA that we found on this swimsuit?

[256] Oh, my God.

[257] Spermazoa on the swimsuit.

[258] The DNA doesn't match anyone in the system, but this in and of itself is a massive revelation.

[259] They would have expected it to match the unknown sample that was entered into the database in 2006 from Michelle's killer.

[260] And for the first time, investigators realize this means there are two different killers.

[261] Oh my God.

[262] Little Girls in Tacoma.

[263] 1986.

[264] Wow.

[265] This has obviously huge implications for the investigation going forward.

[266] For one thing, there are many suspects who were initially ruled out because they were in jail or had other alibis for when one of the murders was committed, but not the other.

[267] So they just automatically blanket assumed it was one killer.

[268] Which I guess like you can't like, it's almost like wishful thinking that there aren't monsters fucking everywhere.

[269] It's wishful thinking, but at the same time, It's Occam's Razor.

[270] The idea that there are two separate killers of the exact same looking age, everything little girl, like on a bike, is crazy.

[271] Yeah.

[272] So in 2015, Jennifer's father sadly dies without ever seeing his daughter's killer brought to justice.

[273] Around that same time, Jennifer's mother, Patty, starts volunteering in the cold case department, and she becomes very close with Lindsay Wade.

[274] That same year, Jean retires and Lindsay takes over as Tacoma's.

[275] lead cold case detective.

[276] Lindsay has followed every new development in DNA with rapt attention.

[277] She's like, Paul holes, you know?

[278] Yeah.

[279] And that year, she hears about a new technique that led to the solving of a cold case in Phoenix.

[280] And it uses gene sequence that's passed through the father's line and through genealogical databases.

[281] It matches that sequence with likely last names.

[282] So this is, like, it's genealogical profiling, but it's not as specific as it.

[283] Like, you can't go through a family tree as, as dead.

[284] deep but you can go a little bit and find out the last names.

[285] Okay.

[286] So Lindsay gets in touch with the scientists at the forefront of this technique.

[287] A former rocket scientist turned genealogists named Jennifer Fitzpatrick.

[288] She sends her the DNA sample from the Jennifer Bastion case and the testing reveals three possible last names that a person with that DNA might have.

[289] Isn't that fucking incredible?

[290] Yeah, that's weird.

[291] How many last names are there?

[292] And you can go down to three.

[293] like genealogy is amazing the last names are smith holbrook and washburn so lindsay doesn't even bother with smith because it's too common of a name to be useful but she scours the case files it's thousands and thousands of pages for the two other names because luckily they're kind of unique there's no holbrook but there is a washburn somewhere in the case files lindsay actually finds him not in Jennifer's case file, but in Michelle Welch's case file, after Michelle's murder, but before Jennifer's, a man named Robert Washburn had called in a tip saying he had seen someone who matched the composite sketch of Michelle's potential killer in Point Defiance Park, which is where Jennifer would later be abducted and killed.

[294] So he called this tip in in May of 1986, three months before Jennifer died in that very park.

[295] Investigators, they didn't drop the ball on this.

[296] He had been interviewed in December of 1986.

[297] I think him calling in a tip probably let their guard down a little bit, but they also like didn't have anything suspicious about him to begin with.

[298] But it's that thing we always talk about where like the killers want to get involved.

[299] Yes.

[300] In the case.

[301] And it's almost like in retrospect, you look back and then it's like, oh, he was pointing to the future murder.

[302] I mean, it's just so gross and weird and sinister.

[303] I think some people also think that because he was pointing to the future spot, like he had planned it out and he wanted to connect those two murders and make people think they were connected which he did yeah you know which means he planned it so far in advance it's just chilling she finds it interesting this little piece of information but it's not you know it's no guarantee the last names might not even be correct so Robert Washburn's name is added to a very long list Lindsay then takes on the daunting task of hand entering every other man mentioned in the Jennifer Bastian case file into a new database because it had never been digitized.

[304] Wow.

[305] The process takes months, but once it's done, she can use that database to eliminate 300 names from a list of 2 ,300 names based on DNA and incarceration data.

[306] It's not much, but it's a start.

[307] And from that list, Lindsay comes up with a shorter list of people to try to get DNA samples from.

[308] A small task force tracks these people down all over the country and request samples.

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[350] So in 2018, Lindsay makes the difficult decision to retire from the police department and takes a job in the Attorney General's office on its task force to end the state's rape kit backlog.

[351] And she said it's a really hard decision, but she's thought to herself, you know, maybe the killer's name is in that backlog.

[352] Right.

[353] And I'm helping so many women.

[354] And yeah, I can imagine being a hard decision.

[355] Over the past several years, she's been sending batches of DNA to be tested and compared to the sample from Jennifer's bathing suit a few weeks after she starts her new job.

[356] And this is so like Paul Holes with the Golden State Killer, she gets a call that there's been a match.

[357] And it's Robert Washburn, the man who called in the tip in the Michellea Welch case months before Jennifer was even killed.

[358] So if he hadn't inserted himself into that case, there's no reason why he would have been found.

[359] Wow.

[360] He wasn't in, his DNA wasn't in the database, there was no fingerprints, there was nothing tying him to it at all.

[361] That's crazy.

[362] So he almost like he just pinpointed himself.

[363] Yeah.

[364] And also like that's such good detective work that you looked in the other case file for that name of a tipster.

[365] Like why would you ever look at that again?

[366] And like now it's like I hope they look every time because that is a thing they do.

[367] Absolutely.

[368] And that's why there's good detectives like this.

[369] Yeah.

[370] He's 58.

[371] He lives in Illinois.

[372] He has only one prior arrest for criminal trespass and vehicle prowling in 1985 before the murder.

[373] That's all he had, nothing after.

[374] In 2017, investigators from the task force had knocked on his door and he had willingly given them a DNA sample.

[375] So that's how they got his DNA.

[376] In 2018, when Lindsay gets this news, which is also like, what are you thinking?

[377] Like, what's going on through these predators' minds when they're like, you can't say no, I'm not giving you a DNA sample.

[378] Well, and also back then, they probably didn't know what it meant.

[379] Right.

[380] It wasn't as like precise.

[381] Right.

[382] Yeah.

[383] By 2018, when Lindsay gets this news, she and Patty Bastion have become very close.

[384] and they had planned to celebrate Mother's Day together that year.

[385] But since Robert wasn't arrested yet, Lindsay couldn't say anything to the mother that the potential killer had been caught.

[386] She has to wait another couple of weeks to tell her.

[387] Right.

[388] So later in May of 2018, Robert Washburn is arrested for the murder of Jennifer Bastion.

[389] Then only a month later, there's an arrest in the Michelle Welch case.

[390] Just a month later, they were, you know, it's so wild.

[391] through genealogical DNA, investigators have been able to narrow down the DNA sample from Michelle's body to one of two brothers, who lived together in Tacoma at the time of the murder.

[392] The DNA match on file belonged to a cousin, but it was one of those genealogical database matches, and the genealogist was able to use public records to lead to the brothers, and they don't know which brother it is.

[393] So after surveilling the brothers, investigators get a DNA sample from a discarded brown paper napkin, from a fast food restaurant from one of the brothers.

[394] They get it in a different way from the other brother.

[395] But from this paper napkin, they get a match.

[396] They arrest a 66 -year -old man named Gary Hartman in June of 2018.

[397] He is a psychiatric nurse at a local hospital in Tacoma.

[398] I know you had a reaction to that.

[399] That is not good.

[400] Yeah.

[401] He had never been previously arrested.

[402] He was married.

[403] He took care of his daughter.

[404] And we actually had a few.

[405] emails from murderinos who had like worked with him in the past and thought he seemed perfectly normal.

[406] Wow.

[407] Yeah.

[408] So after Hartman's arrest, the Pierce County prosecutor Mark Lindquist says, quote, DNA technology is rapidly advancing.

[409] If you're a criminal who left DNA to crime scene, you might as well turn yourself in now.

[410] We will eventually catch you, and quote.

[411] That must have felt good to say.

[412] Yeah.

[413] Yeah.

[414] Coming for you.

[415] Yeah.

[416] Both men separately said they had been deep in the throws of alcohol and drug addiction when they murdered these little girls, which is like, shut the fuck up.

[417] Seriously.

[418] Robert Washburn pleads guilty, and in 2021, he sentenced to 26 years and six months.

[419] Lindsay Wade is there and says, quote, I don't think there was a dry eye in the courtroom from the judge to one of the cameramen in the courtroom to people in the gallery.

[420] I remember Patty, the mother, saying, do you know how many birthdays we missed?

[421] Do you know how many Christmases we missed?

[422] Oh.

[423] Washburn gives a bare -bones confession to grabbing Jennifer and strangling her, but not to any other aspects of the crime.

[424] He kind of just remains blank throughout the proceedings.

[425] Gary Hartman elects to have a bench trial, which he is aware will result in a guilty verdict.

[426] But he doesn't actually plead guilty, which is shitty because you're putting the victim's family through this whole trial.

[427] And you know you're guilt.

[428] Like you're not saying you're not.

[429] I don't know.

[430] It's confounding.

[431] his lawyer claims at the time of the murder he was so out of it he didn't even remember doing it and only remembered after being arrested but the prosecutor says that while he was being investigated he had told a co -worker quote 30 years ago he had done something terrible and he thought he had been discovered end quote so it just wasn't fucking true he lived with it for 30 years yeah oh i forgot until i got arrested but also i was fine with it yeah so like i didn't it wasn't eaten alive by the guilt i wasn't like i didn't was not compelled to confess or do anything about it.

[432] Totally.

[433] Totally.

[434] Hartman is found guilty and is also sentenced to 26 years and six months.

[435] Gary Hartman sobs throughout the entire sentencing, saying he's sorry while Michelle's family gives statements.

[436] Then, like, why did you put them through a fucking trial?

[437] Like, you know what I mean?

[438] Yeah.

[439] I think it's easier when people are, like, classic movie -style psychopaths.

[440] Yeah.

[441] So then it's just like, yeah, good.

[442] like you write it off.

[443] And tears, like, what do they mean?

[444] You're crying for who?

[445] Yourself, maybe?

[446] I mean, for sure themselves.

[447] But it is like that idea.

[448] It's like you didn't hit and run a car.

[449] It's a very different thing.

[450] Totally.

[451] Michelle's little sister, Nicole, says, quote, forgiveness is the only way to keep me from being infected by the continual pain and keep furthering it on.

[452] I do not wish any harm to come to him because I would be the same spirit as him.

[453] Though our lives are linked together because of this tragedy, I do not want to be of the same mindset in harming others, end quote, which is like, holy shit.

[454] That is very wise and brave.

[455] Yeah.

[456] In 2019, between the two men's legal proceedings, Patty and Teresa work with Lindsay Wade to pass Jennifer and Michelle's law in Washington State.

[457] This allows law enforcement to collect DNA samples from deceased sex offenders, which would have significantly called Lindsay's database when she was working on the cases.

[458] So it's just like, why do I have to file all this fucking paperwork to get this DNA sample that should already be there?

[459] Yeah.

[460] It also requires people convicted of indecent exposure to give a DNA sample.

[461] It's signed into law in May of 2019 and Patty Bastion and Jennifer's sister, Teresa are there to see it happen.

[462] Patty says she feels a sense of relief and accomplishment at what she, Lindsay, and lawmakers have gotten done in their home state.

[463] But she also has her eyes set on the federal law.

[464] And that is the story of the murders of Jennifer Bastion and Michelle O' Welch, the detectives who never gave up on finding their killers and the technology that eventually caught up with the evidence.

[465] Unbelievable.

[466] Horrible.

[467] Yeah.

[468] And shocking and like the idea that two little girls were killed that closely together in Tacoma is like it must have been so horrified.

[469] And it was two different monsters.

[470] Two different people.

[471] Yeah.

[472] Wow.

[473] Chilling.

[474] Thanks for giving a cold case a good ending.

[475] That's very satisfying.

[476] Thank you.

[477] I was talking to Alejandra recently about like upcoming stories I could do and I was like, I think they're a little sick of the unsolved cold cases.

[478] Can we not do that?

[479] I mean, it's terrible because there are so many.

[480] Yeah.

[481] And it's frustrating when police agencies treat it like, oh, well.

[482] Yeah.

[483] Like that is the part that does not drive.

[484] drive me crazy that it feels like could be changing a little bit in that people are, it's like the cold case department is not this kind of afterthought anymore.

[485] It's like they're really working on stuff like that.

[486] Right.

[487] Yeah, for sure.

[488] Well, great job.

[489] It's another great concise yet also kind of long, short episode.

[490] Before we go on vacation, should we read everyone what they're doing right now?

[491] Yes, we should.

[492] All right.

[493] You guys, we've asked you to tell us hashtag, what are you even doing right now in comments or emails or wherever you see fit.

[494] We really do love this window into your life as you listen to this podcast.

[495] It's very exciting.

[496] So this one is from Ms. Beekman.

[497] It's from Instagram and it says, what am I doing right now?

[498] I'm getting ready to go on the first of many cottage vacations with the love of my life.

[499] After spending years struggling with my value and connecting with others, I found someone who loves every single part of me. Thank you for being an L .A. to the 2S.

[500] LGBTQIA plus community and keeping me company from many long lonely years with your words of comfort and encouragement, happy pride month.

[501] Hell yeah.

[502] Isn't that great?

[503] Get that love.

[504] Happy pride.

[505] Gay rights.

[506] Okay, here's a good one that you should look into as a summer job.

[507] This is from Tanya 3334 on Instagram.

[508] I'm listening while going to get a serotonin boost from my clients because I'm a professional pet sitter.

[509] Shout out to my clients, consisting of dogs, cats, a couple of goats, a few deer, and a gopher tortoise.

[510] Dream job for me. How do you pet sit a tortoise?

[511] I mean, you're just like, hmm, here I am.

[512] I guess I'll just feed you at four o 'clock.

[513] And other than that, where I'm going to watch TV.

[514] I'm going to watch TV and eat your ice cream.

[515] We're going to do separate stuff, I guess, and come together at meal times.

[516] Guys, thank you so much for listening to us.

[517] We are about to go on vacation, so without further ado, stay sexy.

[518] And don't get murdered.

[519] Hi.

[520] Elvis, do you want a cookie?

[521] This has been an exactly right production.

[522] Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck.

[523] Our managing producer is Hannah Kyle Crichton.

[524] Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

[525] This episode was mixed by Liana Squalache.

[526] Our researchers are Marin McClashen and Ali Elkin.

[527] Email your hometowns to My Favorite Murder at gmail .com.

[528] Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at My Favorite Murder and Twitter at MyFave Murder.

[529] Goodbye.