You're Dead (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

[0] Hey, Prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad -free on Amazon Music.

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[2] Before I record any story for any platform, I always tell that story to my wife first.

[3] She's basically my gauge of whether the story makes sense, whether it's interesting, and most times her reaction is pretty neutral.

[4] But today's story, she said it was so unusual, she found herself on the edge of her seat, just wondering what the ending was going to be because she really couldn't guess it.

[5] And then at the end, when I revealed the ending, she says to me, wait, are you serious?

[6] But before we get into today's story, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do, and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday.

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[9] Okay, let's get into today's story.

[10] I'm Dan Tiberski.

[11] In 2011, something strange began to happen at a high school in upstate New York, a mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast.

[12] What's the answer?

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

[14] Hysterical.

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

[16] Binge all episodes of Histerical early and ad -free on Wondry Plus.

[17] Alexandra Ignatovic, or Sondra for short, was born in 1967 in a quiet suburb of Vancouver, Canada.

[18] Her parents, who had immigrated to Canada from Yugoslavia, were both extremely hardworking people who also had big, warm personalities and great senses of humor.

[19] They would pass all three of those qualities onto their daughter, which, in turn, made her a very popular person from a young age.

[20] In addition to her attractive personality, Sondra was also considered very physically attractive, so much so that when she was a teenager, her friends began to encourage her to compete in beauty pageants.

[21] Sondra was always flattered by these remarks, but would laugh them off, saying she didn't belong in something like that.

[22] But in 1985, during Sandra's senior year of high school, she finally gave in to her friend's suggestions and entered a local beauty contest called the Miss Burnaby pageant.

[23] And much to her shock, but not to her friends, she would win.

[24] And this win would automatically enter her into the huge Miss Canada beauty competition that year, though she would lose that one.

[25] However, Sondra was not remotely phased by the loss.

[26] She actually thought it was pretty funny that she had gotten as far as she had.

[27] After high school, Sondra lived at home with her parents and attended a technical school to become a dental assistant.

[28] During this time, Sondra and her mom, Sidenka, who she was very close with, developed a hobby that they did together on the weekends.

[29] On nice days, they would find local open houses and they would pretend to be in the market for buying a home, when in reality, they just wanted to walk around the property and fantasize about what it would be like to live there.

[30] In 1987, when Sandra was 21 years old and was now working full -time as a dental assistant but still living at home, she and her mother, like usual, went to an open house one weekend in their neighborhood, and once they arrived, it was very crowded, and so they made their way off to the side, and just began chatting in their family's native tongue, Serbo -Croatian.

[31] And so as they're doing this, a woman they didn't recognize walks up to them.

[32] She was this short, older woman with rosy cheeks who was grinning ear to ear, and when she reached the mother and daughter, she very excitedly began speaking in Serbo -Croatian as well.

[33] She said her name was Yelka Pesek, and she couldn't help, but overhear them speaking in her native tongue.

[34] Like Sandra's parents, Yelka had immigrated to Canada from Yugoslavia.

[35] And like Sandra and her mom, Yelka was at this open house pretending to be in the market for a home when really she was just fantasizing same as they were.

[36] So these commonalities they shared immediately put them all at ease and before long all three of them were chatting and laughing like they were old friends.

[37] Over the course of their 15 or so minute long conversation, Yelka eventually asked Sandra pretty point blank if she was single or in a relationship.

[38] And Sandra, who was a little caught off guard by the abrupt question said, I'm single.

[39] At which point, Yelka lit up and with a smile on her face, she said, well, you know, I'd love for you to meet my son Joe.

[40] He's about your age and single too.

[41] Sandra smiled, but before she could respond, Yelka kind of waved her off like she knew she was being too pushy.

[42] And she just said, look, our family owns an automotive shop in town.

[43] It's called Sam and Sons.

[44] If either of you ever have car troubles, it's on the house, bring your car in.

[45] And if you, Sandra, swing by, I'll introduce you to Joe.

[46] Then she handed Sandra a business card and said her goodbyes to both of them, and then turned and walked away.

[47] Once she was gone, Sondra and her mother kind of chuckled about the conversation they had just had, and then they went back to just enjoying the open house.

[48] And by that evening, when the mother and daughter had gotten back to their own home, they had more or less forgotten about Yelka.

[49] However, the following day, while Sondra was out running some errands, her car's engine started making really loud knocking sounds.

[50] While she didn't know what they meant, she knew that she really needed to have someone look at her car, And so as she began to look around wondering if an auto body shop just happened to be close to her, she remembered Yelka from the day before giving her that business card for her auto body shop.

[51] And so Sondra pulled over to the side of the road.

[52] She fished inside of her purse and she pulled out that card, the business card, and she saw the address of the auto body shop was only a couple of blocks away.

[53] And so she merged back onto the road and she began driving over.

[54] When she arrived outside of Sam and Son's auto body shop, she parked in their front lot and then she got out and she made her work, way into the front office.

[55] And then as soon as she stepped inside, she saw right ahead of her was this big desk and behind the desk was Yelka.

[56] And as soon as Yelka saw Sondra coming in, Yelka lit up and she said, oh my goodness, you're here.

[57] Come here.

[58] Come here.

[59] I got to introduce you to my son.

[60] And that's when Sandra said, well, actually, I'm here because my car actually broke down today.

[61] And I was wondering if, you know, you could have a look at it.

[62] And immediately Yelka said, oh, of course, she grabbed a mechanic.

[63] She pulled him over and said, right now, go out and get Sandra's car.

[64] She has to be at the front of the line.

[65] And so the mechanic went out to get Sandra's car.

[66] And then Sandra said, you know, thank you so much.

[67] You know, I really appreciate it.

[68] I'm going to just go step outside and just let me know when it's done.

[69] But Yelka would say, no, no, no, no, no. You have to meet my son.

[70] Hold on just a minute.

[71] And so Sondra just kind of stood in the waiting room, kind of feeling a little bit awkward.

[72] And Yelka ran back into the back room behind the desk.

[73] And then she came running back out a few minutes later.

[74] And just a few seconds behind her was this handsome man in a crisp suit who had short dark hair and a perfectly manicured mustache.

[75] And Yelka immediately grabbed him and kind of wheeled him out from behind the desk and brought him right in front of Sandra.

[76] And with a huge grin on her face, she says to Sandra, this is Joe, this is my son.

[77] He's single, you're single, you two should go on a date.

[78] And so Sandra and Joe immediately laughed because it was so pushy and so forward, it was just kind of comical.

[79] But over the course of their very short interaction, they both found each other attractive and and they actually agreed to meet up for a date.

[80] And over the course of the next few weeks, the pair would go on many dates and they would become inseparable.

[81] Joe would take Sandra to the nicest restaurants in town, they would go dancing, and then sometimes they'd just hop on Joe's motorcycle and go for long rides in the countryside.

[82] Less than a month after their first meeting, Sandra was already telling her family and friends that Joe might be the one.

[83] And she would be right, because almost exactly a month after their first meeting, Joe would ask Sandra to marry him, and she would say yes.

[84] Sandra was beyond excited.

[85] She knew this proposal had been abrupt, but she didn't care.

[86] She felt like Joe was perfect.

[87] However, there was one detail about Joe that Sandra hadn't really seen fully yet, and that was his mother.

[88] Sandra was aware that Yelka could be a bit pushy.

[89] After all, she did literally tell Sandra to date her son while they stood directly in front of her son.

[90] However, after that interaction, Sondra had really not spent much time around Yelka and so hadn't formed much of an opinion of her.

[91] But as soon as wedding preparations began, that would change.

[92] Yelka wanted to plan every single detail of the wedding.

[93] You should get married in this church.

[94] You should buy this gown from the store.

[95] Your bridesmaids should wear these dresses.

[96] Here's a great music list for the wedding reception.

[97] Although she presented these as suggestions, they were more like demands.

[98] At first, Sondra tried to just roll with it and allowed Yelka to have her way with a number of the decisions, but after each concession, it just seemed like Yelka would come back with even more demands.

[99] Finally, Sondra had just had enough, and she told Yelka, you got to stop inserting yourself into every single wedding planning decision.

[100] This is my wedding.

[101] This is Joe's wedding, not yours.

[102] And shockingly, Yelka responded by effectively saying, I know better than you, and I'm not going to stop telling you.

[103] how to have the best wedding because I want it to be the best.

[104] Sandra was dumbfounded.

[105] She felt like she literally could not stop Yelka.

[106] And so she went to her fiancé and although she knew she was putting him in a really awkward situation, she told him he had to step in and tell his mom to back down, that she was totally overbearing and making this wedding process a nightmare.

[107] At first, Joe tried to act like Sandra was overreacting, but Sandra just was not having it.

[108] And she basically said, I will postpone this wedding if you don't handle this.

[109] And so after a deep sigh, Joe told Sandra, okay, I'll go talk to my mom.

[110] And sure enough, Joe would.

[111] And Yelka would step back as a result of this conversation.

[112] However, it was plainly obvious that Yelka was not happy about this.

[113] And to show her displeasure, for the rest of the wedding planning cycle, Yelka refused to look at or talk to Sondra.

[114] But as upsetting as this was for Sandra, ultimately, she was kind of okay with it, because one, Joe had demonstrated that he could have her back when she really needed him, and two, she didn't really like talking to Yelka at this point.

[115] She found her incredibly annoying, and so to have Yelka ignoring her was kind of a good deal.

[116] A few weeks before their wedding, Sandra and Joe, who at that point both still lived with their parents, decided to go out and get an apartment they could share together as a couple.

[117] And they found one.

[118] It was very small and was the only one they could actually afford, but it was relatively close to both of their families and their work, so they took it.

[119] After getting the keys, Sandra and her mom would spend a very fun weekend going out to yard sales and discount stores to decorate and furnish the apartment, and by the time they were done, Sandra and Joe loved it.

[120] On June 11, 1988, Sandra and Joe finally got married in front of all of their friends and family, and everyone seemed to have a great time, except for Yelka.

[121] Then, after the wedding, the new couple headed off to Hawaii for their honeymoon.

[122] A week later, Sondra and Joe returned to Vancouver, and when they walked into their new apartment, they were both shocked.

[123] The entire place had been completely redecorated.

[124] Couch covers had been switched out.

[125] The kitchen had been reorganized.

[126] Bathrooms had different colored towels.

[127] The bed had different sheets on it, and it was even facing a different direction.

[128] After calling around to their families, they quickly discovered Yelka was responsible.

[129] She had used Joe's keys to slip into the apartment while they were on vacation.

[130] Sandra was furious.

[131] She and her mother had worked so hard to furnish and decorate the apartment to make it feel like her own, and now it just felt like Yelka's.

[132] It was so rude what she had done, Sandra literally couldn't believe it.

[133] Despite putting everything back the way it had been in their apartment, this was a massive violation of their privacy, and Sandra openly told Joe that she wanted nothing to do with his mother.

[134] However, it wasn't that simple for Joe.

[135] Despite her transgressions, Joe still loved his mom, and he got his paycheck from his mom.

[136] She was literally his boss at the auto body shop, so he couldn't just disown her, nor did he want to.

[137] This caused a lot of friction between the couple, but ultimately they just kind of accepted that they would need to find a way to live with Yelka and her intrusive behavior because she wasn't going anywhere.

[138] But despite Sondra's best efforts to put up with Yelka, Yelka made that nearly impossible.

[139] on a regular basis.

[140] Shortly after the apartment redecorating incident, where afterwards, Joe and Sandra told Yelka, you cannot sneak into our apartment when we are gone.

[141] Yelka began sneaking into the couple's apartment when they were gone.

[142] Yelka had made a copy of her son's keys and just came and went as she pleased.

[143] At first, all she did was straighten things up around the apartment and periodically would go through their fridge, throwing away old food, and sometimes replacing certain food items with other food items that she believed were better in some way.

[144] At first, Joe and Sondra actually didn't notice, but when it seemed like their entire fridge was starting to become full of food, neither of them remembered purchasing, they confronted Yelka, and sure enough, she admitted to it.

[145] But the way she framed it was that she was simply swinging by and dropping off groceries.

[146] After this admission, privately, Sondra told Joe that he had to step in and stop Yelka from doing this.

[147] They had already told her, you can't do this, and she's doing it all over again.

[148] And Joe, he would tell his wife, oh yeah, I'm going to tell her, I'm going to tell her to stop, for sure.

[149] He actually would not.

[150] And so Yelka would just continue to come in and out of their apartment as she pleased.

[151] Sondra was furious and felt like she had totally lost control of the situation.

[152] But at the same time, she started having feelings that, you know, maybe she was overreacting.

[153] Maybe she was wrong about Yelka and she was just hypersensitive to what she was doing in that in reality Yelka was being really helpful.

[154] But when Yelka, during one of her secret apartment visits, removed half of Sondra's entire wardrobe from her closet and replaced it with clothing Yelka had bought, Sandra officially had had enough.

[155] Instead of waiting for Joe to come home that evening and to figure out what to do together, Sondra just hopped in her car and drove right over to her in -law's house.

[156] When she arrived, she ran at the front steps, she didn't even knock on their door, she simply opened it and screamed at Yelka, who was straight ahead in the kitchen, that she can never come in their apartment without permission ever again.

[157] Then she screamed at Yelka to give her her clothing back immediately.

[158] Yelka seemed totally unfazed by this, and instead of saying sorry or trying to make an excuse, she just said very matter -of -factly, you don't look good in your clothing.

[159] I know what you look good in.

[160] Then she walked over to a closet near the front door, pulled out several dresses and blouses and kind of chucked them at Sandra and then holding her crumpled clothes in her arms Sandra glared at Yelka for an extra second before turning and storming out of the house back to her car when she got back to her apartment Joe had come home at this point so Sandra walked in and pretty much immediately laid into him she explained how his mom had taken her clothes and that now she had just completely had it she was done with Yelka she can't come back in here it's over it's done but while the couple thought there was a knock on their front door.

[161] The couple stopped talking and Joe stood up and walked over to the door and he opened it.

[162] And shockingly, standing on the other side was Yelka and her husband Sam.

[163] Sandra saw them and literally ran over and slammed the door in their face.

[164] But through the now shut door, she heard Yelka call out, please let us in.

[165] I have something very important I want to tell you.

[166] Sondra could sense that Yelka's tone seemed different somehow.

[167] perhaps she was here to apologize.

[168] It certainly seemed possible, given recent events.

[169] And so while holding the doorknob, Sondra turned and looked at Joe, who had a look of, I don't know what to do on his face.

[170] And then with a very frustrated sigh, Sondra turned the doorknop and opened the front door again.

[171] And immediately, Yelka smiled at the couple and walked in like she owned the place.

[172] Sam followed behind her, but seemed wholly uninvested in whatever it was they were there for.

[173] Yelka strode right into the kitchen and she took a seat at the head of the table and then beckoned Sandra and Joe to come over and sit down as well.

[174] Sandra was already regretting her decision to let them in, but she did want to hear what Yelka had to say and so she walked over and sat down, as did Joe.

[175] Once everyone was sitting around the table, Yelka smiled and said, Sandra, Joe, we're going to make an $85 ,000 down payment on this beautiful two -story house for you two to live in.

[176] We know this apartment is small and you want to start a family, and we want to give you the best home to do that in.

[177] Sandra and Joe were dumbstruck.

[178] They made very little money and had almost no savings, and so home ownership was not exactly on the horizon for them, although it was something they often fantasized about.

[179] But now, this fantasy could become a reality if they just said yes to Yelka.

[180] And so with Yelka sitting there, staring at them intently with a big grin on her face, eagerly awaiting their answer, the couple exchanged.

[181] a few quick glances at each other, kind of feeling each other out, and then they said, okay, yeah, thank you, thank you so much.

[182] Yelka was extremely pleased.

[183] She hugged them both and asked them to come by the property the next day to have a look around, and then Yelka and Sam got up, and they left.

[184] That night, Sandra and Joe lay awake in bed talking about this incredible thing that had happened, and they came to the conclusion that Yelka must have been trying to make some sort of peace offering, that this was effectively a way for her to say sorry for.

[185] for what had transpired between them.

[186] And so by the time Sandra fell asleep that night, she was feeling very optimistic that her relationship with Yelka was about to improve.

[187] The following day, Sandra and Joe drove over to the house that they had just agreed to let Yelka and Sam put the down payment on, and right away, what stood out to Sandra was the home's proximity to Yelka's house.

[188] It was only about five minutes drive away, much closer than their current apartment was to Yelka's house.

[189] Also, as soon as Yelka arrived in her car, and got out to talk to them on the sidewalk, she was absolutely brimming with excitement, talking about how she couldn't wait to start decorating the inside of the house.

[190] It was like she was moving into the house.

[191] Alarm bells were going off in Sandra's head.

[192] This arrangement clearly was a mistake.

[193] But at the same time, Sondra felt like they were in too deep.

[194] They had already agreed to do this.

[195] How could they possibly back out now?

[196] So against her better judgment, a few weeks later, the sale of this new house was finalized.

[197] and Sondra and Joe moved in.

[198] But within a week of living there, everything fell apart.

[199] Sandra had mentioned to Joe that she wanted to put in a simple red accent tile along the back of the kitchen wall.

[200] Joe had apparently relayed this information to his mother, who promptly arrived at the house specifically to tell Sandra she wasn't allowed to do that, that Yelka already had plans for the kitchen.

[201] A massive fight broke out between the two women that ended with Sandra saying, you know what, I'm done.

[202] I'm leaving.

[203] I'm moving in with my mom.

[204] Then, Sondra did just that.

[205] She grabbed her things, put them in the car, and she left.

[206] Joe, who by now seemed to have just given up trying to keep the peace between his wife and his mother, didn't even try to stop her.

[207] It looked like Joe and Sondra's marriage was destined to fail.

[208] Yelka was just too much to overcome.

[209] But only a week after moving back in with her mother, Sondra started to feel nauseous.

[210] She took a pregnancy test and it revealed that she was pregnant.

[211] She was going to have Joe's baby.

[212] Hey, all you fans of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious.

[213] It's me, Mr. Ballin, and today I have some big news.

[214] It's something I'm holding in my hands right now, and so obviously you can't see it, but this is something you're really going to want to see.

[215] It's the first ever official Mr. Ballin publication.

[216] It's a graphic novel, and it's called Mr. Ballin Presents, Strange, Dark, and Mysterious, The Graphic Stories.

[217] It's an anthology of both classic and brand new, terrifying stories that we've never covered on any of my other platforms because we created them specifically for this first book.

[218] Each of these stories in the book are feature -length, Mr. Ballen's stories that really needed to be told visually.

[219] And the artwork in this book is, I mean, I'm looking at it and it's just absolutely stunning.

[220] So the book is not actually coming out until my birthday this year, October 1st, but you can pre -order it right now at book .bollandstudios .com.

[221] Again, that's book .ballinstidios .com.

[222] I'm Dan Tiberski.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[230] Everybody thought I was holding something back.

[231] Well, you were holding something back.

[232] Intentionally.

[233] Yeah, yeah.

[234] Well, yeah.

[235] No, it's hysteria.

[236] It's all in your head.

[237] It's not physical.

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

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

[240] Or is it something else entirely?

[241] Something's wrong here.

[242] Something's not right.

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

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

[245] Follow Hysterical on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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

[247] Sandra had a decision to make, return to Joe, and by extension, return to Yelka, or raise the child on her own.

[248] She called Joe to break the pregnancy news and talk about the way ahead for them, and he was extremely excited and begged her to come back and live in the house together again, and he promised he would keep his mother under control.

[249] By the end of the call, Sandra decided she was willing to go back and give it another shot, not because Joe was so convincing or that she thought Yelka was really going to change, but because she felt like she owed it to her unborn child.

[250] And much to Sondra's surprise, once she moved back into the house with Joe, it actually was much better than before.

[251] Namely because Yelka actually seemed to be giving them space.

[252] Clearly, Joe had laid down the law with her and Yelka was respecting it.

[253] She gave them so much space that by the time Sondra actually gave birth to her son Brandon, she found herself secretly starting to kind of like Yelka, just a little bit.

[254] Six months after Brandon was born, Sandra and Joe were both starting to feel very run down from being on baby duty 24 -7, and so Joe suggested they go out on a date night that Friday.

[255] Sandra loved the idea and asked Joe to get them a babysitter, and then once he said he had, they made reservations for their favorite restaurant.

[256] When Friday came around, as Sandra was getting ready for the night, they heard the babysitter knock on the front door.

[257] Sondra opened the door and saw Yelka.

[258] Despite her recent good behavior, Sondra was still very much on edge, wondering when the old Yelka was going to come back out again.

[259] And so her immediate reaction to seeing Yelka on the other side of this door was, What are you doing here?

[260] Yelka looked at her funny and said, I'm your babysitter.

[261] Joe asked me. Sondra immediately whipped her head around and looked at Joe, who was now standing very sheepishly in the middle of the room.

[262] Before Sondra could say anything to him, Yelka had slipped past her into the house and was already talking about how she and Brandon were going to have such a wonderful night together and that everything was going to be just fine.

[263] Sondra shut the door and then grabbed Joe and pulled him into another room and told him she didn't like this that he should have told her he was going to have her babysit their son.

[264] But Joe told her she was overreacting that despite their past issues his mom was really excellent with kids.

[265] This would be fine.

[266] Sandra did not like this but eventually conceded.

[267] And then before the couple left, Sondra gave Yelka very specific instructions for how to care for Brandon, what to feed him, what time to put him to bed, etc. And the whole time Yelka just reassured Sandra that it was going to be just fine, just go out and have fun.

[268] Finally, after giving all the instructions she could possibly think of, Sondra and Joe said goodbye and they left.

[269] They went out to their favorite restaurant, and then afterwards they went to a club to go dancing.

[270] And as soon as they got there, Sandra stepped away and hopped on a payphone to call Yelps.

[271] to make sure everything was going okay with their son.

[272] And when Yelka picked up, she informed Sondra that the boy was, quote, out like a light, because apparently she had given him some tea from the old country.

[273] Sandra said, what?

[274] I told you he only takes breast milk.

[275] What did you give him?

[276] And Yelka just laughed and said, don't worry about it.

[277] It's fine.

[278] He's asleep.

[279] Go enjoy yourself.

[280] Sandra was horrified.

[281] She hung up on Yelka and ran back into the club.

[282] She grabbed Joe and said, your mom just fed something.

[283] think to Brandon that she shouldn't have, we have to go.

[284] The two ran from the club, they hopped in the car, and then Sandra flew back to their house.

[285] As soon as they were parked outside, she ran up the steps into the house right past Yelka, into her son's nursery, and then standing next to his crib, she reached down and she lifted him up, which should have woken him up, but it didn't.

[286] He just lay limp in her arms.

[287] And so immediately, Sandra pressed his mouth up against her ear to see if he was still breathing, and barely she could tell he was still breathing.

[288] But despite screaming, but despite screaming, his name and moving him around, nothing was waking him up.

[289] And so by this point, Yelka had come into the room and she was trying to convince Sondra that this was no big deal, that, you know, the tea from the old country works great.

[290] You got nothing to worry about.

[291] But at this point, Sandra is panicking and she's screaming at Yelka to tell her what was in the tea you gave him, but Yelka just wouldn't give her an answer.

[292] She just kept laughing and saying it was fine.

[293] And so finally, Sondra just takes her son and runs past Yelka, runs past Joe, she runs out to the car, she's strapped her little boy into his car seat and then she flew to the emergency room.

[294] And then when she got there, she hopped out.

[295] She's carrying her baby.

[296] She's hysterically crying.

[297] And she runs in through the doors and all the doctors and nurses they run over and they take the child from her and they're asking all these questions.

[298] They're trying to figure out what's going on.

[299] And they start feeling for a pulse and they would find one.

[300] However, it was very, very slow.

[301] And so they whisked Brandon away into an exam room to work on him and figure out what was going on.

[302] Meanwhile, Sandra just had to pace in the waiting room crying hysterically, having no idea what's happening to her boy.

[303] But luckily, just a few minutes later, one of the doctors would come back out of the exam room and they would tell Sandra that, you know, we think your son's going to be just fine.

[304] We don't know what he consumed, but whatever it was, it was not good.

[305] And he should never have that again.

[306] And then he told Sandra she could come back and actually be with her son again.

[307] And so Sandra left the waiting room and she went down the hall.

[308] She went into the room where her son was and there laying on this bed with wires and tubes connected to him is her little boy who still looks totally lifeless.

[309] And so Sondra walked around and she sat down next to the bed and she laid her head down on the pillow and just looked at her son.

[310] And right there in that moment, she decided that she was officially done with Yelka, even if it meant being done with Joe.

[311] A few minutes later, when Joe arrived by himself, Sandra would tell him he needed to choose.

[312] It was either going to be her or his mother.

[313] Unlike other times, Joe was not quick to come to his wife's side.

[314] In his mind, Sandra had become as much to blame for the drama as his mother was.

[315] And so after getting very frustrated with Sandra, he said, you know what?

[316] You keep yelling at my mom and I don't like it.

[317] She only wants to help and be supportive, and you just can't accept that.

[318] So I'm sorry, but I'm choosing my mom, not you.

[319] And Sandra would say, fine.

[320] And then the two of them just sat in silence on opposite sides of their son for the next hour until the doctors came back in and gave them the okay to take their son home.

[321] At which point, Sandra immediately stood up and grabbed Brandon and she and her son left the hospital without another word to Joe.

[322] She would drive her son to her mother's house and drop him off with her parents and then she would go back to Joe's house, collect most of her things, and then move into her mom's house with her son.

[323] The following day, she would file for divorce.

[324] Immediately, the divorce became very nasty.

[325] Sandra didn't want Brandon anywhere near Yelka, so she decided to seek full custody of him.

[326] However, Joe, who by this point had gone from being something of an innocent bystander caught in the middle of two people he loved, to being aggressively on his mother's side, and therefore aggressively opposed to Sandra, told Sandra that he would be seeking full custody of Brandon as well.

[327] While these legal proceedings were going on, Joe's parents took it upon themselves to change all the locks of the house, knowing some of Sandra's things were still tucked away in the attic.

[328] Yelka also had their lawyer send Sondra a letter explaining that she was now forbidden from stepping foot inside of that house without express permission from Yelka.

[329] But as Joe and his mother made these punitive moves, Sondra would receive a huge legal break.

[330] The judge in their case had come to a decision.

[331] Sondra would get full custody of Brandon and Joe would be required to pay child support and an alimony payment.

[332] The judge also ruled that Sandra would get primary ownership status of the house that Yelka had put the down payment on, and on top of all of that, based on Yelka's previous behavior, she was forbidden from having any contact with both Sondra and Brandon.

[333] Joe and his family were beyond outraged.

[334] But their only recourse was to be on their best behavior and try to file and appeal and have the judge change the ruling.

[335] So in the meantime, Joe very reluctantly and bitterly moved out of the house, and then Sandra and Brandon moved back in.

[336] Over the following few months, Joe didn't pay a dime of child support or alimony payments to Sandra.

[337] He also didn't bother to try to get in touch about seeing his son.

[338] Sandra was very upset about this.

[339] However, she was mostly just upset for her son, whose father basically had abandoned him.

[340] But as the silence between them grew, Sondra started to think to herself that maybe it was for the best.

[341] Fast forward about a year and a half to the summer of 1992, Joe was still not paying any support money to Sondra, and he and Sondra were still not talking, minus during court appearances for the appeals that had been filed.

[342] And during those short interactions, Joe would be openly cold and hateful toward his ex -wife, which Sondra could clearly tell made Yelka very happy.

[343] But Sondra didn't care.

[344] She had her son, she had the house, and she felt like, no matter what they said or they did, they weren't going to stop her from trying to have the best life she could have.

[345] But Sandra's life was about to take a drastic and unexpected turn.

[346] In June of that year, Sandra walked out to her mailbox in the morning and found a small package with no return address on it.

[347] She brought the package inside, opened it up, and saw that it contained a paperback novel called The Deaths of Cindy James.

[348] It was a non -fiction account of a woman named Cindy James who for years had been harassed by some unknown person who ultimately killed her and got away with it.

[349] Sandra's first thought when she saw this book was that maybe she had accidentally signed up for a book club or something.

[350] And so she just put the book on the table and went about her day.

[351] That evening, after work, she saw the book on the table and just picked it up and sat down and began flipping through the pages for the first time.

[352] And right away, she noticed someone had underlined several passages in the book.

[353] When Sondra began reading these highlighted sections in the book, she started to feel very uncomfortable.

[354] All the highlighted sections were descriptions of the specific awful things that had happened to Cindy.

[355] Namely, her tree in her front yard had been lit on fire.

[356] She started getting threatening phone calls at all hours of the night.

[357] Strangers would lurk on her property.

[358] cars followed her around when she was out in town, and then the last underlined passage was about Cindy's death, and only two words were underlined.

[359] You're dead.

[360] Sandra didn't know what to make of this book, but it definitely felt threatening.

[361] She assumed Joe had sent it just to be cruel.

[362] Two days later, Sandra was sitting in her living room with a friend when they both suddenly heard a strange sound coming from the outside of the front of her house.

[363] All of the windows that looked into the front yard had the curtains drawn, and so Sandra and her friend stood up and walked over and pulled one of the curtains aside, and right in the middle of the front of her property on her front lawn, her tree was on fire, just like the Cindy James book.

[364] In fact, as soon as Sandra saw this, she handed Brandon to her friend and she ran into the kitchen and she grabbed the book, the Cindy James book, and she ran back and she flipped through the pages and she found the passage about the tree and she showed it to her friend, and she said, look, someone sent me this two days ago, and now they're doing what's happening in the book to me. Sondra would call the fire department and the police department, and they would all show up, and they would put the fire out.

[365] And then afterwards, Sondra would speak to the officers, and she would explain the situation about her divorce and how she'd receive this book, but the police didn't have much they could do.

[366] Even if Joe had done this, there was no proof.

[367] So they just told her to, you know, be vigilant and report anything's true.

[368] strange, you see, and if you call us, we'll come out immediately.

[369] Over the following weeks, a man started calling Sandra's house in the middle of the night.

[370] He never said anything.

[371] He just breathed into the phone.

[372] The calls became so frequent that Sandra had to disconnect her phone at night just so she and Brandon could sleep.

[373] She would tell the police about the calls, but again, there was just nothing they could do.

[374] About a month after the calls had begun, Sandra was giving her son a bath in their house, and after he was all clean, she scooped him up in a towel and she carried him across the hall into his room, which was on the first floor in the back of the house.

[375] And when she walked into his room, the light was off, so it's totally dark.

[376] And the curtains that covered the back window were actually pulled to the side, revealing a clear view into the backyard.

[377] And standing right on the outside of her house looking into her son's window is this large man with a ski mask on.

[378] And he can clearly see that Sandra is looking at him, but he's totally unfazed.

[379] In fact, when he can tell that Sondra has made eye contact with him, he leans forward into the glass before turning and walking out of sight.

[380] Sandra immediately runs all over her house, making sure all the doors are locked, and then as she's reconnecting her phone to call 911, she hears banging on windows, and she hears banging on the walls, and then by the time the police show up, there's no sign that anybody was there.

[381] And so once again, the police had to say to her, sorry, you're on your own.

[382] The next day, when Sondra noticed a car was now clearly following her in town, she realized all of the underlying sections of the Cindy James book had now happened to her in real life, except for one, the last underlined section, the one where Cindy dies.

[383] Scared for her life, Sondra hired a private investigator to both watch her home and try to figure out who was behind this, but after a couple of weeks, the nightly calls and occasional footsteps outside of her windows at night continued, and the private detective had gotten no closer to figuring out who was behind this.

[384] However, he did tell Sandra that he had been following Joe around and watching him and his family, and they all appeared to just be living a normal life.

[385] On the afternoon of August 5th of that year, so two months after receiving the Cindy James book in the mail, Sondra walked out of her dental office with her co -worker, Bernice, That day, Sondra was supposed to give Bernice a ride home.

[386] So the pair walked across the parking lot to the road where Sandra's car was parked.

[387] Sondra hopped in the driver's seat and fired up the engine, while Bernice hopped in the passenger seat and bent down to shove her bag underneath the seat below her.

[388] As Bernice was bent down, she suddenly heard gunfire on her left.

[389] She screamed and stayed bent forward, gripping the back of her head to protect herself.

[390] And then when the shooting stopped, Bernice sat up and looked out the front window and she saw a red car speeding away from them.

[391] Then she turned to look at Sandra and she saw her co -worker was slumped forward.

[392] Two of the six shots that had been fired from that red car had struck Sandra in the head.

[393] Bernice ran out of the car and she got help and before long the police and paramedics were there, but by the time they reached Sandra, it was too late.

[394] She was already deceased.

[395] After her death, the police immediately turned their attention to Joe as their primary suspect.

[396] However, despite showing no emotion when he was told the mother of his child had just been murdered, he did have a rock -solid alibi.

[397] He had been at a public swimming pool during the shooting and even had a receipt to prove it.

[398] But the police just weren't buying it.

[399] Something seemed off about him.

[400] So they began staking out Joe's parents' house, which is where he was living at the time, watching to see what Joe did and who he talked to.

[401] And for the first four days, nothing unusual happened.

[402] But on the fifth day, the police were watching the house from a distance when Yelka suddenly came out the front door and hopped in her car and started to back down her driveway, but before she reached the end of the driveway, she came to a stop.

[403] Then a man came running out of her house who was neither Joe nor her husband, and he climbed into the back seat of her car and then laid down on the floorboards so no one could see him.

[404] The police thought this was very odd, so they decided to trail Yelka.

[405] They would follow her to a nearby mall parking garage where she and this man would climb out of the vehicle and go into the mall at different times, as if they were trying to make it seem like they didn't know each other.

[406] One of the officers would stay in the parking garage watching Yelka's car, while the other officer went into the mall to see what these two were up to.

[407] But very quickly, that officer lost sight of both Yelka and this man, and so he had to return back to the parking garage with his partner.

[408] A little while later, the two officers watched as Yelka returned to her car, and then a few moments later, so too did this man who promptly climbed back into her car and got down on the floorboards out of sight again.

[409] The police would trail Yelka back to her house where as soon as she parked in the driveway, the man in the back climbed out and walked to the front of the property, hopped in a parked car, and drove off.

[410] The police followed this man and pulled him over less than a mile away, and when he got out of the car, something fell out of his pocket that blew the case wide open.

[411] It would turn out, Joe really hadn't been involved in what happened to Sandra.

[412] However, his mother Yelka had.

[413] She had grown to hate Sandra so much she had decided she wanted to get rid of her, and she had just the plan in mind.

[414] Yelka was obsessed with the story of Cindy James, and so she decided she would force Sandra to relive Cindy's nightmare all the way to its grisly conclusion.

[415] After doing some digging, Yelka discovered one of her family friends, a man named Milan Nanatic, had connections to a hitman named David Sagoviano.

[416] David was really just a seedy criminal willing to do just about anything for money.

[417] Yelka instantly told Milan to hire David to take out Sondra.

[418] However, she stressed that David had to first carry out all the underlined segments of the Cindy James book before he shot her down.

[419] Because Yelka didn't just want to kill Sandra.

[420] She wanted to torture her first.

[421] Milan Nanatic was the man who was hiding in Yelka's car.

[422] The two had driven to that mall so that Yelka could take $30 ,000 in cash out of a bank that she was paying to Milan for organizing the hit.

[423] And then Milan was going to take a portion of that and pay it to David the shooter.

[424] And so when Milan got pulled over by police, when he stood up, the cash that he had been paid by Yelka was jammed in his pockets.

[425] And so literally he stood up and hundreds and hundreds of dollars began falling out of his pockets.

[426] and very quickly the police were able to figure out what it was for.

[427] Less than a year later, Yelka, Milan, and David were tried and convicted for the murder of Sondra Pesek.

[428] They were all given the maximum sentence for first -degree murder in Canada, which is 25 years.

[429] Joe Pesick was never charged with a crime.

[430] As for Sandra's son, he would go on to be raised by Sandra's mother.

[431] Thank you for listening to the Mr. Bollin podcast.

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