1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,400 Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:07,960 Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information. Disgraceland is 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:23,239 Speaker 1: a production of Double Elvis. The stories about Winona Ryder 4 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: are insane. She nearly drowned when she was just twelve 5 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 1: years old. She once stole more than five thousand dollars 6 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 1: worth of designer clothes on a whim, even though she 7 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:38,559 Speaker 1: was a super famous and successful actress at the time. Earlier, 8 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,199 Speaker 1: she was raised by beat nicks off the grid in 9 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: northern California. Her godfather was LSD pioneer Timothy Leary, aka 10 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:53,320 Speaker 1: the Most Dangerous Man in America. Winnowna's unique upbringing molded 11 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 1: her into an A list actress and into America's endearing weirdo. 12 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: Her weirdness drew from the deep fears that she experienced 13 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 1: when assimilating from a sheltered early childhood to a more 14 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: typical nineteen eighties media overload when her family moved to California, 15 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:14,760 Speaker 1: and when one of those fears came true in her 16 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 1: new California hometown, she found herself in an unlikely role 17 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:23,319 Speaker 1: trying to draw attention to a horrific crime to help 18 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:28,039 Speaker 1: solve a kidnapping case. Before and after her involvement in 19 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:34,360 Speaker 1: that case, Winoda Ryder made great films and Winna Rider 20 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:39,480 Speaker 1: made time with some great musicians as well, musicians who, well, 21 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 1: you know what I'm gonna say, musicians who made great music. 22 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: Unlike that music I played for you at the top 23 00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 1: of the show. That wasn't great music. That was a 24 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: preset loop from my melotron called Johnny Forever MK one. 25 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the 26 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 1: rights to dream Lover by my Mariah Carey. And why 27 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 1: would I play you that specific slice of five octave cheese? 28 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: Could I afford it? Because that was the number one 29 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:14,680 Speaker 1: song in America on October first, nineteen ninety three, and 30 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 1: that was the day Polyclass was abducted from her home, 31 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:23,240 Speaker 1: opening a kidnapping case that would rattle California and Winona 32 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:28,960 Speaker 1: Ryder to her core. On this episode, near Drowning Designer 33 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: theft a deadly kidnapping in America's Ald Sweetheart, Winona Ryder, 34 00:02:35,360 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan and this is Disgraceland. Winona Rider had 35 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: seconds to determine whether she was going to live or die. 36 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:18,400 Speaker 1: The seconds ticked by slowly and the undertoe moved quickly, 37 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,040 Speaker 1: a current with Winona's body around like a rag doll 38 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: that yanked her in circles, shook her like a snow gloab, 39 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:28,520 Speaker 1: and the ocean closed in on her from every angle. 40 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:31,920 Speaker 1: It dragged her farther into the deep five feet below 41 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: ten feet below. Win Ona wasn't sure, but she knew 42 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: she was fully submerged. Down, was up? Left? Was right? 43 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:43,119 Speaker 1: She spun until she had no clue which direction would 44 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: lead her to safety. This was not a riptide. Winona 45 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: Rider could not calmly bob the surface of the water 46 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 1: and flag down help someone who could pull her back 47 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: up the shore. She was caught in the undertoe, and 48 00:03:56,200 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 1: the incoming waves bent Winona to their will, thrashed her 49 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 1: arms and legs. She was motivated entirely by desperation. She 50 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 1: struggled to wriggle free from the ocean's grasp, and the 51 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: more she jerked her body around, the harder it was 52 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:14,240 Speaker 1: to focus. Keeping her mouth clamped shut, she held out 53 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: as long as she could. She clung to one thought, 54 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:21,600 Speaker 1: don't breathe, don't breathe, and the sudden yank of the 55 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,840 Speaker 1: undertoe pried open her lips anyways, a silent scream. A 56 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: stream of air bubbles from her mouth, more than she 57 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: ever knew she had in her Her air supply was 58 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,359 Speaker 1: racing towards the surface, and there was only water now. 59 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:38,279 Speaker 1: A surge of seawater gushed into her mouth. The salt 60 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: seared her windpipe as it forced its way into her lungs. 61 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:44,720 Speaker 1: Winoda couldn't stop the flow. It burrowed into her chest, 62 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 1: deeper and deeper, until it felt like her lungs would pop. 63 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:51,159 Speaker 1: She choked as her body tried to cough, tried to puke, 64 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: tried to do anything that would stop her from sinking 65 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:56,920 Speaker 1: to the ocean floor. Pruney and ragged, lungs ready to rupture, 66 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:01,480 Speaker 1: Winona's limbs slipped away. She lost all feeling in her 67 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:05,040 Speaker 1: arms and legs. She surrendered to the ocean. She surrendered 68 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:07,479 Speaker 1: to the ability to feel much of anything at all. 69 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:12,160 Speaker 1: Her peripheral vision darkened. Black curtains shrouded her sight. Her 70 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:15,600 Speaker 1: view narrowed to a fine tunnel a thousand yards long, 71 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:21,160 Speaker 1: and she stared down the corridor, empty, quiet, numb. She 72 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: didn't feel it what. A lifeguard hoisted her from the 73 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: water and laid her down on the sandy beach. Her 74 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:30,480 Speaker 1: body was limp, her skin a ghastly shade of porcelain. 75 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:35,679 Speaker 1: She had no pulse. Twelve year old Winona Rider was dead. 76 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:41,120 Speaker 1: The lifeguard started to perform CPR, even though she looked 77 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: like a lost cause, it was what he was trained 78 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:46,679 Speaker 1: to do. He pushed down on her chest over and over. 79 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:49,719 Speaker 1: He tilted her head back, pinched her nose tight with 80 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:52,279 Speaker 1: his fingers, put his mouth on her blue lips, and 81 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:56,040 Speaker 1: tried to breathe life back into her. Suddenly she twitched 82 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: to life. She shot salt water into the sand by 83 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 1: the mouthful. Winona's friends watched from the sidelines, stupefied or 84 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:07,120 Speaker 1: too stone to understand the severity of what had just happened, 85 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 1: what almost happened, and their glazed eyes watched the vomit 86 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: bring a blush of color back to Winona's cheeks, and 87 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:16,960 Speaker 1: then a thought dangled in the back of their daised minds, 88 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: our parents are going to fucking kill us. This was 89 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:26,160 Speaker 1: the mid nineteen eighties. There were no smartphones, there was 90 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:29,480 Speaker 1: no internet. It was easy for preteens to go missing 91 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:33,719 Speaker 1: for a few hours. In fact, it was expected. Legions 92 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 1: of suburban latch key kids went to school, came home 93 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:38,320 Speaker 1: if they felt like it, fucked off down to the 94 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:40,159 Speaker 1: river or into the woods, or even to the beach, 95 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:42,919 Speaker 1: and just be home by dinner. And looking back at 96 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:45,359 Speaker 1: the eighties from the twenty twenty two point of view, 97 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:49,840 Speaker 1: it might seem like disconnection was standard operating procedure, and 98 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 1: it kind of was. You might not even notice that 99 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:54,760 Speaker 1: the kids were missing until the street lights came on. 100 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 1: That's what Winona Ryder and her friends were counting on 101 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:02,080 Speaker 1: when they cut class or that day. The group left 102 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:04,680 Speaker 1: the drama of Junior High in their lockers and rolled 103 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,560 Speaker 1: up to Dylan Beach instead, where they rolled the skinny 104 00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 1: joint and sunned their stone cells on the shore. Young 105 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: Wenona declined the drugs. She embraced the ocean instead, right 106 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 1: until the undertow hugged her back so tightly that it 107 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:23,880 Speaker 1: almost didn't let her go. Winona survived that day barely. 108 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:27,760 Speaker 1: The cold clench of death lingered in her bones. Later 109 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:31,120 Speaker 1: that evening, she felt it prying at her skin, pulling 110 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 1: her under. Fresh dose of fear followed her home to Petaluma, 111 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: trailed her like a shadow, climbed into bed with her 112 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 1: laid by her side, like an old friend, right next 113 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:44,040 Speaker 1: to all her other old childhood fears. The tally in 114 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: her head was impressive. There was the Holocaust, for one, 115 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,240 Speaker 1: the horrors of Nazi Germany that claimed so many of 116 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 1: our ancestors. No one could convince Monona those ghosts weren't real. 117 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 1: There was also the ever present fear of nuclear annihilation, 118 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:01,320 Speaker 1: but that was nothing that the ordinary for all kids 119 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 1: in the nineteen eighties. Then there were the neighbors. She 120 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 1: wanted to get inside their heads, know what they thought 121 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 1: when her parents hippie van pulled into the driveway every day. 122 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: What they thought of this new family. Some implants plucked 123 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:19,680 Speaker 1: from a progressive commune in northern California. Well, commune wasn't 124 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:22,320 Speaker 1: even the right word, but that's what everyone kept calling it. 125 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:25,640 Speaker 1: Commune sounded like a cult, and there was no cult 126 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:28,840 Speaker 1: where Winona came from. That was a flat out misconception. 127 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 1: Other details were correct, though it was true that her 128 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:37,439 Speaker 1: last home had no electricity, no phone, no TV. Winnoona's 129 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:41,720 Speaker 1: hippie parents replaced technology with freethinking, traded the paranoia of 130 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:47,599 Speaker 1: broadcast news with nature. It was idyllic, idyllic until you 131 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:50,719 Speaker 1: tried to explain it to anyone else. Winona worried the 132 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:55,200 Speaker 1: neighbors would misunderstand their family conspire against them. She wondered 133 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 1: if they would connect the dots that her godfather was 134 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:00,920 Speaker 1: quote the most dangerous man in America on quote well, 135 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:05,439 Speaker 1: according to Richard Nixon. Anyway, Wanova's parents appointed psychologists and 136 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 1: LSD advocate Timothy Leary as her godfather, the guru of 137 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:13,040 Speaker 1: turning on, tuning in, and dropping out. He told Wanona 138 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: to question everything, so she did, just like she was 139 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:20,120 Speaker 1: in bed right now, wide eyed, staring at the ceiling, 140 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: driving herself right up the wall, questioning. Sleep frequently escaped her. 141 00:09:26,559 --> 00:09:29,680 Speaker 1: Winoa didn't know the word insomnia. Yet, What if the 142 00:09:29,679 --> 00:09:32,400 Speaker 1: neighbors turned on us? She thought? What if they try 143 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:35,560 Speaker 1: to lock us away? There was another question burning a 144 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:39,880 Speaker 1: hole in Wanona's restless mind. Why did children keep disappearing 145 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:44,080 Speaker 1: in California? That was the one fear that dwarfed all 146 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 1: the others, the one that tortured her every time she 147 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:51,160 Speaker 1: indulged in the new luxury of watching television. Winona Rider's 148 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:55,080 Speaker 1: worst fear was getting kidnapped. Gone were the days of 149 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:58,000 Speaker 1: living in a secluded bubble cozy amongst the company of 150 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 1: her parents and their fellow freethinking friends. Now that Wenoda 151 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:05,400 Speaker 1: lived in Petaluma, California, she heard everything. There was no 152 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:08,319 Speaker 1: shelter from reality, not with a TV in the house 153 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:12,000 Speaker 1: beckoning to her at all hours. Kidnappings colored the screen 154 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:14,960 Speaker 1: on a regular basis. Some cases went in circles for 155 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 1: months until they reached a tragic dead end emphasis on dead. 156 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:23,320 Speaker 1: Others never ended at all. Winona knew some of the victims' 157 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:27,120 Speaker 1: names by heart. Tara Burke, three years old, held in 158 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:31,440 Speaker 1: captivity for ten months by sexual predators. Stephen Stainer, seven 159 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:34,640 Speaker 1: years old, trapped for seven years by a child molester. 160 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:38,120 Speaker 1: He only escaped because the sick bastard who abducted him 161 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: wanted to lure in another boy, and the two kids 162 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 1: made a mad dash together. Then there was Kevin Collins, 163 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:48,199 Speaker 1: ten years old. He was from the same neighborhood as Wenona, 164 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:51,920 Speaker 1: her older sister, even babysat at once. His buck to 165 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:55,679 Speaker 1: smile was printed across billboards in National magazine covers a 166 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:59,400 Speaker 1: literal milk curtain kid. He was still out there somewhere, 167 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:01,960 Speaker 1: dead or alive. Nobody knew, No one might ever know. 168 00:11:03,679 --> 00:11:06,679 Speaker 1: The chill of fear burrowed deeper into winter on his bones. 169 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:10,360 Speaker 1: She pulled the covers over her head. Her fingers trembled, 170 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:13,240 Speaker 1: but no one could convince her she was overreacting, that 171 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:17,400 Speaker 1: her fears were unrealistic or childish. She almost died today. 172 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: Anything could happen to anyone without rhyme or reason, and 173 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:48,920 Speaker 1: that might be the part that scared her the most. 174 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 1: His blood ran cold when he saw the red and 175 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:56,200 Speaker 1: blue flicker against the trees. The colors were getting brighter 176 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:59,440 Speaker 1: and deeper. He knew the cops would show up eventually. 177 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:01,800 Speaker 1: It wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter 178 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:06,800 Speaker 1: of when. Deep breaths, he coached himself. He casually leaned 179 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:09,000 Speaker 1: against the hood of his car as the cruiser pulled over. 180 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:12,680 Speaker 1: He paced his breathing. He practiced his story in his head. 181 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:17,240 Speaker 1: But Richard Davis still didn't feel prepared sightseeing. He was 182 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:20,120 Speaker 1: just sightseeing, that's all. Pulled over to admire the great 183 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 1: outdoors on a warm evening. Then he realized that sedan 184 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:25,920 Speaker 1: was stuck in a ditch. Wrestled with the damn car 185 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:28,880 Speaker 1: for hours, even crawled underneath at one point. Benny here 186 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:33,600 Speaker 1: Ever since, Yeah, that would work, Davis recited the story 187 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:36,440 Speaker 1: word for word. When a pair of police officers approached him. 188 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:39,839 Speaker 1: Their version of the story was slightly different. They had 189 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:42,160 Speaker 1: received a call about a mysterious man camped out on 190 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:44,640 Speaker 1: the side of the road on private property. It was 191 00:12:44,679 --> 00:12:47,320 Speaker 1: all over the police scanner that night, Channel three. To 192 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:51,320 Speaker 1: be precise, Channel three covered all the Sonoma Valley San 193 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:54,320 Speaker 1: Pablo Bay to Santa Rosa, but it did not extend 194 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:58,640 Speaker 1: to Pedaluma, a city seventeen miles away. In Pedaluma, the 195 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:03,320 Speaker 1: scanner had different. In Petaluma, a twelve year old girl 196 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:06,600 Speaker 1: had been kidnapped by a stranger, the very same girl 197 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:12,280 Speaker 1: Richard Davis just dumped in the woods. Little polyclass left 198 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 1: a window open on October first, nineteen ninety three. Or 199 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:18,440 Speaker 1: maybe her mother left at a jar right before passing 200 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:21,400 Speaker 1: out on a sleeping pill to escape a tedious migraine. 201 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: Didn't matter, it was too late now. The window offered 202 00:13:25,559 --> 00:13:29,959 Speaker 1: an invitation, and Richard Davis accepted it. He made quick 203 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:33,160 Speaker 1: clean work. He slithered right through the open window and 204 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:35,679 Speaker 1: into the house. Picked up a knife in the kitchen, 205 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 1: He cut the chords from video game controllers, ripped up 206 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:41,800 Speaker 1: some bed sheets too. He'd need binding materials for this 207 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:44,440 Speaker 1: to go smoothly, and the strips of cloth did not 208 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:47,520 Speaker 1: to be big children had itty bitty wrists and ankles. 209 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:51,400 Speaker 1: Davis barged into Polly's bedroom as the family clock chimed. 210 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:54,280 Speaker 1: Ten thirty PM may as well be midnight to a 211 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:57,960 Speaker 1: twelve year old, or so Davis thought. He wasn't expecting 212 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,600 Speaker 1: to find Polly's slumber party just heating it up. Davis 213 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:03,760 Speaker 1: saw a panic flood the eyes of every girl in 214 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:06,559 Speaker 1: the room. He lingered in the doorway, the edge of 215 00:14:06,559 --> 00:14:09,839 Speaker 1: the knife glimmered against the glow of Polly's clamshell night light. 216 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:15,200 Speaker 1: Davis kept his instructions simple. Scream and I'll slit your throats. 217 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:21,000 Speaker 1: They obeyed, shaking in silence. Davis then bound and gagged 218 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:23,680 Speaker 1: each girl, tied them up with their own sheets and 219 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:27,360 Speaker 1: video game cables, and then he bagged their heads with pillowcases. 220 00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:31,040 Speaker 1: From Polly's bed. He blinded all the girls except Polly. 221 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:34,480 Speaker 1: He had other plans for her. Davis bent down on 222 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:38,040 Speaker 1: his knees, eye level with the trembling hoods. Count to 223 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:41,120 Speaker 1: one thousand. He ordered, Polly will be back by then. 224 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:46,680 Speaker 1: Polly would not be back. Polly was tied up in 225 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:49,880 Speaker 1: the woods in Santa Rosa, California, and the local police 226 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:52,880 Speaker 1: force had no idea all because they were tuned to 227 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:56,800 Speaker 1: the wrong channel on the police scanner, Channel three. One 228 00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:59,240 Speaker 1: cop used a flashlight to look Davis up and down. 229 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: Leaves and twigs poked out of his shaggy haircut, beads 230 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:06,040 Speaker 1: of sweat on his cheeks. His body language betrayed him. 231 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:10,600 Speaker 1: Davis just looked nervous, not car tutel. Nervous, like when 232 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:13,640 Speaker 1: you're stranded at midnight with a flat the guilty kind 233 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: of nervous, one hand in the cookie jar. Nervous, but 234 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:20,720 Speaker 1: looking nervous wasn't against the law. And the other cop 235 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:23,120 Speaker 1: returned to the cruiser. He pulled up a report that 236 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:27,800 Speaker 1: summarized Richard Davis's driving record. Technology failed the police's second 237 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:31,080 Speaker 1: time that night, and the cursory report didn't include anything 238 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:34,480 Speaker 1: about Davis's criminal history, which would have revealed that he 239 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: was a convicted felon. In fact, he was recently paroled 240 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:42,720 Speaker 1: after an eight year prison sentence for kidnapping, but with 241 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 1: their limited nineteen ninety three technology, all of that went uncovered. 242 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:49,600 Speaker 1: The police found no dirt on Richard Davis. Beyond the 243 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:52,080 Speaker 1: dirt that covered his hair and clothes, which he claimed 244 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:54,360 Speaker 1: was a result of trying to freeze car from the ditch. 245 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:58,160 Speaker 1: After a tow truck dragged Davis's car back to the road, 246 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:01,600 Speaker 1: the police escorted him to the highway. He killed time 247 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:04,080 Speaker 1: in the fast lane for twenty minutes before he circled 248 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:09,160 Speaker 1: back to retrieve his stolen treasure. Davis parked properly this time, 249 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:11,920 Speaker 1: and he ducked back into the woods to find poll Class. 250 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: He dodged branches and knotted tree roots by the light 251 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 1: of the moon and found Polly where he left her 252 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:20,360 Speaker 1: a few hours earlier. He slung her over his shoulder. 253 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,760 Speaker 1: He untensed his muscles and released the nervous energy that 254 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:28,680 Speaker 1: had been racking his body since the police arrived. But 255 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:32,320 Speaker 1: Pedaluma's panic was only just beginning. There was a long 256 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 1: standing rule when it came to child kidnappings, the chances 257 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,120 Speaker 1: of finding an abducted child alive or at all shrank 258 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:43,440 Speaker 1: significantly after the first forty eight hours. The Pedaluma Police 259 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:46,840 Speaker 1: Department had to act quickly, Polly's life could depend on it, 260 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 1: and the FBI joined the case. Overnight, bloodhounds, helicopters, detectives 261 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:55,320 Speaker 1: rang up scores of ex cons. They interviewed sex offenders 262 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: in surrounding counties, alibis checked out. Every volunteer and investigator 263 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:04,400 Speaker 1: came back empty handed except for one thing. The perpetrator 264 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:07,320 Speaker 1: left behind, a PONWM print pressed into Polly's bed frame. 265 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:11,720 Speaker 1: The FBI's database didn't include POWM prints in nineteen ninety three. 266 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: This was unmapped territory, but it was literally all they had, 267 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:20,119 Speaker 1: and the clock kept ticking. The case spread like a 268 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:25,440 Speaker 1: California wildfire. Banners decorated the haunted town. Write down Petaluma Boulevard, 269 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:29,520 Speaker 1: Let Polly go. The signs cried scribbled and sloppy handwriting 270 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:33,200 Speaker 1: of school children. Polly's image covered public buildings. Her face 271 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:36,720 Speaker 1: cried out from flyers scattered across parks, library, shopping malls. 272 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:40,840 Speaker 1: Her story never left The News and Information hotline was 273 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:43,800 Speaker 1: a regular fixture on TV screens, and viewers were implored 274 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:47,159 Speaker 1: to call. Over the course of the case. That hotline 275 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:51,560 Speaker 1: received more than twelve thousand calls. That's twelve thousand leads, 276 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:56,520 Speaker 1: all dead ends. The hotline rang again late in the night, 277 00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:00,600 Speaker 1: about ten days after Polly disappeared. A volunteer picked up 278 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,879 Speaker 1: the receiver soft sobs echoed on the other end of 279 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:07,720 Speaker 1: the line. The caller was moved to tears. She claimed 280 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:10,720 Speaker 1: she once lived only two neighborhoods away from Polly's house, 281 00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: and that they even went to the same junior high school. 282 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:16,600 Speaker 1: She just saw the news as she was calling from 283 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:19,879 Speaker 1: the lobby of a Los Angeles hotel, and the volunteer 284 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:24,480 Speaker 1: asked for her name, Winona. She didn't have to say 285 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:27,439 Speaker 1: her last name. The volunteer could tell who it was 286 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:32,360 Speaker 1: from her voice alone. The sulky, unaffected teen and Beetleshue, 287 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:35,520 Speaker 1: the love interest of Johnny Depp and Edward sciss her Hands, 288 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:38,640 Speaker 1: and in real life, for that matter, the girl who 289 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:41,119 Speaker 1: literally killed her classmate on screen as part of a 290 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:44,360 Speaker 1: cool series of fixed suicides in the dark comedy Heathers. 291 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: But this call wasn't an act. Win Ona Writer's sorrows 292 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:54,280 Speaker 1: spoke volumes, her tears practically trickled through the phone. Winoa 293 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:58,119 Speaker 1: couldn't believe such a tragedy had struck Petaluma. Polly's parents 294 00:18:58,119 --> 00:19:00,800 Speaker 1: couldn't believe someone as notable as Winona a rider wanted 295 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:04,119 Speaker 1: to pitch in, and there was perhaps no greater force 296 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:07,080 Speaker 1: that could pull Polly back to them. Paullie was a 297 00:19:07,119 --> 00:19:09,840 Speaker 1: one own a super fan. One of her greatest wishes 298 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:13,760 Speaker 1: was to meet her in person. Then again, most tweens, teens, 299 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:16,680 Speaker 1: and fully grown adults felt the same. In nineteen ninety three, 300 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:23,000 Speaker 1: Winona Rider was the nineties. She was cool as shit. 301 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:27,400 Speaker 1: Her head's toe black ensembles were of gothlight legend. Her 302 00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:31,119 Speaker 1: eyes brooded with attitude. Her smile could slice your heart open. 303 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:34,040 Speaker 1: She was on par with the other brilliant movie beauties 304 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:37,159 Speaker 1: of the day, sure, Julia Roberts, Zuma Thurman, Nicole Kidman. 305 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:42,920 Speaker 1: But Winona was different. She was weird, wicked, wonderful, all 306 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:46,239 Speaker 1: wrapped into one peculiar package. She was named after her 307 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:49,600 Speaker 1: town in Minnesota, For fuck's sake, no one was quite 308 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:53,719 Speaker 1: like her. Winona's assistance with the poly class Case wavered 309 00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:56,800 Speaker 1: between low key and high profile. She could answer the 310 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:00,080 Speaker 1: information hotline and join in person searches just the same 311 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: as any ordinary volunteer, Yet her celebrity status meant everyone 312 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:09,080 Speaker 1: listened when she spoke. Tabloids, fans, film critics. Winona witnessed 313 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:12,200 Speaker 1: the world's unquenchable thirst for a look into her private life. 314 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:16,960 Speaker 1: Then she yielded it to her advantage. If Wanona accepted interviews, 315 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:21,800 Speaker 1: she automatically drew more national attention to Polly's disappearance. Certain 316 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:24,920 Speaker 1: news outlets had no interest in reports about Polly without 317 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:28,920 Speaker 1: their precious q And as for Winona. First, Winona forced 318 00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:31,840 Speaker 1: America to pay attention to the case. Then she put 319 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:35,479 Speaker 1: a price on it. Winona Writer offered two hundred thousand 320 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:38,560 Speaker 1: dollars to any person who could safely return Polly to 321 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:44,919 Speaker 1: her parents. Weeks dragged on months, Paully's parents published a 322 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:48,520 Speaker 1: letter to the kidnapper in the San Francisco Chronicle, imploring 323 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:51,199 Speaker 1: the stranger to bring their girl home. They left a 324 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:54,400 Speaker 1: note for Polly too, our darling, if you can read this, 325 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:56,960 Speaker 1: please know that your mommy and daddy love you so 326 00:20:57,119 --> 00:20:59,560 Speaker 1: much and we will continue to search for you until 327 00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:01,800 Speaker 1: we can hold you safely in her loving arms again. 328 00:21:03,359 --> 00:21:07,159 Speaker 1: Every time Winona returned home from volunteering, she peeled the 329 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:10,400 Speaker 1: optimistic smile from her face. She would lay in bed 330 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:13,000 Speaker 1: and let the insomnia knock around all the bad thoughts 331 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 1: in her brain again. The hope never left Winona, but 332 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:19,719 Speaker 1: it waned her childhood fear of kidnapping. Not at it. 333 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: Winona almost died when she was twelve years old too, 334 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 1: and this could have been her. Anything can happen to anybody. 335 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:29,359 Speaker 1: You could become a mega movie star, or a sink 336 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:31,359 Speaker 1: like a stone to a watery grave at the bottom 337 00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:34,359 Speaker 1: of the ocean, or vanish from your bedroom, never to 338 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:38,359 Speaker 1: be seen again. Winona rolled over and turned her back 339 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:42,000 Speaker 1: on the fear, but it waded behind her and alongside 340 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:47,000 Speaker 1: her in bed, just like it had ten years ago. 341 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:59,560 Speaker 1: We'll be right back after this. We're were were. The 342 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:03,960 Speaker 1: police did find Polyclass, but they didn't find her alive. 343 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:08,879 Speaker 1: A cool breeze whipped across an abandoned mill yard and 344 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 1: overlooked iyesore in Cloverdale, California, right off Highway one oh one, 345 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:18,640 Speaker 1: thirty miles from Petaluma. Richard Davis trudged through the empty field, 346 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:22,920 Speaker 1: dry grass crunched under his boots. The police followed close 347 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:26,680 Speaker 1: behind him. He was taking them directly to Polly. This time, 348 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: Davis wasn't hiding anymore. He couldn't. The secrets he stashed 349 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:34,600 Speaker 1: in the woods were out in the open now. Davis 350 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:38,000 Speaker 1: was sloppier than he realized on that night two months ago. 351 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:39,920 Speaker 1: The police made a panic on the night of the 352 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:43,200 Speaker 1: kidnapping and his heart pounded, the sound drowned out his 353 00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:48,879 Speaker 1: careful calculations, his attention to detail slipped away. Kidnapping tools 354 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:51,080 Speaker 1: slipped out of his grasp, and left a trail of 355 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 1: evidence in the forest. A piece of silk fashioned into 356 00:22:55,240 --> 00:23:00,560 Speaker 1: a hood, strips of packing tape perfect for binding of girls, 357 00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:03,680 Speaker 1: Tights tied into a knot, complete with a tangle of 358 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:07,719 Speaker 1: human hair. A resident of Santa Rosa uncovered the clues 359 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:10,040 Speaker 1: when laggers cleared a portion of the woods on her 360 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:13,640 Speaker 1: property in December of nineteen ninety three. She was familiar 361 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:16,919 Speaker 1: with the class case by now most of California was 362 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:20,560 Speaker 1: after hearing about Paully's disappearance for weeks on end, and 363 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:23,320 Speaker 1: now it was her turn to dial the information hotline. 364 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:28,679 Speaker 1: But there was something else. The jarring discovery in the 365 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:32,240 Speaker 1: woods jogged the woman's memory. There was a man stranded 366 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:35,760 Speaker 1: on her property not too long ago, sweaty, panic stricken, 367 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:39,439 Speaker 1: roughly two months prior, read around the same time Polly 368 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,719 Speaker 1: went missing. When the police came to retrieve the items 369 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:46,120 Speaker 1: from the woods, she reminded them about the trespasser. They 370 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:49,600 Speaker 1: summoned the Santa Rosa Police records for good measure. On 371 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:52,480 Speaker 1: October first, police called the tow truck for a man 372 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: named Richard Davis, and they knew that much to be true. 373 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:58,639 Speaker 1: But back at the station, there was more information about 374 00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:00,560 Speaker 1: this man than just a flimsy p doubt of his 375 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:05,720 Speaker 1: driving record. Davis was an ex con. His criminal record 376 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:09,159 Speaker 1: never seem to end. Burglary, assault with the deadly weapon, 377 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:15,240 Speaker 1: assault with intent to rate auto theft, kidnapping, kidnapping. Richard 378 00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:19,639 Speaker 1: Davis did eight years in prison for kidnapping. He was 379 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:22,520 Speaker 1: paroled in June of nineteen ninety three after serving only 380 00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:26,159 Speaker 1: half of a sixteen year sentence. Three months before Polly 381 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:30,200 Speaker 1: went missing. On October first, police had their prime suspect 382 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:33,600 Speaker 1: in the kidnapping of Polyclass right there, standing in front 383 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:36,720 Speaker 1: of them, and then they escorted him to his escape rope. 384 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:41,639 Speaker 1: Investigators poured over his criminal record. Police even wrangled Davis 385 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:45,240 Speaker 1: a second time later in October, arrested for drunk driving. 386 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:48,960 Speaker 1: Davis then violated his parole by failing to appear in court. 387 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:53,199 Speaker 1: A warrant was out for his arrest. Bingo police had 388 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:56,359 Speaker 1: their inn they weren't letting Richard Davis slip away. A 389 00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:59,359 Speaker 1: third time, they found him cruising around town in a 390 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:01,960 Speaker 1: van not far from where he was staying on the 391 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: Coyote Valley Indian Reservation, about seventy five miles north of Petaluma. 392 00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:10,160 Speaker 1: Police booked him on violation of his probation, cuffed him, 393 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:12,359 Speaker 1: tossed him in the clink, and then they took his 394 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,359 Speaker 1: pomp print. It was an exact match for the print 395 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:19,840 Speaker 1: found on Polly's bed frame. Investigators shared a knowing glance. 396 00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:24,040 Speaker 1: The search for Polly's kidnapper was over. Davis knew it 397 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 1: was over, too. He cracked after a few days. I 398 00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:31,960 Speaker 1: screwed up big time, he told the police. And now 399 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:35,600 Speaker 1: Davis was retracing his steps, with the police by his side. 400 00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:39,200 Speaker 1: He paused at a collection of weathered lumber mushrooms spread 401 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:41,639 Speaker 1: it from the heat, and he thrust his shin towards 402 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:46,800 Speaker 1: the rotting pile. Investigators overturned the pile board by board, 403 00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:51,240 Speaker 1: and they found Polly resting underneath, haphazardly tucked into a 404 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:56,000 Speaker 1: shallow grave. Polly's family had prayed their search would end soon. 405 00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:01,080 Speaker 1: They just didn't imagine it ending like this. Shattered the 406 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:06,440 Speaker 1: class family, now one member too small. It shattered Winona 407 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:10,800 Speaker 1: Ryder too. Her heart shriveled up and shrank. It reverted 408 00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:13,560 Speaker 1: back to being twelve years old, beating at a ragged 409 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:17,040 Speaker 1: pace like she was a preteen, tortured by the undertow, 410 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:21,600 Speaker 1: once again barely clinging to life. Maybe Polly once felt 411 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:23,760 Speaker 1: the same when she was tied up in Davis's sedan. 412 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:27,160 Speaker 1: Winona would never know, she would never get the chance 413 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:32,600 Speaker 1: to facilitate Polly's happy ending. Winona struggled through the premiere 414 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:36,120 Speaker 1: of her new film, Reality Bites in February nineteen ninety four. 415 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:40,120 Speaker 1: The irony of the title sunk its teeth into Wanona's soul. 416 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:44,240 Speaker 1: She successfully convinced Universal Pictures to make the Los Angeles 417 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,160 Speaker 1: debut of the movie a benefit for the Poly Class Foundation, 418 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:53,399 Speaker 1: but her work still felt unfinished, woefully inadequate. Paully's greatest 419 00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:56,040 Speaker 1: wish had been to meet Winona in real life, and 420 00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:59,880 Speaker 1: that couldn't happen now. So Winona did the next best thing. 421 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:04,560 Speaker 1: She reached for Polly through fiction. Winona accepted the role 422 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:07,600 Speaker 1: of Joe marsh and a new movie adaptation of Little Women. 423 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:11,359 Speaker 1: It was Polly's favorite book. Winowa brought the story to 424 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:16,040 Speaker 1: life and dedicated her performance to Polly's memory. The role 425 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:19,040 Speaker 1: was a breath of fresh air for Wanona. For once, 426 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,679 Speaker 1: she wasn't the weirdo, she wasn't bewitchy. She was the 427 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:26,880 Speaker 1: strong female lead, determined and dependable, just like she had 428 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:30,800 Speaker 1: been for Polly's family for two months. Winona used Little 429 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:33,760 Speaker 1: Women to shoot away the darkness crowding her life, the 430 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:36,320 Speaker 1: same shadows that housed her fears and lingered by her 431 00:27:36,359 --> 00:27:39,520 Speaker 1: side when she couldn't get any shut eye. Life didn't 432 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:41,719 Speaker 1: have to be a big dark room all the time. 433 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:45,760 Speaker 1: Maybe through her performance in Little Women, directors and casting 434 00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:49,120 Speaker 1: agents would see that too, And if they didn't, win 435 00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:51,880 Speaker 1: Onwa had to escape on her own before that big 436 00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:57,359 Speaker 1: dark room caved in on her completely, she would have 437 00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:00,879 Speaker 1: added it all up. As she could think clearly. Winona 438 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:03,159 Speaker 1: Rider's hands made quick work on the floor of a 439 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:06,920 Speaker 1: Beverly Hills fitting room. A Mark Jacob's cashmere sweater seven 440 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:10,639 Speaker 1: hundred and sixty dollars, a niece Saint Laurent Blause, another 441 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:14,320 Speaker 1: seven hundred and fifty four handbags. Those were at least 442 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:18,000 Speaker 1: two grand, a handful of expensive hair bows and bands 443 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:21,040 Speaker 1: worth about six hundred dollars, and six pairs of socks 444 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:24,399 Speaker 1: just for good measure, and those were eighty Bucks it 445 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:27,159 Speaker 1: with the snip of each security tag were known a 446 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,800 Speaker 1: snucker contraband into a Sacks Fifth Avenue shopping bag, the 447 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:34,280 Speaker 1: same bag from earlier that afternoon, her first shopping spret 448 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:36,880 Speaker 1: he already gave her credit card a three thousand dollars workout, 449 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:40,040 Speaker 1: but a fall when is planned. The second round's going 450 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:43,160 Speaker 1: to be on the house. Wanona crinkled a handful of 451 00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:45,200 Speaker 1: tissue paper in the bag to cover the sound of 452 00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:48,240 Speaker 1: her sniffs. When space ran out in the Sacks bag, 453 00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:50,680 Speaker 1: she stuffed the stolen clothes in a bag she brought 454 00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:54,120 Speaker 1: from home. A shopping assistant knocked on the door. Went 455 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:56,640 Speaker 1: own a froze in her position, bent over on her 456 00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,040 Speaker 1: hands and knees, scissors in one hand and a pair 457 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:02,520 Speaker 1: of Cashmere Donnic Karen socks in the other. The clerk 458 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,640 Speaker 1: asked that the A list client needed anything. A coke 459 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:08,040 Speaker 1: went on, I said, a coke from the Sacks Fifth 460 00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:13,440 Speaker 1: Avity cafeteria. Apparently shoplifting made her thirsty. The assistant's designer 461 00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 1: heels clicked on the tile floor towards the cafeteria. Fuck. 462 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:21,080 Speaker 1: She used that distraction once already didn't she Winona rubbed 463 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:24,120 Speaker 1: her forehead now or was she right? The bags filled, 464 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:27,000 Speaker 1: The bags blend in, then bust out of there went 465 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:29,520 Speaker 1: own A loaded the bags onto her arms. She walked 466 00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:33,800 Speaker 1: towards the exit with confident strides. Her gate spoke for her. Why, yes, 467 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:36,760 Speaker 1: of course, I already bought all this. I'm a celebrity, 468 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:41,640 Speaker 1: Why would I shoplift? Security didn't buy her charade. Instead, 469 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:43,680 Speaker 1: they wanted to know when she planned on buying the 470 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:47,720 Speaker 1: designer goods visibly stashed in her arm full of bags. First, 471 00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:51,040 Speaker 1: she played dumb insisted her assistant had already paid for 472 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:54,680 Speaker 1: the clothes. Then she switched stories and claimed the employees 473 00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:56,800 Speaker 1: were keeping track of her massive haul and would just 474 00:29:57,080 --> 00:30:00,000 Speaker 1: add the items to her first bill as if designed 475 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 1: her department stores let you keep an open tab like 476 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,800 Speaker 1: a bar. And by the time the police arrived, Winnowna 477 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:09,280 Speaker 1: confessed to the crime, using a uniquely Hollywood excuse. She 478 00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:12,560 Speaker 1: explained that a director instructed her to shoplift as research 479 00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:15,480 Speaker 1: for her upcoming role in a movie called Shopgirl or 480 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:19,680 Speaker 1: was it called White Jazz. Winnowna's web of incoherent tales 481 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:23,200 Speaker 1: impressed no one. She left the Beverly Hills department store 482 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:27,800 Speaker 1: in handcuffs on December twelfth two thousand and one. They 483 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:31,520 Speaker 1: wanted strange and unusual. She would show them strange and unusual. 484 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:34,760 Speaker 1: It was a new century, now a new millennium even, 485 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:38,000 Speaker 1: but pop culture still wanted the Winona of the nineties, 486 00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:41,280 Speaker 1: a dark haired goth girlfriend to tantalize them. In Tim 487 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:45,480 Speaker 1: Burton films, a cute, cuckoo like girl interrupted her most 488 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:49,680 Speaker 1: recent smash hit from nineteen ninety nine. Winona's heart thudded 489 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:52,160 Speaker 1: with fear as she ducked into the back of a cruiser. 490 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:55,560 Speaker 1: Yet a snicker spread across her lips. She could be 491 00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:59,240 Speaker 1: a felon now she was still the outcast, still the 492 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:26,040 Speaker 1: weirdo typical. One year later, Winona Rider was not snickering. 493 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:30,160 Speaker 1: She was sweating. Her dark eyes darted across the courtroom 494 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:34,200 Speaker 1: from one stone faced lawyer to another. She understood about 495 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:36,480 Speaker 1: half this legal jargon they were spouting off, but she 496 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:40,280 Speaker 1: knew two things to be true. One, she was already guilty. 497 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:42,840 Speaker 1: She was a felon. It was right there in the 498 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:48,600 Speaker 1: shoplifting charges, felony, grant theft. There would be repercussions. Two. 499 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:53,040 Speaker 1: One of those repercussions could be jail time. Apparently, her 500 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:56,240 Speaker 1: lawyer is one hund real defense that Winona was too 501 00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:58,960 Speaker 1: fashionable to shoplift didn't carry any weight. In a Beverly 502 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 1: Hills courtroom, Winona uncrossed her legs for the seventh time 503 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:07,240 Speaker 1: that day. Fidgeting didn't speed the sentencing up. This was 504 00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:09,360 Speaker 1: one story she couldn't flip to the end of the 505 00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:12,120 Speaker 1: script and spoil the ending. She had to sit through 506 00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:14,479 Speaker 1: a bunch of men in suits bickering over her character, 507 00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:20,000 Speaker 1: not a character, her character, not just another dark haired 508 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,719 Speaker 1: beauty throwing smoldering glances across haunted mansions at movie sets. 509 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:27,120 Speaker 1: The people gathered in that courtroom had to see Winona. 510 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 1: For Winona, her actions, not her acting, would determine her future, 511 00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:34,080 Speaker 1: which may or may not involve trading her pile of 512 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:40,040 Speaker 1: stolen design her booty for an orange jumpsuit. Winona's defense 513 00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:43,720 Speaker 1: brought forward her extensive involvement in the Polyclass kidnapping as 514 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:48,160 Speaker 1: the clearest example of her sterling character. Sure, she had 515 00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:51,160 Speaker 1: donated a fat stack of cash to the poly Class Foundation, 516 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:55,680 Speaker 1: but she rolled up her sleeves alongside other regular volunteers too. 517 00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 1: It was a tender, eagleless gesture that Winona repeated for weeks. 518 00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:03,400 Speaker 1: Maybe her help hadn't brought Polly back, but her murderer, 519 00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 1: Richard Allen Davis, was on death row, and that was 520 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:12,200 Speaker 1: the second best case scenario, and the prosecution refused to soften. Instead, 521 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:15,800 Speaker 1: they snapped, what's offensive to me is to trot out 522 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:19,040 Speaker 1: the body of a dead child, the opposing lawyer retorted. 523 00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:23,160 Speaker 1: Winona sprang out from the bench, her eyes welled with tears. 524 00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:26,320 Speaker 1: Her lawyer objected before she could defend her involvement, and 525 00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:28,880 Speaker 1: before she could explain why that case still rattled her 526 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:31,920 Speaker 1: to this day. How seeing her worst fear, the fear 527 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:34,320 Speaker 1: of being kidnapped, come to life and a little girl 528 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:38,160 Speaker 1: not unlike herself, shattered her heart. Maybe no one really 529 00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:41,200 Speaker 1: knew Winona at all. She plopped back into her seat 530 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:46,520 Speaker 1: with a sigh. Winona sighed again when the judge announced 531 00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:50,080 Speaker 1: her penance four hundred and eighty hours of community service 532 00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:54,120 Speaker 1: and nearly ten thousand dollars in fines and restitution, no 533 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:57,840 Speaker 1: prison sentence. The judge emphasized that if her sticky fingers 534 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:01,880 Speaker 1: ever stole again, she'd undoubtedly be pouting behind bars next time. 535 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:06,080 Speaker 1: The happy ending to her trial also created a happy 536 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:09,640 Speaker 1: ending for Weanona's witting streak at the box office. For 537 00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:14,280 Speaker 1: most actresses, an acting hiatus would be devastating. For Winona, 538 00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:18,040 Speaker 1: it was a relief. She actually called her arrests the 539 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:21,399 Speaker 1: best thing that could have happened in court that day, 540 00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:25,399 Speaker 1: December sixth, two thousand and two. Winona was thirty one. 541 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:28,719 Speaker 1: She started acting in films when she was barely sixteen, 542 00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:32,319 Speaker 1: and she never stopped. Winona Rider performed at more than 543 00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:35,440 Speaker 1: twenty movies in the span of fifteen years. A break 544 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:41,279 Speaker 1: was long overdue. After her sentencing, she veered away from 545 00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:44,560 Speaker 1: her strict regiment of back to back leading roles, took 546 00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:47,160 Speaker 1: a step away from movie sets, and set new boundaries 547 00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:50,439 Speaker 1: for herself, ones that would keep acting burnout at bay. 548 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:54,160 Speaker 1: She broke her newfound bliss sporadically for her special roles, 549 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:58,680 Speaker 1: a hilarious turn as commandment breaking puppet loving Kelly Lafonda 550 00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:02,720 Speaker 1: and David Wayne's in two thousand and seven JJ Abrams 551 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:05,680 Speaker 1: Star Trek reboot. In two thousand and nine, Tim Burton's 552 00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:10,480 Speaker 1: clamation creation Franken Weeny Darren Aronovsky's Nora Our thriller Black Swan, 553 00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:14,239 Speaker 1: which involved Wanona repeatedly plunging a steel nail file into 554 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:18,320 Speaker 1: her cheeks but another script came across her desk years 555 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:22,480 Speaker 1: later that contained the real comeback gold. Something happened to 556 00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:26,920 Speaker 1: Wanona when she took that break, something inevitable. She aged 557 00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:31,400 Speaker 1: by the twenty tens, she was in her forties. Casting 558 00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:34,160 Speaker 1: agents couldn't picture her as a twenty something love interest 559 00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:39,080 Speaker 1: in movies anymore. That's when Netflix called. They gave her 560 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:41,480 Speaker 1: a shot at a roll that would be more age appropriate. 561 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:45,040 Speaker 1: A mother, your average suburban mom in the early eighties, 562 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:49,200 Speaker 1: totally normal, a little nervous, perhaps, but with the stranger 563 00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:52,560 Speaker 1: danger panic at the time, what parent wasn't They needed 564 00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:54,840 Speaker 1: her to portray a woman who would be tested, a 565 00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:57,480 Speaker 1: woman who could portray gut wrenching fear and grief in 566 00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:00,719 Speaker 1: her eyes without uttering a word. A woman whose son 567 00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:06,120 Speaker 1: would vanish without a trace. It's an uncanny coincidence, but 568 00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:12,080 Speaker 1: stranger things have happened, and that is anything but a disgrace. 569 00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,839 Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan in this this disgrace LAMB. 570 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:26,560 Speaker 2: All right, thanks for riding on this Winona train with 571 00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:29,759 Speaker 2: me here through Disgraceland. Apple podcast listeners, make sure you 572 00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:33,040 Speaker 2: have auto downloads turned on, and guys, this week's question 573 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:37,200 Speaker 2: of the Week, which actress, most Embodies gen X for 574 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:41,560 Speaker 2: you and why is it Winona, Drew, Cameron, Penelope let 575 00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:43,919 Speaker 2: me know six one seven nine six six six three 576 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:47,000 Speaker 2: eight with your answers via voicemail, text and add disgracelamd 577 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:49,160 Speaker 2: pod on the socials and I'll answer you back in 578 00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:51,680 Speaker 2: the next after party bonus episode in your podcast feed. 579 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:54,239 Speaker 2: Leave a review for disgrace Land on Apple Podcasts or 580 00:36:54,280 --> 00:36:57,040 Speaker 2: Spotify and win some free merch al Right, here. 581 00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:57,800 Speaker 1: Comes some credits. 582 00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:01,480 Speaker 2: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in 583 00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:04,960 Speaker 2: partnership with Double Elvis. 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