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Speaker 1: It was Father's Day twenty eleven when Charie or Tease,

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Speaker 1: walked into her parents' home and found the bodies of

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Speaker 1: her mother and father.

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Speaker 2: They had been shot in the head, and it had occurred

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Speaker 2: sometime earlier in the day.

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Speaker 3: I just.

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Speaker 4: The brutality was unspeakable.

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Speaker 1: The hunt to find the killer would tear the community

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Speaker 1: apart and devastate CHERI.

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Speaker 5: I really do have hope this is going to get solved.

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Speaker 1: My name is Sloan Glass. I'm a journalist who covered

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Speaker 1: the Long Island serial killer, the Delphi, Indiana murders, and

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Speaker 1: many other high profile true crime cases. And now I'm

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Speaker 1: the host of American Homicide, a podcast where we take

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Speaker 1: you across the country to investigate some of America's deadliest crimes.

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Speaker 1: Will explore how these murders are shaped by their unique landscapes,

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Speaker 1: and how these tragedies have shaped the fabric of these

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Speaker 1: American communities forever. Today, we're in the tiny village of

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Speaker 1: El Rancho, New Mexico, for part one of the Father's

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Speaker 1: Day Murders on American Homicide. As a note, this podcast

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Speaker 1: contains subject matter which may not be suitable for all audiences.

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Speaker 1: Discretion is advised. Let me paint a picture for you.

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Speaker 1: Santa Fe, New Mexico, is called the city Different for

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Speaker 1: its rich culture and diverse community. Native American ancestries blend

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Speaker 1: with Spanish culture in a state with one of America's

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Speaker 1: richest landscapes.

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Speaker 6: Northern New Mexico in particular, it's a very unique place.

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Speaker 6: It's beautiful.

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Speaker 1: Alex Tomlin was a local TV news reporter who lives

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Speaker 1: in the area.

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Speaker 6: It has impeccable weather and the mountains are incredible.

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Speaker 1: The region is home to natural hot springs and wild rivers.

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Speaker 6: You can drive an hour north and go whitewater rafting,

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Speaker 6: or you can go down to white Sands and enjoy that.

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Speaker 6: But kind of on the outskirts of Santa Fe, you

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Speaker 6: get a lot of the smaller communities.

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Speaker 1: And one such place is the tiny village of El Rancho.

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Speaker 1: The predominantly Hispanic community is about twenty miles from Santa

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Speaker 1: Fe and is built around co op farming and churches.

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Speaker 6: It's a lot of people who have kind of grown there,

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Speaker 6: have families there, kind of all know each other.

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Speaker 7: But it's also a desolate place.

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Speaker 6: One of the things about New Mexico is it's so open.

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Speaker 6: When you go to someone's home. Often they have a

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Speaker 6: significant sized property. There's not neighbors very close.

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Speaker 1: And even though the homes are all spread out across

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Speaker 1: the desert.

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Speaker 6: Everyone kind of knows each other. But there is an

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Speaker 6: interesting dynamic here. As much as it's known for its beauty,

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Speaker 6: is also known for the crime.

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Speaker 1: The tragic murders on Father's Day twenty eleven would stretch

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Speaker 1: the fabric of l Rancho to its limits.

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Speaker 6: So June eighteenth, twenty eleven, seemed like any normal night.

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Speaker 1: Shari or Ties had dinner plants with her parents, Lloyd and.

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Speaker 6: Dixie Shari Orties. She lived on the property with the Ortizes.

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Speaker 1: Her parents and brother lived in a large one story house,

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Speaker 1: and Shari and her husband lived in an RV next door.

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Speaker 1: Even though there's a fence around their spacious property, the

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Speaker 1: family had an open door policy.

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Speaker 6: Anyone could come in, have dinner at their table, or

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Speaker 6: spend time with them. They were just kind of a

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Speaker 6: good family in this community that was very tight knit.

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Speaker 1: Lloyd or Teas was a man who loved to use

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Speaker 1: his hands. He owned his own ceramic tile business. His

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Speaker 1: craftsmanship turned up in homes and even luxury hotels all

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Speaker 1: over northern New Mexico.

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Speaker 6: He was an incredibly loving father, a hardworking man who

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Speaker 6: provided for his family. His wife, Dixie.

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Speaker 1: They sound like a perfect pair. Dixie was passionate about

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Speaker 1: working with the elderly and the disabled. She was an

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Speaker 1: activities director at a local retirement home, and she fostered

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Speaker 1: children with special needs.

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Speaker 6: They took in a child who had Shacken baby syndrome

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Speaker 6: and adopted him as their own. Raise that child. Loved

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Speaker 6: that child.

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Speaker 1: That child's name was Stephen. Steven had special needs from

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Speaker 1: his early life injuries. His brain never developed beyond that

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Speaker 1: of a nine year old, but he matured into a

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Speaker 1: young man that his family called the gentle Giant. He

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Speaker 1: loved to play drums, ride his ATV, and fish with Lloyd.

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Speaker 6: They were just really giving, loving people, burying northern New Mexico.

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Speaker 6: Hard working, you know, love the land, loved the culture

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Speaker 6: kind of thing.

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Speaker 1: Since it was Father's Day, Sharie or Teas whipped up

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Speaker 1: a plate of homemade enchiladas for dinner. It was her gift.

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Speaker 1: Just before seven o'clock that evening, she took them and

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Speaker 1: walked next door to her parents, even though it was June,

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Speaker 1: white Christmas icicle lights Dill hung on the gutters of

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Speaker 1: her parents' home. Inside, the walls were adorned with crucifixes

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Speaker 1: and some of Lloyd's handmade tiles.

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Speaker 6: Cheri said she walks in and realizes something's very wrong.

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Speaker 6: She found her mother in bed. Her mother's head was

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Speaker 6: pretty damaged that someone maybe had shot her. She then

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Speaker 6: went into the kitchen area and found what she thought

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Speaker 6: was her father on the kitchen floor. The body was

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Speaker 6: just so impacted by what was used against them. There's

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Speaker 6: these two bodies, there's blood everywhere. She goes screaming out

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Speaker 6: of the house and for her husband. Again, they lived

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Speaker 6: on the property, so it was pretty close.

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Speaker 1: Serie's husband, Jesse, ran right over to investigate.

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Speaker 6: Her husband then comes in the house and he realizes

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Speaker 6: it's not her father on the kitchen floor, it's actually

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Speaker 6: her brother, and that's when he starts searching around and

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Speaker 6: finds her father out the side, right outside the back door,

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Speaker 6: kind of in the field there.

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Speaker 1: Lloyd's Bonnie was found on a cinder block path that

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Speaker 1: connected the Ortiz back porch to their fenced in yard.

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Speaker 1: He was face down, wearing only his underwear. His eyeglasses

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Speaker 1: sat just inches away. Covering his head was some green

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Speaker 1: shrubbery by now Cherie was on the phone onwards.

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Speaker 3: What is your name?

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Speaker 1: Cheri frantically told the nine on one operator that her mother, father,

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Speaker 1: and brother were shot to death.

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Speaker 3: I just and everybody shot in my brother and my mom.

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Speaker 1: This was Scherie's second attempt at a nine on one call,

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Speaker 1: Since Uri and her parents' homes were out in the

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Speaker 1: middle of the desert, her cell reception was body. Imagine

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Speaker 1: the panic, the fear that your call would drop again

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Speaker 1: when you're trying to get emergency help for your family.

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Speaker 1: And she didn't know where the perpetrator was or if

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Speaker 1: they were still on the property.

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Speaker 3: Oh my god, Oh my god, oh my god. I

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Speaker 3: am freaking out. I can't even walk over there because

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Speaker 3: I own service.

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Speaker 1: And then there's another problem. Now Rancho is way off

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Speaker 1: the beaten path, which delays the response time for law enforcement.

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Speaker 3: Oh my god, you have to hurry.

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Speaker 1: With no local police force of their own, the New

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Speaker 1: Mexico State Police were dispatched to investigate.

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Speaker 3: I can't believe they're already dead. I can't believe I

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Speaker 3: didn't come check earlier this morning. Oh my god, Oh

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Speaker 3: my god, oh my god. Why you know, because I

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Speaker 3: didn't have money for a father's sacred but I didn't

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Speaker 3: want to go until I finished. Could be a job

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Speaker 3: up for him.

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Speaker 1: Oh my god, Charise stayed on the phone for nearly

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Speaker 1: twenty minutes before officers arrived.

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Speaker 4: Oh and started going, So.

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Speaker 5: I kind of get thet I'm going.

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Speaker 3: To watch the game and late to them. I'm my

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Speaker 3: two nervous just sitting in my yard.

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Speaker 2: My name is Paul Chavez. I was a member of

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Speaker 2: the full Time Crimes Unit as an agent with the

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Speaker 2: New Mexico State Police.

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Speaker 1: The two hundred homicide cases Officer Chavez worked in his

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Speaker 1: career didn't prepare him for what he saw inside the

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Speaker 1: Ortis house.

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Speaker 2: In this case, the magnitude of the violence evolved was

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Speaker 2: the worst that I had seen in my career. The

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Speaker 2: brutality was unspeakable. Chariotis had found her parents and her

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Speaker 2: adopted stepbrother dead within the residence. She reported that they

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Speaker 2: had been shot in the head, and it occurred sometime

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Speaker 2: earlier in the day.

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Speaker 1: It turns out that although chari said she didn't see

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Speaker 1: who committed these murders, she did hear something.

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Speaker 2: There was reportedly gunshots heard the previous night in the area.

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Speaker 1: Now hearing gunshots isn't entirely unusual in New Mexico. But

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Speaker 1: Cheri and her parents' homes sit on a dead end

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Speaker 1: street in the rural New Mexico Desert. It's a remote

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Speaker 1: area with unpaved roads and no nearby street lights. Their

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Speaker 1: nearest neighbor is about fifty yards up the road. Inside

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Speaker 1: the Orties' home, Officer Chavez and his team assess the situation.

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Speaker 4: Once I enter into the residence.

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Speaker 2: There is a master bedroom immediately to the left as

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Speaker 2: you walk in, and that is where the first victim,

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Speaker 2: identified is Dixie RTIs is in her bed and her

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Speaker 2: nightgown under the blankets.

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Speaker 1: Dixie was found clutching her pillow.

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Speaker 2: Her upper extremities and her head is completely saturated in

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Speaker 2: blood where she had sustained a parent trauma. From that bedroom,

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Speaker 2: there's a drip trail which extends to the kitchen area

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Speaker 2: where we have a second victim, a young man identified

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Speaker 2: as Stephen Ortez.

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Speaker 1: Stephen, her adopted brother, lay face down in a pool

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Speaker 1: of blood, wearing only his underwear. Police noted that he

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Speaker 1: took the brunt of the attack.

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Speaker 4: This scene was absolutely brutal.

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Speaker 1: Stephen was twenty one years old at the time of

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Speaker 1: his murder, and based on his injuries, police believed that

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Speaker 1: he tried to fight off the killer before ultimately losing

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Speaker 1: that battle.

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Speaker 2: The blood continued from that area out the back door,

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Speaker 2: where the third victim, Loiter Tease, was found. Outside the

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Speaker 2: back porch, there was a significant amount of bloodshed, indicating

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Speaker 2: that he did sustain some massive trauma, and there was

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Speaker 2: also shrubbery from a nearby bush that was covering his head.

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Speaker 1: That's two bloody bodies inside the home and one outside.

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Speaker 1: And then something else stood out to law enforcement.

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Speaker 2: There was a small mayer I want to go on

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Speaker 2: the property. It was fenced off and pad locked. They

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Speaker 2: did have a medical marijuana card for Stephen for some

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Speaker 2: of the medical conditions.

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Speaker 1: He had, but none of the seventeen marijuana plants appeared

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Speaker 1: to be disturbed. In fact, nothing seemed to be stolen

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Speaker 1: or even out of place. On the kitchen table in

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Speaker 1: plain View sat Lloyd's wallet containing hundreds of dollars.

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Speaker 4: This did not look like a robbery.

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Speaker 2: It looked like a case of anger, a lot of

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Speaker 2: anger based on the brutality that occurred.

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Speaker 1: It was a father's day to forget for residents in

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Speaker 1: this tiny suburb, of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Lloyd and

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Speaker 1: Dixie Ortiz were pillars of the tight knit Aloranto community.

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Speaker 1: They were quick to lend a helping hand to others

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Speaker 1: in need. So who was angry enough to harm them?

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Speaker 7: And why?

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Speaker 5: Sure?

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Speaker 1: Your teas lived in an RV right next door to

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Speaker 1: her parents' house on the same property. Both home sat

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Speaker 1: on a scrawling lot surrounded by hills in the dusty

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Speaker 1: El Rancho, New Mexico Desert. On the evening of Father's

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Speaker 1: Day twenty eleven, Shari walked into her parents' house and

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Speaker 1: found her mother, father, and brother savagely murdered. Like many

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Speaker 1: others in the community. Pastor John Truhio was in shock.

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Speaker 5: I get a phone call. They call me PJ.

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Speaker 8: Pastor John says, PJ, they found Stephen, Lloyd and Dixie dead.

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Speaker 8: I said, what are you talking about? Was the cracks

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Speaker 8: in what happened? He says, no, they're it seems like

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Speaker 8: they were murdered in their home. You need to get

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Speaker 8: down here right away. And as I drive up, the

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Speaker 8: community is already showing up. The state police are there,

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Speaker 8: and about that time Shari made her way out and

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Speaker 8: she was just in tears. In tears and tears and

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Speaker 8: it's just Pastor John. My family's dead. My family's dead.

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Speaker 8: Somebody murdered my family. Somebody killed my family. How do

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Speaker 8: you handle that?

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Speaker 5: What do you do?

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Speaker 8: I mean, can you imagine the emotional and physical and.

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Speaker 5: Just spiritual distraught that you would face. Nobody can't prepare

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Speaker 5: for that. I don't care. Nobody's prepared to walk into

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Speaker 5: a scene like that, especially the daughter.

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Speaker 8: The family was grieving and they were mourning. It's all Rancho.

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Speaker 8: This isn't supposed to happen in a community like this.

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Speaker 8: People are speculating that could this happened from the community.

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Speaker 8: Did somebody come here from somewhere else? Was it a

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Speaker 8: family member, was it a friend? Was it a robbery

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Speaker 8: that went wrong? You know why?

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Speaker 5: Why? It was like, okay, we need some answers.

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Speaker 1: Since ol Rancho didn't have a police force of their own,

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Speaker 1: the New Mexico State Police handled the investigation by mourning.

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Speaker 1: The police still didn't know much.

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Speaker 5: We're still insure as to what happen out there.

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Speaker 4: The guys are still working.

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Speaker 5: Its working very hard to determine what exactly happened, but

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Speaker 5: at this point we still don't.

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Speaker 8: Know how in the world. Could something like this happen.

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Speaker 8: You know, one person dead, okay, but when there's three,

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Speaker 8: it raises a lot, a lot of questions.

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Speaker 1: Police believe that three victims were shot to death inside

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Speaker 1: their home, but nothing appeared to be missing. Investigators wondered

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Speaker 1: if it was a murder or a murder suicide. Officer

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Speaker 1: Paul Chavez was one of the first responders.

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Speaker 2: My role primarily is to process and document the crime

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Speaker 2: scene and try and make sense of what occurred there.

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Speaker 1: But the severity of the crime scene limited what he

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Speaker 1: was able to do.

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Speaker 2: You can't disturb the body much, and with the amount

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Speaker 2: of bloodshed that was present, we weren't able to assess

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Speaker 2: the wounds as well as we would like to have

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Speaker 2: been able to so.

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Speaker 1: Originally, the police believed all three victims were shot to death,

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Speaker 1: but the results of the autopsies for each victim revealed

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Speaker 1: something for him more personal.

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Speaker 2: That these were in fact not gunshot wounds. There were

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Speaker 2: actually lacerations that were penetrating with a blunt object.

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Speaker 1: Clearly something was missing. When the police returned to the

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Speaker 1: scene of the crime, they found a five pound pickaxe

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Speaker 1: lying on the ground just over the fence of the

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Speaker 1: adjacent property, and the pick axe contain bloodstains.

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Speaker 2: What the pick axe did provide us was DNA from

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Speaker 2: all three victims, so we unequivocally had our murder weapon. However,

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Speaker 2: we were unable to forensically link a suspect to the

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Speaker 2: pick axe.

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Speaker 1: So what does that mean? A murder weapon with DNA

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Speaker 1: of the victims but nothing to indicate a suspect.

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Speaker 2: It could mean a number of things that maybe they

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Speaker 2: were wearing gloves, or they covered their hands in some

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Speaker 2: way or shape or form, and just sometimes the lab

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Speaker 2: just can't find it. It's not a one hundred percent certainty

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Speaker 2: that they're going to be able to find DNA when

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Speaker 2: something is touched. There's a chance that we will, but

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Speaker 2: it doesn't always work out that way.

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Speaker 6: So the one thing about the Ortez murder was really

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Speaker 6: the pressure on the police.

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Speaker 1: Reporter Alex Tomlin covered the story for a local TV station.

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Speaker 6: There was an incredible amount of pressure from that small

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Speaker 6: knit community, but also the surrounding communities, and so there

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Speaker 6: was a lot of pressure on them to get who

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Speaker 6: did it, make it a clean investigation, and let's get

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Speaker 6: this person behind bars. And I'm sure at times that

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Speaker 6: pressure was overwhelming.

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Speaker 1: The people of l Rancho couldn't shake the fear that

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Speaker 1: they could be next.

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Speaker 6: Nobody wants to think that they're going to go to

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Speaker 6: sleep and somebody who's pick axed a couple and their

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Speaker 6: son to death is going to come into their home next.

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Speaker 1: They even refused to talk to TV reporters, not because

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Speaker 1: they felt pastored, but they were fearful of their own safety.

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Speaker 6: And that's the other terrifying thing. Think about the strength

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Speaker 6: it takes to push that pick axe back multiple times

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Speaker 6: and pick act someone to death. That is cold blooded,

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Speaker 6: that is calculated. That is incredibly scary for a community.

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Speaker 6: That person is dangerous. You know, when you can't easily

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Speaker 6: tie up a case like this, when you can't say, oh, it's,

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Speaker 6: you know, a scorn lover, or it's you know, a

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Speaker 6: drug deal gone wrong, or different things like that, then

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Speaker 6: it becomes a well, in my next you want to

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Speaker 6: find who did this because you don't want the community

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Speaker 6: looking at you and saying, what are you doing? Why

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Speaker 6: aren't you protecting us? Why don't you have the answers?

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Speaker 1: With no suspects a weapon and murder. Seeing free of

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Speaker 1: any DNA, investigators started to look at the person who

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Speaker 1: first discovered the bodies. That person was Shuri or Tisse.

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Speaker 6: When something this horrific happens, the community wants answers and

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Speaker 6: they want them quickly, right, So you want to be

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Speaker 6: able to tie a nice bow on this thing and

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Speaker 6: be done with it. And Sharen her husband seemed like

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Speaker 6: that nice bow. They lived on the property. You could

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Speaker 6: come up with a motive.

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Speaker 1: The police wondered if Shari and her husband, Jesse knew

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Speaker 1: more than they were saying, especially after they listened back

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Speaker 1: to Shari's original limom uncle.

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Speaker 6: She's very frantic in that nim of one call, as

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Speaker 6: you can hear, she made some comments on that nine

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Speaker 6: on one call about you know, they must have been

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Speaker 6: shot because of how they looked.

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Speaker 3: I just walked shot.

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Speaker 6: It wasn't later until the Office of the Medical Investigator

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Speaker 6: determined that actually they had been pick axed to death.

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Speaker 8: And you have no idea who would have done that.

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Speaker 3: Anybody around them. Oh my god, they were such good people.

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Speaker 3: Oh the go my god, Oh my god, Oh my god,

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Speaker 3: Oh my god, oh my god.

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Speaker 1: We have hurry, desperate and upset. Chari spent seventeen minutes

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Speaker 1: on that nim on one call, but as investigators listened back.

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Speaker 1: They zeroed in on a Commentari said, now listen closely

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Speaker 1: to what Trei told the operator. So Scharie said her

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Speaker 1: parents had been dead since that morning. How did she

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Speaker 1: know that? And why didn't she call nine one one

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Speaker 1: till seven that evening?

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Speaker 3: I can't believe I didn't come checker here this morning.

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Speaker 3: Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Why

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Speaker 3: you know? All because I didn't have money for a

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Speaker 3: father's sake, gire, but I didn't want to go until

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Speaker 3: I finished the pie and chub up for him.

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Speaker 6: They one percent thought she was a main suspect.

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Speaker 3: I can't believe this is happening.

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Speaker 1: When Lloyd Dixie and Stephen Ortiz were brutally murdered in

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Speaker 1: their l Rancho home, their daughter Sharie and her husband

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Speaker 1: Jesse appeared to investigators to be the only people with

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Speaker 1: motive and the access to execute such a violent crime.

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Speaker 1: For months, Sharie and Jesse felt the and heard the whispers.

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Speaker 1: Their pastor, John true Hio, tried to be the voice

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Speaker 1: of reason.

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Speaker 8: I think when you have to go through that, like

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Speaker 8: Jesse answer, ree did? I think it was just a

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Speaker 8: reassurance that said, listen, you.

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Speaker 5: Know you need to do this. You need to go

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Speaker 5: through this.

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Speaker 8: Just cooperate with the state Police investigators, whatever you need

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Speaker 8: to do, because it's just a process of elimination. They're

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Speaker 8: looking for answers just as much as everybody else is,

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Speaker 8: and they need a starting point somewhere. Just go through

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Speaker 8: the process, answer the questions, be honest, be truthful, and

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Speaker 8: let them eliminate you, and then they can move forward

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Speaker 8: from there.

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Speaker 2: So there were a number of red flags that required

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Speaker 2: us to investigate share and justice to the fullest.

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Speaker 1: State Police Agent Paul Chavez took the difficult line of

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Speaker 1: questioning a mourning Shari.

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Speaker 4: Could family gain from the death of the victim?

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Speaker 2: Sure they kind of there is insurance insurance policies in place,

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Speaker 2: or is there property of place?

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Speaker 4: Is there is there.

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Speaker 2: Something to be gained. That's definitely something that was going

375
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Speaker 2: to be looked at.

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Speaker 1: Investigators asked about Scheri's credit card debt and the fact

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Speaker 1: that she didn't pay her car loans or even the

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Speaker 1: rent on her RV, and then there was this. Schuri

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Speaker 1: also told the investigators that she had removed eighty thousand dollars

380
00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:18,960
Speaker 1: in cash from her parents' home, but she didn't tell

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Speaker 1: this to police until three days after the murders, Jesse.

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Speaker 4: And Sherry involvement couldn't be ruled out.

383
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Speaker 1: Jesse and Suri told detectives that they were at a

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Speaker 1: local casino on the night of the murders.

385
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Speaker 2: But thought there was some conflicting statements between Shari and Jesse.

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Speaker 1: The triple murder that rocked the close knit village of

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Speaker 1: El Rancho turned friends into enemies, families into suspects.

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Speaker 6: At the time, there was a lot of speculation about

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00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:50,679
Speaker 6: her and her husband and whether or not they had

390
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Speaker 6: been involved in this crime.

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Speaker 1: Alex Tomlin worked as a reporter for a local TV station.

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Speaker 6: The case was a little bit cold at this time,

393
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Speaker 6: and we got a call saying she's.

394
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Speaker 7: Willing to talk to you.

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Speaker 1: Shari was on the defensive and wanting to publicly clear

396
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Speaker 1: her name, so she scheduled an interview with Alex.

397
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Speaker 6: Scherie offered to show me the home where her parents

398
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Speaker 6: had lived and had been murdered.

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Speaker 1: Alex met Sharie at her home and interviewed her just

400
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Speaker 1: steps away from where Lloyd, Dixie and Stephen were murdered.

401
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Speaker 6: I remember distinctly being in the kitchen and we were

402
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Speaker 6: talking about her brother Stephen, and you know when the

403
00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:32,240
Speaker 6: autopsy came out, he had held about a dozen or

404
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Speaker 6: so blows.

405
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Speaker 5: I think about.

406
00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:37,520
Speaker 6: Maybe seventeen blows. And I remember her talking to me

407
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Speaker 6: about how he was such a big guy, that he

408
00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:41,120
Speaker 6: was kind of a teddy bear, but he was such

409
00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:43,320
Speaker 6: a big guy. And it's such a weird sensation. We

410
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:45,679
Speaker 6: were standing in someone's kitchen and you're seeing marks on

411
00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:48,399
Speaker 6: the floor and you know their body had been there,

412
00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,600
Speaker 6: and you know, she cried a lot during that interview, understandably,

413
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Speaker 6: but really thinking about this young man coming out who

414
00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:58,760
Speaker 6: didn't really have the cognitive ability to understand what was happening.

415
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Speaker 6: You know, they're very much still a child kind of

416
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Speaker 6: in a man's body, and to have that many blows

417
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Speaker 6: to him. My only thought in that moment was he

418
00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:12,080
Speaker 6: must have been trying to protect his parents. He must

419
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Speaker 6: have been really scared. He must have really fought back, and.

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Speaker 3: That was just so sad.

421
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Speaker 6: It was so sad to think about those final moments

422
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Speaker 6: and what that must have been like for him, either

423
00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:29,080
Speaker 6: knowing that he was dying or knowing that something had

424
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Speaker 6: happened to his parents. It was just really traumatic standing

425
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Speaker 6: there and knowing this is where he died and he

426
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Speaker 6: died in such a violent way.

427
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Speaker 1: With the cameras rolling and like to ask Shari about

428
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Speaker 1: the investigation.

429
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Speaker 6: I believe they're going through it with tunnel vision, just

430
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:49,440
Speaker 6: specifically focusing on us in instead of the real people

431
00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:51,359
Speaker 6: or I know it had to be people.

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Speaker 5: How could one person do that?

433
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Speaker 6: So it left this very weird sensation in the community

434
00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:01,480
Speaker 6: where some people were still speculating other people really believed them.

435
00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:02,600
Speaker 6: Why would they do this?

436
00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:06,520
Speaker 1: Shari said her parents had life insurance, but she could

437
00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:08,399
Speaker 1: not collect that money since she and her husband were

438
00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:13,160
Speaker 1: considered suspects and without that money, Suri said they couldn't

439
00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:16,359
Speaker 1: pay their bills and worried their homes would be foreclosed.

440
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:19,560
Speaker 6: So it was really this sense from her of trying

441
00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:23,760
Speaker 6: to advocate for herself but advocate for her parents and

442
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:25,960
Speaker 6: her brother to say, I need to know who killed them,

443
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Speaker 6: and at the same time, I need people to know

444
00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:29,800
Speaker 6: it wasn't me. And so that was really what the

445
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:31,200
Speaker 6: conversation centered around.

446
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:35,080
Speaker 1: We could lose everything my dad worked so hard for.

447
00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:38,080
Speaker 6: I actually saw like marks on the floor in different

448
00:24:38,119 --> 00:24:40,879
Speaker 6: things like that where this had happened. It was a

449
00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:42,240
Speaker 6: really horrific experience.

450
00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:45,679
Speaker 4: Something has to give I really do have hope.

451
00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:48,040
Speaker 5: I know this is going to get solt.

452
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:50,960
Speaker 1: With tears in her eyes, Shari then looked into the

453
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:54,000
Speaker 1: camera to try to clear her name and her husband,

454
00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:54,920
Speaker 1: Jesse's as well.

455
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:56,960
Speaker 6: We had nothing to do with it.

456
00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:00,919
Speaker 4: My god, that was my mom and Mike, my little brother.

457
00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:03,440
Speaker 1: It was no secret that the two were being looked

458
00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,480
Speaker 1: at in the triple murder. But were they that desperate

459
00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:11,280
Speaker 1: for money that they would murder their own family. Paul

460
00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:13,840
Speaker 1: Schavez investigated.

461
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:16,360
Speaker 2: If you don't investigate Justin and Shehrby to the fullest,

462
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:19,800
Speaker 2: you make a very easy argument for a defense attorney

463
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:22,120
Speaker 2: to create dowder in jury's mind.

464
00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:25,080
Speaker 4: And that's exactly what have happened if we had not.

465
00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:27,040
Speaker 2: Followed up on all of the red flags that came

466
00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:28,480
Speaker 2: up during the course of the investigation.

467
00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:32,560
Speaker 1: But as the investigation dragged on, Shari shifted the blame

468
00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:36,639
Speaker 1: back on the state police. She claimed that they botched

469
00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:41,040
Speaker 1: the investigation and said casino security guards or even children

470
00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:44,119
Speaker 1: could have done a better job. Against the advice of

471
00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:47,200
Speaker 1: law enforcement, Shari even set up a po box where

472
00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:52,520
Speaker 1: people could anonymously submit information about who might be responsible.

473
00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:58,320
Speaker 1: A year after the murders, the police promised a press

474
00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:00,760
Speaker 1: conference to share some breaking news was on the case,

475
00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,200
Speaker 1: but that press conference never happened.

476
00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:07,720
Speaker 2: There was a lot of leads that came in that

477
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:10,880
Speaker 2: were followed off on, but none of them pouned out.

478
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:14,119
Speaker 1: A billboard even went up along a local highway with

479
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:17,639
Speaker 1: a picture of Lloyd Dixie and Stephen then offered a

480
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:22,120
Speaker 1: one thousand dollars reward for information, but still there were

481
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:23,440
Speaker 1: no arrests.

482
00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:25,760
Speaker 2: That was the hardest part of this case for me

483
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:29,960
Speaker 2: was knowing that we have not been able to bring

484
00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:31,119
Speaker 2: justice for this family.

485
00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:33,920
Speaker 1: And it wasn't just Shari who was pressuring the New

486
00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:37,320
Speaker 1: Mexico State Police. Here's TV reporter Alex Tomlin.

487
00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 6: There was an incredible amount of pressure from that small

488
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:44,400
Speaker 6: knit community, but also the surrounding communities and pretty much

489
00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:47,120
Speaker 6: all of the state saying you've got to find who

490
00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:50,320
Speaker 6: did this. You could not take a family who more

491
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:52,439
Speaker 6: people said nice things about and have a more awful

492
00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:55,639
Speaker 6: thing happened to them. I mean, they are bludgeoned to

493
00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:57,960
Speaker 6: death with a pickaxe.

494
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:02,159
Speaker 1: Publicly, the police didn't reveal much about other potential suspects,

495
00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:06,640
Speaker 1: but behind the scenes, it was a different story. Aside

496
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:11,880
Speaker 1: from Shari and her husband Jesse investigators interviewed numerous pupil Then,

497
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:16,159
Speaker 1: sixteen months after the murders, a local twenty three year

498
00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:20,480
Speaker 1: old woman named Ashley Roibald got arrested. While she's in custody,

499
00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:23,240
Speaker 1: she tells the police something astonishing.

500
00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:25,200
Speaker 5: Is it okay to call you? Ashley?

501
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:25,919
Speaker 4: All right?

502
00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,840
Speaker 5: I understand that you know some details.

503
00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:33,200
Speaker 1: I did it. Ashley tells detectives that she knows who

504
00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:35,800
Speaker 1: killed Lloyd Dixie and Stephen Ortiz.

505
00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,320
Speaker 6: It isn't until Ashley Roibald gets in trouble that all

506
00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:41,240
Speaker 6: of a sudden she's willing to tell police what happened.

507
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:43,000
Speaker 5: I'll just let you go ahead and tell me the story.

508
00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:46,719
Speaker 6: It was almost like the answer everyone had been waiting for. It.

509
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:51,600
Speaker 1: Ashley Roibald kept quiet for sixteen months. During that time,

510
00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:56,199
Speaker 1: Shari juggled losing her mom, dad, and brother, well be

511
00:27:56,359 --> 00:27:59,639
Speaker 1: looked at by everyone as a suspect, all while she

512
00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:03,160
Speaker 1: could collect their life insurance money, and was scared she'd

513
00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:08,240
Speaker 1: lose everything. But now, sixteen months later, Ashley was finally

514
00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:08,760
Speaker 1: ready to.

515
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:12,640
Speaker 4: Talk, and this was the turning point on the investigation.

516
00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:14,760
Speaker 1: But would anyone believe Ashley?

517
00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:18,240
Speaker 6: There's things that kind of don't match up they're shifting stories.

518
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:19,800
Speaker 5: We just want the truth.

519
00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:23,159
Speaker 1: They say. The wheels of justice move very slowly, and

520
00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:26,520
Speaker 1: in this case that would prove to be an understatement.

521
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:30,600
Speaker 6: And I remember thinking, oh God, here we go again.

522
00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:32,920
Speaker 6: This poor family has been through the ring error.

523
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:35,720
Speaker 5: I would have never suspected that it was going to

524
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:36,359
Speaker 5: come down to this.

525
00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:40,160
Speaker 1: Find out what Ashley says really happened that night, and

526
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:44,280
Speaker 1: part two of the Father's Day Murders. That's next time

527
00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:52,360
Speaker 1: on American Homicide. You can contact the American Homicide team

528
00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:57,040
Speaker 1: by emailing us at American Homicide Pod at gmail dot com.

529
00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:02,600
Speaker 1: That's American Homicide Pod atmail dot com. American Homicide is

530
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,640
Speaker 1: hosted and written by me Sloane Glass and is a

531
00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:10,280
Speaker 1: production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group,

532
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:15,040
Speaker 1: in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced

533
00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:18,640
Speaker 1: by Nancy Glass and Todd Gans. The series is also

534
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:22,320
Speaker 1: written and produced by Todd Gans, with additional writing by

535
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:27,640
Speaker 1: Ben Fetterman and Andrea Gunny. Our associate producer is Kristin Melcurie.

536
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:33,000
Speaker 1: Our Ihearty is Ali Perry and Jessica Crimecheck. Audio editing

537
00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:38,840
Speaker 1: and mixing by Matt Delvecchio. Additional editing support from Nico Ruka, Tanner, Robbins,

538
00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:44,480
Speaker 1: brit Roebashow, Dave Seya, and Patrick Walsh. American Homicide's theme

539
00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:49,880
Speaker 1: song was composed by Oliver Bains of Neiser Music Library,

540
00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:54,480
Speaker 1: provided by My Music. Follow American Homicide on Apple Podcasts,

541
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,520
Speaker 1: and please rate and review American Homicide. Your five star

542
00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:01,760
Speaker 1: review goes a long way towards helping others find this show.

543
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:08,000
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544
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