WEBVTT - 4 | Swamp-ilvanya 0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:04.120 The Red Weather is a work of fiction, and the 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:07.320 resemblance to actual persons or events reflects the adaptation of real, 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:10.920 publicly available materials for creative and legal reasons. The content 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:13.600 of this podcast is the sole responsibility of Red Weather 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:16.480 LLC and does not reflect the views of responsibilities of 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:21.639 iHeartMedia or its affiliates. Previously on The Red Weather in 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:24.800 nineteen ninety five, my neighbor and a trainer disappeared from 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:26.639 the commune and a trainer was at a party in 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:30.480 downtown Sebastpoll She had a fight with her boyfriend. Oh man, 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:32.519 my boy, Mick, kid got a pass. 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:34.519 You got a pass. 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:38.960 Even if Mick managed to meet up with Anna then 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:41.479 murder her. Couldn't have getting rid of the body and 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:45.159 driven her car all the way to SFO. Not without hope, right, 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:47.640 not without help? And we know he was with the 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:51.120 rest of the night, Chris, they're here. When I finally 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:55.160 got the transcripts of el Rick's interrogations, I realized Maldonado 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:57.360 wasn't giving me the whole story. And look at that. 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:01.600 Oh who said that? That's Maldonado? Man, And you're going 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:11.960 to go meet this guy Sandals size six. I was 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:17.880 reading the evidence catalog for Anna Tranner's case, long sleeve shirt, necklace. 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:20.360 It was a list of objects recovered in the course 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:25.000 of the investigation, but the descriptions were vague, too vague, 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:28.920 like when it said sandals, did that mean birkenstocks or 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:34.920 flip flops? Or most frustrating, this three compact discs. I 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:37.039 think it doesn't even say what they are. I was 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:40.000 dying to know what albums it was Anna listening to 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:43.760 Smashing Pumpkins or Tory Amos. I mean that would say 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:46.880 something about her, wouldn't it. I wanted to read everything, 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:50.040 hold everything, but I also knew I couldn't help but 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:53.040 give my own history and my own emotions to these details. 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:55.800 And I was reminded of something maldon Auto said to 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:56.800 me a few days earlier. 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.720 You got to let the evidence tell the story, even 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:01.640 if it's not the one that you like or the 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:02.760 one that you want to get. 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:07.440 There's a big difference between finding meaning and giving meaning, 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:13.560 between understanding and fetishizing. And actually, the most important thing 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:16.080 I was looking for wasn't an object. It was a 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:19.639 few lines in the witness log gave three interviews. This 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.680 was more important than the CDs, the sandals, even the 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:27.680 small swift bullets in a plastic bag. But while I 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:31.120 was sitting there making this discovery, I couldn't react. 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:32.840 Yeah, lives like. 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:40.320 What not sure, even though he was sitting right next 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.160 to me and he was helping me. I couldn't let 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:45.920 Sheriff Maldonado know how much of a game changer this 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:49.000 was because after the last week, I wasn't sure I 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:52.800 could trust him. I am actor and filmmaker writer Strong. 0:02:53.520 --> 0:03:48.560 This is the red weather. I was two weeks into 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:53.280 reviewing the disappearance of Anna Trainor and getting nowhere new Elrich, 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:56.760 the leader of Anna's intentional community, the Tender Hearts, had 0:03:56.800 --> 0:03:59.280 an alibi, but this only brought me up to speed 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:01.720 with where the investingation turned cold in nineteen ninety five. 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.960 To get any further, I wanted access to the official 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.880 case file. Hi, it's Ryder Strong calling that again for 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:17.800 Sheriff Laughlin. Okay, uh yeah, okay, that'd be great, Thank you. Ooh, 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:19.839 I mean she is blowing you off, giving you the 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:22.680 cold shoulder. Yeah, but I don't. I'm I can't take 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:25.640 it personally, and at least Maldonada's talking to me. You 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:27.920 shouldn't even meet that guy. My friend Chris, who'd come 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:29.880 home to help me with the podcast, had good reason 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.080 to be wary. The day before, he had heard back 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:36.240 from Sparks, which I know sounds like a code name 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:39.160 I made up, but he called himself that for real. 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:39.400 Though. 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:41.080 You want to talk and a trainer, you got to 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:45.120 talk about those fuckers detecting that shit. Maldonado. 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:47.000 Come on, man, he. 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:49.520 Left this right after we saw the transcripts of Maldonado's 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:52.960 interrogations of el Rick. They had uncovered that Elrick was gay, 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:57.080 and Maldonado, talking to his deputies, had thrown out, oh 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:00.840 so casually an anti gay slur, your shocks that you 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:04.559 knew best palace sheriff is a homophobic Nazi fascist. Okay, 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:10.000 but I know it's awful, Yes it is. But that's 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:13.120 the way people talk back then, are you justifying it? No? No, 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:16.080 but well here, let me I don't cut this out 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:18.760 if you want me to. But didn't you use the 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:21.200 F word back then? That F word? I don't think 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:23.599 I did it. I probably did, and I didn't. I 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:27.240 didn't even think of it. Literally, It was just like, motherfucker. 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:30.279 It's just something I do it. Never even crossed my 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:33.679 mind until I was older, right, But when you got older, 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:37.560 you wised up. They were older back then, they were 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:41.960 grown up. And the problem was Maldonado was an essential 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:45.360 source if I wanted more information on this case. I 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:47.840 knew I was going to have to make compromises. So 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:52.240 the sad fact of the matter was I need his help. Fine, 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:58.760 but asking about it, I wasn't sure I could do that. 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:01.720 Ma wanted to meet at a fruit stand down the 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:04.960 road from my parents. You find these kinds of places 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:06.800 on the back roads of some on the county, a 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:09.920 cart or a little wooden structure, sometimes a truck where 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:13.960 farmers sell produce. They can develop into institutions that draw 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:18.760 hardcore fans acolytes, and Maldonado claimed that this one Little 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:26.080 Seed was the strawberry spots. Hey, how you doing, Hey, 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:26.760 good to meet you. 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:29.600 As legends. Family has been here for what decades? 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:33.720 Andres is the owner of little Seed? So how long 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:36.160 you've been here? Or I guess your family, you guys always. 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.680 Well, my family, my grandfather, he had the west side 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:42.640 of the valley, the whole hill actually before they put 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:44.799 in the fence and all that shit, and the grapes. 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:46.520 Actually, there weren't any grapes. 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:47.640 It was all orchards back then. 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:49.800 That's what I remember. My hometown used to be famous 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:54.600 for its apples, specifically the Gravenstein apple, and Maldonado had 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:55.600 a bit to say about that. 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:57.080 You lost the basketball guys name man. 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:00.880 It was from Russia, right Sebastopol and rushing some like 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:03.720 argument with a shop owner or something that he doesn't know, 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:06.599 andres rolled his eyes and I could tell he'd heard 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:08.520 this one before. Don't listen to this. 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:12.600 It was when they grew the first graven Stains and 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:15.320 Johnny Apples say, you know he was, of course, yeah, yeah, 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:17.520 well Johnny was coming to the area. 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:19.800 You really, you really don't know that. You can tell 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:21.360 him to stop though before it gets to you. 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:26.520 Okay, So Johnny's wandering the country barefoot, planting trees. 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:31.160 He's the apple guy, the apple prophet. So when he 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:32.880 came to town, that's a big deal. 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.480 Everyone wants to know what's old Johnny gonna think of 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:36.720 the grave Steam? 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:40.000 Well, he like it. People would play some bets. Andre's 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:42.680 your grandfather was there? That's your story? 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:46.200 Anyway, they bring him a gravity stea well for first 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:48.280 they got to decide which orchard they're. 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:50.000 Gonna take it from. There's a lot of. 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:50.880 Back and forth about this. 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:53.600 I only have so much time per episode, so suffice 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:58.720 to say Maldonado walked me through a classic shaggy dog story. 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:02.040 They were in this few Cooper's and the Martinelli's hate 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.680 e joke. People says because one of the Cooper boys 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:07.160 has run off with Martinelli's daughter. But everyone in that 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:09.559 fight was really about the golden tree. 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:13.560 One of those Mark Twain yarns that goes on way. 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:16.440 Too long actually gets on his dog and gallops to 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:19.600 the golden tree. Now, shots are fire bullets, wizm pass 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:20.200 his head. 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:23.480 To reach a very very underwhelming punchline. 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:25.640 Finally, Johny takes a bite of this fee. 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:33.559 He says, this is the best apple they've been sebastable 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:34.480 ever since. 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:37.560 That's that's horrible. 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:40.120 Well that's five minutes of your life and never get back. 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:44.319 Yeah, dad jokes. Aside, apples did define the area for decades. 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:48.560 Nowadays it's all cannabis and grapes, wine and weed. There 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:50.960 are only a few old school family spots like Andres 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.040 making do Oh, you gotta try this strawberry. 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:59.880 He's never added, Oh well, okay, oh yeah, right, that's right, 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:01.679 sevest Barry. 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:04.720 See you get it. 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:08.000 All right, let's take a work. 0:09:08.280 --> 0:09:10.120 We went to the edge of the Tender Hearts property 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:11.400 where Anna was last seen. 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:14.280 This is where the guys on the engine passed her. 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.280 I had told Maldonado that Willow started the fire that 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:21.360 night after she found cannabis in the barn, which looking 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:24.440 back now, I think was an act of rebelling against 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:28.080 her mom. Yeah, she was totally pissed at Laney. My 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:31.000 buddy Connor and I talked about this. Willow was being 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:34.200 raised by her mom and all these other women on 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:36.560 the Tender Hearts property, and they were supposed to be 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:40.040 spiritual idealists. But when she found a barn full of weed, 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:44.240 she knew the rumors were true. They were dealing drugs 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:47.520 and she lit it up, so you knew where it started. 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.640 Oh yeah, we would smell the pot too, but it 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:54.400 was gone. And connecting those dots to Anna, well we 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:54.960 had nutty. 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:58.840 There's an irony here. By burning the weed she found, 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:03.400 Willow actually prevented Elrick and her mom and the Tender 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:07.320 Hearts from being charged with anything. There was no cannabis left, 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:11.200 so there was no evidence. But in terms of Anna, 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:15.480 even after Elrick's alibi, Maldonado and his team focused on 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:16.320 the Tender Hearts. 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:19.440 Okay, but that see, that doesn't make any sense to me. Right, 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:23.720 they were a cult, but they weren't not really. Well, look, 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:25.800 we know that now, I know that, you know that. 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:27.599 But at the time, I mean, that was part of 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:28.400 the zeitgeist. 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:30.920 That's Monica Tremblaine, a reporter who was helping me. 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.319 I mean, I guess you know about satanic panic, right, 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:36.040 or wasn't that the eighties? 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:36.560 No? 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:39.680 I mean at the West Memphis three all that that 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.640 was the nineties. This was a good point. In ninety five. 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:47.400 There were still rampant fears of cults, ritualistic killings. I 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:50.640 even did a somewhat infamous episode of Boy Meets World 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.800 where my character joined a cult. I believe that I 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:57.000 finally found a place where people let me be who 0:10:57.040 --> 0:10:59.720 I am, you know, without trying to change me or 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:01.959 or need to know what my goals are in life. 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:04.880 I mean, why do I need that? Sean? What do 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:06.280 you believe? What do you believe? 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:06.760 In Corey? 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:10.920 The transcripts and the message from Sparks were weighing heavily 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:15.160 on me. Was Sheriff Maldonado biased in this investigation, too 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:19.120 obsessed with weed and focused on the Culti commune, maybe 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:23.080 even targeting Elric personally. It took me almost an hour 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:24.120 before I could bring it up. 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:27.080 The search party started in groups from here and then 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:28.680 fanned out. 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:36.520 Well, I'll show you so. 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:39.040 Yeah. Lachlan sent me the transcripts and I went through 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:42.199 the interviews with Elric. 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:48.040 He played coy what a take three or four sitting 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:50.199 downs before he finally broke broke. 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:52.959 I mean, he didn't admit that anything happened to do 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:57.200 with Anna Man had secrets. 0:11:56.920 --> 0:12:01.120 Okay, but you know it wasn't There's one part in 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:03.400 the transcripts where you refer to him as a fagot? 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:07.680 Did I? 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:13.120 Yeah, it's the full quote. Is the Swami turned out 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:14.080 to be a fagot? 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:23.120 Damn? Well know it's different times back then. 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.599 It's a slightly awkward moment because on one hand he 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:30.040 was acknowledging the thing, but then on the other not really. 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:35.160 But then what do I expect an apology to? Who? Did? 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:38.200 I want him to break down and cry and shame 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:41.200 and admit to some deep seated bigotry. Well, but so 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:48.000 I've been thinking about in general with the tender hearts community. Sure, 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:51.960 but you know what they were doing, what they were 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:56.440 actually doing, that it'd be legal now. Maldonado only nodded. 0:12:56.679 --> 0:13:01.400 They were, you know, living off the land, selling cannabis. 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:05.000 They were breaking the loan, right. 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:05.439 But. 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:12.400 Knowing now laws have changed, I mean, doesn't has it 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:13.600 changed the way that you feel? 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:18.960 How I feel about what? 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:24.800 Well, you know, investigating, interrogating him, arresting him if you 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:28.280 could hindsight's easy. Yeah, but you were I mean, you 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:32.960 had the authority. 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:34.960 Should I have called him a name? 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:36.160 No? 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:39.520 But I've said a lot of stupid shit in my dear, 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:41.360 a lot of stupid ship. 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:47.960 Look, there's there's there's no excuse. But the job is 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:53.839 always the same. I'm not I'm not making the laws. Okay, 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:55.640 I know what you're saying. I do. 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:59.280 But but guys get in trouble if they start thinking 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:02.080 that they can decide which laws to care about, which 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:06.400 one's not to. You can't decide what evidence you like 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:11.000 or don't like, which suspect or which witness. If I'm 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:13.840 doing my job, I'm letting the evidence tell the story. Okay, 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:18.520 it speaks for itself. I'm more like a reader a listener, 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:22.560 So you gotta let the evidence tell the story, even 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:24.440 if it's not the one that you like or the. 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:25.320 One that you want to hear. 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:27.880 That guy is utterly. 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:29.760 Full of shit. The next day, when I met up 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:31.920 with Sparks, he had a different take. 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:35.520 Mall and I was barely a cop, totally a dickhit. 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:55.480 Oh he picked up. Hey, it's Chris Delveccio. Chris got 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:58.040 Sparks to agree to meet with me. I do know 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:00.880 his real first name, but I'm going to stick with 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:05.200 Sparks for legal reasons, but also it fits. No no 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:08.000 no no no no no. No cameras. It's a podcast. 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:10.360 They'll have like a microphone. You won't even know it's there. 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:12.520 I actually won't be there. I got to get back 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:14.880 to LA, but it'll be you and Rider, and you 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:18.000 remember writer. Chris was catching a flight home, and I 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:20.720 was sad to see him go. It felt like a 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:22.240 sign that I wasn't getting anywhere. 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.240 Don't beat yourself up if you don't solve anything. 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:28.480 This would be cool to at least have this stuff recorded, right, 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:31.000 And you got the box with the pager. Yes, great, 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:33.520 we found a pager on my parents' property. It was 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:37.040 mostly a random relic from the nineties, but I wanted 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:39.160 to see if we could extract numbers from it. All Right, 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:43.760 so there are private investigators who specialize in old technology, 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:46.240 but they no, they're pricey as hell. 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:47.360 What are we talking about. 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.480 It's like four thousand dollars just a look, I know, 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:53.920 I have a guy. Surprisingly, this is an area where 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:57.600 Hollywood connections came in Handy. Chris is a TV writer 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:00.360 and he's worked on some big shows, including one that 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:03.800 needed outdated technology props. Okay, man, so you've got to 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:06.960 buy email, writer's email, my number, writer's number. You are 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:07.600 in the loop. 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:08.760 Thank you, thank you, thank you. 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:12.800 Ranking Lyle Rinkin runs a tech consulting company for art departments. 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:15.560 When you're making a show with medical machines or computers, 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.120 especially period pieces, you need someone who has all that 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:20.840 stuff and knows how to run it. 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:22.360 Okay, there you go. 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:25.120 He's gonna try it, my boy, rinking He's got you. Yes, 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:28.080 he is actually a next level order, way worse than 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:31.920 your parents. He has two warehouses, just like wall to 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:33.840 wall Ark of the Covenant. 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:37.000 He has that. 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:39.720 Yeah, in the valley, God, I would love to see that. 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:42.240 We boxed the pager up and Chris took it to 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:44.440 the post office on his way to the airport. He 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:47.720 was heading back to his normal life, normal work, which 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:50.800 made me feel like maybe I should too. I did 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:52.800 have a script I was supposed to be writing, after all, 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:58.760 but for now I went to meet Sparks. I suddenly 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:02.280 felt very alone. Sparks had sent a Google Maps pin 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.320 deep in West County, but there was no service. Once 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:08.359 I got close. I ended up going down this dirt 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:11.800 road for ten minutes. I didn't even see any houses. 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:15.159 There were some rusty cars, farm equipment. I had to 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:19.040 turn around a few times. Finally I found a gravel 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:32.720 driveway that dead ended. There was a garage. Hello, Hello, fuck. 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:38.200 I got or Die up as soon as I saw him. 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:41.119 I knew I had met Sparks in the nineties, but 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:44.159 he remembered Chris better. He brought him up while I 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:45.240 was setting up my mics. 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:50.000 Christo that yeah, man, I couldn't believe getting a call 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:54.760 from his ass. While You remember Danny Carino, Yeah yeah, 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:56.919 he was like a big tall guy. Oh yeah, man, 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:00.879 he's the massive Delatio constantly really yeah, you remember the 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:02.800 whole fancy pants. 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:06.199 Thing I actually did. Chris had Warren suspenders to the 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:08.760 eighth grade dance. He never lived that down. 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:11.119 Yeah, I thought it was normal. I called him fancy 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:14.399 pants he did. Oh dude, he lost his shit really? 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:16.280 Oh yeah, I went up on top of coffee cats. 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:17.280 He was throwing chairs. 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:21.280 What yeah, Chris? Yeah, bro, I think I would have 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:25.879 heard about my best friend throwing chairs around, which maybe 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:29.520 was my first indication that I should take everything that 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:32.600 Sparks said with a grain of salt. But then he 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:35.399 had a lot of interesting things to say about Anna's case. 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:37.280 And over a fact, mcsorted bullshit. 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:40.240 He meant, Mick Bowden and his ex boyfriend. Okay, so 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:41.520 what do you mean, Oh. 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:44.399 He's suddenly not with his girlfriends, like vanishes into the 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:46.480 thin air. He's with a new chick he. 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:49.840 Was talking about. After Anna page Mick, he tried to 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:51.760 pick her up at the payphone, but she never showed, 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:54.520 and so Mick said, he then spent the night. 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:58.600 With Here's nobody remembers it was Halloween, right, but there's 0:18:58.640 --> 0:18:59.560 school in next day. 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:02.439 Was true. It was easy for me to forget because 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:05.280 I wasn't in a normal school situation. I was still 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:08.000 traveling back and forth to work in LA and going 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:10.040 to a tiny alternative school in the woods. 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:12.000 Oh, you know, I used to post up a gad 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:14.960 flies you know that spot get some coffee before driving 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:19.040 up to Rosa. I saw it come to school that morning. 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:21.760 And she was by herself. 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:23.720 Jie said, Nick was with it. 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:28.680 Later, guess you got brand new Jetta? Oh for that? Yeah, 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:28.919 I do. 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:30.680 Actually the next month. 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:33.520 Dude, are you saying she full on't changed his story? 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:35.120 Suddenly she's dating Mick. 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:36.880 Oh so they dated for real? 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:41.040 Yeah, six months and then she's driving that sweet sweet Jedda. 0:19:41.400 --> 0:19:43.280 Cars were a big deal when we were teens, a 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:47.760 big marker of identity. We knew who everybody's car was. 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:50.960 We knew everybody's mom's car. We could tell who was 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:54.840 that Coffeecats or Round Table Pizza or any parking lot 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:59.560 by driving by and seeing their car. So it's not surprising. 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:04.359 Even my brother Shiloh remembers the Jetta uh purple uh 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:12.000 nineteen ninety five Volkswagen Jetta stick shift tinted windows. Yeah, 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:15.800 I mean it's a stretch, I know. I know, in 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.600 situations like this, you really got to ask yourself how 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:23.480 reliable is your source, as in, can I trust a 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:26.280 drug dealer? Well, come on, and somebody that's not a 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:28.920 huge fan of cops to begin with. That was true. 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:32.040 Sparks spent a lot of time giving me his opinion 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:32.960 of law enforcement. 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:35.400 Let's talk about Moll the not God, dude, I mean 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:36.080 he's a cop. 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:36.920 Cops are dicks. 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:39.679 The thing about that most of the cops is like 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:41.320 they would just be a dick to your face. And 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:43.840 like him to your face, he's all cool, like mister, 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:46.720 you know, I your buddy, you know, right, your pal, 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:48.359 And then you know he was really not. 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:50.159 He was like trying to play a game, and like 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:54.040 you know with me, he knew, he knew where I ran. Like, yeah, 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:56.680 we had this little spot called Swamp of Vania. You 0:20:56.720 --> 0:20:57.480 ever hang out there? 0:20:57.680 --> 0:20:57.880 No? 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:00.280 Really? Yeah, oh yeah, I guess you're going. 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:01.520 Yeah. 0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:03.880 I was cool man, Like we just sit, we were 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:04.560 chill and drink. 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:04.760 You know. 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:06.320 It was like this in this little kind. 0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:09.359 Of like ravine water, like a culvert. 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:12.639 Yeah yeah, yeah, And you know he knew about it 0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:15.360 and like let us have it because you know, he'd 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:17.000 come to me every once in a while and like, 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:18.680 you know, watch some intel. 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:21.960 You so you're you were like an informant. 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:24.240 Oh yeah, he wishes. 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:25.760 Yeah. 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:29.080 Anyway, one time we went out to went out to 0:21:29.119 --> 0:21:33.040 the spot Swamplvania and shit was trashed, couch was all 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:36.200 ripped up. Oh dude even put like barbed wire across 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:38.240 the path we used to get out there. 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:39.520 How do you know that it was him? 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:40.200 Oh? 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:42.560 Because it was the day after he came to me 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:45.280 and he wanted to know about some meth thing going 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:48.680 on in Forestville or something I did or anything. I 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:51.000