Speaker 1: Ridiculous crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Uh, Liza bit, I'm great ish welcome to the musical
Speaker 2: I call hanging out with Zaren.
Speaker 1: I love that you basically live in a music.
Speaker 2: I want you to sing responses back to me for
Speaker 2: this entire episode. Can you do that? Our download numbers
Speaker 2: crater Luckily everyone to protect it because I can't say,
Speaker 2: please tell a friend tell me you know, there you go.
Speaker 2: I have another question for you, though, besides my lack
Speaker 2: of singing talent. Yeah, do you know what's ridiculous? I do?
Speaker 2: I do?
Speaker 1: We got an email from this person? Is not ridiculous?
Speaker 1: Are our wake sent to us? An email with the
Speaker 1: title Taco Bell Now Taco bells in the news A
Speaker 1: little bit through for the old downstairs Kublamo.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what the kids are calling the Maha blast.
Speaker 1: I you know, if like I don't know, maybe I'll
Speaker 1: go try song.
Speaker 2: Oh I'm definitely going to go, you know, dial up
Speaker 2: some Taco bell weight loss program.
Speaker 1: For it's like a fun topic of conversation to help people.
Speaker 1: You guys. It's better than like oh I had COVID,
Speaker 1: because it's like, oh, now I have long lasting things
Speaker 1: and it destroyed my mute. No, this would just be
Speaker 1: like yo, it was crazy, and then you just tell
Speaker 1: people in detail.
Speaker 2: I got that RKA, diarrhea, the brain, the butt.
Speaker 1: Worms, taco bell the top right back on topic, Yeah,
Speaker 1: are our wake And it says, and I quote, I
Speaker 1: just want you all to know that there is a
Speaker 1: taco bell at Stonehenge. It's actually three miles up the road,
Speaker 1: but perfect if you just spent all day walking around
Speaker 1: the rocks and then like an okay sign emoji and
Speaker 1: then a map link.
Speaker 2: And you know, I love maps and I love to
Speaker 2: know where taco bells are located.
Speaker 1: So I went to street view and it's a pretty
Speaker 1: bleak looking taco bell and there's just not a whole
Speaker 1: lot going on around it. And it's a very brutalist
Speaker 1: like square minimalist.
Speaker 2: Building, opposite of the Pacific Taco Bell there on the beach.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the most beautiful taco bell in the world. Right
Speaker 1: next door Greg's the Baker with a drive through.
Speaker 2: I'm probably gonna hit Gregg's up to Oh my.
Speaker 1: God, I would not eat for like three days. I'd
Speaker 1: go to sea Stonehenge. It would be a spiritual experience.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and the druids would whisper into my brain,
Speaker 1: and then I would get in the car, driving on
Speaker 1: the wrong side of the street as far as I'm concerned,
Speaker 1: go to Gregs, get some stuff in the drive through,
Speaker 1: and then is there a Taco Bell drive through? There is?
Speaker 1: And then I hit the Taco Bell drive through, and
Speaker 1: then I go back to Stonehenge and I'd sit in
Speaker 1: the parking lot and shame.
Speaker 2: Eat double up. Uh.
Speaker 1: I don't think there is a parking lot. It's Stonehenge.
Speaker 2: I think it's like, I think there has to be
Speaker 2: some kind of car park situation.
Speaker 1: Never, I just drive, you know what. I would drive
Speaker 1: my rental car smack deb in the middle of the
Speaker 1: stone the grass.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, sorry about your.
Speaker 1: Sorry, buddy brother. I'm looking at this whole thing. There's
Speaker 1: there's a McDonald's there. They're open twenty four hours, pizza hut.
Speaker 1: McDonald's twenty four is for all the druids.
Speaker 2: You've thought about this.
Speaker 1: I think about druids all day.
Speaker 2: I tell you one thing that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: I know it is. So yeah, thank you are are
Speaker 1: now that we know. I've never been to Stonehead. Do
Speaker 1: you want to go?
Speaker 2: I do want to go? I want to see it too, and.
Speaker 1: I also want to get Gregg's and Taco Bell there.
Speaker 2: I can never line up to schedule. Do I want
Speaker 2: to be there on the equinox? Do I want to
Speaker 2: like the vernal or the autumnal? I just don't know.
Speaker 1: Do I want to get explosive diarrhea there?
Speaker 2: Yes? Now, keeping it a you know, English and culture
Speaker 2: for you. As my man Billy Shakespeare once famously said
Speaker 2: in Hamlet, Act one, scene three, Oh, I've heard of
Speaker 2: that to thine own self be true, yeah, which truly
Speaker 2: is sage advice. However, around here, we and I mean
Speaker 2: we me could paraphrase that quote and add our own twist.
Speaker 2: For instance, we and by we I mean me might say,
Speaker 2: to thine own self do crime. This is ridiculous Crime
Speaker 2: A podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists, and cons.
Speaker 2: It's always ninety nine percent murder free and one hundred
Speaker 2: percent ridiculous. Oh, Elizabeth, you and I on the mic
Speaker 2: and off the mic, We've often talked about you winning
Speaker 2: the lottery, Oh god, yeah, And I've asked you what
Speaker 2: you would do with the money. I've asked you who
Speaker 2: you would stay with your windfall of cats today, I
Speaker 2: want to ask you a different question if you were
Speaker 2: or should say, when you win the lottery, thank you
Speaker 2: who trust enough to tell them about your good luck?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: How many folks would you tell?
Speaker 1: I would tell you, Oh, thank you. You keep confidence,
Speaker 1: you know you, so I would tell you. I'd probably
Speaker 1: tell my brother, Hm, I like that.
Speaker 2: I don't know after that, it gets down real quick.
Speaker 1: My best friend Sarah, I would tell her, and then
Speaker 1: my mom, because that's all.
Speaker 2: You know. I'd be like as your legal team, he'd.
Speaker 1: Tell as my attorney, Drew.
Speaker 2: So how would you keep your good luck secret once
Speaker 2: you started spending the money?
Speaker 1: Well, you know I would not be an extravagant spender,
Speaker 1: so you know I wouldn't go burn money on a boat.
Speaker 2: No pink Cadillacs for you.
Speaker 1: No, I wouldn't move to a different house. Okay, you
Speaker 1: know I think at least not right away. You know,
Speaker 1: these people go and they just like yeah, And.
Speaker 2: So I've been like three or four years. I think
Speaker 2: most of them do not have.
Speaker 1: The money right and I would. I mean, I would
Speaker 1: have it all set up, so it's sort of like
Speaker 1: I'm not touching the bulk of it. I'm living off
Speaker 1: of the interest that's generated, it's smart. And then you
Speaker 1: know what it would do is just give breathing room.
Speaker 1: And it would give breathing room to me until people
Speaker 1: they care about. So it's not like here's five million
Speaker 1: dollars go crazy, Yes, but it's like, no one would
Speaker 1: ever have to worry in my in my life, in
Speaker 1: my orbit, would have to worry about like medical bills
Speaker 1: or utilities or anything. And like then in terms of them,
Speaker 1: when you see like, oh, people that you can kick
Speaker 1: down to, those are anonymous donations, and.
Speaker 2: Then you throw in a couple like oh you can
Speaker 2: eat spam parties just for fun.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I've been having these great parties for my friends,
Speaker 1: and I bet you guys have been saving up so.
Speaker 2: Long just for you guys.
Speaker 1: And then I tell them I'm going on vacation and
Speaker 1: they know, oh, she's going to Rome. They don't know
Speaker 1: that I'm staying in like a five star hotel.
Speaker 2: The whole time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that would be my little secret.
Speaker 2: Okay, I like this, what about you?
Speaker 1: How would you would you hide it?
Speaker 2: I would probably give the money away, knowing I shouldn't
Speaker 2: have it with you. Yeah, I'd be like, this is
Speaker 2: not meant for me somehow the universe has made a
Speaker 2: mistake and I'd give it all away.
Speaker 1: I'm right here if that ever happens, Okay.
Speaker 2: I'll keep that in mind. Now. The reason why I
Speaker 2: ask all this is related to a story I want
Speaker 2: to tell you today. Yeah, there's one big danger for
Speaker 2: a lottery renter is that other people, unscrupulous people, possibly
Speaker 2: violent people, learn who the winner is and then they
Speaker 2: target them for a crime.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Now, you don't have to be a lottery winner for
Speaker 2: this to occur. It should just be that you, say,
Speaker 2: discover a gold strike, oh, perhaps a lost sunken treasure.
Speaker 2: The results can be the same. You become a target
Speaker 2: for crime. But what if it's not you, but rather
Speaker 2: someone close to you who holds this treasure? Again, the
Speaker 2: results can be the same. You can become a target
Speaker 2: for crime just because you know someone proximity who holds
Speaker 2: a fortune that someone else wants to steal.
Speaker 1: I don't like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you could be ransom to get the fortune. You
Speaker 2: can be forced to tell how to get a hold
Speaker 2: of that fortune. Crimer's got options, Elizabeth. This is what
Speaker 2: happened to the young man I want to tell you
Speaker 2: about today. Oh no, yes, his name is Brandon Souls.
Speaker 2: At the time he was nineteen years old, he was
Speaker 2: living in the city of Coolidge, Arizona. Now, if you
Speaker 2: don't know it, Coolidge is a one named after the
Speaker 2: former president. It's also a small town located about fifty
Speaker 2: five miles southeast from Phoenix or sixty nine miles northwest
Speaker 2: of Tucson. Whichever one you want to use is your
Speaker 2: point of rep relative.
Speaker 1: So it's Coolidge, like the President, not like like Surfer
Speaker 1: Valley sink Coolidge.
Speaker 2: No one says.
Speaker 1: They don't like Stuckie.
Speaker 2: That does people do maximums? Serious?
Speaker 1: Well you heard it today.
Speaker 2: They bent you hear that kids added to the lexicon.
Speaker 1: You know, forgets six seven.
Speaker 2: So what cold Coolidge? The town is located there in
Speaker 2: what is basically the unforgiving Sonoran Desert. Oh yeah, right now,
Speaker 2: this small town, it boasts a population of roughly twenty
Speaker 2: thousand citizens today. Back then it's just a few thousand less.
Speaker 2: It was originally a town known for growing cotton and
Speaker 2: for mining. But it does have a share of famous
Speaker 2: folks I looked up who were either from Coolidge or
Speaker 2: spent some formative time there. For instance, guitarist Dwayne Eddie
Speaker 2: is from Coolidge, Arizona. He even graduated from Coolidge High
Speaker 2: also named for the president Supercoe. There's also Lee Hazlewood
Speaker 2: and in the early nineteen fifties he spent two years
Speaker 2: working as a disc jockey in Coolidge and that's where
Speaker 2: he met Dwayne Eddie and then the two went to
Speaker 2: work together, and together they made the song Rebel Rouser
Speaker 2: right right. I'd love that one, the early instrumental rock
Speaker 2: song with that lonesome, ghostly guitar playing at the beginning
Speaker 2: and then later on the drums and the sacks kick
Speaker 2: in because it's still like their fifties anyway. I always
Speaker 2: like that song, so you know it was also a
Speaker 2: disc jockey on the radio at Coolidge, Arizona. I'll give
Speaker 2: you a hint. My man's name rhymes with Maylan ten.
Speaker 1: Rings, Wolfmanchak, Yes, my man Whaylon Jennings.
Speaker 2: This was obviously or not obviously. This was just before
Speaker 2: he joined Buddy Holly's band as a guitar player. He
Speaker 2: became a DJ in his teens. So yeah, anyway, back
Speaker 2: to Lee Hazelwood. After his time as a DJ in Coolidge,
Speaker 2: Lee Hazelwood went on to become a producer in his
Speaker 2: own right. He quite famously produced a song for a
Speaker 2: friend of the show, Nancy Sinatra, a little number called
Speaker 2: These Boots Were Made for Walking, great song, another great song.
Speaker 2: It was her father, Frank Sinatra Senior, who asked Lee
Speaker 2: Hazelwood to sort of shepherd his daughter's music career. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you see, Nancy had followed her father and her older brother,
Speaker 2: Frank Sinatra Junior, into the music business. Yeah. Obviously we
Speaker 2: talked about Frank Sinatra Junior before, thanks to his famous abduction.
Speaker 2: That hilarious story deserved its whole own episode. In fact,
Speaker 2: it was our first episode.
Speaker 1: No second or third, third, Guy Fiery was the first.
Speaker 2: Oh right, well, whatever, you have no.
Speaker 1: Notion of ridiculous crime history to you, You don't. It's history.
Speaker 1: No real eyes realize, real lives.
Speaker 2: To own self have some mysteries. So anyway, I digress
Speaker 2: because the reason I bring all this up is I'd
Speaker 2: like to stay with that same theme, a ridiculous criminal abduction. Okay, Elizabeth,
Speaker 2: let's get back to our young man from Coolidge, nineteen
Speaker 2: year old Brandon Souls.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: He was abducted in Coolidge, Arizona, and the reason was
Speaker 2: plain and simple. His father had a huge sum of gold.
Speaker 2: When recognizing that owning so much gold might put him
Speaker 2: at risk for some petty crime, he buried it in
Speaker 2: the dirt and sand of the Sonoran Desert around Coolidge. Okay, now,
Speaker 2: this is precaution.
Speaker 1: But not on just his own property.
Speaker 2: No, did like a trap. He had like a treasure
Speaker 2: map to find his gold. This precaution didn't stop some
Speaker 2: ambitious criminals from abducting the one person they believed could
Speaker 2: guide them to this hidden buried gold aka his nineteen
Speaker 2: year old son, Brandon.
Speaker 1: Brandon, When was this?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: What time frame?
Speaker 2: This? The story takes place in twenty twenty one?
Speaker 1: Okay, wow, Okay, so he was rather recently. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So, according to old Brandon, he went out the fateful
Speaker 2: morning of his abduction and he ran some errands, just
Speaker 2: normal day to day stuff. After his errands were done,
Speaker 2: he returned home and that's when two masked men confronted him.
Speaker 2: They hit him on the head, knocking him out. That's
Speaker 2: always beat. So when Brandon comes back to consciousness, he's
Speaker 2: now in the back of an unfamiliar vehicle. Oh No,
Speaker 2: turns out the two mask men had grabbed him, shoved
Speaker 2: in the back of their car, and they were driving
Speaker 2: him around waiting for him to come too. Once Brandon's conscious,
Speaker 2: the two mask men demand that he show them where
Speaker 2: his father buried his cash of gold.
Speaker 1: He's like, you just gave me a TBI. I can't.
Speaker 1: I cannot help you.
Speaker 2: I'm fromatic brand injury.
Speaker 1: Yes, i have to relearn language.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, for these two mask men, not only did they
Speaker 2: give Brandon TBI, but his father had not entrusted him
Speaker 2: with the locations of this period gold, so no matter
Speaker 2: how long they drove him around in the desert, he
Speaker 2: couldn't help them find the hidden treasure. So the two
Speaker 2: mask men they grow frustrated. Their frustration soon turns to irritation,
Speaker 2: and once they fully believe him that this son of
Speaker 2: a gold hoarder has no idea where the gold is,
Speaker 2: they decide to let him go.
Speaker 1: Brandon like his dad never even told me at golds
Speaker 1: atolute Brandon is.
Speaker 2: Rather than take him back to his home where they'd
Speaker 2: grabbed him, they drove him out into the desert and
Speaker 2: they left him there where some passers by might see
Speaker 2: him and hopefully rescue the nineteen year old before he
Speaker 2: died from his injuries or from exposure.
Speaker 1: Yeh.
Speaker 2: Luckily for Brandon, that's exactly what happened. At about five
Speaker 2: twenty five pm on February tenth, twenty twenty one, the
Speaker 2: Coolidge Police Department received a call. The caller said they
Speaker 2: found a young man who was clearly injured. He been
Speaker 2: left bound and gag near the train tracks in city
Speaker 2: water tower. Oh good, Yeah. The young man, according to
Speaker 2: the caller, was coming in and out of consciousness. Rough business.
Speaker 1: Eliza, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Police responded the call, as The New York Times reported,
Speaker 2: and I quote. When the officers arrived, they found a
Speaker 2: man later identified as mister Souls with his hands bound
Speaker 2: behind his back by a belt and a purple bandana
Speaker 2: stuffed in his mouth, according to police. A photo from
Speaker 2: the police department showed the man with his hands tied
Speaker 2: while lying on his side on the ground.
Speaker 1: Hmmm bad, right, so the police.
Speaker 2: So, the police were eager to find these perps who'd
Speaker 2: roughed up this nineteen year old young man and left
Speaker 2: him in the desert. So they asked Brandon what all
Speaker 2: he could recall his kidnappers. According to the police, Brandon
Speaker 2: told them and I quote, he was hit in the
Speaker 2: head and stuffed in a car in front of his home,
Speaker 2: and this occurred after seven o'clock in the morning. That
Speaker 2: wasn't much to go off of, no, and since they
Speaker 2: were masked men, he couldn't really describe what they looked like.
Speaker 2: As for any possible motive for their crimes, Brandon informed
Speaker 2: police that his kidnapping occurred because his father had a
Speaker 2: lot of gold hidden in the desert and the men
Speaker 2: mistakenly believed he knew where it was and that he
Speaker 2: could take them and they would dig up the hidden
Speaker 2: treasure and boom they be rich.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Naturally, when the police hear all this, they get curious,
Speaker 2: like wait, what so to THETT right, Yeah, they're like,
Speaker 2: bring out the good stuff. So, while Brandon's taken to
Speaker 2: the hospital to seek treatment for his injuries, the police
Speaker 2: launch a full on investigation to find his abductors, and
Speaker 2: as their investigation takes shape, the police also took to
Speaker 2: Facebook to warn residents of Coolidge about the crime and
Speaker 2: these alleged abductors in case there's anybody else with a
Speaker 2: gold horde in the desert that they might be interested in.
Speaker 2: So the Coolidge police post on their Facebook page as
Speaker 2: you do in a small town, and I quote the
Speaker 2: male subject whose hands were bound behind his back with
Speaker 2: a belt and had a bandana stuffed in his mouth. Initially,
Speaker 2: the subject reported officers that two masked men kidnapped him,
Speaker 2: hit his head, knocking him unconscious, and drove him around
Speaker 2: in a vehicle before they left him in the area
Speaker 2: he was found. So that's pretty much all the details.
Speaker 2: I'm like, so we get a couple more cops like this,
Speaker 2: all we got.
Speaker 1: Getting knocked unconscious is a very TV thing, like a
Speaker 1: very amnesia thing. Yes, I don't know.
Speaker 2: Your instincts are sound, yeah, because there's a key word
Speaker 2: in that police statement, Elizabeth. Initially because over time Brandon
Speaker 2: Soul's story started to change. Details were corrected, timelines were adjusted,
Speaker 2: and the shape of the crime completely transformed. Turns out
Speaker 2: there was far more to the story than what Brandon
Speaker 2: Soul's originally told police. As the police continue to investigate
Speaker 2: his abduction, the facts never quite corroborated his story or
Speaker 2: the stories he evolved. You know. But before we get
Speaker 2: into all that, let's take a little break and after
Speaker 2: these messages, we'll get deeper into this story to separate
Speaker 2: fact from fiction and kind of uncover the truth. But first,
Speaker 2: a word from our sponsors, and we're back Elizabeth. Hello. Now,
Speaker 2: before the break, I told you the story of the
Speaker 2: abduction of Brandon Souls and how two masked men grabbed
Speaker 2: him and demanded that he show them where his father
Speaker 2: had buried a bunch of gold in the Arizona desert. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and when that didn't work out, they just left him
Speaker 2: in the desert. Well, that wasn't the full story, as
Speaker 2: I started to indicate there at the end. You want
Speaker 2: to take a guess of what the real story was.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm going to guess that Brandon didn't know where
Speaker 1: his dad buried the gold and thought that maybe this
Speaker 1: is how he could get access to Oh that's good,
Speaker 1: but he faked it. I don't think anybody hit him
Speaker 1: on the He may have hit himself on the head.
Speaker 2: Oh that's interesting, and.
Speaker 1: Or maybe paid some dufust friend that a ne'er.
Speaker 2: Do well friend who's got to pay Get up from
Speaker 2: that seven of them parking lot, come help me with
Speaker 2: my master crime.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's I mean, I just I'm not buying it. Now.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you what actually, Okay, tell me what.
Speaker 1: Actually.
Speaker 2: He took the detectives a few days to chase down
Speaker 2: corroborating evidence for Brandon's soul's story. They collected surveillance video
Speaker 2: from his neighbors. They chased down the people who Brandon
Speaker 2: mentioned to police in his interview that took place at
Speaker 2: the hospital while he was being treated for his injuries.
Speaker 2: They're like, who, what's your buddy's name, what's your dad's name?
Speaker 2: What neighbor might have seen you? He tells them all
Speaker 2: this stuff, and he's like, well, I was driving by.
Speaker 2: I think I saw mister so and so at the store.
Speaker 2: So they go and they check up with mister so
Speaker 2: and so and with his dad and with his friends
Speaker 2: and everything. The police also checked his text messages in
Speaker 2: his call history, because he mentioned that his abductors had
Speaker 2: texted him or called him, so they're like, let me
Speaker 2: see your phone, kid. Brandon also told police that he'd received,
Speaker 2: as they said, threatening texts and calls, but when the
Speaker 2: police checked his cell phone for any record of threatening
Speaker 2: texts or calls, they found no evidence of any calls
Speaker 2: or texts from unknown numbers.
Speaker 1: No one uses his phone, he doesn't have a dad.
Speaker 1: There is no coolage.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no Golden Arizona. They found no calls or
Speaker 2: texts that matched his version of events. So the police
Speaker 2: were like, well, that's curious. So the Coolidge police did
Speaker 2: a little more digging the surveillance they collected. It failed
Speaker 2: to corroborate his story as well. They're like, we should
Speaker 2: see on some of this video you get hit the
Speaker 2: head shoved in a car, even if it's grainy, we
Speaker 2: should see it. They had no video evidence the interviews
Speaker 2: they conducted with the folks Brandon mentioned in his hospital interview.
Speaker 2: They also failed to corroborate his version of events, so
Speaker 2: he didn't get his witnesses set up before the crime.
Speaker 2: Now this made police extra curious about what had really
Speaker 2: occurred that fateful morning of his abduction, and there wasn't
Speaker 2: a lot to do in Coolidge, so they could really
Speaker 2: focus on this case. Next, the hospital compiled its records
Speaker 2: and they shared them with the police. The hospital's tests
Speaker 2: and exams showed no signs or indications that Brandon had
Speaker 2: a concussion or had sustained any head injury whatsoever. Okay,
Speaker 2: so he is a real featherweight, glass jaw type kunk
Speaker 2: I'm on the head and he goes out and doesn't
Speaker 2: leave a mark at.
Speaker 1: All at all. But it was, like I said, it's
Speaker 1: not common to lose consciousness like that. No, after like
Speaker 1: getting clonked on the head.
Speaker 2: You gotta pretty much choke a person out if you want.
Speaker 2: You got to cut off air supply to their brain.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And then it's also when they come to it's
Speaker 1: not going to be just like do like birds tweeting
Speaker 1: around there.
Speaker 2: Or you got to like pinch the vegas nerve the
Speaker 2: way boxers do when their jaw gets twisted. Ya, you
Speaker 2: got to do one or the other. But you just
Speaker 2: hit somebody at the top of their heads kind of
Speaker 2: movie stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Anyway, it took two weeks for the police to do
Speaker 2: their investigation. Coolish police. They go back and forth and
Speaker 2: they interviewed Brandon again and then interviewed them again. They
Speaker 2: presented them with information about when they want to know
Speaker 2: what really happened on that faidful February seventeenth. And so
Speaker 2: when the detectives presented Brandon with all of their evidence
Speaker 2: and the lack of evidence supported what he claimed and
Speaker 2: I'm talking to they told him, look, look we checked
Speaker 2: your phone and he's like, oh, you checked.
Speaker 1: It longest two weeks of his life.
Speaker 2: Oh, pretty much, right, there's no calls or texted back
Speaker 2: up your story. Brandon's like, well, I'm telling you that's
Speaker 2: what happened. He's stuck to his story.
Speaker 1: But your search history.
Speaker 2: You need help some So police also presented him in
Speaker 2: fact that the surveillance video they collected also did not
Speaker 2: support his claims. She's like, my neighbors have a camera.
Speaker 2: They're like, yeah, you were not knocked unconscious or stuffed
Speaker 2: in the back of a car. So as a cooliage,
Speaker 2: police then summarized and I quote, he informed us that
Speaker 2: he was hit in the head and stuffed in a
Speaker 2: car in front of his home, and this occurred after
Speaker 2: seven o'clock in the morning. But when we located video
Speaker 2: surveillance in front of his home, we were able to
Speaker 2: see no such thing. So they're like, look, we see
Speaker 2: you walking out of frame, which don't see any abduction.
Speaker 2: Brandon stuck to his story. He's like, look, I'm telling you,
Speaker 2: what's what happened, guys. So the police informed Brandon that
Speaker 2: his hospital records conflict with his story and that there
Speaker 2: was no evidence he had a concussion blow to the head,
Speaker 2: none of it. Guess what, Elizabeth Brandon stuck to his story.
Speaker 2: Doctors can't be wrong. So the police hit him with
Speaker 2: their big surprise. They said his father told police that
Speaker 2: he had no treasure of gold, nor had he treked
Speaker 2: off into the desert to bury said treasure of gold
Speaker 2: from an he would be thieves. So now he doesn't
Speaker 2: even have the motive for the crime.
Speaker 1: Oh God.
Speaker 2: That police said that they believed that quote your story
Speaker 2: was fabricated and no kidnapping or assault occurred. Seeking This
Speaker 2: is when Brandon dropped the act and he told police
Speaker 2: what had actually happened to him. He confessed that there
Speaker 2: were no mass men, and he wasn't struck over the
Speaker 2: head and knocked unconscious, that he wasn't driven around as
Speaker 2: the two would be thieves demanded he identified where his
Speaker 2: father buried his imagined treasure of gold. The police were like, yeah, duh,
Speaker 2: we just said all that to you and we showed
Speaker 2: you our evidence. What you got, son. So Brandon then
Speaker 2: confessed that in turns out he had abducted himself.
Speaker 1: Was he Here's the thing though, if I'm the dad,
Speaker 1: I would I bury the stuff in the desert, And
Speaker 1: when asked, I have no idea what you goal.
Speaker 2: That's why you're going to keep your money when you
Speaker 2: win the lottery. Now, according to Coolidge PD and I quote,
Speaker 2: Brandon informed us that he at first stuffed a bandana
Speaker 2: in his mouth. Afterwards, he took off his own belt
Speaker 2: and bound his hands with his own belt, laid on
Speaker 2: the ground, and scooted out on the side of the
Speaker 2: road so somebody could see him, and waited.
Speaker 1: So you didn't even punch himself or anything. Head help.
Speaker 2: This elaborate story. Along with this salt of text message evidence,
Speaker 2: he claimed to have her all made up. So, Elizabeth,
Speaker 2: why why would this nineteen year old make up some wild,
Speaker 2: uncorroborated story and insists for two weeks that it was true?
Speaker 2: Questions Elizabeth Well back to the Coolidge Police as he
Speaker 2: succinctly summed up this rather curious case. And I quote,
Speaker 2: after we showed him all the information, he admitted that
Speaker 2: he fabricated the story because he didn't want to go
Speaker 2: to work. What you see that he's right is this kid,
Speaker 2: nineteen year old Brandon Soul worked in a place called
Speaker 2: the tire factory. That's where and I quote he installed
Speaker 2: tires and drove around the area to pick up parts
Speaker 2: for the store.
Speaker 1: Dude, if he's standing in one of those tire places.
Speaker 1: The fumes, Oh yeah, I would blame the fumes for
Speaker 1: making him do this.
Speaker 2: Make him go crazy. Those the rubber smell is intense.
Speaker 1: When you went, like at the Costco that I go to,
Speaker 1: you got to walk out by the tire center and
Speaker 1: it's like, I get all lightheaded. Yeah, then I faint
Speaker 1: like it's their fault. And I tell him to assume
Speaker 1: unless they give me.
Speaker 2: The hidden around the store. So I gots that faithful
Speaker 2: February morning, Brandon woke up and he was like, hell, no,
Speaker 2: I don't want to go to work at the tire
Speaker 2: store today. How do I get out of work? And
Speaker 2: this whole debacle was his answer. He decided to abduct himself.
Speaker 2: Go out to the edge of town. She have a
Speaker 2: bandan in his mouth, tighten belt around his wrist, and
Speaker 2: then lie down on the dusty air gold next door
Speaker 2: of the road.
Speaker 1: The gold story is amazing. Why did they do this?
Speaker 1: She could have just got jumped.
Speaker 2: Won't He won't tell you about it. So if he
Speaker 2: says he doesn't have it, he he just because he
Speaker 2: doesn't want you to know a bunch man like a pirate.
Speaker 2: And I know Spanish gold obviously after they determined that
Speaker 2: he confess that he'd made it all up. The local
Speaker 2: Coolidge police were pissed at this kid who didn't want
Speaker 2: to go to work at the tire store. So for
Speaker 2: one the local residents for two weeks had to live
Speaker 2: in fear that they might also be violently abducted. That
Speaker 2: wasn't all. The police were also pissed about all the
Speaker 2: wasted manpower and time and the money spent on the investigation.
Speaker 2: Police claimed that the fake abduction wasted the resources of
Speaker 2: not just local police, but also the fire department, the
Speaker 2: ems SO, the emergency medical services aka the ambulance driver
Speaker 2: and e MT. Then there was also the hospital staff
Speaker 2: wasted time treating his imagined and self inflicted injuries.
Speaker 1: All the first respect who when they were off duty
Speaker 1: went out and started just digging random holes in the
Speaker 1: desert exactly, that was a waste of time.
Speaker 2: The only person who got lucky in town was whoever
Speaker 2: sold metal detectors. So the police eventually have to release
Speaker 2: a public statement about the phony abduction. As they explained
Speaker 2: to the New York Times, it was very important that
Speaker 2: we put out that media release to let people know
Speaker 2: that our community is still safe and that there are
Speaker 2: not two masked men running around kidnapping people. Cool Out,
Speaker 2: Coolidge killage. As a result of his fake abduction, Brandon
Speaker 2: Souls lost his job at the tire Factor. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: you know, problem solved. He no longer had to go
Speaker 2: into work. So boom boom boom. You know his boss
Speaker 2: is like, if only he showed the sort of creativity
Speaker 2: and ambition at the tire shop. Now. Brandon was charged
Speaker 2: with reporting false information, to which he pleaded guilty. He
Speaker 2: was convicted and sentenced to a pay a fine of
Speaker 2: five hundred and fifty dollars. You think that's enough for
Speaker 2: him to learn his lesson?
Speaker 1: No, who knows, No, Dad probably had it.
Speaker 2: I do have to ask a question for you, another
Speaker 2: one without incriminating yourself. What is the easiest length you've
Speaker 2: ever gone to get out of work?
Speaker 1: To get out of work? I just tell him I'm
Speaker 1: not coming in. I used to work with a guy
Speaker 1: who had a gambling problem, and he would go up
Speaker 1: to Reno. Sure, and then he would call Monday morning
Speaker 1: and be like, you know, I'd answer the phone, but yeah,
Speaker 1: can you I'm really sick. Can you tell him I'm
Speaker 1: not coming in? He's like dying yet, and like I
Speaker 1: don't know, like last time I had a cold, it
Speaker 1: didn't sound like that, or like have you been stabbed?
Speaker 1: And then meanwhile in the background you hear slat.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the hospital.
Speaker 1: I mean generally, it's like I'll say, like, yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: not feeling well, I'm not coming in today, so I can't.
Speaker 1: I've never really gone to lengths because I feel like,
Speaker 1: just say it, And I can't stand when people overshare
Speaker 1: why they don't want to come.
Speaker 2: I'm not one of those people. But as you might imagine,
Speaker 2: I've gone to some insane lengths to get out of work,
Speaker 2: but I've never had charges filed against me. No, I
Speaker 2: can't say that. My friend Chris and I we used
Speaker 2: to have a business together, paint company, and one time,
Speaker 2: to get out of work, or rather to explain why
Speaker 2: we didn't do work we were supposed to do, he
Speaker 2: told a customer that his truck had been stolen. Right now,
Speaker 2: I had no idea who was going to say that,
Speaker 2: and I'm standing right next to him, so now I
Speaker 2: got to keep a straight face. Well, he goes into detail,
Speaker 2: but I his truck was stolen and then quickly recovered
Speaker 2: by the police and know we didn't lose anything, even
Speaker 2: though it's loaded up with the tools and equipment, and
Speaker 2: he just, I guess apparently hoped it. You know that
Speaker 2: I was glad he didn't wrote me in for any
Speaker 2: details because I guess you hoped I keep a straight face.
Speaker 2: Somehow I managed too, because I was not known for
Speaker 2: keeping a straight face in those instances. But I will
Speaker 2: say that if it's a story just focused on what
Speaker 2: I've done, the worst thing I can think of is
Speaker 2: like I faked injuries from skateboarding, So like I've had
Speaker 2: real injuries and just made them bleed again to get
Speaker 2: out of work. Look what just happened, right, I've done that.
Speaker 2: I've also claimed that I had a doctor's appointment that
Speaker 2: I didn't have, But you have to understand the way
Speaker 2: I got around that I had that covered because if
Speaker 2: I was questioned, I had this notepad of officials doctor's
Speaker 2: notes that I could fill out and supply is evidence
Speaker 2: that I'd gone to the doctors, so you would have
Speaker 2: no harm, no foul. Yeah. You see, I nicked this
Speaker 2: pad of doctor's notes when I went in for like
Speaker 2: a routine checkup, and they left me alone in the
Speaker 2: exam room mistake on their part. I saw the doctor's pad,
Speaker 2: like the notes on the desk, and de said, like,
Speaker 2: you just fill it out like saw doctor so and so,
Speaker 2: and you get like check boxes as go Why So
Speaker 2: I saw that and I was like yoick, and I
Speaker 2: pocketed that thing so fast. I use so many of
Speaker 2: this doctor's notes to get out of stuff. I even
Speaker 2: sold a few people I knew who might, like you,
Speaker 2: wanted to pull a scam for themselves. I gave out
Speaker 2: a few to friends, like when I wanted them to
Speaker 2: do something on the week and I'm like, here, here's
Speaker 2: I'll give you one of my doctor's notes. You're good.
Speaker 2: So it was incredible, but this is all bush lely
Speaker 2: compared to my van. Okay, well that in mind, let's
Speaker 2: take another break and after these messages, we'll be back
Speaker 2: with the cherry for this Sunday of crime. We're back, Elizabeth. Yes, Now,
Speaker 2: in my parlance, I've saved the best for last, have
Speaker 2: you know?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 2: And I've kind of tipped my hand though, And you
Speaker 2: know what game I'm playing. So for this next story,
Speaker 2: you'll likely presume that the story I tell you is
Speaker 2: not the real story. But I'll tell you this it
Speaker 2: may or may not be true, but either way, I
Speaker 2: do have another story for you, Okay. This one comes
Speaker 2: from the tiny town of Pineville, Louisiana, Louisiana. Yeah, home
Speaker 2: to sixteen thousand souls. And it's located in the northern
Speaker 2: half of Louisiana. Like so like far from New Orleans
Speaker 2: and the fun Cajun Navy. No, this one's up about
Speaker 2: one hundred miles northwest of Baton Rouge. And according to
Speaker 2: the New York Times, when you drive into tiny and
Speaker 2: quaint Pineville, Louisiana, you'll find a sign welcoming you to town.
Speaker 2: There on main Street is this sign that reads A
Speaker 2: great place to call home. Yeah. Now, Pineville was home
Speaker 2: to John Michael Guillard, Junior. He was a local cop.
Speaker 2: He'd been on the force for about five years. It
Speaker 2: was a good clean cop, least according to his record
Speaker 2: and his five years on the forest. He'd never had
Speaker 2: a disciplinary report filed against him.
Speaker 1: No, I would hope so.
Speaker 2: Right, So you could say he was like a young
Speaker 2: veteran cop right who looked to have a bright future
Speaker 2: on the force. Yeah, and then his life took quite
Speaker 2: an unexpected turn. Yeah. By dateline voice, I like that
Speaker 2: it was September twentieth, in the year twenty twenty. Officer
Speaker 2: John Michael Golart was out on patrol. It was just
Speaker 2: after eleven PM, and the officer was performing a routine
Speaker 2: patrol of a local strip mall. Now, typically the local
Speaker 2: PD would check this strip mall's parking lot. They might
Speaker 2: even stop to check the doors to the strip mall
Speaker 2: to make sure that they were locked and no one
Speaker 2: had pried them open or tried maybe broken a lock.
Speaker 1: That's that's white glove service right.
Speaker 2: There, and that's what Officer Gular was doing that fateful
Speaker 2: Sunday night. And that's also when he got the big
Speaker 2: surprise of his life. You know what, Rather than me
Speaker 2: tell you about it, Elizabeth, close your eyes, I want
Speaker 2: you to picture. It's another quiet night at Pineville, Louisiana,
Speaker 2: and you are a cop out on patrol because you
Speaker 2: are Patrolman John Michael Goulard Junior, driving around checking on things,
Speaker 2: keeping up with any of the usual suspects. The city
Speaker 2: of Pineville, if one wishes to be ambitious by calling
Speaker 2: it such a thing, is a sort of small municipality
Speaker 2: where crime feels rare, although feelings can be misleading. Elizabeth.
Speaker 2: If you were to check the statistics, you'd find Pineville
Speaker 2: is home to plenty of violent crime, especially relative to
Speaker 2: its small size. Local real estate listings typically include the
Speaker 2: crime stats, and those same listings point out that the
Speaker 2: small town is only safer than two percent of the
Speaker 2: rest of the nation. That's not good to put that
Speaker 2: statistic in context. That means any person in Pineville has
Speaker 2: a one in one hundred and twenty six chance of
Speaker 2: being the victim of a violent crime. That's not the
Speaker 2: sort of thing you put on a big sign welcoming
Speaker 2: visitors to Pineville. However, since you're a local police officer,
Speaker 2: you are well aware of the crime stats and your
Speaker 2: elevated chances of encountering some violence while you're out on patrol.
Speaker 2: Tonight has been uneventful. You've been out on patrol for
Speaker 2: a few hours. You had the one traffic stop. The
Speaker 2: driver was traveling at five miles above the posted speed limit.
Speaker 2: It was a minor infraction, but a small town like
Speaker 2: Pineville has to raise revenue somehow. After that traffic stop,
Speaker 2: you've been doing your rounds, checking on the churches and
Speaker 2: the local businesses. It's about eleven PM now on this
Speaker 2: Sunday night when you pull into the parking lot of
Speaker 2: a local strip mall. In recent weeks, there was an
Speaker 2: attempt to pry open the doors to one of the businesses.
Speaker 2: The thieves had no luck, but the department has promised
Speaker 2: to double check the strip mall during routine patrols. And
Speaker 2: so you pull your police cruiser into the parking lot.
Speaker 2: Gravel slowly crushed over your tires until your patrol car
Speaker 2: pulls to a stop. As the engine idols, you check
Speaker 2: your surroundings. With your driver's side window down. You can
Speaker 2: hear the cicadas and the other bugs still active in
Speaker 2: this warm night air against the backdrop of the night.
Speaker 2: Nothing untowards seems to be going down. Then you feel it,
Speaker 2: your stumming gurgles. Oh, I guess that second chili dog
Speaker 2: was a mistake. Plus, you've been going at it pretty
Speaker 2: heavy with the diet cokes. You're currently working on. Your
Speaker 2: second forty four ounce cup of coke could be that too,
Speaker 2: Who knows. You decide this stop might be a good
Speaker 2: time to relieve your bladder, take a little pressure off.
Speaker 2: No one's around, there's no one to catch you urinating
Speaker 2: in public. You shut off your police cruiser's engine all
Speaker 2: grows quiet. The door to your patrol car swings open,
Speaker 2: and you unfold yourself from the driver's seat and step
Speaker 2: out into the Strip Mall parking lot. You plan to
Speaker 2: step around the side of the businesses so you can
Speaker 2: do your business on the wa You take a step,
Speaker 2: but then you sense something odd, that strange sensation that
Speaker 2: you're being watched. You stop in place. You look around.
Speaker 2: It's so quiet you can hear your own nervous breaths,
Speaker 2: and then, without warning, you hear it the small firecracker
Speaker 2: pop of a gunshot, and then you feel it. Whoever
Speaker 2: fired that shot caught you in the leg. You yelp
Speaker 2: in pain, and then crumple to the ground. Lying there,
Speaker 2: you hear a second shot. It tears into the metal
Speaker 2: skin of your patrol car's door. You unsnap the holster
Speaker 2: and draw your service weapon, a glock forty. Its familiar
Speaker 2: weight in your hand gives you a feeling of confidence
Speaker 2: you can take down whoever it is that just shot you.
Speaker 2: You wait a moment, listening for any disturbance of the
Speaker 2: brush at the edge of the Strip Mall parking lot,
Speaker 2: or maybe running footsteps headed your way, but all remain silent.
Speaker 2: Only the insects make a sound. You pull yourself over
Speaker 2: to your patrol car and reach into the open driver's
Speaker 2: side door. You grab your police race you and make
Speaker 2: a frantic call.
Speaker 3: Officer down, officer down. Shots fired at the Pineville Strip Mall.
Speaker 3: I repeat, shots fired at the Pineville Strip Mall. I
Speaker 3: need a bus at the Strip mall. The dispatcher responds,
Speaker 3: how many shooters? I repeat, how many shooters are a present?
Speaker 2: You squeeze the radio handset in reply, unknown assailant, I repeat,
Speaker 2: unknown number of assailants. Send a bus. The dispatcher's concern
Speaker 2: colors her voice. Ems are on their way. Bus is
Speaker 2: in root. Your breathing is now ragged. The adrenaline surges
Speaker 2: through you as you scan your surroundings, waiting to see
Speaker 2: the shooter pop out. You clutch your service firearm in
Speaker 2: your hand. The glock forty feels like safety in your grip.
Speaker 2: In those long minutes you're there alone, the shooter never
Speaker 2: shows his or her face, and finally you hear police
Speaker 2: sirens approaching. Mixed in you can also hear an ambulance.
Speaker 2: The bus is here, the cavalry is on its way.
Speaker 2: So there you go. Elizabeth, you just got shot.
Speaker 1: Oh that's terrifying. Pineville, Louisiana six right, those are some
Speaker 1: crazy numbers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's it is nuts. Louisiana is number two
Speaker 2: in the nation for gun violence according to Oh Yeah. So,
Speaker 2: this harrowing account is how an unseen gunman put down
Speaker 2: Officer John Michael Goulart Junior. When he was asked about
Speaker 2: what exactly happened in that strip mall parking lot, officer
Speaker 2: gular told his fellow lawman that quote, he did not
Speaker 2: see anybody, he heard the shots, and was shot after
Speaker 2: Thank you for that, officers. After that, he was transported
Speaker 2: to a local hospital treated for his gunshot wound. Officially
Speaker 2: was listed as an injury to his calf. The curious
Speaker 2: thing that I found in my research is that Pineville,
Speaker 2: Louisiana was a semi dry city. For instance, the town
Speaker 2: has no liquor stores, nor does it allow beer, wine,
Speaker 2: or alcohol of any kind to be sold in grocery stores.
Speaker 2: Originally created as a dry city, it was only in
Speaker 2: the twenty first century that Pineville voters decided to allow
Speaker 2: alcohol to be sold in restaurants. That's like for the visitors,
Speaker 2: I guess.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Even I was back in twenty thirteen, took a special election.
Speaker 1: That's wild.
Speaker 2: Now, thanks to that history of their blue laws, gun
Speaker 2: violence is far lower than other cities and towns in Louisiana. Now,
Speaker 2: in fact, the city doesn't even keep standalone gun violence statistics. Yeah,
Speaker 2: which is notable in the state of Louisiana, which shamefully
Speaker 2: boasts one of the highest rates of gun violence in
Speaker 2: the United States. And I did look all this up.
Speaker 2: According to JOHNS. Hopkins, in twenty twenty three, the state
Speaker 2: of Louisiana had the second highest rate of homicide by
Speaker 2: gun violence and the second highest rate of death by
Speaker 2: gun violence in the entire United States. And the state
Speaker 2: of Louisiana is like kind of known for boone booms.
Speaker 2: So while gun violence is rampant in Louisiana, it was
Speaker 2: not so common in small town Pineville. Yeah, they have
Speaker 2: more like fight violence. Yeah yeah, somebody hitting somebody with like,
Speaker 2: I don't know, a rake or whatever. Anyway, after his
Speaker 2: gunshot wound gets treated Officer Gollard, he's released from the hospital. Now, naturally,
Speaker 2: whenever there's a shooting of a small town cop in
Speaker 2: a place like Pineville, Louisiana, the local police are gonna
Speaker 2: go yah ya oh know it pulled on a full
Speaker 2: court press to find his assailants for possible assailants plural,
Speaker 2: which is exactly what these local cops did. When no
Speaker 2: word of the shooting starts to spread around the small town,
Speaker 2: Deputy Chief Darryl B. Basco stepped forward to calm the populace.
Speaker 2: He gave an interview and reported what he knew about
Speaker 2: the shooting. According to Deputy Chief Basco, he said that
Speaker 2: Officer Goillard and I quote was ambush by an unknown person. Thanks,
Speaker 2: Deputy Chief really really got to the basicly that. Okay.
Speaker 2: So obviously this is not a whole hell of a
Speaker 2: lot to go off of or to form an investigation,
Speaker 2: but since he was one of their own, the Pineville
Speaker 2: police hit the streets hard looking for the shooter or
Speaker 2: possible shooters plural. Officer Gillard's fellow lawman searched hi low
Speaker 2: or any signs of an armed purp. The department also
Speaker 2: launched a more traditional investigation. They sourced surveillance footage from
Speaker 2: the cameras of the businesses at the Strip Mall. Officers
Speaker 2: also performed a standard door knocking campaign. They went door
Speaker 2: to door and they spoke with all their neighbors in
Speaker 2: business owners who may have been around, asking them what
Speaker 2: all they may have or may not have seen or
Speaker 2: heard that night. Sure, Now, Elizabeth, keep in mind, this
Speaker 2: was early fall of twenty twenty. That same summer had
Speaker 2: seen nationwide protests against police violence after the murder of
Speaker 2: George Floyd. Police around the country at this point, they're
Speaker 2: on high alert. They were a tempting to navigate the
Speaker 2: protests and all the anti police rhetoric. So naturally, when
Speaker 2: a police officer is shot by an unknown assailant in
Speaker 2: a small town in the South, imaginations turned to the
Speaker 2: worst oh yeah possible readings of the evidence.
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly.
Speaker 2: Locals took to Facebook to do their best to back
Speaker 2: the blue. They imagined some crazed leftists had come into town,
Speaker 2: hopped up on anti police rhetoric and was shooting cops
Speaker 2: out on patrol by themselves to get back at our
Speaker 2: boys in blue. Now, in the twenty four hours after
Speaker 2: that story first broke of the shooting of Pineville officer,
Speaker 2: the local PD's Facebook page is just lit up right
Speaker 2: Oh yeah is chocolate block expressions of support and gratitude
Speaker 2: and thanks, and the local books are like they were
Speaker 2: back in the blue as hard as well physically. He's
Speaker 2: going on, you know it right? So, according to New
Speaker 2: York Times, one person who posted on Pineville's PDEs facebook
Speaker 2: page wrote, and I quote prayers for this officer and
Speaker 2: his family, blood and blue. I pray each morning a
Speaker 2: night for these men and women. Just let them go
Speaker 2: home safe and sound now. Other locals sent the gunshot
Speaker 2: officer their well wishes personally a quick recovery from this
Speaker 2: heinous attack. Some called out the shooter on the on
Speaker 2: the PD the Pineville PD's Facebook page, Yeah, called him
Speaker 2: out for their their cowardice and their prejudice. Some folks
Speaker 2: were also calling for swift justice against the shooters. You
Speaker 2: know what that means, like, let's form a mob now.
Speaker 2: The chief of Police for Pineville, Donald Weatherford, he took
Speaker 2: to Facebook to thank the public for their quote overwhelming
Speaker 2: response and he appreciated the mini officers of financial support
Speaker 2: they were put forward by local business leaders and the
Speaker 2: grateful public. Chief of Police Weatherford he also noted that
Speaker 2: your continued support and information for the investigations. What's most
Speaker 2: yeah Now, people were happy to come forward whatever they
Speaker 2: could remember and this was by the way a very
Speaker 2: true statement from the chief of police, because at this
Speaker 2: point this case was far from solved, far from settled.
Speaker 2: They were very little to go on. They've gotten almost
Speaker 2: no leads to pursue, no suspects to interrogate. They were
Speaker 2: still a basically square one of their investigation. So, as
Speaker 2: the chief of police said at the time, we never
Speaker 2: developed any suspects. As this went on like it was
Speaker 2: a rough business for them, so Elizabeth. Luckily for the
Speaker 2: Pineville PD. At this point the truth entered the picture,
Speaker 2: and when it popped up into view, well it muddied
Speaker 2: the waters of what the locals and the police had
Speaker 2: believed to be true. Oh no, it turns out there
Speaker 2: was no prejudiced, crazed leftist shooter had come to town. Now,
Speaker 2: there was no nothing, nothing in diva about this one.
Speaker 2: It was just, as a local PD later had to
Speaker 2: explain to the press, the shooting and the alleged shooter
Speaker 2: or shooters plural were apparently entirely fictional, as in, they
Speaker 2: did not exist. You See, what had happened was when
Speaker 2: Officer John Mike Junior got out of his patrol car,
Speaker 2: he shot himself. Now I made up that all that
Speaker 2: whole part about him needing to pee. I don't know
Speaker 2: the real reason he got out of his patrol car,
Speaker 2: but I do know that when he got out, somehow
Speaker 2: he shot himself in the leg.
Speaker 1: So like he didn't have the safety on and he
Speaker 1: just kind of stumbled.
Speaker 2: Or possibly maybe he wanted to take his gun out
Speaker 2: to like loosen his belt. I don't know what his
Speaker 2: thinking was, but I do know that once he realized
Speaker 2: he was shot in the leg, he radioed into dispatch
Speaker 2: that he'd been shot, and he was, and he then
Speaker 2: left out the part that he was also the shooter.
Speaker 2: He was just like an officer down. We've got an officer.
Speaker 1: Down, ballistics issues, police involved shooting.
Speaker 2: So when this story turns ont dime at this point
Speaker 2: we go back over to Pineville PDEs facebook page. The
Speaker 2: folks who were posting suddenly changed there.
Speaker 1: Toune a little bit.
Speaker 2: All those calls for prayers dried up, The folks back
Speaker 2: in the blue got real quiet, real quick, and the
Speaker 2: Facebook feed soon became home to a slew of new
Speaker 2: messages like this one that stated yourself a favor and
Speaker 2: donate to something actually worth donating to, like to the
Speaker 2: family a Briona Taylor or the many other victims of
Speaker 2: bad cops just like this one.
Speaker 1: Did he have a gofund me? This guy?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, people are offering you know, he didn't actually
Speaker 2: have a go for me that I found. So at
Speaker 2: this point, Deputy Chief Darryl Basco had to publicly admit
Speaker 2: to the press and I quote, we determined that he
Speaker 2: was untruthful and that he shot himself.
Speaker 1: Well look, and the thing is, it's like, how crappy
Speaker 1: that is for his coworkers.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're going to go through that. They're not They
Speaker 1: didn't do anything wrong. They're doing their best.
Speaker 2: They all look like pow dunk backwards.
Speaker 1: The world is this tinderbox?
Speaker 2: You got New York Times reporting on Pineville. God, when
Speaker 2: the police started investigating the shooting, they did find the
Speaker 2: bullet casings, and they were only too happy to say
Speaker 2: that the empty shells they retrieved from the crime scene
Speaker 2: did not come from the department issued firearm. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: but that just suggested Officer Gulard shot himself with his
Speaker 2: backup gun because he was legally allowed to carry an
Speaker 2: extra gun in addition to his department issued side arm.
Speaker 2: So my guess is that his backup gun was also
Speaker 2: a glock. The safety on the glock is on the trigger.
Speaker 2: He pulled the gun, hit that safety, squeezed too hard,
Speaker 2: shot himself right in the calf.
Speaker 1: I wonder if he had it in like an ankle
Speaker 1: holster and was going to take it out.
Speaker 2: And oh, that's interesting, that'd be a smaller gun. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 2: But then I do not know, because we don't really
Speaker 2: know much about this case because you know, if we
Speaker 2: shot himself with his backup gun or whatnot, because, as
Speaker 2: the New York Times reported, Deputy Chief Basco and I
Speaker 2: quote declined to provide further details. Oh yeah, sure, yeah,
Speaker 2: they done me up real quick. Now, a more interesting
Speaker 2: question did remain unsolved. Back to the old Deputy Chief Basco,
Speaker 2: as he put it, part of what we're still doing
Speaker 2: is investigating the motive as to what he thought was
Speaker 2: going to happen by reporting in ambush instead of that
Speaker 2: he had shot himself. You see, I do find that interesting.
Speaker 2: What the hell was he thinking? Why did he plan
Speaker 2: to lie to his fellow lawman and pretend to be shot.
Speaker 2: Did he not think that they would investigate? He just
Speaker 2: trying to play them like they're stupid.
Speaker 1: But what else was he doing that? He you know,
Speaker 1: I think that if you're already doing something you shouldn't
Speaker 1: be doing.
Speaker 2: Oh, like he had someone there with him, maybe.
Speaker 1: Well yeah, or you know, you're you're just inept and
Speaker 1: you realize, like I've screwed all this stuff up. Well
Speaker 1: it's gonna make and you look at Like I said,
Speaker 1: we're living at that point in this tinder box of
Speaker 1: crazy tension across the country. You know, his mind is
Speaker 1: probably we'll play it up and then he can be
Speaker 1: the hero instead of the.
Speaker 2: Duces I thought about it.
Speaker 1: It doesn't know how to handle a weapon.
Speaker 2: I should remind you he was an officer who'd spent
Speaker 2: five years on the force, so he wasn't some scared rookie.
Speaker 2: He was essentially a veteran cop. But when this veteran
Speaker 2: officer makes a serious mistake into shooting himself, his first
Speaker 2: instinct is to lie about it. He immediately attempts to
Speaker 2: cover it up by making up this unknown shooter yeah
Speaker 2: and some gun crime, which is both ridiculs us and
Speaker 2: frankly unsurprising. Now, naturally, with this sort of embarrassment to
Speaker 2: the local PD, the mayor of Pineville had to step
Speaker 2: in to calm down the public's reaction to the lies
Speaker 2: from the local police. So Mayor Clarence Field stepped into
Speaker 2: the fray and wanted to tell reporters that he knew
Speaker 2: Officer Gular personally and he was quote a very good
Speaker 2: police officer.
Speaker 1: Oh god, you don't even need to go there with it.
Speaker 2: However, that said, the mayor did have to admit that
Speaker 2: officer Glar very much lied a by getting shot by
Speaker 2: some unseen stranger. Then the mayor connected the officer's self
Speaker 2: inflicted officer involved shooting to the nationwide police protest of
Speaker 2: twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: You're kidding.
Speaker 2: He said that it was quote unfortunate, especially considering quote
Speaker 2: everything going on in America relative to relationships between police
Speaker 2: and the community.
Speaker 1: You don't need to actually say that.
Speaker 2: Yes, your honor, it is unfortunate for a cop to
Speaker 2: shoot himself and then lie about it in the midst
Speaker 2: of nationwide protests, say.
Speaker 1: This is a terrible situation.
Speaker 2: And where and ideally, yeah, but he seems like.
Speaker 1: He's coloring all this other stuff in.
Speaker 2: He's like, you know, all that unlawful violence by police
Speaker 2: that people are protesting, Well, what if I introduced some Also,
Speaker 2: the other major theme cops who lie about the crimes
Speaker 2: they commit, and I just kind of combine those into
Speaker 2: unlawful violence on myself and lie about that.
Speaker 1: What about self friendly fire?
Speaker 2: So Mayor Clarence Field, he did con see that the
Speaker 2: local Pineville Police department was quote mindful that they will
Speaker 2: probably be looked at very differently and save some criticism,
Speaker 2: you think, Mayor. Yeah, Now, the mayor had been in
Speaker 2: office for a while. He was electing like nineteen ninety
Speaker 2: nine or so somewhere around that period of time, so
Speaker 2: he was like going on like two decades in office.
Speaker 2: So you know, the mayor really knew how he had
Speaker 2: an astute read of the public.
Speaker 1: As to say, he's in a small town. He hasn't
Speaker 1: had to make the statements exactly.
Speaker 2: He misread the public because he thought of it. Everyone
Speaker 2: just like in Pineville exactly, they'll trust whatever the cops
Speaker 2: and these other powdered pig lawyers. We got to say. Now,
Speaker 2: as for any swift justice for officer, he was arrested,
Speaker 2: charged and booked at the local detention center on I
Speaker 2: saw reported as both one hundred thousand dollar bail and
Speaker 2: ten thousand dollars bail, which I think it was people
Speaker 2: we are confusing because usually only have to post ten percent.
Speaker 2: Either way, he was booked on and he got bailed out.
Speaker 2: He was officially charged with quote mischief or false rey,
Speaker 2: part of a crime, and malfeasance in office. Now, however,
Speaker 2: this is where the trail ends, because I could find
Speaker 2: well finding official records of this case, ones that are
Speaker 2: still available online. I found a lot of four or
Speaker 2: four not you know, like it was no longer yet,
Speaker 2: a lot of dead links. It was. It was damn
Speaker 2: near impossible to find official records. So since I couldn't
Speaker 2: find any evidence that the charge is stuck or the officer,
Speaker 2: John Michael Goilart Junior, ever faced justice swift or otherwise,
Speaker 2: I have to assume that I do know he's put
Speaker 2: on an administrative leaf. Well maybe, but that's just like
Speaker 2: you know, a vacation for a cop oil investigations on going.
Speaker 1: Maybe he claimed fied immunity against.
Speaker 2: Himself and himself. Oh I know, well I'm guessing this much.
Speaker 2: Pineville being a small town in northern Louisiana. I think
Speaker 2: this officer involved shooting was eventually swept under the rug
Speaker 2: and now he works in Arkansas or no idea exactly. So, Elizabeth,
Speaker 2: I do have to ask you one last question. Yes,
Speaker 2: what's a ridiculous takeaway here?
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, you know, just I don't understand this
Speaker 1: immediate like leap to lying about.
Speaker 2: Stuff and so poorly bad time.
Speaker 1: Because I just I've seen this happen where it just
Speaker 1: gets worse and worse and worse, and it's always best
Speaker 1: just to like rip the band aid off, admit something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you do something stupid, just say it.
Speaker 1: I do something stupid, just say it. I did, you know,
Speaker 1: no no excuses.
Speaker 2: It works. You get like a nickname around the department.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this one was so cool. I mean, like look
Speaker 1: at look at a little dude at the tire store, right,
Speaker 1: I don't want to go into work, so instead, I mean,
Speaker 1: he probably doesn't have like sick time, right, probably can't
Speaker 1: take that time. So if he says I can't come
Speaker 1: in today, he.
Speaker 2: Can get a fire job.
Speaker 1: Well a lot worse than.
Speaker 2: That happens, and he did lose his lost your.
Speaker 1: Job plus some and then this cat like shooting himself idiotic.
Speaker 1: But what you have to do is like calmly call
Speaker 1: it in and then take your lumps.
Speaker 2: And mistakes happen mistakes happen. Why don't you start scheming now,
Speaker 2: these are not mistakes. When they are a mistake, they're
Speaker 2: just bigger.
Speaker 1: But they I bet they never thought they'd wind up
Speaker 1: on here.
Speaker 2: No exactly, So my ridiculous take away. Thank you for
Speaker 2: having me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right, I forgot about you.
Speaker 2: I was so struck by a town deciding to allow
Speaker 2: people to start drinking in twenty thirteen. They're like, only
Speaker 2: in restaurants, not in the piggy wiggly Well.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the thing is that, like, you know,
Speaker 1: here in California, you can buy hard liquor in the supermarket. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And but you know, like other places I've lived, places
Speaker 1: where you can't can't can't buy hard liquor in the
Speaker 1: suit they only do beer and wine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, in the store.
Speaker 1: Can't touch that stuff on Sunday. They don't even serve
Speaker 1: it in a restaurant.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Some places in the South, it's like you can't
Speaker 2: buy liquor until after it was more actually the Northeast,
Speaker 2: you can't buy liquor so after church ends. Some places
Speaker 2: in the South it's all Sunday till Monday.
Speaker 1: Well, and then where I lived in the South, you couldn't.
Speaker 1: You can only buy groceries at Walmart before like noon
Speaker 1: until church ended. Really yeah, and then then they would
Speaker 1: open up the rest of the store and they'd rope
Speaker 1: things off, and so like if I needed, like, you know,
Speaker 1: some little gasket or something for you know, the city, yeah,
Speaker 1: I like, duck under the cordon, grab it and then
Speaker 1: go through self checkout. But then I think other people
Speaker 1: were doing that. They got wise to it and they'd
Speaker 1: block it. But it's weird, that's you know, like it
Speaker 1: doesn't apply to me. I don't think the same.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, not at all. Watching football at my dad's
Speaker 2: place in Atlanta, because they don't sell beer on Sundays,
Speaker 2: I always have to remember on Saturday. If I'd like
Speaker 2: to have a drink on Sunday while I watch football,
Speaker 2: make sure to go to the store and get yourself
Speaker 2: a six pack burnette.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And do you know how many times I have not
Speaker 2: done that? Elizabeth video Atlanta. They yeah, I know, there
Speaker 2: you go crazy, So you move for a talkback. We
Speaker 2: watched this one day.
Speaker 1: I most certainly am Dave.
Speaker 2: Oh oh my god. I ll.
Speaker 4: Hey, guys, this is Daniel. I have been listening for
Speaker 4: a few months now. Working through the backlog starting from
Speaker 4: the beginning to going to present, and I just got
Speaker 4: to the episode on John Spano Junior Fill up the
Speaker 4: Tub keep for Sutherland, and I was working listening to
Speaker 4: it and literally had to stop what I was doing
Speaker 4: and download the iHeart app so I could send this
Speaker 4: talk back because Elizabeth mentioned Ducane University and I out
Speaker 4: loud said quest though right before Zarin said it. Also,
Speaker 4: thank you.
Speaker 1: I love it. We got them got you to get
Speaker 1: the iheartup.
Speaker 2: Thank you that you know.
Speaker 1: I like that. I thought it, but I get so
Speaker 1: worried because I say everything wrong.
Speaker 2: No, yeah, not everything half the things I say wrong.
Speaker 2: So you got you got company.
Speaker 1: And thank you for digging into the archives. And I
Speaker 1: hope you're enjoying totally if you're having a good one
Speaker 1: with it.
Speaker 2: As always, you can find us online if you'd like
Speaker 2: some more Ridiculous Crime on Instagram. It's where we got
Speaker 2: images from these shows. You can see what these gentlemen
Speaker 2: look like and what beautiful Pineville looks like if you'd like. Also,
Speaker 2: we have on Blue Sky. You can go down there
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Speaker 2: if you'd like it. Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com
Speaker 2: you would like to share something, try not to incriminate yourself.
Speaker 2: And we have our website Ridiculous Crime dot com. That's
Speaker 2: where you can get a merch and check out some
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Speaker 2: talk back, so please go to the iHeart download it,
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Speaker 2: your voice here and we'd love to hear it. Maybe
Speaker 2: you would too. Thank you for listening and we will
Speaker 2: catch you next crime. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth
Speaker 2: Dutton and Zaron Burnett, produced and edited by the general
Speaker 2: manager of the Coolidge, Arizona Radio station, the same man
Speaker 2: who eventually had to fire Whalen Jennings, mister Dave Cousten.
Speaker 2: Our ridiculous assistant is the same person who once told
Speaker 2: Nancy Sinatra her biggest hit song should have been called
Speaker 2: These Boots are made for Rockin' Terry Maldonado. Fall Research
Speaker 2: is by the right Honorable Mayor of Ridiculousville, Louisiana, Larissa Brown.
Speaker 2: Our theme song is by our house band, Oh I've
Speaker 2: Shot Myself and I Can't Get Up aka Thomas Lee
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Speaker 2: Producer Dave's wardrobe provided by Mister Guy of Beverly Hills,
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Speaker 2: are Ben. This is why American cops should carry Samurai
Speaker 2: saw arts and Ninja stars instead of guns, Bolin and Noel.
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