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Speaker 1: When we say the word Christmas, it evokes Christmas cards

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Speaker 1: with happy families on the front firesides, Christmas trees, maybe

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Speaker 1: Hanukkah for you, but all good things, all good things

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Speaker 1: at Christmas. That is not true for everyone. Why does

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Speaker 1: Christmas resentment turn to you anger? And why does that

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Speaker 1: anger boil over into Christmas violence? You know, I could

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Speaker 1: ask why all day long, But as a trial lawyer,

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Speaker 1: I'm trained to look at evidence. I mean, see Grace,

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Speaker 1: this is crime Stories. Thank you for being with us

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Speaker 1: here on Fox Nation and Serious XM one eleven. First

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Speaker 1: of all, take a listen to this. Eighteen year old

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Speaker 1: Alexis Valdez had been living with his aunt and her

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Speaker 1: boyfriend for about six months. He moved into the basement

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Speaker 1: apartment with the understanding that he would go to school,

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Speaker 1: work and help pay the bills, but that didn't happen.

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Speaker 1: In fact, Valdez quit his job, which led to tension

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Speaker 1: in the household. Neighbors say you could hear the arguments

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Speaker 1: from inside the home. Eventually, Valdez was told he would

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Speaker 1: have to move out. We are talking about Alexis Valdez,

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Speaker 1: a teen boy or man under the law. That's a

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Speaker 1: man eighteen years old with me an all star panel

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Speaker 1: to break it down and put it back together again.

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Speaker 1: First of all, Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University,

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Speaker 1: author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon and Starvin,

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Speaker 1: you hit series on the True Crime Network, Poisonous Liaisons.

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Speaker 1: Also with me, Doctor Bethany Marshall, psycho allens to the

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Speaker 1: Stars and you can find her at doctor Bethany Marshall

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Speaker 1: dot com. Daryl Cohen, former felony prosecutor turned defense attorney,

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Speaker 1: practices all over the country, but now joining me from

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Speaker 1: the Atlanta jurisdiction. A special guest joining me from Chicago.

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Speaker 1: It's Romana, who sang assistant metro editor with the Chicago

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Speaker 1: Sun Times. And two very special guests joining me, Sylvester

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Speaker 1: Diaz and Selena Diaz. First of all, straight out to you, Romana,

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Speaker 1: who's sang with the Chicago Sun Times. Tell me about

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Speaker 1: where this happens. Chicago is a very big town. Happened

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Speaker 1: on the northwest side of the city, and could you

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Speaker 1: describe that. I know this was an apartment, but yes,

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Speaker 1: it's a residential area. I believe this happened in a

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Speaker 1: basement apartment on the northwest side of the city. I'm

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Speaker 1: just thinking about the family dynamics here. You've got a

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Speaker 1: young man, teen Alexis Valdaz moving in with his aunt

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Speaker 1: and her longtime love, her boyfriend, Sylvester. So let me

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Speaker 1: go to Selena Diaz and Sylvester Diaz, that is mister

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Speaker 1: diaz son. First to you, Selena, tell me about your

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Speaker 1: dad and his relationship with the aunt in this scenario.

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Speaker 1: He did speak about her here and there, not very often. Um,

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Speaker 1: I wasn't too excited of the new idea that he

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Speaker 1: had a girlfriend. But about you, Sylvester, my story is

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Speaker 1: kind of different. You know. I actually I was actually

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Speaker 1: in the apartment at one point and I actually in

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Speaker 1: connor with her, and you know, it was just nothing

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Speaker 1: was right in that situation when my dad brought me

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Speaker 1: down there, I'm trying to take him. What you're saying

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Speaker 1: with me is Sylvester Diaz, her Nanda's son, also named Sylvester.

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Speaker 1: You're telling me you were in the apartment just before

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Speaker 1: tensions boiled over and you felt, quote, nothing was right.

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Speaker 1: What was that feeling you got? You know, like he

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Speaker 1: didn't really speak to me about anything that was happening

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Speaker 1: in his personal life because me and my little sister,

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Speaker 1: we you know, my older brother took care of us,

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Speaker 1: so we lived with him, and we really didn't see

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Speaker 1: my father as much. You know, my once my mother

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Speaker 1: passed away. So the day I did go into the apartment,

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Speaker 1: you know, it didn't it didn't seem right. You know,

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Speaker 1: I had a couple of young age kids drinking. I

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Speaker 1: didn't I wasn't the one drinking, but I seen kids

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Speaker 1: drinking in there. Hold on just a moment right there.

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Speaker 1: I want to follow up on what you're telling me

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Speaker 1: because it's really important, Sylvester. Yes, you know, um, I

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Speaker 1: want to go to doctor Bethany Marshall uh renounced likeychall

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Speaker 1: alas joiningson Beverly Hills. Bethany, you and I have touched

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Speaker 1: on this before. Two things that Sylvester is telling us.

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Speaker 1: One when he went into the apartment that his dad

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Speaker 1: shared with his sweetheart, uh, the young nephew had moved

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Speaker 1: in Alexis Valdez and me imediately. When he got there,

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Speaker 1: he said something wasn't right. It was just a feeling.

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Speaker 1: And I've asked him he can't really put his finger

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Speaker 1: on that feeling or identify it. But you know when

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Speaker 1: there's tension, Like if my husband and I are having

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Speaker 1: an argument of some sort, it could be serious, it

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Speaker 1: could be over dinner that night, and Lucier John David

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Speaker 1: walks in, they go, what's going on? Right? They know

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Speaker 1: something's different and you may not know what it is,

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Speaker 1: but you know, and you should not discount that feeling, Nancy.

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Speaker 1: Those feelings are so important. Whether it's the energy Sylvester

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Speaker 1: felt when he walked into that basement apartment, or a

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Speaker 1: series of stories or even omissions leading usually leading up

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Speaker 1: to meeting the aunt, it sounds like there was a

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Speaker 1: great deal of secrecy around this household, and in fact

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Speaker 1: secrets were taking place. If there was underage drinking there,

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Speaker 1: That lays me to my next thing to Bethany what

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Speaker 1: you just said, Yes, under age drinking. You put three

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Speaker 1: people together, and you know, when you've got three people

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Speaker 1: living in a basement apartment. I'm getting the sense that

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Speaker 1: it wasn't a big apartment. You have three people in there,

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Speaker 1: and suddenly Alexis Valdez quits working. Look, if they were

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Speaker 1: making tons of money, they wouldn't be living in a

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Speaker 1: basement apartment. I've lived in an apartment like that before.

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Speaker 1: I know. So you've got the three of them in

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Speaker 1: this apartment, then suddenly he quits working, and then you

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Speaker 1: throw in teen drinking. The only team living there was

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Speaker 1: Alexis Valdez. That's the pouring gas on the flame, Bethany. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: because we know teenagers, their prefrontal cortex isn't fully formed.

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Speaker 1: That's the breaking system in the brain. So whatever they

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Speaker 1: feel and think is going to come boiling over. And

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Speaker 1: when somebody drinks, that's already greases the wheels of negative emotions. Nancy.

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Speaker 1: One more layer is that this aunt and nephew had

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Speaker 1: known each other, probably since the nephew's birth. They had

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Speaker 1: their own dynamics, their own way of being together. Maybe

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Speaker 1: the aunt was being codependent with a nephew or coddling him,

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Speaker 1: or quite the opposite, and maybe she was strict an authoritarian.

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Speaker 1: But you add an outside person coming into a pre

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Speaker 1: existing dynamic that is ripe for conflict because it's the

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Speaker 1: person who's outside the primary household who usually sees pretty

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Speaker 1: accurately what's going on. So that person's going to speak up,

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Speaker 1: that person's going to be authoritative, and that person also

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Speaker 1: is going to get punished for seeing things clearly Crime

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Speaker 1: Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about Christmas

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Speaker 1: tensions and anger boiling over into violence. This is unlike

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Speaker 1: any I have ever seen before, and as it unfolds,

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Speaker 1: the grizzly crime scene left behind is the one I

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Speaker 1: will not forget. Take a listen again to Jackie Howard

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Speaker 1: with Crime Online. Eighteen year old Alexis Valdez had been

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Speaker 1: living with his aunt and her boyfriend for about six months.

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Speaker 1: He moved into the basement apartment with the understanding that

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Speaker 1: he would go to school, work and help pay the bills,

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Speaker 1: but that didn't happen. In fact, Valdez quit his job,

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Speaker 1: which led to tension in the household. Neighbors say you

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Speaker 1: could hear the arguments from inside the home. Eventually, Valdez

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Speaker 1: was told he would have to move out. So you see,

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Speaker 1: trouble is a brewing. And in the great words of

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Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin, who I have quoted many many times, fish

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Speaker 1: and house guests start to stink after three days, and

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Speaker 1: here they're going on six months straight. Back out to Romana,

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Speaker 1: who's saying Assistant metro editor with the Chicago Sun Times. Romana, again,

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Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. So here we are

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Speaker 1: in this resident chu area with these three people living

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Speaker 1: down stairs, and then suddenly the next thing we know,

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Speaker 1: Romana is this Take a listen to Mike Krauser News Radio.

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Speaker 1: The details of the alleged crime read like a horror story.

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Speaker 1: According to prosecutors, eighteen year old Alexis Valdez hid a

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Speaker 1: hammer behind the door to the basement apartment where he

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Speaker 1: lived with his aunt and her boyfriend, forty one year

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Speaker 1: old Silvestri Diez Hernandez. Assistant State's Attorney kings Lee Sawyers

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Speaker 1: says Valdez and Diez Hernandez went out for a while.

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Speaker 1: When they came back, it occurred, and as the victim

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Speaker 1: went into the house, the defendant took the hammer, hit

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Speaker 1: the victim in the head several times, and then dismembered

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Speaker 1: and decapitated his body. Valdez, according to the prosecutor, left

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Speaker 1: parts of the dismembered body as a present for his aunt,

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Speaker 1: who was out at the time. He called nine to

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Speaker 1: one one and reported a dead body and was asked

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Speaker 1: if he tried CPR, and was said to be laughing

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Speaker 1: as he told the operator the body was decapitated. Straight

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Speaker 1: to Romana Hussang, assistant Metro editor Chicago Times. What can

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Speaker 1: you tell me about what happened? I will tell you

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Speaker 1: first of all, I wanted to first of all express

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Speaker 1: my condolences to mister Diaz's to um kid children, two

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Speaker 1: adult children. I'm sorry to relieve this again. But what

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Speaker 1: happened was that Alexis m. Valdez was drinking at home

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Speaker 1: while his aunt and her boyfriend who were out at

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Speaker 1: a party. So mister Diaz came home. Diaz came home

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Speaker 1: and he realized the beer was out, so they went out.

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Speaker 1: So he and mister Valdez went out to go get

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Speaker 1: some more beer, and before they had left, mister Valdez

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Speaker 1: had hidden a hammer in the house, and so when

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Speaker 1: they returned, he mister Valdez allowed mister Diaz to go

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Speaker 1: inside the house, and so when he went inside the house,

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Speaker 1: that's when he grabbed the hammer, according to prosecutors, and

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Speaker 1: began attacking mister Diaz too. Selena Diaz, this is the

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Speaker 1: daughter of Sylvester Diaz. When did you learn your father

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Speaker 1: had been attacked? Um? So it was the day of Christmas.

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Speaker 1: I had my fathers and my mom's kind of best

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Speaker 1: friends when they were younger, and my cousin who walked

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Speaker 1: into my room and told me that he had passed.

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Speaker 1: They didn't technically tell me how, and that's when I

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Speaker 1: found out. I found out Christmas morning when I'm like

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Speaker 1: ten ten o'clock, Selena, two things to tell you. My

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Speaker 1: dad and he and I were like two soul mates.

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Speaker 1: He passed away right before Thanksgiving. And now as Thanksgiving

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Speaker 1: approaches every year that I mean, I'm trying to plan

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Speaker 1: a wonderful Thanksgiving for my children and my family. But

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Speaker 1: on my mind, as today gets closer and closer, I

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Speaker 1: think about my dad. And I also remember when you

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Speaker 1: said they first told you that he had passed and

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Speaker 1: didn't tell you how. When my fiance was murdered, I

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Speaker 1: found out that he had passed from a sister, But

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Speaker 1: I didn't know for about an hour that he had

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Speaker 1: actually been murdered. And in my mind, I was playing

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Speaker 1: out all these scenarios. Was he in a car crash?

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Speaker 1: What happened? I just assumed it had been a car crash.

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Speaker 1: When you were first told by your family friends that

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Speaker 1: your dad had passed, what did you think had happened?

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Speaker 1: I wasn't too for sure. I was quite young. I

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Speaker 1: didn't really think too much about it. M I didn't

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Speaker 1: have I didn't have any ideas because I didn't know how, who, where,

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Speaker 1: when why. It was not until maybe a couple of

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Speaker 1: days later that that my family kind of told me

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Speaker 1: about it. Um. Because I was so young, they didn't

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Speaker 1: want to tell me quite everything and how it happened

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Speaker 1: and all the details. Sylvester who is Sylvester G has

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Speaker 1: his namesake? When did you learn your dad had passed away? Okay? So? Um,

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Speaker 1: So I was calling my dad. So I spoke to

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Speaker 1: him the day prior, and you know, I went out

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Speaker 1: and I got him a gift and everything. So I

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Speaker 1: spoke to him day prior and I told him that

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Speaker 1: I got him something. So I called him in the

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Speaker 1: morning a couple of times, and I realized he wasn't answering.

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Speaker 1: So I waited a couple hours, and you know, like

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Speaker 1: my you know, I'm the oldest. So my my, my

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Speaker 1: cousin called me and he told me, he's like, hey, dude, like,

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Speaker 1: I don't want you to worry too much, but you know,

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Speaker 1: something might have happened, but we're going to figure it

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Speaker 1: out and I'm gonna pick you up. You know, I

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Speaker 1: haven't I haven't talked to this in a couple of years,

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Speaker 1: so you know, I knew something was up. So he

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Speaker 1: picked me up and you know, I spoke with the

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Speaker 1: detectives and they told me they'd had two Hispanic bodies

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Speaker 1: in the morgue and they wanted to make sure that,

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Speaker 1: you know, they identified my father. You know, I I

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Speaker 1: thought about, like this, can't you know, this can't be right,

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Speaker 1: you know, like but I know when once he was

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Speaker 1: wasn't picking up the phone. Something wasn't right. So, you know,

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Speaker 1: I was with my father when he had when he

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Speaker 1: got some mom tattoos, so I was able to identify

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Speaker 1: two of the tattoos on his body. And that's when

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Speaker 1: they confirmed it. And it was nine in the morning

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Speaker 1: on Christmas Day when I found out with with my

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Speaker 1: my cousin and you know, Sylvester. So the first time

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Speaker 1: you realized that your dad may have been may have

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Speaker 1: passed away, it's when they said there are two bodies

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Speaker 1: at the morgue and we want to see if it's

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Speaker 1: your dad. That's how you found out. Yeah, yeah, And

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Speaker 1: my cousin sent me some links that he had seen

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Speaker 1: on like on internet, and I recognized the basement, I

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Speaker 1: recognized the basement from the from the last time that

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Speaker 1: I've been there, and you know I put I put

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Speaker 1: the pieces together, and you know I figured it out,

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Speaker 1: you know to Daryl Cohen joining me, former felony prosecutor

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Speaker 1: and intercity Atlanta now defense attorney joining me out of Atlanta,

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Speaker 1: Daryl Cohen, how many times have you heard a Victimus

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Speaker 1: family say they knew their loved one had passed before

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Speaker 1: they were told they had figured it out. They they

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Speaker 1: knew something horrible had happened, Like right now, say when

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Speaker 1: I would call you, Darryl, if you don't pick the

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Speaker 1: phone up, I don't think anything if Ferris has happened.

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Speaker 1: But in these case is so many times I've heard

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Speaker 1: the person say, this time when they didn't pick up,

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Speaker 1: I knew something had happened. Nancy, it's not what people say.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes it's the tone of voice, it's the emotion. And

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Speaker 1: you know, there was an old radio show called The

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Speaker 1: Shadowy and it reminds me of who knows what evil

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Speaker 1: lurks in the hearts of man and woman. Yes, it's

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Speaker 1: not what I'm about to tell you, but you hear

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Speaker 1: it in my voice. You hear the emotion. You hear

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Speaker 1: every fiber of my body telling you that I can't

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Speaker 1: tell you what I'm about to tell you, but choice

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Speaker 1: I do not have. So I make that and I

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Speaker 1: finally tell you so, Yeah, I agree with you a

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Speaker 1: thousand percent. I've seen it over and over and over

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Speaker 1: where victims' families know before they're told. How did Christmas

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Speaker 1: animos boil over into murder? That is what we are

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Speaker 1: talking about. Now. Take a listen to Mike Krauser News Radio.

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Speaker 1: The details of the alleged crime read like a horror story.

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Speaker 1: According to prosecutors, eighteen year old Alexis Valdez hid a

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Speaker 1: hammer behind the door to the basement apartment where he

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Speaker 1: lived with his aunt and her boyfriend, forty one year

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Speaker 1: old Silvestri Diez Hernandez. Assistant State's Attorney kings Lee Sawyers

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Speaker 1: says Valdez and Diez Hernandez went out for a while

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Speaker 1: and when they came back, it occurred, and as the

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Speaker 1: victim went into the house, the defendant took the hammer,

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Speaker 1: hit the victim in the head several times, and then

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Speaker 1: dismembered and decapitated his body. Valdez, according to the prosecutor,

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Speaker 1: left parts of the dismembered body as a present for

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Speaker 1: his aunt, who was out at the time. He called

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Speaker 1: nine to one one and reported a dead body and

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Speaker 1: was asked if he tried CPR, and was said to

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Speaker 1: be laughing as he told the operator the body was

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Speaker 1: decapitating it when he told the nine dispatcher the body

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Speaker 1: was decapitated. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace too, Selena Diaz.

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Speaker 1: The loss of your father by a blow to the

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Speaker 1: head with a hammer, it's bad enough. When did you

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Speaker 1: learn what had really happened to your dad? Well, Um,

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Speaker 1: I kind of find out through the internet. Um. My

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Speaker 1: family told me only certain stories, certain stories, certain parts

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Speaker 1: of the incident. Um due to how graphic they actually was. Um,

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Speaker 1: they didn't quite tell me everything to kind of make

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Speaker 1: sure I don't I don't kind of upset myself by

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Speaker 1: crying and being too upset. Um, So they told me

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Speaker 1: just a little bit of it, and I was just

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Speaker 1: questioning in and questioning it and questioning it. And then

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Speaker 1: I decided to read some of the news stories and

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Speaker 1: that's just when I found out, like the whole truth

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Speaker 1: of it. Sylvestor, when did you find out exactly what

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Speaker 1: happened to your dad? It happened the same day that

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Speaker 1: I had to go to the police station to identify

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Speaker 1: the body with my cousin. You know, they didn't give

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Speaker 1: me too much details, but did it tell me that

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Speaker 1: my father wasn't wasn't going to be able to be buried? Sylvester,

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Speaker 1: When you think about your dad, for the longest time

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Speaker 1: after my dad passed away, I would think about being

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Speaker 1: with him at the moment he died, waiting with his

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Speaker 1: body until it was taken away, and walking with it

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Speaker 1: until it was put in a vehicle. For the longest time,

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Speaker 1: that is what was in my head. Now the happy

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Speaker 1: memories are trickling in. When you think about your dad, now,

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Speaker 1: do you think about this horrific event that took his

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Speaker 1: life or has that been replaced with happy memories? You

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Speaker 1: know what? Like, um, it's a little bit of both,

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Speaker 1: because like, you know, I lost my mother the year before,

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Speaker 1: and you know, we lost our father, and you know,

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Speaker 1: like we think about this every single day, you know,

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Speaker 1: of our life. But this, this can't, this can't hold

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Speaker 1: us back from you know, achieving our goals. You know,

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Speaker 1: we got to make somebody proud. And I feel like,

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Speaker 1: you know, this is something that will never be erased

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Speaker 1: from somebody's mind and just the fact of how things went.

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Speaker 1: You know, you don't really hear too much about these

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Speaker 1: kind of stories, and that's and you know, it's just

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Speaker 1: it's just crazy. It's mind blowing. And I understand because sometimes,

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Speaker 1: Daryl Cohen, I'm hearing what Sylvester and Selena are saying.

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Speaker 1: You know, sometimes I would dread an opening statement because

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Speaker 1: it was going to be grizzly and awful. And I

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Speaker 1: try to break the jury in when we had the

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Speaker 1: jury panel so they would know what they were getting

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Speaker 1: into before you get the Pettit or the Petit jury,

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Speaker 1: the jury of twelve. But when he says, you don't

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Speaker 1: hear about this a lot, you don't because at Christmas time,

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Speaker 1: people want to hear about the holidays. They want to

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Speaker 1: hear about the Nativity scene, they want to hear about shopping.

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Speaker 1: They don't want to hear this. But it's the truth. Nancy.

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Speaker 1: I am recalling the times when we had those grizzly cases,

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Speaker 1: and I had a very difficult time in relating that

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Speaker 1: to a jury initially because I got into the heads

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Speaker 1: of the victim's family. And when you do that, you

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Speaker 1: not only sympathize, you empathize. It was very difficult. So

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Speaker 1: I had to get a lory about what happened, rather

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Speaker 1: than emotionally being involved in it, because as you and

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Speaker 1: I both know, if you're involved or something emotionally, you

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Speaker 1: don't see it. As you've pointed out earlier, correctly, I

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Speaker 1: look at it as if it's a football game and

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Speaker 1: you have to be on the fifty yard line, but

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Speaker 1: not on the field. You have to be uptop. I

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Speaker 1: was never able to do that, Daryl, and still can't.

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Speaker 1: I would be too involved with the victims and their

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Speaker 1: families and have never been able to disassociate from that.

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Speaker 1: To Romana Hussain, Assistant MATEO editor of Chicago, sometimes tell

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Speaker 1: me when police arrived, what they observed. Valdez was sitting

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Speaker 1: in the front yard with his iPad and he just said,

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Speaker 1: aren't you going to arrest me? And they were like,

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Speaker 1: why would we arrest you? Or you know, aren't you

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Speaker 1: going to ask me? He's asking who's going to ask

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Speaker 1: them any questions? And then he said police said that

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Speaker 1: he said that, um, quote, I just killed a man.

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Speaker 1: He's in the basement, and so that's how you know,

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Speaker 1: That's how the story was unveiled and apparently he was.

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Speaker 1: Mister um Balduz was holding an iPad when police had arrived,

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Speaker 1: and after you know, he had said what he said

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Speaker 1: that admitting that he had killed his aunt's boyfriend, he

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Speaker 1: took the iPad and smashed it and police ended up

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Speaker 1: arresting him. To justice. Scott Morgan, Professor Forensics, jacksonvill State University.

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Speaker 1: You know what, we see dismemberment cases on movies very

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Speaker 1: rarely on TV, but we hear about them very very rarely.

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Speaker 1: This is incredibly uncommon and it's not an easy physical

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Speaker 1: feat to do. For instance, if you watch Dexter, remember Dexter,

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Speaker 1: who was always dismembering bodies. That's not real. That is

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Speaker 1: extremely rare and very hard to do. Joe Scott, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it is, Nancy, It's very difficult. I spent many many years,

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Speaker 1: in addition to being an investigator, is working in the

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Speaker 1: morgue as well. Was present for over seven thousand autopsies.

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Speaker 1: And for us, from a clinical perspective, we have methodologies

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Speaker 1: that we employed, We have methods that we use and

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Speaker 1: the right tools to use. And we've talked about this before, Nancy,

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Speaker 1: but the fact that he went into such detail with

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Speaker 1: you know, the only way I can say it. With

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Speaker 1: this dismemberment dissection, it wasn't simply a decapitation. There were

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Speaker 1: other elements involved. It really gives you a clue as

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Speaker 1: to kind of the inner workings of his mind, and

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Speaker 1: that he was still able to go out in the

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Speaker 1: yard as has been reported, seated in a chair holding

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Speaker 1: an iPad. And this is why this ghastly thing has

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Speaker 1: taken place. Nancy. I have actually been present in the

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Speaker 1: morgue when we were doing very simple procedures, and I

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Speaker 1: had very strong, bold men that were down in the

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Speaker 1: morgue and got weak kneed, threw a passed out, all

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Speaker 1: these sorts of things just at the first sight of blood.

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Speaker 1: This environment. We've talked about this apartment and how small

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Speaker 1: it is, it's a cramped space, Nancy. This would have

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Speaker 1: been a blood bath in this environment. It's a very

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Speaker 1: tiny area. And the work that he did while he

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Speaker 1: was there, this grizzly work, would have been portrayed. You know,

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Speaker 1: you would have seen this when you walk in. I

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Speaker 1: cannot imagine the reaction that the local police had when

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Speaker 1: they walked in. They probably thought they were walking through

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Speaker 1: the gates of hell. Now I've been on many many

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Speaker 1: crime scenes, literally thousands of real crime scenes not on TV.

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Speaker 1: I've never seen anything like this Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

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Speaker 1: How did Christmas anger and tension boil over and end

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Speaker 1: up not only in a brutal murderer, but a decapitation

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Speaker 1: for a present to his aunt. Take a listen to

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Speaker 1: crimline dot COM's Jackie Howard. On Christmas Day, Alexis Faldez

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Speaker 1: and Sylvester Diez Hernandez leave to go to a near

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Speaker 1: my drug store, which turns out to be closed for

404
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Speaker 1: the holiday. When they return, Diez Hernandez enters the home first.

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Speaker 1: As Valdez comes in, he grabs a hammer he is

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Speaker 1: stashed by the front door earlier in the day. In

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Speaker 1: a surprise attack, he hits Diez Hernandez in the head.

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Speaker 1: The forty one year old falls to the floor, where

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Speaker 1: Valdez hits him at least ten more times. Valdez then

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Speaker 1: covers the windows and plays loud music to mask crime.

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Speaker 1: You know what I'm learning so much? There is no

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Speaker 1: way in h doble l that this guy could claim

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Speaker 1: insanity or even delusion because the planning. Did you hear

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Speaker 1: this to you? Let me ask you. Romana who's saying

415
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Speaker 1: with Chicago Sun Times, do I have this right? He

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Speaker 1: stashed the hammer by the door when he and his

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Speaker 1: uncle left to go to the pharmacy, leaving it there

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Speaker 1: so he could grab it when he comes back. Then

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Speaker 1: he plays loud music to mask the crime so neighbors

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Speaker 1: or the upstairs neighbors can't hear what's going on. Then

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Speaker 1: he calls nine one one, starts laughing, says there's been

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Speaker 1: a decapitation, and is sitting there thumbing through on his

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Speaker 1: iPad when the cops arrive and says, I just killed

424
00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:59,240
Speaker 1: a man. All of that shows he was of sound mind.

425
00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:01,919
Speaker 1: Drive those fat It's wrong in any way, Romana, No,

426
00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:05,719
Speaker 1: you have the facts correct, use these allegations, or I

427
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,600
Speaker 1: should say, this is what was laid out when Um

428
00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:11,920
Speaker 1: at his Bondchord hearing in twenty thirteen, prosecutors laid out

429
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:14,399
Speaker 1: what exactly happened, and they mentioned that he hid the

430
00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 1: hammer right by the door right before they went out

431
00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:19,879
Speaker 1: to go get some beer. And when they came back,

432
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:24,720
Speaker 1: he you know, allowed mister Diaz to go first so

433
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,760
Speaker 1: he could attack him. And you know, from what we

434
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:31,679
Speaker 1: understand it like when he started playing the loud music Um,

435
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:35,960
Speaker 1: that's when the decapitation happened, and he cut cut off

436
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:40,400
Speaker 1: mister Diaz's head, ears, nose, and left those body parts

437
00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:44,240
Speaker 1: on his aunt's bed. Um. According to my colleague stephanous Posito,

438
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:48,080
Speaker 1: who was at the Bondchord hearing this, mister Valdez had

439
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:51,760
Speaker 1: also pulled out mister Diaz's eyes with his bare hands,

440
00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:54,320
Speaker 1: and from what I understand, prosecutors said that he also

441
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:56,680
Speaker 1: had cut his left arms. But he left certain body

442
00:28:56,720 --> 00:28:59,880
Speaker 1: parts on his aunt's bed too, you know, as as

443
00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:03,760
Speaker 1: what he said quote a present unquote and the aunt

444
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:07,160
Speaker 1: wasn't at home, but I believe mister Valdez had told

445
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:09,880
Speaker 1: authorities that he would have killed his aunt too if

446
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:13,600
Speaker 1: she was home at the time, GRANMAA. Who's saying why?

447
00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:18,120
Speaker 1: What was his motivation? It was? It was the anger,

448
00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:22,080
Speaker 1: you know, according to prosecutors, the anger, the tension that

449
00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:24,640
Speaker 1: was going on, and the fact that his aunt and

450
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:29,360
Speaker 1: boyfriend and her boyfriend had wanted mister Valdez's Valdez out

451
00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:33,760
Speaker 1: of the apartment. That probably just started, you know, started

452
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:37,000
Speaker 1: the tension from brewing over that they wanted him out

453
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:41,000
Speaker 1: of the basement apartment. To psychoans, doctor Bethany Marshall Bethany,

454
00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:46,120
Speaker 1: I hardly even know where to start. You have the

455
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:51,000
Speaker 1: planned attack, a brutal attack, the overkill of beating this

456
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:55,400
Speaker 1: victim just forty one years old, the father of these

457
00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:59,280
Speaker 1: two awesome children, beating him over and over and over.

458
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:03,160
Speaker 1: Then the decay happitation in leaving body parts for the

459
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:08,520
Speaker 1: aunt to discover that took him and Methane and Nancy.

460
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:11,640
Speaker 1: We read in the wires that it was because they

461
00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:14,120
Speaker 1: wanted him to get a job. I think that is

462
00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:17,360
Speaker 1: obviously just the tip of the iceberg. This young man

463
00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:22,480
Speaker 1: is so disturbed, obviously not insane from a legal perspective,

464
00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:26,200
Speaker 1: so that he can't stand trial. But I would say,

465
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:29,040
Speaker 1: at the very least, you have a young man who

466
00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:34,960
Speaker 1: has sociopathic tendencies, maybe impulse control problems. At a very

467
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:39,880
Speaker 1: pathological level. This may have been what we call katasim homicide,

468
00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:43,200
Speaker 1: where there is a compulsion to kill that waxes and

469
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:45,760
Speaker 1: waynes over time, because think about it, he had to

470
00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:48,760
Speaker 1: get the hammer, he had to plan ahead in terms

471
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:50,960
Speaker 1: of how he was going to dismember the body. He

472
00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:55,800
Speaker 1: plucked out the eyes. So there was this extreme pathological

473
00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:59,720
Speaker 1: rage towards the aunt and the aunt's boyfriend, and then

474
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:03,160
Speaker 1: what we call context dependent thinking. He's not thinking beyond

475
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:10,720
Speaker 1: who woo, slow down? What context? What context dependent thinking

476
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:15,240
Speaker 1: is when you're only involved in that particular moment. You're

477
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:17,760
Speaker 1: not thinking that you're going to be arrested or spend

478
00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:20,800
Speaker 1: the rest of your life in jail, or that you know, hey,

479
00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:22,560
Speaker 1: it's not so bad to get a job and help

480
00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:25,680
Speaker 1: support the household. The alternative as being behind prison bars.

481
00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:29,760
Speaker 1: That's big picture thinking. People who are homicidal are only

482
00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:33,240
Speaker 1: lost in their own rage and their own inner workings.

483
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:40,520
Speaker 1: They leaving the aunt, the presence which were they knows,

484
00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:46,840
Speaker 1: the lips, parts of the victim's body. What does that mean? Well,

485
00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:50,080
Speaker 1: my first thought, Nancy, is it's primitive. And my field,

486
00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:52,560
Speaker 1: when we use the word primitive, it's like it comes

487
00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:57,080
Speaker 1: from the deepest part of the brain that's earliest in

488
00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:01,160
Speaker 1: our evolutionary biological heritage. My neighbor has cats, and the

489
00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:04,800
Speaker 1: cats are constantly leaving lizards, mice, all kinds of things

490
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:09,640
Speaker 1: on my doorstep as a present. That's primitive. That's animal like.

491
00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:14,959
Speaker 1: It's not even what human beings do in the civilized world.

492
00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:17,840
Speaker 1: So that tells me that maybe he was, you know,

493
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:21,920
Speaker 1: on the brink of a psychotic episode, again not legally insane.

494
00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:26,040
Speaker 1: Maybe there was drug use, meth amphetamine, We've seen bath salts,

495
00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:30,600
Speaker 1: you know, street drugs that have synthetic elements to them

496
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:34,360
Speaker 1: cause this kind of behavior. So hopefully he's going to

497
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:38,920
Speaker 1: have a full psychiatric exam so we can figure out

498
00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:43,800
Speaker 1: what the genesis is of this, this mutilation and blood bath.

499
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:49,320
Speaker 1: I just don't understand why he didn't just go get

500
00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:54,120
Speaker 1: a job or move out. I know, So why didn't

501
00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:59,360
Speaker 1: Scott Peterson just divorced Lacy exactly? Why why didn't Casey

502
00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:03,400
Speaker 1: Anthony per child for adoption. There's this sense that if

503
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:07,080
Speaker 1: you're on this planet, my life is going to be miserable,

504
00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:11,280
Speaker 1: so I have to eradicate you. I'm not just going

505
00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:13,520
Speaker 1: to move down the block or get a job at

506
00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:15,960
Speaker 1: McDonald's or something like that. I'm going to wipe you

507
00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:19,440
Speaker 1: off the face of the planet. That's the thinking. Why Christmas,

508
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:23,760
Speaker 1: Doctor Bethany, what is it about the holidays that makes

509
00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:28,760
Speaker 1: resentments and angers boil over? The reason is that at Christmas,

510
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:33,640
Speaker 1: people who are not well psychologically, they have very childlike

511
00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:38,760
Speaker 1: fantasies that on this holiday everybody is going to treat

512
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:41,800
Speaker 1: them as being special and they are going to make

513
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:46,320
Speaker 1: up the disillusion disillusionment. It's like, let's say, I'm thinking

514
00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:49,640
Speaker 1: my parents were terrible. They didn't give me the gifts

515
00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:52,440
Speaker 1: I wanted when I was six years old, my mother

516
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:57,120
Speaker 1: didn't nobody treated me as being special. So on this holiday,

517
00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:01,040
Speaker 1: I'm going to course everybody around me to to make

518
00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:04,800
Speaker 1: me feel special and childlike and joy us. And when

519
00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:07,880
Speaker 1: they don't there, it's going to be hell to pay.

520
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:11,879
Speaker 1: So it's profound this idealization of a holiday and then

521
00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:18,040
Speaker 1: really bitter disillusionment. To Selena Diaz, this is Sylvester Diaz' daughter.

522
00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:26,320
Speaker 1: How has this affected your life now? It's been hard? Um?

523
00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:30,480
Speaker 1: I UM, I grew up with oh my mom or

524
00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:35,440
Speaker 1: my dad. Um, the holidays kind of suck for me.

525
00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:40,080
Speaker 1: I enjoy them as much as I can, being as

526
00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:43,120
Speaker 1: I have other families that make it so much better

527
00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:47,960
Speaker 1: than than what it could be. Um, it's just really hard.

528
00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:54,040
Speaker 1: I mean, it's I can't even explain it. It's just

529
00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:58,359
Speaker 1: been so rough and it's been so so awful. And

530
00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:00,800
Speaker 1: then just as well, all the thing in the future

531
00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:05,839
Speaker 1: that I was a kid, I will I want kid

532
00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:08,440
Speaker 1: to do certain things with my dad. I will my

533
00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:11,759
Speaker 1: kids won't ever get to meet him. My husband won't

534
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:16,879
Speaker 1: ever get to meet him. So it's just I don't

535
00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:21,160
Speaker 1: understand why. I mean, I think it was very unfair.

536
00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:29,240
Speaker 1: You know, I mourned my fiance for so many years,

537
00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:34,080
Speaker 1: over twenty years before I would let myself remarry and

538
00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:39,240
Speaker 1: find joy in my life. And to use Sylvester Diaz,

539
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:42,880
Speaker 1: it makes me. You know, when I see them in

540
00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:45,800
Speaker 1: the morning, I think, you know, this could be my

541
00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:47,480
Speaker 1: last day with them. I've got to make it the

542
00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:51,880
Speaker 1: most special, most wonderful, happy day for them. And losing

543
00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:56,239
Speaker 1: somebody as you were, you were eighteen when you lost

544
00:35:56,239 --> 00:35:59,359
Speaker 1: your dad, I think it changes the way you grow up,

545
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:03,120
Speaker 1: It changes the way you see the world. Sylvester, Yeah,

546
00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:07,239
Speaker 1: I agree. Um, you know it's been it's been hard

547
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:09,320
Speaker 1: for both of us, but I have to be strong

548
00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:12,959
Speaker 1: for my sister. And you know, like you said, things

549
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:16,560
Speaker 1: haven't been you know, the same ever since that happened.

550
00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:19,920
Speaker 1: But you know, we live our day late day by

551
00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:24,239
Speaker 1: day by day, so not really much we can do.

552
00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:27,880
Speaker 1: You know, things were hard at the beginning, for sure.

553
00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:31,359
Speaker 1: You know, our lives were like completely turned around. Like

554
00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:36,600
Speaker 1: I would never wish that upon anybody, you know, like

555
00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:42,640
Speaker 1: you got two teenagers, no parents, you know who to

556
00:36:42,680 --> 00:36:46,800
Speaker 1: turn too, and you know, like, what are you're supposed

557
00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:50,080
Speaker 1: to do? You know, I have people that I know

558
00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:52,640
Speaker 1: who still have their parents, and you know, they go,

559
00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:55,960
Speaker 1: they go, they go to them for guidance, and you know,

560
00:36:56,400 --> 00:36:58,799
Speaker 1: like we we didn't have that. You know, I'm probub

561
00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:00,319
Speaker 1: to say that. You know what I mean, my sister,

562
00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:04,480
Speaker 1: we're doing so much better. And you know we keep

563
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:11,200
Speaker 1: street single day since that day, things that things. Things

564
00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:13,799
Speaker 1: will always be rough, but we push through it. That's

565
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:18,359
Speaker 1: all we can't do. Two Selena and Sylvester. Selena, what

566
00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:22,680
Speaker 1: is your advice to other crime victims? To other people

567
00:37:22,719 --> 00:37:25,920
Speaker 1: that have lost their mom or dad to violent crime?

568
00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:29,160
Speaker 1: My best advice would be just to think about all

569
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:36,160
Speaker 1: the good times, all the memories you have. Family is

570
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:39,760
Speaker 1: a big thing for your support, friends that are always

571
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:44,319
Speaker 1: there for you. Sylvester, what can you say to other

572
00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:47,360
Speaker 1: crime victims at this time of year? As Christmas is

573
00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:50,160
Speaker 1: approaching in you and Selena have this in the back

574
00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:54,360
Speaker 1: of your mind. What can you tell other people to

575
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:58,000
Speaker 1: help them based on what you've learned? You know, my family,

576
00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:01,239
Speaker 1: if my family has always been this them, but you know,

577
00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:03,879
Speaker 1: through the hard times. You know, all I could say

578
00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:09,080
Speaker 1: is to you know, keep clothes. You know, you know,

579
00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:13,080
Speaker 1: things happen overnight. And all I could really say is,

580
00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:16,080
Speaker 1: you know, enjoy the times that you have with your family,

581
00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:22,080
Speaker 1: because what we've been through, it's only temporarily. You know,

582
00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:25,719
Speaker 1: people come and people go, and I just you know,

583
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:27,480
Speaker 1: I just want to say it to everybody. Just keep

584
00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:30,480
Speaker 1: your family close, and your friends, your loved ones, and

585
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:33,920
Speaker 1: you know, all the bad times that people have with

586
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:36,880
Speaker 1: each other, you got to make it right and you know,

587
00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:41,520
Speaker 1: love love one another because soon, soon enough, somebody's going

588
00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:45,759
Speaker 1: to be gone to Ramana. Who's saying, where is Alexis

589
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:50,080
Speaker 1: Valdez now? In twenty seventeen, mister Valdez was sentenced to

590
00:38:50,160 --> 00:38:53,720
Speaker 1: thirty three years in prison. Nancy Grace crime story, Sonnia,

591
00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:55,520
Speaker 1: good Bye Friend,