WEBVTT - 4. Animals of the Night 0:00:14.996 --> 0:00:37.276 Pushkin Memorial Day weekend, twenty nineteen. It's a month after 0:00:37.356 --> 0:00:40.676 my meeting with Erica. Tristan Bodett has been dead for 0:00:40.756 --> 0:00:43.876 nearly a year. Anthony Route has been in jail for 0:00:43.916 --> 0:00:47.516 seven months, and this is the weekend that State Parks 0:00:47.516 --> 0:00:53.076 thinks it's safe to open the camp round again. From 0:00:53.076 --> 0:00:56.156 the time of Bodette's murder until Route has arrest, the 0:00:56.196 --> 0:01:01.356 authorities offered almost nothing to the public, no warnings, little information, 0:01:02.436 --> 0:01:04.596 so people in Malibu were left to figure things out 0:01:04.596 --> 0:01:08.516 for themselves. There were a lot of creepy similarities among 0:01:08.556 --> 0:01:12.396 the near miss and the murder, but publicly the cops 0:01:12.476 --> 0:01:16.796 kept repeating the same old story, not related, at least 0:01:16.796 --> 0:01:21.596 nothing they would share. But then after Rout's arrest, that changed. 0:01:22.156 --> 0:01:25.756 The crimes were all related, and not just that one 0:01:25.836 --> 0:01:33.116 person had done them all. Was that even possible? I 0:01:33.196 --> 0:01:35.956 need to walk around the campground see it for myself. 0:01:36.676 --> 0:01:40.516 So tonight on the grand reopening weekend, I'll be camping out. 0:01:46.156 --> 0:01:48.876 Turning off the Canyon Road, there's a long entrance road 0:01:48.956 --> 0:01:51.916 leading to a little guard check. The park employees take 0:01:51.956 --> 0:01:55.996 your money and give you your parking pass. The two 0:01:56.036 --> 0:02:04.036 people working seem skittish. Are they nervous about something? A 0:02:04.196 --> 0:02:08.356 park by Site forty nine, that's where Scott McCurdy, Tristan's 0:02:08.396 --> 0:02:11.836 brother in law, camped. That's where I'm staying tonight. It's 0:02:11.956 --> 0:02:14.916 right next to Site fifty one, where Tristan Bodatt was murdered. 0:02:18.476 --> 0:02:22.036 I'm trying not to get creeped out. The campground is 0:02:22.036 --> 0:02:29.156 basically deserted, empty campsite after empty campsite. It's a little eerie. 0:02:38.236 --> 0:02:41.596 There is a young couple here. They're celebrating their second 0:02:41.596 --> 0:02:45.316 wedding anniversary. We were just driving up to go camping, 0:02:45.356 --> 0:02:47.836 and we were planning to actually go to Los Padres 0:02:47.916 --> 0:02:51.876 National Forest, but we're nubs at the camping game and 0:02:51.996 --> 0:02:54.356 did not reserve like six months in advance like everyone 0:02:54.356 --> 0:02:56.556 else did. So we call they decided to try Malibu 0:02:56.636 --> 0:02:59.636 Creek State Park. So we just popped on in and 0:02:59.996 --> 0:03:01.956 there's like a line of you know, cars coming in. 0:03:02.036 --> 0:03:04.836 But we said, like or like for sure it's packed, 0:03:04.836 --> 0:03:06.996 you know, And so he pulled up and they're like, nope, 0:03:07.036 --> 0:03:09.436 there's there's still some spots available. And then we come 0:03:09.476 --> 0:03:13.476 and there's like no one here. So then it's just 0:03:13.516 --> 0:03:16.756 another like the one other camper here at like eleven 0:03:16.796 --> 0:03:19.356 am this morning. It was just like like, oh, you know, 0:03:19.476 --> 0:03:21.476 because we're asking if they knew of any hikes, and 0:03:21.596 --> 0:03:23.036 he's like, you know, they check this heck out, this 0:03:23.076 --> 0:03:25.556 heck out, but don't be scared about the murder. And 0:03:25.796 --> 0:03:30.116 we were just like, what are you talking about, Bromly, 0:03:30.796 --> 0:03:33.236 are you the murder? Like I gos like, oh my 0:03:33.316 --> 0:03:44.556 gotch so, but yeah, maybe we'll lea tonight. Walking around, 0:03:44.676 --> 0:03:47.116 I noticed one of those interpretive signs you often see 0:03:47.156 --> 0:03:52.196 in state parks, Animals of the night. It says while 0:03:52.276 --> 0:03:56.756 campers sleep, the park belongs to the animals. Can you 0:03:56.796 --> 0:04:00.276 hear the howl of a coyote, the scratch scratch off mice, 0:04:00.596 --> 0:04:03.836 or the hoot of an owl? As you walk through 0:04:03.876 --> 0:04:07.076 the park, your flashlights suddenly reflects the glowing eyes of 0:04:07.116 --> 0:04:16.276 an animal. The sign talks about bobcats, coyotes, raccoons, but 0:04:16.396 --> 0:04:20.156 doesn't say anything about mountain lions. Maybe they didn't want 0:04:20.196 --> 0:04:26.436 to start a panic. It starts getting dark, so I 0:04:26.476 --> 0:04:29.516 head back to Site forty nine. I pitch my tent 0:04:29.596 --> 0:04:32.276 in the meadow beside the fire pit. I light a 0:04:32.316 --> 0:04:34.276 fire and sit next to it while I eat my 0:04:34.276 --> 0:04:38.436 dinner take out from the grocery store. There's no one 0:04:38.476 --> 0:04:42.876 in triest in site Site fifty one. That's strange. When 0:04:42.876 --> 0:04:45.236 I drove in the park, workers told me it was 0:04:45.396 --> 0:04:54.316 already reserved. I zip into my tent. I text home, 0:04:54.556 --> 0:05:03.756 I'm fine, but this feels weird. I have a sleepless night. 0:05:05.196 --> 0:05:13.636 Every noise feels too close, rainfalls, I'm sure I feel 0:05:13.716 --> 0:05:17.116 something brush up against my tent, the thin wall of 0:05:17.196 --> 0:05:26.636 my tent. I'm sure I hear footsteps approach and then recede. 0:05:32.516 --> 0:05:36.236 I'm so relieved. When the sky lightens to gray, I 0:05:36.396 --> 0:05:42.676 opened up my tent. It's before dawn, lightly drizzling. I 0:05:42.796 --> 0:05:45.716 noticed that the anniversary couple didn't make it through the night, 0:05:47.276 --> 0:05:50.116 and no one ever showed up to claim Sight fifty one. 0:05:57.396 --> 0:06:29.236 I'm Dana Goodyear and this is Lost Hills, Episode four, 0:06:30.116 --> 0:06:40.236 Animals of the Night. In the morning, I decide to 0:06:40.276 --> 0:06:43.396 explore a little more. The campground is the site of 0:06:43.396 --> 0:06:46.996 the murder and two of the near misses. Also the 0:06:47.036 --> 0:06:52.636 place people are the most vulnerable, gathered sleeping guards down. 0:06:53.996 --> 0:06:58.436 I mean, part of being here is trying to understand 0:06:58.476 --> 0:07:01.596 this place that Rooda lived and this place that Tristan 0:07:01.596 --> 0:07:05.956 and Burdett died. Tristan's tent might have been there just 0:07:06.036 --> 0:07:08.916 beyond the picnic table, or he might have been right 0:07:08.956 --> 0:07:18.196 here where I am. But I wondered if his I 0:07:18.276 --> 0:07:22.996 wondered where his door was. I guess I study the 0:07:22.996 --> 0:07:26.876 map Site forty nine where I am, Site fifty one 0:07:26.876 --> 0:07:30.276 where Tristan was. Then the road curves around the meadow 0:07:31.116 --> 0:07:36.756 fifty four fifty five, fifty eight fifty eight. That's where 0:07:36.796 --> 0:07:42.036 near Miss number two happened. It was November ninth, twenty sixteen, 0:07:42.516 --> 0:07:46.036 three thirty am. A man named Ron Carson was lying 0:07:46.036 --> 0:07:48.796 in bed when he says his camper was rocked by 0:07:48.796 --> 0:07:53.076 an explosion. He later testified that it quote felt like 0:07:53.116 --> 0:07:56.276 a bomb went off. He wasn't hit, but when he 0:07:56.316 --> 0:07:59.116 turned on the light he saw shotgun pellets stuck into 0:07:59.156 --> 0:08:01.796 the wall right next to where his head had been. 0:08:04.156 --> 0:08:06.436 Just across the road from Site fifty eight is site 0:08:06.476 --> 0:08:11.076 fifty seven, the location of another attack, Near Miss number three. 0:08:11.316 --> 0:08:15.996 On January seventh, twenty seventeen, a woman and her boyfriend 0:08:15.996 --> 0:08:17.916 were sleeping in the back of her car when they 0:08:17.956 --> 0:08:22.796 were awakened by a bang between four and five am. 0:08:22.836 --> 0:08:24.916 The next day, she found a hole in her trunk. 0:08:25.476 --> 0:08:35.036 State Parks police recovered a metal shotgun slug. This is insane. 0:08:35.676 --> 0:08:39.356 These three crime scenes, the camper, the car, and Bodette's 0:08:39.396 --> 0:08:42.996 tent are just a couple hundred feet apart. These shootings 0:08:43.036 --> 0:08:46.076 happened in a tight cluster in the same corner of 0:08:46.076 --> 0:08:51.076 the campground, where a footpath disappears into the woods. I 0:08:51.236 --> 0:08:55.396 follow it. It's overgrown with wild mustard and little purple flowers. 0:08:56.556 --> 0:08:59.236 I'm kind of curious about this way because this seems like, 0:08:59.436 --> 0:09:01.676 I mean, no one is out and about at four am, 0:09:01.796 --> 0:09:06.556 so anywhere would be a place you could go wouldn't 0:09:06.556 --> 0:09:13.756 be observed. The path heads north toward the mountains. I 0:09:13.876 --> 0:09:17.116 know that somewhere out there, two or three miles away, 0:09:17.436 --> 0:09:21.396 beyond Mulholland Highway, in a remote and seldom traveled part 0:09:21.396 --> 0:09:25.876 of the park is where Anthony Rauta lived. It's where 0:09:25.876 --> 0:09:39.956 he was arrested, and it's not that far. There are 0:09:39.996 --> 0:09:43.716 only a couple hundred homeless people in Malibu, and they 0:09:43.756 --> 0:09:48.396 fall into distinct categories. There are the beach dwellers, a 0:09:48.396 --> 0:09:51.236 lot of them living in RV's along Pacific Coast Highway. 0:09:52.116 --> 0:09:55.316 They're the mountain men, homestead or loner types like Routa 0:09:55.556 --> 0:09:57.876 who live up in the hills, and there are the 0:09:57.916 --> 0:10:02.276 townfolk who congregate in and around the library and shops. Yeah, 0:10:02.316 --> 0:10:04.756 we'll go. Um, let's just shake over here by the 0:10:04.796 --> 0:10:07.356 library and win Park and then we can walk in 0:10:07.396 --> 0:10:10.796 the Legacy I'm tagging along with the sheriff departments Homeless 0:10:10.836 --> 0:10:14.796 Outreach Team. These deputies make regular welfare checks to the 0:10:14.876 --> 0:10:18.596 camps scattered around Malibu. I'm hoping that they might have 0:10:18.676 --> 0:10:22.196 run into Route at some point. We're across from the 0:10:22.276 --> 0:10:25.836 library in Legacy Park, right behind the ultra high end 0:10:25.916 --> 0:10:29.916 Malibu Country Shopping Center. This is a spot where a 0:10:29.916 --> 0:10:33.116 lot of homeless people gather. One of the deputies shows 0:10:33.116 --> 0:10:34.956 me an app they use to keep a record of 0:10:35.036 --> 0:10:38.956 everyone they make contact with. This is everyone I've spoken 0:10:38.996 --> 0:10:42.596 to in the last two years. Ozzie Anthony Route's dad 0:10:43.076 --> 0:10:45.476 told me that his son had a library card that 0:10:45.556 --> 0:10:47.996 he hung out at libraries a lot, in spite of 0:10:48.036 --> 0:10:52.716 being a mountain man. I take a deep breath. Would 0:10:52.716 --> 0:10:55.396 you be able to check that database for someone for 0:10:55.556 --> 0:11:00.556 me to find out if they've received homeless services? And so, Yes, absolutely, 0:11:00.596 --> 0:11:05.276 I can check it. Okay, what's the name? Last name? First, 0:11:05.516 --> 0:11:10.716 first name, first Anthony. Okay, rout At, r A U 0:11:11.636 --> 0:11:17.036 d A seller right, you did it right. Okay, it's 0:11:17.316 --> 0:11:20.596 when I'm to scroll up, but it'll see did not 0:11:20.676 --> 0:11:25.716 find did not match any client. Okay. Disappointing, but not surprising. 0:11:26.516 --> 0:11:28.356 Routa seems like the kind of person who would have 0:11:28.396 --> 0:11:32.436 avoided this kind of contact at all costs. But then, 0:11:32.836 --> 0:11:35.356 just as we're about to leave, a man named Josh 0:11:35.396 --> 0:11:38.836 Crawford walks up to him. My name is Josh Mail. 0:11:39.076 --> 0:11:41.516 How he used to camp here? Now he sleeps in 0:11:41.516 --> 0:11:44.676 a car. The cops tell me that he actually volunteered 0:11:44.676 --> 0:11:47.276 to help fight the Wolsey fire. Sleep over there in 0:11:47.316 --> 0:11:49.596 the park man, and uh, you know, kind of giving 0:11:49.676 --> 0:11:52.556 up on life. So you know, I'm curious how he 0:11:52.636 --> 0:11:58.116 ended up out here. Turns out it's the energy. It's 0:11:58.156 --> 0:12:03.316 so beautiful, you know. Mallible is like, I say, that's 0:12:03.316 --> 0:12:06.916 the reason people come here, because it's an energy here. 0:12:07.516 --> 0:12:10.796 It's a nobody wants to leave. It's like, we'd rather 0:12:10.836 --> 0:12:14.396 sleep on the ground here than an apartment in hell? 0:12:15.316 --> 0:12:17.756 Do you hear me? I rather sleep on the ground 0:12:17.876 --> 0:12:23.476 here around this good energy. How how do you describe 0:12:23.556 --> 0:12:27.436 the community of people living in tents and sleeping rough 0:12:27.516 --> 0:12:30.796 and homeless around Malibu? Is it a welcoming community? Is 0:12:30.796 --> 0:12:32.916 it tight knit? Is it a lot of loaners? What's 0:12:32.956 --> 0:12:37.796 the vibe? It's all above, it's tight en it. It's 0:12:37.836 --> 0:12:40.716 a lot of loaners. It's you got your junkies, you 0:12:40.796 --> 0:12:45.036 got your alcoholics, you got your people that's depressed. You 0:12:45.156 --> 0:12:48.636 got people that have lost their kids, made them lose 0:12:48.676 --> 0:12:52.036 their mind. You know, it's a lot of reason people 0:12:52.236 --> 0:12:55.556 end up out of here. On a psychological level, Can 0:12:55.596 --> 0:12:58.436 I ask you about a specific person, if you ever 0:12:58.476 --> 0:13:01.716 heard of somebody living in I pull up a picture 0:13:01.716 --> 0:13:04.796 of Router on my phone. There are only a few online. 0:13:05.316 --> 0:13:07.316 One from the day of his arrest, another one that 0:13:07.356 --> 0:13:09.476 looks like an old mug shot, and if few from 0:13:09.476 --> 0:13:12.556 his courtroom appearances where he's in a restraint chair wearing 0:13:12.596 --> 0:13:16.556 a blue jumpsuit and a spit mask. Now I'm not pure, 0:13:16.636 --> 0:13:20.756 but that picture show looks so I think he used 0:13:20.796 --> 0:13:24.396 to come down and go to the library. And because 0:13:26.076 --> 0:13:28.996 that guy that's like a younger picture of my thing. 0:13:30.916 --> 0:13:33.836 He's talking about the old mug shot where Rauda has 0:13:33.876 --> 0:13:37.716 a defiant old West outlaw luck. Yeah, because it looks 0:13:37.796 --> 0:13:43.116 like this guy used to be with this, uh white 0:13:43.236 --> 0:13:45.636 lady that was also you know, she was on the street, 0:13:46.276 --> 0:13:51.236 but he was a drinker. Like and uh, yeah, he 0:13:51.236 --> 0:13:53.556 had a girlfriend. I don't know about a girlfriend, but 0:13:53.596 --> 0:13:55.516 he was a white lady. He will be around every 0:13:55.596 --> 0:13:57.476 day and he will be with her. But this was 0:13:57.516 --> 0:13:59.756 like a couple of years ago or something. Yeah, I 0:13:59.796 --> 0:14:01.316 kind of want to say he had a He kept 0:14:01.316 --> 0:14:04.276 a good tar with him too. What no hell of 0:14:04.316 --> 0:14:06.596 a player, I know, but he had a guitar with him. 0:14:07.756 --> 0:14:09.756 You know, everybody will kinna be out for the rockles 0:14:09.876 --> 0:14:12.116 or whatever. He used to say things like about him 0:14:12.236 --> 0:14:15.796 singing and stuff like that because he always had a 0:14:15.876 --> 0:14:20.876 gata with him, a guitar, a lady friend. It's so 0:14:20.996 --> 0:14:23.636 tempting to think of this as Rauta, but I can't 0:14:23.636 --> 0:14:27.436 find anyone who'll confirm it. No one else I talked 0:14:27.436 --> 0:14:30.476 to in Malibu has ever laid eyes on him until 0:14:30.516 --> 0:14:34.396 the day of his capture. I'm trying to catch a shadow. 0:14:35.276 --> 0:14:38.756 Rodas so hard to pin down, so hard to place 0:14:39.236 --> 0:15:00.356 anywhere when he's not firmly behind bars. For months, I've 0:15:00.396 --> 0:15:03.236 been trying to get information from California State Parks, the 0:15:03.356 --> 0:15:06.956 government agency that runs Malibu Creek State Park, and for 0:15:07.076 --> 0:15:11.076 months they've been totally stonewalling. Hi Dan, Now, this is 0:15:11.116 --> 0:15:15.036 Gloria Sandoval from the firm California State Parks, returning your 0:15:15.036 --> 0:15:19.116 phone call. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing investigation, we can't 0:15:19.156 --> 0:15:22.396 make anybody available for your interview at this time. But 0:15:23.036 --> 0:15:28.076 I ask for anything and everything, crime data, staffing levels, 0:15:28.156 --> 0:15:32.516 staff lists, occupancy data, incident reports, anything that might shed 0:15:32.636 --> 0:15:36.596 even a little light on what happened. Months go by 0:15:36.676 --> 0:15:40.836 between my emails and calls and their responses. After a 0:15:40.876 --> 0:15:43.396 long wait, I do get some data from State Parks, 0:15:43.756 --> 0:15:48.876 but it's incomplete and inconclusive, they tell me repeatedly, in 0:15:48.916 --> 0:15:52.236 every way you can think of. No, no, we will 0:15:52.276 --> 0:15:55.316 not explain what happened Malibu Creek State Park between twenty 0:15:55.556 --> 0:15:59.796 sixteen and twenty eighteen. The parks have their own police force. 0:16:00.196 --> 0:16:04.476 Those are the rangers, sworn peace officers with badges and guns. 0:16:05.116 --> 0:16:08.876 They could have investigated the shootings. I know from talking 0:16:08.916 --> 0:16:11.596 to Sergeant Right that at least one person fairly high 0:16:11.676 --> 0:16:14.876 up at the park knew they needed Lostell's help. But 0:16:15.036 --> 0:16:18.356 what were they doing over there? It's impossible to find out. 0:16:19.636 --> 0:16:22.196 The Only thing I do find out. I learned from court. 0:16:22.836 --> 0:16:26.676 It's pretty damning. The tent that Tristan Bodett was killed 0:16:26.716 --> 0:16:31.316 in the crime scene itself. It was never booked into evidence, 0:16:31.876 --> 0:16:37.556 it was never properly examined. It couldn't be because State 0:16:37.636 --> 0:16:43.156 Parks threw it away. If the craziest thing I've learned 0:16:43.196 --> 0:16:45.396 about the park is that they left a campground to 0:16:45.436 --> 0:16:49.596 open after there'd been multiple shootings there, then this is 0:16:49.596 --> 0:16:54.316 the second craziest thing. Someone was murdered in his tent 0:16:54.836 --> 0:17:00.036 in that same campground and you throw it in the trash. 0:17:00.636 --> 0:17:05.556 No wonder. No one wants to talk to me. The 0:17:05.596 --> 0:17:07.636 only thing I can do is keep going back to 0:17:07.676 --> 0:17:11.596 the park. One day, I join a walking tour led 0:17:11.596 --> 0:17:15.036 by a former ranger to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of 0:17:15.116 --> 0:17:18.156 Planet of the Apes, which was filmed in Malibu Creek 0:17:18.156 --> 0:17:20.436 State Park. So many people refer to this as the 0:17:20.516 --> 0:17:24.476 Jewel of Santa Monica Mounds. That's how desperate I am. 0:17:24.876 --> 0:17:28.516 It's roughly a three mile round trip from here. We 0:17:28.676 --> 0:17:30.636 will just go up the road a little bit to 0:17:30.716 --> 0:17:34.996 see our first scene location. Then we'll come back and 0:17:35.076 --> 0:17:38.036 we'll head down into the heart of the park. It's 0:17:38.036 --> 0:17:40.956 a motley crew of film buffs and science fiction fans 0:17:41.036 --> 0:17:43.156 and people looking to fill as Sunday with a hike 0:17:43.196 --> 0:17:46.756 in Malibu Creek State Park. We're about thirty minutes in 0:17:47.356 --> 0:17:50.796 when someone brings up the Boudette murder. Oh oh, that 0:17:50.916 --> 0:17:54.276 was in the campground. Unsurprisingly, the ranger doesn't want to 0:17:54.276 --> 0:17:56.756 talk about it, but I think it's possible they got 0:17:56.796 --> 0:18:00.716 the tire. Yeah. Well him, until we got the evidence, 0:18:00.756 --> 0:18:04.076 I guess. He does say that the killing has significantly 0:18:04.076 --> 0:18:07.316 depressed attendance at the park, and sifting through the data 0:18:07.356 --> 0:18:10.196 that state Parks gave me, I've learned that the financial 0:18:10.196 --> 0:18:14.996 impact was significant. Revenue fell by fifty percent, a loss 0:18:14.996 --> 0:18:18.916 of seven hundred thousand dollars compared to the year before. Ye, 0:18:18.996 --> 0:18:21.316 it's all I mean. I'm not the park spokesman. No, 0:18:21.476 --> 0:18:24.116 that's for sure. I don't know really any more than 0:18:24.156 --> 0:18:27.116 I read in the newspapers or here on the news. 0:18:27.116 --> 0:18:30.356 And he says he thinks the element of danger has 0:18:30.356 --> 0:18:33.636 been eliminated, but also that there's still a lot that 0:18:33.676 --> 0:18:35.636 hasn't been released, which I don't know. But there were 0:18:35.876 --> 0:18:40.196 one day that the hills were covered with sheriff's deputies 0:18:40.236 --> 0:18:43.996 and they're just you know, following all these various social trails, 0:18:43.996 --> 0:18:47.316 and I'm I'm sure this guy went off trail as well, right, 0:18:47.356 --> 0:18:49.796 So the more evidence the better, that's, you know, how 0:18:49.836 --> 0:18:54.796 you approve the case. During the tour, I've been keeping 0:18:54.796 --> 0:18:57.196 my eye on one of the other hikers, a guy 0:18:57.236 --> 0:19:01.036 wearing camouflage and to make America Great Again hat. He 0:19:01.116 --> 0:19:05.516 seems very interested in the murder talk. I introduced myself 0:19:05.596 --> 0:19:07.756 and he tells me his name is Lou Johnson, and 0:19:07.796 --> 0:19:10.636 he's here with a boy named Huts and his landlady's son. 0:19:11.676 --> 0:19:15.796 We just stopped going anywhere. He tells me that before 0:19:15.836 --> 0:19:18.796 the murder, he and Hudson spent their weekends hiking all 0:19:18.796 --> 0:19:23.436 over this area. That changed. Just the randomness of it 0:19:23.076 --> 0:19:26.716 was very troubling, I think, because it didn't matters like 0:19:26.796 --> 0:19:28.676 if you were if you were in the wrong place 0:19:28.676 --> 0:19:31.956 at the wrong time and moving in the wilderness, and 0:19:32.076 --> 0:19:35.596 this guy saw you, you know, you immortal danger there. 0:19:36.116 --> 0:19:38.316 As we fill up our water bottles, he tells me 0:19:38.356 --> 0:19:40.636 that one day, as he was driving to work, he 0:19:40.716 --> 0:19:44.516 saw that the hills were swarming with deputies collecting evidence 0:19:44.636 --> 0:19:48.516 from Rounds campsite. One morning, I came around one of 0:19:48.516 --> 0:19:52.996 the last hairpine curves there, and there were police cars, 0:19:52.996 --> 0:19:57.596 sheriff's cars everywhere, ranger cars, some sheriffs, a group of 0:19:57.636 --> 0:20:00.396 sheriff deputies were coming up the road and I said, Hey, 0:20:00.556 --> 0:20:03.916 is this have to do with the investigation wrapping it up? 0:20:04.396 --> 0:20:07.196 And said yeah, we're just up here, you know, doing 0:20:07.276 --> 0:20:10.516 cleanup and stuff like that. You know, he said a 0:20:10.556 --> 0:20:13.396 few years earlier he tried to take Hudson hiking right 0:20:13.436 --> 0:20:16.876 there in that exact spot, start hiking up there. There 0:20:16.876 --> 0:20:19.956 were animal trails and I remember remarking, Wow, these are 0:20:20.796 --> 0:20:23.436 He's really good with animal trails, and this was the 0:20:23.476 --> 0:20:25.876 trail in the grass was pretty well trodden. I thought, oh, 0:20:25.876 --> 0:20:29.356 maybe some hikers go up here. And it sort of 0:20:29.356 --> 0:20:31.396 follows a little canyon rise and there's a lot of 0:20:31.396 --> 0:20:34.956 big oak trees there with big canopies, and I remember 0:20:34.956 --> 0:20:37.276 we sat up underneath one and he was sort of 0:20:37.516 --> 0:20:41.036 just sort of not maybe he didn't feel good. I 0:20:41.076 --> 0:20:42.876 don't know what it was, but he just didn't want 0:20:42.876 --> 0:20:46.436 to hike. And it was strange, lu says, really out 0:20:46.436 --> 0:20:49.756 of character for Hudson. But he couldn't make him go on, 0:20:50.196 --> 0:20:53.116 so they turned back, and you know, the thing that 0:20:53.276 --> 0:20:55.996 strikes me is now knowing that you know that was 0:20:56.196 --> 0:21:01.236 where route as camp was, that that's kind of a 0:21:01.316 --> 0:21:04.996 scary thing we could have if we had gone hiking 0:21:05.116 --> 0:21:08.756 up in there. Would he have felt threatened? You know, 0:21:08.796 --> 0:21:10.676 he would kind of hiding out. I read, you know, 0:21:10.796 --> 0:21:14.596 he just didn't like people who knows We don't know. 0:21:14.676 --> 0:21:17.716 And it just was now looking back and I was like, wow, 0:21:17.756 --> 0:21:20.396 that felt like a close call for us safety wise. 0:21:20.876 --> 0:21:24.876 And again, had we known that these other things had 0:21:24.916 --> 0:21:27.716 happened at that time, we didn't know about We'd never 0:21:27.756 --> 0:21:31.236 heard about any problems. And it just is it's not 0:21:31.356 --> 0:21:34.956 kind of frustrating, it's very frustrating. It's infuriating because this 0:21:35.156 --> 0:21:37.316 transparency that these guys all take an oath for it. 0:21:37.356 --> 0:21:39.596 I support the police. I'm a real supporter of law 0:21:39.676 --> 0:21:42.036 enforcement and all that, but when they pull stuff like 0:21:42.116 --> 0:21:45.316 this it seems political or for whatever reason, it really 0:21:45.396 --> 0:21:50.476 pisses me off. Lu says, the trail to Routa's camp 0:21:50.596 --> 0:21:53.196 is not too far from where we are now. He 0:21:53.236 --> 0:21:54.956 can show me if I want to meet him out 0:21:54.996 --> 0:21:58.796 there when the tour ends. We trade email addresses and 0:21:58.876 --> 0:22:04.116 he tells me he'll be in touch after my visits 0:22:04.156 --> 0:22:07.476 to the park. I keep thinking about Routa, sleeping night 0:22:07.516 --> 0:22:10.876 after night in the wild. With his first letter, he 0:22:10.996 --> 0:22:14.836 enclosed a careful pencil drawing of two mountain lion cubs snuggling. 0:22:15.756 --> 0:22:18.956 I want to know more about his life outdoors. In 0:22:18.956 --> 0:22:22.076 his next letter, he writes, I was hardly ever scared. 0:22:22.636 --> 0:22:25.956 I did a lot of hiking, starving and freezing. I 0:22:26.116 --> 0:22:31.076 seen little baby bears, foxes, bobcats, eagles. There's a spot 0:22:31.076 --> 0:22:33.156 on the Tapanga Mountains where you can see the ocean. 0:22:33.796 --> 0:22:36.316 There's a spot on the Pacific Palisades where you can 0:22:36.356 --> 0:22:42.916 see to pass a robelus. Those words stop me cold. 0:22:45.196 --> 0:22:50.996 I just moved to the Palisades, but he couldn't know 0:22:51.076 --> 0:22:58.276 that I've been using a different mailing address. It's right 0:22:58.316 --> 0:23:29.116 around that time I start having nightmares about Anthony Rowda Mhore. 0:24:13.756 --> 0:24:17.556 So like when I woke up, I woke up like 0:24:18.276 --> 0:24:20.716 I almost you could imagine if an explosion went off 0:24:20.756 --> 0:24:25.236 by your head, like really suddenly. And I don't really 0:24:25.276 --> 0:24:28.396 know why I woke up like that, because there was 0:24:28.396 --> 0:24:30.076 no pain or anything. So like the bottom of me, 0:24:30.436 --> 0:24:34.476 this is Jimmy Rogers near Miss number one. He was 0:24:34.476 --> 0:24:38.436 attacked twenty months before Tristan Bodett was killed. He's agreed 0:24:38.436 --> 0:24:41.236 to meet up in this shady grove in Tapia Park, 0:24:41.396 --> 0:24:43.436 which is part of Malibu Creek State Park. So like, 0:24:43.476 --> 0:24:45.676 I woke up and then I was just like what 0:24:45.756 --> 0:24:49.756 happened in all Jimmy's a serious outdoorsman, a trained wildlife 0:24:49.756 --> 0:24:53.236 biologist who's worked for the Forest Service. He's telling me 0:24:53.276 --> 0:24:56.956 about the morning of November third, twenty sixteen. He was 0:24:56.996 --> 0:24:59.516 sleeping in a hammock in the park. He was on 0:24:59.556 --> 0:25:02.556 a solo backpacking trip, trying to complete all sixty seven 0:25:02.556 --> 0:25:06.196 miles of the Backbone Trail in three days. Between three 0:25:06.236 --> 0:25:09.556 and four in the morning, he was startled awake, and 0:25:09.596 --> 0:25:11.876 then I felt something was on my arm or something 0:25:11.956 --> 0:25:14.436 was like clawing at my arm, which was my initial 0:25:14.436 --> 0:25:16.676 thought because my hammock was somewhat low to the ground. 0:25:17.076 --> 0:25:19.636 He tumbled out of his hammock, which had split in half. 0:25:20.436 --> 0:25:23.916 He stood there listening as his arm began to sting. 0:25:24.716 --> 0:25:26.916 His jacket was torn, and when he took it off, 0:25:27.076 --> 0:25:29.716 he saw holes in his arm, a lot of them. 0:25:30.396 --> 0:25:33.196 It looked like a small animal had been gnawing on him. 0:25:33.396 --> 0:25:35.476 Because then I was like, well, if it was an animal. 0:25:35.996 --> 0:25:38.476 It had to have been rabbit or something. But I 0:25:38.876 --> 0:25:40.836 determined like any animal could have been, whether it was 0:25:40.836 --> 0:25:45.836 a rabbit, coyote, or fox, or just dog or skunk 0:25:46.036 --> 0:25:50.756 or anything. Even of rats, like they're pretty easy to find, 0:25:50.956 --> 0:25:53.756 especially in this oak leaf litter, because they can't move 0:25:53.836 --> 0:25:56.316 very fast, and especially he tells me that he ventured 0:25:56.836 --> 0:26:02.916 very carefully into the woods. So I walked without a 0:26:03.076 --> 0:26:06.396 light down there because I really it's really about hearing 0:26:06.796 --> 0:26:12.236 the sounds. To me, I did hear one like that. 0:26:12.956 --> 0:26:15.636 It was just a one sudden movement in leaf litter, 0:26:16.396 --> 0:26:18.716 so it could have been a very small animal moving 0:26:18.716 --> 0:26:20.396 its whole body, or it could have been a person 0:26:20.436 --> 0:26:23.916 moving afoot. So I stopped and I just stared at 0:26:23.956 --> 0:26:27.676 where that sound was. I wanted to keep going, but 0:26:27.756 --> 0:26:30.716 I didn't because I literally thought, I don't want to 0:26:30.716 --> 0:26:33.396 get shot in the face. I kind of literally thought 0:26:33.436 --> 0:26:36.756 somebody was looking at me, and they probably with that 0:26:36.876 --> 0:26:40.756 movement or getting ready to do something. So I sat 0:26:40.796 --> 0:26:42.996 there for a couple of minutes. I just said, I'm 0:26:42.996 --> 0:26:46.076 just gonna pack up all my stuff and leave. He 0:26:46.156 --> 0:26:48.396 gathered up his stuff, walked out of the park and 0:26:48.476 --> 0:26:50.676 along the canyon road, till his phone had a signal. 0:26:51.316 --> 0:26:53.436 He called his girlfriend and asked her to pick him up. 0:26:54.236 --> 0:26:57.036 She took one look at his open wound, dozens of 0:26:57.036 --> 0:27:01.676 tiny punctures, and drove him straight to the emergency room 0:27:01.836 --> 0:27:05.436 for weeks. Afterward, he says he tried to rationalize the experience, 0:27:06.356 --> 0:27:09.356 so just none of the scenarios I kept painting made 0:27:09.396 --> 0:27:12.356 any sense. I literally just started thinking about every single 0:27:12.396 --> 0:27:16.116 animal that lives out here and it could possibly live 0:27:16.116 --> 0:27:18.516 out here. And I kind of ended it on a 0:27:18.556 --> 0:27:22.596 crazy thought and I literally determined it was vampire bats. 0:27:23.116 --> 0:27:28.436 Vampire bats because when they bite, they secrete this numbing 0:27:28.476 --> 0:27:31.036 sensation so you can't feel it. And then they lapped 0:27:31.036 --> 0:27:33.916 your blood and it seemed like a superficial wound and 0:27:33.956 --> 0:27:39.116 the but then one day something unexpected happened. A round 0:27:39.196 --> 0:27:44.236 metal pellet fell out of his arm, then another and another, 0:27:45.396 --> 0:27:48.836 and it just popped out and it didn't feel like anything, 0:27:49.076 --> 0:27:51.996 and it was just a perfect shallow circle that it left. 0:27:52.036 --> 0:27:55.916 And then I found it and it was metal biting 0:27:55.956 --> 0:28:00.436 your teeth. You drop it on glass, and like, did 0:28:00.476 --> 0:28:03.036 my body just make that? I don't think so. And 0:28:03.116 --> 0:28:06.196 then um, and then eventually we just a few of 0:28:06.196 --> 0:28:08.956 the wounds were still kind of open, so I go. 0:28:09.156 --> 0:28:11.876 Friend started like squeezing at it, so he took that 0:28:11.916 --> 0:28:13.836 one out and then we were like, all right, we 0:28:13.836 --> 0:28:16.036 need to get X ray and they found four There 0:28:16.036 --> 0:28:18.956