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Speaker 1: School of Humans. Hello. It's been well documented that the

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Speaker 1: police made many mistakes on the night my Terese disappeared

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Speaker 1: and at her crime scene, mistakes that tragically could have

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Speaker 1: led to her death and also could have damaged evidence

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Speaker 1: in a way that makes it much more difficult or

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Speaker 1: even potentially impossible, to find and prosecute her killer. But

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Speaker 1: over the years, some people have suggested that certain members

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Speaker 1: of law enforcement could have actually been involved in My

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Speaker 1: Teresa's death and in a cover up of her killing.

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Speaker 1: So to investigate this theory, we have to go back

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Speaker 1: to the timeline. In a potential homicide investigation, it standard

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Speaker 1: procedure to start with the last people who were known

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Speaker 1: to have seen the victim alive, but this logic did

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Speaker 1: not seem to apply in My Teresa's case because some

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Speaker 1: of the last people who saw her alive were the police.

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Speaker 1: It's also good practice in either a homicide investigation or

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Speaker 1: a missing person's investigation to track down suraillance footage, and

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Speaker 1: we found out that there is suraillance footage that shows

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Speaker 1: my Trees in the Lost Hills Sheriff's station on the

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Speaker 1: night she disappeared, at least eight hours in all, on

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Speaker 1: four different cameras. It's been eleven years since Ronda started

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Speaker 1: investigating my Teresa's death, and she is still fighting to

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Speaker 1: get access to that tape, right, And are they saying

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Speaker 1: so they're saying to you, basically without saying that, they're

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Speaker 1: saying no, we're not going to release it, whereas before

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Speaker 1: they were saying we don't have the right equipment. So

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Speaker 1: it's like, which is it. This call I had with

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Speaker 1: Ronda was on September fifteenth, twenty twenty. She was explaining

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Speaker 1: to me that finally the LASD had agreed to release

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Speaker 1: the video footage of my tree from the night of

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Speaker 1: September sixteenth, two thousand and nine, and the detective who

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Speaker 1: she was talking to said that they were going to

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Speaker 1: upload the footage onto the LSD website for all the

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Speaker 1: world to see, and we'll see Thursday and let me

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Speaker 1: know what happens, right, thanks, bye? Uh okay. So apparently

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Speaker 1: they're going to give her. She thinks they're going to

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Speaker 1: give her the actual VHS tape, which would be great

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Speaker 1: because then we can figure out a way to play it.

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Speaker 1: She says, she'll let us have it, but I'm like,

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Speaker 1: you know, yeah, great, let's all play it. Figure out

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Speaker 1: a way to view the footage, make a copy like

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Speaker 1: it seems so crazy, and they still weren't going to

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Speaker 1: do it. I started looking into my Teresa's case about

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Speaker 1: a year ago. In any case, but especially one with

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Speaker 1: so many theories out there about what could have happened.

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Speaker 1: I try to investigate sherlock holmstyle. I follow the process

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Speaker 1: of elimination, but we can't eliminate a possible theory if

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Speaker 1: we can't even get base questions answered, which has been

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Speaker 1: one of the most frustrating parts of this case. This

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Speaker 1: surveillance video is key. It's one of the only pieces

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Speaker 1: of physical evidence out there that could potentially provide clues

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Speaker 1: to my Teresa's state of mind, her behavior, and possibly

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Speaker 1: what happened to her on the night she disappeared. Two

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Speaker 1: days after my call with Ronda, we met with her

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Speaker 1: and Ceci at my Teresa's gravesite at Inglewood Cemetery. Remember,

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Speaker 1: the detective told Ronda that they would finally release the video,

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Speaker 1: which shocked her because she spent years fighting to get

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Speaker 1: access to that video and now the LASD was just

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Speaker 1: going to put it on their website. That's when she

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Speaker 1: told me they were going to put it on the

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Speaker 1: actual actual website of the sheriff's apartment, which whatever so

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Speaker 1: did not sound Yeah. So, so I don't know when that.

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Speaker 1: She didn't tell me when that was going to happen, because,

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Speaker 1: like I think, the video had to be sent down

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Speaker 1: to their tech people to get uploaded and all that stuff.

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Speaker 1: I mean, she was really clear about what was going

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Speaker 1: to happen. So I started thinking about it a little

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Speaker 1: bit because, you know, so much of what we learned

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Speaker 1: about my trees we learned in the news. So I thought,

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm going to have to I'm going

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Speaker 1: to ask Alex if he would please show some compassion

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Speaker 1: and notify the family, you know, her parents before they

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Speaker 1: just uploaded this, you know, on the site for the

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Speaker 1: world to see. But at the cemetery, she told us

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Speaker 1: that once again, the police had changed their minds. She

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Speaker 1: talked to the sheriff, Alex Phillanueva, and he said the

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Speaker 1: police weren't going to make the video public. I'm not

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Speaker 1: really sure because then he got back to me and

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Speaker 1: said that that they were not going to put it

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Speaker 1: on the website. That's not what he wants if he

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Speaker 1: doesn't want it on the website, And then he was

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Speaker 1: clear that the only reason why he was released he

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Speaker 1: was releasing it to me per my request, and that

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Speaker 1: her this video does not fall within the policy of transparency.

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Speaker 1: When Sheriff Philanueva was elected in twenty eighteen, he made

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Speaker 1: a transparency promise. This was crucial for the community following

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Speaker 1: the secrecy and corruption of the sheriff Lee Baca and

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Speaker 1: Paul tanaka Era. Ronda says that Sheriff Phillanueva told her

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Speaker 1: that the transparency promise doesn't apply to my Teresa's case

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Speaker 1: because he made the promise after she disappeared. More like

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Speaker 1: he's letting me know he's doing me a favor. That's

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Speaker 1: kind of how it fell. So I so fine, whatever,

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Speaker 1: So I don't know if that means. So I don't

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Speaker 1: know what's going to happen now because I know what

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Speaker 1: the detective told me, and so this morning he just

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Speaker 1: told me something different. When I'm what I did ask

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Speaker 1: for is I asked for the raw footage, So I

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Speaker 1: want the complete digitized version and if that's what I

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Speaker 1: If that's what I don't get, I'm going to continue

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Speaker 1: to raise hell and there's no other option, so release it.

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Speaker 1: I've seen police hold back information before and sometimes they

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Speaker 1: have good reasons. They may want to avoid false confessions

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Speaker 1: by restricting access to facts that only the killer would know,

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Speaker 1: for example, But in a missing person's case, it is

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Speaker 1: standard practice to release footage of where the person was

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Speaker 1: seen last. It's been two months since they said that

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Speaker 1: they would make the video public and we're still waiting.

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Speaker 1: I'm Catherine Townsend and this is Helen Gone. The saga

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Speaker 1: over the release of a simple videotape goes to the

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Speaker 1: heart of this case because it's symptomatic of the battle

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Speaker 1: that the family has been fighting with law enforcement for transparency.

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Speaker 1: Tom Martin was captain of Lost Hill Station at the time,

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Speaker 1: and for months after my Chase went missing, he told

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Speaker 1: her family point blank that there was no video from

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Speaker 1: the night that she disappeared. So the way the search

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Speaker 1: did not happen was it didn't make any sense to us,

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Speaker 1: like why you wouldn't start from the station. So at

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Speaker 1: some point and they called the search off, we were like, okay,

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Speaker 1: we don't know where the hell even which direction did

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Speaker 1: she go left or right or whatever? When we asked

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Speaker 1: for well, let us just see the video so we

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Speaker 1: can determine which way to start. Our search, and then

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Speaker 1: that's when they started out, well there's no video. It's like, really,

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Speaker 1: there's no video, Like that makes no sense. Then in

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Speaker 1: January twenty ten, Ronda, my Teresa's mother, Latisse, and documentary

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Speaker 1: filmmaker Chip Croft were all at the Lost Hills Sheriff

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Speaker 1: station in a meeting with Captain Tom Martin and Lee Baca,

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Speaker 1: who was Sheriff of Los Angeles County at the time.

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Speaker 1: In that meeting, Sheriff Boka asked Captain Martin point blank,

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Speaker 1: is their video footage? And Martin said yes, the footage

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Speaker 1: was in his desk just feet away from where they

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Speaker 1: were sitting. It had been sitting in his desk drawer

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Speaker 1: for months now. Ship and Ronda were shocked. A. Chip

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Speaker 1: has also made multiple requests to get the video released.

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Speaker 1: He remembers Sheriff Boka asking Captain Martin about the video.

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Speaker 1: I was sitting right next to Captain Martin when Sheriff

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Speaker 1: Balka asked him that question. You don't have any video

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Speaker 1: with my terse in jail, and he turned be read,

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Speaker 1: I mean really be read and just see why I

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Speaker 1: do have this tape in my desk. And it turns

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Speaker 1: out there was the four tracks of rail to take

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Speaker 1: feeding from. Four cameras at the Sheriff's department and three

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Speaker 1: rooting side, and one was outside on the side of

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Speaker 1: the building. And there are two cameras on the front

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Speaker 1: of the building which would have explained shown how my

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Speaker 1: Teres left the sheriff station. And I still today suspect

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Speaker 1: that those two cameras were operating. And what was he

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Speaker 1: just said. He accidentally stuck it there, he said. So

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Speaker 1: there's been various reasons. One of them was in that moment.

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Speaker 1: He didn't tell us why. Yeah, So the next day

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Speaker 1: I got a call from his chief, Neil Tyler, who

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Speaker 1: told me that he had it in his desk because

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Speaker 1: he was trying to protect the individual that was also

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Speaker 1: on film. Okay, okay, because you could have just that's no,

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Speaker 1: that would be a reason not to show it to us.

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Speaker 1: That's not a reason about the live out its existence.

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Speaker 1: So there's that, And that was what they said, And

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Speaker 1: they had other limsy excuses about why he he had it.

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Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know, but you know, eventually

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Speaker 1: he gets promoted. So for my Teresa's family, this marked

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Speaker 1: a major turning point in the investigation. I believe that

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Speaker 1: that's when their relationship with the police started to turn adversarial,

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Speaker 1: and when certain members of My Teresa's family began to

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Speaker 1: go from frustrated to furious. They never gave us the video. Oh,

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Speaker 1: they let you watch the video, so we had to

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Speaker 1: fight for that. So when they admit that they had

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Speaker 1: the video, then we got to keep pressing. It took

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Speaker 1: another couple of months for them to get us to

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Speaker 1: show the video. In March twenty ten, Latis, Ronda, and

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Speaker 1: others finally saw the video. Ronda was expecting several hours

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Speaker 1: of footage, but she says that she was shown a

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Speaker 1: much shorter, heavily edited version that was made up of

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Speaker 1: footage compiled from several different cameras. Latissa said multiple times

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Speaker 1: that on the footage that she saw, my Trees appeared

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Speaker 1: to be behaving in a manner that she called infantile

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Speaker 1: and childlike. She said that she could see her daughter

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Speaker 1: lying in the fetal position in her cell. In a

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Speaker 1: later deposition, she described my Trees as distressed and said

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Speaker 1: that My Trees had been pulling at her hair and

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Speaker 1: pulling at the mesh wiring that lined the holding cell area.

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Speaker 1: At one point, she said my Trees picked up the

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Speaker 1: phone and put it down. She looked, Latis said, as

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Speaker 1: if she was trying to use the phone but couldn't

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Speaker 1: get it to work. Latist said that his shadow was

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Speaker 1: visible as if someone was passing by the door, and

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Speaker 1: it seemed like My Trees was trying to get the

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Speaker 1: person's attention, possibly to get assistance, but that there appeared

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Speaker 1: to be no response. Both Ronda and Latise have spoken

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Speaker 1: out in the past about the edits in the video.

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Speaker 1: For example, Latis talked about seeing a piece of paper

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Speaker 1: crumpled on the floor and wondering how it got there.

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Speaker 1: And there's something else. At the end of the video,

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Speaker 1: they saw My Trees walking out of the station into

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Speaker 1: the darkness, and then right before they pressed stop, someone

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Speaker 1: walked out behind her. They were shocked because initially, they say,

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Speaker 1: they were told that there were no deputies in the

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Speaker 1: station at the time. When my chase was released. The

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Speaker 1: end of the video, the screen goes entirely black, and

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Speaker 1: you think it's the end of the video. So we

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Speaker 1: all turn and we're arguing at the detectives because we're kissed, right,

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Speaker 1: and so then the guy, the the person who the

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Speaker 1: tech now the tech guy he like, he goes like

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Speaker 1: that to me. So the tech guy's in this middle

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Speaker 1: and we're all around him, and then the screen is

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Speaker 1: right there, so he's so everybody's arguing. So I'm like

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Speaker 1: here like directly basing him. So then at some point

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Speaker 1: he turns to me and he goes like that, like

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Speaker 1: to make alert me to look up. So I believe

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Speaker 1: that tech guy knew that that video was not over,

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Speaker 1: but the detectives didn't. You could tell they were shocked.

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Speaker 1: So I look up and then you see that you

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Speaker 1: see a deputy coming out of the door, and that's

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Speaker 1: significant because we were told that there was nobody at

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Speaker 1: that station. Now, my Teresa's family and friends wanted to

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Speaker 1: know the name of the deputy who was seen on

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Speaker 1: the tape. They wanted to talk to him, not necessarily

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Speaker 1: to accuse him of any wrongdoing, but because he may

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Speaker 1: have been one of the last people to see my

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Speaker 1: Teres alive. Journalist Mike Kessler attempted to track the deputy

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Speaker 1: down for his Los Angeles Magazine article back in twenty eleven.

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Speaker 1: At that time, he said that the department refused to

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Speaker 1: give the family the deputy's name. Mike said that he

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Speaker 1: was able to get the name of the deputy through

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Speaker 1: a confidential source. He called him, and he wrote about

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Speaker 1: that call in his article. He wrote, quote, he told me,

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Speaker 1: Unfortunately for you, dude, I wasn't there and hung up.

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Speaker 1: On our next call, he insisted that he couldn't remember

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Speaker 1: if he'd been at the station the night my Terrese

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Speaker 1: was arrested, and then went on to imply that he

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Speaker 1: had been on site the night. This nonsense. What's happened?

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Speaker 1: He said, I was one of the guys that kept

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Speaker 1: away from this, minding my own business. End quote. Now

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Speaker 1: this seems to be a bizarre statement. We tried to

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Speaker 1: reach that deputy, but several of our calls went unreturned.

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Speaker 1: But then Rhonda told us and another source confirmed that

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Speaker 1: the deputy in the video was actually someone else, someone

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Speaker 1: whose name had never been mentioned before. We're still working

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Speaker 1: to figure out who the deputy was who exited the

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Speaker 1: building right after my Trese. That's why we need that tape.

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Speaker 1: Knowing what is on the unedited version of that tape

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Speaker 1: is crucial to this case. Even before Black Lives Matter,

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Speaker 1: a maud arbery and Breonna Taylor made national headlines, a

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Speaker 1: journalist named Alexander Narzaian wrote in Newsweek, quote, my Terce

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Speaker 1: Richardson was a young woman who became a case but

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Speaker 1: also a cause to many in Los Angeles. She's a

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Speaker 1: symbol too, as potent as Michael Brown and Ferguson Missouri,

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Speaker 1: or Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York, of a

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Speaker 1: law enforcement culture that has grown contemptuous of both laws

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Speaker 1: and men. End quote. He also quotes La based journalist

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Speaker 1: jas Mechanic as saying that she considers my Terse to

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Speaker 1: be a victim of police brutality. Here's the thing. Even

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Speaker 1: if the tape doesn't provide helpful leads, releasing it could

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Speaker 1: help answer some very basic questions for my Teresa's family.

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Speaker 1: Police have given several reasons for why they say the

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Speaker 1: tape can't be released. First, they said that it didn't exist.

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Speaker 1: The Malibu Serve Side News quoted Captain Tom Martin as

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Speaker 1: stating in November two thousand and nine that there was

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Speaker 1: no video or tape of any kind of my Trees

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Speaker 1: at the Lost Hill station on the night she was arrested.

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Speaker 1: When Captain Martin revealed that he had the tape, he

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Speaker 1: said that he hadn't told the family about it before

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Speaker 1: because he thought that when they asked for footage, they

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Speaker 1: were referring to footage from outside the building, not inside. Now,

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Speaker 1: this infuriated my Teresa's family members because they believe that

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Speaker 1: once again the police were not being forthcoming. Then they said,

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Speaker 1: according to Ronda, that they would not publicly release it

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Speaker 1: due to confidentiality issues. But we've talked to Schermaine Henderson,

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Speaker 1: who was in the cell with my Trees, and she

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Speaker 1: says she's on board to help in any way that

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Speaker 1: she can. Ronda says she's also spoken to Chermaine several

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Speaker 1: times over the years. She says that was always the case.

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Speaker 1: Chermaine was never concerned about confidentiality. Finally, police said that

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Speaker 1: they do not have the correct equipment to play the

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Speaker 1: tape on. Now, it does seem absurd that police say

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Speaker 1: that they don't have the technology to play the video,

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Speaker 1: yet they were somehow able to edit it and cut

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Speaker 1: it together. Supposedly, the reason why they're not going to

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Speaker 1: release the video is because Alex told me that the

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Speaker 1: sheriff told me that he said that the captain. I

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Speaker 1: guess some homicide doesn't want to set a president president

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Speaker 1: of what released on a ten year whole video is

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Speaker 1: an open investigation. Okay, well that's the case, then no

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Speaker 1: video should ever be released. That's right, until exposed. I've

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Speaker 1: seen too many videos when something's going on in the middle.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's like Ali sheet my fan, but I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna bring your ass down. CC made a good point

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Speaker 1: at the cemetery. This is Hollywood. There is no way

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Speaker 1: in hell that they do not have a machine to

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Speaker 1: play a VHS when you can buy original Nintendos from

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Speaker 1: Love before my trace was even barn Okay, and that's bullshit.

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Speaker 1: There are people who collect vhs, There are people who

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Speaker 1: collect cassette, there are people who collect all different forms

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Speaker 1: of media. So that's bullshit. Yes, hello, how much shit

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Speaker 1: is on freaking video just at these studios. See, here's

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Speaker 1: the thing is they get to they get to they

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Speaker 1: get to play these little games, and then when you're

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Speaker 1: a private citizen, you're not in any position to do

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Speaker 1: anything about it, like other than continuing to complain. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's and I'll continue to file every complaint that I

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Speaker 1: possibly can. Maybe they are releasing the original footage because

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Speaker 1: when I asked for in my pri our request, it

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Speaker 1: was for the ration the unedited version so it was

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Speaker 1: very clear. Now whether that's what they're going to release

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Speaker 1: or not, we'll see Captain Martin not subjected to any

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00:20:07,045 --> 00:20:12,845
Speaker 1: type of disciplinary action for allegedly suppressing evidence. Instead, he

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Speaker 1: was promoted, transferred to another department, and given a raise.

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Speaker 1: I know that a lot of people will think that

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Speaker 1: multiple cops being involved in large scale conspiracies and secret

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Speaker 1: societies sounds like something out of the detective noir novel,

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Speaker 1: But it's important to understand the backdrop that my Teresa's

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Speaker 1: case played out against. Consider this. Lee Baca, who was

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Speaker 1: sheriff of Los Angeles County when my Terse went missing,

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Speaker 1: is now a federal prisoner. He's incarcerated at the Federal

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Speaker 1: Correctional Institution Latuna, just north of El Paso, Texas. Baca

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Speaker 1: was convicted of charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction

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Speaker 1: of justice, and making false statements. Prosecutors accused Baca of

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Speaker 1: being at the head of a massive conspiracy, which also

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Speaker 1: involved his under sheriff, Paul Tanaka, and eight other deputies.

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Speaker 1: This all started after the FBI began looking into allegations

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Speaker 1: of police brutality against inmates at La County jails. The

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Speaker 1: FBI had an informant inside one of those jails, but

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Speaker 1: when jail staff figured out what was going on, Baca

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Speaker 1: and his deputies hid the informant from the federal prosecutors,

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Speaker 1: who had issued a summons for a grand jury appearance.

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Speaker 1: Bacca's trial became a media circus, and it also brought

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Speaker 1: out allegations of white supremacist gangs, which some in law

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Speaker 1: enforcement insisted were merely social clubs hidden in plain sight,

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Speaker 1: operating inside the LASD. This included the infamous Lynnwood Vikings,

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Speaker 1: who were based in the now defunct Lynwood Station. Its

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Speaker 1: members were LASD deputy sheriffs and included Baka and Tanaka.

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Speaker 1: They were described by a judge as a neo Nazi,

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Speaker 1: white supremacist gang who engaged in racially motivated hostility. The

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Speaker 1: ACLU compiled a report it read, in part, the long

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Speaker 1: standing and pervasive culture of deputy hyper violence in Los

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Speaker 1: Angeles County jails, a culture apparently condoned at the highest levels.

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Speaker 1: Cries out for swift and thorough investigation and intervention by

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Speaker 1: the federal government end this abuse allegedly included rape of

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Speaker 1: inmates by deputy sheriffs. In May twenty seventeen, Baca was

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Speaker 1: sentenced to three years in federal prison for his role

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Speaker 1: in the scheme to obstruct the FBI investigation. Now not

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00:23:13,365 --> 00:23:16,445
Speaker 1: suggesting that former Sheriff Baca had anything to do with

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Speaker 1: abuses in my Teresa's case, but I am saying that

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Speaker 1: when the police aren't releasing video footage of what went

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Speaker 1: down at the station that night, I can certainly understand

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Speaker 1: why the family would have questions. And it was shortly

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Speaker 1: after Baca pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice that the

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00:23:36,285 --> 00:23:41,445
Speaker 1: Attorney General agreed to reopen the investigation into my Teresa's case.

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Speaker 1: In late twenty fifteen, Ronda submitted a complaint containing over

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Speaker 1: five hundred pages of exhibits to the Office of the

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Speaker 1: Attorney General. They sent a response a few weeks later

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Speaker 1: saying that they had reviewed the evidence and made the

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Speaker 1: determination that the lasd deputies had not broken any laws.

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Speaker 1: My Teresa's father, Michael Richardson, asked the California Attorney General's Office,

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Speaker 1: led by Kamala Harris at the time, to review my

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Speaker 1: Teresa's case, and in twenty sixteen they agreed. But the

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Speaker 1: next year, the family received more heartbreaking news. The Attorney

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Speaker 1: General's office wrote in a letter to Michael that they

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Speaker 1: had found insufficient evidence to support criminal prosecution against sheriff's

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Speaker 1: deputies who were with my Trees on the night she disappeared.

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Speaker 1: The LASD was cleared of any wrongdoing, So once again

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Speaker 1: my Teresa's loved ones had gotten their hopes up, and

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Speaker 1: once again the case was closed. After receiving the letter,

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Speaker 1: Michael told newsstation Box eleven that he believed Harris had

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Speaker 1: used my terse as a political pawn. Kamala Harris used

365
00:25:07,645 --> 00:25:10,885
Speaker 1: my daughter's case as a platform to not only seek

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Speaker 1: the support of the people in her district, but use

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Speaker 1: them to elevate her career to senator, he said. Ronda

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00:25:21,485 --> 00:25:24,565
Speaker 1: was allowed to see the video a few more times.

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Speaker 1: She said that she keeps seeing different versions. Okay, so

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Speaker 1: we never saw the original. We only ever saw what

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Speaker 1: they comply, right. I saw the first CD, which by

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Speaker 1: the way, was different than what I saw recently. So

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Speaker 1: on the first CD it was a little clear as

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Speaker 1: brainy because it's old anyways, but it's a little bit

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Speaker 1: clearer than the first one that we saw. And in

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Speaker 1: the first video that we saw, like we didn't see Chermaine.

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Speaker 1: We saw her leaving, like really quickly, so they like

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Speaker 1: cut that out so you couldn't and by the way,

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Speaker 1: you can't see her anyway, like we wouldn't know. I

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Speaker 1: couldn't pick her out of it. Yeah, so that's how

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Speaker 1: brainy was, and so so we didn't see her. We

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Speaker 1: saw in a shell selper like that Theresa, I mean,

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Speaker 1: like so short. But in the video that I saw,

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00:26:09,845 --> 00:26:12,845
Speaker 1: you know recently, I saw her the entire time. So

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Speaker 1: I from the time that Latiss walked in, my tree's

386
00:26:15,445 --> 00:26:17,125
Speaker 1: walked in there, so you can have they had a

387
00:26:17,165 --> 00:26:19,725
Speaker 1: little bit of interaction and but you could see them,

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00:26:19,765 --> 00:26:22,365
Speaker 1: you know, kind of talking to each other or sometimes

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Speaker 1: not talking to each other. And then eventually she did leave.

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Speaker 1: But the Attorney General's office said that they had viewed

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Speaker 1: the video. Ronda has a lot of questions about this,

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Speaker 1: she said. She specifically asked if the Attorney General's office

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Speaker 1: had viewed the unedited video. If they had, she's wondering

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Speaker 1: why the Sheriff's office said that they can't make that

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Speaker 1: video available to her and the public. For Ronda and Ceci,

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00:27:02,445 --> 00:27:05,965
Speaker 1: there has been a beacon of hope and they're in bedstigation.

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Speaker 1: In recent years, Sheriff Alex Villanueva. They both campaigned on

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Speaker 1: his behalf, and CEC says Ronda is partially responsible for

399
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Speaker 1: his election. They say that under Villanueva's administration, they believe

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Speaker 1: that the Sheriff's Department has instituted reforms and moved toward transparency,

401
00:27:27,965 --> 00:27:30,165
Speaker 1: but they still believe that he has a long way

402
00:27:30,165 --> 00:27:34,245
Speaker 1: to go. This was obvious in twenty nineteen on the

403
00:27:34,285 --> 00:27:38,165
Speaker 1: tenth anniversary of my Teres's disappearance, when Ronda and Ceci

404
00:27:38,245 --> 00:27:40,725
Speaker 1: were at a press conference with Alex when he spoke

405
00:27:40,765 --> 00:27:44,205
Speaker 1: about policy changes that he said were a direct result

406
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Speaker 1: of holes in policies that were in place at the

407
00:27:47,525 --> 00:27:51,485
Speaker 1: time my Terce was released. CEC talked about this press

408
00:27:51,525 --> 00:27:54,325
Speaker 1: conference when we met with her at Jeoffrey's. You know,

409
00:27:54,525 --> 00:27:57,965
Speaker 1: he was supposed to come to this press conference, and

410
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Speaker 1: I'm I'm the one who begged him to do. At

411
00:28:00,045 --> 00:28:03,405
Speaker 1: the press conference, I'm like, my community needs this. You

412
00:28:03,565 --> 00:28:07,685
Speaker 1: need to set it right out here, get this shit done.

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Speaker 1: Tell the people you are reopening the investigation. Do the

414
00:28:12,565 --> 00:28:17,765
Speaker 1: right thing. So Alex comes to the press conference, We're

415
00:28:17,765 --> 00:28:20,045
Speaker 1: all standing there in the line and blah blah blah,

416
00:28:20,085 --> 00:28:22,645
Speaker 1: and everything's like pharmal Pharmal. All of a sudden, he's

417
00:28:22,685 --> 00:28:26,845
Speaker 1: like way off script and he's like pretending like he's

418
00:28:26,885 --> 00:28:30,365
Speaker 1: not going to do anything. Ceci and Rondo were hoping

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Speaker 1: that Sheriff Villanuevo would reopen the investigation and dive deep

420
00:28:34,805 --> 00:28:39,565
Speaker 1: into the case again, but then he did not make

421
00:28:39,605 --> 00:28:43,525
Speaker 1: that the central part of the press conference. Sheriff Villanueva

422
00:28:43,605 --> 00:28:47,045
Speaker 1: said mistakes were made, but this did not point to

423
00:28:47,085 --> 00:28:52,125
Speaker 1: evidence of malicious intent. He said, quote, there's a difference

424
00:28:52,165 --> 00:28:56,085
Speaker 1: between wrongdoing and holes and policies. There's always going to

425
00:28:56,125 --> 00:28:59,165
Speaker 1: be something that falls through the cracks. In this case,

426
00:28:59,565 --> 00:29:03,325
Speaker 1: it wound up being my terce Richardson, and that's something

427
00:29:03,645 --> 00:29:08,285
Speaker 1: we're going to have to live with forever. Quote. Ronda

428
00:29:08,405 --> 00:29:13,205
Speaker 1: was devastated. Sheriff Philanueva had talked about getting fresh eyes

429
00:29:13,245 --> 00:29:16,485
Speaker 1: on the case. Now he seemed to have moved on

430
00:29:16,805 --> 00:29:21,045
Speaker 1: to policy changes. Ronda, who is like the head of

431
00:29:21,085 --> 00:29:25,605
Speaker 1: this investigation, like on a personal level for the last

432
00:29:25,645 --> 00:29:28,125
Speaker 1: ten years, she's the one who got him elected. She's

433
00:29:28,165 --> 00:29:31,965
Speaker 1: looking at him like what the fuck, Like you're like

434
00:29:32,045 --> 00:29:36,125
Speaker 1: she lost her shit. So after he fucked up at

435
00:29:36,125 --> 00:29:39,285
Speaker 1: the press conference with all the newspeople looking at us,

436
00:29:39,845 --> 00:29:41,925
Speaker 1: We're standing there and I'm just looking at her. I'm

437
00:29:41,965 --> 00:29:45,085
Speaker 1: dumbfounder I don't know what to do. She's like everybody's looking.

438
00:29:45,205 --> 00:29:46,845
Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden, one of his like

439
00:29:46,885 --> 00:29:50,565
Speaker 1: security guards peaks his head out at lost sale station

440
00:29:50,925 --> 00:29:52,965
Speaker 1: and looks at me. He's like Ceci. I'm like, yeah,

441
00:29:53,085 --> 00:29:56,245
Speaker 1: he goes the sheriff wants to see you. I'm like okay,

442
00:29:56,805 --> 00:30:00,285
Speaker 1: So he goes you and Ronda. I'm like okay. So

443
00:30:00,525 --> 00:30:03,685
Speaker 1: I'm like, Ronda, Alex wants to see us, so I

444
00:30:03,765 --> 00:30:09,965
Speaker 1: grab her. We go back. She loses her shit on Alex,

445
00:30:11,725 --> 00:30:16,165
Speaker 1: losing her shit, losing god damn you, Like, I mean,

446
00:30:16,205 --> 00:30:17,645
Speaker 1: I can't even tell you this shit she was. I

447
00:30:17,685 --> 00:30:19,925
Speaker 1: don't even remember. And so I'm like trying to calm

448
00:30:19,965 --> 00:30:24,605
Speaker 1: her down, and Ron is like boom, like an elbow check,

449
00:30:24,645 --> 00:30:27,685
Speaker 1: and she's like, get out of my way. I'm like, shit,

450
00:30:28,085 --> 00:30:29,925
Speaker 1: throw me against the wall. I'm like, okay, I got this.

451
00:30:30,005 --> 00:30:33,005
Speaker 1: I got this. So finally she storms out of the

452
00:30:33,085 --> 00:30:37,125
Speaker 1: room and and Alex just looks at me and he's like,

453
00:30:37,285 --> 00:30:39,325
Speaker 1: oh my god, Cec, thank you so much. And he's

454
00:30:39,405 --> 00:30:42,005
Speaker 1: got these big eyes, like these doe eyes, like a deer.

455
00:30:42,405 --> 00:30:47,685
Speaker 1: I'm like am I looking at my sheriff for Vliet like,

456
00:30:47,925 --> 00:30:50,205
Speaker 1: I mean, he's looking at me scared, like he was

457
00:30:50,245 --> 00:30:56,125
Speaker 1: scared around and I'm like really. We asked several times

458
00:30:56,205 --> 00:30:59,325
Speaker 1: to talk to some of the officers involved. The police

459
00:30:59,365 --> 00:31:04,645
Speaker 1: department formally denied our request, but Ceci was able to

460
00:31:04,645 --> 00:31:08,165
Speaker 1: get me a brief interview with sheriffvill and Nueva. We

461
00:31:08,245 --> 00:31:11,525
Speaker 1: talked about reform, but mostly I wanted to hear about

462
00:31:11,525 --> 00:31:16,085
Speaker 1: the video in my Teresa's case. Rohnda, Latisse and Chip

463
00:31:16,405 --> 00:31:19,085
Speaker 1: have been allowed to view a heavily edited video a

464
00:31:19,125 --> 00:31:22,325
Speaker 1: couple of times over the years, but they haven't ever

465
00:31:22,485 --> 00:31:27,205
Speaker 1: been given access to the unedited video. So finally we

466
00:31:27,245 --> 00:31:31,325
Speaker 1: wanted to ask the question why not. Anyway, I know

467
00:31:31,405 --> 00:31:35,885
Speaker 1: you're super busy, so I really really appreciate it, and yeah,

468
00:31:36,005 --> 00:31:40,325
Speaker 1: thank you. Since we are doing the podcast this season

469
00:31:40,365 --> 00:31:43,365
Speaker 1: about the My Trees Richardson case, in terms of just

470
00:31:43,485 --> 00:31:47,085
Speaker 1: I know that some policies have changed since this happened,

471
00:31:47,085 --> 00:31:50,045
Speaker 1: Can you just talk a little bit about that. Well,

472
00:31:50,085 --> 00:31:53,565
Speaker 1: we have a policy where it's voluntary and in making.

473
00:31:54,685 --> 00:31:58,525
Speaker 1: Can you eat volunteer to stay inside our jail facility overnight?

474
00:31:59,685 --> 00:32:02,445
Speaker 1: So then I released in the week hours in the morning,

475
00:32:02,765 --> 00:32:05,205
Speaker 1: and it supplies to the entire jail, but it's particularly

476
00:32:05,485 --> 00:32:10,205
Speaker 1: based on our female population at CRDF and also all

477
00:32:10,285 --> 00:32:14,685
Speaker 1: the stations, the patrol stations, so we can't legally hold

478
00:32:14,725 --> 00:32:18,805
Speaker 1: someone back once their time is up to be released publicly. However,

479
00:32:18,965 --> 00:32:22,605
Speaker 1: there is obviously a potential harm to release something, for example,

480
00:32:22,725 --> 00:32:26,085
Speaker 1: to in the morning, and so they can sign a

481
00:32:26,085 --> 00:32:30,325
Speaker 1: waiver where they could they request to be held for

482
00:32:30,405 --> 00:32:33,885
Speaker 1: a maximum sixteen hours until the next business day during

483
00:32:33,885 --> 00:32:36,765
Speaker 1: normal business hours where they can be released and of

484
00:32:36,845 --> 00:32:40,005
Speaker 1: course arrange for the transportation right and that was a

485
00:32:40,005 --> 00:32:43,285
Speaker 1: big change for the past. Then we got to my

486
00:32:43,445 --> 00:32:46,485
Speaker 1: Terrace's case. Well, I'd made a promise that I would

487
00:32:46,565 --> 00:32:50,285
Speaker 1: have a we would have reexamined the entire case from

488
00:32:50,365 --> 00:32:53,285
Speaker 1: start to finish, and we also looked at it and

489
00:32:53,325 --> 00:32:57,725
Speaker 1: I have possible any wrongdoings from within the department. So

490
00:32:57,845 --> 00:33:02,965
Speaker 1: we had a new team of homicide investigators and internal

491
00:33:03,005 --> 00:33:07,165
Speaker 1: affairs investigators look at the whole thing from start to finish,

492
00:33:07,325 --> 00:33:09,685
Speaker 1: and they went through all the interviews, they went through

493
00:33:09,685 --> 00:33:13,285
Speaker 1: all the physical evidence, they walked to the scene themselves,

494
00:33:13,365 --> 00:33:16,125
Speaker 1: they retraced everything, they looked at all the video evidence.

495
00:33:16,765 --> 00:33:20,605
Speaker 1: So they covered everything very very very detailed, and they

496
00:33:20,685 --> 00:33:24,565
Speaker 1: arrived at the same conclusion, and unfortunately the matter still

497
00:33:24,605 --> 00:33:28,645
Speaker 1: remains unresolved to this day and that we still need answers.

498
00:33:29,565 --> 00:33:32,885
Speaker 1: One mystery, he says, is where did my tries go

499
00:33:33,205 --> 00:33:37,325
Speaker 1: between the police station and where she was found. Was

500
00:33:37,405 --> 00:33:40,365
Speaker 1: she driven there by someone or did she walk there?

501
00:33:41,285 --> 00:33:45,125
Speaker 1: There's basically no definitive evidence either way. What we need

502
00:33:45,245 --> 00:33:48,965
Speaker 1: is we need some between the time that she left

503
00:33:49,165 --> 00:33:53,565
Speaker 1: on her own from the Lost Hill station to the

504
00:33:53,605 --> 00:33:56,485
Speaker 1: point where her remains were recovered. That period of time

505
00:33:56,765 --> 00:34:00,325
Speaker 1: is still I think there's some video surveillance of her

506
00:34:00,365 --> 00:34:03,285
Speaker 1: getting water from the garden hose at a certain residence,

507
00:34:04,165 --> 00:34:06,845
Speaker 1: but we're missing a lot of information of what happened

508
00:34:06,845 --> 00:34:10,325
Speaker 1: and were there any contact with other people, something that

509
00:34:10,365 --> 00:34:13,405
Speaker 1: would point us in the right direction. Because the coroner

510
00:34:13,405 --> 00:34:17,085
Speaker 1: couldn't determine the exact cause of because of the nature

511
00:34:17,085 --> 00:34:20,045
Speaker 1: of the remains, there was nothing left to determine, right

512
00:34:20,125 --> 00:34:23,605
Speaker 1: you know, exactly how she died, so that still remains

513
00:34:23,605 --> 00:34:27,765
Speaker 1: the unresolved issue. When you say video footage, do you

514
00:34:27,885 --> 00:34:31,685
Speaker 1: think that she was most likely killed in the early

515
00:34:31,725 --> 00:34:34,205
Speaker 1: morning hours after she disappeared, or do you think she

516
00:34:34,285 --> 00:34:36,645
Speaker 1: might have been out there for a couple of days.

517
00:34:37,445 --> 00:34:41,325
Speaker 1: I'm inclined to think that it happened pretty much contiguous,

518
00:34:41,365 --> 00:34:44,565
Speaker 1: since since she left the station area, I don't think

519
00:34:44,565 --> 00:34:46,885
Speaker 1: she was out there for days, because she would have

520
00:34:46,885 --> 00:34:50,805
Speaker 1: popped up again on another call for service pretty easy,

521
00:34:50,885 --> 00:34:53,765
Speaker 1: because if she wasn't from the neighborhood and people were

522
00:34:53,805 --> 00:34:55,845
Speaker 1: concerned about her safety, they would have called it in.

523
00:34:56,245 --> 00:34:58,445
Speaker 1: And the fact that we didn't get that call in

524
00:34:59,205 --> 00:35:03,205
Speaker 1: that illustrates it was pretty continuous chain of events until

525
00:35:03,245 --> 00:35:08,205
Speaker 1: she ended upcoming so after so pretty shortly. Then after

526
00:35:08,245 --> 00:35:11,685
Speaker 1: she left Bill Smith's residence. Yeah, if you follow the

527
00:35:12,845 --> 00:35:15,565
Speaker 1: chain of events and when she was last seeing alive

528
00:35:15,645 --> 00:35:18,005
Speaker 1: with that one residence, and then from there, I don't

529
00:35:18,005 --> 00:35:20,325
Speaker 1: think there weren't days that went by. I think it

530
00:35:20,365 --> 00:35:23,045
Speaker 1: was a short span of time. I think one of

531
00:35:23,085 --> 00:35:25,085
Speaker 1: the things that's so confusing for me about this is

532
00:35:25,965 --> 00:35:28,645
Speaker 1: if she did. I mean, do you have any theories

533
00:35:28,645 --> 00:35:31,285
Speaker 1: about how she got out there to Dark Canyon? Because

534
00:35:31,325 --> 00:35:33,885
Speaker 1: I hiked it with my producer and I was when

535
00:35:33,885 --> 00:35:35,245
Speaker 1: we got to it. It was one of the hardest

536
00:35:35,285 --> 00:35:36,885
Speaker 1: things I've ever done, and I sort of said, I

537
00:35:36,885 --> 00:35:39,125
Speaker 1: don't know how in the world she could have gotten

538
00:35:39,165 --> 00:35:43,965
Speaker 1: out here. That's again, that's that's one of those mysteries

539
00:35:43,965 --> 00:35:46,725
Speaker 1: that we need to resolve. And if she died by

540
00:35:46,805 --> 00:35:49,925
Speaker 1: unlawful means and it was a criminal homicide, well that

541
00:35:50,005 --> 00:35:53,285
Speaker 1: means that there's a suspect that's still outstanding. Or is

542
00:35:53,365 --> 00:35:56,485
Speaker 1: she on her own because he's young, somewhat athletic, and

543
00:35:57,005 --> 00:36:01,085
Speaker 1: her own mental state of mind drove her to brave

544
00:36:01,165 --> 00:36:03,485
Speaker 1: all those to get to that point and she succumbed

545
00:36:03,525 --> 00:36:08,245
Speaker 1: naturally to the elements another possibility, and now you can

546
00:36:08,285 --> 00:36:10,285
Speaker 1: see why we're well, which one is it? We don't

547
00:36:10,285 --> 00:36:14,285
Speaker 1: have enough information to put us down either path. So yeah,

548
00:36:14,325 --> 00:36:16,685
Speaker 1: so that was my next question about I mean, you

549
00:36:16,685 --> 00:36:19,485
Speaker 1: don't have any theories, you're just you're saying you don't

550
00:36:19,485 --> 00:36:24,085
Speaker 1: have enough information basically, right, we're missing some key elements

551
00:36:24,125 --> 00:36:27,245
Speaker 1: to give us an indication. Which route It ended up being,

552
00:36:28,645 --> 00:36:31,965
Speaker 1: what do you think about the theory that some people

553
00:36:32,005 --> 00:36:33,805
Speaker 1: have you know, mentioned that there could have been law

554
00:36:33,885 --> 00:36:37,485
Speaker 1: enforcement involved, that that theory has been turned out there,

555
00:36:37,565 --> 00:36:40,365
Speaker 1: But since we had all those big new evidence of

556
00:36:40,405 --> 00:36:44,205
Speaker 1: within the station and everyone's been interviewed, there's there's nothing

557
00:36:44,245 --> 00:36:49,725
Speaker 1: that supports that. Finally we got to the video. Well,

558
00:36:49,765 --> 00:36:52,085
Speaker 1: in regarding the video, I mean, do you think that'll

559
00:36:52,125 --> 00:36:59,485
Speaker 1: ever be publicly released? The judge of put a put

560
00:36:59,525 --> 00:37:02,165
Speaker 1: an order on it so it couldn't be released. We're

561
00:37:02,245 --> 00:37:04,765
Speaker 1: going to release it in a response to a pry.

562
00:37:05,965 --> 00:37:10,005
Speaker 1: And however, I think the families of Mantris Richardson intervened

563
00:37:10,045 --> 00:37:13,965
Speaker 1: with court and they sought an order to keep it

564
00:37:14,005 --> 00:37:16,645
Speaker 1: from being disclosed publicly. So that's where it's at right now.

565
00:37:16,845 --> 00:37:19,765
Speaker 1: I mean, if the judge will returns that order or

566
00:37:19,805 --> 00:37:23,485
Speaker 1: removes it, well, then they will be released poetly. Okay.

567
00:37:24,005 --> 00:37:27,845
Speaker 1: And do you and when you say a video, do

568
00:37:27,925 --> 00:37:30,605
Speaker 1: you mean the edited video or is there still is

569
00:37:30,605 --> 00:37:34,845
Speaker 1: there still an unedited video? Does that exist anymore? No?

570
00:37:35,085 --> 00:37:38,565
Speaker 1: The edited video that is out there is a compilation

571
00:37:38,685 --> 00:37:41,085
Speaker 1: of all the pieces of video that had something on it.

572
00:37:41,125 --> 00:37:44,725
Speaker 1: What they did is they removed all the dead spots

573
00:37:44,725 --> 00:37:48,285
Speaker 1: where there's nothing happening at all. Okay, gotcha. So what

574
00:37:48,325 --> 00:37:50,405
Speaker 1: they did is they put it all together to put

575
00:37:50,405 --> 00:37:53,925
Speaker 1: it in context of the actual activities and emotions on

576
00:37:53,965 --> 00:37:55,965
Speaker 1: the camera, and they got rid of all the time

577
00:37:56,045 --> 00:37:59,565
Speaker 1: that there was nothing happening. Yeah, they compressed it for

578
00:38:00,205 --> 00:38:03,485
Speaker 1: clarity purpose. So it was everything with heron and you

579
00:38:03,525 --> 00:38:08,085
Speaker 1: didn't see anything that would be on the video, No,

580
00:38:08,445 --> 00:38:11,685
Speaker 1: nothing at all. It looked like normal traffic inside the

581
00:38:11,725 --> 00:38:15,125
Speaker 1: station and the exterior station. I mean, if you had

582
00:38:15,125 --> 00:38:16,685
Speaker 1: to guess, you don't think it's going to be released

583
00:38:16,685 --> 00:38:21,965
Speaker 1: anytime soon. That's that's at the discretion of the court.

584
00:38:23,565 --> 00:38:26,845
Speaker 1: So we may never get the unedited tapes from that night,

585
00:38:27,445 --> 00:38:29,725
Speaker 1: but we do know that my Chrise was alive and

586
00:38:29,765 --> 00:38:33,205
Speaker 1: well when she left the station that night, shortly after midnight.

587
00:38:34,085 --> 00:38:37,285
Speaker 1: And I'm encouraged by the fact that Sheriff vill Nueva,

588
00:38:37,605 --> 00:38:40,485
Speaker 1: unlike so many other law enforcement officers from the past,

589
00:38:41,165 --> 00:38:44,485
Speaker 1: isn't saying that there's no sign of foul play. He

590
00:38:44,565 --> 00:38:48,005
Speaker 1: admits that there are missing pieces, and he says he

591
00:38:48,045 --> 00:38:51,325
Speaker 1: thinks that someone, maybe someone way up in the Santa

592
00:38:51,405 --> 00:38:55,565
Speaker 1: Monica Mountains knows something. Yeah, we do get a lot

593
00:38:55,565 --> 00:38:59,845
Speaker 1: of the love transience, people that wandered different areas throughout

594
00:38:59,885 --> 00:39:04,005
Speaker 1: that whole corridor there, but you know, absence somebody coming

595
00:39:04,085 --> 00:39:07,725
Speaker 1: forward and saying this is what happened, and how we're

596
00:39:07,805 --> 00:39:11,165
Speaker 1: still going to be left with this unresolved, you know. Depth,

597
00:39:12,645 --> 00:39:15,285
Speaker 1: So we have to put aside Los Angeles law enforcement

598
00:39:15,285 --> 00:39:18,565
Speaker 1: politics and all the other chaos. We need to do

599
00:39:18,645 --> 00:39:21,965
Speaker 1: what we do best. We need to go back to Montegnito,

600
00:39:22,645 --> 00:39:26,925
Speaker 1: back to the woods and start tracking people down, starting

601
00:39:27,125 --> 00:39:29,645
Speaker 1: with a deputy who walked out of the Lost Hill

602
00:39:29,725 --> 00:39:35,125
Speaker 1: station minutes after my trease. I'm Katherine Townsend and this

603
00:39:35,525 --> 00:39:39,325
Speaker 1: is Helen Gone. Helen Gone is a production of School

604
00:39:39,325 --> 00:39:42,605
Speaker 1: of Humans and iHeartRadio. It's written and narrated by me,

605
00:39:42,885 --> 00:39:46,765
Speaker 1: Catherine Townsend. Our producers are Gabby Watts, Taylor Church and

606
00:39:46,845 --> 00:39:51,525
Speaker 1: James Morrison. Music is by Ben Sale. Mix is by Tuonewelders.

607
00:39:52,285 --> 00:39:56,485
Speaker 1: Our executive producers are Brandon barr Els Crowley and Brian Lavin.

608
00:39:57,525 --> 00:40:00,045
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Chipcroft for use of footage from his

609
00:40:00,125 --> 00:40:25,165
Speaker 1: documentary Loss Compassion, School of Humans. School of Humans