1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:09,480 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. It was a little after five point 2 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:12,560 Speaker 1: thirty pm on a Friday evening when the first Nine 3 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:16,159 Speaker 1: When One call came in. The property manager at a 4 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:19,840 Speaker 1: gated condo complex in Tampa sounded almost like she was 5 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: asking a question when she told the operator that a 6 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: man had walked into the leasing office and announced that 7 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:30,159 Speaker 1: he'd just killed two people. What a strange thing to 8 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:32,600 Speaker 1: say to a lobby full of maintenance technicians and a 9 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:35,960 Speaker 1: woman who was just trying to check her mail. Maybe 10 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,199 Speaker 1: it didn't quite sink in right away that he meant it. 11 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:44,840 Speaker 1: He left the office and started walking as she dialed 12 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: nine when One she followed him, telling the operator that 13 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:51,159 Speaker 1: he kept grabbing the back of his pants as he walked, 14 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 1: as if there was something heavy tucked into his waistband. 15 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 1: The police were already en route when the second call came. 16 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:01,640 Speaker 1: Woman on the other end of the line this time 17 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:03,880 Speaker 1: was calling from a smoke shop and a strip mall 18 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: across from the apartment complex. She was crying hysterically, barely 19 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 1: able to get the words out. There was a man 20 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:16,840 Speaker 1: in the store pointing a gun at her. When the 21 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:20,399 Speaker 1: police arrived, Devon Arthur's was holding a handgun in one 22 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:22,760 Speaker 1: hand and a bottle of Coca Cola in the other. 23 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: He was ready to surrender, but he wanted to finish 24 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:31,840 Speaker 1: his soda first. Once he was in handcuffs, an officer 25 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:37,000 Speaker 1: asked him if anyone was hurt. He responded cryptically saying 26 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:42,320 Speaker 1: that there were people he'd hurt out back in the confusion, 27 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: his hostages had seized the opportunity to run out the 28 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: back door away from this ball little situation. So the 29 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: officer assumed that he meant one of those people had 30 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: been injured, but they were all unharmed. The officer again 31 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:05,040 Speaker 1: asked him, who is hurt. He replied calmly, oh, the 32 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: people in the apartment. But they aren't hurt. They're dead. 33 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: I'm Molly Conger, and this is weird, Little guys. This 34 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: is a story that I've mentioned in passing a few 35 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,640 Speaker 1: times before. It's always just a quick aside, a sort 36 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 1: of hand waving acknowledgment of that time two members of 37 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: Adam Woffin were murdered by their roommate. It was a 38 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,519 Speaker 1: pivotal moment in the history of that now defunct neo 39 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: Nazi terrorist organization. So it comes up in just about 40 00:02:56,120 --> 00:03:01,160 Speaker 1: any story involving any member of Adam Woffin, but I've 41 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 1: never really bothered to explain it. I'm usually busy trying 42 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 1: to get somewhere else. I was thinking about it again 43 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:12,640 Speaker 1: this week because I was thinking about Brandon Russell, the 44 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 1: founder of Adam Woffen. These murders usually come up when 45 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: I mentioned Brandon Russell because they're kind of what put 46 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 1: him in federal prison the first time. Not because he 47 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:27,639 Speaker 1: committed them. He didn't. He wasn't even home when it happened, 48 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:31,400 Speaker 1: but it was his name on the lease at the condo, 49 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 1: and it was his name written in sharpie on the 50 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 1: cooler full of explosives police found in the garage. Brandon 51 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 1: Russell did his time for having that little bomb workshop, 52 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: and he's since been convicted again, this time for conspiring 53 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:48,680 Speaker 1: to blow up the power grid in Baltimore. If you're 54 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: listening to this episode the day it came out, he 55 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: might be sitting in front of a federal judge right 56 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: now receiving his sentence. I'm not psychic, so I couldn't 57 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:01,360 Speaker 1: tell you how long he's going away for this time around. 58 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,000 Speaker 1: But that upcoming sentencing got me thinking about how he 59 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:11,800 Speaker 1: ended up there, and that story starts with these murders. 60 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: I hadn't intended to focus so much on the murders themselves. 61 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:19,280 Speaker 1: I didn't think there was really all that much meat 62 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:22,360 Speaker 1: to the story. Most of the news articles I've read 63 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:25,159 Speaker 1: in the past kind of say the same thing, just 64 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 1: those broad strokes. I was already familiar with Devin Arthur's 65 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:32,159 Speaker 1: shot and killed Andrew Onischuk and Jeremy Himmelman in the 66 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 1: apartment they shared with Brandon Russell. All four men were 67 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,839 Speaker 1: members of Adamoffen, and the investigation into the murders led 68 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:41,599 Speaker 1: to the discovery of the explosives in the garage. The 69 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: explosives belonged to Brandon Russell, and he was federally charged 70 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:49,560 Speaker 1: for possessing them. His federal case doesn't have a lot 71 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: of detail to it because he pled guilty pretty quickly, 72 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: and Devin Arthur's criminal case wasn't federal. But then I 73 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: remembered this happened in Florida. People love to make jokes 74 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:06,600 Speaker 1: about the Florida Man, the idea that people in Florida 75 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:12,159 Speaker 1: are uniquely predisposed of committing bizarre crimes. Florida man throws 76 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:15,840 Speaker 1: live gator at fast food cashier. Florida man leads cops 77 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:18,920 Speaker 1: on high speed horse chase. Florida man Rob's convenience store 78 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:24,279 Speaker 1: a dressed as Spider Man all real headlines, But people 79 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:27,919 Speaker 1: in Florida aren't actually more likely than people from anywhere 80 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:31,719 Speaker 1: else to crash a car into a grocery store while 81 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 1: high on meth or whatever else. This mythical Florida man 82 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:38,840 Speaker 1: is getting up to. Florida just happens to have some 83 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:42,720 Speaker 1: of the broadest public records laws in the country, making 84 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: it incredibly easy for journalists to quickly gain access to 85 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:50,800 Speaker 1: police reports and court records. I wish every weird little 86 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: guy would do his weird little crimes in the state 87 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: of Florida, because it makes my job so much easier. 88 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:00,360 Speaker 1: In this case, it means I was able to read 89 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: hundreds of pages of police reports, watch police interrogation videos, 90 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:09,039 Speaker 1: and view court records not just for this murder case, 91 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 1: but filings from the murderer's parents' divorce. And it painted 92 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: a slightly different picture from the one I had in 93 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 1: my head. But as always, let's start before the beginning. 94 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: Adam Woffen was an international network of neo Nazis. It 95 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 1: was one of several organizations that formed out of relationships 96 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:40,360 Speaker 1: that started on an online forum called Iron March. Iron 97 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:43,719 Speaker 1: March first appeared online in twenty eleven, launched by a 98 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:49,160 Speaker 1: Russian nationalist named Alisher Mukitnadoff. In its six years online, 99 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 1: it was an incubator for neo Nazi ideology around the world. 100 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:57,919 Speaker 1: Fascist organizations like National Action in the United Kingdom, Adam 101 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:02,320 Speaker 1: Woffen and the United States, Tschidas in Lithuania, and Antipodean 102 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:08,160 Speaker 1: Resistance in Australia were all born on this forum. Existing 103 00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 1: organizations grew and networked, and they recruited online posters into 104 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: real life terror cells. The site disappeared without explanation one 105 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:23,240 Speaker 1: day in November of twenty seventeen. There was plenty of 106 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: speculation about why the site went dark, but Mukitnadov declined 107 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 1: to answer any questions about it when he hung up 108 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: on a reporter from the BBC in twenty twenty. 109 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 2: One. 110 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: Theory popular among American neo Nazis is that there was 111 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:41,800 Speaker 1: international governmental pressure to shut the site down because of 112 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:47,760 Speaker 1: these murders. The birth date of Adam Waffen is typically 113 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 1: offered as October twelfth, twenty fifteen. That's the day Brandan 114 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 1: Russell posted a thread on the forum formally announcing the 115 00:07:55,720 --> 00:08:00,240 Speaker 1: group's existence. There were a handful of posts that refer 116 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:03,240 Speaker 1: to the group by name that pre date that announcement thread, 117 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:06,400 Speaker 1: and there are photographs of Russell holding an Adam off 118 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:09,040 Speaker 1: and flag that were taken in the late spring and 119 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:14,280 Speaker 1: summer of twenty fifteen, so it did exist prior to October. 120 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:17,720 Speaker 1: But his claim in that post that the group had 121 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:23,600 Speaker 1: existed for three years already is unlikely, especially considering that 122 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 1: he hadn't founded the group alone. His co founder was 123 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: a teenage boy named Devon Arthur's. Devin Arthur's was young. 124 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:38,840 Speaker 1: He was born in nineteen ninety nine. His parents separated 125 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,240 Speaker 1: when he was five, but didn't actually file for divorce 126 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 1: until twenty ten. The divorce was contentious, and it dragged 127 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:51,480 Speaker 1: on for years. The court appointed a guardian ad item, 128 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:53,840 Speaker 1: an attorney whose role is to advocate for the best 129 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:57,040 Speaker 1: interests of the child. In one letter to the court 130 00:08:57,040 --> 00:09:00,319 Speaker 1: in twenty eleven, the guardian ad litem noted that Devan 131 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,560 Speaker 1: was taking the divorce much harder than most children in 132 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:09,080 Speaker 1: his position, and he was having behavioral problems. In twenty twelve, 133 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:12,360 Speaker 1: his parents agreed in mediation that Devon should be evaluated 134 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 1: by a child behavioral specialist, which his mother claimed in 135 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:21,600 Speaker 1: subsequent filings never happened. In the fall of twenty fourteen, 136 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:24,640 Speaker 1: when he was still living primarily with his father, he 137 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:28,680 Speaker 1: ordered a copy of Mine Kampf of of Amazon. When 138 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:31,200 Speaker 1: the package arrived in the mail, his father opened it, 139 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:34,559 Speaker 1: saw what was inside, and refused to let his son 140 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:38,760 Speaker 1: have the book. After Devon physically confronted his father over 141 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: the text, his dad kicked him out. According to his 142 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:46,400 Speaker 1: mother's filings in the divorce case, his father abandoned him 143 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:51,000 Speaker 1: at her house. The estranged couple lived in different counties, 144 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:53,280 Speaker 1: so the sudden move meant that he had to change 145 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: schools midyear. He only ended up attending his new school 146 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:00,760 Speaker 1: for a few months. He dropped out of school later 147 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:06,240 Speaker 1: that year before finishing the tenth grade. Devon Arthur's joined 148 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:09,720 Speaker 1: the Iron March Forum in March of twenty fifteen, just 149 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:12,160 Speaker 1: a few days before his sixteenth birthday, and the same 150 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:15,360 Speaker 1: month he dropped out of high school. By April of 151 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, Arthur's and Russell were hanging out in person 152 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:23,320 Speaker 1: after realizing they both lived in the Orlando area. In 153 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 1: the fall of twenty fifteen, when Russell announced that Adam 154 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,679 Speaker 1: Woffin was open for new members. He claimed the group 155 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:35,080 Speaker 1: already had chapters in Chicago, Texas, Boston, New York, Kentucky, Alabama, Ohio, Missouri, Oregon, 156 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:40,559 Speaker 1: and Virginia, with more than forty members nationwide. A private 157 00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:43,720 Speaker 1: message that Arthur sent another user around that same time, though, 158 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:48,560 Speaker 1: puts that number closer to fifteen, mainly in Central Florida, 159 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:51,319 Speaker 1: though there was a small cell of just three guys 160 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:56,079 Speaker 1: in the Chicago area. When Brandon Russell bragged in November 161 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 1: that the group had met up to do quote a 162 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:02,360 Speaker 1: lot of activism, what he actually meant was that he 163 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:04,840 Speaker 1: and Devon had gone to the University of Central Florida 164 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:09,000 Speaker 1: to hang up racist flyers. It was a group of two, 165 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:15,640 Speaker 1: but the pair were close. In separate police interrogations on 166 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:18,480 Speaker 1: the night of the murder, both Brandon Russell and Devon 167 00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:21,439 Speaker 1: Arthur's told police that they were the best of friends, 168 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:25,640 Speaker 1: and they had been for years. When Russell joined the 169 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:28,840 Speaker 1: National Guard in twenty sixteen, he left Arthur's in charge 170 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:33,320 Speaker 1: of Adam Woffin. At first, things seemed to be going 171 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:37,240 Speaker 1: really well for Arthur's as the group's interim leader, he 172 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: was recruiting and vetting new members, and he was even 173 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:43,840 Speaker 1: trying to get some new chapters off the ground. In April, 174 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:46,280 Speaker 1: he exchanged messages with a prospective new member in the 175 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:49,600 Speaker 1: Boston area, one of the men he would murder a 176 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 1: year later. In May of twenty sixteen, he organized a 177 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:58,280 Speaker 1: flyering campaign in Boston. There were only two Adamoffin members 178 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:01,080 Speaker 1: in the Boston area at the time, a woman who 179 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:05,240 Speaker 1: posted under the username Rexa, and the young man Arthur's 180 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:11,079 Speaker 1: had just approved for membership, Andrew Onischuk. A few weeks later, 181 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:15,680 Speaker 1: Rexa got a direct message from Slavros, the site's moderator, 182 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: who is widely believed to be the site's founder, Alexander Mukitnadoff. 183 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:23,360 Speaker 1: He sent her a link to a now deleted post 184 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:27,160 Speaker 1: on Twitter showing that someone had made the connection between 185 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,719 Speaker 1: the flyers and the Iron March users who'd put them up. 186 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: The post claims that there were two known Adam Woffen 187 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:37,839 Speaker 1: members in the Boston area and that one of them 188 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:42,720 Speaker 1: was a student at MIT. The post didn't actually reveal 189 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:47,920 Speaker 1: her name, but she was panicking, how could they know 190 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:52,080 Speaker 1: any of that? What else did they know? She begged 191 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:55,319 Speaker 1: Slavros to wipe out her account history, writing can you 192 00:12:55,360 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 1: delete my account here please? Or delete all my posts please? 193 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:03,560 Speaker 1: I go to university. I cannot be involved with this. 194 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:07,840 Speaker 1: If they find me, my entire life is ruined. But 195 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:10,920 Speaker 1: he refused, saying that it would only make her look 196 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:13,480 Speaker 1: even more guilty if the posts were deleted now, and 197 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:17,080 Speaker 1: she had nothing to worry about anyway. He assured her 198 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:20,160 Speaker 1: that there was simply no way for anyone to access 199 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:23,960 Speaker 1: her IP address. They didn't know it at the time, 200 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:27,480 Speaker 1: but an anti fascist researcher had made an account on 201 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:30,679 Speaker 1: Iron March and tricked several users into clicking a link 202 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:34,680 Speaker 1: that recorded their IP addresses. She clicked it from a 203 00:13:34,679 --> 00:13:38,960 Speaker 1: school computer, revealing her to be a student at MIT. 204 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:45,200 Speaker 1: Without knowing how this person knew exactly where she was, 205 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:48,520 Speaker 1: they had to consider the possibility that someone had sold 206 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:52,520 Speaker 1: her out. She insisted in her messages with Slavros that 207 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:57,600 Speaker 1: despite Devin Arthur's recent conversion to Islam, they were still 208 00:13:57,600 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: on good terms, and he assured her that he hadn't 209 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:04,720 Speaker 1: said anything to anyone. The forum was buzzing that week. 210 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:09,480 Speaker 1: The interim leader of Adam Woffen had announced his conversion 211 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:14,640 Speaker 1: to Islam. Sometime in May of twenty sixteen, Devon Arthur's 212 00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:18,680 Speaker 1: updated his Iron March profile. Older archived versions of his 213 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:22,880 Speaker 1: user profile show that he'd listed his location as quote 214 00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 1: Dixie Land and his ideology as Confederate national Socialism. With 215 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:32,840 Speaker 1: this new update, he now lived in the Land of 216 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: non Believers and he identified as a Salophist national socialist. 217 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:42,560 Speaker 1: There was apparently a bit of a blow up over 218 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 1: this conversion in the massive data dump of leaked posts 219 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 1: from Iron March. This threat isn't there. It was deleted 220 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: by the moderators pretty quickly, so it wasn't there to 221 00:14:56,080 --> 00:15:01,120 Speaker 1: scrape when researchers pulled everything off the site later. But 222 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:06,400 Speaker 1: the moderators didn't delete people's direct messages about the thread, 223 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 1: and those private conversations are in the data. Despite what 224 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:16,160 Speaker 1: Devin Arthurs would later claim, his conversion to Islam wasn't 225 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:20,600 Speaker 1: a renunciation of his prior beliefs, it was a twisted 226 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 1: evolution of them. In one direct message, a user who 227 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 1: saw the thread before it was deleted said that Arthur's 228 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:32,400 Speaker 1: plan to convert other Adam Waffen members to Islam. He 229 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:35,800 Speaker 1: failed to convince the forum that his newfound commitment to 230 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:39,560 Speaker 1: jihad was the right direction for American neo Nazis, and 231 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:43,360 Speaker 1: he was banned from the website. Slavrose threatened to cut 232 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 1: ties with Adam Woffin entirely, but several members of the 233 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:49,320 Speaker 1: group said they'd convinced Arthur's to step down as interim 234 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 1: leader until Brandon Russell returned from army training. Two other 235 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:58,600 Speaker 1: members would step up to run the group. Ironically, one 236 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:02,360 Speaker 1: of those new interim leaders was also a Muslim convert. 237 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:07,200 Speaker 1: David Cole Tarkington had converted to Islam more than two 238 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:10,440 Speaker 1: years before Devon Arthur's did, and it doesn't appear to 239 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:15,560 Speaker 1: have been a secret. Tarkington was a major recruiter for 240 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:18,800 Speaker 1: Adam Woffen, bringing in at least eleven new members to 241 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:22,960 Speaker 1: the group in twenty sixteen, including John Cameron Denton, the 242 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:24,560 Speaker 1: man who would go on to lead the group after 243 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:28,680 Speaker 1: Russell went to prison. But when Arthur's was being interviewed 244 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:32,560 Speaker 1: by that homicide detective, he said that after he converted, 245 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 1: he realized his prior beliefs had been wrong, that the 246 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:39,840 Speaker 1: hate left his heart, and guided by the Koran, he 247 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 1: came to understand that there was no point in wanting 248 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 1: to kill people. Of other races. A lot of the 249 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:50,120 Speaker 1: news coverage takes his statements at face value. He killed 250 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: his roommates because they were Nazis, and since his conversion 251 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:58,600 Speaker 1: he wasn't anymore. But I have a really hard time 252 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:03,080 Speaker 1: believing that. We talked a little bit about the idea 253 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:07,199 Speaker 1: of this strange melding of neo Nazism and interest in 254 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:10,280 Speaker 1: Islamic extremism a few weeks ago, in the episode about 255 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:13,160 Speaker 1: Nicholas Young, the DC Metro transit cop with the Nazi 256 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: tattoos who went to prison for trying to send gift 257 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:20,320 Speaker 1: cards to Isis. And it seems like an obvious contradiction. 258 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:24,400 Speaker 1: How can a neo Nazi be a Muslim? Don't white 259 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:31,160 Speaker 1: supremacists hate Muslims? They do, of course, But it's more 260 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:36,960 Speaker 1: complicated than that. It's a contradiction, sure, but plenty of 261 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:42,480 Speaker 1: people live in contradiction. And there's a lot of overlap too. 262 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:45,040 Speaker 1: Even neo Nazis who would never entertain the idea of 263 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:49,359 Speaker 1: a conversion are willing to talk about the possibility of 264 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:52,560 Speaker 1: finding common cause with people they see as allies in 265 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:57,960 Speaker 1: anti Semitism, people whose commitment to armed extremism is appealing 266 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:04,120 Speaker 1: to them, and all of the finer points of syncretic fascism, 267 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:10,480 Speaker 1: aside Devon Arthur's didn't know what he believed. His conversion 268 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:14,640 Speaker 1: happened in a Minecraft chat. Several friends he met through 269 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,840 Speaker 1: the online game converted around the same time, and it 270 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:19,680 Speaker 1: seems like for some of them it was a bit. 271 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:24,160 Speaker 1: One of those friends later told Rolling Stone that Devin's 272 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:30,400 Speaker 1: version of Islam was weird. Quote. It wasn't true Islam. 273 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:33,399 Speaker 1: It was more about idealizing the prophet Muhammad as a 274 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:37,359 Speaker 1: white arian. You know, Muhammad as an ideal male form. 275 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:43,960 Speaker 1: I don't know, he says, you know, but I don't 276 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:49,639 Speaker 1: know what he's talking about, and it is unkind I 277 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:53,400 Speaker 1: think to cast out on the sincerity of someone's religious conversion, 278 00:18:55,320 --> 00:19:01,600 Speaker 1: but I'm going to He was extremely online line. His 279 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:05,679 Speaker 1: exposure to Islam was through memes and jokes in a 280 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:09,840 Speaker 1: chat room populated by teenage gamers who met on four Chan. 281 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:14,480 Speaker 1: He was a high school dropout with absent parents. He 282 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:17,919 Speaker 1: was struggling with mental illness. He never spoke to in 283 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:21,399 Speaker 1: a mom about his religious path. When it came to 284 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:24,840 Speaker 1: reading the Koran, he was entirely self taught, and it 285 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:29,960 Speaker 1: sounds like he didn't get it, but taking a face value, 286 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:36,520 Speaker 1: Devin Arthur's was Muslim in his own way. The other 287 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:39,000 Speaker 1: neo Nazis didn't like it, and he was kicked off 288 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:42,080 Speaker 1: the Iron March Forum. He was forced to step down 289 00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:45,399 Speaker 1: as interim leader of Adam Woffin, but he wasn't kicked 290 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:48,680 Speaker 1: out of Adam Woffin, and he didn't even stay off 291 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:51,520 Speaker 1: of Iron March. He still logged in to use the 292 00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:56,040 Speaker 1: site under Brandon Russell's account, and he stayed best friends 293 00:19:56,040 --> 00:20:01,000 Speaker 1: with Brandon Russell. In October of twenty sixteen, months after 294 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:04,439 Speaker 1: this blow up, he and Brandon traveled to Massachusetts together 295 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:08,160 Speaker 1: to visit Adam Woffin's Boston cell, which at the time 296 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:12,960 Speaker 1: consisted of just two members, Andrew Onischuk and Jeremy Himmelman. 297 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:16,680 Speaker 1: They'd both joined the group that year and quickly became 298 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:22,520 Speaker 1: very close friends. Several of Jeremy's friends in Boston met 299 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:26,399 Speaker 1: Devon Arthur's and Brandon Russell during that trip, and they 300 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:30,919 Speaker 1: all said the same thing. These guys are fucking weird. 301 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:37,399 Speaker 1: They cannot behave in a normal fashion. Jeremy Himmelman's sister 302 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:40,159 Speaker 1: begged him to get these people out of the apartment 303 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:44,239 Speaker 1: that the siblings shared they wouldn't stop drawing swastikas on 304 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:48,719 Speaker 1: things and making Holocaust jokes. Devon kept calling her a 305 00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:53,879 Speaker 1: dumpster slut. Another friend of Jeremy's said quote, it was 306 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:58,880 Speaker 1: very obvious that they were mentally unstable people. A few 307 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:02,920 Speaker 1: months later, in January twenty seventeen, Jeremy Himmelman flew down 308 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:06,200 Speaker 1: to Florida to visit Brandon after he faked a suicide 309 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:11,600 Speaker 1: attempt as a joke. It was a cruel joke. I mean, 310 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 1: it would be cruel in any context, but Brandon almost 311 00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:18,440 Speaker 1: certainly knew that Jeremy had tried several times in the 312 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:21,840 Speaker 1: last few years to end his own life, so of 313 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:24,560 Speaker 1: course he dropped everything to be there when he believed 314 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:29,359 Speaker 1: Brandon had nearly died. Two months later, in March of 315 00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:34,359 Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, back home in Massachusetts, Jeremy Himmelman attempted suicide 316 00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:38,199 Speaker 1: for a fourth time after an argument with his roommates. 317 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:42,840 Speaker 1: He survived. His girlfriend and his parents say that it 318 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:45,680 Speaker 1: was a wake up call for him. He was ready 319 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:49,280 Speaker 1: to leave Adam Waffin behind. It wasn't good for him. 320 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:54,639 Speaker 1: These weren't his friends. This wasn't a path forward, but 321 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: he didn't have any other path forward either, and he 322 00:21:59,359 --> 00:22:03,399 Speaker 1: was having trouble cutting ties. He didn't leave the chats. 323 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:08,000 Speaker 1: He was still best friends with Andrew on Ashuk and 324 00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:12,240 Speaker 1: he didn't have a lot else to do, so when 325 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:16,120 Speaker 1: Brandon Russell invited them both back to Florida, they went 326 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:34,480 Speaker 1: that same month. In March of twenty seventeen, Brandon Russell's 327 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:37,920 Speaker 1: grandmother co signed e lease for him. It was a 328 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:42,400 Speaker 1: nice little condo in a gated community in Tampa. Sometime 329 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:46,480 Speaker 1: in early April, he and Devin moved in, and that's 330 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:49,600 Speaker 1: when he started begging Andrew on Ashuk and Jeremy Himmelman 331 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 1: to come down and visit, come down and spend the 332 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:55,960 Speaker 1: summer with us. He promised them a rent free summer 333 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,359 Speaker 1: in Florida. They could go fishing, there was a pool, 334 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:05,719 Speaker 1: it would be fun. Andrew and Jeremy regretted it almost immediately. 335 00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:09,879 Speaker 1: Barely a week into their stay, they were already talking 336 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:14,000 Speaker 1: about going home early. His two bedroom condo wasn't big 337 00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:18,120 Speaker 1: enough for four men. Andrew and Jeremy shared the smaller bedroom, 338 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:21,440 Speaker 1: Devin slept in the living room, and Brandon kept the 339 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:27,040 Speaker 1: larger bedroom for himself. Brandon was gone along on top 340 00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:28,640 Speaker 1: of being in the National Guard, he had a job 341 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:32,640 Speaker 1: at a shooting range. Andrew and Jeremy got temporary jobs 342 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:35,920 Speaker 1: at a recycling plant, but Devin just sat in the 343 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:40,520 Speaker 1: living room all day on the computer. The place was messy. 344 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:44,560 Speaker 1: No one did dishes. I was going to say, I 345 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:47,480 Speaker 1: assume they didn't even own a vacuum cleaner, but I 346 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:49,879 Speaker 1: did see one in the crime scene photographs. It was 347 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:52,760 Speaker 1: pushed up against the wall in the living room, underneath 348 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:57,200 Speaker 1: the North Korean flag. They barely even had any furniture. 349 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:01,040 Speaker 1: The room that Andrew and Jeremy shared didn't have a bed. 350 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:04,040 Speaker 1: It was just a futon and a mattress on the floor. 351 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 1: This wasn't the fun Florida summer they'd imagined. Devin was 352 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 1: weird and annoying, and things were tense. They wanted to 353 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:20,840 Speaker 1: go home. On May seventeenth, Andrew Anashuk told his parents 354 00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:23,880 Speaker 1: that he was going to come home early. He told 355 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:26,280 Speaker 1: his mom that he planned to stay another week just 356 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:28,879 Speaker 1: to finish out his temp job. He didn't feel right 357 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 1: walking away from it. Just two days later, though, on Friday, 358 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:37,640 Speaker 1: May nineteenth, he'd changed his mind. He had to go, 359 00:24:38,119 --> 00:24:41,919 Speaker 1: and he was going to leave on Monday. Jeremy Himmelman 360 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:46,119 Speaker 1: called his girlfriend that day to lament Andrew's decision. He 361 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,119 Speaker 1: was going to miss Andrew, but things had gotten too 362 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:55,080 Speaker 1: uncomfortable in the apartment. That same day, May nineteenth, Brandon 363 00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:58,239 Speaker 1: Russell left the condo early in the morning. He had 364 00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:01,200 Speaker 1: National Guard drill that weekend had to report in that day. 365 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:07,280 Speaker 1: Devin was, as always, at home on the computer all day. 366 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:12,360 Speaker 1: Around five pm, Jeremy was texting with his girlfriend back 367 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:17,360 Speaker 1: home in Massachusetts. At five four pm, she asked him 368 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:21,399 Speaker 1: if they could FaceTime. I'm hanging out with Devin and 369 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:25,320 Speaker 1: Andrew right now, maybe later, he replied with a heart emoji. 370 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: She said she might take a nap, and he joked 371 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:31,200 Speaker 1: that she was probably going to fall asleep for seven 372 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:35,600 Speaker 1: hours again like she had last time. His phone was 373 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:38,800 Speaker 1: still resting on his stomach under his right arm when 374 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:41,480 Speaker 1: crime Scene Texts photographed his body a few hours later. 375 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: I can't tell you exactly what happened in the fifteen 376 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:51,080 Speaker 1: minutes between five oh five pm and five twenty pm. 377 00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:54,679 Speaker 1: When Jeremy sent his last text to his girlfriend at 378 00:25:54,680 --> 00:26:00,199 Speaker 1: five oh five, nothing was wrong. He seemed relaxed. He 379 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:02,040 Speaker 1: said that he was hanging out with his roommates, and 380 00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:06,320 Speaker 1: he gave no indication that anything was amiss. She knew 381 00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:09,680 Speaker 1: all about the ongoing tension in the apartment. Who would 382 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:12,320 Speaker 1: have mentioned it if anything out of the ordinary was happening. 383 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,200 Speaker 1: But at five point twenty Devon Arthur's called his father 384 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:23,600 Speaker 1: and told him that he'd just killed two people. There's 385 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:28,520 Speaker 1: no dispute about the basic facts. Devon Arthur's shot Andrew 386 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:32,960 Speaker 1: Anoschuk and Jeremy Himmelman with a Wasser ten that's a 387 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:37,800 Speaker 1: Romanian version of an AK forty seven. Based on the 388 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:41,400 Speaker 1: medical examiner's report, both men would have died instantly from 389 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:43,560 Speaker 1: multiple shots to the head and torso fired from the 390 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 1: rifle at close range. They were both in the bedroom 391 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:51,400 Speaker 1: they shared. Jeremy was lying on the futon and Andrew's 392 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:55,320 Speaker 1: body was on the floor near the bathroom door. Devon 393 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:57,840 Speaker 1: left the rifle on the couch in the living room, 394 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:01,040 Speaker 1: picked up a clock seventeen, and walked out of the apartment. 395 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:04,640 Speaker 1: He walked over to the leasing office, where he announced 396 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:07,080 Speaker 1: what he'd done to two maintenance texts, the property manager 397 00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:10,159 Speaker 1: and a resident, and then he walked across the street 398 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:13,120 Speaker 1: into the strip mall and entered the smoke shop, where 399 00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:15,439 Speaker 1: he held the store clerk and two customers hostage at 400 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:20,640 Speaker 1: gunpoint until the police arrived. He's never denied what he did. 401 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:27,040 Speaker 1: Quite the opposite. All he wanted to do was tell people. 402 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:32,320 Speaker 1: He called his dad, he called his mom. He told 403 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:34,680 Speaker 1: the people in the leasing office, he told the people 404 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:38,119 Speaker 1: in the smoke shop. He told every officer he encountered 405 00:27:38,119 --> 00:27:42,919 Speaker 1: after his arrest. But as he continued to tell and 406 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:49,200 Speaker 1: retell this story, it changed a little. In a report 407 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:51,639 Speaker 1: written by the officer who transported him to the police 408 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:57,320 Speaker 1: station that night, it's noted that Arthur's was talking almost constantly, 409 00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:01,520 Speaker 1: offering up spontaneous statements, and though no one was asking 410 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:07,199 Speaker 1: him questions, the officer wrote, Arthur's continued to repeat his 411 00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:13,359 Speaker 1: story and would add more details each time. Devon's account 412 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:17,840 Speaker 1: of the actual physical sequence of events remains pretty consistent, 413 00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:22,400 Speaker 1: and it mostly matches up with the physical evidence. It's 414 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:26,760 Speaker 1: his recollection of his internal monologue and his motivations that 415 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:31,880 Speaker 1: change Throughout the evening. It was a little after one 416 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:35,440 Speaker 1: in the morning, nearly eight hours after the murder, by 417 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:38,000 Speaker 1: the time a Tampa homicide detective turned on the camera 418 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:42,280 Speaker 1: to record a formal interview with Devon. Arthur's and by 419 00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:44,440 Speaker 1: that time he'd had plenty of time alone to think, 420 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:49,440 Speaker 1: and over the course of this two hour interrogation, you 421 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 1: can hear him convincing himself of the story that he's 422 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:54,080 Speaker 1: come up with. 423 00:28:57,080 --> 00:29:01,000 Speaker 2: I hear Jeremy he grabs my karana, he says, you 424 00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:04,240 Speaker 2: every book at fairy Tales here, and that set me 425 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:06,920 Speaker 2: over to and I remember kind of b where I 426 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:11,959 Speaker 2: shot them both and I didn't I wasn't thinking clearly. 427 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:19,520 Speaker 1: This part is probably pretty close to the truth. It's 428 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:20,920 Speaker 1: the same thing he said in the back of the 429 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:24,600 Speaker 1: patrol car right after he was arrested. He killed them 430 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:28,280 Speaker 1: because they made fun of him, because they mocked his religion, 431 00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 1: because they disrespected his faith, because they were bullying him 432 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:38,320 Speaker 1: pretty relentlessly, and he'd had enough. And there is plenty 433 00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:41,720 Speaker 1: of proof that that had been going on, so it's 434 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:43,880 Speaker 1: no surprise that it would have happened again that evening. 435 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: I think this first story is the truth. He was 436 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:53,880 Speaker 1: sitting in the living room cleaning the rifle when Jeremy 437 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:59,080 Speaker 1: and Andrew started teasing him again. He'd spent the entire 438 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 1: day on the computer in an encrypted group chat full 439 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:06,040 Speaker 1: of other members of Adam Woffen, and on that particular day, 440 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:11,120 Speaker 1: the chat was making fun of him again. He was 441 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:17,560 Speaker 1: reaching a boiling point and he snapped. And unfortunately, in 442 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:20,600 Speaker 1: the moment that he snapped, he happened to already have 443 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:25,280 Speaker 1: a rifle in his hands, and in that split second 444 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:29,120 Speaker 1: where he made the decision to pull the trigger, that's 445 00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:32,080 Speaker 1: what he was thinking about. He shot them because they 446 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:36,000 Speaker 1: made fun of him. But as the reality of this 447 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:39,920 Speaker 1: situation settled in, that didn't really feel like a good 448 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:44,200 Speaker 1: enough explanation. It may not have even been a conscious choice. 449 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:47,880 Speaker 1: He may have eventually convinced himself that this is true, 450 00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:52,320 Speaker 1: but within an hour he's adding details to the narrative, 451 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:55,280 Speaker 1: and the more time he has to think about it, 452 00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:59,320 Speaker 1: the clearer his new story becomes. 453 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,000 Speaker 2: I remember what I was sitting in that tube or 454 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:03,600 Speaker 2: whatever He's pacing back and forth. 455 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:06,080 Speaker 3: I'm like, and I'm like thinking to myself, which cube 456 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:09,480 Speaker 3: in the holding some alcohol? Just data? 457 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:10,320 Speaker 4: I remember, like I. 458 00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:13,400 Speaker 3: Was thinking, like, you know, how could I have done this? 459 00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:15,040 Speaker 3: And stuff like that? And the only things that could 460 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:16,560 Speaker 3: that I could rationalize was. 461 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:20,640 Speaker 2: Like, you know, if I hadn't done that, if I 462 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:24,480 Speaker 2: hadn't shut this organization down by doing this they'd be 463 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:26,600 Speaker 2: a lot more people dead than just two people. 464 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:27,360 Speaker 3: From that organization. 465 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:34,480 Speaker 1: I was really struck by this language. It's a little 466 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,520 Speaker 1: too on the nose that he keeps literally using the 467 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:42,520 Speaker 1: word rationalize as he's describing his thought process to the officer. 468 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:48,080 Speaker 1: I think he's still processing what he's done. I guess 469 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:52,360 Speaker 1: witnessing a murder is very traumatic, even if you were 470 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:56,840 Speaker 1: the one who did it. He's still processing that experience. 471 00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:00,520 Speaker 1: He's still processing seeing his friend's dead body, and he's 472 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:03,800 Speaker 1: coming to terms with it. He's trying to understand his 473 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:06,360 Speaker 1: own actions and figure out how he's supposed to live 474 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:10,920 Speaker 1: with them, and he's externalizing that entire thought process in 475 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:13,840 Speaker 1: a recorded interview with a homicide detective. 476 00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:19,120 Speaker 4: And the thing that keeps from rational about this is that, like, 477 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:23,680 Speaker 4: I feel what I've done is horrible in the sense 478 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:26,880 Speaker 4: of that human life has been us and I feel sad. 479 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:29,400 Speaker 2: I feel like an animal, and I feel like they 480 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:32,960 Speaker 2: should be a costal somewhere that's you know, became that 481 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:33,640 Speaker 2: medicine or. 482 00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:34,800 Speaker 3: Something like that to help me. 483 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:38,320 Speaker 2: And I want you to know that, like I realized 484 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:40,959 Speaker 2: the full extent of like you know, their families are 485 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:43,560 Speaker 2: going to feel very bad about this their loved ones, 486 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:45,920 Speaker 2: and I feel the utmost. 487 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:46,920 Speaker 3: Bad about that. 488 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:49,920 Speaker 2: But I also realized that these people, of what they 489 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:53,480 Speaker 2: were planning with the explosives that were down downstairs. 490 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:55,160 Speaker 3: What would tell me about that's? What's that all about? 491 00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:58,480 Speaker 2: It? Adam thought the division is a terrorist organization. It's 492 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 2: a n Aanazi organization. Part of it before I can 493 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:01,600 Speaker 2: through it. 494 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:07,719 Speaker 1: By the time he's sitting in that interrogation room at 495 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:12,280 Speaker 1: one in the morning, he's the hero of the story. 496 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:15,640 Speaker 1: He understands that it was a great tragedy to have 497 00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:18,920 Speaker 1: had to take those lives, But if you really think 498 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:23,400 Speaker 1: about it, didn't he save countless lives by doing it. 499 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:28,400 Speaker 1: I think it's the only way he can cope. He 500 00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:30,600 Speaker 1: told one of the officers on the scene shortly after 501 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:33,720 Speaker 1: his arrest that he couldn't get the image of his 502 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:38,040 Speaker 1: friend's dead bodies out of his mind. He said he 503 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:41,240 Speaker 1: had no idea how much blood can come out of 504 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:45,000 Speaker 1: a human body. He has to find a way to 505 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:47,120 Speaker 1: convince himself that there was a good reason for it. 506 00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:51,440 Speaker 1: He feels like a monster, so he's trying to find 507 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:57,400 Speaker 1: a way to be a hero. But he's lying an 508 00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:03,440 Speaker 1: organization that he was part of his conversion. He had 509 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:07,280 Speaker 1: converted a year ago, and he still lived with the 510 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:11,680 Speaker 1: group's leader. He still participated in the group's private chats. 511 00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:15,560 Speaker 1: He was still privy to the group's secret internal operations. 512 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:20,160 Speaker 1: He went on group outings and road trips. When Adam 513 00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:24,759 Speaker 1: Woffin went camping, Devin was there. When Adam Woffin did 514 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:29,000 Speaker 1: training drills in the woods, Devon was there. Just a 515 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:32,480 Speaker 1: month before the murders, he accompanied Brandon Russell on a 516 00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:36,200 Speaker 1: trip to Detroit, Chicago, and Boston for the purpose of 517 00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:42,279 Speaker 1: buying and selling guns. Remember, they live in Florida. It's 518 00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:45,480 Speaker 1: pretty easy to buy a gun in Florida, so I 519 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:49,920 Speaker 1: don't think they were buying guns in places like Chicago 520 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:53,600 Speaker 1: or Boston. So you'll have to use your imagination to 521 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:58,400 Speaker 1: fill in the gaps here. Maybe they were selling guns 522 00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:01,799 Speaker 1: purchased in Florida to members of the group operating in 523 00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:05,600 Speaker 1: areas where it was harder to buy them. If Devin 524 00:35:05,719 --> 00:35:08,400 Speaker 1: Arthur's had abandoned his prior beliefs, if he was so 525 00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:12,680 Speaker 1: disgusted with neo Nazism, why was he participating in this. 526 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:15,880 Speaker 1: He could have moved back in with either one of 527 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:20,080 Speaker 1: his parents. He could have called the FBI. He could 528 00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:23,280 Speaker 1: have just stayed home when the neo Nazi terrorist group 529 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:26,719 Speaker 1: went out into the woods to practice shooting drills for 530 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:30,440 Speaker 1: the race war, but he didn't do any of that. 531 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:35,960 Speaker 1: He's telling this officer now in May of twenty seventeen, 532 00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:38,800 Speaker 1: that he was no longer a member of Adam Woffen 533 00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:41,759 Speaker 1: and hadn't been since his conversion a year earlier, and 534 00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:45,759 Speaker 1: I just don't think that's true. I think he's lying, 535 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:52,359 Speaker 1: maybe even to himself. He sounds, for the most part, 536 00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:57,720 Speaker 1: fairly lucid in this interview, but half a dozen psychiatrists 537 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:01,799 Speaker 1: and forensic psychologists would eventually agree that he was profoundly 538 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:06,880 Speaker 1: mentally ill. So a lot of this is maybe just 539 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:11,160 Speaker 1: trying to cope with his own actions. But I don't 540 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:15,080 Speaker 1: think it's just coping. I think he realizes he has 541 00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:19,160 Speaker 1: a bargaining chip here, because throughout the interview he keeps 542 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:22,000 Speaker 1: asking to speak with the FBI, and he says he 543 00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:24,759 Speaker 1: has important information that they'll want to hear. 544 00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:29,680 Speaker 2: If I could get like a meeting with an FBI 545 00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:32,839 Speaker 2: agent or something like that, I can shut down not 546 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:34,760 Speaker 2: just Adam Vopham, but at several other. 547 00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:37,839 Speaker 4: Organizations, like probably with a bunch dissultates that. 548 00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:39,120 Speaker 3: I would very much like to do that. 549 00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:45,560 Speaker 1: He's pretty relaxed through most of the interview, but several 550 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,960 Speaker 1: times he asks if what he's saying in the interview 551 00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:52,640 Speaker 1: is confidential, and when he's talking about that, he gets 552 00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:57,640 Speaker 1: very anxious, and the officer tells him that police reports 553 00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:01,719 Speaker 1: do eventually become public record, but he assures him that 554 00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:05,400 Speaker 1: sensitive information like the things he's talking about, can be 555 00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:08,319 Speaker 1: held back from public view. And he tells him that 556 00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:11,799 Speaker 1: what you say to me here just for the investigation, 557 00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:17,480 Speaker 1: nobody's going to see this video. Now. Remember, cops can 558 00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:22,080 Speaker 1: lie to you. Cops can always lie to you. It's 559 00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:25,600 Speaker 1: always okay for them to lie. Because I watched the 560 00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:29,160 Speaker 1: video of this officer telling Devin Arthur's that no one 561 00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:32,600 Speaker 1: would ever watch the video. He wants to tell the 562 00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:36,080 Speaker 1: FBI everything he knows about Adam Woffen, but he's very 563 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:40,160 Speaker 1: worried that people will know he talked. He's worried that 564 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:43,839 Speaker 1: members of the group will target him if they find out. 565 00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:48,040 Speaker 2: And then on the other hand, if I somehow get 566 00:37:48,040 --> 00:37:50,400 Speaker 2: some kind of plea bargain from this and then I 567 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:52,840 Speaker 2: get released, I might get killed by somebody else like 568 00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:56,800 Speaker 2: that gets relieved, especially since I know that I unless 569 00:37:56,880 --> 00:37:59,160 Speaker 2: whatever information you can rely shuts down the group with 570 00:37:59,200 --> 00:37:59,760 Speaker 2: our ladies. 571 00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:02,680 Speaker 3: Guys are just a commission. Well, that's the main thing. 572 00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:06,040 Speaker 3: That's why I'm mainly helping y'all. 573 00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:13,279 Speaker 1: Again, he's being very explicit here. You know, when he's 574 00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:18,040 Speaker 1: rationalizing his actions, he says out loud, I'm rationalizing my actions. 575 00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:21,200 Speaker 1: And now that he realizes he might have information to 576 00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:25,399 Speaker 1: trade for favorable treatment, he says, hey, maybe I'll get 577 00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:28,440 Speaker 1: a plea bargain out of this. He's saying the quiet 578 00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:32,279 Speaker 1: part very loud, and what he's saying is that he 579 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:36,640 Speaker 1: wants to talk to the FBI about the bombs. I 580 00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:39,840 Speaker 1: imagine a cop usually takes you pretty seriously if you 581 00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:43,840 Speaker 1: start talking about bombs, just in case, even if you 582 00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:48,320 Speaker 1: are spinning a pretty fanciful sounding tale. And in this case, 583 00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:52,240 Speaker 1: even though what he's saying does sound a little far fetched, 584 00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:57,520 Speaker 1: they're listening carefully because they know there's some truth to it, 585 00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:02,560 Speaker 1: because they've already seen the explosives. Before Devon Arthur's ever 586 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:06,440 Speaker 1: mentioned the presence of explosive material inside the condo, the 587 00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:09,960 Speaker 1: officers who arrived first on the scene saw enough to 588 00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:14,760 Speaker 1: make them cautious. The first officer to enter the apartment 589 00:39:14,840 --> 00:39:17,120 Speaker 1: wrote in his report that on his initial walkthrough of 590 00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:20,040 Speaker 1: the scene, he opened the closet in the other bedroom, 591 00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:23,640 Speaker 1: the one that belonged to Brandon Russell, and on a 592 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:26,799 Speaker 1: shelf in the closet where you would normally keep sweaters 593 00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:32,040 Speaker 1: or something, there were several Geiger counters, a significant number 594 00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:37,439 Speaker 1: of batteries, and a lot of matches. Another officer found 595 00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:41,080 Speaker 1: a backpack near the front door that contained electric matches 596 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:44,279 Speaker 1: and some kind of device that looked like it might 597 00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:49,480 Speaker 1: be an ied. They weren't entirely sure what they were 598 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,520 Speaker 1: looking at, but they knew enough to know that somebody 599 00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:55,359 Speaker 1: else needed to be the one looking at it. So 600 00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:58,160 Speaker 1: they confirmed that the two victims were deceased and not 601 00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:01,400 Speaker 1: in need of any medical help. The apartment was otherwise empty, 602 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:05,080 Speaker 1: and then they evacuated the neighboring apartments while they waited 603 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:09,239 Speaker 1: for the bomb squad And so backing up to this 604 00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:12,920 Speaker 1: point in our timeline, When Devon Arthur's was arrested at 605 00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:15,480 Speaker 1: the smoke shop, he was put into a police car 606 00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:18,879 Speaker 1: and he told the officers that his two roommates were 607 00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:21,600 Speaker 1: dead inside their home, which was in the complex across 608 00:40:21,640 --> 00:40:26,120 Speaker 1: the street, but he couldn't remember the unit number. They'd 609 00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:28,960 Speaker 1: only just moved in a month before, but he offered 610 00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:30,680 Speaker 1: to show them which one it was if they would 611 00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:34,279 Speaker 1: drive him there. And so, as the police car is 612 00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:38,640 Speaker 1: pulling up outside the condo, they can hear someone screaming inside, 613 00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:42,920 Speaker 1: and as the officers are approaching the residence, a man 614 00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:46,880 Speaker 1: dressed in military fatigues came out the front door. He 615 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:51,120 Speaker 1: is hysterical, unable to respond to their questions, collapses onto 616 00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:55,600 Speaker 1: the ground, sobbing, crying, and he's screaming, Jeremy is dead. 617 00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:02,640 Speaker 1: That was Brandon Russell. He'd arrived home some time in 618 00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:06,880 Speaker 1: that very small window of time after the murders, but 619 00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:11,040 Speaker 1: before the police arrived. He wasn't there when it happened, 620 00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:13,880 Speaker 1: but by the time the police get there, he is. 621 00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:18,960 Speaker 1: The property manager said that she saw him driving erratically 622 00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:21,279 Speaker 1: through the parking lot when she was standing outside after 623 00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:24,800 Speaker 1: dialing nine one one, so he had to have gotten 624 00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:30,600 Speaker 1: home after five thirty, but before five forty five. He 625 00:41:30,719 --> 00:41:34,160 Speaker 1: was detained by the officers on the scene for obvious reasons. 626 00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:36,400 Speaker 1: They just watched him walk out of an apartment with 627 00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:39,080 Speaker 1: two dead bodies inside. They don't know what they're dealing with. 628 00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:43,680 Speaker 1: So around six p m. Those officers who first entered 629 00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:46,560 Speaker 1: the apartment saw some things they thought they needed a 630 00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:51,239 Speaker 1: bomb squad for Brandon Russell and Devon Arthur's are both 631 00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:56,200 Speaker 1: handcuffed and sitting in separate police cars right outside, and 632 00:41:56,320 --> 00:42:02,000 Speaker 1: both men, separately and for their own reasons, voluntarily disclosed 633 00:42:02,160 --> 00:42:05,640 Speaker 1: to the police that there are explosives inside the house. 634 00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:10,480 Speaker 1: Devon is starting to realize that he wants the police 635 00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:13,000 Speaker 1: to know that the people he killed were very bad men, 636 00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:16,040 Speaker 1: and that maybe they were going to use those bombs 637 00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:19,480 Speaker 1: to hurt innocent people. And at this point he adds 638 00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:22,560 Speaker 1: that I wouldn't kill innocent people. I had plenty of 639 00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:26,120 Speaker 1: opportunities tonight to kill innocent people, even those responding officers, 640 00:42:26,360 --> 00:42:31,359 Speaker 1: and I didn't do it. For Brandon, he's just trying 641 00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:33,440 Speaker 1: to get out ahead of the problem he knows is coming. 642 00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:38,080 Speaker 1: The cops already saw some suspicious material inside the condo, 643 00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:42,279 Speaker 1: but they hadn't looked in the garage yet, so he 644 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:45,680 Speaker 1: told a detective that they would find some things in 645 00:42:45,719 --> 00:42:49,120 Speaker 1: there that they should know about. He said that in 646 00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:54,600 Speaker 1: the garage there's potassium chlorate thorium, which is a radioactive material, 647 00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:59,080 Speaker 1: rocket propellant, and a compound called h M D T 648 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:06,799 Speaker 1: Hexamethylene triperoxide diamine is a highly volatile explosive compound. It 649 00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:10,520 Speaker 1: is dangerous to handle, it is dangerous to store. It 650 00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:14,680 Speaker 1: is insane to keep it in your garage when your 651 00:43:14,680 --> 00:43:19,319 Speaker 1: garage is directly underneath your living room. He did fail 652 00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:21,319 Speaker 1: to mention to the officer that there was also some 653 00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:26,280 Speaker 1: ammonium nitrate in there, but the bomb squad found it anyway. 654 00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:29,640 Speaker 1: Russell told the officer on scene that they are going 655 00:43:29,719 --> 00:43:32,319 Speaker 1: to find that stuff in the garage, but he wants 656 00:43:32,320 --> 00:43:35,480 Speaker 1: them to know that it's only there for fueling model rockets. 657 00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:39,560 Speaker 1: But as he's sitting there in handcuffs trying to convince 658 00:43:39,600 --> 00:43:42,400 Speaker 1: the officer that those explosives in the garage are just 659 00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:45,560 Speaker 1: for his hobby, he asks if he's ever going to 660 00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:49,480 Speaker 1: see his family again, because he knows what this looks like, 661 00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:54,640 Speaker 1: and it looks bad. He's stuck to the li though 662 00:43:55,840 --> 00:44:13,200 Speaker 1: he's just a model rocket enthusiast having a very traumatic day. 663 00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:17,320 Speaker 1: At some point, both men were separately transported to the 664 00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:22,319 Speaker 1: police station to await their interrogations, and during Devin's interrogation, 665 00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:25,239 Speaker 1: he has a very clear idea of exactly what the 666 00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:28,360 Speaker 1: bomb squad is going to find in the house. He 667 00:44:28,480 --> 00:44:32,880 Speaker 1: knew what was in the house, where it was and 668 00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:33,680 Speaker 1: how it got there. 669 00:44:36,560 --> 00:44:39,360 Speaker 2: Yes, there is a nuclear materials and in that in 670 00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:41,840 Speaker 2: that garage, there is some nuclear material what's in that 671 00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:46,520 Speaker 2: garage that in Asia MTD and those explosives, Yes, some 672 00:44:46,640 --> 00:44:49,000 Speaker 2: ceremonium nitrate and believe and I know that there's some 673 00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:51,480 Speaker 2: radiated materials that he was able to bring in through 674 00:44:51,520 --> 00:44:54,399 Speaker 2: the Bahamas and because because he's a Bahamian citizen, he's 675 00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:55,560 Speaker 2: able to bring it and bring it in. 676 00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:01,280 Speaker 1: And more than that, he was willing to tell anyone 677 00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:05,400 Speaker 1: who would listen what the group planned to do with 678 00:45:05,480 --> 00:45:06,400 Speaker 1: those materials. 679 00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:11,480 Speaker 3: But the things that they were planning were horrible. They're 680 00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:14,640 Speaker 3: planning bondings and stuff like that on countless people. They're 681 00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:16,759 Speaker 3: planning to kill civilian life. Well did they do with 682 00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:18,359 Speaker 3: the specific in their blessed. 683 00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:25,200 Speaker 2: Power lines? Nuclear reactors, synagogues? Things like that. 684 00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:31,799 Speaker 1: He knew all the details of the group's plans. He 685 00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:35,200 Speaker 1: knew what Adam Woffin was going to do because he 686 00:45:35,239 --> 00:45:37,880 Speaker 1: was a member of Adam Woffin. He's in the chats 687 00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:41,120 Speaker 1: where these things are being discussed. He's in the living 688 00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:45,040 Speaker 1: room where these things are being discussed, and by the 689 00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:48,719 Speaker 1: time he's in that interrogation room, he's convinced himself that 690 00:45:48,719 --> 00:45:52,760 Speaker 1: that's why he murdered his roommates. It wasn't some petty 691 00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:57,319 Speaker 1: personal dispute, It wasn't because they were bullying him. It 692 00:45:57,400 --> 00:46:00,040 Speaker 1: was because he had to do it. He had to 693 00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:03,920 Speaker 1: stop them before they could hurt innocent people. And of 694 00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:08,160 Speaker 1: course the detective did specifically ask about the model rockets. 695 00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:14,319 Speaker 2: You guys, don't build model rockets and go out back 696 00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:16,760 Speaker 2: and down them, offer the or amount of the firewors 697 00:46:16,880 --> 00:46:17,359 Speaker 2: for the July. 698 00:46:17,680 --> 00:46:20,520 Speaker 3: Now, there's not that, none of that. It's all literally 699 00:46:20,520 --> 00:46:21,960 Speaker 3: there specifically to kill Bean. 700 00:46:25,960 --> 00:46:32,160 Speaker 1: Is this probably the truth? I think so to some degree. Yeah. 701 00:46:32,239 --> 00:46:35,120 Speaker 1: Not to spoil the ending, but Brandon Russell was convicted 702 00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:38,919 Speaker 1: earlier this year for a separate plot to destroy electrical infrastructure. 703 00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:42,040 Speaker 1: He's also alleged to have co authored some of the 704 00:46:42,120 --> 00:46:46,279 Speaker 1: Terrogram collective manuals that advise other neo Nazis on how 705 00:46:46,320 --> 00:46:49,600 Speaker 1: to go about carrying out their own attacks. It's not 706 00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:51,760 Speaker 1: at all hard to believe that he was thinking about 707 00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:56,160 Speaker 1: and talking about these things as he's building bombs in 708 00:46:56,200 --> 00:47:01,719 Speaker 1: his garage in twenty seventeen and wasn't a model rocket enthusiast. 709 00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:05,520 Speaker 1: He did work on a project involving a model rocket 710 00:47:05,560 --> 00:47:07,760 Speaker 1: as a member of the engineering club at the University 711 00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:11,640 Speaker 1: of South Florida, but that was in twenty thirteen and 712 00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:14,560 Speaker 1: he had since dropped out because he couldn't pass calculus. 713 00:47:16,719 --> 00:47:20,440 Speaker 1: There were no model rockets in the condo. An explosives 714 00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:23,520 Speaker 1: expert wrote in a report that no one would use 715 00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:28,960 Speaker 1: HMTD to power a model rocket. It's too volatile. It's 716 00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:35,360 Speaker 1: too volatile for pretty much everything. The military doesn't use it. 717 00:47:35,360 --> 00:47:39,400 Speaker 1: It fell out of favor in mining decades ago, but 718 00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:42,520 Speaker 1: it is possible to make it home if you're not 719 00:47:42,560 --> 00:47:45,200 Speaker 1: afraid of accidentally blowing your fingers off if the workshop 720 00:47:45,200 --> 00:47:52,000 Speaker 1: gets too warm, so it's still popular among terrorists. At 721 00:47:52,040 --> 00:47:55,160 Speaker 1: the end of his interview, Arthur says, again quite plainly, 722 00:47:56,280 --> 00:47:59,200 Speaker 1: if I hadn't done this, there would have been attacks. 723 00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:01,960 Speaker 1: He's sure of it now. That's why he did it. 724 00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:05,400 Speaker 1: He's sure at this point that he'd actually always thought that, 725 00:48:05,840 --> 00:48:07,880 Speaker 1: and that was what he was thinking before it happened. 726 00:48:09,680 --> 00:48:12,960 Speaker 1: Throughout his interview, Arthur's is asking to speak to the FBI. 727 00:48:13,800 --> 00:48:16,120 Speaker 1: He's insisting that they need to hear what he has 728 00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:19,839 Speaker 1: to say, and they keep sort of pushing him off, saying, yeah, 729 00:48:19,840 --> 00:48:21,759 Speaker 1: we can think about that. You know, we'll get to that. 730 00:48:21,760 --> 00:48:25,960 Speaker 1: That's later. He doesn't know that an FBI agent is 731 00:48:26,040 --> 00:48:30,120 Speaker 1: watching a video feed from the next room, and he's right. 732 00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:34,719 Speaker 1: The FBI was very interested in what he had to say, 733 00:48:34,840 --> 00:48:38,280 Speaker 1: because shortly after that interview wrapped up, the same detective 734 00:48:38,280 --> 00:48:41,800 Speaker 1: sat down with Brandon Russell, and this time that FBI 735 00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:45,560 Speaker 1: agent is in the room. They talked to Brandon for 736 00:48:45,600 --> 00:48:48,879 Speaker 1: a little over an hour. The detective had him sign 737 00:48:48,920 --> 00:48:51,760 Speaker 1: a form confirming that he'd been informed of his Miranda rights, 738 00:48:51,800 --> 00:48:55,279 Speaker 1: but he was also told that he wasn't in custody, 739 00:48:55,400 --> 00:48:59,080 Speaker 1: he wasn't being detained, he's not under arrest, and he's 740 00:48:59,120 --> 00:49:03,120 Speaker 1: free to leave it any time. He signed the form, 741 00:49:03,200 --> 00:49:07,319 Speaker 1: and he agreed to talk without a lawyer, which I'm 742 00:49:07,320 --> 00:49:11,279 Speaker 1: fine with him doing, but you listener, never talked to 743 00:49:11,280 --> 00:49:15,000 Speaker 1: the police without a lawyer. They talked a lot about 744 00:49:15,000 --> 00:49:18,960 Speaker 1: the murders. Obviously, he's talking to a homicide detective in 745 00:49:19,080 --> 00:49:24,560 Speaker 1: a homicide investigation. They talked about Devin and Andrew and Jeremy, 746 00:49:25,160 --> 00:49:27,080 Speaker 1: how they all come to be friends, how they met 747 00:49:27,120 --> 00:49:30,640 Speaker 1: online and then in person, how that friendship had fallen 748 00:49:30,640 --> 00:49:35,760 Speaker 1: apart over Devon's conversion to Islam. Brandon says Devon's conversion 749 00:49:35,880 --> 00:49:39,600 Speaker 1: was never an issue for him, and I think that's true. 750 00:49:41,120 --> 00:49:43,120 Speaker 1: He insisted that what was going on in the house 751 00:49:43,440 --> 00:49:48,839 Speaker 1: was all just banter, just regular ball busting, teasing between friends. 752 00:49:49,520 --> 00:49:52,920 Speaker 1: After the detective rephrases the question half a dozen times, 753 00:49:53,480 --> 00:49:57,719 Speaker 1: he reluctantly agrees that, yeah, Jeremy and Andrew crossed the 754 00:49:57,760 --> 00:50:02,279 Speaker 1: line sometimes. Maybe they were bullying him and Devin was 755 00:50:02,280 --> 00:50:05,040 Speaker 1: having a hard time with it, but he said it 756 00:50:05,080 --> 00:50:08,160 Speaker 1: had never gotten physical and he never thought anyone would 757 00:50:08,200 --> 00:50:12,279 Speaker 1: get hurt. He also said Adam Waffin was just a 758 00:50:12,400 --> 00:50:15,759 Speaker 1: club for people with shared political interests, and they liked 759 00:50:15,800 --> 00:50:19,960 Speaker 1: to do outdoor activities together. He did agree that those 760 00:50:20,040 --> 00:50:23,680 Speaker 1: shared beliefs were national socialism, and he got a little 761 00:50:23,760 --> 00:50:26,800 Speaker 1: animated when he started complaining that schools only teach lies 762 00:50:26,840 --> 00:50:32,239 Speaker 1: about Hitler. For the most part, though, Who's mumbling and 763 00:50:32,320 --> 00:50:35,520 Speaker 1: his body language is guarded and anxious. He's sitting sort 764 00:50:35,520 --> 00:50:39,160 Speaker 1: of folded in on himself, slouching down with his legs 765 00:50:39,200 --> 00:50:44,000 Speaker 1: crossed and his arms folded tightly across his chest. He's tired, 766 00:50:44,760 --> 00:50:50,480 Speaker 1: he's traumatized, but he's scared, and he insists throughout this 767 00:50:50,560 --> 00:50:54,840 Speaker 1: conversation that everything they found was legal, It was legally obtained, 768 00:50:55,360 --> 00:50:58,239 Speaker 1: he wasn't planning to do anything nefarious with it, and 769 00:50:58,280 --> 00:51:03,200 Speaker 1: it was all related to his hobby of building model rockets. 770 00:51:04,680 --> 00:51:09,040 Speaker 1: After about an hour of this, the detective's tone changes. 771 00:51:10,480 --> 00:51:13,520 Speaker 1: He's been sort of yes, ending him, just letting him talk, 772 00:51:13,719 --> 00:51:17,160 Speaker 1: getting him to open up, talking about his hobbies, not 773 00:51:17,200 --> 00:51:20,520 Speaker 1: passing any kind of judgment, and Brandon Russell has been 774 00:51:20,560 --> 00:51:24,480 Speaker 1: portraying himself and his organization as what the detective calls, 775 00:51:24,840 --> 00:51:28,560 Speaker 1: you know, knuckleheads horsing around, you know, just kids having fun. 776 00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:32,920 Speaker 1: But if we look on your computer, what are we 777 00:51:32,960 --> 00:51:36,800 Speaker 1: going to find? Is it just jokes and camping trips 778 00:51:37,800 --> 00:51:40,000 Speaker 1: or are we going to find that you've made explicit threats? 779 00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:44,279 Speaker 1: Are you saying things like he'll all jews right? What 780 00:51:44,320 --> 00:51:47,400 Speaker 1: are you saying? Are you making the kind of threats 781 00:51:47,400 --> 00:51:53,360 Speaker 1: that could lead to federal charges? And at first Brandon 782 00:51:53,400 --> 00:51:55,680 Speaker 1: tries to answer the question. He says, you know, only 783 00:51:55,719 --> 00:51:58,319 Speaker 1: ever as a joke, I've never said that non satirically, 784 00:51:58,800 --> 00:52:01,319 Speaker 1: and they press him a little hard what kinds of 785 00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:05,759 Speaker 1: things are you saying? And then he just mumbles that 786 00:52:06,480 --> 00:52:09,439 Speaker 1: maybe he needs a lawyer, So the questions stop there. 787 00:52:11,440 --> 00:52:14,480 Speaker 1: He's not under arrest, he can leave at any time, 788 00:52:15,800 --> 00:52:17,640 Speaker 1: and if he wants a lawyer, they're not going to 789 00:52:17,640 --> 00:52:21,520 Speaker 1: ask him any more questions. He can go, but he 790 00:52:21,560 --> 00:52:26,080 Speaker 1: can't go home though. The ATF has only just arrived 791 00:52:26,080 --> 00:52:29,000 Speaker 1: and they still haven't finished clearing the house of explosive material. 792 00:52:29,640 --> 00:52:32,520 Speaker 1: And until the ATF clears the scene, the medical examiner 793 00:52:32,560 --> 00:52:35,719 Speaker 1: can't take the bodies away, so he's not going to 794 00:52:35,719 --> 00:52:40,920 Speaker 1: be able to get into that condo anytime soon. So 795 00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:45,520 Speaker 1: Russell asks the detective to call his dad. He doesn't 796 00:52:45,520 --> 00:52:47,640 Speaker 1: ask if he can use the phone to call his dad. 797 00:52:48,360 --> 00:52:51,200 Speaker 1: He a twenty two year old member of the military, 798 00:52:51,320 --> 00:52:55,160 Speaker 1: is asking this other adult man, will you call my dad? 799 00:52:56,560 --> 00:52:59,319 Speaker 1: He doesn't actually know his dad's phone number, and his 800 00:52:59,400 --> 00:53:02,640 Speaker 1: cell phone is still inside the condo, but he says, 801 00:53:03,160 --> 00:53:05,000 Speaker 1: you know, you can just call the Palm Beach County 802 00:53:05,080 --> 00:53:08,279 Speaker 1: Sheriff's office and ask for him by name. He's a 803 00:53:08,320 --> 00:53:13,720 Speaker 1: deputy there, or maybe it's West Palm Beach. He can't 804 00:53:13,760 --> 00:53:18,359 Speaker 1: actually remember he and his dad aren't close. He wasn't 805 00:53:18,360 --> 00:53:20,759 Speaker 1: around when Branda was a kid, and they don't really 806 00:53:20,760 --> 00:53:23,879 Speaker 1: get along now. But he tells the FBI that he's 807 00:53:23,920 --> 00:53:26,719 Speaker 1: going to drive to Palm Beach and stay with his dad. 808 00:53:27,280 --> 00:53:29,200 Speaker 1: His mom still lives in the Bahamas, so he doesn't 809 00:53:29,200 --> 00:53:33,400 Speaker 1: really have anywhere else nearby he can go, so a 810 00:53:33,400 --> 00:53:36,680 Speaker 1: little after six am on Saturday morning, a Tampa police 811 00:53:36,719 --> 00:53:41,000 Speaker 1: officer dropped Russell off outside the condo. The Explosive Ordnance 812 00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:44,359 Speaker 1: Disposal team had finished with the scene, so detectives were 813 00:53:44,400 --> 00:53:47,960 Speaker 1: just now arriving to conduct their search. One of those 814 00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:51,400 Speaker 1: detectives went inside and got his keys for him. In 815 00:53:51,480 --> 00:53:54,000 Speaker 1: her report, she notes that when she entered his bedroom 816 00:53:54,040 --> 00:53:57,160 Speaker 1: to look for his keys, she saw a large framed 817 00:53:57,160 --> 00:54:02,320 Speaker 1: photograph of Timothy mcveay on his dresser. An explosives enforcement 818 00:54:02,360 --> 00:54:05,600 Speaker 1: agent from the ATF confirmed to the FBI sometime early 819 00:54:05,640 --> 00:54:09,200 Speaker 1: Saturday morning that the materials they found did meet the 820 00:54:09,280 --> 00:54:14,160 Speaker 1: legal definition of a destructive device. What they found in 821 00:54:14,200 --> 00:54:19,200 Speaker 1: that garage was enough to bring federal charges, but by 822 00:54:19,239 --> 00:54:22,040 Speaker 1: the time the ATF agents were done examining the scene 823 00:54:22,200 --> 00:54:25,839 Speaker 1: and writing of their findings, the FBI had already let 824 00:54:25,880 --> 00:54:31,520 Speaker 1: him go he was gone. He said he was going 825 00:54:31,560 --> 00:54:35,680 Speaker 1: to his dad's house in West Palm Beach, but he didn't. 826 00:54:36,760 --> 00:54:40,120 Speaker 1: When FBI agents contacted his family, they said they hadn't 827 00:54:40,120 --> 00:54:44,000 Speaker 1: heard from him. Instead of going to his dad's house 828 00:54:44,120 --> 00:54:47,040 Speaker 1: to get some rest, he'd driven straight to the home 829 00:54:47,040 --> 00:54:50,800 Speaker 1: of another Adam Woffin member. He told him about the murders, 830 00:54:51,480 --> 00:54:53,000 Speaker 1: and he said he needed to get away for a 831 00:54:53,040 --> 00:54:57,160 Speaker 1: while to clear his head. But his friend didn't just 832 00:54:57,680 --> 00:54:59,600 Speaker 1: toss a few T shirts and a toothbrush into a 833 00:54:59,600 --> 00:55:01,800 Speaker 1: backpack like you might expect someone to do for a 834 00:55:01,840 --> 00:55:06,200 Speaker 1: spur of the moment weekend away. Instead, he withdrew all 835 00:55:06,239 --> 00:55:08,919 Speaker 1: of the money from his bank account, quit his job, 836 00:55:09,680 --> 00:55:14,840 Speaker 1: and got into Russell's car, heading south. When deputies apprehended 837 00:55:14,880 --> 00:55:18,000 Speaker 1: Russell in the Florida Keys a day later, the rifles 838 00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:20,640 Speaker 1: they'd bought at a sporting goods store were still in 839 00:55:20,680 --> 00:55:26,400 Speaker 1: their manufacturer's packaging. We'll pick back up next week with 840 00:55:26,520 --> 00:55:29,920 Speaker 1: the year's long ordeal in court of resolving Devon Arthur's 841 00:55:29,960 --> 00:55:34,080 Speaker 1: mental competency and Brandon Russell's first trip to federal prison. 842 00:55:35,400 --> 00:55:38,560 Speaker 1: Hopefully by then we'll know how his story ends. He 843 00:55:38,680 --> 00:55:41,480 Speaker 1: is scheduled to be sentenced for his second foiled plot 844 00:55:41,920 --> 00:55:48,719 Speaker 1: on August seventh. Until then, I don't know. Make sure 845 00:55:48,760 --> 00:55:52,320 Speaker 1: your teenage son isn't accidentally converting to a memified version 846 00:55:52,320 --> 00:55:57,520 Speaker 1: of Islam in a neo Nazi Minecraft chat, and don't 847 00:55:57,520 --> 00:56:16,839 Speaker 1: store volatile explosives in a cooler in your garage. Weird 848 00:56:16,840 --> 00:56:19,319 Speaker 1: Little Guys is the production of cool Zone Media and iHeartRadio. 849 00:56:19,760 --> 00:56:22,719 Speaker 1: It's research, written and accorded by me on the kunger Our. 850 00:56:22,719 --> 00:56:25,759 Speaker 1: Executive producers are Sophie Lichtman and Robert Evans. The show 851 00:56:25,840 --> 00:56:28,359 Speaker 1: is edited by the wildly talented Bory Gigan. The theme 852 00:56:28,400 --> 00:56:31,040 Speaker 1: music was composed by Brad Dickard. You can email me 853 00:56:31,160 --> 00:56:33,279 Speaker 1: at Weird Little Guys podcast at gmail dot com. I 854 00:56:33,320 --> 00:56:35,640 Speaker 1: will definitely read it, but I probably won't answer it. 855 00:56:35,640 --> 00:56:38,920 Speaker 1: It's nothing personal. You can exchange conspiracy theories about the 856 00:56:38,960 --> 00:56:41,200 Speaker 1: show with other listeners on the Weird Little Guys subreddit. 857 00:56:42,040 --> 00:56:44,440 Speaker 1: Just don't post anything that's going to make you one 858 00:56:44,440 --> 00:56:45,360 Speaker 1: of my Weird Little Guys