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Speaker 1: Hi, Aaron Gone listeners, this is Andrea Gunning and I'd

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Speaker 1: like to introduce you to a new true crime series.

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Speaker 1: Our team at Glass podcast just launched. It's called American Homicide.

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Speaker 1: I'm here today with my co hosts from There and Gone,

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Speaker 1: Ben Fetterman, and the host of American Homicide, Sloane Glass.

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Speaker 2: Hey, guys, Hey, Andrea, Hey, dre Ben.

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Speaker 1: You and I worked very closely on There and Gone,

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Speaker 1: and you've been producing and writing American Homicide. What do

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Speaker 1: you feel like they'rein Gone listeners will appreciate about American Homicide.

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Speaker 3: So American Homicide explores some of the most mysterious and

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Speaker 3: iconic murder cases in our country, and the podcast takes

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Speaker 3: listeners to the local communities where these crimes took place.

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Speaker 3: I think what's interesting about both these podcasts is that

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Speaker 3: in There and Gone, Andrea and I thought we understood

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Speaker 3: the landscape of Philadelphia. You know, we both grew up

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Speaker 3: there and it's a place that we still call home.

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Speaker 3: But as a part of our investigation, I think we've

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Speaker 3: both reed and learned there was so much about our

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Speaker 3: city that we didn't understand. The other thing that we

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Speaker 3: took out of There and Gone is We explored the

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Speaker 3: impact that Danielle and Richard's disappearance had on both their

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Speaker 3: families and the communities they grew up in.

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Speaker 2: Ben, I think that you guys have been taxed with

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Speaker 2: a very difficult challenge with Aaron Gone of going into

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Speaker 2: an unsolved crime and an American homicide. We're walking you

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Speaker 2: through these stories after and arrest, and I think what

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Speaker 2: stays unsolved with American homicide is the long term impact

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Speaker 2: that these cases have on the communities. What do you.

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Speaker 1: Feel is unique about American Homicide as a true crime show.

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Speaker 2: I'm such a fan of true crime podcast and what

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Speaker 2: makes American Homicide different from anything else I've seen out there?

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Speaker 2: American Homicide it's not just a retelling. It's a re

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Speaker 2: examination of infant miss true crime stories through first hand accounts.

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Speaker 2: You are hearing from law enforcement who is behind the investigations.

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Speaker 2: You are hearing from lawyers, you are hearing from judges,

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Speaker 2: you are hearing from victims and their friends and family.

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Speaker 2: And I think what makes it so significant and special

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Speaker 2: really plays off of when you are covering a story.

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Speaker 2: It can be the same crime in a different location

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Speaker 2: and it will have a totally different impact, depending.

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Speaker 4: On the community. What do you mean by that?

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Speaker 2: So, I think depending on where you are and what

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Speaker 2: your community looks like, it's going to inevitably have a

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Speaker 2: different effect on how you see the crime. I learned

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Speaker 2: this as a local news reporter and later as a

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Speaker 2: national news reporter, that you are dealing with very different

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Speaker 2: circumstances wherever you are in the country. When a crime

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Speaker 2: takes place in let's say a small town, what comes

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Speaker 2: to mind for me in my personal experience as a journalist.

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Speaker 2: I think of in Delphi, Indiana, there was a case

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Speaker 2: that had gone cold for six years. Two girls had

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Speaker 2: been killed, and it was a town of thirteen hundred people.

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Speaker 2: That's different from when a crime like that happens in

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Speaker 2: a city. The first story that we have in American homicide,

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Speaker 2: it made me feel that same way.

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Speaker 1: So tell me a little bit about the episode that

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Speaker 1: we're going to hear.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is part one of the Father's Day murders.

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Speaker 2: Now you just have to imagine it's Father's Day. You

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Speaker 2: go to your parents' house for dinner, You open the door,

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Speaker 2: and you find your mom, dad, and brother beaten to death.

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Speaker 2: And that's what happened to a woman in the small

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Speaker 2: town of l Rancho, New Mexico. And this is a

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Speaker 2: case with no arrest for years. The main suspect for

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Speaker 2: a substantial amount of time was the daughter who had

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Speaker 2: found her family. Everyone is looking at her like she

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Speaker 2: was involved.

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Speaker 4: It justly you wondering what was going on here.

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Speaker 1: I'm so excited for the series.

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Speaker 5: Loan.

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Speaker 1: You're phenomenal. The storytelling is fantastic. The episodes that I

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Speaker 1: have heard you are just every twist and turns on

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Speaker 1: the edge of your seat. Here's American homicide Father's Day Murders,

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Speaker 1: Part one, benef on Lays.

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Speaker 2: It was Father's Day twenty eleven when Charie or Teas

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Speaker 2: walked into her parents' home and found the bodies of

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Speaker 2: her mother and father.

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Speaker 6: They had been shot in the head, and it occurred

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Speaker 6: sometime earlier.

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Speaker 7: In the day I just walked.

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Speaker 6: The brutality was unspeakable.

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Speaker 2: The hunt to find the killer would tear the community

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Speaker 2: apart and devastate Cherie.

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Speaker 5: I really do have hope this is going to get solved.

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Speaker 2: My name is Sloane Glass. I'm a journalist who covered

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Speaker 2: the Long Island serial killer, the Delphi, Indiana murders, and

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Speaker 2: many other high profile true crime cases. And now I'm

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Speaker 2: the host of American Homicide, a podcast where we take

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Speaker 2: you across the country to investigate some of America's deadliest crimes.

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Speaker 2: We'll explore how these murders are shaped by their unique landscapes,

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Speaker 2: and how these tragedies have shaped the fabric of these

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Speaker 2: American communities forever. Today, we're in the tiny village of

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Speaker 2: El Rancho, New Mexico, for part one of the Father's

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Speaker 2: Day Murders on American Homicide. As a note, this podcast

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Speaker 2: contains subject matter which may not be suitable for all audiences.

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Speaker 2: Discretion is advised. Let me paint a picture for you.

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Speaker 2: Santa Fe, New Mexico, is called the city Different for

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Speaker 2: its rich culture and diverse community. Native American ancestries blend

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Speaker 2: with Spanish culture and is state with one of America's

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Speaker 2: richest landscapes.

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Speaker 8: Northern New Mexico in particular. It's a very unique place.

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Speaker 8: It's beautiful.

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Speaker 2: Alex Tomlin was a local TV news reporter who lives

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Speaker 2: in the area.

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Speaker 8: It has impeccable weather and the mountains are incredible.

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Speaker 2: The region is home to natural hot springs and wild rivers.

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Speaker 8: You can drive an hour north and go whitewater rafting,

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Speaker 8: or you can go down to White Sands and enjoy that.

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Speaker 8: But kind of on the outskirts of Santa Fe, you

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Speaker 8: get a lot of the smaller communities.

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Speaker 2: And one such place is the tiny village of El Rancho.

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Speaker 2: The predominantly Hispanic community is about twenty miles from Santa

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Speaker 2: Fe and is built around co op farming and churches.

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Speaker 8: It's a lot of people who have kind of grown there,

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Speaker 8: have families there, kind of all know each other.

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Speaker 2: But it's also a desolate place.

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Speaker 8: But one of the things about New Mexico is it's

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Speaker 8: so opit. When you go to someone's home, often they

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Speaker 8: have a significant sized property. There's not neighbors very close.

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Speaker 2: And even though the homes are all spread out across

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Speaker 2: the desert.

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Speaker 8: Everyone kind of knows each other that there is an

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Speaker 8: interesting dynamic here. As much as it's known for its beauty,

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Speaker 8: is also known for the crime.

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Speaker 2: The tragic murders on Father's Day twenty eleven would stretch

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Speaker 2: the fabric of l Rancho to its limits.

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Speaker 8: So June eighteenth, twenty eleven, seemed like any normal night.

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Speaker 2: Shari Orties had dinner plants with her parents, Lloyd and Dixie.

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Speaker 8: Shari Orties. She lived on the property with the Ortizes.

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Speaker 2: Her parents and brother lived in a large one story house,

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Speaker 2: and Shari and her husband lived in an RV next door.

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Speaker 2: Even though there's a fence around their spacious property, the

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Speaker 2: family had an open door policy.

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Speaker 8: Anyone could come in, have dinner at their table, or

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Speaker 8: spend time with them. They were just kind of a

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Speaker 8: good family in this community that was very tight knit.

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Speaker 2: Lloyd or Ties was a man who loved to use

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Speaker 2: his hands. He owned his own ceramic tile business. His

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Speaker 2: craftsmanship turned up in homes and even luxury hotels all

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Speaker 2: over northern New Mexico.

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Speaker 8: He was an incredibly loving father, a hard working man

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Speaker 8: who provided for his family. His wife, Dixie, they sound

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Speaker 8: like a perfect pair.

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Speaker 2: Dixie was passionate about working with the elderly and the disabled.

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Speaker 2: She was an activities director at a local retirement home,

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Speaker 2: and she fostered children with special needs.

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Speaker 8: They took in a child who had shacken baby syndrome

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Speaker 8: and adopted him as their own raise That child loved

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Speaker 8: that child.

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Speaker 2: That child's name was Steven. Steven had special needs from

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Speaker 2: his early life injuries. His brain never developed beyond that

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Speaker 2: of a nine year old, but he matured into a

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Speaker 2: young man that his family called the gentle Giant. He

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Speaker 2: loved to play drums, ride his atv, and fish with Lloyd.

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Speaker 8: They were just really giving, loving people, burying northern New Mexico.

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Speaker 8: Hard working, you know, love the land, love the culture

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Speaker 8: kind of thing.

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Speaker 2: Since it was Father's Day, Sharie or Teas whipped up

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Speaker 2: a plate of homemade enchiladas for dinner.

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Speaker 4: It was her gift.

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Speaker 2: Just before seven o'clock that evening, she took them and

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Speaker 2: walked next door to her parents. Even though it was June,

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Speaker 2: white Christmas icicle lights still hung on the gutters of

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Speaker 2: her parents' home. Inside, the walls were adorned with crucifixes

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Speaker 2: and some of Lloyd's handmade tiles.

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Speaker 8: Cherie said, she walks in and realizes something's very wrong.

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Speaker 8: She found her mother in bed. Her mother's head was

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Speaker 8: pretty damaged. Thought someone maybe had shot her. She then

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Speaker 8: went into the kitchen area and found what she thought

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Speaker 8: was her father on the kitchen floor. The body was

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Speaker 8: just so impacted by what was used against them. There's

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Speaker 8: these two bodies, there's flood everywhere. She goes screaming out

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Speaker 8: of the house and for her husband. Again. They lived

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Speaker 8: on the property, so it was pretty close.

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Speaker 2: Sarie's husband, Jesse, ran right over to investigate.

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Speaker 8: Her husband then comes in the house and he realizes

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Speaker 8: it's not her father on the kitchen floor, it's actually

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Speaker 8: her brother, and that's when he starts searching around and

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Speaker 8: finds her father outside right outside the back door, kind

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Speaker 8: of in the field there.

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Speaker 2: Lloyd's Bonnie was found on a cinderblock path that connected

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Speaker 2: the Ortiz back porch to their fenced in yard. He

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Speaker 2: was face down, wearing only his underwear. His eyeglasses sat

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Speaker 2: just inches away. Covering his head was some green shrubbery.

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Speaker 2: By now, Shari was on the phone.

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Speaker 5: Bene onwards her.

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Speaker 3: What is your name?

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Speaker 2: Scheri frantically told the nine one one operator that her mother, father,

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Speaker 2: and brother were.

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Speaker 4: Shot to death.

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Speaker 7: I just everybody shot, and my.

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Speaker 2: Mom's still This was Scherie's second attempt at a nine

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Speaker 2: on one call, since Ury and her parents' homes were

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Speaker 2: out in the middle of the desert. Her cell reception

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Speaker 2: was body. Imagine the panic, the fear that your call

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Speaker 2: would drop again when you're trying to get emergency help

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Speaker 2: for your family. And she didn't know where the perpetrator

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Speaker 2: was or if they were still on the property.

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Speaker 7: Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, I

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Speaker 7: am freaking out. I can't even walk over there because

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Speaker 7: I don't service.

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Speaker 4: And then there's another problem.

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Speaker 2: Al Rancho is way off the beaten path, which delays

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Speaker 2: the response time for law enforcement.

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Speaker 7: Oh my god, you have.

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Speaker 2: With no local police force of their own. The New

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Speaker 2: Mexico State Police were dispatched to an investigate.

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Speaker 7: I can't be already dead. I can't believe I didn't

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Speaker 7: come check earlier this morning. Oh my god, oh my god,

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Speaker 7: oh my god. Why you know, because I didn't have

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Speaker 7: money for a father's sacred but I didn't want to

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Speaker 7: go into I finished and chiava for him. Oh my god.

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Speaker 2: Scharise stayed on the phone for nearly twenty minutes before officers.

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Speaker 5: Arrived, so I kind of get there.

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Speaker 7: I'm going to watch to the gate and way to them.

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Speaker 7: I'm my too nervous, just sitting in my yard.

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Speaker 6: My name is Paul Chavez. I was a member of

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Speaker 6: the full Time Crimes Unit as an agent with the

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Speaker 6: New Mexico State Police.

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Speaker 2: The two hundred homicide cases Officer Chavez worked in his

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Speaker 2: career didn't prepare him for what he saw inside the

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Speaker 2: Ortis house.

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Speaker 6: In this case, the magnitude of the violence evolved was

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Speaker 6: the worst that I had seen in my career. The

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Speaker 6: brutality was unspeakable. Show your tease. Had found her parents

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Speaker 6: and her adopted stepbrother dead within the residence. She reported

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Speaker 6: that they had been shot in the head, and it

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Speaker 6: occurred sometime earlier in the day.

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Speaker 2: It turns out that although Cheri said she didn't see

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Speaker 2: who committed these murders, she did hear something that there was.

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Speaker 6: Reportedly gunshots heard the previous night in the area.

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Speaker 2: Now, hearing gunshots isn't entirely unusual in New Mexico. But

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Speaker 2: Cheri and her parents' homes sit on a dead end

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Speaker 2: street in the rural New Mexico Desert. It's a remote

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Speaker 2: area with unpaved roads and no nearby street lights. Their

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Speaker 2: nearest neighbor is about fifty yards up the road. Inside

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Speaker 2: the Orties' home, Officer Chavez and his team assess the situation.

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Speaker 6: Once I enter into the residence, there is a master

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Speaker 6: bedroom immediately to the left as you walk in, and

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Speaker 6: that is where the first victim identified is. Dixie Ortis

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Speaker 6: is in her bed in her nightgown under the blankets.

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Speaker 2: Dixie was found clutching her pillow.

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Speaker 6: Her upper extremities and her head is completely saturated in

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Speaker 6: blood where she had sustained apparent trauma. From that bedroom,

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Speaker 6: there is a drip trail which extends to the kitchen

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Speaker 6: area where we have a second victim, a young man

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Speaker 6: identified as Stephen Ortez.

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Speaker 2: Stephen, her adopted brother, lay face down in a pool

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Speaker 2: of blood, wearing only his underwear. Police noted that he

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Speaker 2: took the brunt of the attack.

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Speaker 6: This scene was absolutely brutal.

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Speaker 2: Stephen was twenty one years old at the time of

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Speaker 2: his murder, and based on his injuries, police believed that

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Speaker 2: he tried to fight off the killer before ultimately losing

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Speaker 2: that battle.

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Speaker 6: The blood continued from that area out the back door,

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Speaker 6: where the third victim, Loiter Tease, was found. Outside the

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Speaker 6: back porch, there was a significant amount of bloodshed, indicating

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Speaker 6: that he did sustained some massive trauma, and there was

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Speaker 6: also shrubbery from a nearby bush that was covering his head.

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Speaker 2: That's two bloodied bodies inside the home and one outside.

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Speaker 2: And then something else stood out to law enforcement.

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Speaker 6: There was a small marijuana grow on the property. It

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Speaker 6: was fenced off and pad locked. They did have a

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Speaker 6: medical marijuana card for Stephen for some of the medical conditions.

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Speaker 2: He had, but none of the seventeen marijuana plants appeared

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Speaker 2: to be disturbed. In fact, nothing seemed to be stolen

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Speaker 2: or even out of place. On the kitchen table in

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Speaker 2: plain view sat Lloyd's wallet containing hundreds of dollars.

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Speaker 6: This did not look like a robbery. It looked like

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Speaker 6: a case of anger, a lot of anger. Based on

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Speaker 6: the brutality that occurred.

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Speaker 2: It was a father's date to forget for residents in

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Speaker 2: this tiny suburb of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Lloyd and

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Speaker 2: Dixie Ortiz were pillars of the tight knit Aloranto community.

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Speaker 2: They were quick to lend a helping hand to need

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Speaker 2: So who was angry enough to harm them?

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Speaker 4: And why sure?

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Speaker 2: Your teas lived in an RV right next door to

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Speaker 2: her parents house on the same property. Both home sat

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Speaker 2: on a sprawling lot surrounded by hills in the dusty

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Speaker 2: El Rancho, New Mexico desert. On the evening of Father's

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Speaker 2: Day twenty eleven, Shuri walked into her parents' house and

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Speaker 2: found her mother, father, and brother savagely murdered. Like many

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Speaker 2: others in the community, Pastor John Truhio was in shock.

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Speaker 5: I get a phone call. They call me PJ.

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Speaker 9: Pastor John says, PJ, they found Stephen Lloyd and Dixie dead.

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Speaker 9: I said, what are you talking about? Was there cracks

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Speaker 9: in what happened? He says, no, they're it seems like

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Speaker 9: they were murder in their home. You need to get

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Speaker 9: down here right away. And as I drive.

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Speaker 5: Up, the community is already showing up.

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Speaker 9: State police are there, And about that time, Shari made

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Speaker 9: her way out and she was just in tears, in

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Speaker 9: tears and tears, and she's Pastor John, my family's dead.

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Speaker 9: My family's dead. Somebody murdered my family. Somebody killed my family.

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Speaker 9: How do you handle that?

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Speaker 5: What do you do?

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Speaker 9: I mean, can you imagine the emotional and physical and.

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Speaker 5: Just spiritual distraught that you would faith, nobody can't prepare

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Speaker 5: for that. I don't care. Nobody's prepared to walk into

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Speaker 5: a scene like that, especially the daughter.

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Speaker 9: The family was grieving and they were mourning. It's all Rancho.

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Speaker 9: This isn't supposed to happen in a community like this.

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Speaker 9: People are speculating that could this happened from the community.

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Speaker 9: Did somebody come here from somewhere else? Was it a

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Speaker 9: family member, Was it a friend? Was it a robbery

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Speaker 9: that went wrong? You know why why?

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Speaker 6: It was?

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Speaker 5: Like? Okay, we need some answers.

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Speaker 2: Since al Rancho didn't have a police force of their own,

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Speaker 2: the New Mexico State Police handled the investigation. By morning,

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Speaker 2: the police still didn't know much.

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Speaker 5: We're still unsure as to what happened out there.

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Speaker 6: The guys are still working, working very hard to determine

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Speaker 6: what exactly happened.

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Speaker 5: But at this point, we still.

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Speaker 9: Don't know how in the world could something like this happen.

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Speaker 9: You know, one person dead, okay, but when there's three,

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Speaker 9: it raises a lot a lot of questions.

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Speaker 2: Police believe that three victims were shot to death inside

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Speaker 2: their home, but nothing appeared to be missing. Investigators wondered

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Speaker 2: if it was a murder or a murder suicide. Officer

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Speaker 2: Paul Chavez was one of the first responders.

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Speaker 6: My role primarily is to process and document the crime scene,

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Speaker 6: try and make sense of what occurred there.

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Speaker 2: But the severity of the crime scene limited what he

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Speaker 2: was able to do.

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Speaker 6: You can't disturb the body much, and with the amount

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Speaker 6: of bloodshed that was present, we weren't able to assess

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Speaker 6: the wounds as well as we would like to have

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Speaker 6: been able to so.

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Speaker 2: Originally, the police believed all three victims were shot to death,

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Speaker 2: but the results of the autopsies for each victim revealed

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Speaker 2: something far more personal.

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Speaker 6: That these were in fact not gunshot wounds. There were

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Speaker 6: actually lacerations that were penetrating with a blood object.

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Speaker 2: Clearly something was missing. When the police returned to the

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Speaker 2: scene of the crime, they found a five pound pick

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Speaker 2: axe lying on the ground just over the fence of

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Speaker 2: the adjacent property, and the pick axe contain bloodstains.

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Speaker 6: What the pick axe did provide us was DNA from

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Speaker 6: all three victims, so we unequivocally had our murder weapon. However,

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Speaker 6: we were unable to forensically link a suspect to the pickaxe.

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Speaker 2: So what does that mean? A murder weapon with DNA

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Speaker 2: of the victims but nothing to indicate a suspect.

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Speaker 6: It could mean a number of things that maybe they

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Speaker 6: were wearing gloves, or they covered their handness some way

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Speaker 6: or shape or form, and just sometimes the lab just

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Speaker 6: can't find it. It's not one hundred percent certainty that

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Speaker 6: they're going to be able to find DNA when something

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Speaker 6: is touched. There's a chance that we will, but it

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Speaker 6: doesn't always work out that way.

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Speaker 8: So the one thing about the Ortez murder was really

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Speaker 8: the pressure on the police.

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Speaker 2: Reporter Alex Tomlin covered the story for a local TV station.

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Speaker 8: There was an incredible amount of pressure from that small

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Speaker 8: knit community, but also the surrounding communities, and so there

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Speaker 8: was a lot of pressure on them to get who

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Speaker 8: did it, make it a clean investigation, and let's get

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Speaker 8: this person behind bars. And I'm sure at times that

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Speaker 8: pressure was overwhelming.

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Speaker 2: The people of l Rancho couldn't shake the fear that

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Speaker 2: they could be next.

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Speaker 8: Nobody wants to think that they're going to go to

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Speaker 8: sleep and somebody who's pick axed a couple and their

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Speaker 8: son to death is going to come into.

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Speaker 5: Their home next.

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Speaker 2: They even refuse to talk to TV reporters, not because

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Speaker 2: they felt pestored, but they were fearful of their own safety.

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Speaker 8: And that's the other terrifying thing. Think about the strength

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Speaker 8: it takes to push that pickaxe back multiple times and

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Speaker 8: pick act someone to death that is cold blooded, that

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Speaker 8: is calculated. That is incredibly scary for a community because

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Speaker 8: that person is dangerous. You know, when you can't easily

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Speaker 8: tie up a case like this, when you can't say, oh,

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Speaker 8: it's you know, a scorned lover, or it's you know,

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Speaker 8: a drug deal gone wrong, or different things like that.

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Speaker 8: Then it becomes a well in my next you want

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Speaker 8: to find who did this because you don't want the

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Speaker 8: community looking at you and saying, what are you doing?

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Speaker 8: Why aren't you protecting us? Why don't you have the answers.

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Speaker 2: With no suspects a weapon and murder seeing free of

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Speaker 2: any DNA, investigators started to look at the person who

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Speaker 2: first discovered the bodies. That person was Shuri or Tisse.

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Speaker 8: When something this horrific happens, the community wants answers and

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Speaker 8: they want them quickly, right, So you want to be

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Speaker 8: able to tie in uppo on this thing and be

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Speaker 8: done with it. And Sharen her husband seemed like that

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Speaker 8: nice bow. They lived on the property. You could come

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Speaker 8: up with a motive.

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Speaker 2: The police wondered if Shari and her husband, Jesse knew

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Speaker 2: more than they were saying, especially after they listened back

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Speaker 2: to Shari's original limo on uncle.

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Speaker 8: She's very frantic in that nine one one call, as

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Speaker 8: you can hear, she made some comments on that nine

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Speaker 8: one one call about you know they must have been

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Speaker 8: shot because of how they looked.

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Speaker 7: I just talked.

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Speaker 8: It wasn't later until the Office of the Medical Investigator

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Speaker 8: determined that actually they had been pick axed to death.

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Speaker 9: I have no idea who would.

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Speaker 7: Have done that anybody around. Oh my god, they were

404
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Speaker 7: such good people. O my god, Oh my god, Oh

405
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Speaker 7: my god, Oh my god, oh my god.

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Speaker 1: Hurry.

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Speaker 2: Desperate and upset, Shari spent seventeen minutes on that nine

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Speaker 2: on one call, but as investigators listened back, they zeroed

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Speaker 2: in on a comment Chari said, Now listen closely to

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Speaker 2: what CHERI told the operator. So Shari said her parents

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Speaker 2: had been dead since that morning. How did she know that?

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Speaker 2: And why didn't she call nine one one till seven

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Speaker 2: that evening.

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Speaker 7: I can't believe I didn't come check ear here this morning.

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Speaker 7: Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.

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Speaker 2: Why you know?

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Speaker 7: I can because I didn't have money for a father's

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Speaker 7: sacred but I didn't want to go until I finished

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Speaker 7: the insue out up for him.

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Speaker 8: They one thought she was a main suspect.

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Speaker 7: I can't believe this.

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Speaker 2: When Lloyd Dixie and Stephen Ortiz were brutally murdered in

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Speaker 2: their l Rancho home, their daughter Shari and her husband, Jesse,

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Speaker 2: appeared to investigators to be the only people with motive

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Speaker 2: and the access to execute such a violent crime. For months,

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Speaker 2: Shari and Jesse felt the stairs and heard the whispers.

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Speaker 2: Their pastor, John Truhio, tried to be the voice of reason.

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Speaker 9: I think when you have to go through that like

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Speaker 9: Jesse and Shari did, I think it was just a

430
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Speaker 9: reassurance that said, listen.

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Speaker 5: You know you need to do this. You need to

432
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Speaker 5: go through this.

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Speaker 9: Just cooperate with the State Police investigators whatever you need

434
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Speaker 9: to do, because it's just a process of elimination. They're

435
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Speaker 9: looking for answers just as much as everybody else's and

436
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Speaker 9: they need a starting point somewhere. Just go through the process,

437
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:51,439
Speaker 9: answer the questions, be honest, be truthful, and let them

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Speaker 9: eliminate you, and then they can move forward from there.

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Speaker 6: So there were a number of red flags that required

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Speaker 6: us to investigate Cherry and Jesse to the fullest.

441
00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,800
Speaker 2: State Police Agent Paul Chavez took the difficult line of

442
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:08,200
Speaker 2: questioning a mourning Shari.

443
00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:11,240
Speaker 6: Could family gain from the death of the victim? Sure

444
00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:13,639
Speaker 6: they kind of there is in insurance policies in place?

445
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:16,840
Speaker 6: Or is there property a place? Is there something to

446
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:19,639
Speaker 6: be gained. That's definitely something that was going to be

447
00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:20,240
Speaker 6: looked at.

448
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:24,160
Speaker 2: Investigators asked about Scheri's credit card debt and the fact

449
00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:26,040
Speaker 2: that she didn't pay her car loans or even the

450
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:30,399
Speaker 2: rent on her RV, and then there was this. Suri

451
00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:34,000
Speaker 2: also told investigators that she had removed eighty thousand dollars

452
00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:37,320
Speaker 2: in cash from her parents' home, but she didn't tell

453
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:40,920
Speaker 2: this to police until three days after the murders.

454
00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:44,720
Speaker 6: Jesse and Scherie involvement couldn't be ruled out.

455
00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:47,359
Speaker 2: Jesse and Suri told detectives that they were at a

456
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:50,720
Speaker 2: local casino on the night of the murders, but.

457
00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:55,320
Speaker 6: Thought there was some conflicting statements between Shari and Jesse.

458
00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:58,600
Speaker 2: The triple murder that rocked the close knit village of

459
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:03,920
Speaker 2: l Rancho turned friend into enemies, families into suspects.

460
00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:06,720
Speaker 8: At the time, there was a lot of speculation about

461
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:09,000
Speaker 8: her and her husband and whether or not they had

462
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 8: been involved in this crime.

463
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:13,639
Speaker 2: Alex Tomlin worked as a reporter for a local TV station.

464
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:16,560
Speaker 8: The case was a little bit cold at this time,

465
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:18,480
Speaker 8: and we got a call saying, she's willing to talk

466
00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:18,800
Speaker 8: to you.

467
00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:23,000
Speaker 2: Shari was on the defensive and wanted to publicly clear

468
00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 2: her name, so she scheduled an interview with.

469
00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:29,520
Speaker 8: Alex Scherie offered to show me the home where her

470
00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:31,159
Speaker 8: parents had lived and had been murdered.

471
00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:34,480
Speaker 2: Alex met Sharie at her home and interviewed her just

472
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:39,400
Speaker 2: steps away from where Lloyd, Dixie and Stephen were murdered.

473
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:42,439
Speaker 8: I remember distinctly being in the kitchen and we were

474
00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:47,800
Speaker 8: talking about her brother, Stephen, and when the autopsy came out,

475
00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:51,439
Speaker 8: he had held about a dozen or so blows. I

476
00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:55,680
Speaker 8: think about maybe seventeen blows. And I remember her talking

477
00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:57,359
Speaker 8: to me about how he was such a big guy,

478
00:26:57,760 --> 00:26:59,199
Speaker 8: that he was kind of a teddy bear, but he

479
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:00,080
Speaker 8: was such a big guy.

480
00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:01,600
Speaker 2: And it's such a weird sensation.

481
00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:04,040
Speaker 8: We're standing in someone's kitchen and you're seeing marks on

482
00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:06,720
Speaker 8: the floor and you know their body had been there.

483
00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:10,560
Speaker 8: And she cried a lot during that interview, understandably, but

484
00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:14,480
Speaker 8: really thinking about this young man coming out who didn't

485
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:17,080
Speaker 8: really have the cognitive ability to understand what was happening,

486
00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:19,960
Speaker 8: you know, very much still a child kind of in

487
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:24,720
Speaker 8: a man's body, and to have that many blows to him.

488
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:27,320
Speaker 8: My only thought in that moment was he must have

489
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:30,760
Speaker 8: been trying to protect his parents. He must have been

490
00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:37,040
Speaker 8: really scared, he must have really fought back, and that

491
00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:39,320
Speaker 8: was just so sad. It was so sad to think

492
00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:43,040
Speaker 8: about those final moments and what that must have been

493
00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:46,520
Speaker 8: like for him, either knowing that he was dying or

494
00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:49,560
Speaker 8: knowing that something had happened to his parents. It was

495
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:53,400
Speaker 8: just really traumatic standing there and knowing this is where

496
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:55,680
Speaker 8: he died, and he died in such a violent way.

497
00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:59,080
Speaker 2: With the cameras rolling. Alex asked Shari about the investigation.

498
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,359
Speaker 2: Leave they're going through it with tunnel vision, just specifically

499
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:06,240
Speaker 2: focusing on us in instead of.

500
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:09,719
Speaker 4: The real people or I know it had to be people.

501
00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:11,800
Speaker 5: How could one person do that?

502
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:16,160
Speaker 8: So it left this very weird sensation in the community

503
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:19,800
Speaker 8: where some people were still speculating other people really believed them.

504
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:20,960
Speaker 8: Why would they do this?

505
00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:24,800
Speaker 2: Shari said her parents had life insurance, but she could

506
00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:26,760
Speaker 2: not collect that money since she and her husband were

507
00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:31,480
Speaker 2: considered suspects and without that money, Suri said they couldn't

508
00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:34,680
Speaker 2: pay their bills and worried their homes would be foreclosed.

509
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:37,879
Speaker 8: So it was really this sense from her of trying

510
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:42,080
Speaker 8: to advocate for herself, but advocate for her parents and

511
00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:44,280
Speaker 8: her brother to say, I need to know who killed them,

512
00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:45,800
Speaker 8: and at the same time, I need people to know

513
00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:48,080
Speaker 8: it wasn't me. And so that was really what this

514
00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:51,160
Speaker 8: conversation centered around. We could lose.

515
00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:53,400
Speaker 5: Everything my dad worked so hard for.

516
00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:56,400
Speaker 8: I actually saw like marks on the floor in different

517
00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 8: things like that where this had happened. It was a

518
00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:00,560
Speaker 8: really horrific experience.

519
00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:04,360
Speaker 5: Something has to give. I really do have hope. I

520
00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:06,160
Speaker 5: know this is going to get solved.

521
00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:09,280
Speaker 2: With tears in her eyes, Shari then looked into the

522
00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:12,280
Speaker 2: camera to try to clear her name and her husband

523
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:13,240
Speaker 2: Jesse's as well.

524
00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:15,320
Speaker 8: We had nothing to do with it.

525
00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:18,440
Speaker 5: My god, that was my mom, and Mike added my

526
00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:19,120
Speaker 5: little birth.

527
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:21,760
Speaker 2: It was no secret that the two were being looked

528
00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:24,800
Speaker 2: at in the triple murder, But were they that desperate

529
00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:29,600
Speaker 2: for money that they would murder their own family? Paul

530
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,080
Speaker 2: Shavez investigated, If you.

531
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:36,000
Speaker 6: Don't investigate Justin and Shirvey to the foolest, you make

532
00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 6: a very easy argument for a deference attorney to create

533
00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:42,680
Speaker 6: dowt in jury's mind. And that's exactly what have happened

534
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 6: if we had not followed up on all of the

535
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:47,400
Speaker 6: red flags that came up during the course of the investigation.

536
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:50,880
Speaker 2: But as the investigation dragged on, Shari shifted the blame

537
00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:55,000
Speaker 2: back on the state police. She claimed that they botched

538
00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:59,360
Speaker 2: the investigation and said casino security guards or even children

539
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:02,360
Speaker 2: could have done a at our job. Against the advice

540
00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:05,280
Speaker 2: of law enforcement, Shari even set up a po box

541
00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:10,840
Speaker 2: where people could anonymously submit information about who might be responsible.

542
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:16,680
Speaker 2: A year after the murders, the police promised a press

543
00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,920
Speaker 2: conference to share some breaking news on the case, but

544
00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:22,520
Speaker 2: that press conference never happened.

545
00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:26,080
Speaker 6: There was a lot of leads that came in that

546
00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:29,200
Speaker 6: were followed off on, but none of them pouned out.

547
00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:32,440
Speaker 2: A billboard even went up along a local highway with

548
00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:35,960
Speaker 2: a picture of Lloyd, Dixie and Stephen then offered a

549
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:40,440
Speaker 2: one thousand dollars reward for information, but still there were

550
00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:41,760
Speaker 2: no arrests.

551
00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:44,080
Speaker 6: That was the hardest part of this case for me

552
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:48,320
Speaker 6: was knowing that we have not been able to bring

553
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:49,440
Speaker 6: justice for this family.

554
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:52,239
Speaker 2: And it wasn't just Shari who was pressuring the New

555
00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:55,680
Speaker 2: Mexico State Police. Here's TV reporter Alex Tomlin.

556
00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:59,120
Speaker 8: There was an incredible amount of pressure from that small

557
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:02,720
Speaker 8: knit community, but also the surrounding communities and pretty much

558
00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:05,440
Speaker 8: all of the state, saying you've got to find who

559
00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:08,680
Speaker 8: did this. You could not take a family who more

560
00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:10,760
Speaker 8: people said nice things about and have a more awful

561
00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:13,960
Speaker 8: thing happen to them. I mean they are bludgeoned to

562
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:15,600
Speaker 8: death with a pickaxe.

563
00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:20,480
Speaker 2: Publicly, the police didn't reveal much about other potential suspects,

564
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:25,000
Speaker 2: but behind the scenes it was a different story. Aside

565
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:30,200
Speaker 2: from Shari and her husband Jesse, investigators interviewed numerous people. Then,

566
00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:34,479
Speaker 2: sixteen months after the murders, a local twenty three year

567
00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:38,800
Speaker 2: old woman named Ashley Roibald got arrested. While she's in custody,

568
00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:42,920
Speaker 2: she tells the police something astonishing little gay.

569
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:45,840
Speaker 5: To call you, Ashley, all right, I understand that you

570
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,600
Speaker 5: know some details I did.

571
00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:52,960
Speaker 2: Ashley tells detectives that she knows who killed Lloyd Dixie

572
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:54,120
Speaker 2: and Stephen Ortiz.

573
00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:57,640
Speaker 8: It isn't until Ashley Roibald gets in trouble that all

574
00:31:57,640 --> 00:31:59,560
Speaker 8: of a sudden she's willing to tell police what happened.

575
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:01,280
Speaker 5: So let you go ahead and tell me the story.

576
00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:04,880
Speaker 8: It was almost like the answer everyone had been waiting for.

577
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:05,040
Speaker 6: It.

578
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:09,920
Speaker 2: Ashley Roibal kept quiet for sixteen months. During that time,

579
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:14,600
Speaker 2: Shi juggled losing her mom, dad, and brother well being

580
00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:18,080
Speaker 2: looked at by everyone as a suspect, all while she

581
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:21,480
Speaker 2: couldn't collect their life insurance money and was scared she'd

582
00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:26,560
Speaker 2: lose everything. But now, sixteen months later, Ashley was finally

583
00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:28,080
Speaker 2: ready to talk, and.

584
00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:30,960
Speaker 6: This was the turning point in the investigation.

585
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:33,120
Speaker 2: But would anyone believe Ashley?

586
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:36,560
Speaker 8: There's things that kind of don't match up their shifting stories.

587
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:38,720
Speaker 5: We just want the truth, they say.

588
00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:41,800
Speaker 2: The wheels of justice move very slowly, and in this

589
00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:44,840
Speaker 2: case that would prove to be an understatement.

590
00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:48,960
Speaker 8: And I remember thinking, oh God, here we go again.

591
00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:51,120
Speaker 8: This poor family has been through the ring error.

592
00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:54,040
Speaker 5: I would have never suspected that it was going to

593
00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:54,680
Speaker 5: come down to this.

594
00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:58,480
Speaker 2: Find out what Ashley says really happened that night in

595
00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:02,800
Speaker 2: part two of The Fun Murders. That's next time on

596
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:10,920
Speaker 2: American Homicide. You can contact the American Homicide team by

597
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:15,480
Speaker 2: emailing us at American Homicide Pod at gmail dot com.

598
00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:20,760
Speaker 2: That's American Homicide Pod at gmail dot com. American Homicide

599
00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:23,880
Speaker 2: is hosted and written by me Sloane Glass and is

600
00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:28,640
Speaker 2: a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group,

601
00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:33,400
Speaker 2: in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced

602
00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:36,920
Speaker 2: by Nancy Glass and Todd Gambs. The series is also

603
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:40,640
Speaker 2: written and produced by Todd Gambs, with additional writing by

604
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:45,960
Speaker 2: Ben Fetterman and Andrea Gunny. Our associate producer is Kristin Melcurrie.

605
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:50,880
Speaker 2: Our iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Crimecheck. Audio

606
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:55,120
Speaker 2: editing and mixing by Matt Delvecchio, additional editing support from

607
00:33:55,200 --> 00:34:00,920
Speaker 2: Nico Ruka Tanner, Robbins, brit Robashow, Dave Saya, and Patrick Walsh.

608
00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:05,240
Speaker 2: American Homicide theme song was composed by Oliver Bains of

609
00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:11,600
Speaker 2: Noisier Music Library provided by my Music. Follow American Homicide

610
00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:15,879
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611
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612
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