1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:06,800 Speaker 1: Hey, you're welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh, there's Chuck, 2 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:11,960 Speaker 1: there's Still and of course this short stuff short stuff now, 3 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:15,320 Speaker 1: So Jos, I should have a question for you. I 4 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 1: know that every time we go to Chicago, you're always like, 5 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 1: this is the creepiest place I've ever been. It feels haunted. 6 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:31,560 Speaker 1: Forget New Orleans, right, forget other creepy places. This Chicago 7 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: is the scariest place on earth. I do say that. 8 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: And you know what, after listening to this story, you 9 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: might be right. Yeah, yeah, um, it is a surprising town. 10 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:47,159 Speaker 1: Like that's kind of where the Dunes murders started, That's 11 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:50,479 Speaker 1: where the Thailand all murders were. I think I just 12 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 1: realized this is the third one. Huh yeah, at the 13 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: very least, at the very least. Um and in fact, 14 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: part of this um this episode takes place in Edgewater Hospital, which, um, 15 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:06,800 Speaker 1: look up abandoned Edgewater Hospital. There's like fifty pictures of 16 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:11,399 Speaker 1: this one maybe abandoned hospital. Oh my gosh, and um, 17 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:13,120 Speaker 1: I think it was abandoned maybe in the nineties. Is 18 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: like this this empty abandoned hospital in a high rise. 19 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: But it's where Hillary Clinton was born and where John 20 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 1: Wayne Gacy was born. Really. Yeah, but by thet I 21 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: don't know. I don't. I didn't go to the trouble 22 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: of checking out their ages to see how far apart 23 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:33,600 Speaker 1: they were. But wouldn't that be weird? Has a right 24 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: linked them together? Eventually? If not, they will. Now we 25 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:40,840 Speaker 1: just gave him a little a little piece of little shred. No, 26 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 1: but we'll look into it. So. Um, at this Edgewater 27 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,720 Speaker 1: hospital there was a woman named Tarasee to Bassa who 28 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: worked there, and she was forty seven. She was Filipino, 29 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 1: and apparently she was a well to do Filipino aristocrat 30 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 1: ex pat who lived in America and worked as a 31 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:03,640 Speaker 1: respiratory therapist nurse in at Edgewater Hospital. Uh. And she 32 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: lived in Chicago, in Chicago proper, not in the suburbs. 33 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: And one day she is discovered in her apartment under 34 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:15,919 Speaker 1: a smoldering pile of clothing, naked with a kitchen knife 35 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: sticking out of her chest. She had been murdered. I 36 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: think the fire department founder and they were really surprised 37 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 1: with what they found. Yeah, it was a pretty routine 38 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:29,679 Speaker 1: call for them of an apartment fire on February two 39 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: and under like you said, under the under a mattress, 40 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: a clear murder because of that kitchen knife sticking out 41 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:41,640 Speaker 1: of her chest, and that would have been an accident. Sure, 42 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:44,399 Speaker 1: you stab yourself in the chest and then set your 43 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: clothing on fire under a mattress, that, yeah, it would 44 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: have been of an accident. Right, So this is unfortunately 45 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: it just goes unsolved. There's like six months in These 46 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: detectives who are working in the case, they try out 47 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 1: every lead, they start doing some investigating, they find, you know, 48 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:04,200 Speaker 1: maybe there were people who wanted are dead. Nobody had 49 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,400 Speaker 1: the right motive or opportunity. There was no good suspect 50 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:10,400 Speaker 1: and they reached a total dead end within six months. 51 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: That's right. So, Uh. Detective Joe Statuela of homicide came 52 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: in one day about six months later, I saw a 53 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:21,079 Speaker 1: note on his desk that said called the Evanston Police 54 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: Department about the Terra Seda boss A case. He called 55 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:28,080 Speaker 1: Evanston and they said, hey, you need to call Dr. 56 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: Jose Chiwa in Skokie. And he said, couldn't they have 57 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 1: just put that on the note Let save me a 58 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: phone call, And they said, we wanted you to know 59 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: it came from US so Skokie, Illinois. Uh, which always 60 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:46,400 Speaker 1: reminds me of usual suspects. Oh, definitely does it to 61 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 1: you too, barbershop quartet, that's right, Sco Illinois. Um. They 62 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 1: went to see Dr Joe Jose we call him Joe Chua, 63 00:03:57,240 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: who was also a Filipino, as we'll see, and they 64 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,400 Speaker 1: interviewed him and he said, a weird thing has happened here. 65 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: My wife, she's thirty eight years old. She has gone 66 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:14,720 Speaker 1: into trances three different times, saying in Tagalog that she 67 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 1: is tarasee to bassa and she needs help solving her murder. 68 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: And here's who did it, right, which is very very 69 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:28,359 Speaker 1: weird and and kind of something that you would probably ignore, 70 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: especially if you got a call from somebody saying, yeah, 71 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:33,160 Speaker 1: my wife went into trance and said that she's a 72 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: murder victim. But there were two things going on here. One, 73 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:40,680 Speaker 1: Statuta and his partner had reached the total dead end 74 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 1: in this case, and really any lead was was worth 75 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:48,000 Speaker 1: pursuing at this point, right. And then two, not only 76 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:54,120 Speaker 1: had them the doctor's wife, um, what is it rema 77 00:04:54,120 --> 00:05:02,719 Speaker 1: bossa no rembias remibius chewa uh doctor Jose to his wife, 78 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:05,280 Speaker 1: not only had she said that she was this murder 79 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: victim she named the murderer, and she also said that 80 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:13,320 Speaker 1: the murderer had been in Terra Seda's apartment and had 81 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:16,320 Speaker 1: stolen things from it, and that some of that stolen 82 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:20,800 Speaker 1: goods were jewelry that he had given to his girlfriend. 83 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:24,760 Speaker 1: So the fact that like this voice from the grave 84 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:27,839 Speaker 1: was saying that she was a murder victim and also 85 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:30,599 Speaker 1: saying who did it and what they did with the jewelry, 86 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,719 Speaker 1: that was enough, apparently to convince the detectives to follow 87 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:37,040 Speaker 1: upon it. And not only that, before we take our 88 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: little break, she gave names of people who could identify 89 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 1: this jewelry and telephone numbers of those people, which is 90 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: pretty nuts. Yeah, Ron, Samara kin Bossa, Richard past and 91 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:56,480 Speaker 1: Ray Kings and that's not even the murderer. So that's 92 00:05:56,480 --> 00:05:58,640 Speaker 1: a pretty good setup. I think we'll take a break 93 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:03,320 Speaker 1: and we'll tell you what happened after this. As s 94 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: k as all right, So she says in these trances 95 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:34,679 Speaker 1: antagalog that she is this murdered woman, Teresa Teresa to Bassa, 96 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: h huh. This guy broke into my house who works 97 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: at my hospital as a respiratory technician. He comes into 98 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:45,320 Speaker 1: ostensibly fix a television murders me steals my jewelry that 99 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:48,599 Speaker 1: was given to me uh in France as a gift 100 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: from my father two my mom. He stole the stuff. 101 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 1: Here's the people that can verify it. Here their phone numbers. 102 00:06:56,720 --> 00:07:01,679 Speaker 1: They decide to investigate, and it checks out. It checks out. 103 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: That's the crazy thing. The detectives start looking into this 104 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: and they're like, there is this man named Alan Showery 105 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,960 Speaker 1: and he did work with Tarasee to Bassa, so let's 106 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 1: go visit him. And they went to because she named him. 107 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:18,160 Speaker 1: We've come out across right right. She said Alan Showery 108 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:21,080 Speaker 1: killed me. That this woman in the trance said this 109 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 1: man Alan Showery was my murderer. So the detective and 110 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 1: she gave enough information. The detectives followed up on it. 111 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 1: They went to visit Allan Showery and they um, they said, hey, 112 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:34,200 Speaker 1: will you come down to the station with us, and 113 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: he went with them voluntarily, which is very important, as 114 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:41,080 Speaker 1: we'll see in a minute. And they started interviewing him 115 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:44,240 Speaker 1: about Tarasee to Bassa's murder. Apparently they read him as rights. 116 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:47,160 Speaker 1: They did everything by the book. Uh, they didn't arrest 117 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:49,880 Speaker 1: him or anything like that. But he started answering questions 118 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:53,239 Speaker 1: down at the station, and the more questions he answered, 119 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: the more they started to suspect that he was lying 120 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:58,320 Speaker 1: because they were actually catching him in lies and contradictions 121 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:02,120 Speaker 1: and things like that. And eventually he admitted to having 122 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 1: gone to her apartment to help her fix the TV, 123 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:08,120 Speaker 1: but that she had called and canceled before he got there, 124 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 1: so he went home instead. Well, the second thing they 125 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:13,920 Speaker 1: did was they went to his apartment and talked to 126 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: his girlfriend and said, hey, has your boyfriend given you 127 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 1: any jewelry recently? She said, well, yeah, he gave me 128 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,120 Speaker 1: this pendant in this ring is a late Christmas present, 129 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,240 Speaker 1: and um, I love them, don't they just look divine? 130 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: The late Christmas present? And the detectives say, well, yes, 131 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:33,000 Speaker 1: that does look very nice, but can we see these 132 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:34,840 Speaker 1: things or take pictures of them? And if they took 133 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:39,319 Speaker 1: him from her, um, and they had Taraceta boss's relatives 134 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:42,520 Speaker 1: that had been named apparently by raymie Chewa to come 135 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:46,040 Speaker 1: down and look at these, um this jewelry and say 136 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:48,960 Speaker 1: yeah or nay whether it was taracetas and they said yea, 137 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:54,440 Speaker 1: this is remarkable. So this is all plowing ahead. Uh. 138 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:59,679 Speaker 1: He is arrested and charged. There is a trial hearing here. 139 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:05,800 Speaker 1: Hold on, he confessed, so he confessed, So they have 140 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 1: a trial hearing on emotion from the assistant public defender, 141 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: William Swanno, and he says, you know what, there's no 142 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 1: probable calls here. They got a call about a trance 143 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:21,040 Speaker 1: that I think this woman faked, and that arrest was 144 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:25,160 Speaker 1: illegal to begin with because they liked probable calls. And 145 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,080 Speaker 1: never to my knowledge quote, never to my knowledge has 146 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 1: a man been arrested because of a supernatural vision. Police 147 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 1: have never been informed of a criminals name by a 148 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:38,760 Speaker 1: voice from the grave. And the judge went, except until now, 149 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:43,240 Speaker 1: because that's exactly what happened, dude. Yeah, the judge upheld 150 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 1: it in this hearing to throw out the entire arrest 151 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:50,320 Speaker 1: because again, Chuck like, we're regardless of whether this trance 152 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:53,880 Speaker 1: was taraset to Bassa possessing Ramy Chewa, regardless of what 153 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:57,680 Speaker 1: you think of that. In the Annals of American Justice, 154 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:01,960 Speaker 1: there is a case where a man was arrested because 155 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:06,320 Speaker 1: of strictly because of a tip that detectives received from 156 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 1: a woman claiming to have been possessed by the murder victim. 157 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:13,880 Speaker 1: That happened, Yeah, and the judge said, I see no 158 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:17,720 Speaker 1: reason to restrict the investigatory power of the police, whether 159 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:20,080 Speaker 1: they believe the voices are not. They had to check 160 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:22,640 Speaker 1: it out. And that was sort of the party line, 161 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:25,200 Speaker 1: which is like, hey man, it doesn't matter if a 162 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:28,800 Speaker 1: dog came out and pete out a name on the street, 163 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:32,560 Speaker 1: Like they went to this guy's house and he did 164 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:36,240 Speaker 1: it right, so like who cares? That was basically the 165 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: whole the whole thing, Like they because the police followed 166 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:42,880 Speaker 1: proper procedure, because they advised him of his rights, because 167 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:47,400 Speaker 1: Alan Showery went with them voluntarily and answered their questions voluntarily, 168 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:50,120 Speaker 1: and the fact that he confessed, like all of this, 169 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:52,800 Speaker 1: it doesn't matter as far as the law is concerned 170 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:57,760 Speaker 1: whether Taraseea Bassa possessed Rami Chu or not. They they 171 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:00,120 Speaker 1: followed procedure, and they followed up on this tip. And 172 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 1: so there's a trial. And during the trial, um Alan Showery, 173 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:08,040 Speaker 1: it looked like he might get off. There was a 174 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:11,960 Speaker 1: mistrial in fact, but then he surprised everybody. While he 175 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,920 Speaker 1: was awaiting a new trial, he played guilty and didn't 176 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:18,920 Speaker 1: get a second trial and instead was given something like 177 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 1: fourteen years for the murder and then four years each 178 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:25,360 Speaker 1: for robbery and arson. But he's still he only served 179 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:30,200 Speaker 1: I think something like five which in and of itself 180 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:36,840 Speaker 1: it is crazy. But he was caught strictly because of 181 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:41,280 Speaker 1: that call from from Raimi Chiwa's husband, Dr Jose Chiwa. 182 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:43,720 Speaker 1: And so now you have to go back and say 183 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:48,960 Speaker 1: how much of this is true? And apparently everything we've 184 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:52,360 Speaker 1: said is true and verified that there were reports done 185 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:54,880 Speaker 1: on it. That thing about that hearing that was from 186 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:58,960 Speaker 1: a Washington Post article we found from I believe this 187 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:01,400 Speaker 1: is all true. That no one came out later and said, 188 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,120 Speaker 1: you know, my wife's actually an amateur investigator, and she 189 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:05,720 Speaker 1: thought it'd be kind of fun to solve this case 190 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:08,760 Speaker 1: and then present it and wrap it in the enticing 191 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:14,200 Speaker 1: book jacket of a trance right. What what the I think? 192 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 1: We found some guy in a story and from Chicago 193 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 1: wrote a post about it, and he kind of captured 194 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:23,400 Speaker 1: what I what I suspect um. One thing that gets 195 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:26,280 Speaker 1: left out very frequently is that Raimi Chiwa was a 196 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:31,199 Speaker 1: co worker, uh kind of friend yeah, of Tara Sea 197 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:34,000 Speaker 1: bassa Um went to a party at her apartment, so 198 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: knew where she lived and then also knew Alan Showery 199 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:41,320 Speaker 1: was actually scared of Alan Showery. So this historian posits 200 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:45,200 Speaker 1: that she was actually so afraid of coming forward, but 201 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:48,920 Speaker 1: so overcome by the guilt of keeping this, this this 202 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:52,800 Speaker 1: thought to herself. It just came out like that, And 203 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:56,040 Speaker 1: that makes sense. It would it would be more culturally 204 00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:59,760 Speaker 1: acceptable to do that than to, you know, just keep 205 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:02,400 Speaker 1: it to herself. That that's where the trance came from. 206 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:06,360 Speaker 1: That she somehow acquired all this knowledge. If that's the case, 207 00:13:06,440 --> 00:13:08,920 Speaker 1: that's still pretty interesting too. Yeah, she could have been 208 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:13,520 Speaker 1: sleep walking and talking, sure, which appears like a trance. 209 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:17,240 Speaker 1: But either way, it's all pretty remarkable. It is pretty remarkable. 210 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:21,119 Speaker 1: One of the most remarkable cases in American law enforcement 211 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:25,080 Speaker 1: and justice. And that's why we dedicated twelve minutes to it, 212 00:13:25,559 --> 00:13:29,200 Speaker 1: more than that man thirteen and a half baby. Uh, 213 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:32,439 Speaker 1: that's it for this short stuff, right, That's right, Short 214 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:37,760 Speaker 1: stuff Away. Stuff you Should Know is a production of 215 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:40,719 Speaker 1: iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts for my 216 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:43,760 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 217 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:45,480 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.