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Speaker 1: You're listening to Facing Evil, a production of iHeartRadio and

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Speaker 1: Tenderfoot TV. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast

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Speaker 1: are solely those of the individuals participating in the show

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Speaker 1: and do not represent those of iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV.

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Speaker 1: This podcast contains subject matter which may not be suitable

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Speaker 1: for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.

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Speaker 2: Hi, everyone, welcome back to Facing Evil from Tenderfoot TV

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Speaker 2: and iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 3: We are your hosts. I'm Roscha Peccareiro and I am

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Speaker 3: evet Genteelay and always with our Texan producer, Trevor Young.

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Speaker 1: How do how do? Howdy?

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Speaker 3: Howdy? Howdy?

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Speaker 4: How do how do?

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Speaker 3: Y'all? Oh my god, this is going to be such

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Speaker 3: a special episode because as we speak, we are at

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Speaker 3: Podcast Movement in Dallas, Texas.

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Speaker 1: Y'all welcome to Texas.

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Speaker 2: Yes, thank you, Thank you, Trevor. This is our very

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Speaker 2: first time at Podcast Movement, and we are so excited

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Speaker 2: and honored to be here, and we're actually going to

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Speaker 2: be speaking on a panel about Facing Evil, and we're

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Speaker 2: going to be interviewing a few big names in the

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Speaker 2: podcast community. All of that, of course, will be published

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Speaker 2: right here on the Facing evil feed, so look out

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Speaker 2: for that in the coming weeks.

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Speaker 3: That's right, and we wanted to do something special this

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Speaker 3: week while we're in Dallas, so as it happens, there

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Speaker 3: is one case we've been talking about for a very

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Speaker 3: long time, a case that takes place right here in Dallas.

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Speaker 3: It's a very important one. So Trevor, I would be

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Speaker 3: honored if you'd get us started.

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Speaker 1: What's the problems?

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Speaker 3: My girlfriend called me that there was a man in

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Speaker 3: Reportmentes in the.

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Speaker 1: Bathroom, in the phone and now I cannot get hurt

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Speaker 1: into the phone or car there hands on Invador and.

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Speaker 5: I mean this man stabbed her eighteen times, broke bones everything.

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Speaker 5: When they went in and found Angie, there was so

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Speaker 5: much blood it looked like her heart had been cut out.

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Speaker 1: Angela Simoda was a twenty year old woman from Dallas, Texas.

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Speaker 1: On the evening of October twelfth, nineteen eighty four, Angela

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Speaker 1: went out with some college friends. Late that night, after

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Speaker 1: she returned home, Angela found a man in her apartment. Distressed,

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Speaker 1: she called her boyfriend Ben, but then abruptly hung up.

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Speaker 1: Around two am, police arrived on the scene and discovered

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Speaker 1: Angela's body. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed to death.

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Speaker 1: Police looked at multiple suspects, including her boyfriend, an ex boyfriend,

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Speaker 1: and one of the men she went out with that night,

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Speaker 1: but police weren't able to convict anyone in Angela's murder.

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Speaker 1: They said they lacked sufficient evidence, and so Angela's case

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Speaker 1: went cold, and it remained cold for years. But one

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Speaker 1: of Angela's friends, Shila Waisaki, was determined to find the killer,

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Speaker 1: and she did her own investigation and presented her findings

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Speaker 1: to the Dallas police, and as a result, police eventually

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Speaker 1: reopened the case and arrested the culprit in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and eight. And so what happened to Angela Simoda? Why

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Speaker 1: weren't the police initially able to solve the murder? And

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Speaker 1: what does this tell us about how law enforcement investigates

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Speaker 1: rape cases.

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Speaker 2: It's to me, it's such a horrific crime. I mean,

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Speaker 2: of course, every crime that we talk about here on

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Speaker 2: Facing Evil is a horrific crime. But she was brutally

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Speaker 2: murdered and it became a cold case. But the light

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Speaker 2: in the darkness for me, of course, is Angela's friend, Sheila,

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Speaker 2: and how she did not give up.

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Speaker 3: And so many of these cases, like back then, right,

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Speaker 3: they didn't have cold case squads that could, you know,

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Speaker 3: like go after all of these rapists. So all of

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Speaker 3: these cases right, just sat. I mean, this is just

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Speaker 3: so horrible. And what really gets to me about this

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Speaker 3: case that Angela, I mean, she was attacked in her

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Speaker 3: own home in a place where like, after you've partied

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Speaker 3: all night and had a good time, you want to

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Speaker 3: go home and just enjoy you know, your space and

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Speaker 3: feel safe, right, especially when you're tired. You know, like,

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Speaker 3: this is just so horrifying that this happened in her home.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think home invasion stories are always particularly unsettling.

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Speaker 1: I think there's a reason why we have so many

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Speaker 1: horror movies, you know that have a whole genre around

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Speaker 1: home invasions. Yes, just like, yeah, one of the worst

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Speaker 1: things you can experience.

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Speaker 2: All of that is absolutely true, But this case should

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Speaker 2: have been investigated so much better. I and I feel

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Speaker 2: like this is a recurring thing that keeps happening in

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Speaker 2: all the cases that we're talking about, you know, like

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Speaker 2: something should have been done from the beginning. This should

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Speaker 2: not have become a cold case. It was almost as

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Speaker 2: if the police just gave up.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it was really sad how this case

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Speaker 1: just sat alone for twenty years with no one touching it,

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Speaker 1: you know, the way that the evidence was just kind

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Speaker 1: of stored and never really looked into. And I think

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Speaker 1: the really kind of even more sad thing is that

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Speaker 1: this sort of thing is really common. This happens all

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Speaker 1: the time.

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Speaker 3: I know, I mean exactly if we think about the

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Speaker 3: Black Dahlia case, right, Elizabeth Short, like that was seventy

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Speaker 3: five years ago and it's still still to this day

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Speaker 3: technically unsolved.

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Speaker 1: Yep, it's true, and the sort of thing hasn't really

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Speaker 1: gotten any better since the Black Dahlia case, which was

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Speaker 1: back in the forties.

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Speaker 3: Yep.

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Speaker 1: Here's just a little bit of statistics you can look at. So,

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Speaker 1: just looking at general Hamas cases, between nineteen eighty and

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Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, there were nearly one hundred and eighty five

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Speaker 1: thousand homicide and non negligent manslaughter cases that went unsolved.

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Speaker 1: And then in cases of rape specifically, the solve rate

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Speaker 1: is even lower. It's even worse. So for every one

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Speaker 1: hundred cases of rape, only twelve of them lead to

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Speaker 1: an arrest, only nine on average of prosecuted, and then

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Speaker 1: only five of them actually lead to any sort of

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Speaker 1: felony conviction. So that's super abysmal.

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Speaker 2: Abysmal, yes, abysmal, and not okay in any way, shape

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Speaker 2: or form. That's injustice and that's exactly why we wanted

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Speaker 2: to talk about this case. And I mean, I can

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Speaker 2: only speak for myself, right, but I think being a woman,

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Speaker 2: a cisgendered woman at that, Like, I think that's one

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Speaker 2: of your biggest fears, right, is being raped or feeling vulnerable.

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Speaker 2: And you know, I don't believe in hope being lost.

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Speaker 2: But when Angela's murder went unsolved for so many years

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Speaker 2: after being raped and brutally stabbed to death, like all

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Speaker 2: it took was that one person who believed in finding

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Speaker 2: her killer, and that to me is hope. There's hope

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Speaker 2: in every single case. So like when anyone ever says,

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Speaker 2: oh no, you can't solve it, it can't be done, I

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Speaker 2: don't believe that, right, And I don't believe that because

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Speaker 2: of the Shiahs of the world, right.

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Speaker 3: I mean, and if anything like what you just said,

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Speaker 3: I mean, that's the light in this story. It's certainly

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Speaker 3: the kind of thing that police should be doing this, like,

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Speaker 3: not ordinary citizens or friends of the family should be

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Speaker 3: doing this. But if you have a calling to do

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Speaker 3: it and you feel that passionate about it, do it.

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Speaker 3: That's how change happens.

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Speaker 1: H Thank goodness we have motivated people, because yeah, typically

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Speaker 1: the people whose job it is like just they're not

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Speaker 1: as motivated. They don't have the personal connection into it

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Speaker 1: the way somebody like Shila does, right.

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Speaker 2: And like maybe they become too desensitized to it, like

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Speaker 2: you said, Trevor, because they don't have a connection like

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Speaker 2: to the victim. But yeah, I could not be a

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Speaker 2: police officer because I'm way too empathetic. I put myself

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Speaker 2: in every victim's shoes, and I think that's why, you know,

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Speaker 2: my stomach's always a knots. But I have to find

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Speaker 2: that light in the darkness. So all right, Trevor, let's

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Speaker 2: get into it. Can you tell us more about Angela

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Speaker 2: Simota So.

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Speaker 1: Angela Simota was born on October thirteenth in nineteen sixty four.

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Speaker 1: She moved to Dallas at age eighteen to enroll at

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Speaker 1: Southern Methodist University SMU, where she studied electrical engineering. She

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Speaker 1: was also a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority.

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Speaker 1: I hope I'm saying that right.

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Speaker 2: I'm sure they'll correct you if you're not.

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Speaker 3: Oh my goodness. So I remember this in nineteen eighty four,

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Speaker 3: like there was not a ton of women doing what

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Speaker 3: Angela was doing. Yeah, I mean she was clearly very bold,

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Speaker 3: very smart, and very very independent.

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Speaker 2: Yes, especially in nineteen eighty four. And according to one friend,

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Speaker 2: Angela was quote unquote a triple threat, which I like

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Speaker 2: to think I am sometimes. I think we all would

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Speaker 2: love to be triple threats. Oh yeah, And she was

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Speaker 2: absolutely beautiful. She was gorgeous, and she had this thousand

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Speaker 2: watt smile. You know, if you look her up, you

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Speaker 2: can see how beautiful she was, and her smile could

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Speaker 2: light up her room. She was also incredibly vivacious, her

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Speaker 2: friends would say, and of course incredibly intelligent. There's actually

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Speaker 2: a photo, you know, from that time of Angela that

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Speaker 2: I've seen online, and I think it's like a yearbook

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Speaker 2: photo or something, but it's Angela like sitting in a

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Speaker 2: classroom full of men and they are just, you know,

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Speaker 2: looking at her, and she's just the badass that she was.

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Speaker 2: She was just sitting there looking super cool and confident.

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Speaker 3: Have you guys seen that picture? Because I have, and

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Speaker 3: she is just like she is right in her element.

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Speaker 3: She's just calm, and you can tell that she is

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Speaker 3: in control of the whole.

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Speaker 1: Situation, unbothered by the mail gaze.

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Speaker 3: Yeah right, And I really think that that is an

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Speaker 3: important backdrop for what happens the night of October twelfth,

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Speaker 3: So Trevor, can you tell us what happened?

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Speaker 1: Right? So October twelfth, she invites her neighbor and a

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Speaker 1: friend to join her at the State Fair of Texas.

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Speaker 1: And the neighbor is a very shy older man named

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Speaker 1: Russell Buchanan. So that night, Angela, Russell Buchanan, and her

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Speaker 1: friend Anita Klatta go to the fair. And the fair

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Speaker 1: that night coincided with the annual football game between UT

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Speaker 1: University of Texas and OU, which is University of Oklahoma.

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Speaker 1: And that's a huge rivalry for anybody who doesn't know.

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Speaker 1: This means that there were up to seventy five thousand

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Speaker 1: people or so roaming the streets of Dallas that evening

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Speaker 1: near the State Fair. So, after the fair, Angela and

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Speaker 1: her two friends ended up at a club in Dallas

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Speaker 1: called the Rio Room, where Angela was supposedly just you know,

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Speaker 1: she owned the room. She was like the most popular person.

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Speaker 1: It was her place.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think I've heard that, you know, her

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Speaker 2: her friends have been quoted as saying that she was

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Speaker 2: always the person like bouncing from table to table and like, yeah,

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Speaker 2: one of the friends said that she knew everyone. And

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Speaker 2: so around one am that night, you know, they end

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Speaker 2: up leaving and she dropped her two friends off at

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Speaker 2: their places, and then she actually stopped by her boyfriend's place.

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Speaker 2: And her boyfriend was named Ben McCall, and she just

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Speaker 2: dropped by to say good night. Because remember, you know,

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Speaker 2: Ben didn't go with them that night. Do we know

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Speaker 2: why he didn't go to the fair?

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Speaker 3: He said he didn't go to the fair because he

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Speaker 3: had to get up early. And from what I understand,

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Speaker 3: he worked in construction, so you know, normally they're up

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Speaker 3: at the crack of dawn. But what we do know

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Speaker 3: is that she did see him that night, she goes

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Speaker 3: to visit him, and then that's when she goes back

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Speaker 3: to her place.

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Speaker 1: Right. So then at about one forty five am in

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Speaker 1: the morning, Ben, her boyfriend, gets a phone call and

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Speaker 1: it's Angela back at home telling him that there is

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Speaker 1: a man in her condo. He was apparently asking to

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Speaker 1: use the phone and bathroom, and she let him in,

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Speaker 1: and then there's this very chilling detail she says to

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Speaker 1: him on the phone, quote talk to me, but then

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Speaker 1: the line goes dead.

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Speaker 3: That's just that's so frightening.

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Speaker 2: Talk to me. And those are the last words that

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Speaker 2: anyone who loved or cared for Angela Simota would ever

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Speaker 2: hear her speak.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 1: We do need to take a quick break, though, so

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Speaker 1: we'll pick it right up after we get back.

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Speaker 2: So, after Ben gets that incredibly disturbing phone call from Angela,

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Speaker 2: he the police, as absolutely he should, So at roughly

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Speaker 2: two seventeen am, the police show up and find the

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Speaker 2: door locked, so they actually have to end up breaking

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Speaker 2: the door down in order to get inside, and inside

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Speaker 2: they find Angela's body.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and just to disclaimer, it does get a little

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Speaker 1: grizzly here, as some of these cases do, but they

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Speaker 1: find her on her bed, completely naked, but she was

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Speaker 1: also covered in blood. She had been brutally stabbed to

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Speaker 1: death in the chest area up to eighteen times. One

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Speaker 1: of the investigators said it looked like she had had

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Speaker 1: her heart cut out, and she had also been sexually assaulted.

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Speaker 1: So immediately the police identify three suspects. They look at

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Speaker 1: her boyfriend, Ben McCall. There's an unnamed ex boyfriend that

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Speaker 1: they also suspect, and then Russell Buchanan, the neighbor who

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Speaker 1: had gone out with Angela that night along with her friend.

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Speaker 1: And the only really strong evidence police could find at

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Speaker 1: this crime scene were secretions from the killer, secretions being

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Speaker 1: semen or saliva. So soon thereafter, antigen testing ruled out

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Speaker 1: both Ben the boyfriend and the unnamed ex That just

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Speaker 1: left Russell Buchanan, the shy neighbor that Angela had invited

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Speaker 1: to join her at the estate fair. And so that's

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Speaker 1: really the kind of prime suspect at this point. That's

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Speaker 1: who they're really looking at, right.

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Speaker 3: I mean, he wasn't ruled out from the testing, and

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Speaker 3: he lived within walking distance of Angela's apartment.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, he was a neighbor.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, he was very close neighbor, and he was with

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Speaker 3: her that night. So he seems to be the most

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Speaker 3: likely suspect at this point, but he does have an alibi.

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Speaker 2: Yes, And this is where I think we should bring

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Speaker 2: up a very important character in this story, and that's

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Speaker 2: Angela's friend, Sheila Gibbons, who is actually now known as

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Speaker 2: Shila Weisaki. So Shila was a fellow SMU student and

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Speaker 2: Angela's roommate at one point. So she ended up finding

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Speaker 2: out about Angela on the morning of October thirteenth, and

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Speaker 2: understandably was completely devastated.

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Speaker 1: Right, I mean, that's just towars Sheila's world apart. She

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Speaker 1: even said it destroyed her innocence and she ended up

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Speaker 1: dropping out of SMU because she said she just couldn't function,

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Speaker 1: she couldn't deal with it, like her whole worldview was

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Speaker 1: just shattered. And around this time she even said, quote

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Speaker 1: I just kept thinking, these things just don't happen. They

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Speaker 1: didn't happen in my world. End quote.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I can't even imagine, you know what she was

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Speaker 3: feeling at that time. I mean, losing her friend in

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Speaker 3: such a brutal way, like right when you're in the

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Speaker 3: prime of your lives and then something so horrific it

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Speaker 3: literally changes the course of your life. And that's what

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Speaker 3: happened to Sheila.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that loss of innocence bit is you know,

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Speaker 1: the most telling, you know, I think she probably had

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Speaker 1: a worldview that was very much about school, about hope,

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Speaker 1: about you know, growing up, about careers and success, and

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Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, all of that was just

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Speaker 1: taken away. It was no longer about progress or living

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Speaker 1: your life in a fruitful way, but the harsh reality

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Speaker 1: that life is dangerous, you know, the second you walk

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Speaker 1: out onto the street, like nothing is certain, or.

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Speaker 2: You're in your own home, like Angela was.

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Speaker 3: Right, you're in your own the fear, you know, the

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Speaker 3: fear of that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I can only imagine, you know. I mean, yes,

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Speaker 2: we're sitting here talking about you know, horrific crimes that

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Speaker 2: happen every week, but you don't think about it happening

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Speaker 2: to you or to someone you love, and that can

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Speaker 2: definitely change the course of your life. Like Yvette said,

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Speaker 2: getting back to the suspects, right, So, after Russell Buchanan

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Speaker 2: gave his alibi, police actually went to Sheila for help.

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Speaker 2: So this was very interesting to me. So the police

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Speaker 2: asked Sheila to actually have dinner with Russell Buchanan just

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Speaker 2: to see if his alibi and his story matched up

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Speaker 2: with what he'd told the police.

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Speaker 3: Can you even imagine that, like, I mean, going to

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Speaker 3: have dinner with the potential killer of your friend. Like,

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Speaker 3: first of all, she's a badass for doing this, but

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Speaker 3: at the same time, can you imagine being her mother, Like,

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Speaker 3: I mean, her family doesn't want her to go, Like,

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Speaker 3: there's no way, but she she did it.

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Speaker 2: I'm surprised the police even asked her to do it,

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Speaker 2: to be honest.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I know I think about that too. You know, again,

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Speaker 3: we're talking about, like, you know, sending a like civilian

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Speaker 3: in to go and sit with a potential killer, Like

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Speaker 3: wouldn't it be an undercover cop or some ry?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, But anyway, I mean, she ends up going. You know,

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Speaker 2: I'm sure she wanted answers and she wanted justice for Angela,

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Speaker 2: And you know, I think it was incredibly brave of

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Speaker 2: her to do that, despite her grief and despite all

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Speaker 2: the emotions that we've talked about about what she might

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Speaker 2: have been thinking and feeling at that time. There's several

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Speaker 2: interviews out there with her, and she was quoted as saying,

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Speaker 2: I'm sitting here having dinner with a murderer, Angie's murderer.

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Speaker 2: End quote that said.

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Speaker 1: She also said that Buchanan's story seemed pretty solid. He

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Speaker 1: said he had traveled to Houston that same weekend that

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Speaker 1: Angela was killed to visit his parents and had not

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Speaker 1: actually heard about the murder until days later when he

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Speaker 1: returned to Dallas, and that apparently lined up with what

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Speaker 1: the police had. He also goes on to pass a

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Speaker 1: lie detector test and therefore the police really have nothing

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Speaker 1: on him, and he is officially ruled out. And thus

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Speaker 1: the case of Angela Simoda does indeed go cold, and.

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Speaker 3: That could have been the end of the story, right,

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Speaker 3: But no, no, no, no, no, no no no. Sheila

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Speaker 3: could not let it go, and she didn't give up.

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Speaker 3: I mean, in the following months, she kept meeting with

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Speaker 3: the investigator who was working on the case. But you know,

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Speaker 3: there was still no movement on this case, which had

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Speaker 3: to have been so frustrating for her, But again she stayed.

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Speaker 2: Going going, Yeah. And then you know, fast forward twenty years.

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Speaker 2: Sheila's married, has two kids, and has moved to Tennessee.

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Speaker 2: But in the back of her mind, her friend's murder

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Speaker 2: is always there and it still haunts her. I mean,

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Speaker 2: how could it not, right.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So that's when the next wild thing happened. In

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Speaker 3: two thousand and four, she said that while she was

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Speaker 3: sitting at home, she looked over and saw her friend.

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Speaker 3: She said she saw a vision of Angela Simota like

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Speaker 3: a ghost vision like she appeared to her, you know.

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Speaker 3: And I don't know if you guys have ever witnessed

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Speaker 3: anything like that ever first hand, had it happened to me,

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Speaker 3: But I have been in the presence. I have a

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Speaker 3: really good friend and I was sitting with her one

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Speaker 3: day at brunch and she said, your grandmother, Jimmy Lee

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Speaker 3: is here. And for those who don't know, Jimmy Lee

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Speaker 3: was my mother's adopted black mother who she was raised

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Speaker 3: by in Reno, Nevada. And she said to me, your

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Speaker 3: grandmother's here, and I was like, what are you talking about?

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Speaker 3: And she said, she just wants to apologize to you.

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Speaker 3: And I knew instantly what she meant, because when I

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Speaker 3: was five years old, my grandmother had thrown me out

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Speaker 3: of the house on a snowy day because I was

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Speaker 3: whining and wanted to go play with my friends. And

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Speaker 3: she was like and she was drunk, and she was drunk, yes,

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Speaker 3: and she was drunk. And I was in my little

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Speaker 3: red coat and my friend Shayla like described what I

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Speaker 3: was wearing. I had not told her anything, she knew nothing,

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Speaker 3: and the inside of my grandmother's you know, little apartment

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Speaker 3: described everything. And she said, I just she's here and

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Speaker 3: she just wants you to know that she is sorry

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Speaker 3: for what she did. And I was like, holy shit,

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Speaker 3: But you know, there was no way she could have

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Speaker 3: known that because I didn't tell her. Like, have you

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Speaker 3: guys ever had an experience like that?

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Speaker 1: No? Not really. I mean it's a hard thing to

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Speaker 1: talk about because it feels like so personal to people.

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Speaker 1: And I think it's a very like spiritual experience that

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Speaker 1: I fully think is valid, that you know, people do

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Speaker 1: in fact see these things.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: For me, I guess I'm a bit of a like

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Speaker 1: cold heart existentialist when it comes to like spirituality, like

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Speaker 1: very much of the belief that you know, we are

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Speaker 1: little organisms on a floating rock hurtling through space and

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Speaker 1: that you know, when we die, we just go back

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Speaker 1: into the soil and then like create new plant life.

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Speaker 1: And I don't know, I take more of a scientific

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Speaker 1: approach to these sorts of things, So it's hard for

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Speaker 1: me to like fully understand stuff like this. But again,

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Speaker 1: I don't discount it, you know, I don't think that

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Speaker 1: it doesn't happen to people. I just wonder if like

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Speaker 1: maybe I'm a little bit too closed off to really

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Speaker 1: allow those sorts of visions to kind of channel through

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Speaker 1: me properly. But I don't know.

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Speaker 2: I every day wish that I saw vision of or

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Speaker 2: an operation of, like mom or different things. But for me,

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Speaker 2: you know, I haven't ever seen you know, ghost or

399
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Speaker 2: spirits like in person, I felt things. But our mom

400
00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:26,600
Speaker 2: very much saw things all the time. She would share

401
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Speaker 2: that with us. But for me, it's been coming in

402
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Speaker 2: my in my like people who have died have been

403
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Speaker 2: coming in my dreams a lot, like just over the

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Speaker 2: last few months. And it's probably because we're doing this podcast.

405
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Speaker 2: But I don't, like you said, I don't discredit you know,

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Speaker 2: I truly believe Sheila saw her friend Angela that day,

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Speaker 2: and that's what I think pivoted her entire life after that,

408
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Speaker 2: right yeah, I think that that vision made Sheila want

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Speaker 2: to get back on the horse and do something because

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Speaker 2: now we're, you know, twenty years after Angela was murdered,

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Speaker 2: and so right then and there after seeing that vision

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Speaker 2: of Angela, Sheila picks up the phone and calls the

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Speaker 2: Dallas Police Department and she asks if there's a cold

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Speaker 2: cases division, which they tell her no, there's not. So

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Speaker 2: then she asked for the detective that she knew from

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Speaker 2: before twenty years ago, and she leaves a message.

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Speaker 3: Well, she keeps calling because obviously the guy is not

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Speaker 3: calling her back. And I have to say, like I've

419
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Speaker 3: listened to interviews with her, and she called at least

420
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Speaker 3: seven hundred times without getting a call back, right, she

421
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Speaker 3: just kept calling and this goes on and on, you know,

422
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Speaker 3: and it's just so cool that nobody returned her call.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I guess I think about it just

424
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Speaker 1: from this perspective. For a moment, someone is calling you

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Speaker 1: because she saw a vision of her friend who died

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Speaker 1: twenty years ago, right, and she keeps like leaving all

427
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Speaker 1: of these messages, like hundreds of messages. And I don't know,

428
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Speaker 1: like you're a busy police officer, like maybe this just

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Speaker 1: strikes he as like a you know, like a crazy,

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Speaker 1: unhinged person, Right, I guess I can kind of see

431
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Speaker 1: why he maybe wouldn't take too much stock in it. Sure,

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Speaker 1: But like that said, I agree, I do think it

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Speaker 1: is like super cold not to at least like call

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Speaker 1: them back, like have a couple of conversations with them,

435
00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:23,520
Speaker 1: just like, yeah, I mean, even for your own purposes,

436
00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:25,600
Speaker 1: I feel like she'd probably stop calling if you just

437
00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:28,760
Speaker 1: like picked up the phone and had like ten minutes

438
00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:30,240
Speaker 1: of discussion with her, you.

439
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,400
Speaker 3: Know, for sure, So right, even if you said, well,

440
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:35,080
Speaker 3: I can't really help you with that, like even if

441
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:40,760
Speaker 3: stop balance right exactly, But all I can say is

442
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:46,440
Speaker 3: one person's crazy is another's determination, and Sheila is as

443
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:50,760
Speaker 3: determined as they come. So what does she do? She

444
00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:56,760
Speaker 3: gets licensed as a private investigator. Pe, guy, I love

445
00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:01,879
Speaker 3: this so much. She becomes a p police won't answer

446
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:07,440
Speaker 3: your calls. Well they will, now, I love it.

447
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:12,240
Speaker 2: I love it. Yeah. But despite Shela getting her PI license,

448
00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 2: the police still don't call her back, which is sad.

449
00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:19,720
Speaker 2: But you know, Sheila just keeps moving forward and moving

450
00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:22,960
Speaker 2: onward and upward. Right, So she sets up this entire

451
00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:27,399
Speaker 2: like war room in her house where she basically organizes

452
00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,200
Speaker 2: all of the facts from the case and she prints

453
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,760
Speaker 2: reports about all the rapes that actually happened during that time,

454
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:37,600
Speaker 2: where they happened, who was arrested, and she, you know,

455
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,480
Speaker 2: has this war room in her home and goes full

456
00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,120
Speaker 2: speed ahead for two years.

457
00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:45,920
Speaker 1: And finally though there is a break in the case,

458
00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:49,880
Speaker 1: thank goodness. So thanks to Sheila. In two thousand and six,

459
00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:53,760
Speaker 1: the Dallas Police Department officially reopened the case, which is great,

460
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:57,560
Speaker 1: and when they did that, they found something that was

461
00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:01,080
Speaker 1: absolutely crucial to solving the murder. And that is what

462
00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:03,280
Speaker 1: we'll talk about after we take another quick break.

463
00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:14,679
Speaker 3: Finally there's a break in the case. And this is

464
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:18,800
Speaker 3: after years of hard work from Sheila, I mean basically

465
00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:25,160
Speaker 3: by herself, with no guarantee of a breakthrough, she persevered

466
00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:31,280
Speaker 3: and was determined to make this happen to find out

467
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:33,080
Speaker 3: who killed her friend.

468
00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:36,920
Speaker 1: Right. So here's what happened. In two thousand and six.

469
00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:40,199
Speaker 1: Police opened the case again and they assigned it to

470
00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:41,919
Speaker 1: Detective Linda Crumb.

471
00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:46,160
Speaker 2: And not only does this detective not blow Sheila off

472
00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:50,320
Speaker 2: again like all the other police officers, she tells Sheila

473
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:54,280
Speaker 2: that they have evidence to finally find out who the

474
00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:55,000
Speaker 2: killer is.

475
00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:58,680
Speaker 1: Right, And this is super meaningful because the police, as

476
00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:02,280
Speaker 1: we know, had previously told Sheila that Angela Simota's rape

477
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:05,560
Speaker 1: kit had been lost in a flood, and yet here

478
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:08,560
Speaker 1: it was completely untouched, unharmed, which is wild.

479
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:11,760
Speaker 3: Is that normal? I mean, how could the Dallas Police

480
00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:14,960
Speaker 3: Department lose this evidence? First of all, let's just say that,

481
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:18,920
Speaker 3: But then it turns out that they had it the

482
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:22,600
Speaker 3: whole time. Like what the fuck, Like, excuse my French,

483
00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:23,640
Speaker 3: but like what.

484
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:27,639
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean this is something that unfortunately, we

485
00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:30,240
Speaker 1: do hear about a lot, and it is really a

486
00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:34,320
Speaker 1: major problem all across the country. So we know that

487
00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:37,400
Speaker 1: in recent years the media has been paying more attention

488
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:42,560
Speaker 1: to what's basically an epidemic in lost or discarded rape kits.

489
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:45,280
Speaker 1: It's been found that as many as two hundred thousand

490
00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:48,800
Speaker 1: rape kits sit unopened in police storage units all across

491
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:53,960
Speaker 1: the country. And meanwhile, assailants go free and oftentimes, you know,

492
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:57,439
Speaker 1: they strike again because it's usually repeat offenders, right, Like

493
00:27:57,480 --> 00:27:59,760
Speaker 1: a lot of those rape kits probably all tie back

494
00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:02,679
Speaker 1: to the same person. And so what happens in a

495
00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,320
Speaker 1: case like this is that the rape evidence is never

496
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:08,399
Speaker 1: sent to a crime lab, or in some cases it is,

497
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:12,040
Speaker 1: but it's just never tested. So when Angela Simota was killed,

498
00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:16,200
Speaker 1: obviously DNA analysis wasn't really a thing. In fact, the

499
00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:19,720
Speaker 1: first DNA based conviction took place three years after Angela's

500
00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:24,760
Speaker 1: Simota in nineteen eighty seven. Gosh, So in the rape kit,

501
00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:28,399
Speaker 1: they had Angela's fingernails, which provided DNA evidence because she

502
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,800
Speaker 1: had fought back against her attacker, like digging her nails

503
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:35,240
Speaker 1: into that person's skin. They also had DNA evidence from

504
00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:37,880
Speaker 1: semen that was found on the scene, so they had

505
00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:39,480
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff to work with now in two

506
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:40,360
Speaker 1: thousand and six.

507
00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:44,400
Speaker 3: Right, and then, oh my goodness, lo and behold, they

508
00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:49,320
Speaker 3: tested it and they found a match. In the words

509
00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:53,160
Speaker 3: of Detective Crumb, we've got them. And in my words

510
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:55,680
Speaker 3: from Hawaii five ozho book them.

511
00:28:55,600 --> 00:29:00,840
Speaker 2: Down right, Rachel, Oh yes, I love it. So when

512
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:04,440
Speaker 2: Sheila was told that they got a match, she initially

513
00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:09,880
Speaker 2: assumed that it was Angela's neighbor, Russell Buchanan, right, And

514
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:12,800
Speaker 2: she even told the press in an interview I think

515
00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:14,920
Speaker 2: before the results came back, that she thought it was Russell,

516
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:18,360
Speaker 2: poor Russell, because he had been the most promising suspect

517
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:21,760
Speaker 2: twenty years prior. But the name of the accused killer

518
00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:26,200
Speaker 2: was Donald Bess, a man she'd soon come to call

519
00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:26,960
Speaker 2: the beast.

520
00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:30,160
Speaker 1: Yeah. So, I mean, by all accounts, this was not

521
00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:33,680
Speaker 1: a good person. At the time of Angela Simota's murder,

522
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:37,120
Speaker 1: Best had already been out on parole following a sentence

523
00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:41,680
Speaker 1: of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping, and then a

524
00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:46,120
Speaker 1: year later, in nineteen eighty five, he was convicted of

525
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:49,680
Speaker 1: aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, and sexual assault in a completely

526
00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:54,440
Speaker 1: different case. So in the two thousands, when he was

527
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:57,280
Speaker 1: connected to Angela Simota, he was already serving a life

528
00:29:57,280 --> 00:29:59,280
Speaker 1: sentence for all of those previous convictions.

529
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:02,720
Speaker 3: Yeah, and can I just say, I mean I looked

530
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 3: up this person's photo and when I say scary, I

531
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:13,960
Speaker 3: mean truly truly scary, like it spooped me. Anyhow. So

532
00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:19,040
Speaker 3: in twenty ten, Sheila drove from Tennessee to Texas for

533
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:23,280
Speaker 3: the trial, and during the trial, a number of women

534
00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:27,320
Speaker 3: testified that Bess had sexually assaulted them, and this included

535
00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:31,520
Speaker 3: Bess's ex wife, and she said Bess had abused both

536
00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:34,960
Speaker 3: her and their children before they divorced in the early seventies.

537
00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:38,160
Speaker 3: I mean, this guy was just I don't even have

538
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:39,120
Speaker 3: a word you guys.

539
00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:43,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, And what's even more disturbing is when Bess walked

540
00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:49,440
Speaker 2: into the courtroom, Sheila said, quote, the door opened, and

541
00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:52,480
Speaker 2: the only way I can describe it is the room

542
00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 2: lost all oxygen. So, just to give you a little

543
00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:59,000
Speaker 2: bit of his physical stature, Bess was six feet tall,

544
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:05,239
Speaker 2: about three hundred and fifty pounds, and Sheila said that

545
00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:08,960
Speaker 2: he had an empty look in his eyes, and Sheila

546
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,120
Speaker 2: also said that she was thinking, this is the last

547
00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:14,520
Speaker 2: person who saw Angela alive.

548
00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:17,840
Speaker 1: And then it all kind of comes to a head

549
00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:21,160
Speaker 1: on June eighth of twenty ten, when Donald Best was

550
00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:25,320
Speaker 1: found guilty based on the DNA evidence, which was very conclusive,

551
00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:27,800
Speaker 1: and he was then sentenced.

552
00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:33,840
Speaker 2: To death, and Sheila understandably had a horrible and emotional

553
00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:36,800
Speaker 2: reaction to all of this, as of course you can imagine,

554
00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:40,840
Speaker 2: but she told something to The Washington Post that I

555
00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:45,760
Speaker 2: felt was incredibly heartbreaking and super real. She was quoted

556
00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:49,520
Speaker 2: as saying, nothing changes. You still have someone who's dead,

557
00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:53,080
Speaker 2: You still have someone who murdered her. You still have

558
00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:55,520
Speaker 2: a world that's changed. End quote.

559
00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:59,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with that sentiment. You know. I think like,

560
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,760
Speaker 1: if you've ever lost body in a tragic way, I

561
00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:05,640
Speaker 1: think there's this kind of feeling of, you know, resignation

562
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:08,960
Speaker 1: that maybe comes over you. Yeah, it feels like maybe

563
00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:11,680
Speaker 1: you're the only person who cares as much about this,

564
00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:17,360
Speaker 1: And I'm sure Sheila felt that tenfold. Well. Bess remains

565
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:21,520
Speaker 1: on death row today in Texas, and interestingly, the DNA

566
00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:24,960
Speaker 1: evidence used to convict Donald Bess is very similar to

567
00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:28,040
Speaker 1: that which was used to convict the Golden State Killer.

568
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:33,280
Speaker 1: This was back in twenty eighteen, I suppose, if you remember,

569
00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:38,320
Speaker 1: Joseph James de Angelo killed thirteen people. He was also

570
00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:41,360
Speaker 1: convicted of fifty rapes and about one hundred and twenty

571
00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:44,640
Speaker 1: burglaries in California, and that was between the mid seventies

572
00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:48,080
Speaker 1: through the mid eighties or so, and so just to

573
00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:52,280
Speaker 1: quickly refresh, y'all, they used an ancestry database, so they

574
00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:56,120
Speaker 1: were able to link together his DNA and other DNA

575
00:32:56,600 --> 00:33:01,800
Speaker 1: of like family members and using this kind of like tree,

576
00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:04,080
Speaker 1: this like web, they're able to kind of pinpoint one

577
00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:07,680
Speaker 1: person who kind of fits. So that's the exact same

578
00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:09,240
Speaker 1: thing that they did with best here. But this is

579
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:12,400
Speaker 1: like obviously, you know, essentially ten years prior to the

580
00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:15,880
Speaker 1: Golden State Killer. So, hey, cheers to DNA testing.

581
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:19,240
Speaker 2: I guess, yeah, yeah, yes, you know, we've done it.

582
00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:21,959
Speaker 2: We had we had some done before our mom passed away. Like,

583
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:25,080
Speaker 2: we have a lot of unanswered questions that we want

584
00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 2: to find out more about DNA. But yeah, I think

585
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:28,840
Speaker 2: you can do good things.

586
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:29,720
Speaker 3: I do too.

587
00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:30,480
Speaker 5: I do too.

588
00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:34,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, So there's one other thing that I actually want

589
00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:37,240
Speaker 2: to bring up that number that Trevor said earlier, about

590
00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:42,400
Speaker 2: two hundred thousand, you know, backlogged rape kits, you know,

591
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:46,000
Speaker 2: just sitting out there. It's just mind boggling to me

592
00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:50,400
Speaker 2: that this is still a huge problem. Ye, so there

593
00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:52,600
Speaker 2: is some good news. So I think some improvements have

594
00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:57,040
Speaker 2: started to happen in recent years. States like Washington, Illinois,

595
00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:01,840
Speaker 2: and Texas where this crime took place made concentrated efforts

596
00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:08,400
Speaker 2: to improve their backlogs. But sadly, there are still thousands

597
00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:12,480
Speaker 2: of untested rape kits just sitting on shelves all across

598
00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:16,800
Speaker 2: the nation, and along with them, unsolved cases of rape

599
00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:22,239
Speaker 2: and murder. So here's to hoping more states take legislative

600
00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:25,520
Speaker 2: action in the coming years to address those cases and

601
00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:30,360
Speaker 2: finally analyze those kits and get some victims.

602
00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:39,040
Speaker 3: Some answers, I couldn't agree with you more. Well, it's

603
00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:43,640
Speaker 3: time for our emua, our final message of hope and healing,

604
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:47,920
Speaker 3: and we want to dedicate this emua to the people

605
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:53,080
Speaker 3: out there who are working with steadfast determination against injustice

606
00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:54,040
Speaker 3: in their lives.

607
00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:58,799
Speaker 2: Shilo Isaki didn't work in law enforcement, but she dedicated

608
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:03,520
Speaker 2: herself to years of hard work and years of constantly

609
00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:08,280
Speaker 2: being told no, But in the end, she finally found

610
00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:10,200
Speaker 2: justice for her friend.

611
00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:13,239
Speaker 3: And she's still out there today. I mean, apparently she

612
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:16,920
Speaker 3: found her calling as a PI, as a private investigator,

613
00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:21,000
Speaker 3: and she's continuing to do the work. You know, she

614
00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:23,239
Speaker 3: thought it was going to be a one time thing

615
00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,920
Speaker 3: to find the killer of her friend, right for Angela.

616
00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:29,880
Speaker 3: So bravo to Sheila.

617
00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:33,640
Speaker 2: And so if you're working at eradicating in justice somewhere,

618
00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:37,880
Speaker 2: this goes out to you. We believe that justice comes

619
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:41,360
Speaker 2: through action, and that action can begin with the efforts

620
00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:44,280
Speaker 2: of just one single human being.

621
00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:48,840
Speaker 3: And it is our hope that one day those efforts

622
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:59,879
Speaker 3: pay off and you see justice too. Onward and upward, Emua, emua.

623
00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:03,920
Speaker 2: Well, that's our show for today. We'd love to hear

624
00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:06,600
Speaker 2: what you thought about today's discussion and if there's a

625
00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:09,040
Speaker 2: case that you'd like for us to cover, find us

626
00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:12,520
Speaker 2: on social media at Facing Evil Pod or email us

627
00:36:12,600 --> 00:36:17,280
Speaker 2: at Facingevil Pod at tenderfoot dot tv until next time.

628
00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:38,160
Speaker 4: Aloha.

629
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:48,439
Speaker 1: Facing Evil is a production of iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV.

630
00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:52,400
Speaker 1: The show is hosted by Russia Pacquerero in a Vet Schintile,

631
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:56,920
Speaker 1: Matt Frederick and Alex williams Our executive producers on behalf

632
00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:01,720
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk. Donald

633
00:37:01,719 --> 00:37:05,000
Speaker 1: Albright in Payne Lindsay our executive producers on behalf of

634
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:11,280
Speaker 1: Tenderfoot TV, alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is Claudia Dafrico.

635
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:15,360
Speaker 1: Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find us on

636
00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:20,080
Speaker 1: social media or email us at facingevilpod at tenderfoot dot tv.

637
00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:25,000
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV, visit the

638
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:29,080
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

639
00:37:29,120 --> 00:38:01,080
Speaker 1: favorite shows