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Speaker 1: Hey, it's Nicky and you're listening to the final episode

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Speaker 1: of The girlfriends Untouchable. Before we bring this story to

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Speaker 1: a close, I wanted to give you a heads up

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Speaker 1: that while this episode will include some touching moments of hope, sisterhood,

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Speaker 1: and people coming together to fight for the city we love,

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Speaker 1: we'll also discuss violence, murder, suicide, and sexual assault. Some

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Speaker 1: of the victims are minors. There will also be some

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Speaker 1: strong language. If you or someone you love has been

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Speaker 1: affected by any of the themes in the show. We've

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Speaker 1: left some links in the description that offer resources and

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Speaker 1: support take care of yourself. All sorts of people roll

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Speaker 1: into a service station at night, shift workers coming to

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Speaker 1: fill up their tanks before long drive, teenagers trying to

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Speaker 1: buy drinks on their way to a party, and parents

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Speaker 1: looking for late night supplies. McCalls, a service station in Cuendero,

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Speaker 1: saw many people from across the community pass through its

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Speaker 1: stores in the nineties, including Tina Peterson, who started working

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Speaker 1: there after leaving her job at the women's shelter. She

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Speaker 1: described her time there in an Affidavid. Her words here

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Speaker 1: are read by an actor.

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Speaker 2: Initially, McColls was a good place to work and I

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Speaker 2: enjoyed speaking with the people who came to the station.

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Speaker 1: It was all going well intil the station was sold

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Speaker 1: to a new owner, a guy named Cecil Brooks. According

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Speaker 1: to a legal statement Tina gave years later, Cecil, a

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Speaker 1: known drug dealer, was organizing what she thought were shady

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Speaker 1: meetings and questionable transactions, and from her perspective, he didn't

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Speaker 1: hide it.

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Speaker 2: Whatever arrangement Cecil had, I observed that he never seemed

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Speaker 2: to worry about getting caught or arrested. Despite this open

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Speaker 2: and an illegal activity at McCall's, the station was never

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Speaker 2: shut down or rated by the police. One of the

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Speaker 2: most frequent visitors to McCall's was Roger Gelubski. I would

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Speaker 2: see Gallupski almost every day, typically in the evening. He

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Speaker 2: would often park his car right on the lot and

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Speaker 2: Sae Seul will go out to speak privately with him.

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Speaker 1: Gellupski's job as a police officer was to fight crime,

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Speaker 1: including the illegal cell of drugs, but according to Tina's declaration,

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Speaker 1: he saw exactly what was going on at McCall's and

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Speaker 1: didn't do anything to try to stop it, and he

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Speaker 1: wasn't just turning a blind eye.

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Speaker 2: Gillupskey seemed to know everything that was going on at

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Speaker 2: McColl's and had free run of the station.

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Speaker 1: Hanging out with a criminal and seemingly protecting him was

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Speaker 1: one thing, but Tina witnessed something else during her evenings

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Speaker 1: at McCall's, something that made her wonder if there was

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Speaker 1: more to the service station operation than she first thought.

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Speaker 1: She was working a shift at the station one day

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Speaker 1: when Tina witnessed an unusual transaction.

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Speaker 2: I saw Cecil go to the cash register, pulled out

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Speaker 2: some cash and give it to Glubski.

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Speaker 1: It seemed as if Glubski wasn't just protecting the notorious dealer,

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Speaker 1: but that he may have been a co conspirator and

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Speaker 1: something much bigger, an underground operation that involved more than

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Speaker 1: just drugs. What was really going on between the abuse

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Speaker 1: of cop and this powerful dealer? We were going to

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Speaker 1: have to find out?

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Speaker 3: Oh God, who.

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Speaker 1: I'm Nicki Richardson and from the teams at Novel and

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Speaker 1: iHeart Podcasts, this is the Girlfriend's Untouchable.

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Speaker 4: Big Guy.

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Speaker 1: Episode eight. It could have been us. We still have

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Speaker 1: so many unanswered questions. People we want to talk to,

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Speaker 1: like Tina Peterson. We tried to get in touch, but

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Speaker 1: we haven't been able to reach her yet, so we

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Speaker 1: don't have the full story from her point of view.

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Speaker 1: From what we found out, though, Tina tried to report

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Speaker 1: Roger Glupski's abuse to the k c KPD when she

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Speaker 1: was working at the women's shelter, she says the police

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Speaker 1: never got back to her. Tina then worked at the

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Speaker 1: service station owned by Cecil Brooks. She quickly realized that

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Speaker 1: it operated like a drug house and was frequented by

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Speaker 1: Roger Glupski, so she left because she no longer felt safe.

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Speaker 1: But it seemed like no matter how far Tina went,

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Speaker 1: Seesaw and Gelupski were always there. In the nineties, Tina's

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Speaker 1: aunt lived in a housing project on the northwest side

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Speaker 1: of Kansas City, a place called the Delevant Apartments. From

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Speaker 1: the outside, the complex seems pretty ordinary now. It's a

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Speaker 1: block of cream colored, three floor buildings. Each has their

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Speaker 1: own patch of grass in front of the yard, and

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Speaker 1: there are a few trees lining the road. But back

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Speaker 1: in the nineties it was kind of rough.

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Speaker 2: When I was there, I observed that the complex was

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Speaker 2: overrun with illegal activity, including drugs.

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Speaker 1: At the time, the Delevant Apartments were owned by Cecil Brooks,

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Speaker 1: one of the kingpins oft the drug trade in the Northeast.

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Speaker 1: Tina noticed a variety of men walking in and out

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Speaker 1: of those apartments, but there was a frequent visitor who

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Speaker 1: caught her eye. You've guessed it, Roger Glubski. It seemed

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Speaker 1: like he was either involved with or protecting the men

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Speaker 1: in the area involved with organized crime. Tina had seen

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Speaker 1: and heard enough to know he messed around with dangerous men,

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Speaker 1: and she wasn't surprised to see the apartment complex had

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Speaker 1: become a hub of illegal activity either. But what did

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Speaker 1: surprise her were the people she recalls hanging out there.

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Speaker 2: I also noticed underaged girls there, which was very troubling.

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Speaker 2: I also saw Gelupski there with Cecil and noticed that

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Speaker 2: they seemed to socialize with the underaged girls.

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Speaker 1: This is an allegation yet to be proven in court.

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Speaker 1: Then Tina's affidavit, she says that she was unsettled by

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Speaker 1: what she saw, but it would take years for us

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Speaker 1: to put the pieces together. It makes sense of how

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Speaker 1: those girls fit into the bigger picture of our story.

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Speaker 1: We'd already heard of Cecil Brooks. He's the drug dealer

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Speaker 1: Nico Quinn told us attacked her cousin Donielle in the

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Speaker 1: days before he was murdered. Cecil was the guy Gelupski

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Speaker 1: told Nico to stop mentioning. He's also the man Nico

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Speaker 1: says knocked on her door to intimidate her, and Cecil

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Speaker 1: himself signed an affidavid in twenty nineteen saying that he

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Speaker 1: knew the identity of Donielle's ro killer, a guy named Monster,

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Speaker 1: whom Nico said had beat her cousin up alongside Cecil.

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Speaker 1: We thought cecil Brooks role in this story stopped there,

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Speaker 1: but then a new federal case came up the USA

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Speaker 1: versus four men, including Cecil Brooks and Roger Gallupski.

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Speaker 5: Lelupski has been indicted by a federal grand juria charges

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Speaker 5: of sex trafficking.

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Speaker 1: When we first heard about the indictment back in November

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, we didn't think too much of it.

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Speaker 1: He'd already been arrested for sexual assault, and at the time,

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Speaker 1: it seemed like a new case came up against Gallupski

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Speaker 1: every couple of months. But as we tried to figure

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Speaker 1: out what justice looked like in the months after Gallupski's death,

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Speaker 1: Kadijia and I decided to read more about this trafficking case.

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Speaker 1: We wanted to understand just how connected Gallupski and Secil

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Speaker 1: really were. The federal indictment claimed that Brooks and the

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Speaker 1: other two defendants was quote protection and participation from then

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Speaker 1: detective Gallupski, held young women and girls at an apartment

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Speaker 1: complex owned by Brooks and forced the young women, through

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Speaker 1: beatings and threats of force, to provide sexual services unquote.

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Speaker 1: The defendants have said they were not trafficking women, but

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Speaker 1: were running a drug operation that they say the authorities

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Speaker 1: knew all about. The allegations yet to be proven in court,

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Speaker 1: but the indictment alone was painful for me and Cathesia

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Speaker 1: to read. Cecil Brooks and his associates had allegedly been

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Speaker 1: running a sex trafficking operation in Kansas City, with protection

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Speaker 1: from and participation by Roger Gulubski, a police detective. Assaulting

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Speaker 1: women was a disgusting abuse of power, but actively aiding

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Speaker 1: an alleged sex trafficking operation. The more we read, the

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Speaker 1: worse it seems to get.

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Speaker 6: Wait what, Wait a minute, read that again. Let me

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Speaker 6: read that again.

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Speaker 1: Here's the allegation that caught us off guard. It says,

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Speaker 1: quote the girls held there arranged in the age from

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Speaker 1: thirteen years old to seventeen years old. The defendants selected

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Speaker 1: young girls who were runaways, who were recently released from

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Speaker 1: Beloit Juvenile Correctional Facility, and or who came from broken

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Speaker 1: homes and moved these girls into Delevan to use them

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Speaker 1: in criminal activities, including sex trafficking. Unquote. The case alleges

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Speaker 1: that girls were being funneled straight from the juvenile detention

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Speaker 1: system or difficult family backgrounds into sex trafficking. Oh my god,

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Speaker 1: we need to process this.

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Speaker 6: Oh my god, it makes me so angry.

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Speaker 1: They didn't have to scour the street.

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Speaker 3: It seeks to the whole juvenile system and how they operate.

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Speaker 3: How do fuck They cover shit up. They cover up everything.

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Speaker 3: They won't tell you nothing when you have a loved one,

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Speaker 3: they won't help you.

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Speaker 1: As you can hear, processing those allegations was pretty overwhelming.

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Speaker 3: They discusflect, they cuts you out, They do everything they can,

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Speaker 3: and then they shift your kid own. I can't believe that.

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Speaker 3: That is wow. And it just speaks to how tough

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Speaker 3: this fight is all the time, all the time, because

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Speaker 3: the corruption is so deep, so entrenched, it's ridiculous.

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Speaker 1: The indictment paints a picture in which Gulupski was able

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Speaker 1: to use his police credentials to allegedly access and abuse

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Speaker 1: some of the most vulnerable children in Kansas City.

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Speaker 7: Oh my god, that hurts.

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Speaker 1: I don't know how to process that. We reached out

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Speaker 1: to Cecil Brooks, the other two defendants, and their lawyers

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Speaker 1: to ask about those allegations, but have not heard back

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Speaker 1: from them at the time of this recording. As we

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Speaker 1: tried to digest it all, we began to rifle through

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Speaker 1: our own memories. Kadezu recalled a conversation she had with

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Speaker 1: someone soon after Gallupski's death.

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Speaker 6: The person that called me said that she quit that

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Speaker 6: juvenile detention center because of what was going on behind

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Speaker 6: the scenes, and she tried to speak out about it.

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Speaker 1: There are a ton of people who allowed this to happen.

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Speaker 1: Anytime that you have crimes like this that go on

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Speaker 1: for years and decades, it is not done by just

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Speaker 1: one person, and so it was an organized effort and

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Speaker 1: they clearly had found a system that worked well for them.

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Speaker 6: Is crazy to me that you will have a number

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Speaker 6: of people that actually work in the juvenile detention center

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Speaker 6: and watch this thing happen and follow through with it.

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Speaker 1: We've heard so many stories of Roger Glupski targeting vulnerable

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Speaker 1: black women from poorer areas of our city, the kind

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Speaker 1: of women whose society is less likely to believe. But

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Speaker 1: the allegations in those documents suggest that both Galupski and

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Speaker 1: Cesel Brooks knew that young black girls were easier targets

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Speaker 1: and because of the way that society treats us like

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Speaker 1: adults when we're still children. It's called adultification bias, where

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Speaker 1: black and brown kids are treated like they're older, less vulnerable,

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Speaker 1: and more mature than they are. You see it all

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Speaker 1: the time. Sixteen year old Black boys hanging out on

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Speaker 1: the street like Lamt McIntyre are quick to being labeled

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Speaker 1: intimidating or thuggish. Fifteen year old Black girls walking home

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Speaker 1: from school like Stacy Quinn are quick to be labeled

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Speaker 1: fast and approached by older men because they're seen as

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Speaker 1: more mature. It's a cycle that leads them to be

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Speaker 1: perceived and punished like adults. We couldn't help, but wonder

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Speaker 1: if an organized operation like this would have been able

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Speaker 1: to take place in plain sight if it wasn't happening

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Speaker 1: to black girls. Kadijah and I didn't have perfect childhoods,

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Speaker 1: and even if we had, we're aware that so many

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Speaker 1: children are only ever just a few traumatic life events

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Speaker 1: away from being caught up in the criminal justice system

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Speaker 1: or having to flee a violent home. In short, those

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Speaker 1: girls could have been us.

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Speaker 6: When I was looking at the case, I felt naive.

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Speaker 6: It opened my eyes. I think that's what really pushed

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Speaker 6: me was the ideal that I was so close to

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Speaker 6: danger and God protected me through all of the ideal

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Speaker 6: of what danger really could have been like for me.

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Speaker 6: And so I was one grateful that I was protected,

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Speaker 6: but I was angry that so many people weren't, and

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Speaker 6: that as easily as I can see myself in danger,

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Speaker 6: that's how easy it was for them to allegedly do

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Speaker 6: what they did to so many women.

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Speaker 1: And it's just like I was just so close, you know,

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Speaker 1: and it's not just and that it was happening right

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Speaker 1: around me.

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Speaker 6: Just wouldn't have never crossed my mind in that manner,

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Speaker 6: that magnitude, that much explosiveness. It angered me. Once I

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Speaker 6: realized that I could have been one of them, it just, yeah,

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Speaker 6: it blows my mind.

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Speaker 1: Leaving through the indictment made me feel sick. A part

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Speaker 1: of me just wanted to put the documents down and

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Speaker 1: walk away because the darkness was overwhelming. But Kadija and

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Speaker 1: I were already into deep and we were about to

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Speaker 1: put together the final pieces of the puzzle. We started

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Speaker 1: this series with the story of a shooting Niko Quinn's cousins,

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Speaker 1: how she was intimidated into bearing false witness, and how

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Speaker 1: LaMonte McIntyre was sent to prison for a shooting he

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Speaker 1: didn't do. We've learned a lot since then, but there's

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Speaker 1: something we've been wondering ever since. Why was Roger Glupski

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Speaker 1: so determined to frame an innocent boy for that particular murder.

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Speaker 1: Reading the indictment felt like coming close to an answer.

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Speaker 1: Since the beginning, Nico has been saying that she thinks

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Speaker 1: Cecil the Monster were involved in her cousin's shooting. The

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Speaker 1: men she alleges beat her cousins up and knocked her

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Speaker 1: on her door to frighten her the men. Gelupski told

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Speaker 1: her not to mention during her cousin's murder investigation. Neither

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Speaker 1: Cecil or Monster have ever been formally accused of the

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Speaker 1: shooting or charged with the crime. We reached out to

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Speaker 1: them and their lawyers to ask about those allegations, but

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Speaker 1: have not her back from them at the time of

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Speaker 1: this recording. But if the story laid out in the

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Speaker 1: indictment is true and Gallupski did work with Cecil Brooks

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Speaker 1: throughout the nineties, this story takes on a whole new light.

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Speaker 1: Why focus attention away from Cecil if not to avoid

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Speaker 1: exposing his connection to Gallupski to keep prying eyes away

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Speaker 1: from what was happening at the Delavan apartments.

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Speaker 6: It speaks to motive and it gives credibility to many

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Speaker 6: other stories.

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Speaker 1: He saw an opportunity to hit two birds with one stone.

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Speaker 1: He needs Cecil on the street so he can continue

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Speaker 1: to conduct business and have the protections that he needed,

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Speaker 1: and so it just makes sense for him to continually

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Speaker 1: wrongfully convict other people so he can continue that business relationship.

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Speaker 1: Gallupski is dead, But because there are several other defendants

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Speaker 1: in the sex trafficking case, they have all pled not guilty,

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Speaker 1: and the case is going to trial. In fact, by

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Speaker 1: the time you hear this, it might have already happened.

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Speaker 1: We reached out to the people involved, but neither the

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Speaker 1: lawyers or the people in the FBI who investigated it

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Speaker 1: are able to talk about an ongoing case, and to

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Speaker 1: our knowledge, all of the victims have made the decision

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Speaker 1: to remain anonymous. So the two of us talked about

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Speaker 1: what we hoped the trial might bring to light.

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Speaker 6: My hope is that the prosecution closely looks at testimony

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Speaker 6: and the implications of other officers, because we know that

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Speaker 6: Roger Lucy did not act along. I would like to

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Speaker 6: see karma hit each and every one of these individuals

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Speaker 6: that saw it, knew what was going on, and actively

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Speaker 6: participated in harming people in Wyandot County.

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Speaker 1: For information to just come out. I think now that

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Speaker 1: Glupski is no longer here, Cecil Brooks may be more

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Speaker 1: compelled to just lay it all out. I don't think

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Speaker 1: he has anything to lose at this point in his

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Speaker 1: life of just being honest and being truthful. So I'm

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Speaker 1: really hoping that that's what happens. You never want to

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Speaker 1: hear these stories, but you know that they have to

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Speaker 1: come to light. Our community deserves that light, it deserves

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Speaker 1: the truth. It's very easy for that to happen again

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Speaker 1: within Wandte County. The way our systems are set up

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Speaker 1: are still set up that way. Our housing authority has

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Speaker 1: a relationship with our police department, which has a relationship

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Speaker 1: with our juvenile correctional facility, And so if someone wanted

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Speaker 1: to get into the system and organize that same type

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Speaker 1: of sex trafficking pipeline, they very well could do that.

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Speaker 1: And so I really just want to to understand exactly

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Speaker 1: what happened so we can then start doing the work

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Speaker 1: to break that system down wherever it may still be standing.

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Speaker 1: We need the information so we can make sure that

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Speaker 1: it doesn't happen again. Glupski's victims and their families are

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Speaker 1: hoping the trial can bring about justice, give them some

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Speaker 1: sense of closure by proving he did what they say

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Speaker 1: he did. But we're all still reckoning with what comes

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Speaker 1: next now that Gallupski is dead. Lamont McIntyre got a settlement,

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Speaker 1: but he'll never get back the twenty three years of

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Speaker 1: his life that he lost in prison after he was

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Speaker 1: wrongfully convicted of murdering Niko's cousin.

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Speaker 8: I can't change what happened with Gallupski now, no matter

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Speaker 8: how much anger, how much energy I give to it.

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Speaker 8: That's a final that's happened, right, So now I gotta

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Speaker 8: move on Courtly, I can't dwell on it no more.

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Speaker 8: I gotta just keep moving.

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Speaker 1: We also asked Trina Cooper, who reinvestigated her mother's murder,

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Speaker 1: about how she was feeling in the wake of Gallupski's death.

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Speaker 5: Justice would have looked like Klupski going to jail for me.

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Speaker 5: That would have been the biggest justice ever for me.

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Speaker 5: But of course that didn't happen, So now I really

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Speaker 5: don't know what justice will look like for me going forward.

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Speaker 1: But she does want the community and authorities to focus

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Speaker 1: their attention back to the institution that allowed Gallupski to

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Speaker 1: operate the way he did. My hope is they shut

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Speaker 1: WANDOT down, shut the police department down.

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Speaker 5: If it don't shut down, they clean it up. Clean

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Speaker 5: up all the corruption that's happening right up under y'all

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Speaker 5: knows that y'all know about.

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Speaker 1: That's my biggest hope. In twenty twenty two, the current

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Speaker 1: Chief of Police, Carl Oakman, spoke out in a press conference.

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Speaker 1: Here's what he said.

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Speaker 9: Roger Galuski has been charged with deplorable crimes. Although the

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Speaker 9: crimes date back twenty to twenty five years ago. He

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Speaker 9: did wear the uniform and calls pain to members of

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Speaker 9: this community and shame to the badge based on these charges,

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Speaker 9: Luski's tenure in law enforcement was a moral, ethical and

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Speaker 9: legal failure. Roger Glupski does not represent the culture, vision,

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Speaker 9: our mission of the current Kansas City, Kansas Police Department.

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Speaker 9: I would like to make it clear corruption in any

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Speaker 9: farm will not be tolerated on kck PD.

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Speaker 1: It's good to hear that the KCKPD acknowledge the pain

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Speaker 1: Roger Gulupski caused and are taking the matter of corruption seriously.

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Speaker 1: But it's clear the story is not over. Remember why

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Speaker 1: a tribute Nico Quinn's friend who was last seen getting

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Speaker 1: into a car with Gazupski before being murdered. The investigation

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Speaker 1: into our murder has been reopened. The FBI are actively

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Speaker 1: following new leads and seeking out information for her case.

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Speaker 1: But Ronda is just one of the many murdered women

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Speaker 1: linked to Gulubski. There are so many other grieving family

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Speaker 1: members unsure if they'll ever get answers or any form

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Speaker 1: of justice. So how do you even end a story

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Speaker 1: like this? Kadejia and I are still trying to figure

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Speaker 1: that out. It's a conversation we had with our producer Rafio.

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Speaker 7: We sometimes like to tell stories, podcasts, documentaries that end

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Speaker 7: with a happy ending, like justice happens as a resolution,

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Speaker 7: the bad guy gets caught. But this story doesn't tie

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Speaker 7: together as neatly, and the outcome hasn't been as satisfying

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Speaker 7: for you all, for the victims and survivors. So if

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Speaker 7: you were telling the story, how would you end up.

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Speaker 1: In a way that's happy, in any way, in a

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Speaker 1: way that feels true.

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Speaker 6: I often do fantasize a little bit, imagine what would

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Speaker 6: happen when this podcast comes out. And so when I imagine,

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Speaker 6: I imagine that we evoke something in the hearts of

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Speaker 6: people in Windotte County, and not just Windot County, but

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Speaker 6: across the world that evokes that Windotte County deserves this

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Speaker 6: type of change and it deserves the help of the

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Speaker 6: people to do that. And so I would hope that

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Speaker 6: this would be the next chapter in what we do

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Speaker 6: to make a difference, and that we produce great things

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Speaker 6: for the community that centers around healing, some form that

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Speaker 6: is community wide would break out from telling this story.

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Speaker 6: Even though we don't have the outcome we were looking for,

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Speaker 6: I just don't have hope.

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Speaker 1: But one thing we've learned through this process is that

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Speaker 1: you don't always get justice through the legal system. Sometimes

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Speaker 1: the most important thing that can come out of a

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Speaker 1: story like this is culture change, a community coming together

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Speaker 1: to demand that something like this can never happen again.

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Speaker 1: Abuse thrives in silence, so we have to keep speaking out.

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Speaker 1: I think it would be a lie to sit up

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Speaker 1: there and say that this story is over it because

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Speaker 1: it's it's not. I believe the chapter of Glupski maybe

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Speaker 1: is over, but the story isn't. The work isn't. So

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Speaker 1: for us here in Wandette County, I believe it's to

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Speaker 1: be continued.

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Speaker 5: I got you, I got you.

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Speaker 1: It's been over forty years since Roger Glupski first assaulted

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Speaker 1: Nico's older sister, Stacy. Nico knows Gallupski will never face trial,

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Speaker 1: but she's determined to make sure that nobody forgets what

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Speaker 1: he did. She refuses to let the memory of women

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Speaker 1: who lost their lives fade away.

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Speaker 4: I want these women to be remembered in a positive way,

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Speaker 4: not of what they were prostitutes or crackheads. And they're

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Speaker 4: not a homicide victim. These women had names. Let's say

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Speaker 4: they name and continue to say it, because they had

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Speaker 4: a hard life in life, Let's honor them in death.

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Speaker 1: Nico's still trying to figure out what justice looks like

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Speaker 1: for her.

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Speaker 4: I'm praying that everybody that was murdered, they're homicide be solved,

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Speaker 4: whether the person that did is deceased or whatever. And

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Speaker 4: I'm wanting these families to get closure. That's all I'm

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Speaker 4: asking for is closure, a sense of peace.

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Speaker 1: She's been trying her best to live the kind of

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Speaker 1: life her older sister would be proud of by looking

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Speaker 1: out for her family, especially her nephew, Stacy's son Janelle.

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Speaker 4: That is my baby. I love him to pieces. He'd

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Speaker 4: have made three babies, Finna be four. So I think

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Speaker 4: I did my part, and I'm still trying to protect them.

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Speaker 1: They're close, but Nico often thinks about the families of

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Speaker 1: murdered women in her community who don't have someone looking

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Speaker 1: out for them. When she was younger, she used to

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Speaker 1: open her home up to women who needed her help.

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Speaker 1: Now she wants to extend that safe place out to

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Speaker 1: their families and loved ones by starting a support group

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Speaker 1: she calls the Spiritual Sister Circle.

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Speaker 4: To help the victims their children to learn how to

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Speaker 4: cope or live with the traumatizing things that happen in

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Speaker 4: their life, and to try to move in a positive direction,

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Speaker 4: help and get them work ready and ready to change

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Speaker 4: their lives.

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Speaker 1: Niko's been a professional truck driver for over twenty years now.

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Speaker 1: She loves her life on the open road, but it's

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Speaker 1: not the life she originally planned out.

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Speaker 4: I was going to get my nursing license.

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Speaker 1: She wanted to fulfill the dream her older sister Stacy

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Speaker 1: wasn't able to. But she needed to make some extra

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Speaker 1: money to support her kids while she did it.

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Speaker 4: So I started looking into the trucking and then I

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Speaker 4: went in to get my trucking license. My kid is

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Speaker 4: always Mammy, were never home. You always worked two jobs,

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Speaker 4: and I said, I had to provide for y'all.

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Speaker 1: But there was more to it than just money.

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Speaker 4: My thought process was what's the best thing to do

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Speaker 4: to get away from this man? Then to hide over

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Speaker 4: the road. I wanted a truck in because I just

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Speaker 4: wanted to get away from everybody, and mainly to get

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Speaker 4: away from him.

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Speaker 1: Nico spent long days on the road trying to outrun

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Speaker 1: her memories of Roger Glupski and the shadow he cast

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Speaker 1: over her hometown.

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Speaker 4: I was able to clear my mind. I was able

436
00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:32,440
Speaker 4: to forget about what I was going through. It stayed

437
00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:34,280
Speaker 4: in the back of my mind, but I knew I

438
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:38,320
Speaker 4: was safe on the highway. I didn't too much have

439
00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:42,080
Speaker 4: to look over my shoulder or worry about somebody following

440
00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:44,120
Speaker 4: me or things of that nature.

441
00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:52,560
Speaker 1: It's been almost a year since Gallupski died, but Nico

442
00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:56,520
Speaker 1: hasn't moved back to Kansas City, Kansas. She lives on

443
00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 1: the Missouri side now because while she's come a long way,

444
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,200
Speaker 1: the grief of knowing what Gelupski did to her sister

445
00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:06,000
Speaker 1: and so many of the other women she loved hasn't

446
00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:08,680
Speaker 1: left her. She's not sure if it ever will.

447
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:14,040
Speaker 4: Now a lot of people ask me, well, how do

448
00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:17,480
Speaker 4: you feel? So, I don't know if you're familiar with

449
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:21,320
Speaker 4: solanch the song She Got Cranes in the Sky.

450
00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:25,400
Speaker 1: It's a song about heartbreak and all the things you

451
00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:28,560
Speaker 1: can do to try to numb, avoid and navigate pain.

452
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:33,080
Speaker 4: It's just there until somebody remove it. So how do

453
00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:37,400
Speaker 4: we get rid of the pain? You dance, you sing,

454
00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:40,600
Speaker 4: you change your hair, you change your style of dress.

455
00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,040
Speaker 1: In the song, Solon sings about how you can try

456
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:47,600
Speaker 1: to drink the pain away, run it away, write it away,

457
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,600
Speaker 1: or even drive around seventy states in hopes that moving

458
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:55,440
Speaker 1: around might make you feel better. But in reality, the

459
00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:59,240
Speaker 1: pain doesn't ever truly leave. You just learn to live

460
00:30:59,280 --> 00:30:59,640
Speaker 1: with it.

461
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:03,560
Speaker 4: I try so many things to get rid of the pain,

462
00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:07,120
Speaker 4: and the pain is still here. But a lot of

463
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:11,280
Speaker 4: people say, how do I feel about her being gone?

464
00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:15,360
Speaker 4: First of all, I know where she is. Second of all,

465
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:20,800
Speaker 4: she's not cold, she ain't hungry, she ain't hurt no more.

466
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:28,200
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty five marks the twenty fifth anniversary of Stacy's death.

467
00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:32,840
Speaker 1: Nico recently got a new headstone to mark Stacy's grave,

468
00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:36,520
Speaker 1: and she and Joanelle went to plan a celebration to

469
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:37,880
Speaker 1: honor Stacy's life.

470
00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:45,400
Speaker 4: I want to throw her big party. I just want

471
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:47,680
Speaker 4: to get the family together, and because a lot of

472
00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:50,240
Speaker 4: them haven't seen the headstone, so I want them all

473
00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:54,400
Speaker 4: to go out and look at it and take pictures

474
00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:57,960
Speaker 4: and put some flowers down, have a few family and

475
00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:02,720
Speaker 4: friends there, do a big dinner, a prayer, another balloon release,

476
00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:05,800
Speaker 4: and let her go. The spirit is already telling me

477
00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:09,760
Speaker 4: that's going to be a nice day.

478
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:12,800
Speaker 1: Nico's not sure how to navigate the lasting pain of

479
00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:15,880
Speaker 1: her grief, or how to reckon with the justice she

480
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:19,600
Speaker 1: and her sister won't get. But once the memorial has

481
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,480
Speaker 1: taken place, she wants to finally move on.

482
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:29,000
Speaker 4: I was talking to my nephew and he said, Anie,

483
00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:34,640
Speaker 4: I'm tired. I'm tired of keeping on reliving this. So

484
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:39,600
Speaker 4: because of his wishes, and I think everybody wishes, I'm

485
00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:45,280
Speaker 4: gonna let my sister go ahead and be peaceful, give

486
00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:48,960
Speaker 4: her that piece that she needs, because I think every

487
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:51,640
Speaker 4: time we talk about it, we're not doing number digging

488
00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:52,480
Speaker 4: these people up.

489
00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:57,120
Speaker 1: It hasn't been easy for her, but Nico wanted this

490
00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:00,160
Speaker 1: story to be told. She wanted you to know what

491
00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:04,920
Speaker 1: happened to her, her cousins, her friends, and her sister

492
00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:09,080
Speaker 1: in her own words, so they would never be forgotten.

493
00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:16,080
Speaker 1: But the time for grueling legal investigations, depositions, and podcast

494
00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:21,160
Speaker 1: interviews is over. After thirty years of rewinding the tape

495
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:25,280
Speaker 1: back to nineteen ninety four, Nico has made the decision

496
00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:26,680
Speaker 1: to close the chapter.

497
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,000
Speaker 4: After all this is said and done, and we get

498
00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:38,720
Speaker 4: done with what we're doing, I'm gonna give my sister

499
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 4: a sense of peace. She didn't hunt it Gluski enough.

500
00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:48,840
Speaker 4: She didn't time to him enough. It's time for her

501
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:52,160
Speaker 4: to sleep and have some type of peace because she

502
00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:56,240
Speaker 4: needs it. Because if she had a rough life in life,

503
00:33:56,360 --> 00:34:01,080
Speaker 4: I'm gonna let her rest in death, close that casket.

504
00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:05,000
Speaker 4: I'm gonna let her wrist because it's time.

505
00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:45,720
Speaker 1: The series may be over, but there's more to come.

506
00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:49,879
Speaker 1: Next time. In the first of our bonus episodes, I'll

507
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:52,400
Speaker 1: be taking a deep dive into the area where this

508
00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:56,799
Speaker 1: story takes place, Quindero, and looking at its unique and

509
00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:59,680
Speaker 1: remarkable history and the fight for freedom.

510
00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:03,920
Speaker 10: There were a bunch of families seeking freedom in Kansas,

511
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:07,640
Speaker 10: and there was talks of an underground railroad through that area,

512
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:10,640
Speaker 10: and they were able to just walk across that river

513
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:14,200
Speaker 10: to safety. And then they had to be hitting when Daryl,

514
00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:17,640
Speaker 10: it means bundle of sticks. One stick by itself is

515
00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:20,000
Speaker 10: easy to break, But you put a bundle of sticks together,

516
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:24,000
Speaker 10: and that's harder to break. If we stick together, it's

517
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:25,000
Speaker 10: harder to separate us.

518
00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:34,360
Speaker 1: The Girlfriend's Untouchable is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts.

519
00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:38,719
Speaker 1: For more from Novel, visit novel dot Audio. The show

520
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:42,520
Speaker 1: is narrated by me Nicki Richardson. It was written and

521
00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:47,160
Speaker 1: produced by Rufao Mazarua. The editor is Joe Wheeler. Our

522
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:52,760
Speaker 1: assistant producer is Mohammed Ahmed. The researcher is Zaiyana Yusef.

523
00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:57,920
Speaker 1: Production management from Shari Houston and Joe Savage. The fact

524
00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:02,359
Speaker 1: checker is Fendell Fulton. Sound design, mixing and scoring by

525
00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:07,440
Speaker 1: Daniel Kimpson with additional engineering by Nicholas Alexander. Music supervision

526
00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:12,880
Speaker 1: by Rufaro Mazurura, Nicholas Alexander and Joe Wheeler. Original music

527
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:17,240
Speaker 1: by Amanda Jones. The Girlfriend's theme was composed by Amanda

528
00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:21,440
Speaker 1: Jones and Louisa Gerstein. The series artwork was designed by

529
00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:25,239
Speaker 1: Christina Limcool. The voice of Tina Peterson was read by

530
00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:30,239
Speaker 1: Ebanie Janelle. Story development by Olivia Smart and Nel Gray Andrews.

531
00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:35,319
Speaker 1: Novel's director of development is Selena Metta. Willard Foxton is

532
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:40,040
Speaker 1: Novel's creative director of Development. Max O'Brien and Craig Strachan

533
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:44,440
Speaker 1: are executive producers for Novel. Katrina Norvel and Nikki Etour

534
00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:48,720
Speaker 1: are the executive producers for iHeart Podcasts, and the marketing

535
00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:53,840
Speaker 1: lead is Alison Cantor. Special thanks to Will Pearson and

536
00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:56,960
Speaker 1: his special thanks to Carley Frankel and the whole team

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00:36:57,120 --> 00:36:58,200
Speaker 1: at w M E