WEBVTT - Episode 6 - The Runner, The Liar and The Broken System 0:00:02.480 --> 0:00:05.200 Crazy in Love is the true crime podcast that tells 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:08.480 love stories with a twist. When Lauren told her parents 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:11.240 about Seohn, they could tell that she was quote unquote smitten. 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.680 Sometimes the twist of a knife, campus police start a 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:18.079 man hunt for Melbourne. They ended up finding him hours 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:21.400 later inside an unlocked church. Just because things start off 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:26.119 with once upon a Time doesn't mean everyone lives happily 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:30.240 ever after. This is Crazy in Love, a production of 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:36.640 Katie Studios and I Heart Radio. I'm Courtney Armstrong, a 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:40.839 crime producer at Katie Studios, joined by fellow producers Stephanie Ledaker, 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:45.720 Beth Greenwald, and Jeff Shane. We've all worked for years 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:49.560 on various crime podcasts and TV series, and as crime 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:53.400 producers we talk murder all the time. One thing we've 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:55.880 noticed is just how many of them stem from love. 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:00.640 We're exploring the story of the runner, the fire, and 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:04.960 the broken system. Since she was a baby, Lauren McCluskey 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:07.800 like to move. She learned to walk at just nine 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:11.679 months old and quickly excelled at track and field. Hurtling 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:15.640 and high jumps became her strong suit. At one point 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:18.880 she even ranked tenth in the country, and before she 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:22.200 knew it. Lauren had a plethora of colleges offering her scholarships. 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.240 Smart and reserved, Lauren and her parents decided on the 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:29.480 University of Utah, where she would major in communication studies. 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:33.360 Aside from its strong track program Salt Lake City was 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:37.119 a safe place and Lauren's parents felt comfortable about sending 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:41.400 her all the way from Washington State. Her father's biggest 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:44.920 concern was her driving, and he spent hours researching the 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:48.680 best car for her. At school, Lauren made friends quickly, 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:52.960 but really focused on church track and her studies. Partying 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:56.680 and dating took a back seat. It wasn't until the 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:58.640 fall of her senior year that she met a guy 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:01.200 who caught her eye. On a night out with her 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:03.600 best friend and roommate, Alex, she met a bouncer at 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:09.320 a local bar, the London Bell. His name was Shaun Fields. Tall, 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:13.400 dark and handsome. There was an immediate attraction. Throughout the night, 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:15.720 Shawn kept an eye on Lauren and her friend, making 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:18.679 sure they got drinks in a timely fashion. At the 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:20.240 end of the night, on the way out of the bar, 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:23.280 Shawn asked Lauren for her number. The next day he 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:25.800 called and asked her to dinner, and just a week 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:29.680 and a half later, they were officially boyfriend and girlfriend. 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:35.200 Here's Jeff first and foremost as producers were victims advocates. 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:37.760 Our goal is always to shine a light on injustices 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.040 and bring attention to stories that we feel need to 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:42.280 be heard. In our work, We've noticed that many of 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.400 these crimes stem from the same thing, love, and that's 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:48.280 why we decided to call together some of the most egregious, shocking, 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:52.400 and terrifying stories of relationships that took deadly turns. Our 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:54.680 hope is to not only raise awareness about the victim 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:57.079 and what happened to them, but also help listeners learn 0:02:57.120 --> 0:02:58.760 to look out for some of the warning signs in 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:03.000 toxic situations that are in their own lives. Lauren actually 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:08.079 chose the University of Utah because it was considered so safe. Interestingly, 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:12.520 Utah is actually the fourth safest state in the United States, 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:17.240 and this university specifically highlights safety as being such a 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:21.040 big importance on campus. In fact, their admissions department actually 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:24.760 has a packet that outlines all of their safety measures 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:28.880 and it's listed as definitely one of the safest schools 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:31.680 in Utah. You can't get much safer than being with 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:34.520 a former military guy who works as a security guard. Well, 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.200 Jeff Shaun was a part time computer science student at 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:40.480 a nearby community college. He also was in the military 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.400 and trained as a security officer. And this was Laurences 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.080 first relationship. And Shawn and Lawrence courtship was described as 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.880 very old fashioned. He'd call her and ask her out 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:51.440 and take her to these nice dinners, nothing like the 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:55.160 drunken hookups that most college students deal with. And he 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:57.120 was older. He was twenty eight, so he was seven 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:00.000 years her senior. But you know, remember she was really 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:04.440 mature for age. Sean was not only Lauren's first boyfriend, 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:06.440 but really the first guy that she ever spent any 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:09.880 extended period of time with, even casually dated. Not only 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:12.960 was she extremely excited, but she was also very inexperienced 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.159 with guys in general. When Lauren told her parents about Sean, 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:18.720 they could tell that she was quote unquote smitten. Her 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:22.320 dad remembers even thinking that very quickly, and Lauren seemed 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:26.880 like she was in love. Well, Lauren was over the 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:30.040 moon with her new relationship fairly quickly, her friends saw 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:34.760 some disturbing cracks. Lauren, who was once very independent. Now 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:37.400 seemed like she was at Shawn's beck and call. He 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:39.400 would make her pick him up after his shift at 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:44.040 the bar ended, without fail, sometimes as late as two am. 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:47.120 He also started to require Lauren to send him photos 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:50.080 of where she was and who she was with. He 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:53.560 wanted to know exactly what she was up to. The 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:57.120 relationship continued to get serious, and after just a few weeks, 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:01.360 he was basically living in Lauren's dorm. After becoming friends 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:03.720 with other students, he was able to get in and 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:06.559 out of the dorm without the usually required key card. 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:11.160 Things took an unexpected and somewhat dangerous turn when Sean 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:13.279 started telling Lauren he wanted to give her a gun. 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:20.440 He insisted it was for her safety. Here's Stephanie. In 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.760 doing our research, we learned that Lauren's friends were immediately 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:27.239 disturbed by this purchase of a gun, but Laurence seemed 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:31.479 to be less surprised or concerned about it. Sean, we know, 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.080 had taken Lauren to the shooting range with some of 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:36.720 his friends, and he always told her that he felt 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:39.120 it was very important that she knew how to operate 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:42.080 a gun, mostly so that she could always protect herself 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:47.560 Lauren's friend and her are a the resident advisor on 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:51.320 their floor in the college dormitory. They actually were very 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:55.320 concerned about their being a gun being held at the university, 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:59.920 and they reported it, and despite the concerns, the universities 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:04.200 seemed very unfazed and basically brushed it off. Just worth 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.720 noting studies also do show that it's actually more dangerous 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:11.080 to own a gun because there's a chance you could 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:14.359 actually be killed with it by mistake. You know, Steph, 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:16.800 you know. Two thousand and fourteen review of the Annals 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:20.080 of Internal Medicine concluded having a firearm in the home, 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:24.279 even when it's properly stored, doubles the risk of someone 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:27.680 becoming the victim of homicide, and it triples the risk 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:31.640 of suicide. The r A really was right in her 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:33.720 thinking that this should be reported and taken seriously, and 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:35.640 it must have been really frustrating that the University of 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.560 Utah was kind of brushing her off and putting off 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:42.599 any sort of disciplinary action against Lauren and Sean for 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:47.200 having this gun. Lauren was also really exhausted because Sean 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:51.160 was increasingly getting more controlling in nature wanted to know 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:54.600 who she was with, where she was, and friends remembered 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:58.359 that laurencein said not like her usual bubbly self, but 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:01.479 she would always make excuses for on behavior and maybe 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.160 it was her inexperience in dating. She didn't really have 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.680 a boy from before, and friends to tell her that 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:09.560 this stuff is not normal, even if it's your first relationship. 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:12.520 These are red flags. This is also a clear example 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:16.200 that Lauren has followed the rules perfectly. She's done everything correctly. 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:18.400 She chose the right school because it was so safe. 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:22.440 She's learning gun safety even though she might have some misgivings, 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:25.840 She's at least learning it correctly, and her friends also 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:30.440 did the right thing by reporting it. In early October, 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.600 after about a month of dating, Lauren made a shocking discovery. 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:36.880 She happened to get a glimpse of Shawn's I D 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:40.320 and while his photo was there, there was a different name. 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:46.720 It was Melvin Rowland and Melvin's age was listed at 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.280 thirty seven, not twenty eight like Sean had told Lauren. 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:55.720 So Lauren did what any young person does when they 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:58.200 have a question. They turned to Google, and what she 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:01.640 found was pretty disturbing. She found out that Sean or 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.800 Melvin as his real name is was actually a registered 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.760 sex offender. He was convicted of forcible sexual abuse and 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:11.240 enticing a minor over the internet. Scared and confused, Lauren 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:13.080 talked to her mom and her friends about the best 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:15.760 way to break up with him. That's disturbing to no end. 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:18.880 I mean, again, this is her first real relationship, Jeff Right, 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:21.520 and to find out that the guy that she fell 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:25.320 head over heels for was a registered sex offender who 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:28.280 lied about his age. What else? What is true about 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.160 this guy? I mean, that is shocking information to learn 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:34.640 about the person you love. Yeah, Stephen, you know, to 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:37.079 your earlier point, we talked about her inexperience in dating. 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:40.520 But again she did the right thing. She found the answers, 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:42.800 and she immediately made the decision to break up with him. 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:45.079 So she was not going to let this guy lie 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:47.959 to her at this point, he was so woven into 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:50.520 the fabric of her life. He was so friendly with 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.040 other people in the dorm that he didn't need a 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:56.000 card to get in out. Her friends were his friends, 0:08:56.840 --> 0:08:58.880 and so this just must have been to the core 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:02.320 disturbed ring for her. But he really kind of had 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:05.880 a meshed himself in her world. And to find this out, 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:09.280 you know, not only for Lauren's security, but those around her. 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:11.839 She must be feeling, you know, some sort of responsibility 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.080 and guilt about. That's such a good point, Beth. And 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:18.240 also imagine how devastated she must have been here you 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:20.840 are choosing what you think to be this wonderful guy, 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:23.320 only to find out that everything is a lie in 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:26.400 a house of cards. Where do you go from there? 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:30.320 These are big, big lies, And at this point that 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:32.800 she needs out of the bottle and she can't go backward. 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:35.840 But it's probably a scary thing to figure out how 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:40.120 to successfully break up with him altogether. Steph had also 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:42.120 almost rock her to the core and just make her 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.200 question her decisions. Here she was, she was in the 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:47.720 stable relationship with the secure guy, and all of it 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:49.800 turned out to be wrong. So I wonder if she 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:52.240 lost like a lot of her confidence a hundred percent. 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:56.640 And imagine this guy is presenting himself to be one way, 0:09:56.720 --> 0:10:00.200 and it's probably a very smooth talker and a well 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:02.800 to do that very successfully. So yeah, she didn't do 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:06.160 anything wrong. She believed him is just the truth, and 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:08.800 that's what people do when they're in love. My heart 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:12.120 breaks for her because she finds out this information, and 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:14.920 even though she loves him, how confusing. Where does she 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:19.480 go from here? The night of her unsettling discovery, Sean 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:22.640 who we now knew is really named Melvin, came over 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.280 and Lauren tried to break up with him, but he 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:27.240 ended up convincing her to let him spend the night. 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:32.200 The next day, he left but borrowed Lauren's car. To Lauren, 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:36.600 this was the end of their relationship. The relationship was over. 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:39.840 She just needed her car back. The plan was that 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:42.040 Melvin would drop the car in a lot and Lauren 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:46.120 would pick it up later. Concerned, Lauren's mom called campus 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:50.480 police and explained the entire situation. Campus police set up 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:52.760 an escort with Lauren to get the car, and it 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:56.560 went off without a hitch. With the car back and 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:59.720 the boyfriend dumped. Lauren thought this strange and unsettling chapter 0:10:59.880 --> 0:11:04.400 was finally over. That was until just two days later, 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:09.480 on October twelve, Lauren started getting a barrage of texts 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.880 from different numbers. They all claimed to be friends of Melvin. 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:18.920 At first, the texts were innocuous things like why did 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:21.080 you do this to the big guy? Now he's upset, 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:26.720 But soon they got increasingly bizarre. The so called friends 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:30.360 told her Melvin was injured, and at one point even 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:34.440 told her that he was dead. One exchange went like this, 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:38.520 will you come to a funeral? And unknown number asked 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:44.480 Lauren responded, I know he's alive, Please leave me alone 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:49.760 and don't Texas number I got the police involved. Understandably, 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:53.200 Lauren was scared, and she called nine one one. Here's 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:58.080 an excerpt from that call. I've been getting these texts 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:02.320 about from some of these numbers are right, um of 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:05.600 different people saying that they were saying that he was 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.200 in the hospital and then saying that like that he 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:12.480 passed away. But then but then I got a text 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:17.120 from him and he seems to be alive. So um, 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:19.560 and then they were I got a text about, you know, 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:23.760 asking if I wanted to go to m hm a funeral, 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:28.880 his funeral. It's harrowing stuff. Again, this is a major 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:33.080 cry for help. And at the time told her that 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.040 there was really nothing that they could do about it 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:40.640 because the texts weren't directly threatening her, and really all 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:44.720 Lauren could do was block the numbers and hope that 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:49.480 it would stop. We're going to take a quick break. 0:12:49.760 --> 0:13:05.559 We'll be back in just a moment. I've been doing 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:09.199 a little research about online harassment and what it means 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:11.719 and how serious it is, and it actually happens to 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:13.680 a lot of people. Forty one percent of people have 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:17.800 reported experiencing some sort of cyber harassment. Furthermore, percent of 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:20.880 woman report being harassed in general. So clearly it's an issue, 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:24.800 and it's a shame that the campus police couldn't or 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:28.439 wouldn't take it more seriously. Again, they're just working under 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:33.000 the law of what counts as harassment. This was serious, 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:35.440 but the campus police only have about twenty officers for 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:37.920 a campus of over thirty students, and so they can't 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:41.880 follow up in great detail with every single call they get. Understood, 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.280 But at the same time, her friends already reached out 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:47.760 saying that there was a gun being held at the campus. 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:50.160 And now this is her, the person who's with the 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:53.520 guy who has the gun, calling and saying something that 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:56.440 would feel right, and she's getting all these texts that 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.040 are bringing her concern. At some point somebody should look 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:00.920 into it. I think that is a case of people 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:03.960 not connecting the dots. Lauren's friend and r A reported 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:07.840 the gun to the dorm authorities and Lauren's calling campus police, 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.760 and so these two groups are not intersecting on reports, Jeff, 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:14.640 Everything that happened is already disturbing. But then the harassment 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:18.120 seemed to escalate, and Lauren got an email that was 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:21.960 threatening to release intimate photos that she took with Melvin 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:25.160 if she didn't pay a thousand bucks. So they were 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.040 basically going to publicly humiliate her unless she paid this money, 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:32.080 which is blackmail, and Lauren really wasn't sure what to do. 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:35.400 You know, she paid the money and went in person 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:38.920 to file a report with campus police, and what they 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:40.360 had said to her actually was that it was a 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:43.240 scam and to ignore it. And they even suggested that 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.200 Melvin might be a victim to this too. How is 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:48.760 that not looked into? Even if that's the case and 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:51.160 Melvin's a victim and this as well, This to me 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:54.920 seems like a tipping point of mounting evidence that at 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:58.920 the bare minimum, somebody from the university should be checking 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:02.480 into it, even a very basic level. Now this points 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:04.520 to a third time that there has been an instance 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:08.920 that police or officials at the campus were notified of 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:12.680 something that just didn't feel right and they chose not 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:15.600 to act on it. Someone threatening to reveal this intimate 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:19.400 photo is a violation of the state revenge porn laws. 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.520 So I'm surprised that no one jumped into action on 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:25.040 her nine on one calls. You know, you hear the 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:26.800 fear in her voice and kind of the trepidation. You know, 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:28.360 she's a twenty one year old girl calling nine on 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.560 one by herself. If anyone's ever been in fear, it 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.760 is a very confusing place to be. And on the 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:37.440 one hand, you have all these mixed emotions. You feel betrayed, 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:41.000 you feel sad, you feel scared, and you kind of 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:43.440 just want somebody to swoop in to fix it. Her 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:47.040 friends were rallying for her, and now the university has 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:50.280 been reached out to three separate times. What more could 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:52.640 she possibly do? Yest that from when I looked it 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:55.800 up in Utah to class a missemeanor to knowingly or 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:59.920 attentionally distribute sexual images to anybody without that person's consent. 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:03.160 So that was a that was a crime right and 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:06.040 should have been handled as a crime. Not to mention 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:08.440 you know how much courage it takes to actually reach 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:11.160 out and ask for help, especially if you've been in 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:15.000 a controlling relationship, which we know this was. It's really 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:17.200 hard to see outside of it. Sometimes you don't trust 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:19.640 your own gut, you don't trust your own instincts, and 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:24.480 she was wise enough and brave enough to actually speak 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:28.640 out and ask for help, help that honestly never came. 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:33.200 Ten days after the breakup, in mid October, Lauren got 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:35.680 a text that read, what did you tell the cops? 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:39.240 We know everything? How did Melvin know that Lauren had 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:43.080 gone to the police? Had her tech savvy x actor? 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:47.120 Was there a leak in the police department. Exasperated, Lauren 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:51.080 decided to go to Salt Lake City Police with more manpower. 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:54.560 She hoped they would help her, but frustratingly, they followed 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:58.600 protocol and referred her back to campus police. The campus 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:02.600 police continued to brush off her concerns. Lauren was angry 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:05.639 and scared. She told her friends that the police didn't 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:09.320 believe her. Here's a portion of another nine one one 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:17.040 call Lauren made. I'm worried because I I've been working 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:21.160 with the campus police UM at the U and last 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:26.320 Saturday I reported and then UM and I haven't gotten 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:32.800 an update. Okay, but somewhat contacted me today. Someone who 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:38.720 was harassed, said that that they know everything about the police. 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:43.560 And okay, so you already spoke to the campus police. 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:54.160 Did something. Did this happen on the University of Utah campus? Um? Yes, yes, yes, 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:57.400 and they haven't updated or done anything. So the case 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:04.120 it involves extortion. And it's really maddening to hear this 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:08.119 call because again now she knows that the university police 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:11.280 are failing her and not taking her attempts to get 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:14.280 some help seriously. So she has again the courage to 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:18.400 actually call the real police on one to say please help, 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:22.080 nobody's listening to me, and again she just gets benched 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:26.119 and given no support. Steph. You know, again going back 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:28.080 to the beginning of this, this was her first boyfriend, 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:31.200 and then to find out everything that she found out 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:33.840 must have shook her confidence. And now she's doing what 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:35.439 she thinks is the right thing to do, and no 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:38.120 one's reacting with the urgency that she feels. So I'm 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:41.320 sure you know, she's just kind of lost. Her whole life, 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:43.200 followed all the rules. You know, she went to church, 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:45.119 she worked hard in school, she worked hard in track, 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:47.399 and that got her to where she was, which is 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.840 in a successful place. And now that she's in this 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:53.679 place of fear. She's still trying to follow the rules 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:57.400 and it's not working. Can you imagine how petrified she 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:00.320 must have been to actually call nine one one and 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:03.320 fear that they would ignore her again and that somebody 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:06.360 would find out that she had called nine one one 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:09.919 and that he would retaliate against her. Yeah, and at 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:13.639 any moment release these intimate photos that he's threatening her with, like, 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:16.720 so that's another layer of juicing physical or he could 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:18.520 just at one point just release the photos and her 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:20.719 whole reputation at schools run. She was probably in such 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:23.639 a dark place. It's really sad. And you can hear that, Jeff. 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.880 You know, remember back in in the middle of like October, 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:30.760 she was getting a bras of these texts from different numbers, 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:33.280 and one of these texts and it wasn't Melvin's number, 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:35.720 she said, leave me alone. I got the police involved. 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:38.320 So that leaves me to believe, you know, is that 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:40.560 some sort of ghost number he was using, And she 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:44.040 did say I got the police involved. It's really unfortunate 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:46.000 to Beth because we hear this time and time again 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:48.840 that a victim or soon to be victim reaches out 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:52.879 to authorities and either gets a restraining order or reaches 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:56.680 out for help to loved ones, and as a result, 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:03.080 that might make the perpetrator more angry and retaliate. So 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:07.760 in her case, she's shouting from the rooftops to anybody 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:10.679 who will listen, and outside of her friends in her 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:14.280 immediate family, nobody is taking her seriously in any way. 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:19.240 And meanwhile, there's actual security footage that shows Melvin at 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:25.000 various different campus locations looking for Lauren, which is super scary. 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:28.080 So she was right to be fearful of this. We 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:32.600 often have a bad feeling and somehow explain it away. 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:35.040 We don't trust our own instincts and trust our gut, 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:39.560 and this is an unfortunate reminder that we have to. 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:43.119 At one point, Lauren even sent screenshots of Melvine's criminal 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:46.359 history to police, begging for help and really pointing to 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:48.240 the fact this guy is we should take this seriously, 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:52.680 and to that no one even responded. Unimaginable. That's your 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:55.919 whole purpose is to protect these you know, the students. 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:59.560 And again she's giving you everything you need. There was 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:03.000 a gun, there's harassment, there's blackmail, a violation of the 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:07.560 porn law, and now this where she's basically saying, he's 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:11.080 on parole, he's a sex offender and convicted of violent 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:15.440 crimes and what was done Nothing. Yeah, she was betrayed 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:17.879 by Melvin, but I think, honestly, the biggest betrayal in 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:20.280 this case is the school to Lauren, how much they 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:24.800 failed her. And can you imagine how infuriating that must 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:27.760 be for the parents of Lauren, Like her poor mother 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:32.200 must be beside herself, because again, they were all shouting 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:35.560 from the rooftops. Mrs McClaskey made multiple calls to campus 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:38.119 police talking about the situation, explaining them even at one 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:41.000 point thanking them for their help. So it's not like 0:21:41.080 --> 0:21:43.119 they were turning a blind eye of this either. Everyone 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:45.040 in Lauren's life was trying to get her the help 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:50.600 she needed. At one point, Lauren even sent screenshots of 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:54.119 Melvin's criminal history to police, begging for help, but no 0:21:54.160 --> 0:22:00.360 one responded. On the morning of Monday, October, a month 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:03.280 and a half after meeting Melvin, Lauren got a text 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:07.320 from an unknown number. It claimed to be an officer 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:11.199 asking Lauren to meet. Concerned it was Melvin trying to 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:13.879 lure her somewhere, she called nine on one to report 0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:18.520 him impersonating an officer. Police told her to simply ignore 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:23.640 the texts. That afternoon, Melvin was spotted on dorm security 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:28.919 footage pacing the halls waiting for Lauren. Hours later, he 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:33.560 was still in the dorm lobby. At eight pm, Lauren 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:35.960 was walking back from class. She was on the phone 0:22:36.000 --> 0:22:40.560 with her mother. They were having a normal conversation. Lauren 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:43.080 was talking about projects she was working on and at 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:46.760 school was going well. She was hopeful to move past 0:22:46.840 --> 0:22:51.919 the Melvin saga. But what Lauren's mother heard next is 0:22:51.960 --> 0:22:57.639 every parent's worst nightmare. Lauren was ambushed by Melvin in 0:22:57.680 --> 0:23:00.720 the parking lot. He dragged her in to his car, 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:03.439 throwing her in the back seat, and shooting her several times. 0:23:04.880 --> 0:23:08.720 She died on the scene. All the while, her mother 0:23:08.800 --> 0:23:14.840 was listening to her daughter's final moments. So after hearing 0:23:14.880 --> 0:23:19.480 this horrible moment, Lauren's dad immediately calls campus police and 0:23:19.480 --> 0:23:22.919 tell this them what they think they just heard. Campus 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:25.240 police react and immediately locked down the school and start 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:29.320