303: Arkansas Hikers Murdered, TikTok Cult FBI Raid, Dad Stages Abduction to Cover Murder

Speaker 1 Get Ready for Malice, a twisted new drama starring Jack Whitehall, David DeCoveny, and Carice Van Houten.

Speaker 1 Jack Whitehall plays Adam, a charming manny who infiltrates the wealthy Tanner family with a hidden motive to destroy them.

Speaker 1 This edge-of-your-seat revenge thriller unravels a deliciously dark mystery in a world full of wealth, secrets, and betrayal. Malice will constantly keep you on your toes.

Speaker 1 Why is Adam after the Tanner family? What lengths will he go to? One thing's for sure, the past never stays buried, so keep your enemies close.

Speaker 1 Watch Malice, all episodes now streaming exclusively on Prime Video.

Speaker 2 Hey, True Crime Besties, welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialously.

Speaker 2 Hey, everybody, welcome back to an all-new episode of Seriously with me, Annie Elise. And today, we are talking about headline highlights because there is so much happening this week in true crime.

Speaker 2 Not only this week, but I feel like there was a lot of stuff going on over the weekend too.

Speaker 2 Now, before we get into all of the headlines and everything that I want to talk with you about today, I do just have to give a quick shout-out, okay?

Speaker 2 I just got done with the first leg of tour where we went to Toronto, New York, Boston, DC, Philadelphia. And oh my gosh, the crowds were absolutely bananas.
You guys brought the energy.

Speaker 2 I mean, Philly, for sure, Boston, for sure, Toronto, for sure, all of them actually.

Speaker 2 But I just, my, I've been saying from day one, my favorite part of touring, my favorite part of going to CrimeCon, just being out there is meeting you guys, the community, talking with you guys, getting to know you guys.

Speaker 2 And I just had such a great time on this first leg of the tour thank you guys so much for coming out it was so nice meeting all of you it was so great connecting with you talking about cases some of you even brought little gifts there was one girl in boston who i have never even heard of fluff i didn't know that was a thing she brought me like a legit jar of fluff and had me taste test it while we were meeting um and then some girls in philly brought me like this full care package with like Philly, all sorts of Philly swag, you know, shirt, coasters, snacks, these little like like cakes that are exclusive to Philadelphia.

Speaker 2 It's just, this is the best community, honestly. You guys really are.
So, anyway, I just want to say thank you for coming out, for spending your nights with me, and I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 The next leg of the tour starts in a couple of weeks. It's going to be a shorter leg, but we're doing Raleigh, Atlanta, and Nashville.

Speaker 2 So, definitely, if you haven't grabbed those tickets yet and you've been thinking about it, now would be the time before they sell out.

Speaker 2 And yeah, just we're going to be going on tour through now through October.

Speaker 2 So you can go to annielease.com and then toggle over to the tour tab and you'll be able to see all the different stops along the way. Now, with all of that being said, we have a lot to talk about.

Speaker 2 As I mentioned, there was a lot of stuff that was happening over the weekend and this week too. I'm talking the TikTok cult had an FBI raid.

Speaker 2 There was a couple in Arkansas who was brutally murdered in front of their family.

Speaker 2 There is this absolute bunker from hell that was discovered that really exposed something far more sinister and a child ring, if you catch my drift.

Speaker 2 There is a woman who, you know, did some horrific stuff against her husband. There is just a lot that we need to talk about.

Speaker 2 So I'm going to stop with this long ass-winded intro and I'm going to jump right in and we're going to start with the TikTok of it all.

Speaker 2 Now, there's been a major development in this case because a federal raid just went down at an LA home, the home of Robert Shin.

Speaker 2 and he is that so-called you know tick tock cult pastor he is from what was it shekina is the name of the church he was a talent manager that was also featured in that netflix docuseries called dancing for the devil the 7m tick tock cult and i've actually done quite a few videos on this case a lot of deep dives into who is robert shin

Speaker 2 what's really going on with this tick tock dancing cult situation and it is pretty bizarre if you're unfamiliar.

Speaker 2 So, I will definitely in the show notes link those deep dives so that you can get fully caught up. But today, I want to talk to you about the update.

Speaker 2 So, in the early morning hours of July 25th, federal agents executed a search warrant at a home in Tehunga, California.

Speaker 2 Now, this home is directly linked to Robert Shin's Shekinah Church and also to the organization 7M Films.

Speaker 2 So, the FBI, the IRS, and the El Monte Police Department were all a part of this investigation and the raid.

Speaker 2 Now, Robert Shin isn't just some random pastor out there, some bootleg wannabe pastor type guy. This guy ran a full-blown church, also a talent agency.
That's the one called 7M Films.

Speaker 2 He also controlled a whole network, recruiting all sorts of new TikTok creators, dancers, kind of just promising them salvation. stardom, fame, money, all of these things.

Speaker 2 All if they followed his every word, listened to his direction, and, you know, put all of their faith in him, essentially.

Speaker 2 But what it seems like he really wanted this whole time was just absolute control. And from what many survivors say who have since escaped, he took that control to terrifying extremes.

Speaker 2 People who got caught up in Robert's web say that he isolated them from their families entirely, took their money. Some even allege far worse stuff went down.

Speaker 2 And they say that he just manipulated them into complete silence. One former member even said, if you wanted to be saved, you had to cut off your entire family.

Speaker 2 Now, while Robert Shin was detained during this raid, he has not been arrested. And let me just read you off what these multiple warrants were served for during this raid.

Speaker 2 It was for crimes such as money laundering, mail fraud, tax evasion, sex trafficking, and even COVID-19 pandemic fraud.

Speaker 2 So there is a lot, I would imagine, that is about to surface and that we're going to learn.

Speaker 2 I'm also curious if because of this raid, if now other members who are still involved might be spooked enough to speak out.

Speaker 2 One of the biggest members and one of the topics actually of my previous videos is Miranda. She has been in this for years

Speaker 2 and she has been very outspoken saying that it's not a cult, that she has free will, yet her family has been very outspoken saying, no, this absolutely is a cult. They've cut her off from us.

Speaker 2 And that's kind kind of what my earlier deep dives were all about, like more of what's the behavior happening inside that cult? What are people being forced to do? Are they being exploited?

Speaker 2 If so, how? And I go into the interviews from family members, from former members of the church, all sorts of things. And look, we say it on here all the time, right? It's kind of become a tagline.

Speaker 2 Don't join a cult. It's easier said than done.
Sometimes you don't even know you're in a cult until you are like well in it and like indoctrined into it.

Speaker 2 But what I will say is this, while there has not been any proof or arrests of any sort of fraud or exploitation or cult-like behavior, based on our research and based on my previous episodes and everything I know about Robert Shin, Shekinah, 7M, I believe through and through that this is 1,000% a cult.

Speaker 2 So listen to those earlier deep dives and you decide for yourself.

Speaker 2 And in the meantime, we are going to be keeping a very close eye on this and I will update you as soon as we have more information regarding these raids, what the outcome was, who's maybe talking, what's happening.

Speaker 2 So stay tuned for that. Now, moving into this next case, a woman has now been charged with murder after her missing husband's body was found in a carport.

Speaker 2 I know that was a big, you know, mouthful, so let me just break it down again. A woman has been charged with murder.
Her husband was missing, but now his body was found in a carport.

Speaker 2 So 60-year-old Deanna Thetford might look like this, you know, sweet, innocent little grandma lady with her gray hair and these big dough eyes. But as we all know, looks can be very, very deceiving.

Speaker 2 On July 8th, police arrested her for the murder of her husband, Craig. Now, Craig and Deanna appeared to be kind of your average, retired, older couple.

Speaker 2 They lived a very quiet life together in New Mexico, and by all accounts, they seemed to have a very happy, very normal, very calm marriage.

Speaker 2 But in May, the County Sheriff's Department received multiple phone calls from Craig's family, who were just growing increasingly concerned since they hadn't heard from him for months.

Speaker 2 They hadn't heard from him since January at that point. No calls, no text messages, just absolute radio silence.
And this wasn't like Craig either. He was very close with his family.

Speaker 2 They never went this long without speaking. So with all of these concerned calls coming in, on May 15th, the deputies went out to the couple's New Mexico home.

Speaker 2 They decided they were going to conduct a welfare check.

Speaker 2 And when they asked Deanna, his wife, about Craig's whereabouts, she just casually told the police that she and her husband were in the process of a divorce, that she didn't know where he was.

Speaker 2 They were estranged. She even doubled down and said that Craig had left her and fled to Mexico with his new girlfriend.
Which, okay, that sounds plausible, right?

Speaker 2 I mean, we've seen it a million times. It's a tale as old as time.
A guy leaving his older wife for a young, hot new thing. But it wasn't really working out that way.

Speaker 2 Because upon further investigation, police found that Craig hadn't crossed the border since 2023.

Speaker 2 The sheriff deputies also noticed a very large four to five foot hole that was dug right there in the couple's front yard.

Speaker 2 Now, Deanna had told the police that she dug this hole so that she could put in this raised, elevated flower bed type thing, one that she had planned on building, which...

Speaker 2 Okay, again, makes sense, could be plausible.

Speaker 2 But when police then asked Deanna about the security cameras around the property, hoping that maybe that would give some sort of tip or lead, you know, something, she claimed that they weren't working.

Speaker 2 So, once again, plausible or just very convenient. Deanna also showed the police two safes that belonged to Craig.

Speaker 2 She claimed that she didn't have the combinations for these safes though, but she said, look, here's where they are. You know, look in them if you want, but I don't know the combos.

Speaker 2 She said that her husband usually kept around $1.5 million in cash in the safes, and she believes that he cleared those out and then took it with him to Mexico so that he could start this new life, which I have to just say, I understand keeping cold hard cash on your person or in your house or in your safe locked up so it's safe, but $1.5 million seems like a lot of money to be just like stashing on hand.

Speaker 2 I don't know. Maybe I'm just like naive and a rookie when it comes to that, but it feels like a lot.

Speaker 2 So she says that she thinks he took that money and then cleared out, went to Mexico, started this new life. But sheriff deputies were not buying her story, not at all.

Speaker 2 Yet they still didn't really have quite enough evidence to charge her. Well, as it turns out, in a second interview that they conducted with her, this is when her story started to change.

Speaker 2 And I'm not even saying just started to change a little bit, like little bits and pieces, and she couldn't keep up with it. It started changing a lot.

Speaker 2 She now claimed that Craig had actually gone to Texas and it wasn't with some hot new little thing that he was dating, but rather he had gone to Texas to take care of his mom, to which Craig's family all said, uh, that's absolutely not true.

Speaker 2 But she doubled down again and said Craig had gotten a new cell phone number, um, a new phone entirely, and that's the reason why his family hadn't heard from him, because he had a whole new line of communication, which I got to just say, when you really think about that, it literally makes no sense at all.

Speaker 2 Because on one hand, she's saying Craig went to be with his family in Texas and take care of his mother, but then she completely contradicts herself by saying he has this new phone, so that's why he hasn't reached out to his family, which, I mean, like, which is it?

Speaker 2 Pick a story. Stick with a story, grandma, figure it out, you know?

Speaker 2 So then comes May 13th, and on May 13th, the police received a phone call from Deanna's daughter, and she had a whole new story to tell. And I don't think that Deanna was gonna like this story.

Speaker 2 See, her daughter claimed to the police that her mom had actually confessed to her about the murder of her stepfather, Craig.

Speaker 2 She said her mom and Craig had actually gotten into a physical altercation in which Craig pushed Deanna down the stairs.

Speaker 2 At that point, it escalated further, and Deanna said, according to her, she was quote, blinded by rage, and she shot Craig multiple times.

Speaker 2 The daughter then said that Deanna was unable to move the body because it was so heavy.

Speaker 2 So she wrapped his body in a rug, wrapped that in plastic, tied something to him, and then used a tractor to pull him out of the house. Which I gotta say, I'll give her that.

Speaker 2 She is resourceful, if nothing else. I mean, a tractor to move a body? That's quite the ordeal.
Not something that you really hear every day.

Speaker 2 Unless, of course, maybe you're Barry Morpheu and you're using the bobcat. No, no, no, no, I kid, I kid.
Well, not really, but

Speaker 2 you know, allegedly. So, anyway, the daughter said that Craig's body was still in the carport of her mother's home.
That's where she had stashed it with the tractor.

Speaker 2 So, on June 17th, police executed a search warrant of the property, and sure enough, what do you know? Craig's Craig's body was discovered in that carport.

Speaker 2 He had been wrapped inside plastic, in blankets, and in rugs, covered just like the daughter had said, and then he was also covered in a white powder substance and mothballs, which I'm just assuming that was trying to disguise the smell.

Speaker 2 Then, upon further investigation, those two safes that Deanna had claimed were Craig's, you know, the ones that she did not have access to, but that had the $1.5 million in them, the police were able to open them.

Speaker 2 And inside, they found a little over $84,000 in cash. They also found several firearms inside.
And as it turns out, that $1.5 number wasn't a lie.

Speaker 2 It turns out that Deanna had taken the $1.5 million back in February so that she could purchase a home in Texas.

Speaker 2 She also bought herself a brand new Ford Mustang, you know, because nothing says getting away like murder, like cruising on the streets in your Ford Mustang, right?

Speaker 2 So Craig's death was ruled a homicide, and the medical examiner said that he had been dead from anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.

Speaker 2 So Deanna was arrested on July 8th in Texas and she was taken to the Wichita County Jail where she's currently being held without bond.

Speaker 2 She's been charged with first degree murder and with evidence of tampering with a body. So we will see what comes from this case.

Speaker 2 Now let's move into another case that happened a couple of weeks ago, but we haven't had the opportunity to talk about it yet. And there have been quite a few new developments.

Speaker 2 So I just want to go through everything with you. And this next story is really crazy and so sad because it does seem as though it could have been prevented.

Speaker 2 Robin Kay, a beloved music supervisor for American Idol, and her husband, Tom DeLuca, were found murdered back on July 14th inside their $4.5 million home in Encino, California.

Speaker 2 Now, Encino, California is a smaller city that's about 20 minutes outside of LA. And it's kind of known for its peaceful atmosphere, its big, beautiful homes.

Speaker 2 It's, you know, the neighborhood of choice for a lot of celebrities and wealthy people because it's a little bit removed from all the chaos of the city and Hollywood and all that stuff.

Speaker 2 Now, Robin and Tom were both 70 years old. And I got to say, they were the kind of couple that everybody loved.
Robin worked behind the scenes in the music world.

Speaker 2 As I said, she helped kind of make American Idol what it is today. And Tom was a musician himself.

Speaker 2 He was just like this gentle, giant soul who loved to jam in the car, who kept their house full of warmth and music and alive. And they just both really bonded over music and loved music.

Speaker 4 22-year-old Raymond Bedarian is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree burglary and could face up to life in prison if convicted.

Speaker 4 Here to break down this case, Fox News contributor Ted Williams. Ted, thanks again for being here.

Speaker 4 Let's start off with the facts of this case are that they were found murdered in the home, but that the LAPD had responded to a burglary call

Speaker 4 and they did not check the home thoroughly to find the body. So it took four days before they knew that there was this was in fact a murder investigation.

Speaker 2 So on July 10th, police had received a call from a concerned neighbor who had seen an unknown man climb over the security gate of the couple's home.

Speaker 2 So the LAPD dispatched a helicopter and some patrol cars so that they could go over there and investigate. And when they got there, the the officers didn't see any obvious signs of a forced break-in.

Speaker 2 So they kind of just gave it the all-clear and ended up leaving the property. But then about 25 minutes after the officers left the property, Robin and Tom returned home.

Speaker 2 Now, it's unclear if the couple had been contacted and maybe informed about this apparent break-in and the cops had been, you know, and that the cops had been called out there and that it was all clear and now they were returning home.

Speaker 2 I'm not really sure. But I feel like you would imagine imagine and certainly hope that the police would have let them know what the neighbor had reported and what they had said they had seen.

Speaker 2 But I cannot confirm one way or another that they were aware, at least not at this time. All we know is that shortly after the couple arrived home, another 911 call was made to the LAPD.

Speaker 2 And this caller could be heard saying, quote, someone broke into my office. Then they could also be heard saying, don't shoot me.

Speaker 2 According to detectives, this call was traced to the inside of Robin and Tom's home.

Speaker 2 Now, this is where things start to get a little bit sloppy, in my opinion, if I'm being honest, because once again, police were dispatched to this home.

Speaker 2 And once again, they reported no signs of forced entry. Now, the couple's home was surrounded by this like seven to eight foot tall security wall.

Speaker 2 And they also had a security gate, which required a code to enter. So it's not like you could just walk up to this home.
There's a full gate, a full wall that you would have to scale.

Speaker 2 Like it felt not like Fort Knox, but you know, like difficult, not as easy as just maybe your run of the mill home. And here's the thing.
Police, when they arrived, did not enter the home.

Speaker 2 Police said that they secured the perimeter of the property, but because they didn't see anything out of the ordinary, they just left, which I'm sorry, but if you're getting a call and somebody's saying, somebody broke into my office, please don't shoot me.

Speaker 2 You also have a call that came in previously for that same address where the neighbor's reporting seeing somebody climb into the house.

Speaker 2 Like, maybe you don't just check the perimeter, maybe you go inside the house. I don't know.
I'm not a detective. I'm not a rocket scientist, but kind of feels like that would be the move, right?

Speaker 2 So after the police leave, get this. Four days later, four days later, on July 14th, friends begged the police for a welfare check on the couple.

Speaker 2 The friends also gave the police the gate code so that they could enter into the property.

Speaker 2 And sure enough, when they entered this time, they found a trail of blood right away that led to the front of the property. They also found a shattered glass sliding door at the back of the house.

Speaker 2 So, literally, even if one officer had managed to look over that security wall the days prior or enter in to do a welfare check or to make sure that nobody was inside the house, they would have seen this trail of blood.

Speaker 2 And unfortunately, what the officers found inside the home was far, far worse.

Speaker 2 Robin and Tom were both found dead with multiple gunshot wounds to the head, and their bodies had just been lying there for four days. And according to the police report, I want to read you this.

Speaker 2 It says, quote, the victims returned home while the suspect had gained entry into the residence, and then a confrontation ensued, which resulted in the suspect taking their lives.

Speaker 2 The victims succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds, and the suspect fled from the residence on foot. On July 15th, 22-year-old Raymond Budarian was arrested in connection with these murders.

Speaker 2 He was charged with two counts of murder and one count of residential burglary with a person. 22 years old, a 22-year-old committing a double murder and a robbery.
It's incredibly unnerving.

Speaker 2 Now, even more bizarre, the LA district attorney told the residents during a town hall meeting that the suspect had used his own cell phone to call the police after the killings.

Speaker 2 He even used his own name before he fled the scene.

Speaker 2 And that's ultimately the reason that the police were able to track this guy and make an arrest so soon because he used his real name, he used his own phone, and they tracked him, which that's bizarre, right?

Speaker 2 I've never heard of a suspect doing this without knowing the victims personally either. It seems as though this was completely random, a random robbery that then escalated to murder.

Speaker 2 And here's what makes it even more disturbing. Raymond had a record.
Battery, threats with a weapon, you name it. He was was already known for his violent behavior.

Speaker 2 However, the courts had previously deemed him mentally unfit to stand trial. So, because of that, the charges were dropped.

Speaker 2 And now, with that, two people, two good people, two good humans, have lost their lives. It just feels incredibly senseless and unnecessary, and though it could have been prevented, right?

Speaker 1 Get Ready for Malice, a twisted new drama starring Jack Whitehall, David DeCovney, and Carrise Van Houten.

Speaker 1 Jack Whitehall plays Adam, a charming manny who infiltrates the wealthy Tanner family with a hidden motive to destroy them.

Speaker 1 This edge-of-your-seat revenge thriller unravels a deliciously dark mystery in a world full of wealth, secrets, and betrayal. Malice will constantly keep you on your toes.

Speaker 1 Why is Adam after the Tanner family? What lengths will he go to? One thing's for sure, the past never stays buried, so keep your enemies close.

Speaker 1 Watch Malice, all episodes now streaming exclusively on Prime Video.

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Speaker 2 Okay, now moving into this next case. It truly is the bunker of hell, okay? And this is one of those stories that makes your blood truly boil because this case is beyond disturbing.

Speaker 2 On July 22nd, police announced the arrests of seven people, seven people who have been connected with operating a child sex assault ring out of this underground bunker in Alabama.

Speaker 2 They're accused too of preying on kids as young as three years old. Three.
I mean, literal babies, and these monsters deserve every single ounce of whatever they have coming to them, truly.

Speaker 2 So this whole nightmare began back in 2022 in a rural city of Alabama called Brent.

Speaker 2 Now the three main ringleaders, if you can call them that, of this just disgusting, deplorable, sinister ring are William McElroy, Dalton Terrell, and Andreas Velaquez-Trejo.

Speaker 2 The three of them allegedly started running this operation out of a bunker near William's grandmother's property. Now, let me just tell you this, okay?

Speaker 2 The inside of this bunker is the definition of pure evil. I can't even say this without feeling sick to my stomach, honestly.
So I just want to give you a little bit of a warning.

Speaker 2 But inside this bunker, there was a disgusting stained mattress, a few chairs, restraints, ropes, poles, even an animal shock collar that was used on these children's bodies.

Speaker 2 And these piece of shit, these pedos, these disgusting humans, subhumans, you can't even call them humans, they would pay up to $1,000 a night to hurt these children, children between the ages of three and 10 years old.

Speaker 2 Some of these children were even drugged with a white powder substance inside their drinks so that it would keep them compliant.

Speaker 13 Sometimes the children would be there

Speaker 13 tied to a pole that was there,

Speaker 13 bound to a bed that was there, or in a chair that was there.

Speaker 13 Sometimes there would be multiple people that would come by and victimize these children on a nightly basis.

Speaker 13 I've been in law enforcement for 33 years, and this is absolutely the most horrible thing I've ever seen when it comes to victimization of children.

Speaker 2 Now it gets even worse, if you can believe that. In February of this year, the Alabama Department of Human Resources received a tip of possible child torment happening at a home in this area.

Speaker 2 And when the sheriff deputies arrived, when they rolled up on this home, they discovered two little kids being forced to perform sex acts on each other.

Speaker 2 And this is something that apparently was taught to them by William, one of those three ringleaders, again, if you can call it that.

Speaker 2 At least 10 kids were pulled from this, you know, hellhole of a bunker. And thank God the sheriffs decided to dig deeper and get to the bottom of this entire thing.

Speaker 2 William was the first of the three to go down, and police arrested him on February 11th, and they charged him with a shit ton of charges. I'm talking kidnapping, sodomy, rape, human trafficking.

Speaker 2 I mean, a slew of charges. Then next up was Dalton, who, by the way, Dalton was only 21 years old.

Speaker 2 He was arrested on April 25th and he was charged with, in total, about 20 counts of all of the same things that William was.

Speaker 2 I'm not going to repeat all of the names because I don't think you need to hear those terms again, quite honestly, but he was charged with that as well.

Speaker 2 And this freaking creep, he admitted to assaulting these kids and he also admitted to charging adults so so that they would have access to these kids essentially selling these children to these perverts it's disgusting he straight up was profiting off of these poor kids torment it is foul and upsetting and difficult to even wrap your mind around so four days after dalton on april 29th andreas was cuffed and charged and he was charged with six counts of trafficking now the police actually suspect that he was the head ringleader of this entire sex ring.

Speaker 2 He's also accused of being the one who drugged the children, the one who tied them to beds or poles, and the one who sold nude photos of them online, even selling the children themselves, not just photos of them.

Speaker 2 And for him, he just ran it like a business. These kids weren't even kids to him.
He just saw them as his meal ticket and quite literally ran it like a business.

Speaker 14 Law enforcement believed this wasn't just a local crime. It was part of an organized human trafficking network, possibly linked to a violent gang.

Speaker 14 One suspect, Andres Trejo-Valequez, is believed to have connections to a gang called Serenos, a group the sheriff says profits off child exploitation. His legal status in the U.S.

Speaker 14 is now under investigation.

Speaker 13 Where did this guy come from? We don't know what he left in his

Speaker 2 trail. Now, I'm sorry, but these sick freak perverts don't even deserve a trial, in my opinion.
I mean, we're going to spend what, our tax money to give them a fair trial. How does that work out?

Speaker 2 And I get it. I get that everybody is entitled to a trial, to a defense, all of those things.
But like, these people, in my opinion, deserve the worst of the worst.

Speaker 2 And it's like, lock them up, throw away the key, let prison justice take its course so that their bodies are the ones being tormented for a moment.

Speaker 2 Why give them the pleasure of sitting through a trial? It just makes no sense.

Speaker 15 You have anything you want to say? Rebecca Brewer and Sarah Terrell hid their faces at the Bibb County courthouse today. They were joined in the courtroom by Ricky Terrell.

Speaker 15 After speaking with their attorneys and agreeing to no bond, the judge agreed to cancel the hearing.

Speaker 15 The prosecutor said this hardly ever happens and speculated on why they might have opted out of an Anaya's law hearing.

Speaker 2 Now it got even deeper because just this last week, on July 19th, police arrested four additional suspects, now bringing the total to seven perpetrators, two of which are women.

Speaker 2 Can you even believe that? So, all seven suspects are currently locked up at the Bibb County Jail and no bond, thank God.

Speaker 2 The 10 children that have been recovered have been placed in the custody of Alabama Department of Human Resources, and they are receiving not only medical care, but also psychological care.

Speaker 2 And I mean, I think we can all be honest, right? There's no amount of therapy in the world that can heal the wounds of these poor children, right?

Speaker 2 The amount of physical and emotional torment that they endured, it's unimaginable. It really is.

Speaker 2 Their innocence was just completely stripped and ripped away from them, and they had no way to defend themselves. It's just unspeakable and my heart breaks for them.

Speaker 2 And these seven people are literally just demons in disguise. Truly, they are.

Speaker 2 They are soulless parasites that deserve to just rot in like the darkest corners of hell and then be fed on by like cockroaches. And like, it's sick.
It is sick.

Speaker 2 now before i lose my mind i'm gonna move on to the next case because this one is a very difficult one and i was watching it unfold as it broke and it really got me melina fradalin was only nine years old when sadly her life was just completely stolen away from her and the man accused of this is her own father it's alleged that 45 year old luciano killed his own nine year old daughter.

Speaker 2 So let me go backwards a little bit and let you know just kind of how we got here. On July 11th, Melina and her dad left Canada and they crossed the U.S.

Speaker 2 border so that they could have this father-daughter summer getaway. You see, Melina lived in Montreal, Canada with her mom and her mom had full custody.

Speaker 2 So because of this, Melina always looked forward to any time that she got to spend with her dad. It wasn't very often that she got to see him, no less vacation with him.

Speaker 2 So the plan was for the two of them to spend the next 10 days traveling together, going all around upstate New York, just seeing the sights, vacationing, just spending such great quality time together.

Speaker 2 And this was kind of the norm for them.

Speaker 2 Her dad would often take Melina on vacations whenever it was his time with her, so it didn't seem like this was going to be a very bizarre extended window of time or anything like that.

Speaker 2 It didn't raise any red flags to Melina's mom. They were due back in Canada on Saturday, July 19th.
It was the final night of their vacation, and everything seemed fine. Around 5:30 p.m.

Speaker 2 that night, cameras even caught the two of them at a restaurant in Saratoga Springs. They seemed happy, healthy, and in good spirits.

Speaker 2 Then an hour or so later, Melina called her mom, checking in with her, letting her know that they were on their way back home and that it had been a fun vacation, and she was happy on the call.

Speaker 2 Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But then, at around 10 p.m., her father called 911, and in this call, he is freaking out, telling the police this crazy story about Melina being kidnapped.

Speaker 2 He said that he pulled over near Lake George so that he could step out and go to the bathroom, and that while he had pulled over, Melina was abducted by two men in a white van.

Speaker 2 So within hours, the police issued an Amber alert for this missing nine-year-old girl, right? However, by the next morning, police started noticing a lot of inconsistencies in the father's story.

Speaker 2 Things that just were not adding up. So because of that, the Amber Alert was canceled.
And then the police started searching the Lake George area for this little girl.

Speaker 2 And sadly, pretty early on into their search, the police discovered nine-year-old Melina's body. It was underneath a log in a shallow pond about 30 minutes away from the Lake George area.

Speaker 2 And the cause of death was asphyxia by drowning. Now, the police wasted no time and they immediately arrested her father the very next day.

Speaker 2 He has also since then been charged with second-degree murder and hiding of a corpse. Now, the big question as this was all developing is what really happened here, right?

Speaker 2 How does a seemingly devoted dad just murder his daughter with his own two hands, especially after a 10-day vacation where everybody seemed to be in high spirits?

Speaker 2 And I mean, scrolling through his Instagram, you will find countless photos of him and Melina together. There's pictures of them vacationing in Lake Como.

Speaker 2 There's selfies of them in front of a Christmas tree. There's videos of them sledding together.
But you'll also see photos of Luciana in very flashy sports cars on very exotic vacations.

Speaker 2 He was an entrepreneur. He owned his own coffee business.
And because of this, by all accounts, he had a lot of success. He had money.
He loved his daughter. He would spoil her.

Speaker 2 He'd go on extravagant vacations himself. He would have these extravagant purchases.
And it really did seem like he had a life of luxury.

Speaker 16 Luciano is reportedly the founder of an organic coffee company. Here's his bio on the company's website.

Speaker 16 And in that biography, it reads that his daughter Melina is the light of his life and quote, she is the inspiration for, well, everything.

Speaker 2 Now, as we know, money or the perception of money doesn't always tell the full picture because according to recent reports, he was actually in massive debt. upwards of $200,000.

Speaker 2 He was also struggling to make child support payments. He had multiple lawsuits against him too.
So could this have been his motivation? Could this have been his reason?

Speaker 2 Maybe his house of cards was finally falling apart and he just snapped and panicked.

Speaker 2 Now at this time, police are speculating that finances, or I should say, lack thereof, is the possible motive, which possibly, but I don't know.

Speaker 2 It also seems like a stretch to commit murder, unless you're just so concerned about the child support payments that you would rather stage this abduction so that you don't have to worry about them anymore.

Speaker 2 I don't know. Personally, I don't think that he would have murdered his daughter just because he was having a hard time making those payments, but I will say I've seen things happen for less.

Speaker 2 And it also doesn't really seem that it was premeditated. It seems like maybe it was in the spur of the moment and he kind of just snapped at the end of his vacation.

Speaker 2 But again, we don't really have all of the details. But I also want to point out something else that I noticed on his company's bio page because I couldn't help but find this a little bit odd.

Speaker 2 On it, it says,

Speaker 2 On a lighter note, Melina has taught him how to let go of his rigid tendencies to keep everything in, quote, perfect order.

Speaker 2 His love for Melina's messy art projects and chaotic ensemble of toys supersedes his love for a meticulously spotless home.

Speaker 2 Which I don't know about you, but something about that statement, especially on like a company bio page, feels odd and a little bit unnecessary, right?

Speaker 2 It almost feels like he's trying to convince himself that he's okay with all of the chaos and the mess that comes along with being a parent. I don't know.

Speaker 2 So maybe if he did snap in those moments, maybe it was messy. Maybe Melina wasn't listening.
Maybe she messed something up. And due to his self-proclaimed rigid personality, maybe he just snapped.

Speaker 2 And I'm just speculating here. Obviously, we don't know all the details, but, you know, what do I know? What do you think? I'd be curious to get your thoughts on all of this.

Speaker 2 Do you think that it was planned? Do you think that maybe it was one of those custody battle cases where if he couldn't have Melina full time, then he didn't want his ex to have her either?

Speaker 2 I don't know. It all just seems very sad, very senseless, very avoidable.
And my heart goes out to Melina's mom because I can't even imagine that level of grief that she must be dealing with.

Speaker 2 So the case is set to go straight to the grand jury, and I will for sure be keeping you updated on this. Now, I want to talk about this next case because it's breaking right now as we speak.

Speaker 2 And we'll see if we have updates at the time that this episode is released, but I'm going to be following it extremely closely. This story is absolutely heartbreaking.

Speaker 2 On July 26th, 43-year-old Clinton Brink and his wife, 41-year-old Kristen Brink, took their two young daughters, ages seven and nine, out on a family hike.

Speaker 2 The young family was out hiking at a place called Devil's Den State Park in Arkansas.

Speaker 2 And I just got to say, this name, the name of this park, is just like an eerily fitting name for the heinous acts that were about to take place.

Speaker 2 See, at some point during their hike, a man appeared just right before the family, right in front of them, and he attacked both parents, Clinton and Kristen.

Speaker 2 And he did this in front of their two young daughters. I mean, how horrifying is that? Both of these poor girls just terrified, scared, not knowing what's going on.
They were seven and nine years old.

Speaker 2 I cannot imagine how scared they must have been. Now, thankfully, both of the girls were left unharmed, and they're now in the custody of their family.

Speaker 2 However, the suspect who did this is still on the loose.

Speaker 3 and then took off in a small black sports car with tape over the plate. And we suspect the suspect to have injuries due to the witness seeing the suspect stab one of them.

Speaker 3 Be on the lookout for a white male suspect wearing black gloves, sunglasses, dark colored pants.

Speaker 17 According to the witness, direction of travel was, quote, went across a bridge leaving Devil's Den and stayed on the highway, end quote.

Speaker 2 Now, at this time, the investigators have not released much information on the manner or the circumstances of this double homicide.

Speaker 2 However, a description of the suspect has been released, and they describe him as being a white man, having a medium build, wearing dark pants, a red baseball cap, and also wearing sunglasses.

Speaker 2 Police also said that he has a backpack and that he was wearing fingerless gloves.

Speaker 2 The suspect was last seen driving into the park in a black four-door sedan, yet they had tape covering the license plate. So it does seem as though this was premeditated.

Speaker 2 Now, if they were intentionally targeted, this particular family, we don't know that, but it does seem as though this person went to that park to kill that day.

Speaker 2 Perhaps a thrill kill, a crime of opportunity, we don't know. Police are trying to piece together all of the evidence to see if this was possibly even a targeted attack.

Speaker 2 But the young family had just recently moved to Arkansas. They had moved there from Montana.

Speaker 2 So that, knowing that, I mean, it's kind of baffling to think who could have done this to them, especially in front of their two young children. It's just unthinkable.

Speaker 2 The sergeant of the Arkansas State Police did release a statement saying, quote, we are using all available resources to apprehend this suspect and bring him to justice.

Speaker 2 So this is breaking right now in real time. And as more details unfold, I will definitely keep you updated.
This is a heartbreaking story.

Speaker 2 And my thoughts and prayers go out to those poor little girls who had to witness this. It's just...
unspeakable.

Speaker 2 And I'm sure we'll have more updates in the coming days, if not already, again, at the time of this release, but I will definitely keep you updated. So that's it for headline highlights.

Speaker 2 I will be back with you on Monday with an all-new deep dive into a case, and we are going to be talking all about Idaho, what happened with that document dump, all the data dumps, all of the new information that we've learned post-sentencing.

Speaker 2 So, that will be first thing Monday morning. Check back for that.

Speaker 2 And as a reminder, if you ever want any of these episodes or even my Tend to Life videos ad-free, we now offer them completely ad-free over on Patreon. It's patreon.com/slash annie lease.

Speaker 2 In addition to the ad-free content, we also have a lot of bonus episodes there. Right now, if you sign up, you unlock about 100 extra exclusive bonus episodes.

Speaker 2 We also do giveaways, we do live chats, live streamings, all sorts of different things.

Speaker 2 So you can go hop over there if you feel like you need a little more content or you want a little more behind the scenes.

Speaker 2 All right, guys, thank you so much for tuning in to another episode with me today. I will be back with you very soon.
And don't forget to get those tour tickets too.

Speaker 2 Thank you again for those who came out. It was such a pleasure meeting you.
And until the next case, be nice. Don't kill people.
Don't join any cults.

Speaker 2 And I don't know, maybe stay off the hiking trails. I feel like a lot of shit has been going down on those trails lately.
Just stay safe.

Speaker 5 Okay. Bye.

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