The Girlfriends S4/E1: No Place Like Home

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Speaker 3 Hey, I'm Nikki, the host of the new series of the girlfriends, Untouchable.

Speaker 3 It's a story that takes place in my hometown, Kansas City, Kansas.

Speaker 3 And over the next eight episodes, you're going to meet a lot of incredible people, including some of the truly inspiring women I get to call my friends.

Speaker 3 But it's also a tough story, one that will dive into topics including sexual assault, violence, and murder. There will also be some strong language.

Speaker 3 If you or someone you love has been affected by any of the themes in the show, we've left some links in the description that offer resources and support.

Speaker 3 Take care of yourself.

Speaker 3 When Nico Quinn gets up in the morning, she heads straight over to the truck she's driving that day.

Speaker 3 An 18-wheeler with a cabin up top.

Speaker 18 I pray first.

Speaker 18 Touch the wheels and everything on her truck and pray for a safe trip.

Speaker 3 Nico works as an over-the-road truck driver, hauling 50 to 80,000 pound freights across the country for hundreds or sometimes thousands of miles a week.

Speaker 18 I love traveling. I have been to Canada.
I've been all the way up to Maine, and Maine is so beautiful.

Speaker 18 And even Oregon, I mean, it's just beautiful, just so green, and you're seeing all kinds of animals like elk and rams. And I'm like, wow, you know, because something you've never seen before.

Speaker 3 She never feels more free than when she's out on the open road.

Speaker 18 I've always said if I came back as another creature, I would want to be an eagle.

Speaker 3 Because eagles are pretty good at weathering storms.

Speaker 18 Just like I withered the storm that I've been through.

Speaker 3 For Nico, the storm began not on the open road, but in the city where she grew up.

Speaker 3 Nico was raised on the northeast side of Kansas City, Kansas, in a neighborhood close to the banks of the Missouri River named Quindaro.

Speaker 18 It was a village over there. Both sides of the street was filled with either houses or black-owned businesses.
The Wilsons had a pizza shop right at the corner of 18th Street.

Speaker 18 We had one restaurant called CNS. That was the best burgers.
They used to sell the hand-packed ice cream. Oh my goodness.

Speaker 3 Quindaro was rich in community, but by the 90s, decades of economic neglect had put a cap on the neighborhood's growth.

Speaker 3 And while Nico tried to stay out of trouble, she found herself pulled into what was going on around her. her.

Speaker 3 She had four young kids to support and did what she needed to do to put food on the table.

Speaker 18 I was in the streets. I was selling drugs.
And I don't agree with my lifestyle, but you know, being young, selling drugs was a thing back then.

Speaker 18 I felt like if I can make money off of it, that's what I'll do.

Speaker 3 But she and her family were also trying to create a better better future for themselves by getting an education.

Speaker 18 It was like about five or six of us going to school to get our GEDs.

Speaker 18 My cousin Don, my sister, we all used to get up, get ready, get in the car. We all used to ride together.

Speaker 18 We'd get up there to Donnelly College and be acting a fool.

Speaker 18 We were just having fun and trying to get our lives intact.

Speaker 3 By April 1994, things are looking up. It's one of the first days of that year that feels like spring.

Speaker 18 It was nice that day. The sun was out.

Speaker 3 As she walks down the familiar tree-lined street near her mother's house. Nico notices an unusual car parked on the side of the road.

Speaker 18 I seen a blue Cadillac sitting there.

Speaker 18 i'm like who the heck is that and i said oh they must be waiting on somebody and i seen this guy coming across the field black hat black shirt black jeans black tennis shoes and i said oh maybe they're waiting on him and then i heard the first pal

Speaker 3 nico heard the man fire three shots into the car My mama ducked behind her truck.

Speaker 18 My sister came out and started jumping up and down, screaming, saying, Oh my god, it's little Don.

Speaker 18 Oh my god, it's little Don.

Speaker 18 My legs turned to mush. I just fell and started screaming.

Speaker 3 Nico's favorite cousin, little Don, has just been shot. He's only 21 years old.

Speaker 18 My legs felt like I was in

Speaker 18 mud or something.

Speaker 20 I couldn't move.

Speaker 18 Everybody is at, you know,

Speaker 20 chaos.

Speaker 3 The shooter turns around and disappears into a field. One of Nico's neighbors, Ruby, gets a good look at him.

Speaker 18 She said, Oh my god, that's Lamont.

Speaker 18 I said, I don't know no Lamont.

Speaker 3 Nico's family members run out of their houses and onto the street. She follows them.

Speaker 18 I went to the car,

Speaker 18 and Don was looking over, trying to

Speaker 20 talk.

Speaker 18 This whole side of his face was gone.

Speaker 3 The man in the passenger seat, another cousin named Donnie Ewing, has been shot too.

Speaker 18 We was asking what happened and who did it.

Speaker 8 And

Speaker 18 we're asking him to hold on.

Speaker 18 And he was just looking at us, trying to speak. And my mom had walked around and she put her hand on him and she started praying for him.
And she said, He's gone.

Speaker 18 I seen him take his last breath, but I was hoping he was still alive.

Speaker 18 It's like your best friend,

Speaker 18 that person that you confided in, I can save him.

Speaker 18 That day

Speaker 18 was the worst day of my life.

Speaker 18 The worst day of my life.

Speaker 3 Nico's cousins were dead, murdered in broad daylight. But the quest to find out who had killed them and why would go way beyond this murder investigation.

Speaker 3 There was a dark scandal at the heart of Kansas City, Kansas. A story of violence and corruption spanning decades.

Speaker 3 And it would take my friend Nico, along with a band of incredible women, on a journey to speak up, reveal the truth, and fight for the city we love.

Speaker 3 I got you,

Speaker 3 I got you.

Speaker 3 I got you.

Speaker 3 I'm Nikki Richardson from the Teams at Novel and iHeart podcast. This is the Girlfriends, Untouchable.

Speaker 3 I got

Speaker 3 I got you. My got you.

Speaker 3 I got you. I got you.
I got you.

Speaker 3 Episode one:

Speaker 3 No Place Like Home. I got you, I got you, I got you.

Speaker 3 April 15th, 1994, turned Nico Quinn's life upside down.

Speaker 3 Her favorite cousin Danielle had been shot, murdered right in front of her.

Speaker 3 It was a devastating loss.

Speaker 3 Just like that, her soulmate was gone.

Speaker 18 We was two peas in a pot ever since we was kids. Danielle was like my brother from another mother.
He was my best friend. He was a jack of all trade, master nun.
He could dance. He could fix things.

Speaker 18 He can sing. He can dress.
He was Mac Daddy of the Year. Let him tell it.
And he was a comforter. He was a giver.

Speaker 18 If he was still alive, you wouldn't even be able to interview him. He would have you in tears, just crying, laughing, because

Speaker 18 he was that much of a fool.

Speaker 3 But like so many other people in Quindaro, he lost his way in his teenage years.

Speaker 18 Danielle ended up getting on drugs on Crack Cocaine. Started dealing with the wrong people.

Speaker 3 Hours after witnessing his murder, Nico began to wonder, were those wrong people involved?

Speaker 3 Two weeks earlier, a group of men had shown up to punish Danielle for a debt he owed. allegedly stealing drugs from their stash house.

Speaker 18 About six to seven people jumped on him, beat him with poles, and he was beat up real bad.

Speaker 18 And he ended up coming down on my house, sitting on my mother's porch. So I started talking to him.
I went and got some bandaging and stuff and started attending to his wounds.

Speaker 3 Nico says that Danielle claimed the attack had been instigated by a drug dealer named Cecil Brooks and a local guy everyone calls Monster.

Speaker 3 Nico says that after the attack, she decided to help Daniel pay off his debts.

Speaker 18 So I sent my sister and somebody else up there to ask the person, can I pay the debt for him? They said it was okay. It was cool.

Speaker 3 A few days later, the men came back and tried to take Danielle away. But Nico's family intervened and told them to back off.

Speaker 3 The next day, Daniel showed up at Nico's house. His mood had changed.

Speaker 18 Don came in and he was singing. He was singing Christian songs.
I have never seen him, his spirit just so happy.

Speaker 18 He came back and he told me, Say, I just want to take a shower. I'm about to go see my baby and cuz I'm gonna check myself in.
I'm about to get myself right. I can't go down this road again.

Speaker 3 Danielle had a young son. He wanted to go to rehab, get himself clean, and start afresh.

Speaker 18 He kissed me on my cheek or maybe my forehead, told me he loved me,

Speaker 18 and then he walked out the door.

Speaker 3 A few minutes later, Danielle was dead.

Speaker 18 I wasn't okay.

Speaker 18 I had all types of emotions.

Speaker 18 Everywhere I went that day, I kept seeing

Speaker 20 my cousin

Speaker 18 in the state that I had last seen him in.

Speaker 18 And it's

Speaker 20 horrible.

Speaker 18 The police came over.

Speaker 3 Nico opened her front door.

Speaker 18 I came out and I was asking them, you know, what did they want?

Speaker 3 They had come to investigate the murders of Donielle Quinn and Donnie Ewing.

Speaker 3 The lead officer was a detective. named Roger Golupski.

Speaker 18 He was a

Speaker 19 chunky

Speaker 18 white guy that thought he was Rico Suave.

Speaker 18 He had black hair, slick back, wore these glasses,

Speaker 18 a ring on his pinky finger. He had a couple of chains on his neck.
He made sure you've seen his badge. He had his badge on his belt, his gun on his side.

Speaker 3 Detective Golopski wanted Nico to take a look through a list of suspects.

Speaker 18 When I'm going through the pictures, I say, I know he didn't do it. Oh, I know he didn't do it.
I said, I don't see the person in there that did it.

Speaker 3 Nico hadn't seen the shooter's face clearly enough to say for sure, but she thought she knew who her main suspects were. Speaking to the police in a community as tight-knit as Quindaro was risky.

Speaker 3 But Nico didn't care. This was about family.

Speaker 18 I said, we know who did it. It was the person that tried to pick him up the night before.
Who kept trying to get him? Who jumped on him?

Speaker 3 Cecil and Monster, the guys who allegedly jumped on Yell, but they weren't included in the photos the police showed her. Nico didn't identify any of their other suspects, so the cops left.

Speaker 18 They came back again the next morning. Early in the morning, they were like,

Speaker 18 We need you to look at these pictures again.

Speaker 3 They showed her a picture of a boy named Lamont McIntyre. This name took Nico straight back to the moment her cousin was shot.
After the gunshots, her neighbor had shouted out a name, Lamont.

Speaker 3 But when she examined the photo, she shook her head.

Speaker 18 I said, no, his ears was too big. And the person that did the ears didn't stick out like his did.
I said, no, he didn't do it.

Speaker 3 As one of the few witnesses to the shooting, Nico hoped the police would take her at her word. But Goloopski seemed insistent that Nico look again.

Speaker 3 So So he pushed the photo of Lamont McIntyre towards her.

Speaker 18 So I took the picture again and I'm like, no, he didn't do it.

Speaker 3 They reached a standstill, waiting each other out.

Speaker 3 Eventually, the officer left her house.

Speaker 3 But Nico's part in the investigation wasn't over. What she didn't know was that the man in blue leaving her front porch had already chosen his lead suspect.

Speaker 3 Because Roger Golubski was no regular detective, he was a dangerous man with enough power to destroy lives.

Speaker 3 Starting with that of a boy in handcuffs on the other side of Kansas City.

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Speaker 14 Hey, everyone, Ed Helms here.

Speaker 7 And hi, I'm Cal Penn, and we're the hosts of Earsay, the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club.

Speaker 10 This week on the podcast, I am sitting down with Jenny Garth, host of the iHeart podcast, I Choose Me, to discuss the new Audible adaptation of the timeless Jane Austen classic, Pride and Prejudice.

Speaker 10 This is not a trick question.

Speaker 8 There's no wrong answer. What role would I play?

Speaker 13 You know what?

Speaker 1 I can see you as Mr. Darcy.

Speaker 21 You got a little call in first.

Speaker 22 Okay, that's really sweet.

Speaker 10 I appreciate that, but are you sure I'm not the dad? I mean, I'm not Mr. Bennett here.

Speaker 8 Listen to Earsay, the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 13 Greetings from my bath, festive friends. The holidays are overwhelming, but I'm tackling this season with PayPal and making the most of my money.
Getting 5% cash back when I pay in four.

Speaker 10 No fees, no interest.

Speaker 14 I used it to get this portable spa with jets.

Speaker 15 Now the bubbles can cling to my sculpted but pruny body.

Speaker 16 Make the most of your money this holiday with PayPal.

Speaker 17 Save the offer in the app. N1231, see PayPal.com slash promo terms.
Points can be renewed for cash and more paying for subject to terms and approval.

Speaker 11 PayPal Inc. at NMLS 910-457.

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Speaker 23 Some moments in your life stay with you forever.

Speaker 23 In a special segment of On Purpose, I share a story about a book that changed my life early in my journey and how I was able to find the exact same edition on eBay years later.

Speaker 23 There are certain books that don't just give you information, they shift the way you see the world. I remember reading one when I was younger that completely changed me.

Speaker 23 Years later, I found myself thinking about that book again. I wanted the same edition back.
Not a reprint, not a different cover, that exact one. So I started searching.

Speaker 23 And that's when I found it on eBay. That's what I love about eBay.
It's not just a marketplace, it's a place where stories live. Shop eBay for millions of finds, each with a story.

Speaker 23 eBay, things people love.

Speaker 23 Listen to on purpose on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Speaker 3 The spring of 1994 was a season that would irreversibly change dozens of lives in Kansas City, including that of a 16-year-old boy raised in Quindaro.

Speaker 24 My name is Lamont McIntyre.

Speaker 24 Growing up where I'm from was, it was fun times.

Speaker 24 We didn't notice poverty because we had each other. Like, we were really tight with my family.

Speaker 24 Lamont didn't live live that far away from the quinn cousins but he was younger and had his own group of friends we was hip-hop heads i was into hip-hop i had the car main like the flat top with dye in it i was really into fashion and clean shoes and gold chains my rings he liked to keep up with the latest styles so one day he decided to experiment with his brother's hair So my mother was at work one day and I got some clippers from Kmart and I cut my brother's hair and I messed it up bad.

Speaker 24 My mother was mad at me, but after that, I learned how to get it right.

Speaker 24 And then from my brother's hair, I started cutting everybody in the neighborhood's hair, my cousin's hair, and I became the barber. So I was cutting hair back then for like $3 a haircut.

Speaker 24 I was a hustler, so I would cut grass, I would paint, I would do anything I could to get some money just to go get some fresh shoes or something like that.

Speaker 3 Those side hustles were reserved for the afternoons and weekends because Lamont spent his days at school.

Speaker 24 My mother was a strict parent and wanted me to be educated.

Speaker 3 He was a good student. He showed up to class and loved science.
He would occasionally get in trouble for talking too much, though.

Speaker 24 I was, you know, a popular kid, I guess, but only because I was funny. I had big ears and I was skinny, so they made fun of me.
And that's how I became good at making fun of other people.

Speaker 24 I was just a class clown.

Speaker 3 He did his best to stay out of serious trouble, but he didn't always stick to the rules.

Speaker 3 On the 15th of April, 1994, Lamont decides to skip school. He decides to spend the day going back and forth between his uncle and auntie's houses, kicking back and hanging out with his family.

Speaker 3 It's a pretty regular spring morning in Kansas City until he gets the call.

Speaker 24 My grandmother called me. and said,

Speaker 24 what did you do? And I said, what do you mean, what did I do? She said, what did you do? Where did you been? I said, I haven't been nowhere. I said, it's early.

Speaker 24 It was like still, it wasn't even 11 o'clock yet. So I said, I ain't been nowhere, grandmother.
What you mean? So she said, well, the police just left my house.

Speaker 24 They've been all over my house looking for you. And they looked serious.
Like, they were looking for you like you killed somebody.

Speaker 24 I called my mother. I said, Mom, they're looking for me at grandma's house.
So take me to the police station so I can see what's going on. She called them and told them they can meet us at her job.

Speaker 3 Lamont's mother, Rose, isn't going to let her son meet the police on his own, so she picks him up from his auntie's house.

Speaker 3 Sitting in the back seat, Lamont racks his mind trying to figure out why the police are looking for him.

Speaker 3 He's gotten in trouble in the past for selling drugs and being in the wrong place with family members caught up in the street life.

Speaker 3 But when he arrives at his mom's workplace, it's clear that the cops mean business.

Speaker 24 It was three detective cars and like four or five patrol cars. They asked me, do I know anything about a gang-related activity today or something gang-related today? And I said, no.

Speaker 24 They told my mother, well, he's not under arrest. We want to take him down for questioning and then he'll be able to go then, but we just want to ask him a few more questions.

Speaker 3 Lamont complies and says goodbye to his mother.

Speaker 24 So they put me in a police car, took me to the police station. When I get to the police station, And I got into the room where I was being interrogated.
That's when everything kind of changed.

Speaker 3 They clearly haven't called him in to talk about drugs or hustling.

Speaker 24 They started screaming at me and asking me, do I know Donnie Ewing and Donnell Quinn?

Speaker 24 And I said, no, I don't know them. They said it was funny because one of them lived long enough to say you was the person responsible for killing them.

Speaker 24 And I started laughing because I didn't know these names. Like, man, I'm getting up.
I'm telling him, I'm going to go to my mom. And I'm like, oh, no, y'all got the wrong person.

Speaker 24 My name is Lamar McIntyre. I don't know who y'all looking for.

Speaker 24 And that's when they got real serious. And they started screaming at me, you know, calling me a nigga killer, saying, I know you did it.

Speaker 24 I was scared because they was really going through with charging me with two counts of first-degree murder.

Speaker 3 Lamont had begun the day as a regular teenage boy skipping school. But now he is in handcuffs.
being escorted around the police station in a whirlwind of accusations he doesn't understand.

Speaker 3 Two officers march him down the stairs to an underground area.

Speaker 24 My mother was parked at the police station.

Speaker 3 By the time he sees his mother, Lamont is in tears.

Speaker 24 She sees me coming out handcuffs, and I said, Mama, they charged me two counts of first-degree murder.

Speaker 24 And she said, What do you mean? I said, They charged me two counts of first-degree murder, and I don't know nothing about it.

Speaker 24 And that's when it dawned on me that they were serious.

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Speaker 6 Hey, audiobook lovers.

Speaker 9 This week on the podcast, I'm sitting down with musician, producer, and walking encyclopedia, Questlove.

Speaker 6 We're talking about Mark Ronson's memoir, Night People, How to Be a DJ in 90s New York City.

Speaker 9 All right, like we talked about before, Mark Ronson found sanctuary in the DJ booth. What's a tool or piece of equipment in the studio or on stage that gives you the most control?

Speaker 25 So I have two microphones on stage.

Speaker 25 We have the microphone that you hear as the audience.

Speaker 10 Then we have a second microphone in which we communicate with each other.

Speaker 25 I feel like that second microphone kind of saved all of our friendships.

Speaker 25 No band likes each other after 20 years or 25 years. Like the Beatles broke up in seven and a half years and we're going on 35.

Speaker 7 Listen to Earsay, the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 13 Greetings from my bath, festive friends. The holidays are overwhelming, but I'm tackling this season with PayPal and making the most of my money, getting 5% cash back when I pay in four.

Speaker 10 No fees?

Speaker 14 No interest. I used it to get this portable spa with jets.

Speaker 15 Now the bubbles can cling to my sculpted but pruny body.

Speaker 16 Make the most of your money this holiday with PayPal.

Speaker 17 Save the offer in the app. N'1231, see PayPal.com slash promo terms.
Points can be redeemed for cash and more paying for subject to terms and approval.

Speaker 11 PayPal Inc. and MLS 910-457.

Speaker 1 We know no one's journey is the same. That's why Delta Sky Miles lets you do it your way.

Speaker 1 From earning miles on reloads for coffee runs, shopping, and things you do every day, to connecting you to new places and experiences, a Sky Miles membership fits into your lifestyle.

Speaker 1 Letting you do more of what makes you, you.

Speaker 1 It's more than travel. It's the membership that flies, dines, streams, rides, and arrives with you.
Every great journey deserves a great story.

Speaker 1 And when you have a membership that's as unique as you are, there's no telling how your story will unfold or where that journey will take you next.

Speaker 1 Sky Miles is the membership that will be here for all your big and small moments. The membership that's there for every solo adventure or family trip.

Speaker 1 The membership that comes with the power of partnership from brands you love. The membership that moves with you.
Learn more at delta.com slash skymiles.

Speaker 23 Some moments in your life stay with you forever.

Speaker 23 In a special segment of On Purpose, I share a story about a book that changed my life early in my journey and how I was able to find the exact same edition on eBay years later.

Speaker 23 There are certain books that don't just give you information, they shift the way you see the world. I remember reading one when I was younger that completely changed me.

Speaker 23 Years later, I found myself thinking about that book again. I wanted the same edition back.
Not a reprint, not a different cover, that exact one.

Speaker 23 So I started searching, and that's when I found it on eBay. That's what I love about eBay.
It's not just a marketplace, it's a place where stories live.

Speaker 23 Shop eBay for millions of finds, each with a story. eBay, things people love.

Speaker 23 Listen to on purpose on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Speaker 3 Did you ever play a game called Ding Dong Ditch when you were a kid? Where you knock on someone's front door and then run away before they can answer?

Speaker 3 Nico Quinn and her sisters played it together as kids growing up in Quindaro.

Speaker 18 We call call it nigga knocking. When somebody come and knock on your door, you go to the door, ain't nobody there.

Speaker 3 But this childhood game is about to take a dark turn. It's the night after the shooting.
She's sitting at home with her children when she hears a sound.

Speaker 18 It was a

Speaker 19 boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Speaker 3 First, it's at her front door, and then the back door, the side.

Speaker 18 And then when I go look, there's nobody there. And that's what happened to me for maybe the next week after Don was killed.
Somebody was knocking on my door.

Speaker 18 Normally it'd be a house full of people down in my house. Nobody had been down there after Don had got killed.
Not like that.

Speaker 3 So she knows it's not her friends or family coming to visit her. Nico peers out of her window.

Speaker 18 And I see this car sitting outside. A dark color four-door look like a caprice or a cutlass.

Speaker 3 She believes it's Cecil and Monster, the men she suspects of being involved in her cousin Daniel's murder.

Speaker 18 I was always thinking that they were watching me, they were after me. I was scared they would do something to my kids.

Speaker 3 Fearing for her family, Nico packed up her things and moved out. She and her kids went to stay with different friends and relatives for a while.
But it wasn't a long-term solution.

Speaker 3 She needed stability.

Speaker 18 Me and my boyfriend was talking. He said, well, won't you see if the police, they can do something for you.
You know, they can move you, relocate you.

Speaker 3 So she called the man who had been assigned to her cousin's case, Detective Galoopsky.

Speaker 18 I was telling him, hey, these people keep knocking on my door. You know, they taunting me.
I don't feel safe in my home.

Speaker 3 Detective Galoopski agrees to see Nico, but he doesn't want to meet at the police station.

Speaker 18 He asked me to meet him at Wanda High School.

Speaker 3 Weird. But Nico needs to move.
So she agrees.

Speaker 18 I asked my boyfriend, would he take me? He said, yeah, I'll take you.

Speaker 3 It's not a long drive, but Nico spends the journey deep in thought.

Speaker 18 I was nervous, anxious at the same time because

Speaker 18 I went to tell him what I knew and I was scared a little bit, but I had my ex-boyfriend with me.

Speaker 3 When they parked up next to the high school, her boyfriend tenses up.

Speaker 18 He told me to keep the door open or the the window down because he didn't trust me.

Speaker 3 Most people in Quindaro know at least one person who's had a bad interaction with law enforcement. But Nico is on a mission, so she walks across the road and over to the police car.

Speaker 18 It was a dark blue detective car.

Speaker 3 Detective Galoopski is in the driver's seat. His police badge is on show, and there's a loaded pistol on his belt.

Speaker 3 Nico sits in the passenger seat as Galoopski starts talking.

Speaker 20 He was like,

Speaker 18 What are you doing with him? You brought your bodyguard with you.

Speaker 3 It's an odd comment,

Speaker 3 but Nico ignores it, telling him about the door knocking instead.

Speaker 18 And I said, I know that this is Cecil Nim knocking on my door. I know this is them.

Speaker 3 She explains her theory about the guys who beat Danielle up.

Speaker 3 Galoopski watches her as she speaks, but there's a strange look in his eyes.

Speaker 18 He sat there and he had this little smirk-like look on his face.

Speaker 3 Something isn't right.

Speaker 3 Suddenly, the car feels smaller.

Speaker 18 He kind of like,

Speaker 18 well, you need to quit saying Cecil's name.

Speaker 3 Nico looks over at him. She doesn't understand.

Speaker 3 Galoopski carries on.

Speaker 18 He said, I just want to let you know we found his ex-girlfriend body remains. out behind Washington High School at a park.

Speaker 3 Nico hadn't seen any evidence Cecil had killed his ex-girlfriend.

Speaker 18 But when Nico spoke to Goloopski, he said, well, I'm just telling you I wouldn't be saying his name, saying Cecil's name, because he's a dangerous person.

Speaker 19 That moment felt like a warning,

Speaker 3 almost a threat.

Speaker 3 But she's determined to get answers and insists she knows who killed Danielle.

Speaker 18 I said, I don't care what you found. I know what happened.
I know who killed him.

Speaker 3 Nico leaves the car feeling shaken and confused. Danielle has been murdered.
There's scary men knocking on her door.

Speaker 3 And the officer who's supposed to be investigating her cousin's murder is acting strangely.

Speaker 3 She doesn't know what's going on, but she knows she needs to get out of Quindaro.

Speaker 18 A few weeks later, I get a call from public housing. Me and my kids sleeping in hotels because I did not want to go back to that house.
So I go down, fill out the application.

Speaker 18 Maybe a week or two later, they moved me down on 437 Cleveland, right off of Fifth Street.

Speaker 3 Nico was put into social housing in another area of Kansas City, Kansas.

Speaker 18 They called them the scatter sites because it was really really nothing down there.

Speaker 3 It's not perfect, but it's a fresh start.

Speaker 18 I had a little bit of normalcy, but I found out that I was down the street from who I was trying to get away from.

Speaker 3 Cecil and Monster have direct links to the scatter sites Nico has been relocated to.

Speaker 18 Matter of fact, right up around the corner from me. Had two or three houses over there.
And they knew where I stayed.

Speaker 3 Nico tries to tough it out. Ignore the paranoia that comes from being surrounded, but it becomes impossible to ignore when one night, Monster turns up outside her house.

Speaker 3 Monster hasn't gotten back to us with his side of the story, but this is how Nico remembers it.

Speaker 18 He was asking me, do I know who he was? And I said, yeah, we all grew up together and this, that, the other, since I was playing it off.

Speaker 3 Nico plays it cool, pretending their only connection is their childhood in Quindaro.

Speaker 3 Eventually, Monster leaves with a bunch of other guys.

Speaker 3 Later on, Nico bumps into someone who witnessed the encounter.

Speaker 18 That's when he told me what was supposed to happen that night.

Speaker 3 Rumor was that if she'd mentioned Monster's connection to her cousin Danielle, I would have been killed that night.

Speaker 3 Nico knows that as one of the few witnesses to her cousin's murder, she might be called on to testify about what happened that day.

Speaker 3 But the lead investigator, Detective Galubski, is refusing to investigate the men she believes are responsible.

Speaker 3 He's relocated her to a dangerous place and charged another boy, Lamont McIntyre, with the double homicide.

Speaker 3 Nico notices something else about Detective Galubski. He's hanging around the scatter sites a lot.

Speaker 18 He passed my house every every day, all day.

Speaker 18 Even at night.

Speaker 18 He would just sit there.

Speaker 3 The police are supposed to be finding the truth, getting justice, and protecting the community.

Speaker 3 But nothing Detective Golubski is doing makes any sense.

Speaker 3 Nico wants answers. Justice for her cousin Daniel's murder.
But she's about to be drawn into something much more sinister.

Speaker 3 Be faced with an impossible decision that could change her children's lives and discover what has really been happening to the women of Kansas City, Kansas, at the hands of the police officer who is supposed to be protecting them.

Speaker 3 Coming up on the girlfriends, Untouchable.

Speaker 18 The corruption is so deep, it's ridiculous. If I didn't say Lamont killed my cousin, I would not see my kids again.
They cover up everything.

Speaker 17 It just got worse as it went along.

Speaker 5 They won't tell you nothing.

Speaker 5 If it was your mom that got killed in the 80s, what would you have done?

Speaker 18 This dude is the devil. He's a snake.

Speaker 26 He'll hurt you. I got you.
I got you.

Speaker 3 The Girlfriend's Untouchable is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcast.

Speaker 3 For more from Novel, visit novel.audio. The show is narrated by me, Nikki Richardson.
It was written and produced by Rufaro Mazarura. The editor is Joe Wheeler.

Speaker 3 Our assistant producer is Mohamed Ahmed.

Speaker 3 The researcher is Zayana Yousaf, production management from Cherie Houston and Joe Savage.

Speaker 3 The fact-checker is Findall Fulton. Sound design, mixing, and scoring by Daniel Kimpson with additional engineering by Nicholas Alexander.

Speaker 3 Music supervision by Rufaro Mazurura, Nicholas Alexander, and Joe Wheeler. Original music by Amanda Jones.
The Girlfriend's theme was composed by Amanda Jones and Louisa Gerstein.

Speaker 3 The series artwork was designed by Christina Limpool. Story development by Olivia Smart and Nell Gray Andrews.
Novels Director Director of Development is Selena Mehta.

Speaker 3 Willard Foxton is Novel's Creative Director of Development. Max O'Brien and Craig Strachan are executive producers for Novel.

Speaker 3 Katrina Norvell and Nikki Etor are the executive producers for iHeart Podcast and the marketing lead is Allison Cantor. Special thanks to Will Pearson.

Speaker 3 And a special thanks to Carly Frankel and the whole team at WME.

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Speaker 26 I'm Cheryl McCollum, host of the podcast Zone 7. Zone 7 ain't a place.

Speaker 3 It's a way of life.

Speaker 26 Now, this ain't just any old podcast, honey.

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Speaker 26 Listen to Zone 7 with Cheryl McCollum on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.

Speaker 27 A new true crime podcast from Tenderfoot TV in the city of Mons in Belgium. Women began to go missing.

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Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 8 Hi, listeners.

Speaker 5 I'm M.

Speaker 28 William Phelps, host of Paper Ghosts, the Texas Teen Murders Podcast. And I'm excited to share Paper Ghosts, the Texas Teen Murder Story with you.

Speaker 28 And want to let you know that you can get access to all episodes of Paper Ghosts and every single episode of Paper Ghosts, 100% ad-free with an iHeart True Crime Plus subscription available exclusively on Apple Podcasts.

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