Horizon - Talina Zar E8

This is an iHeart podcast.

Stop settling for weak sound.

It's time to level up your game and bring the boom.

Hit the town with the ultra-durable LG X-Boom portable speaker and enjoy vibrant sound wherever you go.

Elevate your listening experience to new heights because let's be real, your music deserves it.

The future of sound is now with LG X-Boom.

And for a limited time, save 25% at lg.com with code FALL25.

Bring the boom.

X Boom.

There's a lot going on in Hollywood.

How are you supposed to stay on top of it all?

Variety has the solution.

Take 20 minutes out of your day and listen to the new Daily Variety podcast for breaking entertainment news and expert perspectives.

Where do you see the business actually heading?

Featuring the iconic journalists of Variety and hosted by co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton.

The only constant in Hollywood is change.

Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Daily Variety, and listen now.

Let's be real.

Life happens.

Kids spill, pets shed, and accidents are inevitable.

Find a sofa that can keep up at washable sofas.com.

Starting at just $699, our sofas are fully machine washable inside and out.

So you can say goodbye to stains and hello to worry-free living.

Made with liquid and stain-resistant fabrics.

They're kid-proof, pet-friendly, and built for everyday life.

Plus, changeable fabric covers let you refresh your sofa whenever you want.

Neat flexibility?

Our modular design lets you rearrange your sofa anytime to fit your space, whether it's a growing family room or a cozy apartment.

Plus, they're earth-friendly and trusted by over 200,000 happy customers.

It's time to upgrade to a stress-free, mess-proof sofa.

Visit washablesofas.com today and save.

That's

sofas.com.

Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

This is Andrea Gunning from Betrayal.

Are there two sides to every story?

Academy Award nominee Robin Wright stars in The Girlfriend on Prime, a psychological thriller that will make you question everything.

Laura has the perfect life and a son she'd die for, but when he brings home his new girlfriend Cherry, played by Olivia Cook, Something feels off.

Also starring Lori Davidson, The Girlfriend is a twisted game of cat and mouse where nothing is what it seems.

Don't miss the girlfriend, streaming now exclusively on Prime.

Sometimes the truth is just a matter of perspective.

A heads up to listeners, this episode contains graphic descriptions of violence.

Please take care while listening.

In the summer of 2020, that first COVID summer, a few months after Talina went missing, Before anyone had been arrested, a licensed realtor in Mina, Arkansas gets a phone call.

The person on the other end of the line is a woman eager to buy some land in the area, but not just any land, a specific parcel.

Here's how she later described that call, as read by a voice actor.

When I answered the phone, she said there was a piece of property she wanted to buy.

The realtor looks up the property on her computer.

It's a four-acre plot of undeveloped forest in Arkansas.

She asks the woman if she wanted to be shown the property.

They could do a tour?

And she said, no, she'd already looked at it.

She'd walked every step of it and she just loved it.

Weird, but okay.

Then the woman says, she's planning to live there.

But the realtor can see from the plot's description that that might be difficult.

And I said, you do understand there's no utilities, there's no water, no electric, nothing there.

The woman is undeterred.

And she said, well, I'm going to live there and I'm going to buy this piece of property and I want to buy it today.

A sale is a sale.

So the realtor pulls up some forms and asks for the woman's information.

She said her name was Deb Bomley or something like that.

Her first name was Corey, but she said she didn't use that name.

She used the name of Deb.

Even though it's getting late in the day, the realtor prepares a contract for the sale of the property, and Corey signs it just after midnight.

But the contract is rejected by the seller because of financing issues.

The realtor updates Corey.

I talked to her several times and we text back and forth because it was rejected.

And she said she still wanted to buy it.

And I asked her how she wanted to do that and she said she was going to sell some stuff and just come pay cash for it.

The realtor follows up to check on the progress of Corey's cash flow.

I called her and I never got a reply.

So that was the end.

I just filed everything away.

The property remains unsold.

Seven months later, police will descend on this unassuming plot of land off a dead-end logging road called Woody Lane.

From iHeart Podcasts, I'm Melissa Gelson, and this is what happened to Talina Czar.

We could solve what happened.

We could fix it, maybe.

The first thing that happened, she gets bad migraines.

By then, we all had a suspicion that something bad had happened.

We're armchair investigators over here, so we just didn't know something like that could have happened to Tolina.

He was like, I've been talking to Corey, trying to get her to tell me what happened.

So what happened in a nutshell?

And then Sherry told me the exact story of what had happened.

If you suspected something like that happened, who would be the people you would suspect the most?

All of a sudden, boom, Artie's gone.

No explanation.

No, this is what happened.

I don't know if she was willing to forgive him for whatever had happened or maybe he had paid her back.

Oh my God.

this just certainly can't possibly be what happened.

I come back in crying.

And everybody's like, what happened?

Episode 8.

Horizon.

I want to take you back to this moment when Talina's body is found.

It's the dead of winter.

in a forest in Arkansas, and a deputy is standing over a white box freezer.

He opens the lid to find visible human remains.

But standing just a few paces behind him is a woman watching all this unfold.

She's the woman who found the freezer and called the police.

She's also the woman who, seven months earlier, saw a suspicious truck and trailer drive down Woody Lane and Park.

At that time, she wrote down the license plate number of the truck on a small piece of paper.

Even though it's been been seven months, she still has it.

The woman hands over the paper to investigators.

Police run the plates and they match Talina's truck, the 2007 Dodge Ram that Corey later sold for scrap metal.

This small piece of paper is the evidence that Detective Joel Weber has been waiting for.

With this new information, investigators began looking again at the data retrieved from Corey Bomale's cellular phones on previous search warrants.

They discover evidence from Corey's phone that she had been in the area of Arkansas where Talina's body was found multiple times in June and July.

And they also find out that the very day that Talina's truck was spotted parked on Woody Lane, Corey tried to buy that exact property.

Investigators found that Corey Bomaley had been attempting to purchase the very plot of land where the body was found from a realtor in MENA just hours after she was seen there.

The realtor advised Corey was adamant about purchasing the land.

Corey refused to meet the realtor to tour the land, but stated she had already walked on every foot of the property and demanded that she be able to purchase it.

Now able to connect Corey directly to Talina's body, Wagner detectives jump into action.

They apply for an arrest warrant for murder.

Corey is currently living in Wisconsin with her mom, Janet, so the Wagner cops coordinate with the Dane County Sheriff's Office in Wisconsin to track her down.

On January 21st, 2021, a week after Tolina's body is discovered, a few squad cars are dispatched to Janet's home.

With no immediate sign of Corey, police follow her mom as she goes about her day.

We've recreated what happened based on police reports.

Subjects seen departing departing the meadow road address on two separate occasions.

Sometime in the afternoon, Corey's mom leaves her house once more and drives her Chevy Equinox to a mechanic.

Subject parked in the parking lot for a number of minutes before a second subject was observed walking towards the Equinox and getting into the front passenger side seat.

Corey gets in the car with her mom behind the wheel.

The decision was made to attempt a traffic stop in the appropriate location and take Bomali into custody on the aforementioned warrant.

But arresting Corey isn't going to be so easy.

At approximately 2.42 p.m., I pulled behind the vehicle and activated my squad's emergency red and blue lights in an attempt to stop the vehicle.

However, it did not stop.

I don't know what the conversation was in the car between Corey and her mom, if she explained what was happening, or pretended to be clueless, or if they honestly didn't see the police car behind them.

But they don't pull over.

Corey's mom keeps driving.

So a deputy puts on his siren.

And again, the vehicle did not pull over.

One of the detectives in another squad car speeds up and cuts in front of them.

He did begin to brake slightly, and it appeared as though the operator then saw my squad behind her, and she immediately pulled to the right shoulder of the road and stopped.

Gun drawn, the deputy approaches Corey's side of the car and tells her to step out of the vehicle.

Bomali asked, what am I under arrest for?

And my response was, murder charges out of Oklahoma.

Corey also wants to know,

had they found her missing roommate's body?

The next day, Wagner County District Attorney Jack Thorpe updates the public on Corey's arrest.

I charged her with first-degree murder of Tolina Galloway, and we allege that those crimes did occur here in Wagner County, Oklahoma.

Corey Bomalee is also charged with desecration of a corpse.

She is presumed innocent of both of those charges, and that presumption will remain throughout the duration of this investigation and prosecution up to and if she is proven guilty by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

It is very important for me to note to you this: that this is still a very active investigation, and it will remain so for some time after today.

If you do have any information or you may know of someone that has some relation or knows something about this case, please have that person contact the Wagner County Sheriff's Office.

I would agree that I have never had a case involving these kinds of details.

After her arrest for murder, Corey retains a lawyer, Janet Hudson, who defends her client in an interview with KTUL, a television station out of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

I think she's shocked.

I think she's concerned.

Anybody who's been charged with such a serious offense

should be shocked and should be concerned.

Corey's lawyer adds that she's worried about her client getting a fair trial.

I realize there are going to be those that see this as sensational.

and frightening and have opinions.

And I have to fight against that.

Soon Soon afterwards, Corey is extradited from Wisconsin to Wagner.

A short video taken by a local reporter shows her in handcuffs, being escorted by police into the station.

She's walking with her head down, wearing jeans and a flannel shirt.

Corey, what do you have to say about Talina's family?

Corey says nothing.

Doesn't even look back.

More than four years later, as I write this episode in June 2025, Corey is still awaiting trial on these charges.

Stop settling for weak sound.

It's time to level up your game and bring the boom.

Hit the town with the ultra-durable LGX Boom portable speaker and enjoy vibrant sound wherever you go.

Elevate your listening experience to new heights because let's be real, your music deserves it.

The future of sound is now with LG XBoom.

And for a limited time, save 25% at LG.com with code FALL25.

Bring the boom.

X-Boom.

There's a lot going on in Hollywood.

How are you supposed to stay on top of it all?

Variety has the solution.

Take 20 minutes out of your day and listen to the new Daily Variety podcast for breaking entertainment news and expert perspectives.

Where do you see the business actually heading?

Featuring the iconic journalists of Variety and hosted by co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton.

The only constant in Hollywood is change.

Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Daily Variety, and listen now.

Let's be real.

Life happens.

Kids spill.

Pets shed.

And accidents are inevitable.

Find a sofa that can keep up at washable sofas.com.

Starting at just $699, our sofas are fully machine washable inside and out.

So you can say goodbye to stains and hello to worry-free living.

Made with liquid and stain-resistant fabrics, they're kid-proof, pet-friendly, and built for everyday life.

Plus, changeable fabric covers let you refresh your sofa whenever you want.

Neat flexibility?

Our modular design lets you rearrange your sofa anytime to fit your space, whether it's a growing family room or a cozy apartment.

Plus, they're earth-friendly and trusted by over 200,000 happy customers.

It's time to upgrade to a stress-free, mess-proof sofa.

Visit washable sofas.com today and save.

That's washablesophas.com.

Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

Mint is still $15 a month for premium wireless.

And if you haven't made the switch yet, here are 15 reasons why you should.

One, it's $15 a month.

Two, seriously, it's $15 a month.

Three, no big contracts.

Four, I use it.

Five, my mom uses it.

Are you playing me off?

That's what's happening, right?

Okay.

Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch.

Up front payment of $45 per three-month plan, $15 per month equivalent required.

New customer offer first three months only, then full price plan options available.

Taxes and fees extra.

See mintmobile.com.

One day I was driving on the freeway, riding in the freeway with my husband, and we passed a trailer that had a freezer on it.

The details of Talina's death, they'd be difficult for anyone to stomach.

Here's Nicole, Talina's friend in Tennessee, who still feels the trauma long after receiving the news.

And again, I just had a complete meltdown.

I had to get him to pull over because I couldn't be next to that freezer on that trainer.

Talina's friends have had a lot of time to ruminate on the events that occurred in the beginning of the pandemic.

Here's Greg.

To,

you know, basically murder her and chop her up

and put her somewhere where nobody would ever find her.

It just

like, how in the world can somebody

even contemplate doing something like that?

How evil can one person really be?

Tolina was a good lady and she did not deserve what happened to her.

For me to be involved in this whole situation just blows my mind.

And like I said, I live a really boring life here in Oklahoma.

And me and my wife, we watched crime stories, but for us to live, you know, live in one, it's totally different.

And it makes us not want to trust anybody.

It makes us look at people a little bit differently now and be a little bit more untrusting about what they're saying or what they're telling us.

And I don't want to be that type of person because I feel like I'm a person of faith and I feel like I want to give everybody the opportunity to prove me wrong,

you know, show me that they're bad.

But, you know, through this corey situation i uh

i i look at people a lot differently now

for talina's oklahoma friends in particular it's hard to wrap their heads around what corey's been accused of within months of corey settling into wagner she had woven herself into their worlds eating dinner in their homes and sharing beers around backyard fires.

Was she manipulating them the whole time?

Was she waiting for just the right opportunity to enrich herself or to pull off some long-held devious fantasy?

Neighbors are left re-examining every moment with her, wondering if she exploited their goodwill.

For Greg, it's the mattress frame he discarded for Corey that bothers him the most.

Did his actions help Corey get away with murder for a while, at least?

I look back on that and I'm like, oh, I just feel at that point didn't even have a clue of what was transpiring, what had happened.

She was that comfortable around us

and doing the things that she was doing under our noses.

You know,

what else is she capable of or what has she done in the past?

No one ever really prepares you for this moment.

There's no amount of training that can prepare you for how to feel or what to expect.

For Eris, she can't stop thinking about this moment.

A week after Talina went missing, when she brought over a sausage that Talina had paid for, but Corey wouldn't take it.

She looked at me and said, you guys should go ahead and take it.

Our freezer is stuffed full of meat.

I didn't find out about how she was found until obviously months, months, months, months after that interaction.

But when I read the details of how her remains were found,

I collapsed.

Why I connected those two that conversation and that information together.

Because why would you say that?

Certain stories from Corey's past also take on new meaning, like the rumor she once worked at a coroner's office or how she told people she cut up her horse.

Here's Rachel, Talina's friend and fellow animal lover.

She had this horse die, and apparently had had this horse for years.

Instead of calling somebody to come pick this animal up and or even finding somebody with a backhoe that could help her bury it, she cut it up like it was literally just a piece of meat.

What?

Who even knows how to do something like that?

Whoever did cut up Talina's body appeared to have had practice.

The Arkansas Arkansas medical examiner who performed Talina's autopsy said in court documents that the dismemberment appeared to be almost expertly done.

The incision points were so clean, so precise, that there was only one cut mark on a bone, no saw or chop marks at all.

The medical examiner added that the way it was done required some knowledge of how joints are structured so that they could be cut around and the limbs removed.

As far as the cause of Talina's death, the medical examiner found that she died from blunt force trauma to the skull.

Because of the lack of injuries on the rest of her body, he believed she was killed before she had a chance to defend herself.

What do I think happened, like my theory?

In the years since Corey's arrest, Jess, our internet sleuth in Minnesota, has had plenty of time to refine her theory of what exactly happened to Telina Czar.

I asked her to lay it out from start to finish, her best guess, based on the research she's done and the people she's talked to.

I think Talina found out that Corey had either opened a credit card in her name or had used one without her permission.

And then once the pandemic hit, Telina was no longer traveling for work and she was home looking at the bills and that's when she found it.

And I think she confronted Corey and told her she had to leave.

But I think Corey also played to Tolina's feelings and was like, I have nowhere to go, give me some time.

After speaking to her ex-husbands, I learned that Corey was all about waiting on end times of sorts.

And I think she believed that that was coming.

When COVID hit, she thought, this is it.

And that's when everything started to spiral.

The mayor today calling the spread unpredictable and

a grim new prediction.

I get integrated.

They

I think that's when Corey started planning her murder.

I think she either poisoned her over time to make her weak or slipped something into her food or drink that night to make her extra sleepy.

She was going to lay down for a while and said that she would chat with her later.

And once Talina was completely out, Corey probably hit her in the back of the head.

I think she started cutting her up in the bathtub in the master bedroom because it was big.

And then I think after that, she

moved her into the garage and finished there because that's where the freezer was and it was closest.

When we got to the kitchen, we noticed the freezer was not there.

I think she then racked up Talina in garbage bags and put her in the freezer and waited.

Eventually, she brought the freezer and the white trailer over to Billy's.

and plugged it in to keep the body frozen.

We drove by and saw an orange extension cord going into the back of this trailer.

And I thought, well, that's weird.

And then when she went to the interview with Weber, he asked her about the trailer and she freaked out.

And that's why she sold it and rented the U-Haul.

They said there was some sort of travel trailer in the driveway.

Oh, a white cargo trailer?

Yeah, it sold.

She took the truck, hitched up the rented trailer with the freezer, and drove to Arkansas to the remote property she'd been looking at buying.

And she said, well, I want to buy it today.

After she returned, she scrapped the truck and tried to tie up loose ends, but the truck was in too good of shape to actually scrap, so it raised some alarms.

As for the motive, Corey had nothing.

She had no job, no money, no car.

The car she was even driving, the G6, belonged to Tolina.

So doing things as an executor before we know she's dead is presumptuous.

And she realized she'd been caught and she started scrambling.

And there's really nothing else.

Jess has had little doubt about Corey's guilt pretty much from the beginning.

But today, she is still unsure if Corey acted alone and if Marty was involved in any way.

She even shared these concerns with the district attorney.

I get the number for Jack Thorpe and I put Rosie on three-way on conference and I said, will you just mute yourself?

and just be there, like emotionally, just so I know somebody else is there.

And I can remember what's said later later on like i'm really upset and i said i think marty helped i literally told him i'm i i'm positive in my mind that he had something to do with all of this jess mentioned that she'd been communicating with marty regularly throughout this whole time she had a lot of material that could potentially be useful I shared an album with him on Facebook.

I think the same one that I shared with you.

I guess he wanted all of our screenshots, but two and two together.

Still, after their call, Jess was left with a distinct feeling that the DA disapproved of how much she'd inserted herself into the case.

He was kind of scolding me.

I mean, he made me feel.

I'm sure he's really good at his job.

I'm not saying he's not.

I'm saying his bedside manner maybe isn't that cool.

He made me feel like I was responsible for something that

I'm not the police.

I'm not.

I'm some girl.

Just on the internet.

And I didn't know.

I didn't know what I had until afterwards

since Corey's arrest for Talina's murder she's also been charged with attempted murder in Wisconsin accused of trying to fatally poison her former neighbors Sherry and Mike Ziegler using homemade ricin

we came home to

stuff

kitty litter or broken sheetrock material scattered throughout our house, especially on my side of the bed and in my underwear drawer.

This was very personal, and I felt particularly scared.

It's unclear why, but prosecutors decided Corey should face charges in Wisconsin first before standing trial for Talina's murder.

The Ryson trial has been delayed for years, but finally, it's scheduled to take place in June 2025, just a week after this episode airs.

I'll be attending and I'll update you all from Wisconsin.

Still, Still, there's no trial date set for the murder of Telina.

Her loved ones are waiting, clinging to the hope that a murder trial will bring long overdue answers about what really happened in the confusing, chaotic early days of the pandemic.

There's no question that COVID hindered the efforts of the official investigation.

made it harder to see people behind their masks.

Isolation, fear, distraction, these were unprecedented challenges in a world gone mad for a while.

And maybe that's exactly what the perpetrator was hoping for.

Talina's family worries that the more time passes, the harder it may get to prosecute the case.

That memories, evidence could be lost to the winds of time.

There's the typical process of this.

There's the murder,

the investigation.

Hopefully, you know, somebody is

found, you know, and arrested,

you know,

and the family, you know, they bury their loved one.

And then two, three years down the road, there's a trial, as typical, correct?

That is not our case.

Over many conversations, Talina's sister, Cheryl, told me that her family family was struggling with the fact that Talina's body wasn't yet cremated according to her wishes.

They were unable to give her a final resting place.

We do not blame authorities.

What happened was they determined that they needed her body.

This case is more circumstantial than evidence-wise because of the timeframe.

She went missing.

The body wasn't found for several months, badly decomposed in a freezer.

And so they said we need to keep the body.

We haven't

moved beyond the initial trauma.

It's just that,

when I woke up today,

she is in pieces in a freezer in my mom.

And we woke up today.

She's in pieces in the freezer.

When we woke up yesterday,

she was in pieces in the freezer.

And when we wake up tomorrow,

she will be in pieces in the freezer.

And that's our reality.

We accept that this doesn't mean it's easy.

In fact, it's gotten harder.

Our biggest source of pain in a lot of ways is how much pain my mom is in.

Her

horrific

grief that my poor mom, when she is in the worst pain for her entire existence, the worst pain anyone could ever feel.

And we can't do anything to console her, and we know that.

For many years after Talina's murder, her family did not speak openly about what happened.

I have worked at my place of work for 18 years.

I know many people I worked with them for

years.

And until about a year ago,

a year ago,

for the very first time, I uttered the words to someone outside the family.

My sister was murdered.

It took me that long to be able to say those words to someone else.

She until, she said, you know, mom,

I can't, I've never even talked about this

until she said a couple of months ago, her good friend, she said, she was telling me about some mystery thing she'd seen on TV, a date line type of thing, you know, and she said, my aunt was murdered.

The first time she had uttered those words.

And all of this time,

My

oldest daughter, Cherie, she has never ever said anything outside the family.

And my youngest daughter, Chelsea, her too.

I know

my mom outside of

she has a small church group, so of course, you know, the news got there.

Outside of that, no, nobody.

We haven't

been able to even say it

outside of our own, in our own worlds.

This is so raw and painful

because of where we're

trapped.

Agreeing to do this podcast has meant that Cheryl has been able to talk more openly about Talina, to me, to the world, but also to her family.

And those long, overdue conversations seem like the next step in a healing process.

We haven't lost sight.

We have the horizon.

We are still looking at the horizon.

We know

these days will come ahead.

These times will come.

We will be able to gather, lay flowers, and remember.

My mom, her biggest fear

that she expresses is she says,

I don't want her to be forgotten.

And I know she says that because there is not a gathering place of remembrance yet for her.

And for some reason,

she fears that her daughter will just be forgotten.

I'm just really grateful that you decided to do this for Telina.

Not for me, but for her.

Everybody's going to know, hopefully.

I think they need to.

When you tell people about this whole thing, like, how do you explain it to people, like, what you were involved in?

I usually tell people I helped solve a murder because I do feel like the effort that I put forth, along with, you know, Nicole and all the people I talked to, did help catch Corey.

Granted, I didn't arrest her or build a case that I could take to court.

I don't take any credit for that.

And anybody with half a brain knows that a civilian can't do that.

But I do say that I contributed to it because I truly feel like I did.

Stop settling for weak sound.

It's time to level up your game and bring the boom.

Hit the town with the ultra-durable LGX-Boom portable speaker and enjoy vibrant sound wherever you go.

Elevate your listening experience to new heights because let's be real, your music deserves it.

The future of sound is now with LGX Boom.

And for a limited time, save 25% at lg.com with code FALL25.

Bring a boom.

X-Boom.

There's a lot going on in Hollywood.

How are you supposed to stay on top of it all?

Variety has the solution.

Take 20 minutes out of your day and listen to the new Daily Variety podcast for breaking entertainment news and expert perspectives.

Where do you see the business actually heading?

Featuring the iconic journalists of Variety and hosted by co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton.

The only constant in Hollywood is change.

Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Daily Variety, and listen now.

Tired of spills and stains on your sofa?

WashableSofas.com has your back, featuring the Anibay Collection, the only designer sofa that's machine-washable inside and out, where designer quality meets budget-friendly prices.

That's right, sofas started just $699.

Enjoy a no-risk experience with pet-friendly, stain-resistant, stain-resistant, and changeable slip covers made with performance fabrics.

Experience cloud-like comfort with high-resilience foam that's hypoallergenic and never needs fluffing.

The sturdy steel frame ensures longevity, and the modular pieces can be rearranged anytime.

Check out washable sofas.com and get up to 60% off your Anibay sofa, backed by a 30-day satisfaction guarantee.

If you're not absolutely in love, send it back for a full refund.

No return shipping or restocking fees.

Every penny back.

Upgrade now at washable sofas.com.

Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

This is Andrea Gunning from Betrayal.

Are there two sides to every story?

Academy Award nominee Robin Wright stars in the girlfriend on Prime, a psychological thriller that will make you question everything you think you know.

Laura has the dream job, the perfect husband, and a son she'd die for.

But when her beloved Daniel brings home his new girlfriend Cherry, played by Olivia Cook, something feels off.

Is Cherry the sweet, innocent girl she appears to be?

Or is there something more manipulative beneath the surface?

And how far will a mother go to protect her son?

Also starring Lori Davidson, the girlfriend is a twisted game of cat and mouse where nothing is what it seems and everyone has something to hide.

Don't miss the girlfriend, streaming now exclusively on Prime.

Sometimes the truth is just a matter of perspective.

Jess is proud of the work she and the online sleuths did to bring Talina's case to a close.

The true extent of how much they helped the investigation and any ways they may have unintentionally hindered it will likely come to light when Corey finally goes to trial in Oklahoma.

Jess will be right in the middle of that, too.

It's still early days, but the the defense has indicated it plans to subpoena Jess as a witness.

In a court document, Corey's lawyer wrote that Jess would be expected to testify about documents she provided to the police and the DA and conversations she had with Nicole, Marty, Corey's ex, Alec Adams, and other Wagner folk like Eris and Greg.

Jess would also be asked to testify about, quote, any credentials she possesses regarding a homicide investigation i do at this point feel like i'm almost a corey

expert i mean when you stalk somebody essentially for almost five years you you know them i feel like i know who she is my obsession might be a problem this might be a problem

this might be an issue a true crime obsession coupled with the isolation of early COVID is what got Jess and the online sleuths started down this path.

But as time passed, Rosie, Brittany, and the others moved on, their real lives taking over the virtual ones they had created.

I found out that I was actually pregnant, so I remember I messaged them.

I was like, hey guys, I don't know how much help I'm going to be.

I'm going to have to take a step back a little bit.

But I still follow all the updates and stuff all the time.

And I'll message her and ask her about stuff.

Slowly as time has gone on and this has sort of become less of a forefront in our lives, you know, we went from talking hours a day with each other to less and less and less.

For Jess, this case, this calling, only became more central to her identity.

The obsession grew, shifted focus.

These days, the narrative Jess tells herself about what happened to Talina Czar is less of a whodunit and more of an epic tale of good versus evil.

And what did you learn about yourself during this process, this five-year process?

I've learned a lot about myself, some of it not so endearing.

Keep thinking about how I lied, and these people are going to think I'm a bad person.

I think the biggest thing I learned is that my sense of right and wrong is very...

Black and white.

I don't have much of a gray area anymore.

I'm even lumping myself in with the bad guys for being a

liar.

In this version of Jess's story, she's uneasy about some of the things she did in her search for the truth.

But ultimately, the ends justify the means.

She took on a villain and won.

Any regrets you have about getting involved?

No, I think the only thing I would have done differently is I would have gone straight to Oklahoma.

I think I would have just driven there and helped look for and confront Corey literally head on.

I feel like,

and I'm not saying I could, I just a feeling that I had is that I could have like provoked her enough to get angry and say she did it.

I would have sat outside her house harassing her, literally, just sat there and stared at her house until she came out and blew up, and I could have got her in trouble for something.

That's my only regret is that I didn't travel there.

I don't regret this at all.

I don't think I ever will.

Talina's murder trial is still very far off.

First, Corey must stand trial for attempted murder in Wisconsin.

And Jess will be there, of course.

She is now friends with Sherry Ziegler and will be staying at her house, the house where Ryson was found, while she attends Corey's trial.

Jess is eagerly anticipating the moment when she finally gets to see Corey in person.

in handcuffs, being held to account.

It would just be interesting to see how she acted in the courtroom and I could see her testify if she will.

I read a couple books on reading body language and I'm by no means an expert.

I read some books, but I feel like I could pick up something on her.

I just wanna, I'd have to know.

I feel like it's a need.

It's not even a want.

It's like I need it.

You're looking at me like I might be crazy.

Jess and Corey, their fates forever intertwined.

Jess is convinced that Corey's got more to hide.

That beyond Sherry Ziegler and Talina Zar, there might be other victims in other states, other bodies in remote forests.

Who's gonna dig up that history if not her?

I think there's so much more to Corey and so many more crimes.

It feels like this isn't going to be over for years.

I'd really love to just, once she's convicted, sit down and be like, just tell me.

Just tell me, what else did you do?

So we can all stop wondering.

Because I don't think this is ever going to be over for me.

I know Corey's down more just from knowing who she is.

I know she's done more.

So you're not going to put it down?

I don't think I can.

I don't know if I want to.

Is that terrible?

A few weeks before the Wisconsin trial was scheduled to begin, I got a series of text messages from Cheryl, Talina's sister.

After years of waiting, Talina's body had been cremated and her ashes sent back to her family in a box.

Cheryl purchased a special urn, white with purple butterflies, just Talina's style, and sent it to her mother.

When it arrived, Talina's mother placed the ashes into the urn by herself, alone in her apartment.

She said it was her role to lay Talina to rest.

Cheryl sent me a photo, and I have to admit, when I received this image, I was hit with an overwhelming sense of relief.

I have felt for Talina's family, particularly Talina's mother, and how difficult it was not to have a place of memorial for her.

I'm glad that they at least got that, even as they await answers on what happened to Telina during her final days.

You can't see this photo, but I want to describe it to you.

At the top of a bookshelf, Telina's urn sits between two framed photographs.

On the right, a picture of Talina's brother as an infant.

On the left, a photo of Telina and Cheryl as toddlers, dressed in matching white sweaters and matching bangs, smiling at the camera, looking very much like twins.

On this top shelf, the family is together.

Thank you for listening to what happened to Tolina Czar.

Although this is our last full episode, we will be releasing bonus episodes from the Wisconsin trial and beyond, so make sure you're subscribed.

I'm always looking for tips and feedback, so if you have anything to share, you can email me at mjeltsen

at gmail.com.

What Happened to Talinazar is a production of iHeart Podcasts.

It's written, recorded, and hosted by me, Melissa Jeltson, with writing and story editing by Lauren Hansen.

Our executive producer is Ryan Murdoch.

For iHeart Podcasts, executive producers are Jason English and Carl Cadel.

Fact-checking by Maya Shukri.

Zoe Denkla is our associate producer.

Jeremy Thal is our editor.

Original music by Erin Kaufman with additional music by Jeremy Thal and Gideon Crevichet.

Additional sound design by Marita Spe.

Episodes are mixed and mastered by Carl Cadel.

Voice acting by Lizzie Gore, Chris Berry, Stephanie Frame, Pete Monica, Ethan Richard, and Molly Maslin.

Our logo is designed by Ido Moore.

Thanks so much for listening.

Stop settling for weak sound.

It's time to level up your game and bring the boom.

Hit the town with the ultra-durable LG X-Boom portable speaker and enjoy vibrant sound wherever you go.

Elevate your listening experience to new heights because let's be real, your music deserves it.

The future of sound is now with LG XBoom.

And for a limited time, save 25% at lg.com with code FALL25.

Bring a boom.

X Boom.

There's a lot going on in Hollywood.

How are you supposed to stay on top of it all?

Variety has the solution.

Take 20 minutes out of your day and listen to the new Daily Variety podcast for breaking entertainment news and expert perspectives.

Where do you see the business actually heading?

Featuring the iconic journalists of Variety and hosted by co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton.

The only constant in Hollywood is change.

Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Daily Variety, and listen now.

Tired of spills and stains on your sofa?

WashableSofas.com has your back, featuring the Anibay Collection, the only designer sofa that's machine washable inside and out, where designer quality meets budget-friendly prices.

That's right, sofas started just $699.

Enjoy a no-risk experience with pet-friendly, stain-resistant, and changeable slip covers made with performance fabrics.

Experience cloud-like comfort with high-resilience foam that's hypoallergenic and never needs fluffing.

The sturdy steel frame ensures longevity, and the modular pieces can be rearranged anytime.

Check out washable sofas.com and get up to 60% off your Anibay sofa, backed by a 30-day satisfaction guarantee.

If you're not absolutely in love, send it back for a full refund.

No return shipping or restocking fees.

Every penny back.

Upgrade now at washablesofas.com.

Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

Ah, smart water.

Pure, crisp taste, perfectly refreshing.

Wow, that's really good water.

With electrolytes for taste, it's the kind of water that says, I have my life together.

I'm still pretending the laundry on the chair is part of the decor.

Yet, here you are, making excellent hydration choices.

I do feel more sophisticated.

That's called having a taste for taste.

Huh, a taste for taste.

I like that.

Smartwater, for those with a taste for taste, grab yours today.

This is an iHeart Podcast.