oh boy take him in a custody BR what is it think want know oh my God first kidding no don't trust me when I pulled that back I was like I got to stop washing Criminal Minds just the first thing that went through my head when officers realize there's more to a crime scene then meets the eye their investigation leads them down a rabbit hole of hidden evidence so what happens when officer to stumble across Unforgettable and haunting discoveries police supportment Athena smell good yep 44 all right just don't touch anything but looks like a lot of pills oh wait no there's a lot of blood here are the times cops made the most horrifying discoveries ever starting with the heart stopping moment officer stumbled across Patricia's body at her place after her suspicious neighbor claimed she wasn't at home yep I did step on it uh before I knew that there was a body with a plastic bag wrapped on its face so what happened after you strangled her and she was dead you killed her M think home did you penetrate her body with fingers or other foreign objects I think I did in SE setember 2022 Anne Arbor police received a call requesting a welfare check on an elderly lady named Patricia Falcon Stern a Meals on Wheels social worker reported that they hadn't heard from the lady in a while and when they went to her place to inquire about her the neighbor Keith answered her door he assured the social worker that Patricia was okay yet the employee could not Shake an odd feeling off considering Patricia was not the type to go MIA after being filled in on the situation officers arrived at Patricia's residence unaware of what Horrors would await them behind the elderly woman's door hey Patty you in there what that hey Keith it's Ann Arbor police you with Patty no she's out oh you mind opening up what was the problem well meals you okay yeah okay meals on I didn't have my Walker oh okay Ms on Wheels has been calling cuz I guess she hasn't been answering the door they're worried about her no I no I'm live next door I answer the door for Meals on Wheels yeah okay but is Patty here no oh where's she at I don't know you got her phone number we can call her we got to make sure she's okay I I don't know her number it's a 616 number okay you mind if we take a look in there and make sure she's all right she's not here okay where'd she go I don't know well you told me she went to the store earlier now you're telling me you don't know you're not in any trouble nobody's in any trouble we just got to make sure she's okay I'm sure she's okay okay how long she went to the C how long she been gone I have a clue I don't know Keith you're not you're not giving me the warm and fuzzies man man I just need to make sure Patty's okay she's not here I just want to check and make sure cuz if I don't check and somebody's going to call and say I didn't do my job right and I don't want to get in trouble for that it'll take us it'll take us 5 Seconds to take a couple steps look around make sure she's not here and then we'll go check the collop for her but I just want to make sure she's not in here no she's okay then give me 10 seconds to check and I'll be on my way that's all I'm asking you we've met before you and I have had many conversations tell I'm not trying to ham nobody up I just I just working on getting rid of the trash and oh I don't worry about I'm not judging any of that I just all I got to do to make sure I'm doing my job right is verify she's not in here so that we can let Meals on Wheels know because they're going to keep they're going to keep call I didn't have my Walker with I got you do you mind if we just come check that's all I'm asking we'll be 10 seconds this trash I'm not worried about the trash Keith I promise I got my own trash Oh but I got to get on my w well you can I'll just let me in you can get in your Walker minute all right did Patty take her walker with her oh she decided to go independent [Music] today so she's been so intoxicated here yeah as expected patri 's neighbor Keith answered the door and suspiciously seemed reluctant to let officers inside despite his repeated assurances that Patty was not home officers knew something was a Miss but not even their wildest imagination could have prepared them for what they were about to witness as they walked in that's not your Walker is it that's a weird Walker no my Walker's right there oh I thought you were going for your Walker I fell all that damn thing the other night H my shoulder oh no you need any medical attention or anything we can help you with ain't nothing I can do about it okay I'm going to drag that out and the hallway and hold it up and get rid of it okay do you mind if we just look through real quick and then we'll be out of here yeah sure okay I appreciate it I'm just going to try and not get too much in your way well that would make me five I don't know if I want to be five again oh boy take him in a custody bar put your hands behind your back put your hands behind your back back put your hands behind your back relax relax I didn't do anything I fall the body I didn't know how to go about just just be quiet okay don't say anything I didn't do anything somebody else here sometimes you don't walk her door be quiet how am I going to walk without my Walker you're going to sit right there is what you're going to do I didn't do again I didn't know how to I don't even have my w I didn't do anything I didn't know how to go about doing it cuz I always get blame for other people's CRA do you have anything on you that I need to be concerned with anything that's going to poke me stick me hurt me no way okay I don't even have my w I don't have my glasses oh can I drop that off that P where that's I don't think we you need to worry about dropping nothing off yeah it's going and that's fine I don't have my I don't if I get my keys around my neck lard right here yeah yep about you going to leave it Partners officers found Patty's deceased body lying open in the living room but were unable to determine the cause of death regardless they immediately took the most likely suspect into custody Keith he however did not seem bothered at all that he was living with a Corps for quite some time but officers had no time to dwell on that as more disturbing details came to the the surface Sor um I don't know if you're familiar with Keith and Patty but Patty is on the floor with a plastic bag taped around her head and she is clearly gone uh it's like across her cheek around to like the back of her head I mean I don't know if it was um but obviously some kind of asphixiation oh yeah I was not expecting this be like a neck injury or something along those lines if uh there's anything on it like probably in early August [Music] maybe Late July from the way it's healed over and I found a bag in here with his name his last name on it um I I think that they both kind of live here like I'm not exactly sure 100% the full Dynamic but anytime that I ever deal with either of them usually Patty calls cuz she gets intoxicated and can't find him and he's just like out on the sidewalk smoking or something and they'll go in and out of each other's Apartments I found mail and paperwork and stuff with his name on it in here um so they kind of just go back and forth I mean I guess they're dating living together you know whatever it was discovered that on September the 14th 2019 2 years before the incident Patty texted her mother saying she came home to her apartment door open with a tamped door lock entering inside she found a box of shoes in the living room next to the sofa in a creepier turn of events Patty also realized that some of her underwear was missing the text messages ended with her stating that she was being stalked by some weirdo in the building unfortunately neither She nor the police were able to apprehend a suspect but as the officer surveyed her apartment today he began putting together bits and pieces of what must have happened I think so I called this batch cuz the injury to her neck is I mean it's healed over if it was attempt a while back I was just going to see if they could pull any CAD notes um but there's like they search clamus and there's a a assault DV with them from last year or so and all his stuff should be pretty prominent in there but um but yeah I mean I wasn't surprised to see him answer the door I was a little surprised to see her in the state that she's in but him being here I I that didn't surprise me at all paty is in the living room uh appears that she has a plastic bag taped to her head I don't know if this was a um yeah I see something like Lage here to say yeah a lot of domestic stuff I think they both get drunk and just they'll want each other to leave their apartment and they get into what I guess you could call a pushing match but like I said most of the times neither of them can walk on their own so it's not like they get too intense me I think at least the day are true but it kind of looks like it's healed it over like it's not scab scabbed up but uh it's not an open sore well I think it's pretty safe to say that there's some level of counter side in here so I'm not going in any further than I need to yeah well I guess good thing I decided to ride today huh first kidding no well trust me when I pulled that back I was like I got to stop watching Criminal Minds just the first thing that went through my head like you it's just it's funny cuz we've had a lot of interactions with people just walking up to our cars like anything going on only if only Troublemaker if you brought it you know something like that well looks like you caught me so it's been that every interaction and then we're sitting there and he goes he goes take him in custody and I was like oh take him into custody right this was like this though when you guys came in yep I did step on it uh before I knew that there was a body with a plastic bag wrapped around its face feel like that's noral for her though he's on yeah so I think those are baby wipes and then adult diaper for SE both of those noral as more officers arrived on the scene surveying the deplorable conditions of the house one officer made an unsettling discovery on the corpse the plastic bag wrapped around her face was taped to her which eliminated the possibility of her ending her own life moreover they discovered scab marks on her throat indicating someone had pressed a knife onto her neck without digging in all the way after scanning the apartment the best they could for Clues officers concluded that the most effective way was to interrogate Keith and unfortunately for officers their gut feeling about Keith proved to be accurate you understand why you're here right now I don't really understand I didn't do anything well we got to talk to you about everything going on at at uh at your friend's apartment there right so that's why you're here you're just here so we can talk to you about all that stuff that's going on all right um how's your health overall my health is sh arthritis I've had numerous breaks in my bones I've had concussion can you blow deep into the straw please blow blow blow blow blow blow blow you're good you can stop thinking what were you doing in Patty's apartment today I went over this morning okay the security left at one my phone was dead I should have told Ms and wheels about it when she was there but I guess I got scared I hadn't seen her since Tuesday I mean Saturday that's when we we get meals and wheel three times a week then we got into an argument about the sness I didn't throw it out and I didn't so when you went in there what happened I freaked out why did you freak out no I she lay in the middle of the floor where was she laying when you went in there in the middle of the living room middle of the living room I covered her up with the blanket that she at she had a bunch of Sor on her and holes and bunch of dust on her n like that going on you were found at the scene mhm with Patty yes with a bag around her head that's what puzzled me right there what puzzles us too no then they use my materials what do you mean they used your materials my tape what do you mean your tape my blue masking tape to do what wrap the damn bag around it these my materials I was going to fix their Windows still so what's peculiar to me is you go into a room did you know she was dead at that time no I knew something was wrong there was a bag over mhm and and how did that bag get over her head well I don't know it I didn't do it but at no time you called the police to say I didn't there's a dead body in here my phone has 04 Keith it's your tape on her it's your DNA on there it's your DNA that's going to be on the bag I R Keith you came into the apartment you've already told us that she covered her body up you got in an argument with her no I did and it led to you strangling her no that's what happened Keith we got into a little squabble I'm satday about the meet no matter how hard Keith tried to act innocent there was no other suspect but him he was found with the corpse he didn't call the police his materials were used in the process of ending Patty's life and whatnot as the interrogation continued Keith's stubbornness finally cracked during the argument it became physical explain that part to me I don't know the vacuum was there did you pick up the a vacuum cord at some point and wrap it around her neck yeah I guess yes you guess or yes you did apparently I did I know you're using a walker but if you stood up could you show me how you put the cord around her neck right so she never fought back no never resisted so what happened after you strangled her and she was dead you home and know what happened I might have had a snack and I went to bed at what point did you cover her head with the bag I don't know okay why did you cover her head with the bag guess I didn't want to see her so she'd been dead for since Tuesday Morning late morning then finally after three grueling and long hours Keith admitted to the crime but that was not the only depraved thing he did and as he explained the speakable acts he performed on the body the officers were left horrified Keith admitted to pulling her pants down and using his fingers to penetrate her in an even more disgusting turn of events he admitted that was not the only thing he inserted inside of him there was a bottle in the apartment with a long cindal curl oh that that was going to be my Swan or a goose yes but it had it appeared to have possible feal matter Andor blood on it not in your apartment and her apartment yeah but she's the one that pooped on the floor okay after you killed her she pooped on the floor no did you penetrate her body with fingers or other foreign objects I think I did know why I did it okay I'm not a b person so she didn't say anything to like you were standing up earlier in the day she did what' she say I ate her me her threw it up I can't do either in the end Keith was charged with second degree murder and mutilation of a body while a body was surely a terrifying Discovery it did not compare to the horrors this mother was hiding in her house behind a caring and motherly facade to be quite Frank with you we received a report of child child neglect pepper yeah on me and she's 4 days before 4 days to kill me it's horrible I love you and I don't even know you I want me you're saving me from this on March the 13th 2019 police in Maricopa Arizona got a call from a young woman named Megan who filed a very disturbing report she claimed her siblings were being abused which prompted officers to act quickly arriving on the scene officers expected the good old story of a parent snacking their child but what they found instead was perhaps the worst case of Torment inflicted Upon A young human being and what did you want to report child I guess that thms it up the B okay is your child involved or is it something that you know that's happening to someone else's child or it's my sibling it's my little sibling oh okay yeah it's my family the chilling 911 call had officers alarmed with the severity of the allegations deciding to dig deeper officers met with the corander sister outside the station unaware of the gruesome details they'd hear so it's nine people in the home two are two adult brothers and seven are foster kids her mom's did foster care for 14 years um she's adopted these seven kids and when was this video taken today today okay how she locks me in a room with only underwear and tank to doesn't give me blanket what kind of room is a closet and it's a tile floor no carpet just a empty Green Room how many other people sleep in there room is in your house in the house it's my mom's bedroom she like got all the carpet ripped out and put TI is there a walk on Theos she doesn't let us eat for at least 2 days straight or maybe more no food and no water no food no water do you get a go to the bathroom whenever you need no once I had a pee and she locked me in that room cuz I did something and I PE myself cuz she didn't let me go she like that yes that's why she gives everyone pullups cuz she knows that they're going to be white female she's brown hair he's yeah they make yoube videos that's their so income mother my mother's Inc and everything the Two Sisters Jordan and Megan showed video evidence of the horrifying abuse endured by her younger adoptive siblings confronting the mother seemed like the next logical step but nothing could have prepared the officers for how heartless she truly was hi Donnie nice to meet you to meet you my name is Officer B I'm with the amou police department okay we need to do a welfare check in this house oh okay do you yeah I do um where is your mother at she's upstairs you want to go get her um yeah I can go up there and get her okay Mom mom she's up there okay can I go up there with you yeah okay thank you stand up sorry what it's a police department why hi can I help you I'm Donnie oh I'm sorry I didn't meit to turn not to play on you what's going on mind if I talk to you yeah you want to take the kids downstairs yeah come on guys okay have a seat I need you to go downstairs is there any other kids up here okay yeah hi how all right whatever you want to do hold on hold on hold on watch yeah hey I need you guys I need you guys to go downstairs okay okay is there anybody else in this room come on no no no leave him alone come here come here come here buddy I'm getting dressed oh you had a pull up on yeah okay okay okay let's go okay can you come here sir sir sir hey K I need you downstairs they'll gather them downstairs when the officers arrived at the family home they were greeted by the stunned faces of the mother and her two adult sons a reaction that perfectly matched the chilling Revelations waiting inside in what could be best described as a House of Horrors all right here's what's going on okay like I told you my name is Donnie all right uh to be quite Frank with you we received a report of child child neglect okay all right so that's why we're here okay from who um right now that's a relative Okay so this is what's going to happen okay just tell me what's going on we need to interview all of your kids separately okay okay and we need to conduct a search of the residents now we could do these two ways okay legally you're entitled to your can we come back here because I don't see a warrant or anything I don't know yeah yeah you're fine we're making sure there's nobody else in the house okay constitutionally you know you have your rights one of the ways that we are entitled to do this is with your consent okay so it means you give me your consent to go through your house and look for any evidence that might be possibly used against you okay the other way is that we get a search warrant and then we go through the residence with the search warrant okay so those are the two options okay I would like to speak to the kids freely with your consent you're not going to be there when this is going on and but again you also have the right to say no you're not going to interview my kids okay but right now we are doing a welfare check on the children we're going to talk to them make sure they're okay there's no bruises anything like that okay so what what do you think about this um I think we're in the middle of a packing scenario and my house is trash cuz we dug stuff out of everywhere and I don't approve of you really going through my Residence at this particular point in time okay so however yeah I don't really approve of that you could talk to my children I mean my children are all safe and okay I I don't I I want to know what the report thing was prior to this I would like to talk to one of my daughters because she just started crying and she said she she knows it was not talking to any of your kids she said she knows it was my other she knows it was my adult child who called on me so I'm wondering why she I don't know I don't know but right now you're not going to have any access to your kids can I talk to the senior staff Lieutenant um I don't see why not if you really need want to talk to him right now per I'm just asking what the complaints were um we got some we got a call about possible child but what what type of child physical okay Brown I can't tell you that because I didn't take the call so I don't know who called um but I know based on the call that we need to speak to all the kids sure okay any other questions I can not really I mean I'm just you know I'm shocked understandably so what happens Michelle is when we get calls like this we just don't take a person's word for it so that's why we come in and we'll want to do an actual check of the kids sure but I don't want to call DCS on you or any other person that I don't know if this is true I don't know you you know for some reason Michelle the mother grew visibly defensive and seemed more concerned about her rights being violated than the grave allegations pressed against her the officers then began speaking with the children only to be left utterly repulsed after hearing the Humane conditions they were forced to live in do you like living here yeah yeah you have fun here yeah yeah what happened to your head there in a fight with my brother you in a fight with your brother yeah what are the diapers on the floor four you got small kids here yeah don't drink water too fast you're going to get Pi up you not get water very often you don't over here we just wanted to check on you guys make sure everything is okay you remember I told you check on you every now and then right I'm here to help okay I want to make sure nothing happens to you or your brothers or your sisters okay okay do you understand what that means okay what do you think it means you help people like if there's anybody bad you come and save us from them okay yeah okay you're fine baby you're fine you want to sit up you don't have to come you're fine here we go here we here sit down on this bench huh here we go sit down on the bench all right where are you you I want to have a better family you want to have a better family I'm sorry I know it's hard to leave my mom but yeah you know that spr that you use when there's like bad people and stuff yeah yeah p e p p e r yeah spray pepper spray yeah I'm I didn't hear you Bab she EP empty two of bottles she as soon as my son said the police are here and they're coming up the stairs she starts crying and she goes I know who it is I know who it is and I'm like what are you talking about mhm and she goes it's Jordan which is my adult one of my adult daughters okay and she has very big Vengeance against me right now so I cut her off I she did try tried to contact me and Tred to um say well if I want to be a part of her life blah blah blah um I had to jump through these hoops and whatnot I basically just blocked her I said no I'm fine with the way my life is um I don't need that extra stress in my life of somebody who wishes I was dead and is waiting for their inheritance you know what I'm saying she like she literally the last time I saw her she's like I'm just waiting for the the life she's always threatened to call BCS on me because she knows that every parents worst nightmar is having DCS called on them she's threatened to make up stuff in the past she's threatened to you know just do all kinds of stuff if I looked at my children wrong I was using them you know as the officers tried to comfort the youngest daughter Stacy the mother spun lies in the Next Room accusing her eldest daughter of being the true problem Michelle claimed Jordan was only after her insurance money but while Michelle was busy playing the victim Stacy was quietly revealing the chilling truth every time my brother run told like and CPS comes he makes us F just like good things not saying anyad okay I'm just listening okay you guys saw the video that I I was talking to the camera my sister Megan was talking to me yep it's all true it's happened my room upstairs I want the door you want this door closed yeah cuz I don't want hearing okay I'm going to get in trouble for all right come on come on in yeah it's pretty tight but hey whatever makes you feel safe okay it's hard to leave my mom but I have to I don't want you telling my other siblings well not going tell them can I ask them if if everything's okay at home can I I'm not going to tell them anything El I want to you guys yeah bye I have a dinner won't let me have dinner and pleas I you let me and she's Dr me 4 days before 4 days you have't eaten in 4 days no before based on some information that we received we are going to have contact DC okay why I'm not going to release that information to you all I can tell you is that there's going to be an investigation so that's I've ever done to spank my child I've spank the child like what is there anything in here that you want to eat right now while we're waiting is seriously anything look you got some chips you got she's going to no no no listen don't worry about that she's going to no she's not no she's not no she's not you are not going to talk to Mom right now okay grab a grab a bag of chips goad grab a bag of chips perfect sit down okay enjoy look at look at me I I want to help you I couldn't stand it I know I know bab to kill me it's horrible thing am I [ __ ] horrible baby Stacy stated that she had gone hungry for 4 days and was too terrified to eat even a small bag of chips in front of her mother a true representation of the fear Michelle had instilled in her children right just 2 days ago she said cuz I was talking to my brother he said he he was I was talking to him and she said she's going to slice my neck away literally today she got that I woke up from a nap and when she woke up from her nap she said um you guys don't get dinner I like it wasn't me I didn't wake you up which it was cuz I wanted dinner I was hungry and she was like well you dinner and I started crying about it cuz I was everybody's hungry she like if you don't shut up I'm going to take you into the bathroom and slap your mouth and make sure I cut your lip open and I'll do it a couple more times make sure it's not and and makes make sure it's painful I don't know if I still have one you're fine baby baby I have of her okay I want to get out of this [Music] get when you said you get be what do you mean by that I hard the anything else not she takes her to his armpit and twists it by her nails her nails are and takes it and twist it and spit in her face she literally takes a mouth little spit and spits it in our face I don't know what kind of mom does this to us and then she always tells us to lie I don't want to I want to live with Megan and mom makes a lie you guys you don't get anything for 4 days straight cuz you being horrible no food no water haven't even had water once today eat these chips eat them you're not in trouble you're not in trouble for eating right now okay I'm telling you to eat these chips okay I was like cops cops don't even care me you're being horrible they still feed you she said on the Bible it says do not feed kid if they're bad it's not true take take bath and beat kids it says that all the B she said I love you and I don't even know you I love you to you're saving me from this C it was revealed that not only had Michelle Ed threats of violence to keep the kids in line but she had also threaten to end their lives her vicious and manipulative tactics kept the other kids too scared to even speak I have left over that oven that I was going to heat up for my children can they eat that yeah can the boys do it down there you have them ask them to do that because just da on me that the older children yeah the older children have not eaten only okay ones that have not eaten the two babies have eaten but I think she's feeding you because she's scared that you guys are going to say you have that's why we just gave him all that stuff I know no everybody knows he's not allowed to eat for a we trying to make he's like you're not eating for a week maybe 2 weeks maybe three we maybe four month she okay I can tell how you guys are acting with the fruit snacks and with the drinks cuz you guys haven't I know that I know that I can see a baby I was going to lie but I couldn't I can't we don't need to lie okay you don't need to lie so DCS should be coming out and they should be taking um custody of the kids uh based on the allegations and they'll be talking to you as well police F here out yourself now hold up bro coming out go down the hallway first right the kids were placed with child protective services and Michelle was arrested and taken to jail on multiple charges including seven counts of abuse unfortunately she passed away before her trial even began from children being victims to becoming the aggressors when police found a deceased elderly lady at her residence they didn't expect her overly Cooperative son to become a potential suspect can't really tell if her slice marks I can't tell if she sliced herself or something came up okay we'll just uh we're clear let's goad and step up the video surveillance cameras show you going into your mom's apartment when she was murdered okay but was she dead on the day I arrived or she was dead when you killed her on October the 25th 2018 Athena Valentini a 64-year-old nurse at California men's Colony State Prison failed to show up for work her co-workers initiated a welfare check hoping to get in contact with the elderly lady officers arrived at the given address but what they discovered at her residence was enough to scar them for Life leading to a spiraling investigation into a homicide for a check on a registered nurse I never showed up for work this morning oh um so get here we only we know she only has one vehicle registered to her from our information um she's not answering the door we spoke with the neighbor she said the last time she saw her was 2 days ago uh but she did hear her yesterday uh speaking Hungarian she is Hungarian and that's all she knows she said that she has a regular routine she locks the gate she's got a small gate up front locks it with the padlock has a dog that she leaves up front Okay um the pad Lock's not there it's unsecure there is no dog um she said that her son lives in the area we Tred contact tting him no answer please support me [Applause] Athena it doesn't smell good Athena police department Athena police department yep 144 don't 12 Code 4 1144 all right just don't touch anything but looks like a lot of pills oh wait no there's a lot of blood yeah can't really tell if there slice marks Sam 6 uh do we have a David unit available okay um yeah I finish and then I'll have you guys just stand I'll say just uh don't leave until I get you guys' info or something we're not going to go yeah we're not going to touch anything anything looking at that it's uh I can't tell if she sliced herself or something came up okay we'll just uh we'll clear what's going and step out what was meant to be a welfare check soon morphed into a crime scene when officers found the 64-year-old nurse deceased in her bedroom the officers informed her son lente Lazar but his reaction left them confused immediately ringing alarm bells in their inquisitive Minds hi hello are you Lazar or Mr Lazar yeah Len Lazar okay is Miss Valentina your mother yes can I step in and speak to you please uh my girlfriend lives here but sure is it you live here with her though yeah she's here and a dog okay would you mind if I come in oh yeah sure okay come on thank you H puffy he's hello how are you hello good how are you doing pretty well um I was contacted this afternoon okay by the St Louis biso County Sheriff's Department or District Attorney's office I don't remember which one okay um your mother passed away very very sorry for that obviously what happed I don't know they they didn't really give me any details um they just asked that we come and make a notification to you okay and then have you get in touch with them uh do you have a phone number I do I have a phone number for you I have it written down already it's Casey Neil and that's his telephone number and you don't have any other details no no he will be able to he'll be able to to give you any kind of details or whatever and that's general practice they don't really tell us a whole lot when it's especially it's out of state they just ask us to come and and make no no ification okay very sorry for your loss thank you so much for the uh the house call though obviously it's a very yeah hard thing to have to deal with so yeah when was the last time you spoke with your mom uh on Monday and I've been calling her and uh it goes straight to voicemail and then the voicemail says it's full okay but she's been having a tough time with with her phone I thought maybe it was a phone issue okay sorry to have to bring bad news to you thank you so much though I really appreciate it sorry about that have a wonderful day thank you you too strange Lazar showed little emotion over the news of his mother's passing and instead asked detailed questions about the incident but it was what the investigators found after that truly shocked everyone detectives uncovered a suspicious number on Athena's phone which they linked to a burner phone bought by Lazar surveillance footage also showed him driving toward his mother's house the day before her death all of these incidents couldn't possibly just be coincidences so officers took him in for interrogation so I wanted first to again extend my condolences thank you I know this is a very difficult yes thing to deal with and you know I just want to let you know that um we all um uh wanted to extend our condolences and work very hard on this case thank you it's very difficult losing a parent I've lost one as well and uh so thank you I actually lost two parents now because my father passed away from a heart attack so my biological father right you said that was before you guys came over uh yeah so um I was born in 1992 and my parents married um 2 months after I was born and he passed away in 1995 from a sudden heart attack in the middle of the night oh wow um my mom just woke up and found him passed away and then in uh 1997 we immigrated here because um the Hungarian laws when it comes to um like adoption and stuff is if the father passes away then the child goes to the father's parents so my grandparents and my mom was scared of losing me so um we fled the country oh okay when you came out here you came did you come specifically to go to the university exactly I was admitted here for my uh Master's in history okay what's your undergrad in uh history and Linguistics okay and um doing different things now how much in student debt about a quar million oh wow yeah if I if I went through the whole PhD oh well it's got to be probably that for just what you've done already right no right now I'm only about ,000 in debt because at the time uh when I was here um at IU I used to teach at the women's prison up in uh Northern Indiana in Indiana they have systems where they allow uh inmates to get their Bachelors or Ms or even high school diploma and um I offered small classes up in Northern uh Indiana I was um able to apply to different uh uh grants and scholarships because of my background so as an immigrant as a yeah you know single mom and that sort of thing so right so you got a lot of financial aid right I kind of take advantage of the system you know all all of all of the tools are provided to you but you kind of have to go out and hunt and search for it so that's exactly what I've been doing and it kind of pays off and I just want to make it clear you're welcome to access my phone or to come to my house or anything like that I don't you don't need a warrant I can invite you in I didn't make that clear on the phone or if I did I I forgot but I I just want to kind of help in any way I can I appreciate that and that's that's what I'm looking for is some a little bit of help here during the questioning Lazard overexplained details showing no real grief this struck the detectives as odd but their next Discovery took their suspicions to another level he was trying his best to appear normal and by giving the officers the option to access his phone it was an effort to deflect the attention from him but as natural as he tried to act The Telltale signs were there the cops being observant could see that he was tense and trying too hard to act natural to give you a little more information your mom um I uh believe she was attacked and killed on the 24th of October what day is that that wases Thursday so let me look at because I don't know the DAT yeah sure sure so yeah so it was Wednesday okay okay so you talked to her on Monday right yes and and then you went to Indianapolis on Tuesday it was 23rd correct okay so then Wednesday is when I believe she was killed okay and she texted me um and she texted you on on Thursday on the 25th yes at 900 p.m. okay and then you you've been in Bloomington since then yeah or just like the nearby area so one Monday the day I spoke to her I've been in like 100 outrange of your house yeah of Bloomington okay okay well that I mean that's kind of what I need a little bit of help with is because and you've had your phone with you that whole time yeah okay I was able to get records for all the your re recent people that have called your mom okay um and so your number was one of them on the 22nd so they came back with those records when I asked from uh AT&T okay and so they show your phone going to Springfield Missouri um on the 23rd I believe 22nd 23rd can you help me explain that not Missouri I went to um ver uh Mount um Vernon in uh Missouri but that was I'm sorry in Illinois I thought that was Illinois yeah but that's as far as I went I didn't go to Missouri that that day huh or that week really Missouri was the early oh the earliest time I was in Missouri was um in June okay of this year okay yeah and is that that's the only phone you have that's the only phone I had I had this since January of last year H now I it's just strange I mean so basically when our phones travel they talk to cell phone towers correct right so you're a smart guy you probably know better than me every time they connect to a tower yeah it it shows the tower's location your phone has to be within close proximity of those Towers right so um the fact that your phone shows going you know from your house basically to Spring fil understand I understand 22nd 23rd yeah okay I was not in Missouri um this month last month June was the last month I was in Missouri huh late Jun the detective revealed that lazar's phone records placed him in Missouri though he denied ever being there but then the detectives hit him with another critical piece of evidence and the other curious thing is so on the 2 fth your phone is showing up in Texas and and it and it tracks all the way back to your house from Texas I was not in Texas last time I was in Texas was um when I moved out there oh that was 2015 because I drove here okay yeah when I looked at your phone records what I did was I looked at um the other callers that called your mom okay and I found another Cincinnati Ohio number M that looks like it was traveling with your phone to your mom's house and I don't have another phone either yeah well so when I looked at that and I put through two records together oh I understand I have a map from your house to your mom's house oh to my mom's house correct okay with those two phones and Maps directly from your house on the 22nd mhm to your mom's house on the 24th I can promise you it was not okay I was not in California January listen to me for a sec here so when I looked at that yes I checked there's other systems that we can check that they have what's called a license plate reader okay okay and when a license plate gets scanned on that as you're driving down the road MH it takes a picture of your car mhm okay and the picture it took in Texas and in Arizona MH and California is a picture your car I was in Califoria this oh except in January okay listen to me l i listen okay all those records clearly show as you g the detective explained how investigators traced lazar's movements using the burner phone he had purchased a few days prior but Lazard continued to deny any involvement but the next piece of evidence left him even more rattled there's video surveillance cameras on your mom's apartment mhm did you know that I did not the video surveillance cameras show you going into your mom's apartment when she was murdered okay so what I'm here to do today to talk to you is about I already know that you're the one that went there okay I need you to help me understand why you did this to your mom I didn't do anything to my mom lend it's clear to me there's clear's day unfortunately we went and bought that phone at Best Buy you're on video there buying that phone the Cricket Wireless phone that you used during this trip I have you on video there I have you video on your mom's house I have video afterwards with Athena leaving okayy you have to we're past that part okay I know it's tough this is something that's me hard to talk about but no there's nothing hard to talk about it's the fact that I explain to me why why you I didn't did something happened there you know what I've looked into listen to me for a minute you know what I've looked into it sounds to me like your mom was kind of a Taskmaster and she you know I know she was upset a little bit about you know your choices for school and that she would kind of push on you a little bit and I and I no but she didn't even want me to go into Academia she wanted me to be a nurse in RN listen I can understand growing up how you you had a tough childhood okay and I know you know you guys moved here you lost your father she has many different men since I was 18 since 2010 I have been independent I have never relied on her financially emotionally I mean we've shared bonds but that was it this is your house right here where this is this is your mom's house yes okay you understand that pictures caught you along the rout that your G correct yes okay so what you're telling me about being in Indiana and never leaving and not seeing your mom in January this year no I saw her in clearly well you were at her house on the 24th of October was not in her house of October of this year I was not L do you see what I'm showing you you want to see more your pictures of your jeep was taken all along your route with you in it okay the video at your mom's house show you driving by at 3:30 that afternoon okay in your Jeep okay understand what all this says is that you were so for you to sit here and tell me that makes zero sense and it doesn't look you know good for you okay what I'm trying to understand is did something happen when you were there that caused a struggle with your mom what were you just mad at her was are you trying do you need money no I don't I don't need money so what happened tell me what happened that's the only way we're going to understand this a little bit better the detective presented surveillance footage that showed Lazard walking in Athena's neighborhood still he maintained his innocence albeit he was not as confident as before seizing the opportunity officers turned up the heat on him do you understand that there was video surveillance all over that complex okay there was I watch you go in and out of the house I watch you your mom actually had a video surveillance her house cuz she was worried about the transs okay okay I watched to do it okay what do you mean you watched me do it I think do anything Casey help me explain why why why what what happened that day what happened in your life around that time that where you decided nothing I have to do this nothing was it a spur of the moment so your mom you called her that day several times and she actually told her friends about it and left voicemails about talking to you yeah on the 24th yeah I spoke to her you told me earlier that you didn't you said on the any no no but you called her from the phone that you bought a Best Buy no I didn't I only have one phone I only have one phone casy did you not buy a phone at Best Buy no I did not I did not do you want me to show you the video of it I didn't do you want me to show you the video of it sure okay do you do you not believe I have thisy I'm just look I understand you're looking for motive but there is absolutely no reason for my for me to hurt my mom okay this this February I'm sorry this December she was going to I was talking to her about meeting Hannah's parents okay I asked my mom for her uh engagement ring so I can use it as a promise ring for Hannah mhm there was there was nothing did you find the ring there I don't have a ring I don't have a ring I absolutely do not have a ring I'm not I'm not going to hurt my mom for a a little gold R I know there was more more to it okay okay that was it you have to why why did why did this happen why did you hurt your mom did you understand how this technology works I understand it communicates there's some Towers like let's say every 25 uh miles away and every time you move from one zone to another Zone to another Zone it kind of follows the uh cell tower or nearby cell tower I understand that okay but like for example I don't know why it's at Texas I haven't been to Texas since I first mov off here which was 2015 CU I drove through it mhm that's it you I have a phone I Best Buy I'm saying I didn't hurt my no I didn't buy a a phone cell phone at Best Buy at Best Buy you did not I didn't I didn't go to California this year except in January to see and I flew there I didn't even drive um do you realize these text messages you show me from your mom or after she was dead they were sent after she was dead you sent those texts Yeah Yeah from my phone right you you sent those texts from your mom's phone you cuz she was already dead she couldn't what no look look look look hold on I'm sorry no I didn't send those text messages okay I don't know look I finished the test first of all why don't you is there a way to see you're accusing me of hurting my own mom well do you understand why because of a map of a phone and another phone travel videos of you at her house lazza grew defensive as the detective presented more evidence he claimed he had no motive but investigators were not convinced that was when Lazard finally started to break I don't know I just watch again here you go okay what's that in that corner a sticker right okay that's your sticker the exact place you have on your Jeep correct okay what's that sticker exact sticker you have on your Jeep is that correct I didn't see the second sticker but okay okay so this this is front of your mom's house okay on 10:24 look at 1527 which means 327 I see my mom I didn't explain that to me then I don't know there's that's your Jeep how do you know that's my Jeep though can you show me proof of me yeah is that what you need in order to tell me what happened sure but I didn't do anything did you buy the phone a Best Buy the one the cricket yeah yes it okay why did you buy that phone personal reasons like what personal reasons can you explain that to me no because it has nothing to do with this but it has nothing to do with my Mall more well well you called your mom from it I did quite a bit yeah where's that phone now I threw it away where did you throw it away in my trash H where where where I live where you live yes okay what day did you throw that phone away um last week and what kind of phone was it uh flip phone flip phone yeah okay and how did you buy that Best Buy did you what did you pay with um cash okay you remember how much you spent roughly 25 bucks 30 okay what's Hannah going to tell me when I talk to her about where you were I was not there what she going to say what' you tell Hannah I was in California but I didn't go see my mom I didn't see her I drove fire on the place what you what' you I went to Los Angeles um I went to Los Angeles too and I could prove it to you I can show it to you okay um to BU okay and I I bought medical so did you stay anywhere no I drove the entire time you drove you just drove straight from your house to LA to your mom's house I stopped and then and then straight back to Indiana I stopped and slept where did you stop and sleep in the driver's seat of the car okay where where did you actually stop um going to California first place I stopped was like and actually stopped was Albuquerque Albuquerque New Mexico yeah okay and you remember where you stopped no no it was uh it was like a rest stop so it was not in Albuquerque it was nearby off the highway rest stop okay how long 3 hours 4 hours okay yeah was that the only time you stopped for that tripti went went to California and then I went to an in out and then I slept in the car there after eating and then I went up to my mom's I was going to surprise if she wasn't there I drop back Lazard finally admitted to buying the Bap phone and being in California but he stated it was because he wanted to buy substances and did not see his mother however at this point in the interrogation lying did nothing but dig him in a deeper hole there was already overwhelming evidence against him and it wasn't the type that he could easily shake off I get it like I lied about going to California I understand that obviously that makes me a suspect but you don't what you didn't ask me is and you did but I can't give you an an answer because there is literally no answers why I would do such a thing I have no financial reasons I don't I don't never had a bad relationship with my mom I mean like you have arguments with family members but that's it nothing that escalates to such a point there's really no reason absolutely no reason I have no criminal record I've never done anything bad in my life with the exception of like getting detention in high school or whatever ever but I don't have in parking tickets but that's it so it doesn't make sense for me to go from 0 to 60 overnight I agree and your childhood was not great no it was great I I had a lot of good friends it was just not great because it's not like the iconic childhood okay Dad Mom house pick a fence dog that sort of thing it was not terrible no it was just not great because like we she always work wor about bills what am I going to see on your internet browsing history weird like weird questions or we weird things that hand and I talk about medically about animals like what like um like she's she's a she's a medical student you know we talk about a lot of weird things like some of her patients it okay I know where you're going for nothing related go through yeah you know your trip back from yeah California look let's just [ __ ] I I understand you have you have evidence you have the videos you have the videos let's just let the jury decide okay let's just do that because here's the thing Casey here's the thing let me let me tell you what's what's what's going to happen here because I already know what will you're asking me questions about my PC about my may I just want just just you're asking questions about my PC about my phone about my shoes um you're going to go to my house that's fine whatever I told you where the marijuana is you're going to talk to Hannah that sort of thing and you know what she's in med school she doesn't have to deal with this [ __ ] so even even if you at the very end you find out that I did not do this right the whole like my relationship is done with her it's you it's already been established at this point because you have to do your job and I'm not blaming you okay here's the code give me a pair of pants I'll give you these and then whatever happens happens okay but in the end I already know what I already know that I didn't do anything to my mom and mo that'll be established eventually if it's not I don't know what to say but I didn't do anything okay and I don't want to waste my time and your time here and then you're going to go through my stuff and my girlfriend's belongings and stuff Jesus Christ it's going to ruin her okay all because and you're going to find out you're you're going to find out okay but in the end it doesn't affect you I could move on it's not a big deal there's a million fish out there but damn man when Lazard realized his cover was blown and lying wasn't working he tried a different more manipulative approach but the detective wasn't having any of it there's two things lente that I know okay one it's it's not about who did it okay I know you did it but here's what here's what like the jury's going to see or Hannah's going to see more importantly is you either one you're a cold blooded killer who has no remorse and killed your mom planet did it or two something would happened there when you went to see your mom that I don't know about that you Cann fill in and that's the only thing that the jury or Hannah needs to know about you no because you understand that I do so I do are you a cold blooded killer or or did something else happen in the house I never I never what else happened in the house then I never so no that's that's we're past that lente all right we are how are we past that the only thing that's going to make sense is if you can help explain what happened in there I can't because I didn't go in I can't tell you what happened if it didn't happen correct I can't you're choosing not to because it did happen no I didn't Dente that's not a question for me I I have no question about that I want to know why I had a very good relationship with my mom very good it up till that day and other people told me that actually you were fairly rude to her sometimes okay so that's why I'm I'm trying to in what sense like like she calls me 9:30 and I have to tell her to I have to go I can't talk to you that's not rude I never swore at my mom I never never said any bad word in front of her except maybe like like you know like like not directed at her like I would say a bad word but not like FX anything like that I would say like oh that's dumb or but I was never rude to her well okay I don't know who's saying this I really they listen to you talking to her on several occasions and they do say you were actually very rude and did cuss what do you owe money to the IRS for pardon what do you owe money to the IRS for um when I got stiens from Paul in 2010 to 2015 the attorneys uh informed me that they were taxfree but they were not welcome to use my fingerprints on there and start comparing what other information is there on your cell phone that we have that's going to be helpful to explain anything nothing nothing that I can think of you've already made a stats of where where you are with this whole thing that I'm a cold blooded killer or or you're trying to narrow down like why I did this but I didn't do any of those things I did not hurt my mom I'm not a killer I've never done anything like that before ever okay not nothing and you know what I'm not going to start dragging other people into this I'm not Lazer thought he had the upper hand by hiding behind the supposed lack of motive however when the detective revealed the potential motive his facade crumbled no I don't have that I I don't have that because it's this no it's not this I don't have that I just have the property titles that's at your house I only have the property title saying I don't have any will or Testament I don't have that that's at your house I don't have that I don't have that I don't have that I'm telling you right now I don't have it they told me they just found this in I I I don't have that I really do not have that I only have property titles are you ever going to show me that picture or that video of me walking into my mom's house is that what it would take for you to tell me the truth I'm curious because would you tell me the truth if I showed you that well you you've mentioned would you tell me the truth you've mentioned a lot of evidence but you've never showed me anything except the Google uh like the would you tell me the truth if I showed it to you I mean is that what it takes is this is this a Psychiatry thing going back and forth with questions I'm asking you are you ever going to show it it's either yes or no it's not a a question back that's what I'm asking what if I showed it to you the same thing you just show what would you say oh I got to see it I don't know I have to why would you have to see it you know because no I don't because you're you're telling me this you're telling me you have so much evidence of this and that but you haven't shown me anything except the uh you know the map the map and the cell phone I didn't go to my mom's house prove it to me just please prove it to me because and and then what I don't know we have I don't know what do you mean I don't know what do you mean then you would tell me what what happened you know this is this is a psychology thing not or this is like a psychology meet where you ask one question and then a psychiatrist or psychologist ask a question back and it just goes question question question nothing gets done I'm see if your phone's done I'm just asking yes look Casey I can't I can't I can't give you what you want if I can't if I don't have it when you have it you just choosing not to tell me this is a choice you've made okay the choice you made to kill your mother no I didn't the choice the choice you to come up with these bizarre stories that make zero sense wait wait how are they bizarre did your team at least found the weed see and that the things you focus on yes are just silly okay they're silly but was she dead on the day I arrived or she was dead when you killed her I didn't her you did I didn't kill her okay yes so unless there's anything further that you want to talk to me about be honest about um I think we're done is there anything you want to tell me now is your opportunity no I have nothing want to say okay why don't you go ahead and stand up and take your jacket off for me I place you in an arrest for the murder of your mother Lazard was arrested and a search of his home revealed shocking evidence his search history included details about Athena's case before her body was even discovered investigators also found that he was drowning in debt was later discovered that Lazard was allegedly motivated by wanting to sell off his mother's estate to cover costs for his upcoming wedding as well as to pay off tax debts and student loans a year later Lazard was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison these officers were surely smart and so was this sheriff's deputy who followed his instincts and uncovered a whopping 114 lbs of substances during a traffic stop do you have anything as far as ilal drugs in the vehicle I say illegal drugs like yeah you can see it there's super heavy you can see the packaging in there it's going to be probably more on July the 3rd 2024 in Arizona a sheriff's deputy initiated a traffic stop when a vehicle was dangerously tailing A semi-truck it was supposed to be another routine traffic stop however halfway through the process the officer had a sinking feeling about the vehicle you would soon get the surprise of their life when further investigation unveiled what was actually hidden in the car thr the back window though how you doing W Sheriff's Office reason for the Stop is going to be your following distance okay you're too close to that truck in front of you all right you need 3 to 5 seconds I had you about one okay just more time dude no ticket just a warning you got your driver's license registration Pro Insurance yes yeah haveing l or no do you have any identification on user yeah yeah was this my driver license sir appreciate it registration sorry for that no you're good man just cuz the thing is takes you about 1.8 seconds for your brain to tell your foot you need to hit the brakes so if like that car hits brakes you're not even going to have enough time to tell your foot hey man I got to hit the brake you know what I mean then you're in the back of it was like the TRU too yeah it was that semi okay so when you pass me you were even Closer by the time I caught up to you you backed off a little bit but you still like less than 2 seconds okay so we just got to make sure we're keep that distance all right I'm going to have you step out we'll go back and work on a warning having said that do you guys have any weapons on you pistols rifles nothing okay all right man come with me you say you don't got any weapons on you can I check your waist pands make sure yeah okay all right what's the name of the K9 kilo kilo yeah I love uh is it P Pastor Elman or sorry what what's the name of the of the race of can9 uh he's a Czech Shepherd Czech Shepherd yeah in Spanish you calling like Pastor Alan oh okay shepher gotta all right man one thing I do need to do is check the VIN number on the car make sure it matches what I've got here on your paperwork is it like on the front yeah it's on the front and it's also on the driver door so I'm going to go check that out real quick uh I just got to write it down here if you just want to hang out here I'll be back with you in a second okay the moment the officer approached the vehicle his instincts kicked in and he could tell something was off he started with a few questions for the driver before turning his attention to the passenger and that was when things started to take an unsettling turn hey my man where you guys headed to I'm going to uh right here in Chicago Chicago okay how many days are you going to be there like 3 days okay and what are you guys doing out there uh we going to the fireworks fireworks in Chicago in Illinois yeah in Chicago Illinois uh Chicago El name yeah is that what you're saying like Chicago the city yeah oh okay uh where are you froma Arizona yeah uh and who's that he my friend okay what's his name uh go you a goia yeah okay and whose vehicle is this uh I don't know his friend oh okay and you said you're going to be in Chicago for how many days like three three yeah okay all right so I got to check the VIN number identification so I'm going to open the door when you see me open the door that's what I'm doing okay what do you do for work plumber plumber 431 can you slow roll me a second I'll care all right my man first first warning sir yeah so I do have some additional questions for you you see your last name in addition to Traffic Control another thing I do is Criminal inter addiction a stoppage of illegal crimes going on the roadways okay I'm going to ask you some questions don't take them personal ask every want to come in contact with these questions okay no problem is there anything illegal in the vehicle no sir when I say illegal I mean like large sums of cash in excess of $10,000 any for is there any illegal drugs in the vehicle no sir when I say illegal drugs I mean like nothing keep in mind dude in Arizona you can have up to an ounce I know I I I was like smoker I went to like a double a program AA yeah I'm like for you okay but you don't use cuz you can have them to announce legally I I I don't I don't smoke I don't okay so having said that would you give me your voluntary consent for me to search the vehicle uh I don't know sir it's up to you man it's a yes or no question uh no no okay no worries dude you're allowed to say no I do have a question for you okay why are your story and hisory totally different I don't know like he's saying your guys are going somewhere totally different well we stopping out with C we trying to get the car uhhuh and then you're going where uh we're trying to make something for Four of July uh-huh or we don't know way gotcha so again your guys' stories aren't even close bro so is there a reason for that I'm just let you know this is what I do for religion and criminal in addiction when I see two different stories like you're extremely nervous bro okay this is the first time like getting right but you're getting a warning you know what I mean and i' I've been nice to you right like I haven't been abrasive or anything right good call yeah thanks man um yeah I appreciate it but the thing is when I I don't care about any of that man um the thing is but when I see stuff like that it typically means that something criminal is happening okay so do you want to tell me what it is or no not no nothing about that you're not doing anything okay all right after talking to both occupants the officer quickly figured out that their stories didn't match not only were they nervous and jittery but the driver outright refused to let the officer search the car setting off even more alarms on what exactly they might have hidden in the vehicle so I'm going to have you step out okay he has refused consent which is fine uh I'm going to walk my dog around the car if he alerts we'll go from there if he doesn't he guys will be on your way okay so go ahead and step out for him and just make sure you said you don't have any weapons on you right can I check just to make sure you're perfectly okay to say no to a consent sech bro what I'm going to do is I'm going to utilize my Kine he's going to walk around the car if he alerts we'll go from there if he doesn't alert you guys be on your way okay so you're still getting a warning no ticket or anything like that all right Ze Ze booster Dr it Dr it okay 431 positive can alert okay man so my Canan did indicate a positive alert okay he alerts to five owners cocaine methamphetamine heroin fenel and marijuana haven't said that is there any of that in the vehicle you said you smoked marijuana last night yeah okay so I mean he alerted to the passenger side of the vehicle that may be what it is but he doesn't speak English so he can't tell me you know what I mean so hang out with him uh a postive alert doesn't give us probable cause of search a vehicle so I'm going to be searching it haven't said that you guys said there's nothing in the vehicle yeah okay all right hang tight 431 beginning PC search a vehicle the officer decided to trust his gut and brought his Kine to sweep the vehicle while nothing turned up at first the officer remained undeterred until he checked the trunk and was immediately taken aback h all right my man 10 15 you're under arrest okay you understand you're under arrest all right put them both my car yeah so lean up against the car for a second put him right here for a second I need to talk to you back here right here we going get start your body can some where it can record the like pry in the back somewhere yeah I all right I'm going to read you guys something right 4:31 21015 you can change dat should the call the drugs they'll be under arrest for drug trafficking can you contact King 430 and Sam 430 notify going on all right guys you have the right remain silent anything you say can be used in court you the right to talk to a lawyer and have him or her present with you while be question if you got afford to hire a lawyer one will be appointed to represent you before questioning upon your request you can decide to exercise these rights at any time and ask any questions or make any statements do you understand each of the rights I've just read to you is that a yes yes okay all right man so I just found a substantial amount of drugs in your vehicle okay so you guys both under arrest for drug trafficking the officer searched the trunk and found two massive massive bags sitting ominously when he unzipped them he uncovered a massive stash of substances both men were arrested on the spot and searched but the real shocker came after your money all right you want to put him back in your car first man was the 2000 to drive it to Albuquerque yes it was to drive the the the vehicle with the drugs it was like course I actually wanted to buy a car just be honest with me man I'm being honest like I told you in there I knew what was going on I've being honest in that part I I do you do want to buy a car I do buy cars and sell cars but was it 2 Grand for transport in the car to Albuquerque no it was uh I can show you like my AA account I buy cars and everything but the thing is you said you're going to buy a car tomorrow right yes tomorrow is the 4th of July there's no one no one's going to be open I was trying to buy the car okay like buy now so what I can see in there you got a substantial amount of methampetamine I'm sure we're going to find more of it okay were you getting paid to drive that I mean it's I found it already bro I know I know so like uh if I'm being honest with you sir yeah uh you you you you treat me right uh-huh you ready R my my right so uh I don't want to talk you don't want to talk that's fine man yeah yeah yeah that's all right dude don't worry about it you don't have to talk go ahead you're going to hop back in the car with him okay the officer found over $2,000 in cash on the two suspects but when questioned they refused to talk fued by curiosity the officer took a closer look at the car and realized that the bags were not the only place the substances were stashed away yeah you can see it there's meth super heavy hey it's fully loaded bro it's got the natural void to the back left side of the to I can feel the weight of the uh rear door Lo it's all meth K nailed it how heavy are these doors oh this won't roll down bro yeah it's loaded it's loaded it's got it's loaded so easy way to check these one you try to roll it down it wouldn't roll down it crunched crunched yeah so I mean docent a front yeah so if you look you can pop these tubes right here and you can look in and right there oh right there see it yeah that's a quick way to cuz a lot of people will wedge the door which is fine but quick way to just visually clear it pop that off flash of light in there you can see the entire void of the door if it's empty you won't see anything me or if it's loaded you'll see that the officer's suspicions were confirmed when he inspected the rear doors and found them unusually heavy upon further digging he discovered more substances carefully hidden inside the doors I'm going go check the other door fire the guas it's going to be the same thing yep loaded the whole car is loaded these are super heavy too they're going to be loaded hey both back door so far loaded the the rear most doors loaded Bas on the weight of the front doors they're going to be loaded too probably yeah uh they're super heavy this is just a rolling trap dude so I mean it's going to be it's going to be probably over 100 all appears to be meth so far driver lawyer up he has 2K and cash on them he's out of Tucson passenger out of uh D your lawyer up post Miranda I haven't talked to the passenger yet but uh passengers out of O Galis drivers out of Tucson by way of Mexico City it's it's loaded to the gills bro the roof maybe uh cuz they'll they'll trap out the roofs um one good way to check that hold this is if you look right up here yep see this cut scene uh it shouldn't be there it should be all one piece you know what I mean so kind of like how this rolls over it should roll over it should just roll over right but if they cut it off you're going to see that line okay so we're going to be checking the roof like it may be loaded may not in total4 lb of substances were recovered both suspects were charged with transportation for the sale of substances and possession of substances speaking of hiding disturbing items this crazy man did not expect officers to dig up the woods to find out what he had hidden beneath the soil he's a bad person in what way everywhere she said all she remember just looking down the barrel of it I heard the safety on this gun flick off and that's when I shot mine let me see that that's something oh who cares to be a skull cap would that be accurate or No Yes it all started on July the 25th 2020 when sheriff's deputies in hacking County Ohio responded to reports of gunshots in a residential neighborhood upon arrival they encountered 18-year-old Melody Dixon and her 40-year-old Father Michael and begun questioning them but little did they realize they were about to stumble upon the most shocking case of their careers how we doing all right we shot on the road she said you guys were shooting what' you shootting it what kind of ammo okay that'd be terrific were you shooting anything else that in the 22 okay we had only shot that one tonight Tre or hit the tree okay because I know they go far it's like shooting right well the new ones well it's no big deal we had somebody that fired a gun and it hit a it struck a windshield nobody got H or anything like that the officers issued a warning and left unaware that just hours later they would return to the same location for a much more serious incident one involving a missing person and concealed truths this is my dad's property Jim Whitaker okay we haven't been able to communicate with him for 20 some days he's not in his house I think something's happened to him there's other people in here when we got here they left about as soon as we got here they didn't give us no answers on where he was the thing is I know my son he doesn't he's never done this6 years old he's never just disappeared Jim was reported as missing by his family but strangely enough Michael and Melody had also vanished without any Trace soon after the offices had questioned them earlier Jim's family also provided information on Michael's strange Behavior he had a 50 lb bag of dog food one hand a dog a live dog a chainsaw and reached over and grabbed Five Arrows off of that thing that's out there and a pair of gloves Mike came out we were fiddling with something in the garage Mike was fixing something and I was sitting there fiddling with it he came in the house and then he come back out and he's like I just found this and Melody stuff and it sounded like a like a an odd an odd profession love to Mike's and his daughter that girl Melody SL noes yeah but you know um it he it was signed Jimbo I didn't think Jimmy ever signed his name Jimbo you know a quick search of Mike's property revealed some very important clues for the whole case smells like feet I think M smell quit what I think I quit smelling a while ago no [Music] bodies the camo bag I saw the camo bag I flipped you light like see the glove I was looking at that bag right there right here you see this there's three big it looks bloodish there's four actually a quick search of the property and outside didn't reveal much but later on they found Mike at his parents' house upon locating Mike they talked to him and his family and were immediately alert to some really strange behavior from them got a war you take a couple off that cigarette you just hang in your mouth keep smoking it if you want that'll help you out is your dad here okay is there anybody else here or just your dad dad you want to talk to me about what's been going on at Jim's house they say that he I daughter come down a few days ago and said that I had to get out of the house he's been gone I think since the fth and his daughter come saying oh I was getting rid of his stuff I didn't get rid of nothing he was like a dad to me so what do you think has happened to Joe I'm hoping nothing I'm hoping he just took off but I don't know why the officer then turned their attention towards 18-year-old melan James say where he was going or anything um no he didn't really say where he was going he was just what happened to uh some of his stuff what do you mean like his guns his TV Set all that well the gun was viness and I don't know about the TV do you think that something's happened to Jen I think he just both cuz that's what he's been talking about for while where would he go well he told me and Dad he's like I'm just going to not be here and you guys can keep this place because my me and family don't get to go about me or whatever so you think something's happened to him I don't really know that last time I've seen him fourth fifth did you and Jim have a relationship no he won one one and then when I told him know he want berserk and that's what that letter was about the police quickly traced all of Jim's stolen items including a gun and a TV that Mike had sold while interrogating one of the buyers Tommy they uncovered intriguing details about Jim and Mike's relationship cuz see Mike Michael be out that old man a bunch like yeah they got a fight a lot man that old man would get high on that old man was a me head and he'd get high on meth and stuff and him and Michael would get into it hot and heavy I mean he blacked Michael's eyes and Michael blacked his eyes too I mean they was like they was two fighting married couple I swear to God that's what you thought um he had said that he had caught caught his daughter and him in bed I asked him that's all my mom my kids asked him right in that uh right in my living room two days before you guys arrest him I ask him if he did it and here's his exact reaction when and I ask him he's like no man I didn't do it like that like e like how you put that you know when somebody's being sarcastic like you know like you can see in their voice and hear that you know he knows more than what he was saying mentioned that he was going to kill Jimmy I don't know how many times several times and this was even before Melody showed up down here they get in fights and they throw [ __ ] at each other they get in fights and the next thing you hear was couple gunshots and you have to wonder okay did somebody shot shoot somebody this time really for real meanwhile was taken to the detective's office where he was questioned about Jim's whereabouts which was now more mysterious than ever I guess what makes it look strange for you Mike is that you guys continue to live there and never let anybody know that Jim was missing I mean why not call the Sheriff's Office and say hey this guy's left the TV is missing his gun is missing and I haven't seen him for a few days even though I understand Jim's an adult but why didn't you go and call us I don't know I should have when I was going to I asked a few people would say they said all there Jim might be doing something he don't want the cops to know about I should have called you soon they brought in Melody for questioning as well Melody I'd like to uh go down like to take you down to lville and talk with you about your dad okay you okay to go you're not under arrest not under arrest or anything like that we want to go down and just have a conversation with you in a nice private area what I would like for you to do is talk with us about the incident occurred with Mr Whitaker about what your dad has told us are you willing to talk to us do you actually have a recording and I say that sure do could you recording first and I don't have a video with me so OB gu we have to go on one right now what I don't know if what you're telling me is correct or not would me what a family to have closure you think that James deserves to be laying out people pardon they're not good people so want they're not good peopleone of them so you don't care about J I say well he's a bad person in what way everywhere in every way what way would that that was just why do you say James was a bad person [Music] yeah I had like really bad went to steps grab me and like the heck [Music] he you go I was like well let me leave then to from why didn't he want you to leave with your dad so you guys were arguing I I I need okay so he has hold your wrist had and and I was thinking just that and then grab by Thro the police armed with this piece of information took Mike to the property to show them what had happened but what they would realize later on was that Melody had not told them the entire story and had left out some chilling details I told him I was going downstairs to get my gun and I went and got my gun come up yep one melody was coming out of the thing I could hear them scuffling a little bit what were they were they saying anything to each other no I just heard her kind of like yelling and supposedly she grabbed like this gun she said all she remember just looking down the barrel of it I heard the safety on this gun flick off and that's when I shot mine so Jane saw that your dad was pointing a gun at him reaction time he didn't have enough reaction time to do anything is that what you're saying not close couple feet away standing okay and if he would be come forward towards me a little bit now that way just right there and if you would have turn like if you would have been gone look like yep right like that right there right there yep now right just like that exactly and where did you hit him in his body right on right there where he's pointing towards his eye he wasn't doing it because he's even person or whatever I understand he's just trying to protect you and I don't think he should get like maximum punishment or whatever like everyone else just you know B my fault started no it's not your fault I wouldn't say that if I Mike continued to recreate the scene for the officers by moving the refrigerator back to its original position and showed them exactly how the events unfolded on that fateful day is where were where was the gun but my feet are which which way was the gun the barrel towards that use that this was it say this is the barel like that it looks right there was it laying on him right there so where's the butt of the gun that's the butt of the gun I come up here that way kicked it out and then what then I reached out like I told him seen if he had any Falls okay what kind of clothes did you have on at the time my graduation dress graduation dress what color white what did you do with it pretty sure my Dad burned it because that is your family like Frank or is he married are they supporting you I mean are they being nice to you at least yeah my grandpa your grandpa Paul Frank Frank okay that's your grandpa have you tried to talk to him about it so that they understand what what you're going through I to talk to my grandp the other ones you can't can't really trust as the investigations unfolded to understand the motives of the father and daughter if they were the killers the police returned to Mike's stepfather Frank's house to question him and his family I want you to understand something I've already talked to Mike I've already talked to Melody they both indicated to me that they talked to you and told you of the involvement of James death or Jimmy if that's what you want to call when did he tell you this and how did he tell you this was it right after it occurred or day two afterwards so when they come when they come here that's a I thought he shot at him I didn't no he just said he shot him shot at shot at that's that's all like that's the way it was phrased to me okay and he didn't say I killed him no he didn't say I buried him I get rid of the body no anything like that no but that's when I would have gotten a hold of somebody and find out what was going on cuz I knew Jimmy years ago did he try to bring a weapon here no any kind of gun at all hand gun long gun not that I not not that I I've seing essentially there's only one question that I really need to ask you gun correct where is that gun at get it out of my trunk it's in your trunk you know the question is is Michael brought you the gun he I I bought the gun from my brother before any any of this ever happened um he kept asking me to borrow it he wanted to go hunting with it and then he showed back up with it that Bo um I didn't know yet he just showed up with it here's your gun back but nobody had been able to locate Jim's Body yet but as things unfolded the cops would come to realize that Jim faced a more disturbing fate than they could have ever imagined what happened then with James's body I was of that my go downstairs and go to bed so he told you to go downstairs well we and and walk up downstairs and because I was like shocked scream in my but wouldn't move M me grabed me and me downstairs and like help me in bed and told me to stay I'm here for a little [Music] while I fell asleep SL this head over this way I put his sled right here beside him took him rolled him over took him got a hold of the sled put it here and rolled him over onto it brought him out the door so when you woke up was the house was all the the blood and everything cleaned up it was already gone so you didn't know where any of that stuff went to he should find did you ask him or did he just tell well he told me that before that he was going to go take care of her you never actually witnessed how the body was dragged out of the the home how it was removed or anything like that didn't want me he didn't want you to watch he knew once he pull trigger that he did melody was placed under arrest for destruction of Justice since she had lied about not knowing anything about what had happened she was then taken to the crime scene and questioned further where more disturbing details came through had there been anything going on between you and J no no I I need I mean I need to know nothing no he wanted something but I told him no and he got mad about it and I when was that the entire been here to the entire time he like he'd been hitting hitting on you wanting you to do things with him yeah and you never did mhm what about anything between you and your dad nothing at all no apparently the reason for this line of questioning had come up earlier in the investigation when it was revealed that Melody had been asked to stay away from her father when she was put in foster care since both she and her father shared an intimate relationship which was confirmed by friends and family whenever we lived out with his mom and dad I walked in the trailer in Melody and he was on the blanket but may you said that that happened out at uh FR Denise FR and Denise's house was that like a long time ago or like it wasn't it hasn't even been a year yet this September going be a year they would always hold hands and all this he he tried to hold my hands but he was like come on baby girl you can hold my hand I said uh no do you want me to be the out of you that's just nasty I'm not like two years old I'm actually driving D while this chilling detail came to light investigators still were in search for Jim's remains and for some reason both father and daughter were doing very little to help the cops find it until now so which way did you drag him down into here dring right through here and then show me where you laid the body watch your feet in that Stu buddy his head was about right there and the feet were down that way and his head is about where your your feet are okay and over and you say you burnt him 10 to 15 hours yes and you were the whole time you were using wood sticks accelerant CL really not the only time I used any acceler when I first started it like how much stuff was piled on top of him on top of the body a foot or two what or two so you got a foot or two on top of him you're lighting you throw tires on after going and wood and you just kept throwing that stuff on there for a little bit not all all that long then once I got it G I went in house okay did you did you stir it around like I mean fluff him up let's say like youd fluff a fire up once you did did you see his body then when you fluffed it did you come out and make sure that he was gone you didn't look at it to see if there's any no the cops also arrested Mike's family members Frank and Denise for obstruction of justice later on more sickening details would come to light as Melody's cellmate revealed to the officers that Melody had confessed to her that she used to be intimate with Jim as well for monetary benefits this would perhaps explain the motive of the murder in a Twisted love triangle on further questioning the truth came out looks like contact between you and your father will that be accurate or not yes how long had you had a relationship with Michael the first thing happened was when I mom's Cody in 2021 Michael Dixon was sentenced to life in prison for murder tampering of evidence and engaging in illegal acts melody was charged with obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence and was sentenced to 9 years in prison while the woods can be a haunting Place finding dismembered body Parts in plastic bags was definitely an experience for officers yep yep it is is that an arm yes it's the right arm I wanted a platform and cuz I wasn't getting a platform on December the 26 2020 two Yavapai County Sheriffs ventured into the woods to meet with two Hunters who had contacted authorities after they encountered something very unsettling this right here this is crazy is it in a bag or what is it no it's Ling right there okay so look at we're we're just going to walk along this fence line just to this tree okay right below did you touch anything oh hell no how close did you get to it uh probably 8 or n ft okay so stop wherever you stop before okay truck right here okay a back the truck I broke a couple of branches to I'm TR to get to that dead one that down like right that's right over there okay yep yep it is you got cramping tape oh I got okay let's go back to the car you guys the officer immediately confirmed it was a severed limb and moved fast to secure the area and informs forensics as well you got crine tape oh I got okay all let's go back to the car you guys stay there he's going to get a witness statement from you all right where the fingernails polished it look like a female's hand I didn't look that close we're we're we're not going to get too close right now I'm just going to get Mike and CI started you need to call out [Applause] CI stand4 um so it is confirmed uh in my opinion yes it's uh I don't know if it's male or female or what but it's definitely confirmed for how much we got about 10 ft away from it cuz we don't want to disturb any Footprints or anything and we're going to be putting up crene tape um I believe it's a leg but as they were inspecting the arm they noticed something very strange about it which would actually turn out to be an important clue later on there's like toilet paper on that arm did you only see an arm or did you see something else is that one okay all right then then I told him about seeing a string of to on the road okay more information came to line as they began taking statements of the callers who described an early incident which seemed strange to them there was somebody that was heading up here when we were up here and it's like he stopped cuz he saw a truck and then he backed out slowly and I walked down here to see if I could see what car it was cuz it sounded like it was still idling right here yeah it stopped but I didn't see it it was weird you know and I thought it was OD but there is a lot of prce around here so you guys didn't so you guys have been up here twice now he has I've been up here twice now the way this works is is I need all your most current information here okay while securing the area one of the deputies shared a theory about the arm but despite this everything still seemed very confusing and it was difficult to determine if someone had kept the bones or some animal had probably made a meal of someone however predators are not usually known to leave weird body parts scattered all around without eating them somebody that was camping and the bear got them is there our bear up here the bear wouldn't leave the arm and then take the other arm if it was full it m it would come back think I don't know I don't know I'm just saying anything back in there I thought there was more toilet paper this way didn't he yeah that's the thing though there's toilet paper on the arm that's freaking weird all right here I'll go put it by the arm no this is about far we're going right there that blue does it look like it got bitten off like it was chewed on or anything it's Che on it looks like well he says fresh now that I'm closer definitely not fresh cuz now I can actually really kind of see the hand yeah is where that there's toilet paper on it and it well especially on the back end right there where you see that dryer sheet or whatever that is back there yeah you know what I mean like somebody Tred to cover it up I don't know I a RIT looks like a dryer sheet oh that part back yeah the the part right there in the background looks like like the stuff some other dryer sheet are made out of but like on a roll and there's more of it over there yeah yeah let's just go this way now that I've looked at it it is old but it still got skin on it and it's weird like they try to wrap the back of it with like some kind of dryer sheet or Fabric and the fingers are all purple I got pictures too um I can't get is that an arm yes it's the right arm he came he backed his truck right up in here and he was getting ready to cut this tree and they saw that and they got out of here so they saw something else back in here but I'm not going back in there to mess anything up this was not all they had in store because the very next day the deputies received another call from two other Hunters who found something very disturbing down in there yeah the heads are up here looked as lazy as whoever this was I I think they kind of threw some dirt and rocks and over right in the in the ditch here that's kind of where we stopped and eight line and I cross this I thought I just going be dumping trash cuz there's everywhere right but then I walked across here up the hill right that and that they had discovered two seven heads at this point these were all indications that no animal could have done this and that the cops might have a serial killer on the loose and whatever else we haven't seen any that that's what we found okay all right but with the coyotes and all that who knows what could have been here oh yeah yeah I got a call into uh Scott poppenberger right now just to let their uh carnivore attack team know just in case this being out here is put something in the air to call them out and caused any issues so may have some some cat action up here in a while when I tell the guys that I know that work for Sheriff Department police department there's things you guys see that I don't want to know this one of them this this is it this is one of the things I don't need to know about the officers initially considered the possibility of a coyote attack but the reality turned out to be fast stranger as they conducted a thorough search of both scenes they discovered additional body parts and evidence that linked the two incidents this made the detective search for the origins of the human remains he called a research company in order to find out about the blue wrapping paper in addition to finding blue and white paper many of the severed limbs were marked with metal tags and the officers discovered a bag labeled future Gen X they pursued this lead to further investigate the situation although this might not have been enough to unravel the case the cops had found a string and were ready to keep pulling till they uncovered the truth if they have some kind of tag on them it's a whole body donation so we do tag everything that we you know that we have I need to talk to somebody who can give me information on your W caver program for a law enforcement matter yes this is April I can help you April um so I hate to be IND delicate but uh we got a call yesterday afternoon from some folks out cutting wood south of Prescot that they had found an arm and a leg do you guys use medical ID tags on the appendages we do not sounds like we can rule you guys out for help then we don't tag uh legs and arms we do ear tags and our bodies are never separated they're always full bodies okay they soon traced the company's headquarters to Seattle and contacted Walter Harold Mitchell the owner of the company in Scottdale Mitchell seemed very uneasy with their questions during the investigation the footage was redacted by law enforcement but we are left with the audio recording of the officer's conversation with him hey Walter how's it going I'm detective Smith this is detective Franklin we're from yaai County Sheriff's Office we talk to you for a minute sure you mind if we carry the rock I just don't like you having a rock in your hand while you're walking with us do you have any weapons or anything on you uh on your person on my person no you used to own a company called feature Gen X mhm okay that's what we're here to talk about okay have you following the news at all lately no I have not okay all right how many bodies did you bring with you from you left bodies cabers whatever body part you know what come on guys this is an interrogation we came to talk to you yeah that's that's an interrogation you can call it what you want but we just came to talk to you so we can get to the bottom what's going on okay you know what you can talk to my Lord okay um what all over our County have your your company's name on them and we're trying to figure out bull bull not bull why would I drive all the way down here that's a good question but I'm done okay all right well turn around and put your hands behind you back then if you don't want to talk the officers detained him and then searched his apartment where they found a metallic cylindrical object which they immediately identified as a pipe bomb they immediately cleared the area and the bomb squad later confirmed that the bomb was indeed real when the investigators questioned Mitchell about it he told a very bizarre story what we're looking for here mostly is to try to identify um the remains in this case so that we can try to do the right thing and get those back to their families if that's something that needs to take place this is not correct uh I know the number was 53 53 was the total minus five heads so uh 48 48 we all want to know why I think that we have some ideas why um you know we we heard a lot of things about your finances so the why is not Financial never has been I've uh you know there are times in my life where I was motivated by finances but this was not one of them okay the reason is because my industry over the the entire industry uh is unsafe very unsafe and I've been a failed whistleblower since 2002 but after a thorough search was conducted they discovered that most of the severed Parts found were female that were tied with twine but Walter claimed his innocence by saying he was a whistleblower and wanted to expose the improper blood testing in his industry if I if I want to hide something I would have dug someplace in my land or taken it someplace that done something completely different I wanted a platform and cuz I wasn't getting a platform and so that's the why I hope that answers your question the body is a perfect um ecosystem for transmitting diseases so when you have um 30,000 bodies a year going to private organizations and they're dissecting 150 to 200,000 tissues going around the world and not screw tring properly and they're not um blood testing properly and I wrote a very detailed article uh I I don't know if you've been given that article but I'll show you where you can get access to it because it's on the LinkedIn site where I I show and have shown over the years that the players have been doing incorrectly interestingly Walter had also authored a fiction book about serial killers in which the Killer is a medical professional who uses his inside a knowledge of the industry to perfectly execute murders and dispose of the bodies and soon DNA results of the body parts disputed bta's claims of the S limbs the crime lab came back and said that they can definitively say that there are nine individuals okay I there could be there could be there could be tissue and it would be the hips we only found one hip one left hip okay there's got there there's got to be more out there I have five skulls two right I have two right arms plus shoulders two right arms one right shoulder three left arms plus shoulders one left arm one left shoulder three right leg two right knees one right foot one left hip four left legs one left knee and two left feet you're saying there's more out there where did you bury it did you put it a location than the other stuff it's in that vicinity uh very close I'm going to tell you flat that was worth it because um after 30 years I want to walk away saying I did something good for my industry and for humanity and as silly as that sounds I'm the moral compass in my industry and I have been Walter Mitchell was convicted of 29 felony counts of concealing or abandoning a dead body he would spend over 6 years behind bars