0:00

What's up, you guys? I'm Hayley. And

0:02

I'm Andrea. And this

0:04

is Inhuman, a true crime podcast. Welcome

0:07

back, friends. I

0:29

don't know what else to say. I hope you guys are having a good

0:31

week. I know a

0:34

lot of people said that they were

0:36

crying, listening to Monday's listener stories. And

0:39

like, same, because there

0:42

were some really impactful stories. And I mean,

0:44

you guys heard us crying on the episode if

0:46

you listened. But if you

0:48

haven't listened, go listen to that. And even

0:50

if you don't normally like listener stories, highly

0:52

recommend that one. It's

0:55

listener stories 25. Because

0:57

there were some really incredible stories. Yeah,

1:01

just putting that out there. I've

1:04

also recently seen a couple of

1:06

people asking when we are going

1:08

to put out new merch slash

1:10

reinstate our merch on our website.

1:12

It is coming, I promise. We

1:15

are working on some

1:17

really like fun things for merch. So

1:19

stay tuned. It is coming. And

1:23

you will know when it comes. So stay

1:25

tuned for that. I know that's kind of vague, but

1:27

it is coming. But

1:31

with that, I have a survival

1:33

story today. And I think

1:35

it's just it's a really impactful

1:38

story. And it's truly like

1:40

an incredible story. So we

1:43

will just dive right in. Okay.

1:46

On July 7, 1979,

1:49

Mary Stauffer and her eight year old daughter

1:51

were crouching behind a parked car on a

1:53

residential street, waiting for police to

1:56

arrive. They

1:58

were chained together and terrified. that authorities

2:00

wouldn't get there in time. Oh

2:02

my god. So what led to this moment and

2:04

what were they doing there? It is

2:07

a roller coaster, a wild story,

2:09

so let's get into it. Okay. Mary

2:12

Stauffer was born in West Duluth, Minnesota

2:14

in 1944, and

2:16

she had two siblings, and when she

2:18

was 10 years old, the family moved

2:20

to nearby Hermonetown. After

2:23

graduating from Hermonetown High School, Mary

2:25

attended Bethel College in 1965, and

2:28

while in college, she met Irv Stauffer,

2:30

who was a seminary student at

2:32

Bethel College. So

2:35

the couple started dating, and eventually they

2:37

got married after

2:40

Mary graduated, and then, but Irv

2:42

was still in school, so during the 1967 to 1968 school year, they

2:46

actually ended up going on a mission to the Philippines.

2:50

And this was just the first of many that they would

2:52

go on. Mary was

2:54

a teacher, so from 1965, when

2:56

she graduated to 1967, when they left on the mission, she

3:02

taught ninth grade at Ramsey High

3:04

School. Okay. And

3:06

then they left on the mission, and when they came back,

3:08

she went back to teaching in Minneapolis. Eventually,

3:12

Irv actually became a Baptist minister, and

3:14

he was asked to pastor a congregation

3:16

in Polk, Nebraska, so the couple decided

3:19

to move there. And

3:21

they were originally only planning to stay in

3:23

Nebraska for like a year or two, but

3:25

they ended up having two children, a daughter

3:27

Beth and a son Steve. So

3:30

they ended up staying in Nebraska for five years, as

3:32

you know, they were like having their kids

3:34

and like starting their kids' lives there.

3:37

That's understandable. In

3:39

1975, the entire Stauffer family, so

3:42

Mary, Irv, and the two young children, went

3:44

back to the Philippines for a four year

3:46

mission. And

3:49

during their time there, they started several

3:51

new churches in the central islands of

3:53

the Philippines, and it sounds

3:55

like they did a lot of incredible work. So they

3:57

were there until 1979, and when they came

3:59

back, they moved back to Minnesota. In

4:03

May 1980, they were preparing to

4:05

leave on another four-year mission with

4:07

their eight and six-year-old children. So May

4:10

16, 1980 was literally the day before they left. It

4:17

was a Friday, it was a very busy day

4:19

because you know last minute preparation you're about to

4:21

leave for four years so they were running

4:24

errands and just it was a very

4:26

busy Friday as I smacked my mic because

4:28

that's just how busy it was. We talked with

4:30

our hands, yeah. But

4:34

that morning 36-year-old Mary took Steve who

4:36

was six years old to get a

4:38

haircut before dropping him off for afternoon

4:40

kindergarten. Oh I'm getting scared,

4:43

I'm getting nervous. I

4:45

know but total

4:47

side note not relevant to the story but I remember

4:49

it made me think of

4:51

this when I was doing my research when we when

4:54

I was in kindergarten we called it early birds and

4:56

late birds that was like what the like morning

4:58

and afternoons were called. Yeah. I don't know if

5:00

that's a thing anymore in in kindergarten but I

5:02

always thought that was really cute. It's cute yeah

5:04

that is cute. But yeah so she

5:06

took Steve to school and then she

5:08

brought eight-year-old Beth to go get her

5:10

haircut. So

5:13

they went to a salon in Roseville Minnesota and

5:15

it's a city, Roseville is a city in the

5:17

suburban part of St. Paul which is one of

5:19

the twin cities in the state. Okay.

5:22

Mary and Beth went to Carmen's beauty salon,

5:25

got Beth's haircut and then we're heading back

5:27

out to the parking lot to get into

5:30

the 1973 Ford LTD that she was

5:32

driving thanks to the church lending it

5:35

to the family. Mary was

5:37

unlocking the passenger side door of the

5:39

car. Again this is 1980 so automatic car lock.

5:44

Not a thing. You have to

5:46

go and like physically put the

5:48

key in and unlock it. And honestly

5:50

I'm surprised she even locked her doors

5:52

because she lives in the midwest number

5:55

one and it's the 70s or

5:57

80s I guess at this point. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah,

6:00

true. But she had locked her

6:02

car door and so she was unlocking the

6:04

car door when a man approached them.

6:08

And this was like a busy intersection.

6:10

So at first as the man was

6:12

walking up, Mary didn't think much of

6:14

it, thinking like, Oh, he's probably asking

6:16

for directions. But

6:19

when he got close to the mom and

6:21

daughter duo, the man pulled a gun and

6:23

pushed it into Beth's Beth

6:25

side. He said I

6:28

need a ride. And Mary later recalled that

6:30

she was like ready to give him the

6:32

car keys. She was like ready to be like, Hey, the

6:34

car has anything you

6:36

want. But that's not what he wanted.

6:38

He wanted the two of them to get into the

6:40

car and drive him, which is scary

6:42

because that means his intentions are not

6:44

I need a ride. Mm

6:47

hmm. Yeah.

6:49

And he had a gun. So they

6:52

followed his instructions, got into the car.

6:54

And the man started directing Mary on

6:56

where to drive. Mary

6:58

was very devout in her faith. So she tried

7:00

to appeal to the man with

7:02

her faith. She later remembered

7:05

telling later remembered

7:07

that she told him, quote, we are

7:09

Christians and our God specializes in helping

7:11

people in trouble, trying to like appeal

7:13

to him, but he was having none

7:16

of it. And he told her to

7:18

shut up and drive. Yeah. So

7:21

Mary kept driving at this man's instructions.

7:23

And when a police officer happened to

7:25

pull up behind them at a stoplight,

7:28

he threatened that if the police car

7:30

turned in the same direction as they

7:32

did, he would shoot Beth. What?

7:36

Like, she I know, right? Like, he's

7:38

just driving. What? Yeah. But that just

7:40

shows you how like, on

7:42

the car. Yeah, on hand. So that's the

7:44

right word, not off the cuff. But

7:47

he was just like, kind of almost

7:49

like, so intense about

7:51

it. Right? Like trying to

7:53

scare her. Yeah. So he forced

7:58

Mary to keep driving. and

8:00

eventually lead them to a remote wooded

8:02

area. Leaded? Lead. Leaded is not a

8:05

word. I know. I was just going

8:07

to lay fine with it. I was

8:09

like, it's fine. He

8:12

lead them to a remote wooded area.

8:14

Okay. And once

8:16

they were in an area where no one could see them,

8:19

he forced them out of the car and

8:21

he bound them together so that he

8:24

could have more control over them. And

8:26

then he basically shoved them into

8:28

the trunk of the car and he got into

8:30

the driver's seat. And

8:33

her daughter is eight, you said at this point? Mm-hmm.

8:35

Eight years old. Oh my gosh, how terrified she

8:37

must have been. Yeah. So

8:40

the man drove for a little while. At

8:42

one point he actually stopped because Mary and

8:44

Beth had been praying pretty loudly and

8:46

he was angry that they were being so loud.

8:48

So he like pulled over, told them to be

8:51

quiet, and ended up taping their mouths shut so

8:53

that they couldn't keep doing that. What

8:56

in the world? He then drove to

8:58

an undeveloped area near Roseville, which was

9:00

the town that they were abducted from,

9:02

so they weren't that far away. Yeah.

9:06

And he was heading to pick up his

9:08

own car from a nearby lot. But before

9:10

he did that, he pulled over in another

9:13

remote area and he opened the trunk to

9:15

put the car's spare tire on top of

9:17

Mary and Beth, likely because he

9:19

wasn't sure if the area where

9:22

his car was would be completely empty. So he

9:24

wanted to make sure that like if

9:26

he opened the trunk, they wouldn't be

9:28

like seen obvious. Yeah. He

9:31

also, when he did this, noticed that Mary had

9:33

been able to partially free Beth

9:35

from her restraints, so he tied her

9:37

back up. And

9:40

as he was doing this, two young boys

9:42

approached the car out of curiosity.

9:45

Oh no. One

9:47

of the boys stayed at the front, but

9:49

the other six-year-old Jason Wilkman went around the

9:51

back to see what was happening because he's

9:53

like, what's going on? And

9:56

when Jason saw Mary and Beth, in

10:00

the trunk, he said, whoa. But before he

10:02

could say anything more, the man grabbed him

10:05

and threw him into the trunk on

10:07

top of Mary and Beth. Oh

10:09

my god. Okay, I was not anticipating that.

10:11

Oh my god. Mary recalled,

10:14

quote, I think our abductor panicked and grabbed

10:16

Jason and threw him in the trunk on

10:18

top of us. The other boy saw what

10:20

happened to his friend and ran home. We

10:22

didn't know what had happened. And all of

10:24

a sudden, the trunk is slammed, the

10:26

car is started, and it peels out. It was

10:28

a wild ride out of there. Oh my

10:31

gosh. And this is gonna break your

10:33

heart. It's, Mary

10:36

tried to comfort the young boy, but

10:39

he was too scared and could barely talk

10:41

through his sobs. And he

10:43

was just saying that he needed to get home

10:45

because he was going to visit his grandma that

10:47

weekend. Oh my gosh. Poor

10:50

baby. Six years old.

10:52

That's like Manny almost. Yeah.

10:55

So the man drove the car with

10:57

Mary, Beth, and Jason all in the

10:59

trunk. And he drove to the Carlos

11:01

Avery Wildlife Refuge. And this was

11:04

a remote area, very

11:06

isolated. And once there,

11:08

he pulled Jason out of the trunk and

11:11

basically took him away. So Mary and

11:13

Beth didn't know what was happening. No. Beth

11:16

said, quote, he went off for

11:18

a long, long time. Then when

11:20

he returned, he didn't open the trunk.

11:23

And instead he just got in the car and drove

11:26

off. And this was

11:28

because he had beaten Jason to death

11:30

with a metal rod. Oh

11:32

my God. Yeah. That

11:35

is so fucked up. What a

11:37

sick fucking man. I just cannot.

11:40

I know. The man left

11:42

Jason at the refuge and drove off,

11:46

finally making it to the parking lot where

11:48

his van was. And this was a windowless

11:50

black van that no one could see in.

11:54

He put Mary and Beth into the van,

11:56

tying them up further so that they wouldn't

11:58

be able to escape. He

12:00

then drove to sound equipment services,

12:02

which was the electronics store that

12:05

he owned Great.

12:07

So he went to the store and he let them

12:09

inside and let them use the bathroom and gave them

12:11

juice He then blindfolded

12:14

them put them back in his van

12:16

and drove them to his family's home

12:18

in Roseville This house

12:21

and his parents like weren't there. It was

12:24

empty at the time, but it

12:26

was like not his house It was like his

12:28

family's house. Right, but this

12:31

house was just six miles from

12:33

the Stauffer's apartment. Oh my gosh

12:36

So once at this home, it was the

12:39

middle of the night So the man had

12:41

no issue like bringing them inside or you

12:43

know He didn't have to worry

12:45

about neighbor seeing or anything like that Once

12:48

inside he placed Mary and Beth into

12:50

a bedroom closet and this closet was

12:52

only four feet long and 21 inches

12:54

wide Wow,

12:58

that is Hi. Yeah, he

13:00

shackled and chained them together and then left

13:03

them in there locking the door so they

13:05

couldn't get out Mary

13:08

later said quote this closet obviously had been

13:10

prepared for us because there were no clothes

13:12

hanging on the rod there were

13:14

some blankets and plastic bags in the shelf a Light

13:17

bulb with a pull chain a scatter rug

13:19

and two small throw pillows on the floor

13:22

So clearly they realized that this is

13:25

very planned. Yeah, I mean as soon

13:28

as He

13:30

didn't just take the car. I had a feeling.

13:32

I mean, I know obviously we're telling a story

13:34

about somebody that gets You

13:36

know something terrible happens and she survived.

13:38

So yeah, it sounded but it sounded

13:40

very Meticulous meticulous

13:42

and it was it was very

13:45

planned out Which

13:47

is why I think when? Jason

13:49

came up he freaked out Like

13:52

he probably could have gotten in the car

13:54

and driven away and everything would

13:56

have been fine Yeah, yeah,

13:59

but it threw off his his plan, so he freaked out and

14:01

ended up throwing him in the trunk. That's

14:04

awful. Now the evening of

14:06

May 16th was filled with worry for Irv's

14:08

doffer. He was home with his

14:10

son in the evening, waiting for his wife and

14:12

daughter to return from their errands, but of course

14:14

they never did. Mary's sister

14:16

Sandra had plans to come over for dinner that

14:19

night, and when she arrived and there was still

14:21

no sign of Mary, Irv's worry

14:23

just continued to increase.

14:26

He actually called the salon that the two had

14:28

gone to, and they confirmed that Mary and Beth

14:30

had been there, but that they had left at

14:32

4.30pm. So

14:35

then Irv was like, what if they got

14:37

into an accident or got hurt? So he

14:39

started calling local hospitals, trying to

14:41

figure out if they were anywhere, and then he

14:44

also called some of the other

14:46

missionary colleagues who all lived in the apartment

14:48

building that they lived in to

14:50

see if anybody had seen Mary and Beth. But

14:53

after finding no sign of them, nobody had

14:55

seen or heard from them, Irv reported them

14:57

missing to the police. Now

14:59

unfortunately, Jason Wilkman, the six-year-old

15:01

boy, had also been reported

15:04

missing, and the

15:06

police didn't have enough resources

15:08

to prioritize both cases. So

15:11

they took it seriously. They

15:14

didn't write it off, but they were like a

15:17

mom and daughter versus a six-year-old boy.

15:21

They put more resources towards the

15:23

individual six-year-old boy. And that makes

15:26

sense. I mean, I get

15:28

it, but it's just heartbreaking nonetheless. And

15:31

what's even worse is that there

15:33

was a witness to Jason's disappearance. Jason's

15:36

friend who had witnessed

15:39

his abduction, he

15:41

had seen Jason being abducted, but he had

15:43

stayed at the front of the car. So

15:46

he didn't know that Mary and Beth were in the trunk,

15:48

and he had no way of knowing

15:50

that. So the police hadn't

15:52

connected the two. So they

15:54

were still split resources going to both

15:57

of these different disappearances, instead of it

15:59

being like... were looking for one suspect, but

16:01

there was no way that anyone could have

16:03

known that it was the same. Did

16:05

he get a good look at the guy? Like, does

16:07

it, I know he's just probably like another five or six

16:09

year old little boy, but... Yeah,

16:12

he, I don't think, got a good enough

16:14

look. Yeah. Irv

16:16

later said, quote, we were not a priority.

16:19

An hour or two later, an officer came by

16:21

the apartment. I could sense he thought this was

16:23

a domestic problem. So,

16:26

you know, again, it's a mom and

16:28

daughter leaving. It's not like just one

16:30

person. It's not just the kid. So

16:32

obviously we still need to listen to

16:34

the family and be like, okay. Like,

16:36

instructions, yeah. Yeah. But

16:39

Irv said that he really felt like the

16:41

police were kind of like, hmm, this isn't

16:43

the priority. Yeah. Thankfully,

16:46

by the next day, investigators

16:48

actually started to connect the

16:50

cases because when

16:52

they were searching the park that

16:55

Jason was abducted from, they found

16:57

Mary's car license plate lying

16:59

on the ground. Apparently

17:02

when the man was rushing to

17:04

leave the area after unexpectedly abducting

17:06

Jason, the car hit some

17:08

thick brush and the license plate had

17:10

torn off of the car. So

17:13

this was really fortunate for investigators

17:15

because they were able to connect the... That's

17:17

a divine intervention right there. Yeah.

17:20

You'd be like, uh-uh, you'd be affected.

17:22

Yeah. We're going to leave some breadcrumbs.

17:25

So searches for Jason, Mary, and

17:27

Beth began with over 300 authorities

17:30

and volunteers from the community searching

17:32

for the three of them. Wow.

17:34

They did have a sketch of

17:36

the suspect from Jason's friend who

17:38

witnessed the abduction, but unfortunately no

17:40

one could identify the man from

17:42

the sketch. And it actually does

17:45

look kind of similar. But

17:49

again, like you said, it was a young boy

17:52

who was traumatized. How

17:54

much is he going to remember? And

17:56

I really think it was so quick. I think as

17:59

soon as Jason... went around because Mary

18:01

and Beth said he literally said, whoa, and then

18:03

that was it. He got thrown in the car.

18:06

Of course, Irv was one of the

18:08

initial suspects because, you know, the husband

18:10

always did it. He

18:13

fully cooperated with the investigation, even

18:15

taking and passing a lie detector

18:17

test. So he was ruled out pretty quickly.

18:20

Okay, that's good. They didn't focus too much

18:22

on that. Yeah. So

18:25

the next day, while investigators were

18:27

connecting Mary and Beth's abduction with

18:30

Jason, the man finally revealed who

18:32

he was and what his motive was.

18:35

Great. So he brought Mary out of the

18:37

closet that they had been in all night

18:40

and placed her on a blanket in the

18:42

living room, blindfolded and tied to a piece

18:44

of furniture. And

18:46

over the next three hours, he

18:48

conducted a quote unquote interview, which

18:51

he videotaped, and he

18:53

slowly revealed who he was. An

18:56

interview? Mm hmm. Like

18:58

asking her questions? Kind

19:01

of. So he said to her, quote,

19:04

do you remember a student who developed a

19:06

formula for an algebra problem? And

19:09

that was when Mary realized

19:11

who this was. One

19:14

of her students? Yeah.

19:16

Meng Shenshu had been one of her

19:18

students in her ninth grade math class

19:20

at Ramsey High School in 1966, 14

19:22

years earlier. Holy

19:26

shit. What's up? That is

19:29

terrifying. Yeah. She

19:32

didn't recognize him. No,

19:34

because he was in ninth grade.

19:36

He was like, how old are you

19:38

in ninth grade? Like 14. And

19:40

now he's 29, 28, like, yeah. Wow.

19:45

So let's back up and talk a little bit about

19:47

this man. Thank

19:49

you. Ming

20:03

Sen Shu was born on October 15, 1950

20:05

in Taiwan. When

20:09

he was 8 years old, Shu, his two

20:11

siblings, and his parents moved to Minnesota after

20:13

his father got a job as a professor

20:16

at the University of Minnesota. Shu

20:19

was described as a troubled child and

20:21

teen. So as a

20:23

kid, he was violent towards his siblings,

20:26

beating them often. And

20:28

when they were teenagers, he

20:31

continued to do these

20:33

same types of things and even

20:35

into adulthood. As a teenager,

20:37

Shu was caught committing several crimes,

20:40

including starting fires in apartments and

20:42

throwing rocks at vehicles. When

20:45

he was just 14 years old, he was

20:47

caught for an arson that he committed and

20:49

he was ordered to participate in psychotherapy

20:51

instead of going to a juvenile

20:55

facility or jail. He was

20:57

in psychotherapy, but that

20:59

did little to help. Shu's

21:01

mother would later describe him as

21:04

having no feelings, saying that he

21:06

quote, often lied but was persistent

21:08

about being right, was uncontrollable as

21:10

a child and took no responsibilities

21:12

for his physical behavior. She

21:16

went as far to say that she was scared

21:18

of him. Wow,

21:21

that is not good.

21:24

So Ming-Shen Shu attended Ramsey High School in

21:27

Roseville, Minnesota from 1965 to 1966. And

21:31

that's when he met Mary Stauffer, his ninth

21:33

grade algebra teacher. Now when

21:35

Mary was, when his identity was

21:37

revealed to Mary, she did like

21:39

remember him, but didn't recall

21:42

having any issues with him as a

21:44

student, saying he didn't cause any problems

21:46

and was not memorable for anything bad

21:48

he did. So it kind of seems

21:50

like it was one of those where she's like, oh yeah, like I

21:52

kind of vaguely remember him, but like,

21:54

yeah, I mean, you can't remember every student

21:56

you have unless they make an impact and

21:59

clearly. he didn't. So yeah, exactly.

22:01

And he was a quote unquote

22:03

normal student. So like, nothing

22:06

to think about, nothing to worry about.

22:09

But unfortunately, he was slowly

22:11

becoming obsessed with Mary during the school

22:13

year. He later would

22:15

confess that he had become infatuated with

22:18

his teacher, even going

22:20

as far as to sexually fantasize

22:22

about her during class. I

22:27

mean, it happens. It

22:30

does happen. But given everything

22:32

else, that is

22:34

the problematic part of it. This was

22:36

more of like an obsession, not just

22:39

a like, oh, my teeth are hot.

22:41

Like an infatuation, like unhealthy,

22:44

not just teenage, like

22:47

angst and hormones. Exactly.

22:49

And it went

22:51

on for years following that school year.

22:54

And his obsession just continued to

22:56

escalate. When Mary returned from her first

22:58

four year trip to the Philippines and was back

23:00

in Minnesota in 1975, he began stalking

23:05

her. What?

23:08

So he's been stalking her the whole time? For

23:10

14 years? No, no, no, for five years.

23:13

Oh, for five years. Okay. Yeah. I was like, Whoa.

23:15

Once he was like an adult. Okay.

23:18

Now, actually, while Mary

23:20

and Irv were away in

23:22

the Philippines, she had an

23:24

encounter with Irv's parents. So he

23:28

confused Irv's father, who was

23:30

also named Irv Stauffer with

23:33

Irv Mary's husband, because you know, same name.

23:36

And on the Fourth of July, he

23:39

broke into their home and held Irv

23:41

at gunpoint and forced him to call

23:43

his wife into the room. What?

23:45

But when Mary's mother-in-law came in

23:48

instead of Mary, she realized

23:51

his mistake. And then he tied Mary's

23:53

in-laws up at gunpoint. And according to

23:55

Irv, quote, threatened them that if they

23:57

ever called the police, he would not

23:59

be would come back and shoot them. He

24:03

then locked them in a bedroom downstairs

24:05

and they never reported this

24:07

to the police because they were terrified

24:10

of him. And they also never told

24:12

Mary and Irv about the innocent incident,

24:15

likely because they were afraid

24:18

of what she

24:20

would do. Wow. That's

24:23

insane. I can't like, I like

24:26

I want to be like, Ah, maybe they

24:28

could have stopped him. But then at the same time,

24:30

it's like, you're fearing

24:33

for your life, you know, and, and

24:35

probably like, what do you do in that situation? They

24:38

were probably fearful for Mary and Irv and

24:40

their grandchildren too. Like they were probably like,

24:43

you know, he only threatened to come back

24:45

and shoot us. But if they find if

24:47

he finds out, he might hurt

24:50

them too. Right. She

24:52

actually admitted that he had done

24:55

this to Mary's in-laws during that

24:57

interview that he did with her. So in

24:59

1979, when Mary and Irv returned from the Philippines

25:04

for the one year furlough between

25:06

then and when they were going to go back in 1980,

25:09

she continued to stalk them. So

25:12

he was able to learn that they had

25:14

moved into an apartment building in Arden

25:16

Hills, Minnesota. And once he found their apartment

25:18

building, he ramped up his surveillance of

25:20

the family. He

25:22

would literally sit in the woods outside of

25:24

the building spying on them. So

25:26

he was able to learn where they left their

25:29

spare key. No, he watched what

25:31

they did. He was like,

25:33

literally stalking them. That

25:36

is terrifying. That could literally happen to anybody.

25:38

And you'd have no idea because you're just

25:41

living your life. Yeah. And he's just

25:43

sitting in the woods. And he even

25:45

attempted to break into the apartment at

25:47

one point. He apparently

25:49

used a blowtorch to break in

25:51

through the patio doors. Don't

25:54

know how that was going to work, buddy,

25:56

but he tried, but it didn't work. So

25:58

then he went. So

26:00

the the Marian herbs

26:03

apartment or the stoppers apartment was like

26:05

not on the bottom floor but I don't

26:08

think there was a apartment under them and

26:11

So he was able to access

26:13

like the ceiling that

26:16

was their floor Okay,

26:19

he stood on a storage area that

26:21

was beneath their unit and Literally

26:25

tried to cut holes drill

26:27

holes into their

26:29

apartment Oh my

26:31

god And this ended up

26:33

being underneath Marion herbs bed And he

26:36

ended up leaving sawdust under the bed that

26:38

Irv later swept up not thinking anything of

26:40

it because he was probably just like oh

26:42

It's just not weird Yeah

26:45

so He had been

26:47

planning this for a while and

26:49

during the interview She

26:52

told Mary quote you were lucky that I got

26:54

you when I did with a minimum of your

26:56

family exposed because I would have done anything to

26:58

take you I'm

27:02

appalled yeah just

27:04

appalled so She

27:08

was still like okay, you're obsessed with me. But why

27:10

are you doing this? Like what are you doing? Yeah,

27:12

what are you gonna do to me? Like what's what's

27:14

what's what's next? What's your end goal buddy? And is

27:17

leading you to do this other than your

27:20

obsession. Like why do you want to have

27:22

me? Yeah, so he told her that He

27:25

got a B grade in her

27:28

class and that was a quote

27:30

blemish on his otherwise spotless record

27:32

And because of that he was

27:35

unable to receive an academic scholarship He

27:38

told her that because of that B

27:41

in her class he couldn't attend college

27:43

because he couldn't afford college without a

27:46

Scholarship and he said

27:48

that without that scholarship and being able to

27:50

attend college He was drafted into

27:52

the Vietnam War and ended up in a prisoner

27:55

of war camp and this was all

27:57

her fault Okay, first

27:59

of all Not her fault. Second

28:01

of all, you should have done

28:03

better, maybe. Third

28:06

of all, a B is

28:08

pretty damn good. Or as colleges are not accepting people

28:10

for B, it's like, what the fuck? I

28:13

mean, I know you get scholarships if you have like, whatever,

28:15

but. It doesn't make sense because none of it was

28:17

true. Yeah, I was

28:19

gonna say, like they go off your GPA and not

28:21

a B in one of your classes. Yeah, so he

28:23

did, I think, get a B in that class, but

28:26

he was not in the Vietnam War. He was

28:28

not in a POW camp. He,

28:30

like, none of this was true. What? He

28:33

was actually an exceptional student and ended

28:35

up being the number one student in

28:38

his high school class. So

28:40

it's believed that he would have been able to receive

28:42

any scholarship to many different

28:44

colleges had he actually tried to apply.

28:48

And then it's like, are you mad at her

28:50

and you want revenge? Or are you obsessed with

28:52

her and you want to marry her and have

28:54

a family or whatever your fantasy is? It feels

28:57

like he was obsessed, but felt like he

28:59

needed a more, I quote unquote better

29:01

excuse. And so that's why he came

29:03

up with this whole, like, B

29:06

grade thing. Narrative. Yeah, narrative, thank you.

29:08

That's a good word. Now.

29:12

I'm on it tonight, I don't know. You are. He

29:16

was even voted most likely to

29:18

succeed in high school. So like,

29:21

don't even. Wow, that really, that superlative

29:26

went right down the drain. Yeah. But

29:28

he also attended the

29:31

University of Minnesota at least for some

29:33

time and ended

29:35

up starting an electronics store. So by

29:37

all accounts, he seemed to be pretty

29:39

successful in life. Yeah,

29:42

just mentally unwell, which is sad, but

29:45

also you could get help. I

29:47

mean, I guess it's the 80s. Yeah. Men

29:50

didn't do that back then, but no

29:52

excuses, no excuses. Yeah, no,

29:54

not at all. And like I said, he had

29:56

never served in the military either. Yeah.

30:00

That's weird to just throw that in there

30:02

like, I know it's in gigs. Let's just

30:04

throw out a POW. I know. How do

30:06

you go? Fucking dare you be great to.

30:09

OK, I couldn't get a scholarship. And

30:11

because of that, I was the military.

30:13

And then I ended up being taken

30:16

as a POW. Like, no, just how

30:18

disrespectful? Yeah, sounds

30:20

like he was on a shitty path from

30:22

the gay from like the get in trouble

30:25

as a kid. Yeah.

30:27

Being of his siblings like the

30:29

fuck. Yeah. Mary later said,

30:31

quote, he knew he hadn't failed. He knew

30:33

he was number one in his class. He

30:36

knew that he had attended college. He knew

30:38

he had never been in the military. But

30:40

it had to be a plausible story that I

30:43

would feel some regret for how badly I treated

30:45

him in class. Deranged.

30:47

And he continued to run with this

30:49

story. He told Mary that he was

30:52

going to get revenge on her in

30:54

a three step plan, telling her, quote,

30:56

I don't want your scars to be

30:58

physical. I want them to be emotional.

31:00

I want you to feel dirty, debased

31:02

and degraded. You and

31:05

just a trigger warning here, we will be talking about

31:07

sexual assault. So skip ahead like

31:09

a minute if you need

31:11

to. She

31:15

then videotaped six hours

31:18

worth of raping

31:20

Mary. Like consistent

31:22

rape. More or less, it

31:24

seems like. Oh, my

31:26

God. Was she

31:28

still blindfolded at this point? So

31:32

I think she was not. And thankfully, Beth.

31:36

Was not in the room. Yeah, I

31:38

think you have to witness any of

31:40

this. Wow.

31:44

He eventually was forced to return the video

31:46

camera that he had taken out on loan.

31:48

So there was no more video recording of

31:50

this, but he continued to rape her every

31:53

single day that he held her captive. So

31:56

sick. Like I said,

31:58

thankfully, he never touched that. and

32:00

did not make her watch, but

32:02

he would continually threaten that he would

32:04

either touch her or make her watch what was happening.

32:08

That makes me really sad too, because like,

32:10

she's such a devout Christian and like

32:12

she's the only person she's probably ever

32:14

been with with her husband. Yeah. And

32:17

to steal that innocence from her or whatever

32:19

you want to call it like that is

32:21

just heartbreaking at a whole other level. And

32:23

that's exactly what he wanted to do. He

32:25

was doing that purposefully. Yeah,

32:28

I'm sure he was. Calculated

32:30

sick fuck. Yeah. So

32:33

over the next month and a

32:35

half that Shue held Mary and

32:37

Beth captive, he not only physically

32:39

abused Mary, but he also emotionally

32:41

and mentally manipulated both her and

32:43

her daughter. A

32:45

month, you said? 53

32:47

days. Oh

32:50

my god. Yeah.

32:54

At one point he was mad

32:56

that Mary was not participating in

32:58

his fantasies willingly and told her

33:00

to be more loving toward him.

33:04

Ew. The next part I'm

33:06

going to read directly from what Mary would

33:08

later say to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press,

33:10

which is a really well done story on

33:12

this case, and I will link it in

33:14

our sources. But I just

33:16

want to read this directly from what Mary said. Quote,

33:20

I said, I'm sorry, I can't do that.

33:22

I love my husband and I promise to

33:24

be true to him until death. And what

33:26

you ask, I cannot do. So

33:29

he got this big, clear plastic bag

33:31

and said, have you ever watched someone

33:34

die by suffocation? You're going

33:36

to watch your daughter die by suffocation. No.

33:40

He put this plastic bag over her whole

33:42

body as he, as she sat in the

33:44

closet. He tucked it underneath her

33:47

and said, it'll take four to five minutes.

33:49

She'll gradually breathe up all the oxygen and

33:51

then she'll die. Oh

33:53

my God. Beth said, mom,

33:56

what does he want you to do? I

33:58

said, he wants me to sin. Beth

34:01

said, oh mom don't sin, but please can

34:03

I come out from under this bag because

34:05

it's so hot in here. That's

34:07

like making my heart hurt. I

34:10

could see the perspiration running down her face and

34:12

the bag was contracting around her face. It

34:15

was horrible. I don't have words to

34:17

describe it. So she was

34:19

terrified. She

34:23

knew that he was going to let Beth

34:25

suffocate and he also threatened that he would

34:28

kill her husband and son if she didn't

34:30

comply. So she was

34:32

forced to give her abductor a peck

34:34

on the cheek, but

34:36

he said that's not enough. Mary

34:39

said, so I gave him a peck on the lips

34:42

and that was enough to get him to take the

34:44

bag off Beth. What

34:47

followed was the most horrible of

34:49

rape sessions, but at least Beth

34:51

was safe. Yeah,

34:54

literally such a fucking monster.

34:58

Yeah. So

35:00

she held Mary and Beth captive for seven

35:02

and a half weeks, 53 days.

35:06

They were locked in that closet, tormented

35:08

mentally and Mary physically as well.

35:12

She during this time made Mary write letters

35:14

to her husband to quote unquote convince him

35:16

that she had left on her own

35:18

own accord. Wow. But

35:21

as time went on, she kind of started

35:23

to relax some. So he started letting them

35:25

eat in the kitchen instead of in the

35:27

closet. He would play board games with

35:29

them and let them watch TV. He

35:32

even started calling Beth, Bethy, which

35:34

is like so sick, but it

35:36

really off. Yeah, like

35:38

it feels like he really was living this

35:40

like fantasy of this is my family. Right.

35:44

This is my wife. This is my

35:46

child and everything is hunky dory. It's

35:49

like, no, it's fucking not. Yeah,

35:51

they're just getting by, dude. Beth

35:54

would later say, quote, he was weirdly

35:56

affectionate in a sick parental way. It

35:59

was icky. and it's creepy now.

36:02

Yeah. After about

36:04

a month, Shoo actually took Mary and Beth

36:07

out. He took them on

36:09

a road trip to a job fair in Chicago and

36:12

his plan was to take them on this

36:14

road trip as his family. That's

36:17

brave. Yeah. So

36:20

before this road trip, he had to take them

36:22

to the mall because Mary and Beth were still

36:24

wearing the same clothes that they were abducted

36:26

in a month earlier. So

36:29

he took them to the mall in Madison,

36:31

Wisconsin and while they were out he kept

36:33

Beth like right by his side under the

36:35

threat that if either of them said anything

36:37

he would basically kill

36:40

Beth. Yeah. Mary

36:43

did try to secretly alert somebody. She

36:45

actually at one of the stores used

36:47

a traveler's check that she had in

36:49

her purse in the hopes that the

36:51

bank would be notified of its use. Yeah.

36:56

But unfortunately, despite Irv having told the

36:58

FBI about the check in the early

37:00

days of the investigation, they were not

37:02

alerted when it was used. The

37:04

FBI wasn't. So it's unclear like

37:07

why where there was like what

37:09

happened. Yeah, but because her husband

37:11

was getting the letters right or no. He

37:13

was. He didn't believe him. Okay. He knew

37:15

that they weren't true, but yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

37:18

While out at some point on this

37:21

trip, Beth was actually left alone in

37:23

the van and in a moment of

37:25

bravery as she described, she called out

37:27

to a group of teenage boys that

37:29

she had been kidnapped. But she

37:31

said, quote, they basically laughed at me

37:34

and told me to stop making up stories and

37:36

went on their way. Stupid

37:38

teenage boys, man. And

37:42

unfortunately, they weren't able to get away long

37:44

enough at any point during this trip to

37:46

tell anyone that they had been kidnapped. They

37:50

even were taken to the fourth of to

37:52

a park on the 4th of July. They

37:54

were taken to a restaurant and to the

37:56

University of Minnesota campus. But every time they

37:58

were out in public. They

38:01

weren't able to get away long enough to say anything

38:04

That's so frustrating. You're like, I'm so

38:07

close to freedom like you're in public.

38:09

You're around people. Yeah No

38:12

one's catching what I'm like, you know Yeah,

38:14

when I'm laying down and he was like

38:17

majorly threatening them. So it makes sense why they

38:19

didn't want to do anything to in Especially

38:23

as a mother like you're not gonna do

38:25

anything to jeopardize jeopardize your child's safety. So

38:28

Mary kept a terrified Beth and

38:31

herself often optimistic through this all

38:34

Hoping that they would eventually be freed She

38:37

did so by talking about stories from the Bible

38:39

and they really leaned on their faith Mary

38:42

said quote our job job was not to understand

38:44

what was happening It was to trust that the

38:46

Lord was going to work this out in his

38:48

own way in his own time In

38:51

July about seven weeks into their captivity She

38:54

bought a camper for the three to live in

38:56

because he said he couldn't keep staying at his

38:58

family's home because eventually Unclear where his

39:00

parents were but eventually they were saying

39:02

maybe they were they could have been they were

39:05

in Taiwan or something. Yeah So

39:08

I was gonna ask that like how's he keeping them?

39:11

Well, it locked up in his room But then you said he

39:13

was eating in the kitchen and stuff or they were they were

39:15

in the they were like in the whole house Like nobody else

39:18

was in there. Yeah Okay,

39:20

but eventually I

39:22

can't do this forever. So he bought a camper and

39:26

On the morning of July 7th,

39:28

she left for work like always But

39:31

this time when he was gone

39:34

Mary noticed that the cable that

39:36

had tied her and Beth together

39:39

Was also through the top hinge of

39:41

the closet door Now

39:43

he had done this basically to allow them

39:45

to like move through the room more freely

39:47

than just being locked in the closet right

39:50

and this day she

39:52

realized That's

39:55

just over the hinge. I

39:57

could pull that out and we

39:59

would wouldn't be attached to the closet anymore. After

40:03

53 days in captivity, this was

40:05

their chance. Mary recalled that

40:07

when she was a kid, her father would

40:10

take hinge pins out of doors to like,

40:12

take them off, fix them, whatever. Yeah. So

40:15

she knew that this could happen. And while she

40:17

didn't have a hammer, like her father used,

40:20

she had determination. She

40:23

started hitting the pin in the top hinge

40:25

to force it up, and it

40:27

worked. She would later say, lift

40:29

it out like it was greased. Wow,

40:32

that gave me goosebumps. Yeah.

40:36

Once they were sure that she would left

40:38

the house, they freed themselves from the cable

40:40

that was attaching them to the closet and

40:43

immediately ran to the phone calling the sheriff's

40:45

office. They

40:47

were put on hold twice before they were

40:49

finally able to speak to someone. Oh,

40:52

the 80s. But

40:55

in that time, Mary found a dry cleaning

40:58

tag in the closet, or she might've found

41:00

it before either way. She had found this

41:02

dry cleaning tag in the closet, and

41:05

that had the address of the house

41:07

on it. So she had something to

41:09

tell the police like where they were. When

41:12

Sergeant Mike Fowler finally picked up the

41:14

phone, Mary said, quote, this is Mary

41:16

Stauffer, the Arden Hills kidnapped victim. And

41:19

I would like someone to come get

41:21

us. Oh

41:23

my gosh. That's like giving

41:26

me flashbacks to when the

41:29

Cleveland kidnappings, like when they called.

41:32

Yeah, it was giving me the same. It

41:34

was a man to bury. Yeah. Oh,

41:38

chills. I know. One of

41:40

the first things that Fowler said back

41:42

to her was, quote, is Jason

41:44

with you? And Mary recalled

41:46

that that's when she realized that the young

41:48

boy had been killed because they didn't know

41:50

he was just taken out of the car.

41:53

That confirmed it for sure. Yeah. That's

41:56

so sad. I wish he was. I wish

41:59

he did. get taken with

42:01

them. I know. Them. But

42:04

unfortunately he didn't. But now Mary and

42:06

Bess were almost

42:09

safe. So after making the call they

42:11

ran out of the house and they hid

42:14

behind an old car that was sitting outside.

42:16

And at this point they were still tied

42:18

together with cables. So they had like gotten

42:20

themselves free from the cable that attached them

42:22

to the closet. But they were still tied

42:25

together. And there's actually a picture of them

42:27

shortly after their escape still tied together that

42:29

I will share because it is

42:32

so scary. I'm gonna

42:34

look it up while you talk. And they

42:36

were terrified that she would return and figure

42:38

out they had called the police and hurt

42:40

them before help could arrive. So they were

42:43

literally crouching down behind a car waiting for

42:45

the police to come. Thankfully

42:48

he didn't return and the police

42:50

were able to come save them. Thank

42:53

God. As it so

42:55

happened right as Mary and Bess had

42:57

escaped, Irv was on the phone with

42:59

an FBI agent who was on the

43:01

case talking about a third letter that

43:03

her parents had received just that morning.

43:06

So he was literally on the phone with

43:08

an FBI agent. The agent got the news

43:10

that there was a phone call made to

43:12

the police but you know they weren't able to

43:14

confirm it all yet. But he told

43:17

Irv that something was transpiring. Didn't

43:19

give him any further details. And then not

43:21

long after that a deputy arrived at the

43:24

Stauffer's apartment to bring Irv and

43:26

Steve to the sheriff's office and

43:28

to tell them that Mary and

43:30

Bess had been found alive. Oh

43:32

I'm gonna cry. I'm crying. I know.

43:37

So after the escape the FBI

43:39

raided Shoe's electronic store that he

43:41

owned where he worked. He

43:44

was working just like any other

43:46

day and they arrived, raided it,

43:49

arrested him, and put him in jail. I

43:52

hope they like threw his ass on the

43:54

ground and like put their knee so deep

43:56

into his back. Honestly they probably did. I hope

44:00

to god they did. Yeah, they probably did.

44:02

His tirade did not stop there though.

44:05

Of course not. Shortly after his arrest,

44:07

Shue tried to get his original cellmate,

44:09

a man named Richard Green, who was

44:11

being released from jail shortly after she

44:13

was arrested, to kill

44:15

Mary and Beth so that they couldn't testify

44:18

against him. Are you

44:20

joking? Yeah. What

44:22

in the fuck? Shue

44:24

mailed the ex-inmate a

44:26

$1,000 check with the promise of another $50,000 after

44:30

the deeds were done. So

44:33

he was trying to get this

44:35

ex-inmate that was like his cellmate for

44:37

a couple days to- be

44:39

a hit man. Yeah, be a hit man

44:41

and kill Mary and Beth and then also

44:43

to get to help him escape.

44:47

Oh jeez. According

44:50

to the formal district court

44:52

report, Green admitted to the

44:54

contract but not until a

44:56

second FBI interview and after

44:58

the FBI monitored Shue's finances

45:00

and knew about the payment.

45:03

So he admitted to it but not right

45:05

away. So he was

45:08

like, oh he's going to take his money and

45:10

just feel like fuck you. That's what I'm thinking. I think he was probably

45:12

going to try to just take the $1,000 and run

45:15

away with it but he did admit to

45:17

it. Hopefully. Okay. They

45:20

honestly probably threatened that he would get

45:22

in more trouble if he didn't admit to it. Well

45:25

yeah, hopefully he wasn't contemplating it.

45:27

Jesus. So obviously

45:29

this didn't work and Ming-Shen Shue

45:31

was charged with kidnapping on the

45:33

federal level because he transported Mary

45:36

and Beth across state lines and

45:39

then at the state level he was charged

45:41

with the sexual assault, kidnapping, and

45:43

the murder of Jason Wilkman. This

45:46

man had the audacity to

45:48

plead not guilty. Based

45:51

on what? Please. Based on

45:53

what? There is no evidence that

45:55

you are not guilty but he pleaded not

45:57

guilty, he went to trial, and

45:59

bad Mary testified at

46:01

his trial. Good,

46:04

good. So his

46:07

federal trial was first and when Mary

46:09

was going up to testify she

46:11

was walking up and when you walk up in

46:13

court you walk up through the gallery and then you

46:15

have to basically walk between the defense

46:17

table and the prosecution table. When

46:20

she was doing that she tried

46:22

to lunge at her to try

46:24

to hurt her. Thankfully in the

46:26

courtroom in the courtroom, thankfully

46:29

the prosecutor was in the way and

46:31

blocked his path, shoes passed

46:33

to her and the marshals were able to like

46:35

tackle him down before he could do anything. But

46:39

oh my god what a fucking idiot. Also look

46:41

at the little

46:43

boy. I know Jason. I'll

46:45

post a picture of him

46:47

for you guys to see

46:50

because his little face. So

46:53

sweet. I know. So

46:56

the federal trial was just for like

46:58

kidnapping and you know transporting across state

47:00

lines and that lasted 10 days and

47:02

the jury ended up finding him guilty

47:04

of the kidnapping of Mary and Beth

47:06

Stauffer and he was sentenced to life

47:08

with no chance of parole for at

47:10

least 30 years. No

47:14

chance of parole period. I'm sorry I just

47:16

like fucking do not get that dude. Like

47:18

you killed a little boy, you raped

47:21

an innocent woman and held her

47:23

poor daughter. Yeah and unfortunately this

47:25

the federal trial was just for

47:27

the kidnapping. Don't worry. He does

47:29

go to trial for the murder. But

47:31

still okay okay okay 30 years like you're

47:33

just gonna freaking do this again. Yeah definitely.

47:37

Some other person that gave you a B one day

47:40

or something. Right. So she

47:42

was charged at the state level for the

47:44

kidnapping and murder and he reportedly

47:46

admitted to a psychiatrist that you know

47:48

did like a exam of him that

47:51

he knew where Jason's body was because

47:54

they still found Jason. They didn't know

47:56

where he was. They just assumed presumed

47:58

he was dead because because he wasn't with

48:00

Mary and Beth, so where else would he be? He

48:04

refused to tell them where Jason was, and

48:07

because they really wanted to find Jason,

48:09

they offered Shoe a plea deal where

48:11

they would downgrade the murder charge to

48:13

second degree murder in exchange for him

48:16

leading them to Jason's body. Well,

48:19

technically, wouldn't it be second degree murder since it

48:21

wasn't premeditated? It might have been, honestly. I guess

48:24

it's different in different states. Yeah, that's

48:26

true. Yeah. So

48:29

Shoe ended up agreeing to this plea deal, and

48:31

in late October of 1980, they found Jason Wilkman's

48:34

body, and that's when they

48:36

determined that his cause of death was blunt force

48:38

trauma to the head. What

48:42

a fucking foul, disgusting

48:45

human being to look

48:48

a child in the face and do that to

48:50

them. I know. I

48:53

hope he got beat

48:56

the fuck up every day in prison. I

48:58

know. Oh, and it gets

49:00

worse. So

49:14

Mary, once again, testified at

49:16

Shoe's state trial, and

49:18

once again, Shoe tried to attack her,

49:21

and this time, he was actually able to hurt

49:23

her. Why did they

49:25

not fucking what? Shackle him, how?

49:29

I know. Yeah. Or how about bring

49:31

him in first, and then bring her

49:33

in later and shackle him to the

49:35

fucking... So this time,

49:37

he was, when she

49:39

was testifying, like, up

49:42

on the stand, he jumped at her,

49:44

was able to get a hold

49:46

of her and had a knife that he smuggled

49:49

in up to her throat, and

49:52

he was threatening, quote, get back or

49:54

I'll kill her. And

49:58

nobody shot him. Right?

50:01

Thankfully a- I would have fucking shot

50:03

him. Sorry. Well, he was probably holding

50:05

her in front. Yeah. With

50:07

him so that she was like a shield.

50:10

But thankfully there was a police lieutenant that

50:12

was outside of the courtroom waiting to testify

50:15

and when he heard the commotion he ran

50:17

up and was able to

50:19

grab Mary away from Shoo. So Mary

50:22

was safe, but she had to get

50:24

62 stitches in her face because of

50:26

the attack. I know I

50:29

saw the scar when I was looking up the

50:31

pictures of them and the cables. I saw the

50:34

scarring on her face. I was wondering when

50:36

that happened because you didn't mention it during the,

50:39

you know, abuse and stuff. So,

50:41

damn. Yup, they were like during the trial

50:43

when she was freaking testifying against him. So

50:46

they literally had to like postpone the trial,

50:49

like delay it and take a break from it

50:51

so that she could- Yeah, she had to recover.

50:53

Yeah. Yeah. The fuck.

50:56

Yeah. Ugh. But

50:59

ultimately Ming-Shen Shoo was found guilty

51:01

of kidnapping and second degree murder

51:03

at the state level, and

51:06

he was sentenced to 40 years to

51:08

be served concurrently with his federal life

51:10

sentence. In April 1981,

51:12

Shoo appealed his federal conviction, claiming

51:14

that comments made during the trial

51:16

by the prosecution prevented him from

51:18

having a fair trial and

51:20

that there was insufficient evidence relating to

51:22

his insanity defense, which he had tried

51:24

to do. Shut up. He

51:27

said that had more evidence been collected,

51:29

he would have been able to use

51:31

that insanity defense. Thankfully,

51:33

his plea was denied. His conviction

51:35

was upheld. And

51:37

why are they giving him a concurrent

51:40

sentence when these are two different- Right.

51:43

I don't, I don't, I will never

51:45

understand our justice system. I will never- No,

51:47

it makes no sense. Ever, ever understand it.

51:49

No, it makes no sense. How

51:51

about, yeah, no. Mm-mm. In

51:55

2010, Shoo reached that 30-year minimum

51:57

amount of time to be

51:59

in prison. before being considered for parole.

52:04

Prior to his parole hearing, psychologist Paul

52:06

Reitman evaluated now 60 year old Shue

52:08

in 2010. Not now, but in 2010

52:11

he was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He

52:14

evaluated him for hours and he ultimately determined that

52:16

he was still a threat to the community.

52:19

Good. So in his report,

52:21

Reitman said he would be concerned if

52:23

Shue was released, saying quote, he's a

52:25

very tormented man because he is delusional.

52:28

He goes from one aspect of being

52:30

delusional, being nice, let's go on a

52:32

family trip. It just represents

52:34

moral chaos. His psychological

52:37

life is hell. Good.

52:40

I hope it is. I hope he's

52:42

tormented. Mm hmm. Reitman

52:44

also said he might feel that he spent

52:47

30 years in prison because she lied. We

52:49

don't know that, but that's why

52:51

he has to be scrutinized in

52:53

intensive psychological treatment as well

52:55

as sex offender treatment. Yeah.

52:59

In 2010, the judge ultimately denied his

53:02

parole and also ruled that if he

53:04

is ever paroled, he has to be

53:06

committed to a state sex offender program.

53:10

That's basically, it's not just like registering

53:12

as a sex offender. It's like a program. So

53:15

he will never be free. Okay.

53:18

He has continued to apply for parole, but

53:20

he has repeatedly been denied. As he

53:24

should be. He should never, ever,

53:26

ever, ever, ever be free. No.

53:29

Mary said after his parole hearing in 2010,

53:32

that Shue had told her that if he

53:35

was ever caught and then released, like

53:37

when they were, when she, when he held

53:39

her captive, he told her if I'm ever

53:41

caught and released, he would take revenge on

53:43

the family. Yeah. I

53:46

believe he would. Quote, he said,

53:49

don't think that even if I get caught and put in

53:51

prison for 25 years, don't think I

53:53

will forget about you. When I get out, I

53:55

will go after you. And if you're dead, I

53:58

will go after your kids. So

54:00

thankfully, it does seem like the

54:02

parole board is listening to this

54:04

and, you know, taking

54:07

this seriously and listening to the

54:09

psychologist and like, not letting him

54:11

out. Right. But yeah, no,

54:13

he should never get out. If they let

54:16

him out, they are doing a huge disservice

54:18

to not only the

54:20

sufferers, but every single solitary person

54:22

that that man has ever come

54:24

in contact with. Yeah. And

54:26

like, that would be so terrifying for her family.

54:30

Yeah. And that's not

54:32

fair to them. No, they've been through enough. Ming

54:35

Sun Hsu is currently imprisoned at a

54:37

medium security federal prison in Marion, Illinois.

54:39

And at 73 years old today, it

54:41

is unlikely he will ever be paroled.

54:44

The Stauffer family returned to the Philippines in

54:47

1981 once Mary and Beth were safe and

54:49

Hsu was in prison. They

54:52

said that getting out of the country allowed them to

54:54

reclaim a sense of normalcy in their life. Yeah.

54:58

After that trip, they returned to the

55:01

United States and retired in Mary's childhood

55:03

home. No.

55:06

Beth, who is now a mother herself,

55:08

said, quote, She said he didn't want

55:10

to leave physical scars, just emotional. He

55:13

took 53 days of our lives.

55:15

If I let him have one more evil

55:17

wins, and I'm not going to let that

55:19

happen. Mary has said that despite all the

55:21

trauma that her family went through at the

55:24

hands of Hsu, he remains in their prayers.

55:27

She said we continue to pray for him because

55:29

God is so merciful. I have not felt the

55:31

need to reach out to him. I just felt

55:33

that that would be unwise to make any sort

55:36

of contact with him. But he remains

55:38

in her prayers. Which

55:40

is just a testament to how strong she

55:43

is. Yeah. And how good

55:45

of a person she is because your

55:48

girl right here on the other hand, I don't

55:50

think I could be doing all that. I mean,

55:52

I might, you know, I might pray for him,

55:54

but maybe it's

55:56

just like once. Maybe

55:58

just once. I

56:02

mean, yeah, Mary and Betty

56:04

are so freaking strong. They

56:09

went through something so unimaginable, but

56:12

the fact that they came out

56:14

the other side and Mary testified

56:17

the second time after he

56:19

attacked her. And then

56:21

he attacked her again. Like, I'm

56:25

just so thankful that they were safe, that they

56:27

were able to escape and that, you

56:29

know, they are, it seems like recovering.

56:31

Like I said, Beth is now a

56:33

mother herself and it just seems like

56:36

they're living the best life that they can. And

56:40

the her and her

56:42

husband are okay and they are still. Yeah,

56:44

it seems like everything. I know that can

56:47

really mix

56:49

things up. Yeah, no, in that, in

56:52

that Twin Cities article that

56:55

Mary and Beth were interviewed for, there's like

56:57

pictures of her and Irv and they're like

57:00

so freaking adorable. So no, it

57:02

seems like they are living the best life the

57:04

person can. And

57:07

hopefully the monster that

57:09

is Ming Sun Shui will never get out

57:11

of prison. I mean, he's 73 years old,

57:14

so hopefully he's just like miserable, living an

57:16

awful life and we'll have

57:18

to live like that. Yeah.

57:21

Yeah. But that is the survival story

57:23

of Mary and Beth Stauffer. It is

57:26

insane that they

57:28

went through all of that and they were

57:31

able to escape. I mean, just how terrifying

57:33

is that to even make the decision to

57:35

escape? I know. And then

57:37

have to sit the, the, the like being

57:40

put on hold twice. Oh my

57:42

God. Like what? I know. Wow.

57:45

I know. And unfortunately, the unfortunate murder

57:47

of Jason Wilkman. It's just that

57:49

poor little boy. At

57:52

least he, you know, has justice and

57:54

his family was able to lay him

57:56

to rest. But just so senseless. This

57:58

man, it just shows how. much of

58:00

a monster she was. Yeah,

58:02

I mean, God, to just do

58:04

that without a thought. Yeah. Try

58:08

to let that little boy go. Yeah. But

58:11

that's all I have for you guys today. Thank

58:13

you so much for listening. We will

58:15

see you next time with a brand new

58:17

episode. And until then, keep it

58:19

human. Bye guys.