0:01

Hey, Super Podcast fans, it's

0:03

Yardley. I just wanted to pop in

0:05

with a quick announcement about Small Town

0:07

Dicks Season 12. It drops on

0:10

April 21st. April 21st, mark

0:12

your calendars. We will see

0:14

you there.

0:19

Attention all amateur sleuths. Detective

0:22

season has just arrived in Candy Crush Soda. And

0:25

we need your help to find Olivia. Complete

0:28

quests and solve the mystery as

0:30

you work your way around the crime scene to uncover

0:32

clues and suspects. But be

0:35

quick. You only have until May 1st

0:37

to complete the case of Olivia's disappearance

0:39

and find out who was responsible. Will you

0:42

crack the case? To download Candy

0:44

Crush Soda, go to your mobile app store and

0:46

search for Soda Detective now.

0:49

Small Town Dicks Season 12 Episode 08

0:54

Hey, Small Town fam. How are you guys? It's

0:57

Yardley. You know, here on Small Town

0:59

Dicks, we're all about the great cases, but

1:01

we're also about safety. And

1:03

it's spring, which means maybe time to

1:05

do some spring cleaning. Dust those

1:07

hard-to-reach places. Clean out that

1:10

closet or the junk kitchen drawer.

1:12

You know the one. Well, my

1:14

advice is clean your house and then protect

1:17

every inch of it with SimpliSafe Home Security.

1:20

We here at Small Town Dicks recommend it to

1:22

everyone. Here are just a few reasons

1:25

why you want SimpliSafe in your home. It's

1:27

designed with cutting-edge security technology

1:30

and powered by 24-7 professional monitoring. In

1:34

an emergency, SimpliSafe's professional

1:36

monitoring agents use FastProtect

1:39

technology to capture critical evidence

1:41

and verify that the threat is real. So,

1:44

you can get priority police dispatch. And

1:47

the great news is that 24-7 professional

1:50

monitoring service costs under a dollar

1:52

a day, which is less than half the price

1:54

of traditional

1:54

home security systems. So,

1:57

Small Town fam, customize the perfect

1:59

system for your home.

1:59

in just a few minutes at SimpliSafe.com

2:03

forward slash small town. Go

2:05

today and claim a free indoor

2:07

security camera plus 20% off

2:09

your order with interactive monitoring.

2:12

When you go to SimpliSafe.com

2:14

forward slash small town. Because

2:18

there's no safe like SimpliSafe.

2:31

I open the door, there's

2:33

a twin mattress just laying

2:35

on the floor. It's like a mattress

2:37

on the floor with a sheet on it. There's

2:40

a video camera that is set up on a tripod.

2:43

And then there's like a little lamp. This

2:45

is what we call a dungeon.

2:49

Hi there, I'm Yardley. I'm Dan.

2:52

I'm Dave. And I'm Paul. And

2:54

this is Small Town Dix. Dave

2:56

and I are identical twins and retired detectives

2:58

from Small Town USA. And I'm a veteran

3:01

cold case investigator who helped catch the Golden

3:03

State Killer using a revolutionary DNA

3:05

tool. Between the three of us, we've investigated

3:08

thousands of crimes from petty theft to

3:10

sexual assault, child abuse to

3:12

murder. Each case we cover is told

3:14

by the detective who investigated it, offering

3:17

a rare personal account of how they solved

3:19

the crime. Names, places,

3:20

and certain details have been changed to protect

3:23

the privacy of victims and their families. And

3:25

although we're aware that some of our listeners may

3:27

be familiar with these cases, we ask you

3:29

to please join us in continuing to protect the true

3:31

identities of those involved out of respect

3:33

for what they've been through.

3:35

Thank you. Today

3:46

on Small Town Dix, we

3:48

have the usual

3:50

suspects. We have Detective Dan.

3:53

Hello, wife. Friends. Hello,

3:57

husband. Friends. I'm

4:00

Detective Dave. Yardley. Sir,

4:03

good to have you all sitting across the table.

4:06

And we have the one and only Paul Holes. Hey,

4:09

hey, how's it going? Hey, hey, so good.

4:12

So, small town fam, today

4:15

we're ever so lucky we're getting a case

4:18

from Detective Dan.

4:20

Without giving really anything

4:22

away, one of the things that I love

4:24

about this case is that it's

4:26

an early one from Dan's career.

4:28

For as long as I've known Dan, which

4:31

is on this date, almost

4:33

nine years. Yeah, over eight

4:35

and a half years. This particular

4:38

case is one that really got

4:41

under his skin. And Dan is

4:43

gonna tell us why. So Dan, tell

4:45

us how this case came to you.

4:47

This incident happened back when I was

4:50

on patrol. I was working graveyard

4:52

shift. One evening, I think

4:54

it was a weekend evening, after bars

4:56

close, we get sent to

4:58

an injured subject at

5:00

a house in a neighborhood where we don't typically

5:03

have any calls.

5:05

It's more affluent part of town. It's

5:07

up on a butte. We just don't have many problems

5:09

up there. Every now and then people will go through there and

5:12

break into cars. But for the most

5:14

part, we don't deal with a whole lot of family

5:17

disputes. It's just, it's a really quiet

5:19

neighborhood.

5:20

And so get sent to this unknown problem.

5:23

And on the way, dispatch tells us,

5:25

there's a woman at a house, we'll

5:27

call her Sarah.

5:29

Sarah said she has injuries to her face

5:32

and that someone was trying to

5:34

rape her and then assaulted her and she was able

5:36

to escape.

5:37

That's a code three run. Which means

5:39

lights and sirens. Lights and sirens.

5:42

Sarah, she's made it to the uphill

5:45

neighbor's house. So that's where I'm responding.

5:48

She's banging on the door, asking the resident,

5:51

please call the police. So I'm heading

5:53

to the caller's house.

5:55

I arrive, I contact Sarah,

5:58

the victim. Sarah is probably in her

6:01

mid-30s, attractive. When

6:03

I'm talking to her, she's got a swollen

6:06

right eye. She's got a bloody nose.

6:09

She's got a cut lip. She's got red

6:11

marks on her arms, on her neck.

6:13

And she's also got a footprint right in the

6:15

middle of her face going up to her forehead.

6:18

Jesus. I don't see like a heel mark,

6:20

so I'm assuming this shoe is fairly flat.

6:23

And the shoe is kind of pointy.

6:25

So I'm assuming it's a woman shoe.

6:27

Sarah tells me that she's

6:30

out drinking this evening and she

6:32

goes to a bar in the neighboring

6:35

city. What I come to find

6:37

out is a lot of swingers go

6:39

to this bar.

6:40

Swinging couples will go there, and then other

6:42

people will go there and hook up with swinging couples.

6:45

What's the name of that bar? Calm down, Dave. I'm

6:47

sorry. Calm down. Shut up.

6:49

And so Sarah tells me she

6:52

was at that bar and she met a couple

6:54

and got along with them. And

6:57

they started talking and they were drinking,

6:59

and then they were dancing. Sarah

7:02

is conversing, hanging out with Brian,

7:04

the husband, and Lisa, Brian's wife.

7:07

They're having a great time. You know,

7:09

it's almost bar closing time. And

7:12

Brian and Lisa invite Sarah back

7:14

to their house. And Sarah

7:16

agrees. Yeah, I'll go to your house. And

7:20

I'm not shaming swinging couples by

7:22

any means. What I saw this

7:24

evening, the evening of this incident,

7:28

bothered me. Sarah said

7:30

the plan was we're gonna go back to Brian and Lisa's

7:32

house, and we're just gonna drink and party.

7:35

It's a large house and it's a multi-level house.

7:38

They go downstairs to a

7:40

living room and an adjacent

7:43

bedroom.

7:44

Out of the adjacent bedroom, there's a sliding

7:46

glass door that goes out to the yard. So

7:49

as you come into the house from the front door, you

7:51

have to go downstairs to get to this part of the house.

7:54

You can also go upstairs to kitchen,

7:57

another family room, a couple bedrooms.

7:59

Sarah said,

8:01

we're hanging out, we're drinking. At some point, Brian

8:03

says, hey Sarah, why

8:06

don't you come into the bedroom with me?

8:08

So not thinking anything of it, she

8:10

says, yeah, sure. And so she goes

8:12

into the bedroom, Lisa

8:14

follows her and Brian starts putting

8:15

the moves on Sarah.

8:20

And Lisa is encouraging Sarah to engage.

8:24

Just in a

8:24

couple of our episodes, we've talked about women's intuition.

8:28

And I think Sarah had a flash of

8:30

women's intuition and said, something doesn't

8:32

seem right here.

8:33

I don't wanna do this. I think I need to

8:36

leave.

8:37

And Brian says,

8:38

you are gonna do this. And

8:41

Sarah says, yeah, fuck you. No, I'm

8:43

not, I'm leaving. And at some

8:45

point, there's an altercation. There's a physical

8:47

fight. Depending on who you talk to, either

8:50

Sarah's the aggressor or Brian

8:52

and Lisa are the aggressor.

8:55

During this fight, Sarah gets injured

8:57

pretty dramatically.

8:59

Sarah says, I think they were gonna rape me and

9:01

I don't know what they were gonna do after that. But

9:03

I was able to break free and

9:05

go out the sliding glass door. And

9:08

I just started running up the hill,

9:10

which is weird because typically people run

9:12

downhill. I asked Sarah, are

9:15

we talking about the house right there, this neighbor's

9:17

house? And she says, yep, that's Brian

9:19

and Lisa's house.

9:21

I went into the backyard of Brian and Lisa's house.

9:24

And if you look down the hill, it's very dark, but if you

9:26

look up the hill, you can see a house. So

9:28

she runs up to the uphill neighbor's

9:31

house.

9:31

So even though it's the middle of the night, the

9:33

uphill house looks like the best

9:36

bet to Sarah as she's trying to escape

9:38

from Brian and Lisa's.

9:39

Yeah,

9:40

she said, that's refuge, I

9:43

have to get there.

9:44

And thankfully she made it to

9:46

this house and the neighbor's called the police

9:48

for her.

9:49

And I fully believe everything that Sarah

9:51

told me and she's appropriately

9:53

upset. Like she thinks that she just

9:56

spent one of her nine lives.

9:58

And I said, Sarah?

9:59

You need medics, I'm going to get an ambulance

10:02

here, and you're going to go to the hospital.

10:19

So

10:20

medics arrive and

10:22

I've got more units coming. I

10:24

think our dispatch actually

10:26

dispatched four units, which we

10:29

only have five on for the whole

10:31

city, and four of them are going to this

10:33

call.

10:34

I grabbed a couple officers and we

10:36

headed to Brian and Lisa's house. I

10:39

had an officer going around back to make sure

10:41

that nobody escapes out of the back of the house,

10:44

and I knock on the front door.

10:46

Brian answers the door

10:47

and I go, hey, how's it going? It's

10:49

going all right, are you Brian? Yeah, okay,

10:53

is your wife here? Yeah, Lisa.

10:55

Lisa comes, she's upstairs now. I

10:58

can see her, Brian's down at that

11:00

landing where the door is and I'm looking up the stairs.

11:03

All the lights are on in the house

11:05

and Lisa's standing there casually

11:07

like nothing ever happened.

11:09

I said, do you mind if I come in and talk to you guys for a minute?

11:11

Yeah, sure, what's going on? I said, well,

11:14

did you guys have a guest over at your house tonight? Brian

11:16

says, yeah, she left a bit ago though.

11:19

Well, how long ago? I don't know, like 10,

11:22

15 minutes? Yeah, we don't know where

11:24

she left. She just, she didn't want to be here anymore, so

11:26

she left. Which door did she leave

11:28

out of? I don't know, I think she, I mean, I

11:30

might've gone to the bathroom, but I think she went out

11:32

the front door. As I'm talking

11:35

with Brian, I look down at his pants

11:38

and I can see blood on

11:40

his pants.

11:41

He's wearing jeans and he's got a button-up colored

11:44

shirt on. I don't think he's changed his clothes.

11:46

So I look at his jeans, he's got blood

11:49

on his jeans and they're small like little

11:51

blood spots on both legs on

11:53

the front of his pants. I said, what was

11:55

the guest's name? And he goes, what was her name, honey?

11:58

Sarah, yeah, I think it was Sarah.

11:59

with Sarah. Did you guys get in a fight with Sarah?

12:02

She got upset, but I wouldn't call it a fight.

12:05

I mean, she just kind of protested and

12:07

said, I want to leave. So we let her leave.

12:09

I'm like, huh, you know, I'm

12:11

looking across the table at Paul and I'm looking at Dave

12:14

and I'm looking at you Yardley. And

12:16

we're all going, ah, this

12:18

is bullshit.

12:18

It's bullshit. Yeah. So,

12:21

okay.

12:22

Anybody else here at the house?

12:24

He goes, yeah, my cousin's visiting from

12:27

back East and my parents

12:29

live here. I said, well,

12:31

let's round them up.

12:33

Brian goes up and knocks on a door and

12:35

his cousin comes out,

12:37

Jake. So Jake comes out and

12:40

he's like rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

12:42

You know, at this point it's like three in the morning.

12:45

What's going on? He sees a couple of

12:47

cops in the living room. And

12:49

I said, Hey, do you mind going

12:52

out and speaking to my partner outside?

12:54

He says, yeah, I know. Yeah, no problem. I'm

12:56

going to talk to him.

12:57

Jake's going out to talk to my partner and

13:00

I'm standing there with Brian and Lisa. And

13:02

then I said, Hey, let's get mom

13:04

and dad out here. And he said, well, my dad's sick

13:07

but I'll have my mom come out. So

13:09

mom comes out. She's probably

13:12

in her seventies.

13:13

I have another officer go talk to

13:15

the mother while I hang out with Brian and Lisa.

13:18

These two officers, one's talking to the mother, one's

13:21

talking to Jake, they come back. And

13:23

I said, what do they say? They didn't

13:25

hear anything.

13:26

They don't know nothing. They didn't even know that there

13:28

was anything going on downstairs that somebody

13:31

even been here. They didn't hear anything.

13:33

And I'm like, I find that hard to believe because

13:36

when you get punched in the eye and you're fighting

13:38

to escape, you're making a lot of noise. You're

13:41

screaming, fuck you, leave me alone.

13:44

And these people are claiming that they didn't hear anything.

13:47

So I

13:48

go downstairs to the bedroom

13:50

where they were supposedly at,

13:52

Brian, Lisa and Sarah.

13:54

And I see there's wet carpet

13:56

down there that looks like it's been cleaned.

13:59

And I said,

13:59

What's up with the like clean spots of carpet

14:02

down here?

14:03

Brian says, oh, I spilled some red wine.

14:05

So I cleaned it up.

14:07

Brian and Lisa have a explanation

14:10

for everything.

14:11

And so I said, hey, Lisa,

14:14

what shoes did you wear tonight? And

14:17

she goes, I don't know. I think I wore

14:19

some heels. And I was like, why don't you go grab

14:21

those heels for me?

14:22

And she says, okay. She comes

14:25

back. She hands me like some,

14:27

I mean, they're like stiletto heels, right?

14:30

And I look at the bottom

14:32

and they're completely flat. There's no ridge.

14:34

There's no traction on them

14:36

at all. No tread or anything. There's no tread

14:39

at all on the bottom. You had

14:41

a shoe company, so you know what it's all called.

14:43

Yes. It sounds like

14:45

you're talking about either a smooth

14:47

leather sole, which is what shoe designers put

14:50

on the bottom of men's and

14:52

women's dress shoes, or it could

14:54

also be a smooth rubber sole,

14:56

but those

14:57

usually have even the finest,

14:59

most infinitesimal bit

15:02

of tread on them. So.

15:04

I don't even wear shoes. So

15:08

I'm already thinking like, these people are really

15:10

casual with me

15:12

and very comfortable lying to

15:14

me.

15:15

So I asked Brian, I go,

15:17

what's that on your pants? And he goes,

15:20

what? He looks down at his pants

15:22

and I said, those little red specks

15:24

right there. And he goes, I have no idea. I

15:27

said, is there any chance that could be blood? And

15:29

he goes, I wouldn't think so. I

15:31

said, when's the last time you wash those jeans? And he goes, honey,

15:34

I mean, you do all my laundry. When's the last time you washed

15:36

them? She's like, I washed them the other day.

15:38

It's probably just a stain that's in them.

15:41

Everything that's going on in this case, I'm

15:43

just like, they're trying to explain away

15:45

everything. And they're so casual and relaxed

15:48

about it. It's kind of making the hair on my neck

15:50

stand up. And so

15:52

I'm like, you guys need to start telling me

15:55

what really happened because none

15:57

of this is jiving.

15:58

I asked Brian and Lisa.

15:59

Do you mind if I just kind of poke around?

16:02

Yeah, sure, go ahead. They got nothing to hide,

16:04

right? I go into the bedroom

16:06

closet and I find a shoe that has

16:09

the same tread pattern on it that I saw

16:11

on Sarah's forehead. Now this

16:13

shoe, it's got a rubber

16:15

sole.

16:16

It's got a very fine tread pattern

16:19

and it's a flat shoe. This

16:21

shoe is bloody? There's no blood on the shoe.

16:24

Oh. Not saying that there hadn't

16:26

been blood on the shoe. They've already cleaned up part

16:28

of the scene. Obviously I don't buy

16:31

any of what they're saying. I seize

16:33

the shoe, I seize the pants, I

16:35

seize their clothing, and

16:38

I take Brian and Lisa to jail

16:40

and I lodge them on attempted kidnapping.

16:43

I lodge them on assault charges

16:46

and off we go to the jail. Fill out

16:49

my paperwork, my PC affidavit, go

16:52

to the hospital to see Sarah. She's

16:54

got a fractured eye socket.

16:55

She had a bloody nose. That print

16:58

on her forehead is starting to bruise up so you can

17:00

see it a little bit. In some ways you're seeing

17:02

a little more detail. In some ways it's a little

17:05

less detail because of the bruising and

17:07

the swelling.

17:08

And by the time I get done with

17:10

my paperwork, it's like seven, 7.30 in the morning. And

17:13

I'm a patrol officer at this time and I'm thinking to myself,

17:16

there's something way more to this story.

17:18

Like it just doesn't add up to me.

17:21

And so I go into detectives, I talked

17:23

to George who ended up being my

17:25

partner. When you became a detective?

17:28

Yes.

17:29

And I said, hey, this is what I got. And he goes, they're

17:31

in jail,

17:32

Brian and Lisa. And I said, yeah. And he goes, let's go back

17:34

out to the house and see if they'll let us take another peek.

17:37

All right.

17:38

So we go out there, we knock on the door, the mother

17:40

answers, she says, yeah, sure, you can come in.

17:43

So this is where I take a little deeper dive into

17:45

this house.

17:47

As you go downstairs, there's a doorway

17:49

on the right and I assume that it's a closet

17:51

before I open the door.

17:53

I open the door, sure enough, it's

17:55

a closet. And there are like jackets

17:58

and clothes and everything. And it's like, filling

18:00

up the whole space. Your typical closet.

18:03

I separate the clothes just to

18:05

see what's behind the clothes. And

18:08

there's no wall there. There's a hallway.

18:11

What made you separate the clothes? I

18:13

have no idea. I just did.

18:15

I stepped through the clothes and

18:17

I have no idea what I'm going to encounter on

18:19

the other side of them.

18:21

Isn't this like Lion, Witch and Wardrobe

18:23

type of thing? Yes, yes it is. He goes

18:25

into a different dimension. He's in the

18:27

upside down. And

18:30

so I shine my flashlight

18:33

in there

18:34

and it's a hallway. It's probably

18:36

eight feet long and then you can see it that you

18:38

can turn right and it's all concrete.

18:41

So I walk through there. I turn right. There's

18:44

a twin mattress just laying on the

18:46

floor.

18:47

It's like a mattress on the floor with a sheet

18:49

on it.

18:50

There's a video camera that is set up on a tripod

18:53

and then there's like a little lamp. This

18:55

is what we call a dungeon. I'm

18:58

going to call it a sex room. You know, I didn't

19:00

see any like restraints on the walls or

19:02

anything like that, but I

19:03

think Brian and Lisa probably had sex in

19:05

this room.

19:06

I think an easy way for them

19:09

to explain it is it's got big thick

19:11

concrete walls. Nobody can hear us.

19:13

My parents live upstairs. It's

19:16

a room that you would never know about if you

19:18

didn't push the clothing aside. Again,

19:21

this house is built on a hill. If

19:24

you were standing in this room, I think you'd be directly

19:26

beneath the entryway of the house.

19:29

I don't think it was intended to be a room ever,

19:32

maybe possibly extra

19:34

storage.

19:35

I mean, it was six feet of concrete. You

19:37

know, when you build on the downhill side of a

19:39

hill, there's a lot of concrete for that foundation

19:42

because you have to terrace your way down

19:44

the hill.

19:45

This room was basically one of those terraces.

19:48

So it's kind of under the stairs inside

19:51

the footprint of the foundation.

19:53

And I think just a byproduct of the

19:55

structure itself. They needed footings

19:57

in certain areas and it created this space.

20:01

So then I go back over to

20:03

the other section of the house and they've got a garage

20:06

area. And I go into the garage and there's a

20:08

half door in the garage wall.

20:10

I open this half door.

20:12

It's a room that's probably 15 feet deep by 20

20:15

feet wide, dirt floor.

20:17

The ceiling of this room is about four and a half feet.

20:19

So it's basically the floor of the other level.

20:22

And I shine my

20:24

flashlight into this room

20:26

and there's a coffin just sitting

20:28

in the middle of this room.

20:30

Oh my God.

20:41

Attention all amateur sleuths. Detective

20:44

season has just arrived in Candy Crush Soda.

20:47

And we need your help to find Olivia.

20:49

Complete quests and solve the mystery

20:52

as you work your way around the crime scene to

20:54

uncover clues and suspects. But

20:57

be quick. You only have until May

20:59

1st to complete the case of Olivia's disappearance

21:02

and find out who was responsible. Will

21:04

you crack the case? To download

21:06

Candy Crush Soda, go to your mobile app store

21:09

and search for Soda Detective now.

21:16

Candy Crush Soda is a match three

21:19

puzzle game delivered in the quirky soda

21:21

style. Candy Crush Soda is not the

21:23

same as Candy Crush Saga, but it is

21:25

made by the same company. Soda has new

21:28

immersive content experiences that change

21:30

every month. More matching combinations,

21:33

levels requiring more mastery and unique

21:35

characters like Kimmy and the Gummy Bears. The

21:37

switcher gameplay can be likened to the original

21:40

Candy Crush, but what sets Soda

21:42

aside is the innovative game features

21:44

like the gravity defying Soda and Gummy

21:46

Bear collection mechanics. Soda

21:48

has been downloaded over 1.2 billion

21:51

with a B times and around 10

21:54

million people enjoy the game every day. For

21:57

all of our true crime fans out there, Candy

21:59

Crush Soda.

21:59

soda just launched detective

22:02

season. Detective season is an immersive

22:04

experience where players can join Kimmy and

22:06

utilize their detective skills and intuition

22:08

to solve cases, collect, and follow

22:11

the clues to identify the culprit. Detective

22:13

season consists of three chapters, each

22:15

with different sub themes and cases to

22:18

solve. My experience with Candy Crush

22:20

soda so far, challenging, but

22:22

it gets my brain engaged while not overloading

22:25

me. It really has been kind of a good

22:27

way to reset. Download and play

22:30

detective season by going to your device's

22:32

app store and search for Candy Crush soda.

22:34

That's soda like Sam Ocean

22:37

David Adam. Pass level 37 to

22:40

unlock detective season. It's fun

22:42

and it only took me about 10 minutes to level

22:44

up. That's Candy Crush soda.

22:52

Bonjour mes amis, como se

22:54

va? That's, hello my friends,

22:57

how are you? That's about as much French

22:59

as I remember from having taken it all

23:02

through school. Which brings me to Babel.

23:05

Thank you Babel. It is the

23:07

language learning app that sold more than 10

23:10

million subscriptions and it's an addictively

23:12

fun and easy way to learn a new language.

23:15

So whether you'll be traveling abroad or

23:17

connecting with family or

23:20

you just have some free time, Babel

23:22

teaches bite-sized language lessons

23:25

that you'll actually use in the real

23:27

world. So I live in Los Angeles,

23:30

everybody here speaks Spanish and so

23:32

I decided good grief it's time I learned to

23:34

speak some Spanish. With Babel's 15 minute

23:37

lessons I'm able to learn Spanish on

23:39

the go. They have expertly crafted

23:41

lessons that are built around real life so

23:44

you learn to have practical conversations about

23:46

travel, relationships, business and

23:49

so much more. There's no AI

23:51

for Babel, all the

23:52

lessons were created by over a hundred language

23:55

experts so you get the real deal and

23:57

their teaching method has been scientifically

23:59

proven.

23:59

to be effective. And with Babbel,

24:02

you don't just get lessons, you can access podcasts

24:04

and games and videos and stories,

24:07

even live classes. Plus, it

24:09

comes with a 20-day money-back

24:12

guarantee. So, Small Town Fam,

24:14

right now, you can get up to 55%

24:17

off your subscription when you go to babble.com

24:21

slash smalltown. That's

24:23

B-A-B-B-E-L dot

24:25

com slash smalltown

24:28

for up to 55%

24:29

off your subscription. Babbel,

24:32

language for life.

24:40

["Ave Maria"] So,

24:45

there's a coffin there just sitting in the

24:48

middle of this room. I was creeped

24:50

out.

24:51

And from the doorway, when I shine

24:53

my flashlight on it,

24:54

it's shaped like an old pine box, like

24:57

in the old West.

24:58

Like Dracula would sleep in. Yeah, of

25:01

course, I have to go look, right?

25:03

And I'm just thinking to myself, man, this

25:05

is gonna suck. I am not gonna enjoy

25:08

this when I get over there.

25:10

As I make my way closer

25:12

to the coffin,

25:13

you can tell there's been like foot traffic around

25:15

it, because there are like footprints,

25:17

and it's got no lid. So,

25:20

shine my flashlight in the coffin, it's empty,

25:23

it's clean,

25:24

but it's got a lining inside of it.

25:26

And there was a pillow in it.

25:28

Is it like an open box that's lined?

25:31

Yes. And it's got like the tufted

25:33

cushioning in it,

25:35

like you see in a normal casket.

25:37

I think it was actually a very cheap

25:39

commercial version of a casket.

25:41

Would it have been easy to get out of this

25:43

location? Like to pull the box out

25:46

of the location? To pull the box out

25:48

of the house, in essence. Yes. Was

25:50

this coffin on a stand, like was

25:52

it raised above the floor, it was on the floor? On

25:55

the floor, just sitting on the dirt. So

25:58

in many ways, this coffin sound, It sounds like it was

26:01

disposable. Yeah, I wouldn't argue

26:03

that.

26:04

I also wonder if there was a lid to

26:06

this coffin somewhere in the house.

26:08

Let's say they are loading this in the back

26:11

of a vehicle and neighbors just

26:13

happened to see it. Would it look like a coffin

26:15

to them?

26:16

I think from the side it would look like a

26:19

wooden box, but it was definitely

26:21

a coffin.

26:22

I think if you just glanced at your neighbor who

26:25

was a hundred feet away and you just glanced and

26:27

they were, you know, lifting something into a truck

26:29

and you'd say, oh, it's like some

26:32

piece of wooden furniture.

26:33

So what I am tossing around

26:36

inside my head is we've got

26:38

this hidden room with a mattress

26:40

on the floor and

26:42

video camera. Right now that's

26:44

a red flag. And then you've got the

26:46

coffin, which is just weird. Dan

26:49

had consent to enter this residence and

26:51

search it by the mother who lives in the residence.

26:54

She has standing in that residence. So

26:56

it's a valid search.

26:58

He sees something which is indicative

27:03

of a type of criminal activity.

27:06

You're entering into a concrete

27:08

room with a mattress and a video camera,

27:10

and it's hidden. This is a setup

27:12

that we see where crimes are often committed.

27:15

I throw out the term dungeon, but that is really

27:18

in many ways how certain

27:21

types of offenders keep

27:23

their victims

27:25

so they're accessible and

27:28

hidden. And this

27:30

sounds like the typical sex

27:32

dungeon torture room where

27:35

victims are held for a period of time and

27:37

then once they are no longer

27:39

of use, they're not just set free.

27:42

They are killed.

27:44

Now in another hidden location,

27:46

you have, in essence, a

27:49

disposal box

27:50

in which a body could be placed and

27:52

possibly removed out of the house and

27:55

in the event that they're

27:57

accidentally, somebody sees what's going on.

28:00

on, it doesn't necessarily stand out

28:02

like they were carrying something heavy

28:05

that's been rolled up inside a carpet, like

28:07

a body. If you're in investigations,

28:10

this is where digging into Brian

28:13

and Lisa and their past

28:16

and figuring out more about them,

28:19

you know, how long have they lived in this jurisdiction?

28:21

Did they come from somewhere else? Is

28:23

there a case from wherever they came

28:25

from that might parallel, whether

28:28

it be Sarah's situation or

28:30

there's a missing person who

28:33

maybe was chained inside

28:36

a dungeon?

28:37

I'm thinking about Robert Hanson up

28:39

in Alaska. I'm thinking about Gacy,

28:42

those types of offenders that

28:44

have a little area set aside

28:47

for these encounters with people they bring

28:49

back to their house. Yeah.

28:51

So I'm like, George, there's a coffin.

28:54

George looks at it and he's like, what the fuck? And

28:56

I show him the other room. He's like, WTF, what

28:59

is going on here?

29:00

Everything is telling me there's way more to this

29:03

story.

29:04

So I ended up going back out to the jail and

29:06

I talked to Brian and Lisa and

29:09

they still maintain nothing happened. Now

29:12

they're in jail and they're like, well, our original

29:14

explanation didn't work. So now we got to come

29:16

up with something.

29:17

Brian and Lisa tell me that Sarah

29:20

totally wanted Brian and

29:22

that Lisa wasn't down with it and

29:25

Lisa and Sarah got into

29:27

an argument and Brian intervened. That's

29:30

how Sarah got her injuries as they were trying

29:32

to get her out of the house.

29:34

My eyes just rolled into the back of my head. Yeah,

29:36

I didn't buy it. That was their explanation.

29:39

When I went back to the jail to interview

29:41

Brian and Lisa,

29:43

I asked him, I said, what's up with the room

29:46

through the closet?

29:47

And he goes, Oh, you found that. And

29:48

I said, yeah, I found it.

29:50

He goes, I don't know.

29:53

My wife and I hang out in there sometimes.

29:55

I asked Brian about the coffin and he said,

29:57

I take naps in there. Is

30:00

he Team Edward or Team Jacob? That's

30:04

over my head. Dave apparently reads the Twilight

30:06

book. It's the Twilight saga. I

30:10

got all the movie channels and a lot of free

30:12

time.

30:12

Really? I'm your boss. Well,

30:15

that's why I was speaking directly to the microphone

30:18

and not looking at you.

30:20

So this thing ends up going down

30:22

to our municipal court

30:24

at a misdemeanor level of assault.

30:26

So you're saying the DA says,

30:28

I don't have enough. I'm not going to file the

30:31

kidnapping charges on this case. The kidnapping,

30:33

the assault, I'm not going to file any of that. See

30:35

if your city prosecutor will take this case. Well,

30:38

and you have evidence of a stomp

30:42

to this victim's head. This

30:44

is a significant injury.

30:48

If a weapon had been involved, would have been

30:50

considered a bludgeoning with

30:52

a deadly weapon. Stomping on somebody's

30:55

head, your foot is a

30:57

deadly weapon. This is a serious

31:00

charge here that they are just

31:02

dismissing.

31:03

Yes.

31:04

I didn't understand it. And I had talked

31:06

to George, who's an experienced detective.

31:09

I was a relatively new cop at this time. And

31:12

George was like, you've done a good job. Like, I don't know why

31:14

there are no filing this.

31:15

I'm not throwing the DA's office under

31:17

the bus at all.

31:19

I'm just saying they didn't think they could prove this case

31:21

beyond a reasonable doubt is the reasoning I got.

31:23

So they remanded it down to municipal

31:26

court.

31:27

Why would the municipal court file

31:29

if the DA won't file? It's

31:31

a good question. I thought it was a good enough

31:34

case. The DA did not agree.

31:36

But

31:37

I took this case to the city prosecutor, and the

31:39

city prosecutor said, I will file

31:42

misdemeanor assault charges on this.

31:44

My city prosecutor can't file felony

31:46

charges.

31:47

The DA has to do that. I see. So

31:50

in the municipal court, it's still being

31:52

tried, but it's for a lesser

31:54

crime in their eyes.

31:55

Yes. I talked to my city

31:57

prosecutor. He says, yeah, we're going to trial.

32:00

on this. I've offered Brian and Lisa a

32:02

plea deal. They're not taking it. This

32:04

is going to trial, so buckle up.

32:21

ACAS powers the world's best podcasts.

32:24

Here's a show that we recommend. The

32:28

program

32:28

is neither good nor bad. It's like a hammer.

32:30

You can use it to build a house or break

32:33

a skull.

32:59

ACAS helps creators launch, grow,

33:02

and monetize their podcasts everywhere.

33:05

Acast.com.

33:16

So on the day of the trial, as

33:18

typical, the defense attorney successfully

33:21

petitioned the court that I could not be in

33:23

the courtroom even though I was the case agent. So

33:25

I had to sit outside.

33:27

What's the point of not having you there? You

33:30

exclude witnesses so their testimony

33:33

isn't contaminated by other information

33:35

they hear from other witnesses.

33:37

The defense may have had an intent to

33:39

call Dan as one of their witnesses. I

33:42

see. I get excluded, so I've

33:44

got to sit out. I don't hear

33:46

any of the testimony that's going on in the courtroom

33:49

until I get to testify.

33:50

While I'm sitting out in the waiting area,

33:53

I see Jake,

33:54

Brian's cousin from out of town.

33:56

Jake has been called by the defense to testify.

34:00

Jake says, how long you been a cop?

34:02

I was like, oh, like four years. I'm

34:05

like,

34:05

and you're from back East. They fly you all

34:07

the way out here. And he goes, yeah, I had to get time off.

34:09

And I was like, oh, what do you do for a living?

34:12

Jake is a cop. Really?

34:15

Really? Yup. Jake

34:17

tells me he's a cop too. And he works for a

34:20

large agency back East.

34:22

And I'm dumbfounded.

34:24

That he wouldn't report it or intervene

34:26

or do anything. And why didn't

34:28

he tell me that when I interviewed him the first night?

34:31

Right. He didn't say any of that stuff. Jake

34:34

is minimally a witness. It appears

34:36

that he was evasive in his conversations

34:38

with us. And Jake needs to either

34:41

own up and go, OK, this is what

34:43

I know about my family, or he shuts

34:45

down. He was inside a house

34:47

where a woman was brutally stomped

34:50

on and fought for her life. And

34:52

he's just going, I didn't hear anything. Right.

34:55

Wouldn't

34:55

he be a mandatory reporter of something

34:58

like that, or does that not qualify? Yeah,

35:00

he's a mandatory reporter. If he's witnessing

35:03

or aware of a crime that's occurring, he

35:05

has some obligations.

35:07

It's not like a mandatory reporter with

35:09

a child abuse type case. But you're

35:11

expected on or off duty to do the right

35:14

thing and to act to

35:16

protect when appropriate those types

35:18

of things.

35:19

Departments in those situations can

35:22

exert a lot of leverage on someone

35:24

to say, you are going to cooperate

35:27

with this investigator and answer

35:29

all their questions truthfully. Command

35:31

staff can exert that kind of pressure. Jake's

35:34

thinking, who's this little small

35:36

town cop? I'm not trying

35:38

to get my name and any police reports while

35:41

I'm on vacation out here. He

35:43

can't wait to get back to his home

35:45

state and get away from this headache. Yeah.

35:48

And so Jake tells me, I read

35:50

your report. That's a really good report. It's very

35:52

thorough. And I said, yeah. And he

35:55

goes, how long did it take you to write that report?

35:57

And I said, I don't know, a couple hours.

35:59

And he goes, really?

35:59

I only took you a couple hours to write that.

36:02

And I go, yeah, I mean, yeah. I

36:04

said, how does it work where you work? And

36:07

he goes, basically, if we get a custody,

36:09

we're kind of done for the day. That's

36:11

what he tells me.

36:12

And he also told me, he goes, I would never

36:14

put that much detail on my report.

36:17

And I said, why is that? And he goes, because then I have

36:19

to be able to testify to it. And what if I

36:21

don't remember?

36:22

There's a reason for the report. She.

36:26

Fair point. That's why I write the reports.

36:29

I remember all those things. And he goes, yeah, our command

36:31

staff, they want it to be short and sweet.

36:33

And I'm like, what? Like, saw

36:36

thief arrested same? I mean, is that

36:38

what we're talking here? And he's like, no, I mean, there'll be a little

36:40

more detail, but

36:41

we testify off our memory.

36:43

And I'm like, okay, well, in my

36:45

jurisdiction, if it ain't written down, it never happened.

36:48

Interesting. Anyway, I

36:50

go in to testify. I tell my side of the investigation.

36:53

We wrap up.

36:55

They do closing arguments on both

36:57

sides and everything. And prosecutor

36:59

says, well, we're done for the day. We'll probably have a verdict

37:01

tomorrow.

37:02

And I go, okay. Come back the next

37:04

day.

37:05

Prosecutor calls me up to his office. I

37:07

go up there and he goes,

37:09

not guilty.

37:11

They found him not guilty.

37:12

Brian and Lisa are not guilty.

37:14

And

37:16

this prosecutor told me, Sarah had a rough

37:18

time on the stand and Brian and

37:20

Lisa were very composed on the stand. Just

37:23

the same thing that I encountered that night.

37:26

Sarah's reliving the worst night of her

37:28

life.

37:28

And you've got a defense attorney who's getting

37:31

after her a little bit because he's trying

37:33

to win the case for Brian and Lisa saying

37:35

this is self-defense. They were trying to get Sarah

37:38

out of the house.

37:39

And the jury bought it.

37:41

You never know what a jury's gonna do. And

37:44

you never know what they're gonna believe.

37:46

You know, I already had that intuition that there

37:48

was more to this story. And that's why I went and talked

37:51

to detectives.

37:52

But when I saw that room

37:54

behind the coats,

37:55

that's when I said, absolutely, this

37:58

isn't the first time that Brian and Lisa. victimize

38:01

somebody, and they're going to continue doing

38:03

it.

38:04

Brian and Lisa end up getting away with it, which

38:06

just empowers them too, to say,

38:09

you know, it worked.

38:10

I think it's really easy for them to say, well,

38:13

it's self-defense because we asked her to leave, and

38:15

Sarah didn't want to leave.

38:17

And it didn't match the evidence that I was looking

38:19

at.

38:20

So, Dan, your gut told you that

38:22

Brian and Lisa's story was

38:25

bunk. Did

38:27

you look into those two any further?

38:30

I mean, I know you weren't a detective yet, but I

38:32

also know you, and I wouldn't

38:35

be surprised if you couldn't let

38:37

this go.

38:39

You know, we change names

38:41

in this podcast,

38:43

and their name is

38:45

a very common name.

38:47

I did some digging on them, and

38:49

I never found anything.

38:51

Their name is so common that I can't find

38:53

anything.

38:54

It would be like Smith. Yes.

38:56

It'd be like John Smith. Yeah.

39:00

And I've never been more disappointed in

39:02

myself. I felt like I failed

39:04

Sarah. Ah. After

39:06

that, I investigated cases

39:08

differently. How so? I

39:11

think what I probably would have ended up doing was

39:13

doing a little more forensic work to prove

39:15

the lies, like the wine and the carpet.

39:18

Was it wine or was it blood? I would have cut up

39:20

their damn carpet, and I would have taken it. Your

39:23

patrol for this case, right? Yeah. Could

39:25

you have passed this into

39:27

investigations?

39:29

That's kind of what I was trying to do, and

39:32

I think my sergeant at the time was like, you

39:34

got this.

39:35

You're doing fine. You're tracking. Like, you're

39:38

doing fine. Just keep going. You're

39:40

working as a patrol officer. I

39:43

mean, you went up and beyond. This

39:45

is a case that patrol would never have

39:47

discovered any of this. So you were

39:49

kind of like straddling both worlds. You're

39:52

a patrol officer, but you're investigating.

39:54

And again, I had George, who was a detective at

39:56

the time, and he was kind of my sherpa on

39:59

the back end of this case.

39:59

And George is like, dude, it's pretty good.

40:02

Like, you locked him into a story. It doesn't make

40:04

any sense.

40:06

There's more to these people. I

40:08

would almost suggest that today,

40:11

somebody should be going and doing backgrounds on Brian

40:13

and Lisa and where they've lived previously

40:16

and what they've done since you've encountered them.

40:18

Yeah, Paul, in your opinion, does this

40:20

seem like a case where Brian

40:23

is the aggressor and Lisa is

40:26

just the passive passenger,

40:28

the passive player?

40:31

Or is she a willing participant

40:33

because she did stomp on

40:35

Sarah's head?

40:37

There are these couples in which

40:39

the women are merely

40:41

kind of doing what they are tasked with,

40:44

but they're not active participants in the

40:46

violence or the sexual assault.

40:48

But then there are a few examples

40:50

in which the women themselves are

40:52

sexually assaulting and committing

40:55

the violent acts on the victims. Yeah,

40:57

David Parker Ray and Cindy Endy down in

41:00

New Mexico. The toy box murders,

41:02

they lived in truth or consequence New Mexico.

41:05

In Red Bluff, there was the woman

41:07

in the box, and that was a male-female.

41:10

And the Wests in Britain.

41:13

Yeah. I got a better comparison,

41:16

the homulkas. Yeah, up

41:18

in Canada. Who are those guys?

41:21

Paul Bernardo and Karla Homulka.

41:24

Karla has a little sister. Karla

41:27

is married to Mr. Bernardo. Paul

41:30

Bernardo has a fantasy of hooking up with Karla's

41:33

little sister. They drug her. How

41:35

little is a little sister? Like, teenager?

41:38

Either a high school senior or freshman

41:40

in college somewhere in there. Basically,

41:42

they dose her, knock her out, have

41:45

a sexual encounter with the victim,

41:47

and then she is killed by

41:50

her own sister and her brother-in-law. God.

41:53

And Karla actively participates in

41:55

this. This is where you have that couple

41:57

where the woman is not just trying to.

42:00

to please what the man

42:02

wants out of fear, she actually

42:04

is getting something from doing these crimes.

42:07

The sick thing about this case is Carla

42:10

got offered immunity and didn't have

42:12

to go to prison.

42:13

Right, to testify against Paul.

42:17

There's an article out there called the compliant victim

42:19

of the sexual sadist. And so some

42:21

of these women get looped into these

42:24

serial predators, these serial killers, and

42:27

they are literally just trying to survive.

42:30

Versus you have some of these women

42:33

who are these active

42:35

participants in the crime, and

42:38

they're not doing it because they're fearful

42:40

for their own lives. They're doing it because

42:42

they are, in

42:43

essence, also getting some

42:46

sort of personal gratification out

42:48

of committing the crime. Brian and Lisa

42:50

sound more like that type of

42:52

couple. Right, that

42:55

is disgusting and terrifying. Yeah,

42:58

really disappointing. I wish there were

43:00

better news about Sarah.

43:02

Sarah did not do well after this

43:04

verdict, and I had contact with Sarah afterward,

43:07

and I'm just going to leave it at that.

43:09

But Sarah did not do well after this at

43:11

all. I'm so sorry to hear that. Honestly,

43:15

looking back on my career, this case,

43:18

this one case, is like the biggest regret.

43:20

And I don't talk about it a whole lot, because

43:23

I really felt like I failed Sarah,

43:26

and that I

43:27

made some mistakes along the way.

43:30

I mean, it's hard pill to swallow.

43:33

If Sarah's out there, I hope she's doing

43:35

better. I hope so, too. And

43:38

again, I'm sorry, Sarah. It's

43:41

interesting and quite rare, even on this podcast,

43:43

to hear early stories

43:45

from our detectives' careers, because

43:47

usually stories they bring us have

43:50

happened when they're a bit more established.

43:52

But I think those seminal stories are

43:54

so interesting and important,

43:57

and I really appreciate and respect

43:59

you for bringing.

43:59

that to us today, Dan. Thank

44:02

you. I learned a lot in this investigation

44:04

about myself and being thorough.

44:07

Well, thanks, Dan, for that. Thank

44:09

you. I'll say goodbye to your brother,

44:11

Dave. Goodbye. Don't

44:14

get too warm and fuzzy on us, Dave.

44:20

Small Town Dicks is produced by Gary Scott

44:23

and Yardley Smith and co-produced by

44:25

detectives Dan and Dave. This

44:27

episode was edited by Logan Heftel,

44:30

Christina Bracamontes, Gary

44:33

Scott, and me, Yardley Smith. Our

44:35

associate producers are Aaron Gaynor and

44:37

The Real Nick Smitty. Our music

44:40

is composed by John Forrest. Our

44:42

editors extraordinaire are Logan

44:44

Heftel and Soring Bajan. And

44:47

our books are cooked and cats wrangled by

44:49

Ben Cornwell.

44:50

If you like what you hear and want to stay

44:52

up to date with the show, visit us on our website

44:54

at smalltowndicks.com.

44:57

Small Town Dicks would like to thank

44:59

Speech Docs for providing transcripts

45:01

of this podcast. You can find these

45:03

transcripts on our episode page

45:06

at smalltowndicks.com. And

45:08

for more information about Speech Docs and

45:11

their service, please go to speechdocs.com.

45:14

And join the Small Town fam by following

45:16

us on Facebook, Instagram, and

45:18

Twitter at, at Small Town Dicks.

45:21

We love hearing from you. And if you support us

45:23

on Patreon, your subscription will give you access

45:26

to exclusive content and merchandise that

45:28

isn't available anywhere else. Go to

45:30

patreon.com slash

45:33

Small Town Dicks podcast.

45:34

That's right. Your subscription also

45:37

makes it possible for us to keep going to

45:39

small towns across the country

45:40

in search of the finest, rare,

45:43

true crime cases told, as always,

45:45

by the detectives who investigated them. So

45:48

thanks for listening, Small Town fam.

45:50

Nobody's better than you.

45:52

Thanks for watching. Thank

46:00

you.