0:00

This. Episode is brought to you by

0:02

shopify. Do

0:04

you have a point of sale system you can trust?

0:06

Or is it. A

0:09

real Pos. You. Need Shopify

0:11

for retail? From accepting payments

0:13

to managing inventory, Shopify Pos

0:15

has everything you need to

0:17

sell and person. Go.

0:19

To shopify.com/system all lower

0:22

to take your retail

0:24

business to the next

0:26

level. Today that shopify.com/

0:28

System. It's

0:31

only a kick. A

0:35

jump. A block. It's

0:38

only a serve. It's only

0:40

a tackle. A run. It's

0:43

only for the fans. After

0:46

all, it's only pressure. You

0:49

got this. Adidas. Hello,

0:56

campers. Grab your marshmallows and gather

0:58

around the true crime campfire. We're your camp

1:00

counselors. I'm Katie. And I'm Whitney.

1:04

And we're here to tell you a true

1:06

story that is way stranger than fiction. We're

1:08

roasting murderers and marshmallows around the true crime

1:10

campfire. When

1:16

we left you last week, Attorney Larry McNabney's

1:18

attempt to become the biggest personal injury

1:20

attorney in Nevada had just crashed and

1:22

burned like the Hindenburg. Thanks

1:24

in no small part to his new wife, Elisa.

1:27

Elisa was a small-time thief and fraudster from

1:30

Florida who had thrown the state and her

1:32

whole life in the rearview mirror to avoid

1:34

the possibility of some brief jail time. She'd

1:37

struck gold when she was hired as an

1:39

office manager by high-flying attorney Larry in Las

1:41

Vegas and rapidly climbed the

1:44

emotional ranks from employee to mistress

1:46

to girlfriend to wife. But

1:48

she had trouble keeping her itchy fingers out

1:50

of the law firm's cash register, which led

1:52

to the state bar banning her from working

1:54

there and reprimanding Larry. Looking

1:57

for a new start, the couple moved to Sacramento to try

1:59

and save the family. set the whole business rolling again,

2:01

and at the start of 2000, Elisa hired 19-year-old Sarah

2:05

Dutra to help her out with the business. But

2:08

helping was not exactly what she did. This

2:11

is part two of Love Will Tear Us Apart,

2:13

the murder of Larry McNabney. Sarah

2:28

grew up in Vacaville, California, about midway

2:31

between San Francisco and Sacramento, and by

2:33

all accounts, you'd think she'd be set

2:35

up for a happy, successful life. She

2:38

graduated in the top 10% of her class. She

2:41

was on the drill and swim teams and the

2:43

student council, and she was senior class president. Pretty

2:45

much everybody had nothing but good things to say about

2:48

her. She was fun and friendly and helped out her

2:50

buddies whenever they had trouble with their classes. She

2:53

was a good friend to have. And this

2:55

popular, apparently trouble-free life continued in

2:57

her college career at Sacramento State

2:59

University. Right before

3:01

she started work at McNabney & Associates and

3:03

her life took a sideways turn, Sarah

3:06

had her own webpage, which people sometimes did

3:08

back then, and you know, the early middle

3:11

ages. MySpace was still about

3:13

four years away. Sprinkling

3:15

her sentences with lots and lots of exclamation

3:17

points, Sarah laid out where she was and

3:19

what she hoped for. I

3:21

am an art student with high hopes of graduating

3:23

this spring and will continue on to graduate school

3:26

ASAP. I know this

3:28

must sound crazy, but I love school and I

3:30

never want it to stop. It sure beats being

3:32

a grownup. Amen to that, sis.

3:34

I'd go back and be a student forever if I

3:36

could. And

3:38

Sarah liked to smoke a lot of weed,

3:40

which I'm just going to go ahead and

3:42

assume is probably not that unusual for a

3:44

teenage art student in California. I

3:47

suspect when you first signed up for classes in Cali

3:49

back then, you know, before it was legal, they probably

3:51

gave you your student ID, the number of a weed

3:53

dealer who wasn't creepy, and the number of another one

3:56

who was kind of creepy but could give you a

3:58

good deal. And

4:01

like a lot of stoners, bless them, Sarah just

4:03

would not shut up about weed, about how it

4:06

expanded her consciousness and made every part of her

4:08

mind work better. And look,

4:10

if an art student wants to be stoned

4:12

more than half the time, you know what? Go

4:14

for it. Knock yourself out. You're only young once.

4:17

Probably not so great though if you're supposed

4:19

to be helping run a high-dollar law firm.

4:23

A bohemian stoner like Sarah was kind

4:25

of a weird choice for Elisa McNabney

4:27

to hire as her receptionist and personal

4:29

secretary, although I guess we don't know

4:32

what the other applicants were like. It

4:34

seems clear that Elisa gave Sarah the

4:36

job because she liked her rather than

4:38

because she had the necessary competencies for

4:40

the work. She

4:42

and Sarah hit it off right away, two

4:45

lively, chatty women who saw something of themselves

4:47

in the other. And

4:49

Elisa had a con-artist's understanding of business. All

4:51

that really mattered was that you looked the

4:53

part. When she'd rolled

4:55

into Vegas years ago, she hadn't had much of

4:57

a career besides shoplifting and check fraud, but she'd

5:00

known how to rock a pantsuit and sound like

5:02

she knew what she was talking about. Image

5:05

was all she understood, and Sarah looked like she

5:07

fit in at a law office, so she got

5:09

the job. When

5:11

Elisa hired another secretary the following year,

5:13

it would be Ginger Miller, a former

5:16

exotic dancer. Elisa was like

5:18

one brunette away from starting her own

5:20

Charlie's Angels franchise. If

5:22

the Angels were led by a narcissistic, selfish

5:25

freak and their only missions were spending money

5:27

and ruining people's lives, maybe

5:29

Charlie's Devils? Well,

5:32

Charlie's Angels would imply the existence of a Charlie's

5:34

Devil, so yeah, I like it. Within

5:38

a couple of months of Sarah starting work

5:40

at McNabney & Associates, she and Elisa were

5:42

practically joined at the hip. They

5:44

were always together at the office, although their

5:47

days were just as likely to be spent

5:49

shopping together as doing any actual work. Afterwards,

5:52

they'd sometimes go out for an expensive dinner

5:54

or to a club. Ginger said

5:56

they were like husband and wife. Of

5:59

course, Elisa always had a job. already had a

6:01

husband, Larry, and he and Elisa's new gal pal

6:03

did not get along. At all. Larry

6:07

was jealous of Sarah. With some justification,

6:10

Elisa was spending a lot more time with Sarah

6:12

than she was with him and seemed closer to her

6:14

too. Larry was starting to

6:16

feel like a third wheel in his own marriage. As

6:19

to just how much reason he had to be

6:21

jealous, well who knows. There's a

6:23

lot of speculation surrounding this case about

6:25

whether Elisa and Sarah were, you know,

6:27

banging. They both

6:29

said they weren't, and most people who knew

6:31

them have said that they didn't have that

6:33

vibe. Ginger Miller remembers them

6:35

as both being kind of homophobic. Larry

6:39

told at least one friend that he'd caught the

6:41

pair of them fooling around in bed but, you

6:43

know, he could sometimes be a little prone to

6:45

exaggeration so who knows. Sometimes

6:48

women have very intense but totally

6:50

platonic friendships. For her

6:52

part, most of what Sarah knew

6:54

about Larry was from exaggerated complaints about

6:56

him from Elisa. According to

6:58

Elisa, Larry would just lie stinking in

7:01

bed for days at a time, drinking

7:03

and verbally abusing her. Like

7:05

she said one time he called and said,

7:07

you bitch, bring me more wine you fucking

7:09

bitch. She said Larry

7:11

sometimes went off on weeks-long alcohol and drug

7:13

binges and she'd have no idea where he

7:15

was. One time she

7:17

had to hire a private detective who found

7:20

Larry at the Mustang Ranch brothel just outside

7:22

of Reno where he'd apparently been staying for

7:24

weeks. Here's

7:26

the thing. We know Larry

7:28

had some issues with substance abuse, especially

7:31

wine, for sure, but we also

7:33

know that Elisa lied, like a

7:35

lot. If her lips were moving she

7:37

was probably lying to you and you

7:39

couldn't trust a word she said. But

7:42

Sarah didn't know that, at least not

7:45

yet. So to Sarah, Larry

7:47

seemed like an abusive lush, a parasite living

7:49

off of Elisa's hard work at the law

7:51

firm. She thought he was a

7:54

bastard. Okay,

7:56

remember that American Quarter Horse Elisa wrote

7:58

a bad check for? when they were living

8:00

in Nevada? Well, she kept that

8:02

horse. And in 1999, she

8:04

and Larry bought another one. Elisa

8:07

had apparently convinced Larry that there was

8:09

money to be made in Quarter Horses,

8:11

which is true. A really

8:13

outstanding horse might go for seven figures

8:15

for breeding. And that's just breeding. Like

8:18

you get them back. You can just keep, make, it's like a license

8:20

to print money. But

8:22

those are pretty long odds. And it's super

8:24

expensive to take care of horses, like two

8:26

grand a month each. So it's

8:29

not like this was a practical plan. They'd

8:31

probably be better off hitting the craps table in

8:33

Vegas. The truth

8:36

is, showing fancy horses is more of

8:38

a rich person's hobby than a get

8:40

rich quick scheme. And that's mostly how

8:42

Larry approached it. The last time

8:44

he was completely burned out with the law,

8:46

he ran up north and joined Rontha School

8:48

of Enlightenment. Touring the horse shows

8:50

of the West Coast was a little less

8:52

bizarre, but it wasn't any less expensive. Larry

8:56

and Elisa hired some horse trainers to look

8:58

after their animals, a guy named Greg Whalen

9:00

and his daughter Debbie. They

9:03

taught Larry how to show his horses, and

9:05

he loved it. He started devoting a lot

9:07

more attention to the horses than the law

9:09

firm and started to see some rewards for

9:11

his efforts. Each showing of

9:13

a horse earned points depending on its performance.

9:16

And by the end of 1999, Larry was

9:18

the leading first year amateur in the whole

9:20

country. The American Quarter Horse

9:22

Association sent him a big silver belt buckle

9:24

with his name and AQHA Rookie of the

9:27

Year on it. I

9:29

feel like more sports should involve sparkly belt

9:31

buckles. Yeah, it's just rodeo

9:33

and wrestling. Both sports

9:36

involve wearing fancy boots and a ring.

9:39

Is there a connection? At

9:43

the start of 2001, Larry bought a

9:45

promising nine month old colt called Just a Lot

9:47

of Page, which actually,

9:50

that's another connection.

9:53

Horses and wrestlers have crazy names. It's

9:55

a conspiracy. It's

9:58

a conspiracy. He

10:01

had his heart set on showing him at

10:03

the World Championships that fall in Oklahoma City,

10:05

so he and Elisa spent a lot of

10:07

time touring horse shows that year. It

10:09

probably won't surprise you to learn that the show horse

10:12

crowd can be kinda stuck up, and

10:14

these events were as much about showing

10:16

off your bank balance as your horses.

10:19

Larry and Elisa bought a luxury horse trailer

10:21

with comfy sleeping quarters for the people and

10:23

the animals. Larry was apparently

10:26

unaware that they bought the trailer on credit. Elisa

10:28

handled the business and always assured him

10:31

things were going great. So Larry

10:33

just never worried much about money. My

10:36

dude, this is the woman who

10:38

ran your business into the ground

10:40

in like three months back in

10:42

Nevada. Like really? This

10:44

is hard to watch. And

10:47

it wasn't even their own credit that Elisa bought

10:49

the trailer on. She bought it in the name

10:51

of Larry's grown son from his second marriage, Joe.

10:54

She'd later say this was a favor to

10:56

Joe to help him build credit. Yeah,

10:59

I'm sure he felt real grateful months later when

11:02

creditors told him he still owed 60

11:04

grand on a horse trailer he'd never seen. Joe,

11:09

by the way, was the only one of

11:12

Larry's kids Elisa got along with, and was

11:14

even willing to spend time with. Probably because

11:16

all the rest were daughters, and in her

11:18

weird psyche that made them rivals for Larry's

11:20

attention. It reminds me

11:22

so much of Dante Satorius. You

11:25

guys remember her from forever ago. Like

11:27

she had that same weird jealousy of

11:29

her husband's adult daughters. Joe's

11:32

mom, Jodi, always thought Elisa wanted to

11:34

get along even better with Joe. She

11:37

thought she wanted to get him in the sack, which is

11:40

just, if true, insane. Girl,

11:44

no, you are married to his dad. Gross.

11:47

Larry also splurged on a dually. A truck

11:50

with dual rear wheels on each side,

11:52

powerful enough to pull the trailer. He

11:55

had the money to, right? Right? I

11:58

mean, it wasn't like Elisa was robbing the house. him

12:00

and his company blind again, right? Elisa

12:03

ran the law firm and every day she'd

12:06

bring home papers for Larry to sign. Larry,

12:09

having at least learned a little lesson

12:11

from Elisa's previous shenanigans in Vegas, also

12:13

examined every check issued by McNabney and

12:16

Associates. So Elisa brought home

12:18

carbon copies of every company check she

12:20

wrote. But she hit on

12:22

a simple trick where when she wrote the

12:24

actual check she just put some stiff cardboard

12:26

between the check and the carbon so it

12:28

didn't make an imprint. Then

12:30

she put some thin paper over the carbon

12:32

and fill in some fictitious details. So

12:35

in one example, Larry thought he was looking at

12:38

evidence of a reasonable $400 check for car

12:40

insurance when Elisa had actually

12:42

written one for $5,000 in cash

12:44

which went straight into her pocket.

12:48

Draws like this were probably just to fund

12:50

Elisa's shopping and partying with Sarah. She

12:53

had Sarah take the checks to the bank and come

12:55

back with cash. She couldn't do it

12:57

herself, Elisa told Sarah, because Larry kept hold

12:59

of all her IDs to make sure she couldn't leave him.

13:02

The truth, of course, was that Elisa was

13:04

an alias. Her whole West Coast life was

13:07

a lie, and she was a minor league

13:09

fugitive, and that was why she didn't have

13:11

ID. But this was a useful

13:13

way of making Sarah hate Larry even more. More

13:17

significant was Elisa's new business venture, a

13:19

website called Hunt Seat Horses, which is

13:21

not a great name for a website,

13:23

because when it's all one word, your

13:25

brain really wants to read it as

13:27

Hunt Seat Horses. Still,

13:30

I suppose it's better than the one for

13:33

penisland.com, or

13:35

the worst one I've ever

13:37

seen, therapist.com. Yeah,

13:40

take a minute, spell it out in your head.

13:44

Not great. No. Elisa's

13:46

website was supposed to sell high-end

13:49

western wear, or maybe it

13:51

was supposed to be an online marketplace for

13:53

horse trading. Elisa's story on

13:55

the business, as was true for most

13:57

of her stories, changed depending on who she was

13:59

talking. to. Regardless, Hunt

14:01

Seat Horses didn't actually seem to do

14:03

any business at all, but in just

14:06

a few months during 2001 its bank

14:08

account had somehow swelled to $145,000. I

14:10

say somehow, but

14:14

there's really no mystery. She was funneling

14:16

McNabney and Associates money into her own

14:18

hands. And there wasn't

14:20

a lot of that money left. In

14:23

1999 the firm had brought in around a

14:25

million dollars, but most of that was residual

14:27

payments from old Nevada settlements. The

14:29

new business in California wasn't doing so

14:31

well at all, but still had to

14:33

outlay hefty sums each month for offices

14:36

and salary, as well as the pricey

14:38

new horse enterprise of Larry's. And

14:40

of course, Elisa was both stealing money and

14:43

burning through it to have fun by herself

14:45

and with Sarah. Sarah won

14:47

a dream year abroad at an art

14:49

school in Florence. Elisa paid

14:51

for her to fly back for frequent visits,

14:53

and on one of those trips gave Sarah

14:56

a fur coat and a laptop. Must

14:58

be nice, damn. I've never had people buy

15:00

me shit like in my whole life. You

15:02

always hear about like, oh, got a car

15:04

or whatever. I must have not used my

15:07

feminine wild writer's on shit. I don't know. If

15:10

only I could go back. You used them for good.

15:14

Not evil, Whitney. Oh

15:17

damn it. I'm such a

15:19

sucker. What a

15:21

nerd. Oi, who flies

15:23

back for a visit during a

15:25

friggin year abroad in Florence like

15:27

stay there and enjoy it. Lord

15:30

have mercy bonkers. When

15:32

she came home for good, Elisa gave her

15:34

a BMW. Oh my God.

15:38

Throughout the spring of 2001, Elisa was

15:40

bouncing checks left, right and center and

15:42

taking out credit cards and her friends

15:45

names. Isn't that nice? The

15:47

McNabney's finances were in trouble and she was

15:49

the only one who knew it. So

15:52

she bought herself a new BMW, right?

15:55

Why not? I think you can apply Carpe Diem

15:57

to lots of things in life, but find out

15:59

more. financial planning probably isn't really one of

16:01

them. But Elisa,

16:03

as always, lived her life like the whole planet

16:06

was going to explode in the morning and solve

16:08

all her problems. Larry

16:10

was very much not a dumb guy, but he

16:13

seemed oblivious to these troubles, possibly because he was

16:15

out of it for most of the year. Elisa

16:18

told her friends, like it was a

16:20

joke, that she was slipping ketamine or

16:22

sometimes Vicodin into Larry's wine, and everybody

16:24

laughed because, you know, it was

16:27

just a joke. It wasn't

16:29

a joke, of course. She was actually dosing

16:31

him. I know. I

16:33

know we give people the benefit of the doubt,

16:36

but I don't know anybody who makes these types

16:38

of jokes. And like, it's

16:40

hard to understand how you could let

16:42

a joke like that slide and be

16:44

like, wait a second. What do you mean?

16:46

Unless it's like a self soothing mechanism.

16:48

Like, oh, they couldn't possibly, I couldn't be

16:50

friends with a horrible person, but

16:52

I just, I can't, I can't imagine. I

16:55

think that's it. I think it's just, you know, no one

16:58

would do that. That's

17:00

insane. There's some suggestion that

17:02

Larry was mixing drugs with his booze himself,

17:04

but then why would Elisa joke about it

17:06

like that? It would be another

17:09

of her endless stories about what a degenerate Larry

17:11

was, if he was actually doing that.

17:14

The truth is she was both encouraging Larry

17:16

to drink and take drugs more and actively

17:18

spiking his drinks. This might

17:20

have been partly to keep Larry's nose out of the

17:22

books and partly to give Elisa more time to spend

17:24

with Sarah. Elisa was a horrible

17:27

influence on Sarah. Some people who

17:29

knew them claimed Sarah was the dominant one in

17:31

their relationship, that she was the one making all

17:33

the decisions. There are events surrounding

17:35

the conclusion of this case that kind of explain

17:37

why people pushed that theory, but personally, I don't

17:39

buy it at all. I mean, nope.

17:42

I mean, yeah, I mean, look, when they met

17:44

on one side, you have a teenage art student

17:46

whose only experience with the seedy side of life

17:48

was buying weed. And on the other, you

17:50

have a 33 year old ex con

17:53

and current fugitive who has no qualms about

17:55

living an entirely invented life and helping herself

17:57

to whatever she wants. Someone

18:00

who fires people without a second thought and

18:02

who steals without compunction from her friends and partner.

18:05

And you're trying to tell me it's the

18:07

teenager who's driving the bus to crazy

18:09

town? Come on. Yeah, like, right. Good

18:11

manipulators are very good at getting their

18:13

targets to believe they're the ones making

18:15

the decisions. It's oh, yeah, absolutely.

18:18

Yeah, it's a good way of keeping them

18:20

close. And they'll say something like, I

18:22

wish we could do acts, but I

18:24

know, I know it's not a good idea. Then

18:27

their target, who they've already gotten obsessed

18:29

with pleasing them, will say, well, why

18:32

couldn't we? We should do it. Yeah. That

18:34

way, when it all goes to shit, the con artist can

18:37

exonerate herself. I said

18:39

it wasn't a good idea, but you

18:41

insisted. Remember guys? She insisted. It's

18:44

really effective and pretty nefarious. Also,

18:48

it was Sarah who changed after getting together with

18:50

Elisa. When she came back

18:52

from Italy, she was kind of superior

18:54

and short-tempered, just like Elisa. Her

18:56

boyfriend, Jason, said he felt like she started treating

18:59

him like a servant. Sarah's

19:01

parents didn't like Elisa, and they thought

19:03

her relationship with Sarah was weird. Why

19:06

didn't this apparently high-flying legal professional

19:09

have friends her own age? And

19:11

I'm guessing they had the worries reasonable parents

19:13

should have if their young daughter starts spending

19:15

all her time with someone older. Is

19:18

this person just trying to get her into bed? On

19:21

one visit home, when her mom asked

19:23

her about Elisa, Sarah got real pissy

19:26

and disdainful, hitting her parents with

19:28

a teenage special, that they didn't

19:30

understand anything about real life at all. Yeah,

19:34

hey kid, why don't you come back with that when

19:36

you're old enough to shop at Liquor Barn? Okay. Jason

19:40

was so unimpressed by this little performance that

19:42

he dumped Sarah's ass right after, although she

19:44

did successfully crawl back to him a few

19:46

months later. In

19:49

August of 2001, Larry and Elisa started

19:51

making plans to move further south,

19:53

closer to the horses. Elisa

19:55

And Sarah Drove down to check out a house for rent

19:58

in a fancy gated community. The

20:00

just outside of Lodi. When they

20:02

met the owners, Elisa introduce Sarah

20:04

as the girlfriend of Layer Mcnabb.

20:06

The. The. Tv Attorney. Just.

20:09

Sort of a weird blinds that served no purpose

20:11

at all. Elisa

20:14

sign a twenty four hundred dollar monthly rental

20:16

agreement and agreed that the move in at

20:18

the start of September. After that

20:21

first rental payments, the Mcnabb means would

20:23

have a couple of American Quarter versus

20:25

a fancy trailer and truck, a Bmw,

20:27

and one hundred forty one dollars and

20:29

their bank account. On.

20:31

Like all the leases, check juggling wouldn't

20:34

keep the truth from Larry much longer.

20:36

He. Was gonna find out they were broke. And.

20:39

Then. We're. Larry's bond with

20:41

Elisa tighter than his anger would be.

20:44

She. Was wife number five? After all,

20:46

Larry's record made it pretty clear.

20:48

That he wouldn't hesitate to call the whole thing off

20:51

when the going got tough. And

20:53

he might not have exercised the skills in a

20:55

while, but he'd been a brilliant attorney for years.

20:58

The. Last person you'd want to face and a

21:00

contentious divorce. He. Was highly likely that

21:02

Elisa's latest round of thus and frauds would

21:04

come out. She. Could go to jail.

21:07

Of course is Lisa funneled the hundred forty

21:10

five grand she'd stolen back to where. It

21:12

should be the problem would be solved the least

21:14

for a while. Which. Was as

21:16

far in the future is Lisa ever

21:18

looked but she wanted to keep that

21:20

money. It. Was hers Now He'd

21:23

stolen it fair and square. In

21:25

fact, she'd moved just over half that money

21:27

into or own account at the end of

21:29

August, just a couple of weeks before Larry

21:32

would go missing. That sure sounds like someone

21:34

getting ready for an exit, but. There

21:36

was leery. What? To

21:38

do about Larry. On.

21:41

September fifth, Larry Annalisa arrived with their

21:44

horses for a so just outside Los

21:46

Angeles in the aptly named city of

21:48

industry. Seventy thousand jobs, two hundred, and

21:51

sixty four residence. Their.

21:53

Trainers and friends Greg Whalen and his

21:55

daughter Debbie came down with them and

21:57

remember the pair being unusually bitty with.

21:59

Each other. When Debbie asked Elisa

22:01

if anything was wrong, she said Larry's drinking was

22:03

the problem, and that she was quote, getting tired

22:06

of taking care of him and picking up after

22:08

him. That quote, by the way,

22:10

comes from the book Cold Blooded by Carlton Smith, one of

22:12

our main sources for this case, which you should definitely get

22:14

if you want to learn more. This

22:17

was a familiar complaint from Elisa, and Debbie

22:19

just shrugged it off. It was

22:21

also kind of ridiculous, because while Elisa always liked

22:23

to be well put together herself, she was kind

22:25

of a slob in every other aspect of her

22:27

life. Larry was the neat freak of

22:29

the two, and he'd be the one doing the picking up. Both

22:33

trainers thought Larry was off from the moment

22:35

he got down there, just kind of vague

22:37

and blue and not excited to show the

22:39

horses. Debbie had to remind

22:42

him to go put on his fancy western gear to walk

22:44

the horses around. This was not

22:46

like Larry, at all. As

22:48

you might expect for a former trial attorney,

22:50

he usually liked to talk a lot, and

22:52

talked well, and he'd always loved the performance

22:55

aspect of showing the horses, being the center

22:57

of attention, and getting the applause. Debbie

22:59

thought he might be depressed. Given

23:02

what happened later, there's every chance he'd been

23:04

drugged, and was being kept that way by

23:06

Elisa. Elisa was

23:08

one of those people who just can't stand being

23:11

by herself. She and Larry

23:13

were joined at the hip, until Sarah drove down

23:15

a couple days later, and Elisa fixed herself to

23:17

her hip instead. It

23:19

was perfectly clear who Elisa's favorite was, and

23:21

it wasn't her husband. After

23:24

that afternoon or the next, Debbie overheard Elisa telling

23:26

another woman about how she was going to go

23:28

out dancing that night with Sarah. Elisa

23:31

said, we'll make sure Larry has enough to drink tonight

23:33

that he passes out, so Sarah and I can go

23:35

meet up with you and party tonight. Larry

23:40

was a serious drinker at this point in his

23:42

life, and not really a passing out kind of

23:44

guy. Elisa dosed him

23:46

with some horse tranquilizer, probably a heavy

23:48

dose of ketamine. Larry

23:50

was certainly acting weird the next morning. Elisa

23:53

got up early to help feed the horses. Because

23:56

there were no vacancies at the hotel, Sarah had slept

23:58

on the couch, and Larry and No He says

24:00

room. She. Was startled awake by

24:02

Larry poking her in the back. He.

24:05

Looked glassy eyed and confused.

24:08

Blanche. He said still poking

24:10

her. Bleach. Last.

24:14

Sarah. Asked him what the hell he was doing.

24:17

He. Didn't seem to hear her than did

24:19

the whole thing again. poke entering, phone

24:21

or blanche three times. This.

24:23

Was too weird for Sarah and she left.

24:26

When. She asked elisa what was wrong with Larry.

24:28

She just shrugged it off. When.

24:31

Larry showed his horse that morning. He

24:33

was disoriented and standing. Greg.

24:35

Whalen usually made a plea of only having

24:37

Larry show in the mornings because in the

24:39

afternoons Larry would usually have a glass of

24:41

Chardonnay, his hands often spiked with vodka and

24:43

be well on his way to tipsy town.

24:46

But in the morning see was usually great,

24:48

As was weird. On

24:51

Sunday night september ninth, Sarah had to make

24:53

the six hour drive up to Sacramento because

24:55

she had a busy day. On Monday she

24:58

had to open the law office so the

25:00

new secretary, Ginger Miller the ropes and then

25:02

go to class. The. Next day

25:04

was an off day at the horse so. Elissa

25:07

in the trainers looked after the horses were

25:09

Larry got steadily hammered in the barn. That

25:12

told the li says she wished she

25:14

could give one horse a's the sedative

25:16

a promising to settle it down but

25:18

so regulations for bet it. Elise.

25:21

I casually as if Ace would be fatal

25:23

to a person. Debbie. Said

25:25

Lisa. If it would tranquilizer fourteen hundred

25:28

pound horse, it would definitely kill a

25:30

person. Way to

25:32

flounder the radar. There's girl. she's

25:34

louise. Larry.

25:36

Perked! Up in the afternoon. He.

25:39

Just learned that he and his prize colts as

25:41

the lot of Hades had got of points from

25:43

the So to qualify for the World Championships in

25:45

Oklahoma and he talks with Greg Whalen about doing

25:47

shows in the East as well as the west

25:49

coast. And this is pretty solid

25:51

evidence that Larry had no clue at all about.

25:53

is. Dire financial straits showing horses

25:56

that far from home. with

25:58

a venture that could run into the ten of

26:00

thousands of dollars. A

26:15

new year full of surprises. One thing

26:17

is always predictable. Postage costs go up.

26:20

stamps.com gives you crazy discounts of

26:22

up to 89% off USPS and

26:24

UPS services. So when

26:26

postage goes up, your business will barely notice

26:28

the change. stamps.com is like

26:31

your own personal post office, wherever you

26:33

are. You can even take orders on the go

26:35

with the mobile app. No lines, no

26:37

traffic, no waiting. Schedule package

26:39

pickups, automatically find the cheapest and

26:41

fastest shipping options and seamlessly connect

26:43

with every major marketplace and shopping

26:45

cart. There's even a supply store

26:47

where you can stock up on mailing supplies,

26:50

labels, even printers. stamps.com has

26:52

been indispensable for over 1 million businesses

26:54

just like yours. All you

26:56

need is a computer or phone and printer. Take

26:58

a chunk out of your mailing and shipping costs this

27:00

year with stamps.com. Sign up

27:03

with Promo Code Program for a special offer

27:05

that includes a 4-week trial, plus free postage

27:07

and free digital scale. No

27:09

long-term commitments or contracts. That's

27:12

stamps.com Code Program. Say

27:15

goodbye to your credit card rewards.

27:17

Greedy corporate megastores led

27:19

by Walmart and Target are pushing

27:21

for a long Congress to take

27:23

away your hard-earned cash back and

27:25

travel points to line their pockets.

27:27

The Durbin Marshall Credit Card Bill

27:29

would enact harmful credit card routing

27:31

mandates that would end credit card

27:33

rewards as we know it. If

27:35

you love your credit card rewards,

27:37

tell your lawmakers, hands off, my

27:39

rewards. Tell them to oppose the

27:42

Durbin Marshall Credit Card Bill. Larry

27:58

skipped dinner with the others. He wasn't feeling

28:00

too good. Greg and Debbie heard him

28:02

on Elisa's phone, asking her to bring him some

28:04

soup and wine. They would never

28:07

see or hear from Larry again. As

28:10

horse people often do, Greg Whalen got up early

28:12

the next day. His horses were used to being

28:14

fed at 5am. Out

28:17

in the cool pre-dawn gloom, he saw

28:19

Elisa walking her little Jack Russell terrier,

28:21

Morgan. You'll never guess

28:23

what happened, she said. Larry's gone. Where

28:27

the hell did he go? Greg said. He

28:30

left last night. We had an argument. He

28:32

left. He said he's going back to the cult. Greg,

28:35

like most of Larry's friends, knew all about

28:37

his time at Rant the School of Enlightenment.

28:39

He focused on the immediate question. So

28:42

Larry won't be showing anymore? No,

28:45

Elisa said. He said he's done with

28:47

showing. This was

28:50

definitely weird. Larry had

28:52

devoted the past three years of his life, and

28:54

God knows how much money, to establishing himself in

28:56

the horse world. To a

28:58

practical guy like Greg, throwing that all

29:00

away was unthinkable. But

29:03

then, Larry had gone off to Rant the

29:05

once before. Just

29:08

before 7, Greg went back to his hotel room.

29:10

Elisa and Sarah, who was supposed to be 600

29:12

miles away, came in right after. Greg's

29:16

daughter Debbie was there, right in front of the TV,

29:18

her eyes wide. You

29:20

won't believe what just happened, she said. You

29:22

won't believe what just happened, Greg said. Larry's

29:25

left, ran away to join a cult. Debbie

29:29

didn't take her eyes away from the screen, and Greg

29:32

took a look at it himself. The

29:34

date was September 11, 2001,

29:37

so I'm sure you know what they were looking at.

29:40

As they watched, the south tower of the

29:42

World Trade Center collapsed in a huge cloud

29:44

of smoke and rubble. When

29:48

Debbie asked Elisa where Larry had gone, Elisa

29:50

said he'd gone to Florida to join a

29:52

cult. How's Larry going to

29:55

get to Florida, Debbie said. All

29:57

of the planes have been grounded. Elisa

30:00

Blinked. confused. She.

30:02

Line got, he got. A.

30:06

Little later Debbie saw the San Siro

30:08

driving off and Larry's big new read

30:10

duly truck. Larry. Couldn't

30:12

fly out and he obviously haven't driven

30:14

off. So. How exactly had he

30:17

left the City of Industry? in

30:19

the bed of the truck or a

30:22

folded wheels to shovels that look shiny

30:24

new suitcases, golf clubs, laundry bags, and

30:26

a cooler. As.

30:28

To what actually happened to Larry Mcnabb knee only

30:31

a lease and Sarah New and he couldn't trust

30:33

either of them farther than you could kick em.

30:36

But. Here is probably the most likely

30:38

version. On. The night of

30:40

September tenth, Elisa called Sarah up in Sacramento

30:42

and said she had to come back down

30:45

to City of Industry because Larry had gone

30:47

crazy. Sarah. That one

30:49

of the last fight before everything would be

30:51

grounded the next morning and landed at about

30:53

ten thirty pm. They.

30:57

Walked around the stables, smoked a lot of

30:59

weed, and sat in Larry's truck. Elisa.

31:03

First alone and then with Sarah. Made several

31:05

trips up to the hotel room to check

31:07

on Larry through the night. Elisa

31:09

told Sarah Hughes drunk and crazy. In

31:12

reality she probably dose him with more

31:14

horse. Tranquilizers. One.

31:16

Time when they went up. Sarah waited outside and

31:19

heard some kind of clumsy struggle inside. Than Elisa

31:21

came out and showed her a mark on or

31:23

tailbone where she said Larry had kicked her. Maybe.

31:27

Had or maybe she threw herself into

31:29

the edge of a table for verisimilitude.

31:31

Who knows. When. Elissa and

31:33

Sarah were telling everyone Larry had run

31:36

off to a cult. He was still

31:38

upstairs in the room getting ever more

31:40

weird and loopy. Elissa

31:42

told Sarah they needed to move him

31:44

to another hotel because of the way

31:46

he was acting. Embarrassing. So they rented

31:48

a wheelchair from a medical supply place

31:50

and roll Larry out to the truck.

31:53

He. Was docile now mumbling and out of

31:55

it. When. It said they

31:57

were going to another hotel. He slurred out

31:59

okay, Sarah said she didn't remember buying the shovels.

32:02

She'd been a full night without sleep and

32:05

had been smoking weed pretty much constantly throughout that night,

32:07

so maybe. They

32:10

put Larry in the back seat of

32:12

the truck where he slumped down. Nobody could see him from outside. Once

32:16

they were on the road, Elisa

32:18

told Sarah to keep driving. What about Larry, Sarah said. Don't

32:21

worry about it, Elisa said. We're

32:23

going back to Lodi. But as she

32:25

gave Sarah directions, it was

32:27

soon obvious that that was the case. It was soon

32:29

obvious that that wasn't true either. Elisa

32:32

set them driving through the desert towards the

32:34

Sierra Nevada mountains. What's going

32:36

on, Sarah said. For

32:38

your own good, you should forget you ever saw

32:40

Larry today, Elisa said. He was never

32:43

in this truck. A

32:45

little later, she told Sarah she'd given Larry an

32:47

overdose of Special K, caming.

32:51

Maybe that was what she'd given him, although

32:53

Elisa wasn't really a detail-oriented kind of gal,

32:55

and she called all horse tranquilizers by the

32:57

blanket term Special K, and figured they were

32:59

all pretty much the same. She'd

33:01

just grabbed some vials out of Greg Whalen's veterinary

33:04

bag. Ketamine might

33:06

fit with Larry's half-hallucinatory state,

33:09

especially if it was also in the water bottle Elisa

33:11

kept handing back to Larry whenever he said he was

33:13

thirsty. There were other

33:15

drugs in Greg's veterinary bag that would have been

33:17

far more deadly. Elisa had

33:19

probably put some of the drug into either the

33:21

soup or wine she'd brought Larry, probably

33:24

the wine, as that was what he was most likely to

33:26

finish. When he'd passed out,

33:28

she'd dripped the rest into his mouth. Larry

33:31

waking and starting to get weird was

33:33

unexpected. She'd expected Larry to

33:36

just drift off into death, which he probably

33:38

would have if she'd given him ace-promazine. As

33:42

they drove toward the mountains, Larry mostly dozed

33:44

in the back, sometimes waking up enough to

33:46

stare blankly out the windows of the truck.

33:49

His weird, broken comments suggested he

33:51

was hallucinating events from his past,

33:53

which is just absolutely

33:55

heartbreaking. Sarah

34:00

turned down into Yosemite National Park.

34:03

They drove through the trees with Larry mumbling in

34:05

the back. Was this where

34:07

Elisa had planned to bury Larry if he had died?

34:10

Is that what the shovels were for? But

34:13

Larry didn't die. Most people

34:15

would have, but years of substance abuse had

34:17

built up Larry's tolerance. One

34:19

time when Elisa had spiked his wine with a hefty

34:21

dose of Vicodin, he hadn't even noticed and it hadn't

34:23

affected him at all. When

34:26

it became obvious that Larry wasn't going to stop

34:28

breathing, Elisa had Sarah head back

34:30

to Lodi. When

34:32

they eventually got back to the house, Elisa said she was

34:34

going to put Larry to bed. Oh good,

34:37

we're home, he said, as she helped him to the

34:39

door. Sarah went

34:42

home and immediately got into a huge fight with

34:44

her parents. They'd just had a

34:46

call from an auto dealer in Texas who

34:48

told them the check Elisa had used to

34:50

buy Sarah's BMW had bounced and either they

34:52

got the car back to him pronto or

34:54

he'd have Sarah charged with autocessed. Thanks,

34:57

best friend, right? Her

35:00

dad had gone over to Sarah's apartment and got

35:02

the car and also picked up her little Maltese

35:04

Terrier to look after with Sarah apparently gone for

35:06

the night. So at around

35:08

10 p.m. Sarah drove over to her parents

35:10

in a big red truck, grabbed her dog,

35:12

and drove back down to Elisa's place in

35:15

Lodi. When she got there,

35:17

there was no sign of Larry and she asked Elisa

35:19

where he was. Don't worry about

35:21

it, she said. Just don't worry about it.

35:24

Larry was upstairs in bed, having

35:27

been overdosed with another drug Elisa

35:29

had grabbed from the veterinary bag,

35:31

xylazine. This was

35:33

very dangerous stuff and unless an overdose

35:35

is treated at the hospital, it'll usually

35:38

lead to circulatory collapse and respiratory failure.

35:40

And this one did the

35:42

trick. When Elisa checked on

35:44

Larry at 6 a.m., he was dead. She

35:48

woke up Sarah who was sleeping on the couch and

35:50

told her. Sarah

35:52

went up to look herself and saw Larry lying

35:54

dead on the bed. They wrapped him

35:56

in a sheet, then wrapped the sheet

35:59

with duct tape to hold. it in. Then

36:01

they dragged Larry's body out to the garage

36:04

where there was a refrigerator. They

36:06

took out all the shelves and crammed in Larry's

36:08

body, still wrapped in the sheet and duct tape.

36:11

They forced the door closed, but it opened a little

36:13

while later, so Sarah wrapped the duct tape all

36:15

the way around the fridge to keep it closed.

36:19

They thought about burying him in the yard, or

36:21

out at Greg Wayland's place, or just out

36:23

in the desert, but in the end, they

36:25

just left in there. The

36:28

next day, Elisa had Sarah go search

36:30

the law office for the title to

36:32

Larry's $50,000 truck. She already

36:34

had a prospective buyer set up, but she couldn't

36:36

close the deal without the title. Elisa

36:39

drove back down to City of Industry to

36:41

help with the horses, and seemed completely un-worried

36:43

about Larry supposedly running off to join a

36:45

cult. Both Greg

36:47

and Debbie noticed that Larry's gold Rolex

36:50

was now on Elisa's wrist. She

36:52

forged Larry's name on the title transfer for the

36:54

truck, and sold it for just over half

36:56

of the $50,000 Larry had bought it

36:58

for just a few months ago. On

37:01

her way to the cellar, with Sarah following in

37:03

a Mustang, rented on a McNabney and Associates credit

37:05

card that was about to burst into

37:08

flames, Elisa pulled over so she

37:10

could toss the wheelchair from the back of the

37:12

truck onto the sidewalk, saying they didn't need it

37:14

anymore. Yeah, but somebody will need

37:16

it, Elisa rented the damn thing, but of course

37:18

going a tiny fraction out of her way to

37:20

do a normal decent thing was asking way too

37:23

much from our girl just toss the frickin' thing

37:25

on the sidewalk. Unbelievable. And

37:27

then, Elisa and Sarah carried on as if nothing

37:30

had happened at all. They went

37:32

to work at the law firm alongside their new

37:34

employee Ginger, and almost immediately had a big win.

37:36

Well, sort of. They

37:38

had a client, Michael Carter, who'd been in a

37:40

car wreck, and the insurance carrier offered to settle

37:42

for $150,000. Larry

37:45

had thought the case was worth twice that at

37:47

least, but Elisa took the offer right away. She

37:50

wanted money right now, and not just the 8.5%

37:52

the firm was entitled to. The settlement

37:55

money would sit in the client trust account, and

37:57

Elisa had no problem using that cash as her

37:59

own. Within a month there

38:01

was only $593 left in the client trust account with absolutely

38:06

none of it going to the poor guy who'd been in that

38:08

car wreck. Good luck with those

38:10

medical bills dude. God this bitch is the worst.

38:15

That's like some serious spending. That's

38:17

crazy spending. I don't even know how you

38:19

would do it. Yeah, bananas. Alyssa

38:22

and Sarah were still touring the horse show

38:24

circuit with Alyssa trying to cash in by

38:26

selling just a lot of page. This

38:29

ritzy horse scene was pretty close-knit and

38:31

there's plenty of gossip about the McNabneys

38:33

that Larry had run off with another

38:35

woman, that Alyssa and Sarah were having

38:38

Lidaller Bean sex, and that

38:40

Alyssa had murdered Larry. Just

38:43

harmless goth. People

38:45

probably laughed when they said it.

38:47

And there was even more gossip when somebody

38:50

walked in on Alyssa and Greg Whalen getting

38:52

frisky at a horse stall. All

38:56

this witness would tell people was that they should

38:58

have gotten a motel room. Putting

39:00

on a little show of their own eh?

39:02

Yeah, Greg would deny having an affair with

39:04

Alyssa though and when the cops asked him about

39:06

it later he'd say, I never had

39:09

sex with that woman. Yep, sounded just like Bill

39:11

Clinton in 1998 and

39:13

in the words of Larry David on Curb

39:15

Your Enthusiasm, I think she blew him. There's

39:22

a big difference between being a good liar

39:24

and just lying a lot and Alyssa was

39:26

definitely in the latter camp. She

39:28

just couldn't get her story straight about what had

39:30

happened to Larry. He'd gone to a

39:33

cult in Florida, he'd gone to a cult in

39:35

Costa Rica, he was in rehab, he was hiding

39:37

from drug dealers. People talked

39:39

and they noticed the discrepancies. Yeah

39:42

and things at McNabney and Associates weren't

39:44

going great either. People had

39:46

a hard time getting in touch with anyone

39:49

who could give them answers or make a

39:51

decision on any matter because Alyssa deliberately created

39:53

confusion. When people called she'd

39:55

pretend to be Sarah or would have Sarah pretend

39:57

to be her or they'd both pretend to be

39:59

just Ginger. They even invented

40:02

a fake, incompetent employee, Tessa.

40:05

Tessa would take messages for Elisa or Larry,

40:07

but wouldn't you know it, the dumb bitch

40:09

just never passed him on. For

40:11

God's sake, Tessa. I

40:15

can't stress the denying test. She

40:18

was a fictional employee. The

40:20

most persistent callers, and the ones who got the

40:22

runaround most, were Michael Carter and his wife. This

40:24

was the guy who got in the car accident.

40:27

They had medical bills that McNabney and associates

40:29

were supposed to be paying as part of

40:32

their settlement, and that wasn't happening. The

40:34

few checks Elisa did cut them means.

40:37

It was the shitty treatment of the Carters

40:40

that started Ginger Miller really thinking hard about

40:42

her new job. She'd started

40:44

on September 1st, and after a few

40:46

weeks she realized that although Elisa and

40:48

Sarah were always talking about Larry, she'd

40:50

never actually met the guy herself. They

40:53

told her, Larry's doing this or Larry's doing that,

40:55

but they didn't always say the same thing. Like,

40:58

one day Sarah said Larry was skiing and Elisa said

41:00

he was playing golf, two things that you really shouldn't

41:02

try to do at the same time. In

41:05

November, Ginger found out that Elisa hadn't

41:07

paid the office's rent. The

41:09

complaining calls ramped up, most often

41:11

from creditors, including one very determined

41:13

lady who wanted to talk about

41:16

a missing wheelchair. Elisa

41:18

just told Ginger to blame everything on Tessa.

41:21

While Ginger was dealing with this never-ending wave

41:24

of angry callers, Elisa and Sarah were usually

41:26

out shopping. Elisa bought herself a

41:28

$68,000 jaguar, although she bought it in Sarah's

41:32

name. You know, to help her credit.

41:36

And then Ginger's paychecks started bouncing.

41:39

Hungry mouths talk, she told Sarah, which

41:41

I guess is marginally more polite than

41:43

pay me bitch, but the meaning was

41:45

clear. And

41:48

it's a stone cold line. What

41:50

a mic drop. Hell yeah, Ginger.

41:52

I take back what I said about you being part

41:55

of the Charlie's Devils. You're an angel for sure. After

41:59

that, Sarah... gave her the cold shoulder,

42:01

but Elisa, for the first time, wanted to

42:03

spend time with Ginger. She

42:06

asked her to a party at Greg Whalen's ranch out

42:08

in the country. By this time,

42:10

Ginger had heard the rumors that Elisa might

42:12

have killed Larry and decided, nah,

42:15

nah, I'm not going to do that. What

42:18

she did instead, on the last day of

42:20

November, was go to the Sacramento Sheriff's Department

42:22

and slip a note under the door saying

42:24

they might want to take a look at

42:27

Elisa McNabney and Sarah Dutra. But

42:29

at least initially, no one at the

42:32

Sheriff's Department took Ginger's tip very seriously.

42:35

Other people were starting to get worried about Larry,

42:37

though. He had a record

42:39

of occasionally going off on wild drinking benders,

42:41

but he'd now been missing for about two

42:44

months, far longer than he'd ever been gone

42:46

before. His son Joe

42:48

kept trying to get in touch. He and his dad

42:50

weren't super close, but it was weird for them to

42:52

go months without talking. So

42:54

he kept calling. Finally,

42:57

Elisa told him Larry was indeed out on a

42:59

drinking binge, but he was coming home soon and

43:01

would check into rehab straight away. On December

43:05

13th, Elisa and Sarah drove to Vegas

43:07

and Sarah's shiny new jag to go

43:09

to the National Finals rodeo. At

43:12

first, they wanted to check in to the enormous

43:14

Bellagio Hotel. Right after

43:16

9-11, it wasn't uncommon for parking attendants

43:18

in big places like that to ask

43:20

patrons to pop open their trunks for

43:22

inspection. Sarah opened

43:24

the trunk from the driver's seat, but Elisa hurried

43:26

out of the car and slammed it shut again

43:28

before the attendant could get a look. They

43:31

changed their minds, she said. They'd stay somewhere else.

43:35

What was in the trunk that she didn't want anybody to

43:37

see? You can probably

43:39

guess. Elisa

43:41

was spending like a millionaire. By

43:44

December, she'd burned through all the settlement money

43:46

owed to the Carters and all of the

43:48

145 grand she'd stolen from Larry.

43:51

McNabney and Associates were being evicted from their

43:54

office for not paying four months of rent.

43:57

Elisa couldn't pay for 16-year-old Haley to have her

43:59

own apartment. anymore, so she

44:01

moved into the Lodi house. Sarah

44:03

often stayed there too, the three of them

44:06

sharing one big bed like kids on a

44:08

sleepover. At the start of

44:10

2002, two young women were jogging

44:12

in Sacramento when they found a big

44:14

silver belt buckle. On

44:16

it was engraved Larry McNabney, AQHA

44:19

Rookie of the Year, 1999. Figuring

44:23

it was at least a sentimental value to its

44:25

owner, one of them looked at McNabney in

44:27

the phone book and found only one, Larry

44:30

Sun-Jale, who came over and picked up the

44:32

belt buckle. He had no idea

44:34

how it had gotten there. Elisa

44:36

had had Sarah and Haley dump Larry's

44:38

clothes and personal belongings into city dumpsters,

44:41

and one of them must have dropped

44:43

Larry's prize buckle. Elisa

44:45

then sold most of the furniture in the house,

44:48

stashing whatever she wanted to keep in the horse

44:50

trailer. This from

44:52

Greg Whelan's ranch helped her throw stuff out.

44:55

Elisa let them keep a few things, including

44:57

the refrigerator from her garage. Oh

45:00

my god. Yeah, horrific.

45:03

Oh. She

45:06

arranged for someone to tow the trailer down

45:08

to Scottsdale, Arizona, where she was moving to.

45:10

Ginger Miller called the sheriff's department again,

45:13

and now, with an actual investigation started

45:15

into Larry's four month disappearance, they took

45:17

her seriously when she told them Elisa

45:20

was getting ready to leave town. Deputies

45:22

managed to get hold of the trailer before it

45:24

left town, but Elisa was already on the road

45:26

with Haley and the red dragunar, zipping

45:28

down toward the Grand Canyon. They

45:31

didn't stop in Scottsdale long, though. As soon

45:33

as she heard her trailer had been impounded,

45:35

Elisa hit the road again with her daughter

45:37

heading east. In

45:40

the middle of January, Sarah learned that there was

45:42

an open missing persons case on Larry and came

45:44

forward to the sheriff's department. Elisa

45:46

had taken off in a jaguar that theoretically belonged

45:48

to Sarah, and she was smart enough to wonder

45:51

if Elisa intended her for her to take the

45:53

fall for more than just the car payments.

45:57

This was the first of five police in

45:59

the state. Sarah which were full of contradictions

46:02

and only maybe got close to the truth

46:04

of the end. If she'd gone to an

46:06

attorney first or even if she just been

46:08

honest enough first interview, things might have gone

46:10

differently for her. But. Like

46:13

they say place you would games when

46:15

stupid peruses. When. Larry's body

46:17

was finally discovered on February fifth. Sarah

46:20

was in a world of trouble. The.

46:23

Pathologist examining Leary new a little about

46:25

his love for. Horse shows so she ran

46:28

and talk screen for. Drugs on horses and

46:30

discover desires in in the system. A lot

46:32

of it. Eight. Milligrams per

46:34

liter. One. Person was

46:36

known to have died from point three

46:38

milligrams. Oh wow, this was. Yeah.

46:41

This is massive overkill and. And

46:43

made it next to impossible that Leary had in minister

46:46

the drunk and. He'd have passed

46:48

out before he get onto a system. Investigators.

46:51

Sound the refrigerator Greg Willens trans hands

46:54

are taken from police and Larry's house.

46:56

Brown. Stains on the bottom and on

46:58

the door. Tested positive for blood and a

47:01

preliminary exam. There.

47:03

Was evidence of something sticky like? keep

47:05

it he said on the inside. And.

47:08

The fridge was big. Big. Enough that you

47:10

could squeeze a six foot tall guy like Larry

47:12

Mcnabb. He intuit. It wouldn't be easy to

47:14

use the did. They.

47:17

Were confident they found were Larry's body had

47:19

been sword for most of the time between

47:21

his disappearance and discovery. They were equally confident

47:23

that at least make now me what's his

47:25

killer. But. She

47:27

wasn't really civic mammy anymore as Elisa.

47:29

Haley had the road out of Arizona.

47:32

Highly wanted to know what was going

47:34

on. Elisa. Told her

47:36

she was wanted for kidnapping from way back when she

47:38

taken. Haley had a florida as an eight year old.

47:41

That. Was why they'd always had to go

47:43

by different names and now Lilies would be.

47:46

Shane either? Roni, Who

47:48

to Haley? wannabe. She. Chose:

47:51

Penelope. Bless her her. Motoring

47:54

along and a sixty eight thousand dollar

47:57

car, but with hardly anything. in the

47:59

way of actual cash they soon hit New

48:01

Mexico, where Elisa saw red lights flashing

48:03

in the rearview mirror. Elisa

48:05

thought, correctly, that she'd just been stopped for

48:07

speeding, but she didn't have a license and

48:09

the car wasn't in her name. That's

48:12

the kind of stuff that lands you in the

48:14

county lockup, with lots of questions being asked, but

48:16

Elisa hadn't forgotten the skills she'd learned way back

48:19

in high school. She turned on

48:21

the flirty charm, flashed that big smile of

48:23

hers, and the cop let her go without

48:25

even asking to see her license. Good job,

48:27

bro. She used

48:29

her horse skills to work in Kentucky for

48:31

a week or so, then drove on down

48:33

through Tennessee and Alabama. It only takes a

48:36

glance at a map to see she was slowly,

48:38

one part-time job at a time, working her way

48:40

back home to Florida. She

48:42

was completely out of money, though. One

48:45

time, she and Haley had to stay in a church

48:47

homeless shelter, pulling up in their brand-new

48:49

jag that Elisa couldn't sell because it was in

48:51

Sarah's name. But Elisa landed on

48:53

her feet as easy as a cat. She

48:56

was out driving when a guy in a jaguar

48:58

just like hers pulled up alongside and said, nice

49:00

car. She smiled back and

49:02

said, nice car, too. The

49:05

guy took her to a casino, and

49:07

within days, Elisa and Haley were living

49:09

in this guy's condo in Destin on

49:11

the Florida panhandle. He was

49:13

pretty well off, the owner of a local furniture store,

49:15

and this would have been a good place to lay

49:17

low for a while. But

49:19

you might as well tell a leopard to lose

49:21

its spots as tell Elisa to change her behavior.

49:24

She took out credit cards in the guy's

49:26

name, with Shane Ivaroni as an authorized user.

49:29

He found out, of course, kicked her and

49:32

Haley out of his condo and called the

49:34

sheriff, giving them the number of Elisa's jaguar.

49:37

She knew this would bring all the California attention down

49:39

on her, so Elisa picked up a guy and went

49:41

home to bed with him, and while he was asleep,

49:44

she stole 600 bucks and some credit

49:46

cards out of his wallet and the keys to his

49:48

Dodge truck. Before dawn,

49:50

she'd picked up Haley and was racing for the

49:52

state line with Georgia. The

49:55

next morning, Elisa's date, a dry cleaner,

49:57

found his truck missing, but in

49:59

its place was a jaguar convertible with the keys

50:01

in it. He had to

50:03

go to work so he took the jag

50:05

and was almost instantly swarmed by cops looking

50:07

for Larry McNabney's murderer. Can you freaking

50:09

imagine this poor bastard? By

50:13

the time they knew to look for

50:15

a red Dodge truck, Elisa was nearly

50:17

in South Carolina. Haley, though, wasn't happy.

50:20

The last time this had happened she'd been eight years

50:22

old and her mom was the center of her world.

50:25

Now she was 17 and she'd made

50:27

friends in Destin, including a boyfriend. And

50:30

now they were on the road again. What was going on?

50:33

What about her own life? Didn't she have a right to

50:35

that? They alternately argued

50:37

and cried all the way to Charleston

50:39

and in a motel room there, Elisa,

50:41

we should probably start calling her Lauren

50:43

again, no? Lauren told Haley

50:45

most of what had happened, why they'd

50:48

run from Florida, her thefts, how she'd

50:50

killed Larry and kept him in a

50:52

fridge for months before burying him, pretty

50:54

much the whole dirty deal. In the

50:56

morning they headed back to Florida, pulling

50:58

into Destin that evening. Lauren

51:01

put Haley in a cab so she could go stay

51:03

with her friends, then wrote her daughter an eight-page letter.

51:07

Then she took the last of her weed from the truck

51:09

and headed for the beach. Her

51:11

plan was to swim out into the ocean as far

51:13

as she could until she was too tired to make

51:15

her way back and would drown. But

51:18

she wanted one last joint first. The

51:20

police had Haley's friends under surveillance and picked

51:23

her up as soon as she arrived. She

51:25

told them she was worried her mom would hurt herself,

51:27

so they followed her directions to the beach and arrested

51:30

Lauren as she sat on the sand and smoked. Florida

51:33

detectives interviewed her that night. She

51:36

confessed to killing Larry and half tried to justify

51:38

it with tales of abuse and threats. The

51:41

confessions full of contradictions, mistakes, and

51:44

easily proven lies, though. You

51:46

can't trust Lauren. She

51:49

threw Sarah under the bus, saying she'd been

51:51

there for Larry's poisoning at the hotel and

51:53

even administered some of it herself, but that

51:55

didn't really fit with the admittedly confused timeline

51:57

she offered. Sarah Hadn't come

51:59

back. Sacramento. And so hours afterwards.

52:02

As for the actual final fatal dose

52:05

of Zile Asean which Lauren still called

52:07

special case she said Larry had taken

52:09

that himself on the evening of September

52:11

eleventh, back in the house in Lodi,

52:14

after his hallucinatory tour to Yosemite and

52:16

back. He'd. Wanted to kill himself

52:18

Lauren said so she showed him how and gave

52:20

him the zile is in which he's been keeping

52:22

in advising bottle. Larry.

52:25

Chugged it all down by himself. Lauren

52:27

said she taken to the hospital if he wanted, but

52:29

he didn't. Do. You believe that?

52:32

You. Shouldn't believer. Learn

52:34

murdered them. She'd

52:36

been planning it for weeks. That.

52:38

Was why she'd moved so much money

52:40

into her own accounts previous month. That

52:43

was why she'd already made arrangements to

52:45

Solaris Truth days before he died. And

52:47

it was why like the dumb as

52:49

she was, she been asking around of

52:51

horse. Tranquilizer could kill a guy. When.

52:54

She'd gotten when that the police were seriously looking

52:56

into Larry. Disappearance. Larne and

52:58

Sarah had put his body in the back of

53:00

the Jag and driven to the Rodeo in Las

53:02

Vegas hoping to bury him somewhere there, which is

53:04

a weird choice when you're driving through mountains and

53:07

across as us to get there. But there you

53:09

go. Again, Do miss.

53:11

But. The land around Vegas was apparently too hard,

53:13

so. They drove home. At. Four

53:16

in the morning, Lauren went out and the giant

53:18

again and started digging a hole in a vineyard

53:20

not far south of where they lived. At first

53:22

she suggested it was just her. Then.

53:25

She said Sarah was there to. It was dark

53:27

and it was raining and Lauren can see much

53:29

of what she was doing. She buried Larry's does

53:31

she could. Then.

53:33

She drove around for our shoving her and

53:36

Larry's close knit all over the place. And

53:38

then she went home where she and Sarah clean the

53:40

Jaguar in the fridge. Not.

53:43

Long after Lauren signed her statement, Sarah

53:45

was arrested in California. Lauren.

53:48

Was infuriated when she watched the press conference

53:50

about the arrest. She'd. Want

53:52

to sell her story to the movies and. These

53:54

guys were just giving it away for free. way

53:58

to keep your priorities straight learn She

54:01

lawyered up and was soon transferred back to

54:04

her hometown of Brooksville to await extradition. There,

54:07

she had what I can only assume was

54:09

a really strange jailhouse reunion with her family.

54:13

In jail, Lauren wrote a letter to her attorney

54:15

complaining that the guards weren't observing her as frequently

54:17

as they should or providing the required access to

54:19

a phone and shower. She said her family should

54:21

have a good case against the jail. And

54:24

later that night, she tore her sheet into

54:26

strips to make a rope and hanged herself in her

54:29

cell. If

54:31

she hadn't, there's every chance Sarah Dutrow would have

54:33

been offered a plea deal to testify against Lauren.

54:36

Instead, the prosecution went after her for first degree

54:38

murder and tried to get a conviction by painting

54:40

her as the driving force behind Larry's murder.

54:44

That was a stretch. Lauren's statements in

54:46

Florida were inadmissible, and Lauren was such a

54:48

liar that they wouldn't have been much good

54:50

anyway. The main

54:52

evidence against Sarah was her own statements to

54:54

the police, which showed a lot of evasiveness

54:56

and lies in the early interviews before finally,

54:59

maybe, coming somewhere near the truth. The

55:02

jury hung on the first degree murder

55:04

charge. They hung on the second degree,

55:06

too, by one holdout. Everybody

55:09

else wanted a convict. So

55:11

Sarah Dutrow was found guilty of voluntary

55:13

manslaughter and accessory after the fact and

55:15

given the maximum sentence, 11 years. She

55:19

was released in 2011, and she seems to

55:21

have kept herself off the radar ever since.

55:23

Yeah, so here we go again. Another

55:26

opportunist who managed to fall ass backwards

55:28

into a great situation, a relationship

55:30

with a guy who really loved her, with the potential

55:32

to make plenty of money and show her plenty of

55:34

fun. He'd been sober for years. She's

55:37

the one that discouraged him from staying that way.

55:40

Rather than embrace that and embrace him and be

55:42

grateful for what she had, she had to let

55:44

the Greed Goblin take over. And

55:47

like the Greed Goblin always does, it left nothing

55:49

but ruin and heartbreak. Took out

55:51

a good guy, left his family and

55:53

friends heartbroken, and then took out Lauren

55:55

slash Elisa herself. Not to

55:58

mention Sarah Dutrow. Was it worth it? it?

56:00

Hell no! You know, money's

56:02

great, y'all, but not when it's a sickness. We

56:05

gotta fight that shit. It'll eat us alive. So

56:09

that was a wild one, right campers? You know,

56:11

we'll have another one for you next week. But

56:14

for now, lock your doors, light your lights, and

56:16

stay safe until we get together again around the

56:18

true crime campfire. And as always, we

56:20

want to send a grateful shout out to a few of

56:22

our lovely patrons. Thank you

56:25

so much to Victoria,

56:27

Morgan, Abby, Miriam, Shirley,

56:29

Cassie, Cassie, Cassie, Vail-Roo.

56:32

That was the next name that got me

56:34

phlomics, there, Vail-Roo, that's so pretty. And Sienna.

56:37

We appreciate y'all to the moon and

56:39

back. And if you're not yet a

56:41

patron, you are missing out. Patrons of

56:43

our show get every episode ad-free, at

56:45

least a day early, sometimes even two,

56:47

plus tons of extra content, like patrons-only

56:49

episodes and hilarious post-show discussions. And

56:52

once you hit the $5 enough category, you get even

56:54

more cool stuff. A free sticker at $5,

56:56

a rad enamel pin while supplies last

56:58

at $10, virtual events with Katie and

57:00

me, and we're always looking for new

57:03

stuff to do for you. So if

57:05

you can, come join us at patreon.com/truecrimecampfire.

57:07

For great TCC merch, visit the

57:10

truecrimecampfire store at spreadshirt.com, and

57:12

check out our website at

57:14

truecrimecampfirepod.com. You can listen to us on YouTube now,

57:16

too. At

57:25

Giant Eagle, you may have spotted the

57:27

Stacker. With uncanny My Perks ability, she

57:29

stacks up the perks to choose either

57:32

dollars off or up to 20% off

57:35

her entire grocery bill. The

57:37

Stacker. Stacking up huge savings

57:39

with My Perks. Find your

57:41

My Perks-anality and transform your

57:43

shipping into free gas and free

57:45

series. Full details at

57:48

gianteagle.com/my perks. Perks

57:50

cannot be earned or redeemed on select items.

57:52

Restrictions apply. Judy was

57:55

boring. Hello. Then, Judy

57:57

discovered chumbacasino.com. It's

57:59

my little escape. Now Judy's the

58:01

life of the party. Oh baby, mama's bringing

58:03

home the bacon. Whoa, take it easy

58:05

Judy. Ch-ch-ch-ch-chumba! The

58:08

Chumba life is for everybody. So

58:10

go to chumbacasino.com and play over

58:12

100 casino-style games. Join today and

58:14

play for free for your chance

58:16

to redeem some serious prizes. Ch-ch-ch-ch-chumba!

58:19

chumbacasino.com No purchase necessary. Void word prohibited by

58:21

law. 18 plus terms and conditions apply. See

58:23

website for details.