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Hi Crime Junkies, I'm your host Ashley
00:00:02
Flowers.
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>> And I'm Britt.
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>> Today's story about Spencer Irwin is one
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that I know you've never heard before
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because it's never been reported on
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before. And that's probably because if
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you were to ask Fresno police, there's
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no story to tell. Or at least they would
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have said that for a while.
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Spencer was a 30-year-old man they found
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naked covered in dirt at the bottom of a
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loading dock back in [music] 2024.
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They initially assumed he was homeless,
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assumed he died of a drug overdose,
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assumed there was nothing they deemed
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worthy of investigating.
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So they didn't.
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But boy, were they wrong. [music]
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Because Spencer Irwin was none of the
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things they assumed. And he has a mother
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in his corner who has been doing all the
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investigating they weren't. And now
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she's got us in her corner.
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>> [music]
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>> And you won't believe what together we
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found.
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This is Spencer [music] Irwin's story.
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From the moment Kelly Irwin first got a
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call from the Fresno County Deputy
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Coroner telling her that her son was
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dead, things felt disorienting. It was
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just before 11:00 a.m. on Friday, August
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2nd, 2024 when she was told that her
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30-year-old son Spencer had been found
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the day before naked near some
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dumpsters. And they couldn't say for
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certain yet, but based on the fact that
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there were no external signs of trauma,
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they were pretty sure that he died from
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an overdose. Kelly never knew her son to
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use drugs and she had no idea why he
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would be naked or why he was found where
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he was. Honestly, part of her was sure
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that this was some kind of huge
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misunderstanding. Like it had to be
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someone else and everyone was just
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confused. It had to be. Kelly wanted to
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go down to the Fresno County Sheriff
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Coroner's office to see him for herself.
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But they tell her that she can't. They
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are sure it is Spencer and she's going
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to have to wait
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agonizing days while they get him
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cleaned up and transferred to the
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funeral home before she can see him. But
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five agonizing days later, that doesn't
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even happen. Now, Kelly knows the guy
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who works at the funeral home and he
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stops her. He's like, "Listen, Kelly,
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I'm not going to let you see him."
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Because Spencer was in such an advanced
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state of decomposition that they wanted
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to spare her from that being the last
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mental image of her son. So, instead,
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she asked to see at least a picture of a
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tattoo that Spencer had.
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When they gave her that, she finally
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believed them. It really was her
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firstborn that they found.
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But she still can't understand how.
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According to the medical examiner, they
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were still waiting on the toxicology
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results to come back, which they were
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pretty confident were going to confirm
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what they'd been thinking all along,
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that Spencer just died from an overdose.
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Like I said, Kelly had never known her
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son to do drugs. And I don't mean that
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in like a naive parent way where you
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think your kids is like some kind of
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saint and you're like oblivious to what
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is like actually going on in their life.
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Kelly is the first person to tell you
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that Spencer struggled with alcohol use
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and was currently in a period of
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recurrence. He was really open with her
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about his struggles. But he wasn't the
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party with drugs type of guy. She said
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that he would drink alcohol, beer or
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vodka, but typically at home in sort of
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like a self-medicating type of way, by
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himself. Now, the thing you got to know
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about Kelly is all she's after is the
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truth. So, even though drugs didn't make
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any sense to her, she wasn't even ruling
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that out. She was just asking herself,
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"Why now? Who would Spencer have gotten
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them from?" Like, "Is it possible that
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someone else drugged him? Was there
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something that they were all just
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missing here?"
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>> And did the autopsy show anything at
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all?
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>> Well, no, because there was no autopsy
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done.
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>> I'm sorry.
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What? I mean, how are we even talking
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about tox screens, but there's no
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autopsy?
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>> The ME's office told Kelly that Spencer
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was released without one because they
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didn't think he needed one.
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>> How do you even know that at this point?
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>> Because they just said they took some
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blood samples to do a tox screen.
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>> Like a tox screen to confirm the
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conclusion they already made even though
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you can't actually make that conclusion
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without the results.
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>> Exactly.
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>> Okay.
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>> And listen, Kelly didn't just sit back
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and take this answer. She knew that they
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should be doing one. She was pushing
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them over and over to do one. Except the
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more that she pushed, the more she said
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that the coroner's office refused. And
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the deputy coroner tells her like
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"Listen, we've seen this before. Based
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on how we found him, we are confident he
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took some kind of illegal drug,
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something that made him so hot he
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stripped down naked before he died." And
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they point out that there were no
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footprints in the dirt around him. They
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only saw what they call a "snow angel"
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pattern around his head and arms that
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they suspect he made while overdosing.
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They tell her that there are several
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other people who have died in this same
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manner. And Kelly's asking all the right
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questions. Like, "Okay, I hear you.
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If he took something and removed his
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clothes,
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then where are they? Did they get
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collected? Do you have pictures from the
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scene to confirm if his clothes are
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around him? No one's turned clothes back
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over to me, so like where are his
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things?
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But Fresno PD are like, "You know, I
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don't know. Didn't collect anything."
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>> Because there was nothing to collect or
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because you just didn't collect things
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that were there. Like those are two
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pretty different things.
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>> That is what I'll be attempting to
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answer throughout this episode. I
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believe some of his things may have been
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around there. And it's a real shame that
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they didn't try to collect more. Because
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near the end of September, Spencer's
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toxicology results do come back. And
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they do not make this the open and shut
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case that Fresno PD thought it was.
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Based on the coroner's report that Kelly
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got and shared with us, Spencer did have
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alcohol in his system, but only at the
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level of .03
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and only two drugs showed up, a
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barbiturate and gabapentin, but neither
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of them were at toxic or lethal levels.
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>> So then, what killed him?
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>> We won't ever know because by the time
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these results came back, Spencer had
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already been cremated. Authorities
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wouldn't do the autopsy, so when
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Spencer's body got released, Kelly,
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Spencer's dad Dave, and Spencer's
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girlfriend Kate got together and decided
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that Spencer would have wanted to be
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cremated. And then after they did that,
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they had a service to honor his life.
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And get this, Kelly didn't know that
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private autopsies could be requested.
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So, she just took the coroner's office
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at their word.
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>> Right. Because like, they're the
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authorities. It's their job to handle
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these situations properly. Like if they
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say like, "Nothing to see here." you
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want to be able to believe them.
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>> Exactly. Why would a family be read up
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on like this option of a private autopsy
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without reason? And it was heartbreaking
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for us to be the ones to tell her that
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that was an option. There's even a
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really easy phone number to remember
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that Kelly hopes people listening to
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this will pay attention to in case
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they're ever in this unimaginable
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scenario. Super easy. 1-800-AUTOSPY.
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>> Yeah, I remember we learned about this
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in the Amanda Wenkoski case, right?
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>> So, you guys, commit this to memory.
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1-800-AUTOSPY.
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Maybe a private autopsy would have given
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Kelly the answers that she was looking
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for. Because she is stunned to see in
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the report that not only did her son not
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overdose, the coroner's report
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ultimately rules her son's manner of
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death as natural and his cause of death
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as probable sudden cardiac death from
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chronic alcohol and tobacco use.
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>> Okay.
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I'm going to need you to like walk me
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through this.
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If he just had some random cardiac
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event,
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why is he one naked,
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and two at a loading dock where he,
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unless you know differently and haven't
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told me yet, had no business being. Like
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this is like a pretty random place for
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him to be.
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>> That part has zero explanation. [music]
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The report just focuses on his past
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medical history of alcohol abuse, his
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high blood pressure, elevated heart
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rate, among other conditions. Yet when
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Kelly actually sat down with the
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coroner's office to go over all of the
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results, she says that they admit to her
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that since they couldn't find a clear
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cause of death, their only option was to
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call the manner natural causes.
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>> Okay, I'm not a coroner, but I'm pretty
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sure that wasn't their only option.
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>> You could be a coroner, though.
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Remember, in many places you don't need
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to have a medical training to be a
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coroner.
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>> Which is still wild to me.
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>> The sheriff coroner on these reports,
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John Zanoni, doesn't have medical
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training. He's got a BS degree in
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criminal justice with a minor in
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agriculture business.
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>> I feel like with my history I could also
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be a coroner [laughter]
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with with those like credentials.
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>> been a career law enforcement guy who
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was voted into the position.
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>> I mean, great reminder to pay attention
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to local elections.
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>> You need to be voting for the person who
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you would want in charge of solving your
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homicide, not the person with your
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preferred color tie. And I keep saying
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I'm done with right and left. It is
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about right and wrong here. But here we
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are. Kelly has the coroner's office
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telling her that this is the best they
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can do with what they have because they
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don't have an autopsy.
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But this version of best is just not
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good enough. So Kelly goes to meet with
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the Fresno PD detectives and begs them
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to do a real investigation. She's like,
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"Listen, I just need answers and
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everything you've been telling me about
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my son is wrong." Like listen, she was
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patient. She tried trusting everyone,
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gave them time to do all their tests,
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but now something different needs to
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happen before more critical evidence is
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lost out on. And in response to this
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impassioned plea,
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she says that one of the detectives on
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the case is like listen,
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your son died from natural causes.
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There's no evidence of a homicide here.
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Case closed.
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Your son struggled with alcohol use. At
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least now you don't have to worry about
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him relapsing.
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>> Okay, Ashley. [laughter]
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I've been in recovery for 4 years, and I
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hope to God that you would prefer me
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here and like doing well, but maybe
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struggling here and there than I don't
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know, dead?
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>> If someone dared say that to my face, so
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help me God. And we reached out to the
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Fresno PD for comment, not just about
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this specific interaction, but any
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comment about this case as a whole, and
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they declined. But Kelly is a better
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woman than me because she told us that
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even though it was jarring for her to
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hear that, and obviously it stuck with
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her, she didn't have any ill will
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against that detective. She's had a lot
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of people say strange things to her
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after her son passed, so she could look
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past that. What she couldn't look past
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was the case closed, no evidence of a
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homicide stuff.
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>> Yeah, we don't have evidence because
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we didn't do anything to collect
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evidence. Like
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that's that's the issue there, right?
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>> but if they want evidence, fine. Kelly's
00:11:04
going to give them evidence. Cuz little
00:11:07
did they know, just days after Kelly
00:11:09
learned that Spencer had died, she
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started doing her own investigation. And
00:11:13
there is nothing like the power of a
00:11:17
mother on a mission.
00:11:22
>> Quiet coastal towns may seem peaceful,
00:11:25
but they can harbor dark secrets. I'm
00:11:28
Kylie Low, host of Dark Down East, a
00:11:30
podcast that tells true crime stories
00:11:32
from my own New England community to
00:11:34
help victims and families get justice.
00:11:37
Listen to Dark Down East wherever you
00:11:39
get your podcasts.
00:11:40
>> [music]
00:11:44
>> Thankfully, Kelly Irwin is a Crime
00:11:46
Junkie. So, when she found herself in
00:11:49
the impossible situation of having to
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investigate her own son's death on her
00:11:54
own, she knew all the right
00:11:56
documentation to collect and what leads
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to follow.
00:12:00
And by doing that, she was able to lay
00:12:02
out for us a clear timeline of Spencer's
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last movements, going all the way back
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to the month before his death in June
00:12:10
2024. That was the month that Kelly
00:12:12
first noticed Spencer had started
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drinking again.
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She kept an eye on him and he was still
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going to school at Fresno City College,
00:12:19
maintaining his grades, but she could
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just tell. And those fears were
00:12:23
confirmed in the beginning of July when
00:12:25
she found out that Spencer had to go to
00:12:26
the hospital and get stitches after he
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drank too much, fell, and got a pretty
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big cut on his [music] forehead. After
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this, he was open with his mom about
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wanting to get help and he planned on
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checking into a local rehab, but he had
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to wait for a spot to open up and that
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wouldn't have been until the end of
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July. Now, anytime Spencer started
00:12:44
drinking again, it made Kelly nervous.
00:12:45
She she's a mom, right? Like she worried
00:12:47
about him. But they'd made it through
00:12:49
this before and Spencer had been pretty
00:12:51
good about communicating with her when
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he was trying to get back on track. Now,
00:12:55
in the time before he was set to check
00:12:57
into rehab, Spencer tried detoxing. He
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told his girlfriend Kate that starting
00:13:01
on July 10th, he was going to go to a
00:13:02
detox program for like a week so he'd be
00:13:05
off the grid. But I know his sobriety
00:13:07
didn't last because Spencer went to the
00:13:09
hospital on July 24th with abdominal
00:13:12
pain, nausea, and a headache. The same
00:13:15
symptoms that he had come to the
00:13:16
hospital with before when he was in
00:13:18
withdraw. Now, the report says that
00:13:20
Spencer told them he last drank alcohol
00:13:23
2 days before that, but he was trying to
00:13:25
detox again so that he could start a
00:13:27
rehab program on July 29th. Now, he was
00:13:30
discharged from the hospital that same
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day and in communication with Kelly in
00:13:35
the days that follow. Like there were
00:13:36
things that he needed to get in order
00:13:38
before checking into rehab. Number one
00:13:40
on his list was getting his phone fixed.
00:13:42
Like
00:13:43
it had been randomly like turning off
00:13:45
and he needed it because he was going to
00:13:47
still be able to keep doing his classes
00:13:48
at Fresno City College while he was
00:13:51
checked into rehab like through his
00:13:52
phone and online. On Saturday, this
00:13:55
would have been July 27th, Kelly knows
00:13:56
that Spencer walked to a Verizon store.
00:13:59
This would have been like a 4-mile walk,
00:14:01
but unfortunately, it was closed when he
00:14:03
got there. So, he had to walk back to
00:14:05
his apartment. The next day, Sunday,
00:14:07
Spencer called Kelly and asked for a
00:14:09
ride to that same Verizon store, but she
00:14:11
told him that he need to wait a little
00:14:12
bit before she could give him a ride.
00:14:14
And he's like, "Listen, no problem. I'm
00:14:16
just going to head out before it gets
00:14:17
too hot. I'll walk again."
00:14:18
>> Wait, whose phone did he call from if
00:14:20
his phone wasn't working?
00:14:22
>> I think he used a buddy's phone, this
00:14:23
guy named Angel who he had met in that
00:14:27
like July 10th detox place. And Angel, I
00:14:29
guess was actually going to be checking
00:14:30
into rehab with Spencer on the 29th.
00:14:33
>> Okay.
00:14:34
>> And just to make it clear like his phone
00:14:36
it obviously wasn't working this time
00:14:37
cuz I know he called from Angel's phone,
00:14:38
but it wasn't like totally broken from
00:14:40
what I could tell. It just kept turning
00:14:41
on and off or whatever.
00:14:43
>> Yeah. So, shortly after 8:00 a.m.,
00:14:45
Spencer walks out of his apartment
00:14:47
carrying a black backpack. He's got a
00:14:49
black hat on. He's wearing jeans, a
00:14:51
white shirt with black shoes. And Kelly
00:14:53
confirmed these details with Spencer's
00:14:55
landlord, and she also got a still image
00:14:58
of him leaving. So, we have like visual
00:15:00
proof of what he looked like when he
00:15:01
left. Now, the exact route that he took
00:15:04
is unknown. Now, Kelly asked detectives
00:15:06
to look at traffic cameras in the area
00:15:08
along the route that she was pretty sure
00:15:10
Spencer would have taken, but that
00:15:12
request was ignored. So, there's no
00:15:15
concrete evidence to prove his path. The
00:15:18
best Kelly can do is map out the most
00:15:20
likely route, which would have taken
00:15:22
Spencer along this busy street through a
00:15:23
mostly residential area. But somewhere
00:15:26
along the way, Spencer's path had to
00:15:29
have diverged because when Kelly tracks
00:15:31
down the Verizon employee that was
00:15:33
working on Sunday, they told her they
00:15:35
never saw anyone matching Spencer's
00:15:38
description that day. Plus, Spencer's on
00:15:40
Kelly's account, so she would have had
00:15:41
to authorize any kind of like
00:15:42
transactions that he would have made.
00:15:44
>> And there's no footage of Spencer coming
00:15:46
back to the apartment.
00:15:47
>> No, he just vanishes somewhere after
00:15:50
leaving the apartment around 8:00 a.m.
00:15:51
>> And then his body is found
00:15:54
when exactly?
00:15:54
>> His body is found Thursday, August 1st.
00:15:58
But the thing is like no one can tell
00:15:59
her when his body actually had ended up
00:16:02
there. Because on the corner's report,
00:16:04
Spencer's day and time of death is
00:16:06
listed as the day and time that they
00:16:08
found [music] him and responded to the
00:16:09
scene. And we know that he was already
00:16:11
showing signs of decomp by then.
00:16:12
>> Right.
00:16:13
>> So like had he been there the whole
00:16:15
time? Less time? Is there like time
00:16:17
missing? We don't know.
00:16:19
>> wouldn't he have been found if he was
00:16:21
there the whole time?
00:16:22
>> Not necessarily. So when you see
00:16:24
pictures, he was kind of tucked back
00:16:26
behind this building and this wasn't a
00:16:28
super busy loading dock. And for most of
00:16:30
the day, he would have been in a shaded
00:16:32
area. So even if someone was driving by
00:16:35
on like the parking lot part above the
00:16:38
loading dock,
00:16:38
>> Mhm.
00:16:39
>> I don't think that like he would have
00:16:40
stood out. But the thing is even in a
00:16:42
shaded area, an expert that we talked to
00:16:45
said that the thing that they would
00:16:46
expect was for him to have been more
00:16:48
decomposed if he was there for all four
00:16:51
days. So I don't know, I think there
00:16:53
very well could be missing time that
00:16:56
like we need to fill.
00:16:57
>> And in relation to like
00:17:00
his apartment, the Verizon store where
00:17:01
he was headed, where is this loading
00:17:04
dock?
00:17:05
>> Not on the way. I mean, it's closer to
00:17:07
the store than his place, but there's
00:17:09
like no direct path to the store that
00:17:11
goes by this area. And actually, the
00:17:14
next piece of the mystery clicked into
00:17:16
place when Kelly actually went in person
00:17:19
to see the area where Spencer was found.
00:17:22
So, this is like a storage area for a
00:17:24
waste company in Fresno. This is
00:17:26
basically where they store dumpsters and
00:17:28
stuff, and it is not heavily monitored
00:17:30
at the time. Now, when Kelly was there,
00:17:32
she was looking for places with cameras,
00:17:35
and she found multiple, but most of them
00:17:38
gave some kind of excuse for why they
00:17:40
couldn't help. They were either like,
00:17:41
"Oh, we don't like have tape or
00:17:43
whatever, or tape erases after 24 hours,
00:17:45
or if you want our tape, you got to
00:17:47
bring the police back with you." But
00:17:49
thankfully, there was one business that
00:17:52
still had footage, and they were willing
00:17:54
to let Kelly see it. And this camera is
00:17:57
pointed in the direction of one of the
00:18:00
two gates that allows people on and off
00:18:03
this property. [music] And just to like
00:18:05
orient you, so like imagine you're
00:18:06
overhead looking down on a rectangular
00:18:09
building running vertically.
00:18:11
At the bottom, you have like the main
00:18:12
road, and to the right and left of this
00:18:14
building, you can enter what's basically
00:18:15
like a parking lot that runs like a U
00:18:18
around the building. And the loading
00:18:20
dock where Spencer is eventually found
00:18:21
is like in the very back. So, from the
00:18:23
vantage point overhead, the camera is
00:18:26
pointing at the entrance on the left.
00:18:28
Now, Kelly spends hours going through
00:18:30
the footage, which seems to only capture
00:18:32
when it's motion activated, but she's
00:18:34
hoping to see some sign of Spencer going
00:18:36
behind the business between July 28th
00:18:39
and August 1st. And while she doesn't
00:18:41
get any confirmed footage of him on this
00:18:44
camera, there is something that catches
00:18:47
her eye. The timestamp on the footage
00:18:50
said that it was just after 10:00 p.m.
00:18:52
on July 29th when a car pulls up to the
00:18:56
entrance. The security gate is already
00:18:59
open, so this car can drive right
00:19:01
through.
00:19:02
But as it does, it turns off its lights.
00:19:06
Now, the quality isn't great, and what
00:19:07
we've got is a video that Kelly took of
00:19:09
the original footage on her phone, but
00:19:12
you can see that the car pulls in,
00:19:15
goes off screen, and then it's out of
00:19:17
sight for less than 15 minutes. Then, it
00:19:20
comes back and just leaves the way it
00:19:23
came in.
00:19:24
After the car leaves, there's something
00:19:26
else that is captured. Now, I only have
00:19:29
a short clip of this, but the video
00:19:32
starts with someone standing by the
00:19:34
front of the building alone and in the
00:19:37
dark. And then, they walk off like out
00:19:40
of frame, but in the opposite direction
00:19:43
than where the car came and left from.
00:19:45
But, Kelly finds it odd that anyone is
00:19:48
out there in this area at this time.
00:19:50
>> Okay, could she tell anything about the
00:19:52
car that was driving in and out?
00:19:53
>> Well, the footage is too blurry to make
00:19:55
out any kind of license plate, but the
00:19:57
good news is the car is distinctive
00:19:58
enough that you can very clearly tell
00:20:00
the make and model. It is a white Kia
00:20:03
Soul.
00:20:03
>> Oh, those are like super boxy and
00:20:05
identifiable.
00:20:06
>> Yeah, which gives Kelly hope that maybe
00:20:08
if she can find a connection to anyone
00:20:11
involved in Spencer's life who has
00:20:14
access has a white Kia Soul, maybe this
00:20:16
is going to be some kind of link that
00:20:18
will like lead her to what happened. Cuz
00:20:20
though she can't prove anything from
00:20:21
this video alone, she feels confident
00:20:24
that something happened to Spencer on
00:20:26
Sunday the 28th. And whatever that car
00:20:29
was doing back there on the 29th had
00:20:31
something to do with how his body ended
00:20:33
up back there.
00:20:35
After Spencer's death, Kelly would go
00:20:37
back to that area and look around at the
00:20:39
back of the building where he was found,
00:20:40
looking for anything that might resemble
00:20:43
evidence. And oddly enough, one of the
00:20:45
first few times she went there, she saw
00:20:48
a pair of dirty underwear laying at the
00:20:50
bottom of the loading dock. And I'm
00:20:52
using the term like loading dock kind of
00:20:54
loosely. Basically, there was this
00:20:56
platform and then like three [music]
00:20:57
steps down and you were on the ground
00:20:59
level. So, it's not like this big pit or
00:21:00
anything. But, she took a picture of the
00:21:02
underwear because without a doubt to
00:21:05
her, she believes these were Spencer's.
00:21:07
Kelly told our reporter, Taylor Day,
00:21:09
that Spencer wore a specific brand with
00:21:12
unique designs on them. He had like 30
00:21:13
pairs of these things. Now, Kelly didn't
00:21:15
collect them at the time, and she wishes
00:21:18
she did because when she went back
00:21:20
another time, they were gone.
00:21:23
>> And I assume that it wasn't the police
00:21:25
who went back and got them.
00:21:26
>> No. She told them about the underwear,
00:21:28
though. She's giving everything that she
00:21:30
finds to Fresno PD as she finds it. But,
00:21:33
what they do with it at the time is a
00:21:35
mystery to us all. Kelly believes that
00:21:38
Fresno PD just wrote Spencer off from
00:21:40
the beginning because they just didn't
00:21:42
want to investigate. And when I say from
00:21:44
the beginning,
00:21:46
I mean right there at the scene. Because
00:21:48
guess what else she saw on surveillance
00:21:50
footage when she kept combing through
00:21:52
it. She saw officers respond on August
00:21:55
1st. And she said she watched a police
00:21:58
car drive back there real slow,
00:22:01
then an ambulance. A crime scene unit
00:22:03
van even pulled up.
00:22:05
But, they didn't go back there.
00:22:08
It just drove away.
00:22:10
>> The The crime scene unit didn't even
00:22:12
drive back to the crime scene?
00:22:16
>> Nope.
00:22:18
>> Uh The more you tell me, the more pissed
00:22:19
off I'm getting. I can't
00:22:21
They didn't know who this person was,
00:22:24
what his history was, what had I mean,
00:22:26
they don't even They But, they don't
00:22:27
They shouldn't even need to know that to
00:22:28
do their job.
00:22:29
>> Right. This is their job.
00:22:31
>> That's what I'm saying. They wrote him
00:22:32
off and never gave him the courtesy of a
00:22:35
proper investigation. Now, remember,
00:22:37
their excuse at the beginning was like,
00:22:40
"Oh, we see this all the time. We get
00:22:42
calls like this. Man on drugs strips
00:22:44
nude." That's why they handled it the
00:22:45
way they did.
00:22:46
>> Okay, but did they?
00:22:47
>> Well, this is This is the question. We
00:22:50
requested records for calls of service
00:22:52
within this like triangle around where
00:22:54
Spencer was found. When our FOIA came
00:22:56
back, it turns out Spencer was the only
00:22:58
death of a person called that came up in
00:23:00
the year leading up to his death.
00:23:02
>> So, it's not like they were getting like
00:23:03
multiple calls like this.
00:23:05
>> At least not in this specific area. Now,
00:23:08
I'll say their jurisdiction is much
00:23:10
bigger than just this small area, and in
00:23:14
this area, there were quite a few
00:23:15
welfare check calls, like sick or
00:23:16
injured people. There were three
00:23:18
suicides, but like nothing like this.
00:23:21
So, Kelly takes all of this proof, what
00:23:23
she feels is important evidence, and she
00:23:26
has a sit-down with detectives. And
00:23:28
she's like, "Listen,
00:23:29
I'm going to walk you through this, and
00:23:31
then you tell me if at the end this all
00:23:34
sounds like natural causes." And
00:23:36
hypothetical after hypothetical is
00:23:39
disproven. On drugs? Nope. Tox results
00:23:42
came back with no red flags. So, our
00:23:44
detectives are like, "Well, you know,
00:23:45
like maybe he had a mental crisis and
00:23:47
took his clothes off and was like
00:23:49
walking around naked." But Kelly's like,
00:23:51
"Okay, but like probably not because
00:23:53
wouldn't that have been reported?" So,
00:23:55
they say, "Well, you know, maybe he got
00:23:56
hot and went back behind the building to
00:23:58
cool off and then just like passed
00:24:00
away."
00:24:01
But Kelly's like, "You're telling me
00:24:02
that Spencer walked over 4 miles to that
00:24:04
loading dock to cool off?"
00:24:07
>> That literally makes zero sense.
00:24:09
>> And then they point back to the fact
00:24:11
that there were no other footprints
00:24:12
around him in all that dirt. There was
00:24:14
just that snow angel pattern. And then
00:24:16
Kelly's like, "Okay, but then riddle me
00:24:18
this.
00:24:19
How did he end up there if there are no
00:24:21
footprints?"
00:24:22
>> No footprints are no footprints and
00:24:23
there's someone here, so like
00:24:25
he didn't just appear.
00:24:26
>> Every time Kelly pushes back, detectives
00:24:28
are like, "Well, you know, yeah, you're
00:24:30
right. This doesn't make sense." And so,
00:24:33
Kelly keeps advocating for Spencer. And
00:24:36
eventually,
00:24:37
finally, Fresno PD opens a formal
00:24:41
investigation. At this point, they're
00:24:43
like 6 weeks behind, and so much
00:24:47
evidence has been lost.
00:24:49
But
00:24:50
Kelly has developed one more lead that
00:24:53
she hands them. And it's the one in her
00:24:55
mind that is the best place for them to
00:24:58
start. You see, before Kelly got the
00:25:00
call from the coroner's office, she had
00:25:02
been looking for her son. She hadn't
00:25:04
heard from him in days, which was
00:25:06
unusual. So, on July 31st, she had
00:25:09
called his landlord and asked her to do
00:25:11
a welfare check. And the call that she
00:25:13
got back on that same day was weird.
00:25:16
The landlord said that she had checked
00:25:18
Spencer's apartment, and Spencer wasn't
00:25:20
there,
00:25:21
but someone else was.
00:25:28
Kelly told us that Spencer was part of
00:25:30
something called the Hope Program, a
00:25:33
housing initiative designed to help and
00:25:35
support Fresno City College students
00:25:37
experiencing homelessness. The program
00:25:39
also provided substance use counseling
00:25:41
for those dealing with addiction. And
00:25:43
part of the agreement with Spencer's
00:25:44
college and the program was that the
00:25:46
landlord had full authority to go into
00:25:48
the tenant's apartments to make sure
00:25:49
that nothing bad was going on. And so,
00:25:51
on July 31st, when Kelly couldn't get a
00:25:53
hold of Spencer, she asked him to go in
00:25:55
and check on him. So, when the landlord
00:25:57
called to report back, she told Kelly
00:25:59
this strange story. She said that when
00:26:01
she entered his door code and walked
00:26:03
into the small studio apartment, she
00:26:06
didn't see anyone. So, she was about to
00:26:08
turn around and leave, but then she
00:26:09
heard this sound come from the bathroom.
00:26:12
So, she goes over and opens the door,
00:26:14
and there was this guy just
00:26:16
in there. And she's like,
00:26:19
"Who are you?" Because she knew it
00:26:20
wasn't Spencer. And this guy's like,
00:26:22
"Oh, uh you know, I'm Spencer's cousin.
00:26:24
He's letting me stay here while he's in
00:26:26
rehab."
00:26:28
But the landlord doesn't think that's
00:26:30
true. Like I said, she like knows
00:26:32
Spencer, she knows Kelly, she's also
00:26:34
seen this guy around. She didn't know
00:26:36
who he was. She was pretty sure he
00:26:38
wasn't Spencer's cousin.
00:26:40
And Kelly later learns that this guy's
00:26:42
name is Angel Gonzalez.
00:26:45
>> Angel, that's the guy whose phone
00:26:47
Spencer used to call his mom, right?
00:26:49
>> Correct.
00:26:49
>> And I guess that's what I'm getting at.
00:26:52
Like, Kelly knows that like Spencer and
00:26:54
Angel were supposed to be checking in on
00:26:56
the 29th, right?
00:26:57
>> Right, exactly. It's not adding up.
00:26:59
Angel was supposed to check in, too.
00:27:01
He's not supposed to be there. So, Kelly
00:27:03
asks if detectives can look into this
00:27:05
guy. But, Fresno PD just tells Kelly,
00:27:07
"Listen, we'll keep you posted." And
00:27:10
they also want her to stop doing her own
00:27:13
investigation, especially in that part
00:27:15
of town, because they tell her it's not
00:27:16
safe for her. Naturally, though, Kelly
00:27:18
doesn't stop.
00:27:19
>> Thank god.
00:27:20
>> Day after day, she shows up going from
00:27:23
business to business asking anyone if
00:27:25
they've seen her son. She shows them
00:27:27
Spencer's picture. She also goes into
00:27:29
different homeless encampments along the
00:27:31
route that he would have taken from his
00:27:32
apartment to that Verizon store, but she
00:27:34
doesn't get any leads. And to Kelly,
00:27:37
even after the police start
00:27:40
investigating, she says it feels more
00:27:42
like detectives were trying to do
00:27:43
everything they could to prove their
00:27:46
conclusion rather than look into whether
00:27:49
or not foul play could have occurred.
00:27:50
Like, they spoke to Spencer's
00:27:52
girlfriend, Kate, months after his
00:27:54
death. And in their quick 15-minute
00:27:57
interview, they basically tried to
00:27:59
explain how meth could cause someone to
00:28:00
die in the manner that Spencer was
00:28:03
found. Our reporter spoke to Kate, and
00:28:05
she told us that she was adamant with
00:28:07
detectives that Spencer was never known
00:28:09
to use meth. Yes, he drank, but he did
00:28:12
not use hard drugs like that.
00:28:14
>> And his tox results prove that.
00:28:17
>> Yeah, so Kate is saying like the
00:28:19
detectives were trying to tell her that
00:28:20
meth may or may not show up in tox
00:28:22
results. And she said that they told her
00:28:24
it wouldn't have been impossible for it
00:28:26
to be in his system without showing up
00:28:29
in the results.
00:28:30
>> Is Is that true? I mean,
00:28:33
I guess I've always been under the
00:28:34
impression that if you die from meth, I
00:28:36
don't know, meth is in your system.
00:28:39
Like, like
00:28:40
>> that seems like a one-to-one. Like,
00:28:41
that's what happens.
00:28:42
>> Yeah, and listen, I was like, I felt
00:28:44
like I was losing my mind. I felt like I
00:28:45
was being gaslighted with them. I I
00:28:46
tried finding something definitive, and
00:28:50
I did find a couple of studies. There
00:28:51
was one from 2015, another from 2024,
00:28:54
and everything I'm reading indicates
00:28:56
that if you got meth in your system, it
00:28:59
would show up. Basically, Kate feels
00:29:01
like they were telling her this so maybe
00:29:02
that she would convince Kelly that
00:29:04
that's what could have happened, and
00:29:05
maybe this whole thing would just like
00:29:06
go away. I mean, if you're Kelly, I have
00:29:08
to imagine it feels like you're like
00:29:10
losing your grip on
00:29:12
>> reality.
00:29:13
>> Gaslighting you, right? That's what I'm
00:29:14
saying.
00:29:15
>> Everything seems so black and white cuz
00:29:17
it it is, and the people who are
00:29:18
supposed to be helping you, like you
00:29:20
said, they're just telling you not to
00:29:21
like believe your own eyes and ears.
00:29:23
>> Yes.
00:29:24
>> That's what led Kelly
00:29:26
to our website at the end of last year,
00:29:28
to fill out our case suggestion form
00:29:31
asking [music] us to help her.
00:29:33
So, I put one of our reporters, Taylor
00:29:35
Day, on it to help Kelly.
00:29:37
>> [music]
00:29:37
>> And together, they have still been
00:29:40
uncovering new information, including
00:29:43
finding a witness who is near that
00:29:45
loading dock the morning that Spencer
00:29:47
was found.
00:29:48
They were there when officers arrived,
00:29:52
and they told us that to them, it looked
00:29:55
like a homicide right away. Now, the
00:29:58
witness who was at the loading dock the
00:30:00
morning that Spencer was found asked to
00:30:02
remain anonymous for a number of
00:30:04
reasons, but we verified their identity
00:30:07
and the reason they had for even being
00:30:09
in that area, which was completely
00:30:11
unrelated to Spencer in any way. This
00:30:13
person told our reporter that they were
00:30:15
there when officers first arrived, and
00:30:17
they said that the officers were
00:30:19
immediately super dismissive, basically
00:30:22
just like, "Oh, another transient that
00:30:24
OD'd." Now, they may have jumped to that
00:30:26
conclusion because this place was an
00:30:28
area where sometimes transient folks
00:30:30
would be. And on a few occasions,
00:30:32
unhoused people would use that area to
00:30:34
camp out in. But the witness said that
00:30:36
they don't even know how they jumped to
00:30:38
that conclusion about Spencer because he
00:30:40
didn't have any of the telltale signs
00:30:43
that he was living on the streets. And
00:30:44
they took even bigger issue with the
00:30:46
fact that they were writing this off as
00:30:47
an overdose because this witness says
00:30:50
that they saw marks around Spencer's
00:30:53
neck, specifically a purple mark on the
00:30:56
back of his neck. And the witness said
00:30:58
that they spoke up immediately saying to
00:31:00
the officers that this did not look like
00:31:03
an overdose.
00:31:05
Which, if that's true, changes
00:31:09
everything.
00:31:09
>> Yeah.
00:31:10
>> So we knew what we had to do. Our
00:31:12
reporter goes to Kelly
00:31:13
>> [music]
00:31:14
>> and gets her to put in a records request
00:31:16
for the crime scene photos.
00:31:18
>> Wait, so there were photos taken?
00:31:20
>> There were photos. This is the one thing
00:31:22
they did do and did it well, it seems.
00:31:24
[music] Now we had Kelly ask for them
00:31:26
because departments will often release
00:31:28
more information to families than they
00:31:29
will to media outlets. And sure enough,
00:31:32
they were willing to give them to her.
00:31:34
Now she wasn't ready to see them, it's
00:31:35
why she had never requested them before.
00:31:37
So she, as soon as she got them,
00:31:39
forwarded them right along to us and
00:31:41
Brent. If this case wasn't confusing
00:31:43
enough, these pictures add a whole
00:31:47
'nother layer. But one thing is clear as
00:31:49
day, and that's that Spencer's cause of
00:31:52
death is not clear. And there absolutely
00:31:56
should have been an autopsy to determine
00:31:59
how Spencer Irwin died. Now the photos
00:32:01
we got are essentially
00:32:03
fully unredacted. So I could see a lot
00:32:05
of detail. When Spencer was found, he
00:32:08
was face down on top of a thick layer of
00:32:11
dirt and surrounded by discarded trash.
00:32:14
He's fully nude and just like
00:32:16
investigators said, clear as day, there
00:32:18
are what look like snow angel marks
00:32:21
around the upper half of his body.
00:32:24
But interestingly, nothing around the
00:32:26
lower half that would show like similar
00:32:28
movement. And we talked about decomp
00:32:30
earlier. Spencer definitely had been
00:32:32
dead for at least a little while before
00:32:34
these photos were taken. Cuz when they
00:32:35
rolled him over, you could see that
00:32:37
lividity was present and all of the
00:32:39
blood had pulled to the front of his
00:32:40
body. But weirdly, his arms and his head
00:32:43
were much darker than the rest of him.
00:32:45
Though it was like kind of hard to tell
00:32:47
like what was dirt, what might have been
00:32:48
decay. I didn't know what that meant,
00:32:51
but here is the thing that I honed in on
00:32:53
because thank god for high-quality crime
00:32:56
scene photos. I was like zoom zoom like
00:32:58
zooming in on his neck trying to see
00:33:00
what this witness saw. Now, I couldn't
00:33:03
tell much from the back like his hair is
00:33:05
kind of in the way. But when they roll
00:33:06
him over, like right freaking there is a
00:33:10
line across Spencer's neck.
00:33:14
Now, here is where I have to take a step
00:33:15
back. Like I've been doing this a long
00:33:17
time. I've seen my fair share of crime
00:33:19
scene and autopsy photos now, but I
00:33:22
don't want to do Spencer or Kelly a
00:33:23
disservice by getting carried away with
00:33:25
my opinion. I needed like a real
00:33:28
seasoned forensic pathologist to look at
00:33:30
these pictures and tell me what we were
00:33:32
seeing. So, we got a hold of Dr. Priya
00:33:34
Banerjee, a board-certified forensic
00:33:37
pathologist who was gracious enough to
00:33:39
help us make sense of all of this. First
00:33:42
and foremost, the fact that Spencer was
00:33:44
found face down, nude, and [music]
00:33:47
outside is a red flag enough that an
00:33:50
autopsy should have been done. That's
00:33:51
what she said, full stop.
00:33:53
>> which is what Kelly has been saying.
00:33:55
>> Yeah. And Dr. Banerjee's next comment
00:33:57
was on those snow angel marks. She said
00:34:00
those didn't make sense to her. And
00:34:02
honestly, she brought something up that
00:34:04
I hadn't even thought about. One that
00:34:06
the coroner's office surely didn't think
00:34:08
of. And it's that the marks could have
00:34:10
been completely unrelated. She says this
00:34:13
is a high-traffic area with dumpsters
00:34:15
like moving around. And she says the
00:34:16
marks are almost too symmetrical. She
00:34:19
says it's like too circular. Like maybe
00:34:21
something else caused those before he
00:34:24
was even there. And we asked her all of
00:34:26
the things, of course. I'm like, "Well,
00:34:27
what if like someone was on his back
00:34:29
like holding him down? And he's like
00:34:31
flailing around. Like could that cause
00:34:33
what we're seeing? And she says, "No,
00:34:34
still. It's too symmetrical." And so
00:34:36
then, you know, I was like, "Well, you
00:34:37
know, he abused alcohol." And one thing
00:34:39
that has kind of like loomed over this
00:34:41
case is the possibility that he died of
00:34:43
something related to that. Like, could
00:34:45
he have had a seizure or something? And
00:34:47
she said, "Nope. Like, with these marks,
00:34:49
like same thing. Like,
00:34:50
>> [music]
00:34:50
>> you run into the same problem with them
00:34:52
being too symmetrical. That's not him
00:34:53
flailing."
00:34:54
>> him having some kind of medical
00:34:55
emergency related to his alcohol abuse
00:34:57
doesn't make any sense to me because
00:34:59
he's naked.
00:35:01
>> Agreed. And even in an overdose
00:35:03
situation, Dr. Banerji told us that
00:35:05
stripping down isn't something she
00:35:07
typically sees. The paradoxical
00:35:10
undressing, as she called it, is
00:35:12
typically seen in situations where the
00:35:14
body is super cold, like hypothermia.
00:35:16
>> Right. I've seen that before.
00:35:18
>> It's July in California. Like, it is not
00:35:21
cold. No. Him being undressed, though,
00:35:23
helped in a huge way with Dr. Banerji's
00:35:26
assessment because she could see
00:35:29
almost all of him. She could see that
00:35:32
there were no signs he'd been in a fight
00:35:34
or in a struggle of any kind. There were
00:35:37
no bruising on his knuckles or anything.
00:35:40
Now, the one thing I asked her about
00:35:41
specifically were his head and his arms.
00:35:44
I told you they were a lot darker. And I
00:35:46
thought this like meant something. Thank
00:35:48
god we talked to an expert. She said,
00:35:49
"No, this is actually something pretty
00:35:51
normal to see like when a body decays."
00:35:53
So basically, when looking at it all,
00:35:56
Dr. Banerji said, "There is a world
00:35:58
where she could see this being
00:36:01
unsuspicious death. There is no external
00:36:03
trauma, you know, like the sheriff's
00:36:05
coroner is saying. So, maybe no foul
00:36:07
play." But she said, "The only way to
00:36:10
know that would be to do an autopsy."
00:36:13
She said, "You have to to connect the
00:36:15
dots, to rule out other options, or to
00:36:18
even prove their theory right."
00:36:21
>> Which their theory we know is wrong
00:36:23
because of the tox results.
00:36:24
>> Yes. And listen, she clocked that same
00:36:27
straight line mark right under Spencer's
00:36:29
jawline that goes straight back. But she
00:36:31
said there is a world where it isn't
00:36:33
suspicious. She said it might just be a
00:36:36
skin fold from like how he was laying.
00:36:40
But it also could be a ligature mark.
00:36:44
>> And the only way to know for sure would
00:36:46
be
00:36:47
>> autopsy. Yes. So Dr. Banerji can't tell
00:36:51
us from the pictures what killed
00:36:53
Spencer. But after her consultation,
00:36:56
what I am confident of is that his case
00:36:59
was mishandled from the jump in a way
00:37:02
that would have serious implications for
00:37:05
its solvability down the line.
00:37:07
>> Did In these pictures, did you see any
00:37:10
of his clothes or like other things?
00:37:13
>> No, there's actually like a couple of
00:37:14
clothing items up on the dock itself,
00:37:17
kind of like above Spencer, but we
00:37:19
showed images of just those to Callie
00:37:21
and she said those didn't look like
00:37:23
Spencer's things. So as far as we've
00:37:25
been able to tell, his stuff is still
00:37:28
missing, including that phone that we
00:37:31
know he had on him when he was headed to
00:37:34
the Verizon store.
00:37:35
>> Oh.
00:37:36
>> But, you want to know something weird
00:37:37
about that?
00:37:38
>> Sure.
00:37:39
>> Kate told our reporter that sometime
00:37:43
after Spencer's death, she was on
00:37:45
Snapchat and she saw Spencer's name pop
00:37:48
up as like a suggested friend. Like cuz
00:37:50
it's people in her contacts or whatever.
00:37:52
But under his name is what stopped her
00:37:55
in her tracks because it was a username
00:37:56
she didn't recognize.
00:37:58
It started with smiley and then it had
00:38:01
six numbers after it. And when it hit
00:38:04
her who that could be, it stopped her
00:38:08
dead in her tracks.
00:38:14
The six digits in the username that
00:38:16
popped up on Kate's phone
00:38:18
were an exact match for Angel's
00:38:21
birthday.
00:38:23
Angel,
00:38:24
whose middle name, by the way, includes
00:38:26
Smiley.
00:38:28
And they know this for a fact because
00:38:30
Kelly found Angel's driver's license in
00:38:33
Spencer's apartment with his full name
00:38:35
and date of birth.
00:38:37
So, let's go back to Angel for a second.
00:38:39
It turns out, we know he only knew
00:38:40
Spencer for like 3 weeks. Like I said,
00:38:43
they met at that detox program that he
00:38:45
went to on the 10th. After that, Spencer
00:38:47
let Angel stay with him while they
00:38:48
waited for their spots to open up in the
00:38:50
rehab center. Angel was experiencing
00:38:52
homelessness, and Spencer had made it
00:38:55
his life's mission to help people in
00:38:57
similar situations to Angel. Now, when
00:38:59
Kelly was telling us about Angel and the
00:39:01
way that he was basically integrated
00:39:03
into all the different aspects of
00:39:04
Spencer's life, you could have made us
00:39:06
believe that Spencer had known this guy
00:39:08
for years. And listen, being an
00:39:10
associate doesn't make him complicit.
00:39:12
Neither does him being found in the
00:39:14
apartment the day before Spencer's body
00:39:17
is discovered, and likely after he was
00:39:19
already dead.
00:39:20
>> If that white Kia is really involved.
00:39:22
>> Right, if. But, Angel lied about
00:39:24
Spencer's whereabouts. Like, he's saying
00:39:26
that he checked in to the rehab place,
00:39:28
which like doesn't make sense to me
00:39:30
because they've been doing everything
00:39:32
together. You know Spencer's not coming
00:39:34
home cuz you're there. You didn't check
00:39:36
into rehab. So, like, what's up?
00:39:38
>> And Spencer was on Kelly's phone plan,
00:39:40
right? Like, did she pull the logs? Was
00:39:42
there any more activity?
00:39:43
>> Oh, yeah. Again, she's a Crime Junkie.
00:39:45
That's one of the first things she did.
00:39:46
There was no outgoing activity after the
00:39:49
27th. And only two numbers had like been
00:39:52
incoming after that. So, the phone
00:39:55
basically had stopped using her phone
00:39:56
plan. And in case you're wondering, yes,
00:39:59
of course, police have all of this
00:40:01
information, too. Initially, Kelly said
00:40:03
Fresno PD couldn't locate Angel to
00:40:05
question him, despite getting his mom's
00:40:07
address where she heard that he spent
00:40:08
time. Now, Kate said that she was able
00:40:10
to talk to Angel through Facebook, and
00:40:12
she asked him if there was literally
00:40:15
anything he could tell her about what
00:40:17
could have led to Spencer's passing. And
00:40:20
Britt, I'm actually going to have you
00:40:21
read his response.
00:40:25
>> Ugh, I completely understand and I was
00:40:27
kind of expecting this message. To be
00:40:29
honest with you, I don't mind at all
00:40:31
opening up to you. I just feel like it's
00:40:32
not fair to Spencer to talk to you about
00:40:34
this in the state/frame
00:40:36
of mind I'm in. And if it's okay with
00:40:38
you that we pick up on it tomorrow,
00:40:40
probably in the morning should work for
00:40:42
me.
00:40:43
I just want to be in a more sober sort
00:40:44
of more genuine state of mind. I feel
00:40:46
like he deserves at least that. I have
00:40:49
nothing but good to say about him.
00:40:51
>> Yeah.
00:40:52
>> Okay.
00:40:52
>> That makes sense. Except he doesn't
00:40:55
follow up. Kate sent us screenshots and
00:40:57
she asked him about the area where
00:40:58
Spencer was found. She told him it
00:41:00
didn't make sense why he was over there.
00:41:04
And Angel did respond to that, but just
00:41:06
with this short message. He said, "I've
00:41:08
never been there with him. That's odd
00:41:10
why he was over there. He's never
00:41:12
mentioned it."
00:41:13
So Kate messages him back asking about
00:41:16
Spencer's like state of mind, if he ever
00:41:17
saw Spencer hanging out with somebody
00:41:19
who drove a white Kia Soul, but nothing.
00:41:22
Ghosted, never got a response. And let
00:41:25
me tell you, Angel is not an easy guy to
00:41:27
track down. Our reporter has called so
00:41:30
many numbers associated with him or his
00:41:33
mom, but they all led nowhere. Though I
00:41:35
will leave you with this one little
00:41:38
glimmer of hope. As we were wrapping up
00:41:40
our reporting, Kelly sent us an email
00:41:42
saying that Fresno PD located Angel and
00:41:45
interviewed him. And it was thanks to
00:41:48
that screenshot of the Snapchat. She
00:41:51
said they also got search warrants
00:41:53
signed and subpoenaed Spencer and
00:41:55
Angel's phone records to see if there is
00:41:56
any helpful location data. TBD on those
00:41:59
results, but like this more than
00:42:01
anything to me feels like like progress
00:42:04
for the first time, right? And I'm
00:42:07
hoping that they're even looking beyond
00:42:09
just Angel because there is someone else
00:42:12
that Kelly has questions for. I told you
00:42:14
there were two numbers that had
00:42:16
contacted Spencer's phone after he
00:42:18
disappeared. Well, one ended up being
00:42:21
his therapist, but another they couldn't
00:42:23
identify. So, Kelly and Kate sent a text
00:42:26
to this number asking if it was Angel.
00:42:28
And the reply was, "No, this is Happy."
00:42:32
And this is where things like start
00:42:34
falling into place a little bit. Because
00:42:36
when Kelly and Kate were canvassing the
00:42:38
area trying to find people who had seen
00:42:40
Spencer, they had stopped at this one
00:42:43
smoke shop and were showing pictures of
00:42:45
Spencer. But, they had also brought
00:42:46
along a picture of another guy, one of
00:42:48
Spencer's neighbors who Spencer told his
00:42:51
mom he was having issues with right
00:42:52
before his death.
00:42:54
This guy's name is Tyler.
00:42:56
But, the person behind the counter looks
00:42:58
at that picture of Tyler and is like,
00:43:00
"Oh, that's Happy. He's a bad guy." Now,
00:43:04
Tyler lived next door to Spencer and he
00:43:06
was also in the Hope Program. And the
00:43:09
reason they'd been carrying around his
00:43:10
picture is because two weeks before
00:43:12
Spencer's death, Spencer allegedly told
00:43:15
his mom he was pretty sure that Tyler
00:43:18
broke into his apartment while he was in
00:43:20
the detox program and stole his money,
00:43:23
his PlayStation, and a laptop. And at
00:43:26
the time, he was sure it had to have
00:43:28
been Tyler because he knew his door
00:43:30
code.
00:43:30
>> Is this someone that he had trusted?
00:43:32
>> So, I don't think so, but for some
00:43:34
reason he told Kelly that Tyler was like
00:43:35
the only one who knew his key code.
00:43:37
Though, I don't know how he got it.
00:43:38
>> Tyler and Angel.
00:43:39
>> Well, yeah, Angel. But, like I'm pretty
00:43:40
sure Angel came after his stuff was
00:43:43
already stolen.
00:43:43
>> Got it.
00:43:44
>> Now, Spencer didn't call the police at
00:43:45
the time. He wanted to like handle it
00:43:47
himself. And all we know about how that
00:43:49
worked out comes from Spencer's landlord
00:43:52
who said that after he accused Tyler of
00:43:54
stealing a bunch of guys came over with
00:43:56
knives and bats, I guess to like
00:43:59
intimidate Spencer.
00:44:01
But, Kelly said that Spencer locked
00:44:02
himself in his room and then nothing
00:44:04
happened. Now, Kelly feels pretty
00:44:06
certain that Tyler did take the stuff
00:44:08
because as fate would have it, Kelly was
00:44:11
going through Facebook Marketplace and
00:44:13
she typed in Tyler's full name and sure
00:44:15
enough, there was a sale posted on
00:44:18
Facebook for a 2012 Lenovo ThinkPad,
00:44:22
which is what Spencer supposedly had.
00:44:24
There's even a picture with the specs
00:44:26
and Kelly showed her husband, Spencer's
00:44:27
dad, who is like an IT guy. Apparently,
00:44:29
he like fixes and builds laptops all the
00:44:31
time, so he's got like an eye for these
00:44:33
things and he tells Kelly he's pretty
00:44:35
confident that that laptop is the one
00:44:37
that he gave to Spencer for school. But,
00:44:39
here's the thing, if Tyler took [snorts]
00:44:41
that stuff, that was back on like the
00:44:44
like 10th or or during that time,
00:44:45
>> Yeah.
00:44:46
>> it seems like he got away with it
00:44:47
because like nothing happened after
00:44:49
that. So, I don't know what motive Tyler
00:44:53
would have to do something to Spencer.
00:44:55
>> And Kelly gave all this information to
00:44:56
police, too.
00:44:57
>> Yeah, of course. She says that like
00:44:59
basically what she got back is they told
00:45:00
her there's no connection or even proof
00:45:02
that the laptop like that he even stole
00:45:04
the stuff because they're like, "We
00:45:05
can't do anything without the receipt
00:45:06
for the laptop." Now, I don't know where
00:45:08
police stand with Tyler or if they're
00:45:11
investigating him at all. To me, like
00:45:13
I'd be like trying to run this laptop
00:45:14
down. Like, who has it now? Who did he
00:45:16
sell it to? You could probably do like a
00:45:18
forensic audit to like prove it was
00:45:19
Spencer without the receipt. I don't
00:45:21
know. Again, these are leads, but
00:45:24
they're still not proof of anything. And
00:45:26
there is a very real possibility that
00:45:29
we're looking at this all wrong. Maybe
00:45:31
Spencer was in the wrong place at the
00:45:34
wrong time, which would take this
00:45:36
investigation down a completely
00:45:37
different path. Maybe Spencer died
00:45:40
because of complications related to his
00:45:42
abuse of alcohol. The problem is enough
00:45:46
wasn't done to prove anything, which
00:45:50
feels like a crime in and of itself to
00:45:52
me. That for almost two years, Kelly has
00:45:55
had to fight, to wonder, to investigate
00:45:57
lots of times on her own because the
00:46:00
proper actions weren't taken early on
00:46:02
enough in the beginning to actually to
00:46:04
give her like an answer or peace. So,
00:46:07
she has been looking for answers on her
00:46:09
own ever since. Reaching out to us was
00:46:11
one of Kelly's efforts to do that. She
00:46:14
also connected with a medium. Kate did,
00:46:16
too. And their experiences were pretty
00:46:19
similar. It's not physical proof of
00:46:21
anything, but it has been helpful for
00:46:23
them. Both Kate and Kelly were told that
00:46:25
three people may have been involved in
00:46:27
Spencer's death. And the message that
00:46:30
Kelly got from Spencer is that he wasn't
00:46:32
doing anything [music] wrong. It was
00:46:34
just wrong place, wrong time, wrong
00:46:36
people.
00:46:37
The medium said Spencer wanted Kelly to
00:46:39
know that he was sorry for what
00:46:40
happened. And above all, he wanted her
00:46:43
to be careful.
00:46:44
Kelly's being careful, but she is also
00:46:47
been a relentless investigator and
00:46:49
advocate for Spencer's story, not taking
00:46:51
no for an answer.
00:46:53
And now that's starting to pay off.
00:46:54
Kelly tells us now she's incredibly
00:46:57
hopeful for the work being put in by the
00:46:59
current investigator, Sergeant Antonio
00:47:02
Rivera.
00:47:03
She said that he is following up on
00:47:04
leads, contacting the right people, and
00:47:06
taking her seriously.
00:47:08
The tragic irony of it all is how
00:47:10
Spencer cared so deeply and wanted to
00:47:13
help people, especially unhoused
00:47:16
individuals. Spencer talked a lot about
00:47:19
how if he could just save one soul by
00:47:21
helping someone through addiction, then
00:47:22
his own suffering would have been worth
00:47:24
it.
00:47:25
And Kelly told us about this one time
00:47:26
when Spencer said he met this young guy
00:47:28
named Louie while he was walking on an
00:47:30
outdoor trail one day. Spencer saw that
00:47:32
he appeared to be unhoused and he
00:47:33
stopped to talk to him. And Spencer said
00:47:35
that he wanted to give him hope. Spencer
00:47:37
even went back and took him some
00:47:39
clothing and some food. And this
00:47:41
happened like several years before
00:47:42
Spencer passed away. Well, a few days
00:47:44
after Kelly found out that Spencer had
00:47:46
died, she was sad, she couldn't sleep,
00:47:48
so she opened Facebook in the middle of
00:47:50
the night and she had gotten this
00:47:52
message. And I'm going to read it for
00:47:54
you.
00:47:56
It said,
00:47:57
"I only knew Spencer briefly. I was
00:47:59
homeless and going through a very tough
00:48:00
time in my life. I met Spencer at a park
00:48:03
one day and we chatted for a good while
00:48:05
and even hung out once or twice after
00:48:07
that. He was sincerely a shining light
00:48:09
in those dark times. One of the reasons
00:48:11
I made it through was because of people
00:48:14
like him who treated me so well and
00:48:15
pushed me to make things better. I've
00:48:17
since then been doing fairly well for
00:48:19
myself and can say I grew a lot. I never
00:48:22
would be able to say that if it wasn't
00:48:23
for him being the person he was.
00:48:26
I cannot express my sorrow for what has
00:48:28
happened. I sincerely hope it brings
00:48:30
comfort to those close to him to know he
00:48:31
helped save one soul. May he rest in
00:48:34
peace and may you all cherish in the
00:48:36
memory of him
00:48:38
>> [music]
00:48:38
>> as I will."
00:48:39
>> Mhm.
00:48:40
Wow.
00:48:41
Kelly has no clue how this guy found her
00:48:45
or remembered Spencer's name,
00:48:47
but
00:48:48
that was the reminder she needed to see
00:48:50
that Spencer's life was purposeful and
00:48:54
he helped so many people along his
00:48:56
journey. Because to Spencer, everyone
00:48:59
was valued. But yet in his death,
00:49:02
responding officers assumed he was an
00:49:04
unhoused individual who overdosed and it
00:49:07
doesn't seem like they valued him at
00:49:09
all.
00:49:09
They wrote him off immediately,
00:49:12
ruining his chances at a proper
00:49:14
investigation. Like I said, Kelly has
00:49:16
been championing her son's story and I
00:49:19
truly believe that together, Crime
00:49:21
Junkies, we can get answers. I feel like
00:49:24
we are on the edge of a major
00:49:27
breakthrough.
00:49:28
So if you have any information regarding
00:49:30
the mysterious death of Spencer Erwin,
00:49:32
you can contact the Fresno Police
00:49:34
Department directly at 559-621-7000.
00:49:39
Or if you want to remain anonymous, you
00:49:41
can contact the Valley Crime Stoppers by
00:49:42
texting Valley to 738-477.
00:49:47
And you can always reach us by emailing
00:49:48
[music] [email protected].
00:49:52
You can find all the source material for
00:49:54
this episode on our website [music]
00:49:55
crimejunkie.com.
00:49:56
>> And you can follow us on Instagram at
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00:49:59
>> We'll be back next week with a brand new
00:50:01
episode.