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hey weirdos I'm Elena I'm Ash and this is morbid [Music] this is morbid we are here I'm here in my comfy chair
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right now yeah we're in comfy chairs we don't have squeaky chairs anymore I know
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it takes us a long time to figure these things out and to remedy them but we get
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there eventually we are who we are and that's all we are it's true Popeye you know I am who I am uh guys
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did you I'm not gonna talk about it because Ash hasn't seen it yet have you seen the finale of succession no please
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let me know I have four left I have a lot of feelings about it and I need to talk to someone I have four left and I I
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like want to get through them because I'm excited but then I don't want to get through them because then it's over you
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do want to get through them no I do I want to get through them you're gonna get through them you're gonna I feel it
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you're gonna make it gonna make it gonna make it through but yeah we're um this is a succession household over
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here oh hell yeah so everybody let's talk about it because I need to try talk to somebody John and I are just like
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want to talk to everyone about it but no one's seen it did you talk today about it did you text them separately I
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haven't yet but I'm going to I figured I'm going to break the seal um but yeah so that's that's where I am and then
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tomorrow night is the uh yeah this weekend GPR uh I ran home for a little bit while you were doing your thing yeah
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our rotten hail was delivered oh Ash got us some uniforms to wear rotten hail sweatshirts for the Vanderpump Rules
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reunion part two part new um and then I ordered John and Drew number one guy in the group because
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they're tied obviously but those didn't come yet maybe they'll come in time I think they're going to I feel it and
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then what oh I I watched the summer house finale last night really [ __ ] good oh there you go Paige forever just
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giving you a little update on our lives the Celtics lost game seven last night um about that Sports heads John and I
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were very sad yeah it was a pretty rough one we were yeah it was a really sad moment I I just want everybody to feel
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that with me I'm sorry they didn't show up so they really didn't sometimes you can't they really didn't I thought we
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were good you can't sometimes you don't you know what maybe we just weren't specific in our manifesting when uh when
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because you know like the whole thing going into game seven for the Celtics was like we're gonna make history and
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it's like maybe we should have been a little more detailed with that because I feel like that was a historically awful
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game oh no so like maybe we did make history as like blowing it in the worst way possible so like you know next time
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we'll get them because we'll be a little more a little more specific with our Manifesto yeah yeah it was a rough one
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it hurt I love the Celtics so this was really sad but here we are here we are today I was like how many playoffs until
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the five yeah Ash was like are we in the is this the championship I did not understand I am gay she said go sports I
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said drag race is on on Friday so yeah there's that that's the update on our lives and I'm about to tell you a really
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[ __ ] terrible story and I think I was just stalling before telling you it because it's really sad oh good mind
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this week is also very terrible so fantastic oh good okay so this one is one that I had not heard of which is
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incredible yeah it usually doesn't happen this story is so awful that I was like why was this not more highly
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publicized okay you need to shut your mouth right now because she was the same had that no not only is it the same I
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had that conversation with Dave and typed out why is this not more uh highly publicized wow look at us weird that's
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weird we've been on the same case wavelengths the last couple yes which is very odd yes very strange
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um and you know what I moved out of my comfort zone I'm in 2000 today she said I've been to the year 2000 and it's
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[ __ ] terrible so um we were there mama will be moving back out to the to the old times after this but you know I
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came I came here for all of you pause for the collective groan there you go exactly so I'm going to be talking today
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about the brutal murder of Liz Riser and the attempted murder of Brandy Hicks oh
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[ __ ] this is it's it's awful it's okay so in the early morning hours of May 24th 2000 that that's the other reason
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why I'm shocked I've never heard of it it's like it was in an error when I feel like I would have heard it happen
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um but on May 24th 2000 the Riser family was roused out of dead sleep in the absolute worst way
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twelve-year-old Jordan Riser was the one who heard the knock at the door it was 4
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AM and his bedroom was happened to be closest to the door so he was the only one who heard it
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no one is expecting to hear anyone want to be let in to your house at 4am no and
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if they are they're not coming in they're not coming in but he peeled himself from his bed and he opened it
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and he was stunned because standing in front of him was a uniformed police officer oh no at 4am that's not a good
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thing no he couldn't even formulate a sentence he was just like staring at this officer for a minute being like I'm
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12. and the officer asked something about Jordan's 17 year old sister Liz who hadn't come home that night and
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Jordan was like uh I'm confused I don't understand what you even want so he kind
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of muttered something to the officer and was like I'll just get my parents like hold on yeah but his parents Becky Riser
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and her husband Jeff Riser were obviously very much asleep at 4am and so Jordan walks into their room and is like
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hey a police officer is at the door and wants to speak to you which has to be like in the in the grand scale of things
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that you don't want your child to walk into your room in the middle of the night and tell you it goes that and then
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way down as I threw up yeah like that's that that is I can't fathom my child walking into my room and saying there is
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a police officer at the door no at 4 00 am and when you have a child who is not in the house that night nope nope the
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worst nightmare that you could ever fathom so Becky Reiser said he says this is what Jordan had uh said to his mother
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this is Becky Riser yep she said later that he he had said to her he says that Brandy was in the river and Liz is
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missing what so Brandy is Liz's best friend who she was with that night okay so he comes in there and he goes
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Brandy's in the river and Liz is missing Jesus Christ at first none of this registered again middle of the night
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what the [ __ ] but all of a sudden the words hit and she came tearing out of bed launched herself down the stairs and
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out the front door to the front porch to find a police officer standing on the front porch so she was like because At
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first she must have thought like Am I Dreaming yeah she's sleepwalking is he having a nightmare what's going on here
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and then she walks out there no no lo and behold so the officer introduced himself as officer Gentry of the Dover
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Police this took place in Ohio oh my God weird is yours in Ohio yes what the [ __ ] weird
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what that's really weird that we're doing that we're not like communicating about cases we never do that that's
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really weird but officer Gentry asked whether the couple's daughter Liz had been home that night and Becky said no
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she's staying at her friend Brandy's house for the night oh no and the officer said okay well we checked at
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Brandy's house and Liz isn't there but that's the only explanation that they got at first so like nothing to
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tell her hey why are you looking for her yeah like he was just like which I can't
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say this is like the officer's fault because you'll find out he also didn't have a lot of information he was just
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kind of sent there to wish they had sent check somebody with information well that's what I mean it was more the
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person who gave him the information like the lack of information yeah but like so
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this woman is just hearing hey is your daughter home no she's at her friend's house for the night okay well we went
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there and she's not there and at this point he didn't even say anything to her about Brandy being in the river well and
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you're like okay why are you looking for her what do you mean she's not there what are you talking about but he was
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like it's just really important that you he's like are you sure she's not she didn't come home and she's like well
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like I guess she could have like while we were sleeping it's like let me check and so he was like I really need you to
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go check and see if she's home oh my God and she's like okay so she's confused and now she's panicked so she goes and
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she she's hoping Beyond hope that she's gonna find Liz in her bed and no she didn't find her
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so she goes back to the porch and at that point her husband Jeff Liz's dad was down there too talking to the police
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officer and when she said no Liz isn't in her room they both looked very concerned and this is when the first
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small amount of really awful truth came to light oh no officer Gentry explained that Liz's best friend Brandi Hicks had
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been had been walking down the road and had flagged down an officer off duty hours earlier and she had been taken to
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Union Hospital that's the information they got was that they found out Randy hours ago walking
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down the road in the middle of the night and had she had flagged down someone and
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was brought to the hospital this is like the beginning of an absolutely horrific
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movie that's it's like you're trying to pee as a parent I can't even fathom this
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like put these poor people no like Becky and Jeff were probably like what the [ __ ] is going on what do you mean so
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officer Gentry unfortunately didn't have a lot of information but Brandy had told
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them when she was picked up that she had actually been in the Tuscarawas I believe that's how you say it River she
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was soaking wet she was freezing oh my God and she was hurt but she was alive Liz however was not with her and all
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Brandy could tell the police was that she was missing and she didn't know where she was okay so
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that's all the risers were able to get in that moment oh my God and officer Gentry you know said thank you for your
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help gave them his card said I'm gonna be in touch with you you call us if she shows up they're just stunned of course
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and probably like nauseous and Confused panicking yeah and Becky and Jeff just like were like okay and just like
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watched him leave and now we just sit here and try to figure out what any of that meant and what is about to happen
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for the rest of the day and I guess Becky later said she was like in retrospect I was like why didn't I press
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him for more information but like why would you I don't I don't know how I would read like that's a weird situation
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I feel for them a lot like that is what do you do with that you're like you're 17 year old you know like I don't that's
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a very stunning thing and she said the last thing in my mind was that Liz would have acted out in some way that would
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have caused trouble because like when the police come you think something is wrong that way
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um Liz Reiser and her entire family were very devoutly religious okay so she was
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basically the last person that Becky or anyone else was gonna picture getting into trouble with the police or doing
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something that would have caused an issue um and of course hearing all this after
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being shot out of bed at 4am by a police officer at your door again so jarring and confusing mixed with the idea that
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you're like she couldn't have done anything like she's a good kid I don't know what this is I really don't blame
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her for not having questions ready no um but this was actually the first time that Becky had allowed her daughter to
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stay day overnight at a friend's house on a school night oh my God and it's like but I think Brandy lived with
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roommates so like this was kind of a big thing that she was allowing her to do this yeah and
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she knew Liz was a really smart a really good girl but she was like something like she said like her mother's
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intuition told her like okay like it's this isn't like an ax like something bad happened here like something really bad
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and like she said immediately she was like something really bad happened here but she said At first she was hoping
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that and she was like of course I'm hoping she got into trouble like she did something bad like I would I was hoping
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that was the feeling and that like we could deal with that as a family I just was not hoping that something had
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happened to her no I was honestly hoping that she had done something but I guess
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they they they said they got together they immediately prayed together that was how they were able to cope with this
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and she said she was fighting off all those feelings feelings that maybe something really really bad had happened
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she said by she was like you know what I'm just gonna rehearse the lecture that I'm gonna give her as soon as she gets
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home like I'm gonna I'm gonna picture exactly what I'm gonna say to her about whatever she has done wrong she probably
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needed to do that to put our mind somewhere else and 100 to like self-preserve and be like she's still
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here because you're just sitting there going she's in trouble you know what I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind when
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she walks in the store because she's going to that's the I don't blame her at all like that is and it breaks my heart
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that that's the only way that she could cope with this because she had nothing to go on no I can't fathom and you can't
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let your mind go there before no of course not for sure a hundred percent your mind can be there so you're just
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saying she's gonna walk in this door and she's gonna be grounded because she got
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into trouble I know it yep but she was just assuming and hoping this and I don't blame her at all but then hours
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were going by and she wasn't hearing anything and she's not getting any more answers and Liz is not walking in that
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door and Becky was starting to worry okay I don't think she got into trouble I think trouble found her so officer
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Gentry like we said may have seen like a little cagey with that but that's only because he honestly didn't have the
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details of what was happening around 1 30 a.m that night so a couple of hours earlier that was
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when an auxiliary police officer was on his way home he was off duty and he spotted someone walking down the side of
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the road and of course that's already at least cause for further inspection because
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this is at 1 30 in the morning and yeah and he said that this person looked a little unsteady on their feet so she so
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this officer was like I think this is like a drunk person trying to walk home yeah and they're gonna get hurt maybe or
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worse so he got a little closer and was just trying to inspect to see if he could like help or anything and then he
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realized this is not a drunk man or like an adult this is a teenage girl oh [ __ ]
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oh it's Brandy and he said as he passed by her she started frantically waving him down like looked and she looked like
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she was injured upset she and so he pulls off on the side of the road and he and so she comes closer to the car and
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she was again unsteady on her feet she's soaking wet from head to toe no shoes or
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socks on and she was bawling her eyes out crying hysterically it and the officer is like what the hell is going
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on and he was like she's obviously been in water yeah and he she he was able to get that out of her that I've been in
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the river and that she was hurt but he said she was far more concerned about her friend oh and she was saying like I
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don't know where she is we have to find her like something bad happened to her and according to the officer she wasn't
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making a ton of sense and he couldn't understand a lot of it she was like really upset hysterical as we'll find
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out very traumatized and was dealing with the aftermath of a [ __ ] terrible thing oh no so regardless of what was
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going on he just knew she needed a lot of help so he was like you can come in my car I'm gonna drive you to the police
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department she later said that this police officer was like her hero because she was like he listened to me he
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comforted me when he brought me to the police station remember he's an auxiliary police officer and he's off
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duty right now yeah brought her to the police station and he's she said he stayed with her like would not leave her
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didn't just drop her off and say like okay I'm off here see you later he sat there with her like would not well yeah
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one of the good ones so on the drive he tried to find out more of what was happening like tried to
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calm her down a little bit but all she could say was that her name was Brandy Hicks and her friend Liz rizer was
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missing but he didn't need the whole story to know that something violent had clearly happened to her because one of
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her eyes was completely bloodshot oh my god there was a big wound near her mouth
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like she had been struck in the face really hard oh God and she had deep red marks around her throat as though she
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had been strangled by something like a ligature oh now when they arrived at the station the dispatcher said they had
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actually just received a call about a girl wandering along the side of the road near the Tuscarawas River and a
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bunch of cars had actually been sent out to look for her so they were glad that he had picked her up because calls were
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starting to flood in people had seen her now Brandy was taken into Captain Robert
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Everett's office and she was given blankets they tried to warm her up like make her comfortable
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um because again she's like soaking wet in May in Ohio in the middle of the night
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so it took some time for her to calm down and be able to even begin to tell the story but she was able to explain
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that someone had taken her to the railroad trestle over the Tuscarawas River and had attempted to rape her then
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he had tried to strangle her with a shoelace she had lost Consciousness a couple of times
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the man thought he had killed her because he then pushed her body over the railroad Trestle but her foot got caught
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on the railroad tracks and she dangled upside down from the bridge for a few seconds before he kicked her off where
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she fell 30 feet into the water below oh my God she explained that she had felt fallen down near a log Jam in the water
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like a big like area with a bunch of like debris yeah and so she had clung to the logs and pretended to be dead like
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tried not to breathe didn't move and was hoping that her attacker would just leave yeah but he stood above her
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on the bridge for a time she was like a long time smoked some cigarettes kicked stones into the water at her and just
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like like casually at the water and then finally walked off and she waited even longer before she was able to get
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herself out of the water and up to the road and that's where she had flagged down the police officer she must have
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been terrified wondering like has he been watching me this entire time from like a further away like his year-round
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and just waiting is he gonna pick me up right immediately everyone was like what the
00:19:53
[ __ ] are you kidding me and they were like who is this man like what happened how did we get here right like did she
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know him like what are you talking about and so Brandy's calming down more she's
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starting to explain more of the story to Captain Everett and she said she and her
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best friend Liz had made plans for a sleepover that night at her house so around 9 30 p.m they went to a Hollywood
00:20:14
Video oh my God I worked at a Hollywood Video love Hollywood Video um so it was a Hollywood Video at the
00:20:20
New Town Mall in New Philadelphia and they were gonna rent some movies they had a whole night planned it sounds like
00:20:26
a chill like regular sleepover with your friend like having a blast so they're walking back to the car and they said
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this man in his mid to late 20s came up to them and said I'm so sorry I'm trying
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to get a ride home to the south side of town and he said if gas is an issue because they were
00:20:44
like uh at first like and like honestly if he approached me like you once um his
00:20:49
name is uh Matthew Vaca vodka and uh if he approached me I would also have been um very hesitant to allow that man near
00:20:58
me but he they were so they were like uh and trying to think of like a polite way
00:21:03
to say no which by the way that is very like admirable that they felt like they had to be polite you do not need to be
00:21:10
polite don't worry about it yeah but he was like if gas is an issue I can give you 20 bucks for gas if you'll just
00:21:17
drive me there and he was like really ask acting desperate and he even mentioned that he wanted to get home to
00:21:24
his wife and kiss his kids good night oh he did have a wife and kids are you serious by the way
00:21:31
so the girls talked it over and they ended up agreeing because they were like this is the right thing to do like we're
00:21:38
supposed to help people like that's what we've been taught our whole life so remember Liz is very religious she comes
00:21:43
from a religious family yeah she was taught you help your fellow man right of course um and so they got into the car
00:21:51
and they said sure we'll drive you home and Brandy was driving Liz was in the passenger seat and this man who said his
00:21:58
name was Mark went into the back seat liar now they had only been driving for a few minutes and suddenly Mark was like
00:22:05
hey can you stop by this nearby bridge and he said he had stashed something in a plastic bag there and he wanted to
00:22:12
pick it up and he was like it was just really heavy and I was hoping I could just pick it up on my way home
00:22:18
so she's like Brandy's like this is a little weird but she's like okay whatever so she stops and she's like
00:22:23
okay go get your bag and it turned out he was like it's a six-pack of beer I just didn't want to carry it with me so
00:22:30
once he was back in the car he was like Hey we're only like a mile away from my house so they were like great yeah like
00:22:37
cool so they drive about a mile and Brandy's like how much further and he's like oh only like a mile or so and she's
00:22:43
like we just drove a mile and he's like oh yeah it's close so but now he's made them stop for this
00:22:50
weird bag mystery bag which at the time they didn't know it was beer okay and then he's all of a sudden giving these
00:22:57
weird directions and saying it's a mile more and a mile more and a mile more so finally after a while after like
00:23:04
obliging him through all of this Brandy stopped the car and was like I'm so sorry we have to get home I'm gonna drop
00:23:11
you off here I hope you're close to your house but like you need to walk the rest
00:23:14
of the way yeah which like good for her you keep saying it's a mile so it shouldn't be too far exactly now this is
00:23:19
when he pulled out a gun oh and he said you're gonna keep driving so I want to know what his original plan
00:23:28
was here and no one will ever know because as we'll find out he doesn't give a reason for this huh like I don't
00:23:36
know what his plan was here like did he think they would just continue driving forever do you think he was trying to
00:23:42
get them somewhere more remote that's the thing you would think that but they were like just driving in random
00:23:48
directions no it was just like driving in normal places that's weird like was he always
00:23:54
planning to pull out a gun at some point at this point at another Point yeah yeah
00:23:59
like it's a strange and Reckless series of events that he takes now this is when the man named quote
00:24:06
unquote Mark took over navigation and directed Brandy now to a remote location he made the Brandy drive to a field off
00:24:16
of Harmon Hill Road in Auburn Township um later Brandi told Captain Everett that she thought the man was definitely
00:24:24
familiar with the area he was not somebody who was just blown through because she said when they reached where
00:24:30
the field was he said slow down there's bumps in this road so she was like you've been here before
00:24:36
so like you know your way around here and they finally go they get to this opening of this field which is
00:24:43
terrifying and she said that there was clearly like beer cans around trash around like it was very clearly like a
00:24:50
party spot and that this man knew where this was like he had obviously been here
00:24:55
and so he tells Brandy stop the car and then he demands that she and Liz remove their shoelaces
00:25:02
then he uses the shoelaces to bind Brandy's hands to the steering wheel and uses the other shoelaces to tie Liz's
00:25:11
hands behind her back oh no so Brandy is now stuck bound to the steering wheel and Mark takes Liz with him down the
00:25:19
path towards the field Brandi said she just had to watch helplessly and like cry as like she
00:25:27
wasn't even disappear with her bound with her hands behind her back and Brandi didn't know it at the time
00:25:34
what was gonna happen but she later found out the details and she had to face them like as we're gonna see head
00:25:40
on because what happened was once they had reached a little clearing in the fields Mark which is Matthew but they
00:25:48
knew him as Mark at this point sure forced Liz to kneel on the ground which she did he smoked a cigarette and said
00:25:55
he can later said he just considered what to do okay and he thought you know what maybe
00:26:02
I should let just let her go and tell her to just like start walking back to New Philadelphia but he was like it was
00:26:07
too late like she had already seen me no it's no it's never too late no so instead he after contemplating this for
00:26:15
a couple minutes he pulled out a curved linoleum cutting knife from his pocket and slashed Liz's throat three times
00:26:23
what the [ __ ] this the um injuries were 10 inch long and inches long and two and
00:26:29
a half inches deep oh my God he severed her trachea I was gonna say that takes incredible like pressure and strength he
00:26:37
wasn't done after cutting her throat he stabbed Liz in the neck the back and then stabbed her five times in the head
00:26:48
and then just walked away from her and he had never done anything like this before not that we know of what so he
00:26:57
goes back to the car after doing this okay and Brandi said he she just saw him return without Liz and the first thing
00:27:04
she did was say where's Liz and he wouldn't answer so he grabs he unties Brandy and bleeds
00:27:12
her to the place where he just killed Liz no literally brought her to force her to look at what he had just done to
00:27:19
her best friend and he said I killed your friend oh my God like just and she said he just
00:27:25
with no emotion like literally no nothing to his voice I killed your friend oh my God now foreign
00:27:35
unfortunately it was so dark that Brandy said she couldn't see exactly like she couldn't see the tremendous amount is
00:27:42
what it was described as blood that had soaked everything around Liz and her and
00:27:48
she could but she could definitely tell she could see her if she could see that something had happened she wasn't moving
00:27:52
and she was on the ground so after forcing her to look at the brutalized body of her best [ __ ] friend Mark
00:27:59
then directs Brandy back to the car where he forced her to get in the passenger seat he drove
00:28:06
he demanded that she remove her socks and shoes now he then placed the socks over his own
00:28:12
hands before touching anything in the car because he didn't want his fingerprints
00:28:17
on the steering wheel and I'm like you were in the back seat yeah like you've already been in this car like why her
00:28:22
handprints are here sir yup but then he leaves the he pulls the car away leaving
00:28:27
Liz's body there alone he then drove them to a parking lot next to the East Ohio gas company he parked the car and
00:28:34
he forced Brandy to walk with him along the railroad tracks towards Dover she must have just been absolutely terrified
00:28:42
I my brain can't even understand she must have been such a minimal detail but she's walking barefoot now along these
00:28:49
tracks oh yeah because this is terrifying and also like you said as they're walking the tracks
00:28:56
Brandi told him like my feet hurt this hurts my feet so at one point he removed his shoes and
00:29:02
gave them to her what and so she's like okay it always weirds me out when they when they do something kind of comfort
00:29:09
thing not like kind but like Comfort things but then moments later he was like give me those back and she was like
00:29:17
okay and then he gave her his socks and was like wear these no thank you I'd be like no thank you then he also demanded
00:29:26
that she carry the plastic bag that they had stopped for with the six-pack in it
00:29:30
so she had to carry his six pack of beer in a plastic bag wearing his socks walking down a railroad track the most
00:29:37
bizarre situation truly nightmarish and through the whole thing she said he kept
00:29:42
his baseball cap really low like trying to obscure his face but he's already seen it exactly and he talked very
00:29:49
normally to her like casually even like got to know her yeah was asking her if she was going to college
00:29:56
and she was like and she had said like no I don't think I'm going to college I think I'm gonna go to work like she
00:30:01
already had and he was like he was like annoyed and like put off by that like you had this weird conversation with her
00:30:10
it's so weird and he it's like he had just brutally murdered her best friend yeah and then showed her her best
00:30:18
friend's brutalized body he said I killed her and now he's sitting here having like a weird like hey are you
00:30:25
going to college conversation with her it's like what the [ __ ] is wrong with you so after walking for a little while
00:30:32
they reached this abandoned train car it's gonna get really rough here I'd just like to let you know there is a
00:30:39
trigger warning for sexual assault and rape okay um he instructed Brandy to get inside
00:30:45
and then he made her give over her three rings that she was wearing okay so she did and then he made her strip out of
00:30:52
all of her clothing and then he began sexually assaulting her um he was unsuccessful
00:31:00
on his end trying to rape her so he demanded that she perform oral sex on him however he was also unable to do
00:31:08
that so he told Brandy to put her clothes back on and continue walking down the railroad track so that just
00:31:14
happened to her an abandoned train car and then she just after she just saw her best friend's dead body
00:31:21
and now he's like walk like unfathomable this woman unfathomable I wouldn't even be able to
00:31:30
stand up truly so after this whole thing happens they reach the railroad trestle
00:31:35
over the Tuscarawas River and the man then instructs Brandy mark As We Know Him instructs Brandy to get
00:31:43
on her knees and face out towards the water so on the edge of the trestle so she does this because she doesn't
00:31:50
know what else to do at this point and Mark pulls Brandy pulled Brandy shoelace from his pocket put it around her neck
00:31:57
and started choking her and he did it until she's on her knees on The Trestle and she lost Consciousness briefly
00:32:05
so he hadn't taken into account how hard it was to manually strangle a person to
00:32:11
death so he tried so she wakes up from unconsciousness he's still trying to choke her then he gets frustrated and
00:32:20
tries three different times to snap her neck oh my God oh my God oh my God I oh my God this woman what she has been
00:32:31
through in this short period of time he tried to snap her neck three times wrangled her to unconsciousness and then
00:32:38
tried to snap her neck three seconds holding her head trying to snap her neck oh my God and she's just sitting there
00:32:46
helplessly as he does this and hoping that the next time and the next time and the next time isn't it
00:32:52
oh my gosh so again he isn't able to successfully do that so he begins strangling her again with the shoelace
00:33:00
she lost Consciousness again Brandy to be clear he raped her in a train car and then made her kneel over a railroad
00:33:10
Trestle where he tried to strangle her so brutally she lost Consciousness twice and he also tried three separate times
00:33:17
to snap her [ __ ] neck and this is all after killing her best friend killed her
00:33:22
best friend and showing her the body and this is because they were kind enough to give this [ __ ] swamp
00:33:30
creature a ride right well in the weirdest I mean not the weirdest but one of the weird things here too is he's got
00:33:37
a gun and a knife and he's not now he just isn't using well what we find out later was that he so brutally stabbed
00:33:46
Liz that he snapped the blade of the knife off oh my God and what about the gun the gun that's the thing that I'm
00:33:53
not I've heard two different stories about this so I don't know which one it is if he just said he had a gun or if he
00:33:59
showed them a gun and perhaps maybe it wasn't loaded or perhaps not that's the thing so I'm not positive because I've
00:34:05
seen it both ways but either way he did have a knife on him he did use that knife and he broke it that's how brutal
00:34:13
it was wow now after the second time of strangling her into unconsciousness with
00:34:18
her own shoelace she came too but she came too without him realizing it and just in time to see him hovering
00:34:27
over her to determine if she was alive or not so she was quick enough after all she's [ __ ] been through to play dead
00:34:35
to realize this and smartly she held her breath to appear as though she wasn't breathing like thought to do and
00:34:43
meanwhile all her body at that point wants to do I'm sure is take a [ __ ] breath exactly
00:34:48
she managed to continue holding her breath even as he was slapping her on the back to try to force air out of her
00:34:56
lungs oh my God like it was literally trying to force her to breathe and she was holding her breath wow so because of
00:35:02
her quick thinking he was like oh she's dead so Mark picked Brandy up and threw her
00:35:08
from the train trestle this is when her foot got caught in the tracks and she hung by her foot over the water
00:35:17
it truly is and she fell 30 feet below to the water and she's like you shouldn't even die that way just like
00:35:23
exactly so she's floating in the water and like we said before she played Dead trying to
00:35:28
keep this repulsive [ __ ] from realizing that she's alive and from her position
00:35:33
in the water she said she could see him through the slats of The Trestle and he was just walking back and forth
00:35:40
smoking she was talking to himself kicking rocks at her into the river after like like a long time like about almost
00:35:50
an hour mark finally started to walk away I had to play dead for an hour so Brandy
00:35:58
waited a few more minutes because she was so worried he was gonna come back and then she made her way to the
00:36:03
riverbank and she tried she said several times to pull herself out of the water and couldn't do it at first like she had
00:36:09
nothing she must have been so weak at that point eventually she was able to flop herself onto land and get to the
00:36:16
road and that's when she passed down the auxiliary police officer who drove her to the police station yeah what's Wild
00:36:23
is some of the officers on duty doubted her story [ __ ] them one officer told the
00:36:29
ambulance driver when he showed up I think she might be making this whole story up she says she doesn't know this
00:36:35
guy but I think she does she must have you never heard of a random crime occurring like what the [ __ ] makes that
00:36:43
up and like that's when she tied a ligature around her own throat like that's I'm
00:36:49
like what are you talking and she punched herself in the face and broke skin like go [ __ ] yourself well luckily
00:36:55
Captain Everett who she was talking to very much believed what she had to say can you imagine if he didn't and she
00:37:00
could you imagine all of that yeah for nothing wow shame on that office yeah and Captain Everett was like I really
00:37:06
didn't want to believe her like I didn't want to believe that any of that had happened but I did and he said he had
00:37:12
actually known the Riser family for years and so he said Liz had been friends with his daughter oh God and so
00:37:19
Brandi had told him that she thought Liz was dead but she couldn't be sure and so
00:37:23
he was like we gotta go out there and see and he was like I really didn't want to do this but like obviously we have to
00:37:29
but he was like I was hoping she was mistaken so the area that Brandy described like where Liz was It was kind
00:37:38
of vague because trauma and it's also I mean it's a feel pitch black trauma stress Terror yeah so local police
00:37:46
actually got the help of the Ohio State Police to search for Liz once they were all together Captain Everett explained
00:37:53
to all of them all the search and rescue officers and everyone that was there that everything that Brandy had told
00:37:59
them and they used a big map and then they just broke it off into several little bits for everyone to look at and
00:38:05
it was just after 4 a.m when Ohio State Sergeant Ryan Sergeant Ryan and Trooper Richmond actually made their way down
00:38:13
Harmon Hill Road so this was just after 4 a.m 4 a.m is when one officer had gone
00:38:19
officer Gentry had gone to the risers home to look for Liz right about four miles away from where they started the
00:38:26
search the officers Came Upon a dirt Service Road and they said it looked like it had been driven down recently
00:38:32
and they said it kind of resembled what Brandi had described so armed with only flashlights they went down the tracks a
00:38:40
little way and they immediately started noticing that there was a lot of potholes and
00:38:44
divots in the road this was part of Brandy's story that he had said that so the troopers were like uh they didn't
00:38:51
see anything at first so they were like okay let's just leave this is maybe this
00:38:54
isn't it but then as they were shining the flashlight around they caught something quickly in the beam and they
00:39:00
said at first they thought it was just a pile of something but when they got closer they realized that it was a young
00:39:06
teenage girl's body it was clear to both of them very quickly that she was dead but they did
00:39:12
check her for Vital Signs obviously but what they said her eyes were fixed and dilated her mouth was open it was clear
00:39:18
she was gone they saw several very severe cuts to her neck immediately and officers also noted
00:39:25
several deep scratches on her back one long cut down her spine what and they photographed the scene and they called
00:39:32
for additional officers and an ambulance who arrived a short time later and she was taken to the coroner's
00:39:39
office meanwhile Becky and Jeff Reiser were getting more and more anxious at home they're getting more and more
00:39:45
restless so they left their home around 6 a.m because it's been two hours yeah they heard this and they went to the
00:39:51
hospital hoping that maybe they would find Liz in the hospital or at the very least find Brandy to try to get what
00:39:58
happened here apparently nurses were like a little ill prepared for their arrival because they
00:40:03
just kind of showed up so they just LED them into the waiting room where Brandy's family members were waiting oh
00:40:08
God and no one said anything for a while I guess in there but then they said Jeff
00:40:13
Riser just blurted out I know Liz is dead and then he said God told me she was I
00:40:18
believe this is a war it's a war against our beliefs and what we stand for and everyone in the room just like
00:40:25
didn't know what to do but they said he was just like he was just going it's a war it's a war like he was just I think
00:40:31
he was just like yeah completely out of touch at that point because he was just like this is his child yeah and for him
00:40:39
and I I very much think that like parents have an intuition when it comes to their children and you know that he
00:40:46
just knew like he knew something bad had happened and that's all that was where he was thinking of it now uh they they
00:40:54
also they were probably taking some Context Clues here everyone's very somber quiet
00:41:00
there's a heavy police presence no information is being shared I mean like intuition was definitely a thing here
00:41:07
unfortunately he was going to find out that he was very correct only a few minutes later because the detective from
00:41:13
the Dover Police Station confirmed that they had found a body matching loses description and then they told them what
00:41:21
clothing she was wearing and it matched the clothing that she was wearing that night absolutely terrible Becky Riser
00:41:27
her mother gave the detective a recent picture of Liz and he confirmed yes this looks a lot like the girl that we found
00:41:34
oh no the risers apparently took you know the time to answer some questions that they had and then they returned
00:41:40
home and because it was all confirmed yeah and they had to break the news to their other children that their sister
00:41:46
was dead oh my God it had been brutally murdered now despite what had seemed at the time
00:41:53
and what still seems when you look at it as a very chaotic very impulsive random
00:41:59
by a very disorganized killer there really wasn't any evidence left so it's like that it was disorganized in a way
00:42:08
but it was also organized and so there was very little evidence to work with here Brandi tried really hard to give a
00:42:15
good description of the killer but the trauma and his attempts to like obscure his face with his cap yup she had a
00:42:23
description but it was kind of vague name yeah and she's saying Mark that wasn't even his name what about the car
00:42:30
uh that the car was their car but like any any hell like did they didn't find anything I think they didn't
00:42:36
find anything but Tuscarawas County Sheriff Harold mckimmy told reporters we think it's somebody from this area this
00:42:44
guy knew where he was going when he went to Auburn Township so immediately they were like we know it's a local
00:42:49
but while police were searching the hayfields where Liz's body was found um a technician from the Stark County
00:42:56
coroner's office began the autopsy on lizarizer the cause of death was a 10-inch quote incised wound of the left
00:43:04
posterior of the posterior left neck that extends from the left lower neck to the right posterior neck causing almost
00:43:12
complete transection of the trachea and right sternomastoid muscle that is a very intense cut like nearly
00:43:21
decapitation right so that's like and the corner also recorded an eight inch incised wound midline on the upper
00:43:30
back and abrasions in the shape of an X at the base of the neck and upper back measuring seven inches by four and three
00:43:38
quarters inches what was that yeah he was very brutal I think because that wasn't it they also
00:43:46
recorded a partial transection of the right thyroid in your neck uh five stab wounds to the
00:43:54
top of the scalp and several scrapes and cuts I just stabbed her in the top of the
00:44:00
head yes what the [ __ ] is this guy doing and the technician found no evidence of
00:44:06
defensive wounds because remember and he had slit her wrists first too I mean her neck first now the news went
00:44:13
out to New Philadelphia and Dover that morning and it was sheer Panic everyone was like what the [ __ ] is going on here
00:44:20
who is this and this is she's a teenager yeah so her peers were informed at high
00:44:25
school oh God and grief counseling was offered immediately well that's right because it was the first time she had
00:44:30
gone for a sleepover on a school night oh my God one counselor of grief counselor at the school said some of the
00:44:37
students are okay but others have had a tougher time of it our whole Community has been rocked there's a lot of fear
00:44:43
the biggest thing we're trying to do is reassure them they want to feel safe again yeah because they don't know what
00:44:49
the [ __ ] happened here and was she taken out of her room what the hell happened
00:44:52
right so one student told reporters for the Akron Beacon Journal people keep saying everything happens for a reason I
00:44:59
don't think anyone can give me a reason why a church going loving a courage going loving girl needed to be cut to
00:45:05
Pieces no I don't think anybody I think of any reason for anybody to be cut to Pieces Church going or not I hope nobody
00:45:13
can but yeah like she seemed like a very sweet kind smart charismatic yeah good just decent human like you know what I
00:45:24
mean like all around just like one of the good ones you know life ahead of her and she was so sweet looking you look at
00:45:31
her you're just like [ __ ] she's like I want to know Liz you know like Liz seemed like such a sweetheart no she
00:45:37
looks like somebody that like would come and sit with you if you were sitting alone it does she just seems like that
00:45:42
person that would like give you that hug that you need when you're upset like even if you don't like hugs like Liz
00:45:47
would give you that I just get that back I got you yeah you know she's so sweet looking fortunately the
00:45:54
unknown wouldn't linger for very long people wouldn't have to ask questions for very long because very soon after
00:46:00
all of this A call came into the Dover Police Department and it was from a woman named Sheila Davis and she said
00:46:07
she needed to report a murder according to Sheila Davis she had received a call from her son's
00:46:15
brother-in-law Jeff mullinix okay this guy Jeff Mullenix her son's brother-in-law had told her that her son
00:46:25
27 year old Matthew Vaca had been involved in a terrible crime and mullinix thought they needed to speak to
00:46:33
police okay so Sheila Davis is Matthew vaca's mother thank you but the person who had
00:46:39
told her this was her son-in-law okay essentially so basically he told his brother-in-law yeah exactly
00:46:46
so police immediately got in touch with Jeff malinix who had a story to tell according to mullinix he said he had
00:46:54
been at home asleep in the early morning hours of May 24th and he said he shared
00:46:58
that house with his sister and her husband Matthew Vaca they also had three children
00:47:05
him and his wife so he really did have children he really did have children three of them three children
00:47:11
what and he said yeah this was in the early morning hours remember and he was awoken by vodka who said get dressed
00:47:19
you're going with me and he said he said it was weird but he said also like we would go out driving
00:47:24
aimlessly a lot and like smoke pot together listen to music like he was a weird guy sure so like we just and every
00:47:30
once in a while we would just like wake up and he'd wake me up in the middle of the night we'd Drive okay to each their
00:47:36
own I love going for drives but if anybody woke me up but after they'd been driving for a
00:47:43
little while around Jeff was like where are we going Matthew like what do we do like what's the plan here like what are
00:47:49
we doing and he said nothing and he was like and it was very silent and it was weird we weren't talking and he goes and
00:47:55
then out of nowhere he just says I killed the girl what the [ __ ] and Jeff was like [ __ ] you no you didn't like he
00:48:01
was like I didn't believe him don't say that to me but then he said okay let me bring you to the field no thank you no
00:48:07
he brought him to the field and showed him Liz's body holy [ __ ] yep he just wakes this guy
00:48:18
this guy has nothing to do with it and he just wakes him up in the middle of the night and oh my God and then it gets
00:48:25
even worse because he says he actually needed his help no and he said that he in order he said he had to find the
00:48:31
blade of the linoleum knife that had snapped off during the attack no yep now it was really dark and vodka
00:48:40
wasn't able to find the blade even with Jeff's help so they both drove to a truck stop that
00:48:47
was open all night and they were gonna buy flashlights why which I'm like Jeff what the [ __ ]
00:48:52
are you doing yeah when they went inside though Matthew was like oh [ __ ] his wife's aunt was working at the truck
00:49:01
stop okay and he was like she's gonna be like what the [ __ ] are you doing well
00:49:05
she's gonna see the my his clothes were covered in blood oh yeah of course yep so they left the truck stop and instead
00:49:11
went to a 24-hour Walmart and vodka removed his jeans that were covered in Liz's blood and wore a pair of shorts
00:49:18
into Walmart where he purchased the flashlight he also purchased a ceramic coffee mug
00:49:24
and a lighter shaped like a gun and he did this because those two have a little weight to them and as we'll see he was
00:49:29
going to use them for something now they went with their flashlights and they found the knife blade back at Liz's
00:49:36
body and vodka put it into the Walmart bag and they put his bloody jeans in there as well the coffee mug and the
00:49:44
lighter which was very heavy and they threw the entire bag into the river that they bought those things so it would
00:49:50
sink yeah you would think now based on what Jeff mullinix had just told them that entire story it was
00:49:59
pretty clear that the man that Brandy knew as Mark was actually Matthew vodka also like hey Jeff there's this number
00:50:07
it's called um 9-1-1 the authorities are there you can reach them yeah what the [ __ ] are you doing calling his mom
00:50:15
exactly call the [ __ ] police you [ __ ] I'm saying now just before 5 a.m on May 25th the
00:50:22
car and so this all happened within like you know the day of it happening it was
00:50:27
very quick right um and this was on May 25th the um Sheriff's Office issued a warrant for
00:50:33
vodka's arrest and a bunch of plain clothed and uniform sheriff's deputies tracked Baca to a nearby lake Park and
00:50:42
they arrested him without incident as soon as he came out of the park to the parking lot no incident this
00:50:46
[ __ ] is just at a park the other day after he murders two girls or thinks he's murdered two girls yeah because
00:50:52
remember he thinks he's murdered both of them yeah now when the news came out about what
00:50:58
had actually happened the residents of Dover were like what the [ __ ] and they were like this has to be an outsider
00:51:06
he's got to be some hitchhiker that just came through this town and like you know
00:51:10
he he must have moved on after this like that's wild but no when they heard it was Matthew Vaca everybody in the
00:51:17
community was like oh [ __ ] we know who that is he was a husband again a father of three
00:51:24
he'd grown up in the area he knew a lot of the people in the area also at the time of the murder he was
00:51:31
actually known by the Dover Police not just for being like a good citizen he had convictions for drunk driving and
00:51:39
driving on a suspended license in 95 and 96. in November 96 he actually pleaded guilty to 15 counts of felony forgery
00:51:48
damn and for that he ended up serving a one-year sentence at the Stark Regional Community Corrections Center and after
00:51:55
that he went on probation and he was on probation since 1998 at this point and he was a couple years he was still on
00:52:02
probation when he did that so he'll get a violation he loves it now luckily his arrest on May 25th like you said was a
00:52:10
pretty obvious violation of probation so they had due cause to detain him well they investigated further fantastic now
00:52:17
the news of the arrest made vaca's neighbors lose their minds because you want to move out of my house most of
00:52:24
them a lot of them knew Liz Riser too like this was a community each other so one of his neighbors Mark Hines was
00:52:32
stunned by this he said there was never any noise or fighting no problems with the little kids his wife was real pretty
00:52:40
I don't know why he would have done anything like that to those girls but you never know what people are up to
00:52:44
like why did we have to throw in that his wife was pretty they're just like he's a pretty wife like I think it was
00:52:49
just like he has a pretty wife he's got three girls you're like what's he doing I don't I'm in for him to say like
00:52:54
there's never a problem with the kids like I don't hear people yelling that's not like it's not an outwardly abusive
00:53:00
situation yeah like you would think they'd be like oh like that's a pretty [ __ ] up house you know like no well
00:53:05
and especially with all the drunk driving charges and all that kind of stuff too yeah and for him to say like
00:53:10
but you never know what people are up to I'm like true words never [ __ ] sure no that's why I mind my [ __ ] business
00:53:17
because you don't [ __ ] know you don't know people mind my business until I have a reason not to yeah exactly now
00:53:24
wildly vodka himself also seemed shocked by his own actions to he never resisted he quickly
00:53:33
confessed to the entire thing what and detective Walt Wilson told reporters he said he didn't know the young women and
00:53:39
they didn't know him the original motive he said was robbery and it just went bad
00:53:42
from there but no that's not true at all yeah he actually later said and they'd bring this up later he fluctuates
00:53:51
between he has no idea why he did it and then at one point he said he just wanted
00:53:55
to know what it would feel like to kill another human being I think it's that yeah I think he's [ __ ] in the head and
00:54:00
yes that's the problem and in his statement to police Vaca said he planned to Rob them but he didn't know what led
00:54:06
him to kill Liz riser in that hay Fields he was like I don't know why I did that
00:54:10
I just wanted to Rob them that's even more maddening it is it's oh it's so maddening and no you didn't just want to
00:54:16
Dr to Rob them you made them drive for miles and miles exactly and could have just robbed them and left the car and
00:54:22
you came with a knife you came with a gun that's the thing new to have them take their shoelaces off like this was
00:54:28
at least thought about before you were aggressive right from the jump and he said he had planned to Let Her Go
00:54:35
when they got in the field which is what you know he claimed forever but for some
00:54:40
reason that he couldn't pinpoint he said he just decided to kill her like he contemplated it for a minute and then he
00:54:46
decided he was going to kill her okay detective Orvis Campbell told reporters he said he doesn't know why he just
00:54:52
decided to do it and cut her throat he told us he was planning on letting her go I don't believe that I don't either
00:54:58
on June 5th Matthew Matthew Vaca appeared before a judge in the Common Pleas Court and the judge said a June
00:55:05
30th hearing date to revoke his probation officially um although Vaca had not yet been
00:55:12
formally charged with any crimes during the preliminary hearing uh that happened
00:55:16
assistant Tuscarawas County prosecutor Scott Mastin announced that they had every intention of seeking the death
00:55:23
penalty in this case in the meantime vodka was going to remain in the Tuscarawas County jail and
00:55:29
he was not going to have any opportunity for bail he was stuck there until he had
00:55:33
trial good now Vaca appeared before grand jury on June 13th and that's when he was officially charged and he was
00:55:41
charged with one count of aggravated murder one count of attempted aggravated murder one kind of aggravated kidnapping
00:55:49
two counts of kidnapping two counts of rape three counts of tampering with evidence and one count of abuse of a
00:55:56
corpse knowing the prosecutor's office actually wanted the death penalty he instead
00:56:02
decided to agree to a plea to what would essentially be a life sentence he wasn't
00:56:07
going to be eligible for parole until 2096 he would be 123 years old so loves it Sheila Davis vaca's mother said this
00:56:17
has been his decision from the start he said he didn't want to victimize Brandy a second time or the Riser family and
00:56:23
this is the only way he will have any possibility of seeing his children in the future
00:56:28
one so sweet of him to not want to re-victimize the woman he was sure he had [ __ ] murdered after he raped her
00:56:37
twice so sweet of him to not want to victimize her again [ __ ] you two this is the only way he's gonna see
00:56:45
his kids you think anyone gives a [ __ ] I'm sorry but if I was his wife I'd be like we're not ever seeing dad again
00:56:52
like are you kidding me no this is the only way he's gonna see his kids I don't give a [ __ ] you know who doesn't get to
00:56:59
see their kids again [ __ ] Liz's parents exactly you know who has to deal with trauma for the rest
00:57:05
of their lives even as a mother now Brandy Hicks yup [ __ ] off yeah I don't give a [ __ ] about you no or you're
00:57:11
saying yeah you're a real great dad no you left the [ __ ] house in the middle of the night to brutally rape and murder
00:57:17
[ __ ] teenage girls you piece of [ __ ] seriously what the [ __ ] that pissed me
00:57:20
off so much that makes me so mad and to make it seem this was his plan all along
00:57:26
later on like it's not that he doesn't want to re-victimize he wants you just told me he wants to see his kids and it
00:57:33
has nothing to do with Brandy and he doesn't want to get gassed to death he doesn't want to die exactly let's call
00:57:39
it what it is my friend okay like come on and that's the thing like don't put that
00:57:45
in there about seeing your kids yeah because you just I just now I know exactly why you did it like and I don't
00:57:51
give a [ __ ] I don't want you to see your kids I'm just kidding like you just said
00:57:56
like Liz's parents parents would love to see their child alive again like [ __ ]
00:58:01
you how dare you be so careless Brandy's parents Brantley family Brandy's loved ones would probably love to see her not
00:58:07
have to deal with this for the rest of her life yeah [ __ ] you how kind of him yeah thank you for not re-victimizing
00:58:13
douchebag so the prosecutor like I said had planned to pursue the death penalty but it was ultimately the victims in the
00:58:22
case who talked them out of it well even though like The Plea was like went through anyways they wouldn't have like
00:58:28
sought it because the victim said no uh County prosecutor Amanda spies-born hosts Horst I think it is said Brandy
00:58:35
Hicks indicated that she is satisfied that Baka will spend the rest of his days in jail she taught she's tired of
00:58:42
talking about it and doesn't really want to go through a trial and the risers said they would just leave it up to me
00:58:46
right so they were all just like whatever I just I don't know please don't put us through this
00:58:52
um also a plea deal would mean that vodka would simply go through the Sim the sentencing process and then begin
00:58:59
serving his time kind of like out of the public eye it would just go through right but a death penalty case would
00:59:04
drag on for years and years and the media would get automatically yeah and they would automatically get a ton of
00:59:10
appeals before the execution happened so as far as everyone in the prosecutor's office was concerned Liz Riser was not
00:59:19
going to be brought back by him being killed no but they could they could do something meaning they could spare
00:59:26
Brandy being re-traumatized every time she has to sit and testify and she has to read and she has to see reports and
00:59:34
she has to look at his face yeah no she doesn't so they were like you know what we can do that and at least help one of
00:59:39
these women so we're gonna do that exactly so Matthew Vaca appeared before a judge on June 22nd and he pleaded
00:59:46
guilty to all 11 accounts against him the courtroom was packed with friends and family of the victims they came to
00:59:54
support Brandi and the risers in a statement to the Press Brandy actually said I knew it was bad news as soon as I
01:00:02
told him to get out of the car and he said well I've got a gun I didn't think he was going to actually kill us oh
01:00:07
which how would why would you and she's told reporters that she was working on forgiving vodka but she said she was
01:00:15
struggling with it and you know what which you have every right to she doesn't ever have to forgive him and
01:00:19
that doesn't make her any less of a good person not at all you don't have to forgive someone no you do not you do not
01:00:25
and I know that these um all of these people were like church goers they were religious that is part of the
01:00:32
Forgiveness their religion so I understand that that was something that was very important to them but you by no
01:00:36
means have to I just feel like I I hope everybody knows that you don't need to forgive people you don't you really
01:00:42
don't and but if you feel like past it if you feel like that's something you absolutely need then like more power to
01:00:48
you but like I just don't I feel bad when people put pressure on their own on their hearts to forgive someone when
01:00:54
like they don't have to no you don't have to I promise you you don't have to that's not an action that you asked for
01:01:00
no you did not ask you to figure out how to forgive somebody for doing something
01:01:04
to you that you never wanted exactly exactly it's not that's not my problem and what she said was I know I should
01:01:11
forgive him I'm trying really hard but at the right at this moment I can't that's what she said she knows now that
01:01:17
she doesn't have to well in Brandy's mother Kimberly Klein said none of this makes anything better we're thankful
01:01:23
Brandy lived but we miss Liz and always will absolutely so a week later on June 30th Vaca went back to court for
01:01:30
sentencing and this time he had to face the tsunami of testimony and Victim Impact statements from all the people
01:01:38
whose lives he had blown apart here for it so to be honest for most it was the lack of motive that was the incredibly
01:01:47
frustrating aspect here so course there was a lot of people outside of like you know especially outside of like the
01:01:54
family and friends here just like people seeing this whole thing that were assuming it was his interest in heavy
01:01:59
metal music and you know horror movies or vinyl movies we've been down that road but addressing you know like you
01:02:06
know they went like the porn root and all that which I don't know a lot about like what he was doing in that situation
01:02:12
but porn doesn't make you kill people he's just a bad person movies don't make you kill people no exactly songs don't
01:02:18
make you kill people people kill people do that yeah now addressing vodka the judge Edward O'Farrell asked him you
01:02:27
know what why can you give us a motive give this family he's the reason why you did that and he said Matt you understand
01:02:34
what you are about to face you already acknowledged it you know there is not going to be a surprise here but you know
01:02:40
facing what you're gonna face can't you in this final act before you're banished
01:02:45
from this County from the lives of these people physically can't you tell them why you this to their children
01:02:52
and so Vaca just stared down at the floor and muttered I don't know I don't know myself why yes you do so judge
01:03:01
O'Farrell was [ __ ] thoroughly irritated by that me as well and he said what were you thinking Matt you told
01:03:07
people you wanted to experience killing a human being that is what they told us why did you say that to them why did you
01:03:14
want to experience killing a human being was it drugs was it me was it the music
01:03:18
was it the pornography is that why you can tell the young people in this community like he's like give a reason
01:03:26
um like so Matt finally interrupted the judge and said I am responsible you gotta know that I'm willing and then he
01:03:35
stopped for a second and said I'm willing to give my life oh thank you weren't though you took a
01:03:40
plea deal yeah so judge O'Farrell was pissed but uh nothing comes close to the uh statement that the prosecutor Amanda
01:03:48
spies bornhorst had prepared for him he said the she said the death penalty does
01:03:54
not provide the Swift Justice it was intended to do I think you deserve to die for the crimes you committed
01:03:59
absolutely and then she said I want you to understand what you have to look forward to forward to in prison you will
01:04:06
be beaten repeatedly and you will be brutally raped and you will lose every ounce of dignity that you have left in
01:04:12
your body and you will live in Terror not for the hour or so that Liz Reiser did or the hour that Brandi Hicks did
01:04:18
but for every minute for the rest of your life soccer and I said whoa yeah that's wild that was heavy like [ __ ] so
01:04:28
funny okay Amanda so finally Brandi Hicks took the stand and read her Victim Impact statement oh yeah how [ __ ]
01:04:37
Brave of her and she's a teen to face the man that raped her twice and thought he had killed her she's a teenager yeah
01:04:45
she had gone through Unthinkable unspeakable trauma and she stood there looking at the man who did this and said
01:04:52
I guess I have to forgive you I don't really want to but it's like my mom said if you don't if I don't forgive you God
01:05:00
won't forgive us I do forgive you I just want you to know that wow like that's whoo that hurt my heart
01:05:08
that hurts my heart but she's a she's a tough tough girl it hurts my heart that it sounds like she didn't necessarily
01:05:14
feel that to forgive yeah because you're just like I just want you I just want Brandy however that comes to feel what
01:05:23
she needs to feel about it God wants her to feel or anybody else and again not dogging it because it's
01:05:30
not at all if that's what you believe in and the Forgiveness thing is important to you to move past these kind of things
01:05:37
or move forward through all the power to you then that if that is important to you then that should be what you work
01:05:43
towards because that is important to you yeah but if it is not important to you specifically and is only important to
01:05:48
someone else you don't have to do it that's something worse that's not for you either way if Brandy did end up
01:05:53
feeling like she could forgive him I hope that I hope that's what happened and I hope she feels great about it
01:05:58
absolutely but if not if she didn't feel like she really forgave him that's okay
01:06:03
too yeah like I hope she's just whatever she is feeling I hope she's happy me too
01:06:08
that's all I want I just wish her happiness and peace yeah and I know that she like I think she's married I think
01:06:13
she's a mother now so like I hope she's just happy good for her and that's all I
01:06:17
want for Brandy but once everyone had made their statements judge O'Farrell asked Vaca whether he had a final
01:06:24
statement to say before the sentencing was going to be passed down and um the public defender those defending him
01:06:31
actually read his personal statement and said I know I destroyed three families in one night I know the Lord is with us
01:06:38
watching over us I'm ready and willing to face the consequences of my actions okay I'm sure Jim
01:06:46
so when all was said and done the judge put down the maximum sentence on him of 96 and a half years for all 11 counts
01:06:55
against him and later the same day he had to go before another judge for the probation violation where he would
01:07:02
receive another 22 and a half years on top of that I konik goodbye don't let the door hit you on the way out [ __ ]
01:07:10
so because he pled guilty to the charges he was ineligible to appeal any of his sentencing because he pled guilty he
01:07:17
said he did it yeah he remains incarcerated at Mansfield Correctional Facility in Mansfield Ohio he is still
01:07:25
to this day never given an actual coherent explanation for why the [ __ ] he killed Liz Reiser and why he tried to
01:07:31
kill Brandy Hicks that is that he still has not done it that's the most maddening part about
01:07:37
this whole thing is like sure you just you like you said I just wanted to know what it was like but yeah that there's
01:07:42
more to that yeah it's not just one day you said gee I wonder what it would be like to murder something exactly that
01:07:48
does it doesn't make any sense but the fact that he won't give an actual any kind of explanation is so infuriating
01:07:54
but since the years that this has happened this was in 2000 so 23 years ago Brandi has tried to move forward
01:08:02
with her life like I said she's married she has three children now um one of them she has honored part of
01:08:09
their name with Liz's name beautiful um and the risers have also tried to move forward through unspeakable tragedy
01:08:19
and pain I can't imagine um but they've used it to kind of inspire their you know their Ministry that they do yeah
01:08:27
they've tried to kind of inspire other people good for them um Becky Reiser started a Blog in 2007 and she shares or
01:08:34
Liz's memory in that blog in 2014 she published a book through my tears Awash in forgiveness which is a self-published
01:08:42
memoir that was co-written with Michael Camella uh it basically talks about the family's experience of losing Liz and
01:08:49
their experience with the justice system after that okay now they lit um excuse me Becky and Jeff actually speak
01:08:57
publicly still about the experience whenever they can and they still say they have completely forgiven Matthew
01:09:04
Baca for the murder of Liz rizer and again good for them if that is what is important to them then good for them
01:09:11
like there I am better people than I am truly truly they are so like I feel that
01:09:16
way too and honestly like the fact that they have turned it around to be a thing
01:09:22
where they are just sharing her memory to inspire people like family good for them and good for Brandy yeah and I hope
01:09:28
everyone's [ __ ] thriving I really do and this just really broke my heart I feel so [ __ ] bad for the risers I
01:09:36
feel so [ __ ] bad for Brandy and her family but it looks like they were able to at least like keep Liz's memory alive
01:09:44
in like a positive way and that's really and Brandy seems to be like thriving so
01:09:49
what a tragic tragic senseless case Matthew Vaca is a [ __ ] animal swamp creature like he's an animal he's the
01:09:59
[ __ ] slime on the bottom of the swamp like lettuce truly it's he's [ __ ] horrific the [ __ ] he did is unspeakable
01:10:09
never see the light of day again that man is a [ __ ] dangerous creature seriously oh wow yeah I hope he's
01:10:18
[ __ ] miserable but that is the story of the brutal murder of Liz Reiser and the attempted murder of Brandy Hicks
01:10:25
damn well yeah thank you for that you're welcome that's so so sad amazing it's so
01:10:32
horrible for both of those families but again so happy that Brandy is thriving and that lizard the risers are really
01:10:38
found pushing through this and yeah and can speak about this memory alive wow yeah well guys that was Bonkers I hope
01:10:48
that you all enjoy the rest of your day and make somebody's day better yeah do a
01:10:54
positive act exactly um and we have to keep listening and we hope you keep oh whoa I just almost said
01:11:00
on it weird weird I'm sorry I don't have coffee in me right now you there's a coffee in
01:11:08
front of you I know and it's full I know she hasn't had it all right love you guys bye
01:11:15
foreign [Music]