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hey weirdos I'm Elena I'm Ash and this is morbid [Music] and it's morbid in the morning it is but
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it's one of those that I'm not sure why I kept for the morning because it's not going to start your day out oh on a
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great note fantastic this is a pretty gnarly one that makes me nervous because my tum already hurts I know you're
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having tummy trouble I know what's going on I don't know I think they're just like a random [ __ ] going around in the
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universe yeah maybe you know we saw um Corinne and Sabrina from two girls one ghost recently we have a little brekkie
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with them that was so fun I love them so much and Corinne had a shirt on that said what was the shirt and you were
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like wow I was like wow that's relatable it said something like my tummy really hurts but I'm being brave I need to get
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you that's how my tummy hurts but I'm being Really Brave about it that's how I feel
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right now it was hilarious it's that's very much a you shirt I got in my car this morning I'm like my tummy really
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hurts but I'm being brave but I'm being Really Brave about it I'm gonna drive over and I'll be right there oh I love
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it so much also if you haven't listened to two girls one ghost like what are you
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doing it's a fun spooky ass time and they're wonderful they're so funny you'll listen to them uh but yeah so
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Ash's tummy hurts but she's being Really Brave about it thank you so there's that
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I keep finding and I was saying this this morning to Ash now I'm in this phase of life where I
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can't stay up after the girls go to sleep I sit on the couch and I just pass out yeah and it's been happening for
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like weeks and I'm like why can't I stay awake see it's funny to me it's like it's very concerning to Elena she's like
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I don't like it yeah I hate it it's so funny to me because that's been me for like the past like
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six months to a year I go home I turn on a TV show and five minutes into that TV
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show I'm just like hit a mouse see usually I'm like I can handle like a few hours of sitting and like doing
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something else at night but now it's as soon as I sit on that couch I'm out we're doing a lot man it's not great I
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don't love falling asleep like that I gotta figure out you know what it is it's it's like hello I figured it out no
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it's I'm not doing anything physically for my body right now like I have I've taken a Hiatus from like doing any kind
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of physical activity with my body oh see that's not the problem for me and I think that's a problem for me because I
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think when I exercise you feel like when I do the bike or something and I'm on like a good routine with it I feel like
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it like energizes me okay in a way that I don't think is happening right now so maybe I I think I stopped when I got
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like sick at one point I was like oh I gotta take a break yeah and then I just didn't do it again I've been meaning to
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do it girl I gotta do it we also think it helps we got walking treads for our desks yeah so I think it's I think it's
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necessary I need some physical activity yeah walk a mile in these Louboutins exactly these Louboutins are you walking
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in Louis Vuitton no not me but no I'm just walking away no I I think it really is like part of it at
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least maybe I'm hoping that physical activity will make I think it will make me feel better look yes in general but I
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don't know you might still fall asleep early maybe but maybe I'll feel better about it well also you you're not giving
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yourself enough credit you have two brand new puppies that's true I think that's definitely having to do with it
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they're doing great by the way yeah but like you learned how to or not you like your youngest learned how to sleep so
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then you were sleeping for a minute and your body was probably getting used to that and then you were like oh you know
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it's a good idea let's [ __ ] this up entirely I got my dogs and that's probably what happened so you're
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probably people get tired sometimes I know it's wild I don't love it listen all you Capricorns out there you might
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feel this sudden uh feeling that you've never felt before called tired it sucks lay down all my Capricorns can attest
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like it's we don't like it just lay down first we don't like it because it's not
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it's not conducive to productivity and that really annoys me what about a 20 minute nap that's like super good yeah
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productivity maybe you should start doing that during the day maybe it's time for you to develop a nap time old
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maybe you've got to have a nap time maybe it's time for you now it's time for my nap everybody I'll I'll wake you
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up with some oatmeal go with some cream of wheat some cream of wheat I used to live with this lady
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that loves Cream of Wheat you know it's it's a real it's a real food so this is so funny I don't know what else to say
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about like you know what Cream of Wheat exists it does you can eat it so seriously I don't know I don't know if
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you should you can I don't know if you should but why don't we get into this terrible terrible case with that will
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probably keep me from sleeping even further oh fantastic let's do them this one is wild someone suggested it a few
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people suggested it and I was like and when I saw them suggested I was like I'm sorry what because they were like can
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you do the Bone Breaker case and I said what excuse me and then I looked it up and I said what excuse me I didn't know
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this existed oh no and this is real rough so let's begin July 10 1994. we got a 90s case it's the 90s this is when the
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body of 14 year old Chris Steiner was found floating in the Wisconsin River he was discovered after a nearly week-long
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desperate search for him who had and he had mysteriously disappeared seemingly Into Thin Air from his parents home in
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Baraboo Wisconsin his cause of death was officially labeled as death by drowning and the
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theory police were going with was that he snuck out of his house by his own volition that night to go swimming with
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friends I doubt it they ruled it was just a tragic accident yeah there was no according to them there was no other
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evidence to prove anything else but was it an accident no or was this the beginning of a case that has torn my
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entire nervous system to shreds the latter it is that's literally what I wrote in my notes it was the latter I am
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a psychic you are we are one so let's begin with Chris Steiner's death because this is so tragic um oh no I reading
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about his parents just ruined my my whole art I feel like with a case like this in any case in general where
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somebody loses like a teenager in their life that's horrible and in the middle of the night right he was in his home
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and then he just wasn't right and then they found him floating in a river a week later and they have no answers like
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At first this was just an accidental drowning and his parents never believed that look his parents know they just
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know but they had to wait like a long time to figure out what actually happened to him and it's even worse so
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on the morning of July 4th 1994 Kathy Steiner Chris's mom went to wake up her son 14 year old Christian known
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as Chris Steiner who would have been asleep in his bedroom at this point so she went in his room she opened up the
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door and she found that the room was empty now Chris was supposed to work a 7 A.M shift at McDonald's that morning so
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alarm Bells immediately went off uh because he had just started that job and he was excited about that job so he
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wouldn't have just failed so Kathy informed her husband George that Chris wasn't in his bed and
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together they searched the house during the search they found that the window screens in their other son's bedroom had
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been sliced oh I don't like that yeah and both the front and back doors to the house were unlocked oh [ __ ] yeah and
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there was no sign of Chris anywhere so they immediately called the police to report him missing but imagine this
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whatever happened this person came through their other child's bedroom into this child's bedroom like how do
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you wrap your brain around that [ __ ] now according to George and Kathy they had last seen Chris around 10 pm the
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night before he said his father his father had gone in to check on him in his bedroom and he was in there yeah and
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he said quote he had fallen asleep on his bed wearing the clothes he had on that day and Kathy was like that was
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very usual especially since Chris had worked a long shift at McDonald's that evening so it was his first day on
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the new job so he was like he was exhausted yeah so he just passed out on his bed in his clothes we just let him
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do it whatever now initially George Steiner suspected that the window screen uh to the first
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floor bedroom had possibly been cut by one of Chris's friends because he was thinking they convinced
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him to sneak out of the house to go swimming okay I think they were hopeful that this was just some like really
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shitty decision making by his friends right and when police checked with Chris's friends though they all were
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like yeah no like we did not see Chris last night and none of them had even seen him that night and they were like
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we definitely didn't go to the house they all had like things that I don't think all of them had like Rock Solid
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Alibis but I think they were like we were home right so now they ruled out the potential for his having simply
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snuck out because it just wasn't looking like that was it and investigators kind
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of shifted their focus to maybe not somebody intruded into the house and came and got him but instead Chris must
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have run away yeah it's the 90s and he's a teenager of course he ran away now and it was so common at the time I
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don't it still is every once in a while you'll hear something where they're like
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they probably just ran away and it's like how often does that happen yeah I don't think that many people are running
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away yeah it's like but even the detectives working this case we're having a little trouble believing that
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themselves because they were like it just doesn't fit with any of this like you said the slice screen was weird and
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they said that one of them said quote he was believed to be a runaway but there was not there's not been any sign of him
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in a few days that's what um saw I think it's soak is it s-a-u-k County yes so County right so County Sheriff's
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detective Mary Ward had said that to the press that there was just no sign of him
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since then yeah and that didn't really add up because it's like if he ran away you would hear from him or someone would
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have yeah like where's he running to that's that thing no one hears from him like he probably like if that was the
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case would have hitchhiked with somebody or just stopped or gone yeah like where
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is he staying right and according to his parents they said he had never run away
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before and they couldn't think of any reason that he would before or now and they said there was no stressful events
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no triggers that could really have set him off everything was pretty normal he had just started a new job yeah he had
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just finished so like I mentioned before the day he'd gone missing Chris had started that new
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job at McDonald's and he was working with his older brother Jim oh and he was super excited about being out of school
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because it was summertime and he was looking forward to earning all this money at his first job like this was a
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very exciting thing for him totally and Kathy Steiner told reporters quote he even had it figured out how much he was
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going to make working Sundays and holidays at the time he had just finished eighth grade and was eager to
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start high school my God just finished eighth grade just finished eighth grade that's oh that's off a child yes and
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when you look up pictures of him he's so cute and friends and family worked closely with detectives they were very
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forthcoming with any information nobody seemed to be holding back anything or being shady well that's good and they
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all spent a week all his friends and family were posting missing Flyers around Baraboo in the surrounding
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counties the police were on it they were doing tons of searches and George and Kathy Steiner were speaking to every
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media outlet that they could get their faces in front of that's I can't imagine how hard that would be that is
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I my brain can't even wrap around that because to have to talk about it and beg people like they were literally saying
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like if you have any information please come forward like if you know where our son is like just begging for help to
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have to do that and unfortunately the search came to an end on July 10th that's when Chris's body was found
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floating in the Wisconsin River by two jet skiers according to sheriff James Smith quote the body was quite
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decomposed when it was found and investigators actually had to use dental records to identify him my God because
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remember this is July and he'd been in the water for a week yeah so the autopsy was conducted the following day in the
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um pathologist on the case was Dr Robert Huntington and he speculated that Chris's body had been in the water at
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least two days but probably longer uh he determined that the cause of death was probably drowning but he said the
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advanced decomposition from being in the water made it kind of difficult to determine if anything else had happened
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um so detectives knew where the body was discovered but where it went into the bottle where it went into the water yes
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something that they weren't sure it was still a mystery because they it could have floated a long way that's the
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thing um that's what's tough when it's like water yeah and it's like so they couldn't tell where he went into the
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water and they couldn't tell if he had gone into the water already dead they couldn't yeah tell where the drowning
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had occurred nothing like that oh man and there didn't appear at the time to be any signs of physical trauma like
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bruising or cuts so they looked at it and said this seems like an accidental drowning
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unfortunately there was really only minor abrasions but they said that could have been from being in the water okay
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so given there was no sign of struggle in the home I don't know why they're ignoring that slice screen I was like
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that seems struggly yeah uh no apparent trauma to Chris's body the Sheriff's Office started operating on the
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assumption that Steiner and his friends were out partying and were too afraid to
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come forward with any information that's nice which doubt everyone involved great
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also these are like 14 year old boys and girls that you're being like I think you're just too scared to admit that you
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got him killed and it's like yeah like what and they're all like we were not with him like are you can you imagine
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that being put on you at 14. sheriff's deputies searched the shoreline in the surrounding area they were hoping to
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find a campsite a party spot that they could be like here it is this is where you went into the water but the river
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had actually risen considerably in the days before he was found so if there was any evidence of that it was gone
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now in the absence of any evidence to prove that anything else but accidental drowning had happened here the Columbia
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County Sheriff's Department went with the accidental drowning Theory and the case was closed wow that's just pretty
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quick that's it this was very little Comfort to the Steiners because obviously that it was quick
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there was like a lot of like it seems like that's probably it like it doesn't work and they still had no answers no
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real answers what had happened they didn't find a spot they had no one that it's admitted that they were out
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partying with him or that they had come and got him and they know they know that's not like him yeah and they were
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like we don't have any answers all you're telling me is that you're pretty sure that he drowned like if anything
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you're just making more confusion it's awful and they were just left to wonder what happened to him that's terrible and
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their grief and confusion was made even worse because there was odd evidence left in the house that night that he
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went missing there was the slit in the screen and there was also muddy shoe prints suggesting that someone had to
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come into the house while everyone was sleeping and Chris had left with whoever it was but there was a lack of any other
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mess or struggle evidence which indicated that he knew whoever had come in and left with them willingly right so
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that was even weirder the that they were like it seems like somebody else was here but again oh that's freaky yeah
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isn't that so spooky yes and it's also like why not look further into those Footprints that's the thing who was the
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who was that right like you would like they know Chris's size and clearly like if they're they're like no that wasn't
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Chris's size then who the [ __ ] who did that yeah and take a look at his shoes do you have that kind of shoe with that
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tread on the bottom but later a little further yeah and later George his dad said quote what hurts so much is that
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you know there were other kids with him something happened out there something terrible happened out there what we
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don't understand is how somebody could have left him there without calling oh and that's what they were left to think
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happened that everybody just left him somewhere that's awful and George and Kathy Steiner had to bury their son at
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St Joseph's Cemetery in Baraboo on July 14 1994. uh more than a year was going to pass before they would get any more
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information about what actually happened to Chris Steiner oh God so let's that brings us to July 30th 1995 a year later
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911 Dispatchers in Columbia County received a very scary and unusual call from a panic teenage boy oh he claimed
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he'd been kidnapped tortured and locked in a closet for two days by his teenage neighbor Joe Clark what yup the
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dispatcher traced the call to a home and officers arrived at the scene very quickly only a couple minutes later
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where in this scene was Joe Clark's home where he shared with his parents I was going to say he lives with his parents
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correct this is where they discovered 13 year old Thaddeus Thad Phillips stop he
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was disoriented and suffering from severe dehydration broken legs and other bruises and injuries holy [ __ ] and he
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had broken out of a closet now First Responders rushed him to Saint Claire hospital he was immediately taken
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into surgery for the broken legs they basically had to save his legs they were so broken wow like they were so
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shattered in so many places that they weren't sure they were going to be able to save his legs holy [ __ ] that's like
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on another level now mean and this is like a child yeah like an actual child meanwhile Baraboo police waited for 17
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year old joe clark to return home and when he returned home they immediately took him into custody without incident
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who the [ __ ] is this kid oh so Thad Phillips had a terrifying ordeal he his ordeal had begun two days before
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this shortly after midnight on Friday night July 28th Thad was watching television with his sister
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his five-year-old sister by the way oh um and this was the last time either of his parents saw him before he went to
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bed oh my God this is wild because these this case is like these teenage boys are
00:19:05
in their own home right that's the scariest thing to me like they're not just they're not out they're not walking
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down the street they are in their own [ __ ] home like he's hanging out with his five-year-old sister yeah now at
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some point Thad had fallen asleep on the couch with her five-year-old sisters right as we just started talking about
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that but he was with his five-year-old sister too like they both had fallen asleep on the couch that's adorable too
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and he was awoken in the middle of the night and he thought he was awoken by his parents trying to lead him into his
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bedroom yeah so this was not his parents this was his teenage neighbor Joe Clark
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who had walked into his [ __ ] house and woken him up on the couch he lived like a half a mile down the
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street from the Phillips house and that didn't see like couldn't like understand
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that this was him he was disoriented he was only half awake so he didn't really like fight back or question a lot when
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Clark helped him off the couch and out the door oh God and he had guided him down the street to the Clark house and
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into his second floor bedroom Joe's what now at that point like you started he started waking up and was just like what
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the [ __ ] is going on but at the and then thad's father Donald Phillips woke up
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around 4am and he went to the living room to make sure the children had gone to sleep in their beds and he only found
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his five-year-old daughter sleeping on the couch and no Thad and he was like never would he have left his
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five-year-old sister alone sleeping on a couch like he never would have done that
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he would have carried her into a room of course so he was like what the [ __ ] is
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going on and more confusing his shoes his sneakers were exactly where he'd left them earlier that evening so
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wherever he went he went Barefoot oh my God yeah he was like he that was his pair of shoes how haunting would that
00:20:52
have been yeah so the Phillips had only recently moved to the area a few months earlier too like a welcome to the
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neighborhood and neither Donald or nor his wife really felt comfortable going to a lot of the neighbors for help
00:21:05
because they didn't know them yeah and so and they were a little at this point they were probably concerned like I do I
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don't even know these people one of them right yeah so they started they spent the entire morning checking any place
00:21:16
they thought that could have gone like the Columbia County Fair the Baraboo swimming pool they went to a camping
00:21:22
spot at the Baraboo River and they spent the rest of the most of the day searching for their son but when they
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couldn't find him Donald Phillips called Baraboo police to report him missing and
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at no time during this search did it occur to either of thad's parents or anyone else for that matter that the boy
00:21:39
was being held only less than a mile away from their home that is unbelievable in a teenager's closet and
00:21:48
the parents had no idea oh yeah we'll talk so by the time they'd arrived in Joe Clarkson that um excuse me the time
00:21:55
that he had arrived in Joe Clark's bedroom Thad was definitely like I said more awake and more like what the [ __ ]
00:22:01
going on so he was very confused about why he was bringing brother in the middle of the night and Thad had seen
00:22:07
Clark in the neighborhood they've never really spoken oh like he was like a stranger I've seen you but like what the
00:22:13
[ __ ] is going on and they had a four-year age difference so like they never really would have hung out or been
00:22:20
friends anyways but Clark told that he just wanted to hang out and that's why he had brought him to his house that's
00:22:26
why I abducted you I just want to hang out dad accepted the explanation I think it was cut probably because he was so
00:22:32
out of it yeah but after a very short period of time he was like I would like to go home like I it's like 3 A.M and to
00:22:40
be honest he might have accepted the explanation in my opinion because he was like you're terrifying yeah that's why
00:22:46
and I'm not gonna flip out here I'm just gonna be like cool let's hang out that's
00:22:50
exactly what I thought when you said that but he was like I would like to go home and this is when Clark lost it oh
00:22:56
no he shoved Thad to the bed and began attacking him and months later Joe Clark told the judge he'd blinked out oh okay
00:23:04
and didn't remember what happened after he pushed him onto the bed I bet and he said when he woke when he woke up
00:23:10
he said that Thad was bellyaching about his legs um what which Joe Clark is such a
00:23:18
manipulative piece of [ __ ] sounds like it like I love my favorite excuse for these [ __ ] is always like I blacked
00:23:25
out I don't remember so wild that you just blacked out no that doesn't happen yeah you you went out of your way to
00:23:31
break into this boy's house and steal him off the couch next to his five-year-old sister and then you just
00:23:37
blacked out but then you just you didn't mean to hurt him though like nothing was
00:23:40
going to occur like you're an idiot now according to the report filed with the sock sock soak soak that's really hard
00:23:47
to say it's probably like I think that's probably more like it South County sure
00:23:52
yeah that makes more sense Sheriff's Department once Thad was on the bed Joe Clark this is really graphic by the way
00:23:58
I just don't agree with this out if you don't like bones and breaking bones oh I
00:24:02
don't um can I go I mean hopefully the name of the thing kind of made you stay away if that's something you don't want
00:24:07
to listen to but uh Joe Clark grabbed him by his left ankle and began twisting until the bones in his ankle all broke
00:24:15
goodbye over the next two days Clark subjected Thad Phillips to brutal outbursts of violence and that included
00:24:23
Joe repeatedly jumping on his legs causing fractures to both femur bones holy [ __ ]
00:24:30
Beamer is so thickica yeah how like is Joe a big kid or no um that's the thing he's like not a like
00:24:38
massive kid no but it's like it was just the rage and violence that he had I'm like where the [ __ ] are your parents he
00:24:45
also caused knee fractures and dislocation ankle fractures and dislocation and tibial fractures in both
00:24:52
lower legs so he broke his femur bones on both legs and his tibia on both legs knee things free and knees every part of
00:25:01
both of his legs was shattered that isn't absolutely insane months later Dr Michael plut who was the surgeon who
00:25:09
performed thad's first two surgeries sent to the Sheriff's Department that quote the force used to break that bones
00:25:15
was equivalent of Thad having been in a car accident oh my God yeah and there was more injuries on top of
00:25:22
that like he had contusions he had a Brazen abrasions and he was also severely dehydrated because he wouldn't
00:25:29
eat or drink anything during the time because he was scared that Clark was going to poison him yeah I I would think
00:25:34
the same thing now when he wasn't physically torturing Thad and breaking his bones Clark was
00:25:42
taking immense pleasure and psychologically tormenting him Joe told Thad quote he was fascinated by
00:25:50
busting people's bones what and that he had done this to at least two other boys
00:25:57
one of whom he said was Chris Steiner and did that no he was like uh I know that name like
00:26:04
he'd heard of it yeah oh and at one point he said quote Clark had exposed himself this is very upsetting by the
00:26:11
way he had exposed himself and proceeded to masturbate in front of Thad and placed a
00:26:17
pillow over thad's face to smother him though it's unclear whether he was doing this in an attempt to kill him
00:26:24
the [ __ ] is wrong with this kid what you find out is that like this kid Joe Clark
00:26:29
and he's not a kid and 17. no he's an animal he's a [ __ ] monster he literally got off on suffering like
00:26:37
watching someone suffer like he's a straight up monster oh my God on Sunday July 30th Joe had left the had to leave
00:26:45
the house so he carried thad's body like broken body and you know this guy wasn't carrying
00:26:52
him in a nice one so this guy this poor kid that has two shattered legs from the
00:26:59
waist down they are just broken he must have been in like complete shock oh I can't imagine the pain and like I can't
00:27:07
even imagine and he had carried him to a closet in his bedroom and after binding
00:27:12
thad's legs with a bandage he locked him in there what the [ __ ] yeah this is like
00:27:19
on like oh my God this is like unimaginable it really is this the fact that somebody could do this but a 17
00:27:26
year old like this sounds like a movie that I would never watch and one that you would be like that's insane that's
00:27:31
like that's because exactly that's why I wouldn't want to watch it yeah and so Thad is in the closet with two broken
00:27:38
legs he's been psychologically and physically tortured it's dehydrated it's dehydrated as hell and he sees a guitar
00:27:45
in the closet and he's like well this is my only chance so he uses the guitar to
00:27:49
break a hole through the door oh my God like bust through the door how this kid had any strength to do that I have no
00:27:56
idea and he was able to unlock it he dragged himself down the stairs with two broken legs and you know his legs were
00:28:04
banging on every step along the way stop it he found a telephone and he called 9-1-1 holy [ __ ] and by the way no
00:28:11
parents around thank you I was that was my next question the Phillips Family were relieved that that had been found
00:28:17
and they raced to Sinclair hospital but they found that doctors were now trying to put several rods and pins and
00:28:26
stabilizers and thad's legs which they were like what the [ __ ] like what do you
00:28:30
mean and Donald Phillips told investigators that he'd never seen Joe Clark before Donald is the father and he
00:28:37
said as far as he knew Clark wasn't friends with his son he was like I don't know who this kid is right like I've
00:28:42
never seen him and at the time Phillips was like this must be some kind of like one-time freak attack like what the hell
00:28:49
is this like everybody was just like he must have snapped like because they hadn't seen anything like this and they
00:28:55
hadn't heard sad to say hey he said he did this to Chris Steiner oh [ __ ] now while doctors went to work on saving
00:29:02
thad's legs again they had to work to save them they were thinking they were gonna have to amputate both of his life
00:29:09
I can't imagine like what she he was in oh my God and it looks like he like played Sports and stuff he's a little
00:29:15
cutie and he's and mentally what his state was in I can't believe I can't even imagine probably had to like learn
00:29:20
how to walk again because he was like awful he would like berate him and scream at him he would like say off of
00:29:26
things and then he's standing over him like masturbating while he's suffering like he's so [ __ ] up that how do you
00:29:33
get past that that's like layers and layers yeah well sheriff's deputies transported Joe Clark to a juvenile
00:29:39
detention center and they sat down for an interview which I'm sure was a terrifying interview wild now at no time
00:29:47
during the arrest interviews or trial did Joe Clark really become forthcoming or honest with anybody I'm not surprised
00:29:55
um yeah and initially Clark was held on kidnapping charges obviously which gave detectives a little more time to
00:30:02
investigate other potential charges and according to Clark he'd seen that in the
00:30:07
yard a couple of times on previous occasions and went to the Phillips house after midnight on the 29th after seeing
00:30:13
the Phillips car is absent from their house the [ __ ] yeah so he's an actual Predator he's like a stalker like he was
00:30:20
he was watching the Thad Phillips yeah in his own [ __ ] yard on several occasions then waits for it to look like
00:30:28
his parents aren't home steals him off the [ __ ] couch this guy had no idea I know he's doing much
00:30:34
worse things but it's like he had no idea if the parents were home or not and he's just leaving his five-year-old
00:30:40
sister on the couch yeah has no oh doesn't give a [ __ ] yeah he doesn't give a [ __ ] if you have the audacity to walk
00:30:45
into somebody's home like that you don't care about anything he said when he showed up at the house at midnight the
00:30:50
door was unlocked and so Clark just let himself in the house yeah it's definitely your house now and he found
00:30:57
Thad sleeping on the couch with his five-year-old sister and he said he quote assisted him off the couch oh yeah
00:31:03
you're so great and then he said he walked slash carried him into his house I think I believe that's the word you're
00:31:12
searching for now beyond that he said that he again blinked out yeah and doesn't remember anything that happened
00:31:19
but two days doesn't remember a damn thing now based on thad's report that Clark because now he had said hey by the
00:31:26
way because he was with it enough to say by the way he said he did this to Chris
00:31:30
Steiner Sheriff's investigators in Columbia County reopened their investigation into Chris Steiner's death
00:31:37
and we're very eager to find out what Joe Clark knew so when Steiner's body was discovered in the Wisconsin River
00:31:43
that previous year again he had been in the water for nearly a week and it was the decomposition was considerable
00:31:50
that's why it made that autopsy so difficult because your bones deteriorate well it's like right they don't
00:31:57
deteriorate but it's like it's tough to figure out what is postmortem injury and
00:32:02
what is perimortem pre-mortem like there's no it's hard yeah it's very hard especially in a river like that when it
00:32:08
can you can slam into things and break bones I'm a little confused why broken bones weren't discovered here that were
00:32:16
noted from what I but but I don't know okay I'm just saying to me I'm a little in a full autopsy had been done
00:32:23
previously that yeah so that's that's confusing to me that is um but that's just me uh that's weird that's weird
00:32:30
that's suspicious that is a little weird so Steiner's body was actually exhumed and re-examined and it was x-rayed this
00:32:39
time which I'm like it wasn't x-rayed before yeah weird but I imagine that's probably because they went in with a
00:32:45
pretty preconceived notion that he had accidentally drowned and had left his house on his own belief so perhaps it
00:32:51
wasn't quite a full autopsy so this is a good lesson for not going into something
00:32:55
like this with a preconceived Narrative of what went down right like that's kind
00:32:59
of your whole job not to do that so they did the X-ray and huh after an x-ray the
00:33:05
coroner reported that Steiner had indeed suffered broken knees and broken ankles
00:33:10
very similar to the injuries that Thad Phillips had holy [ __ ] and the findings
00:33:15
of the second autopsy and their implications came as no surprise to Kathy Steiner Chris Steiner's Mom right
00:33:22
she had always suspected Clark what yep she said quote he was the last one to talk to Chris that night and she said he
00:33:31
wanted him to go somewhere with him but Chris refused he also knew that Chris's brother was not going to be home that
00:33:38
night oh it's like Kathy Kathy knew Kathy [ __ ] and that's why he broke in through the brother's room because he
00:33:44
knew he wasn't gonna figure the brother wasn't gonna be there that night oh my oh my God this kid like he did what's
00:33:49
the BTK thing that he said he would do he would like troll I think he's called his [ __ ] trolling neighborhoods it's
00:33:55
true he's like oh it's so disgusting and according to Kathy Joe Clark had been hanging around her son a lot in the days
00:34:02
before he disappeared and she said that Clark was quote very domineering and said he quote hung around younger boys
00:34:10
because he could bully them ew so he's a disgusting Predator yeah as the coroner's office conducted their
00:34:17
second autopsy of Chris Steiner's body investigators served a search warrant at the Clark home in Fairfield Wisconsin
00:34:24
among the evidence seized in the search was quote a 48 by 40 inch plywood board with quote unquote satanic writing an
00:34:32
illustration scribbled on it a film canister quote with possible marijuana seeds I remember it's the 90s yes
00:34:39
um a leg brace and a body brace several horror films on VHS which by the way Dave found out which horror
00:34:49
and I love it because Dave when he wrote this to me was like these are the films
00:34:54
that were found so among other things Joe Clark had terrible taste in horror movies it was witchcraft okay which is I
00:35:01
don't know which um year there's a few witchcraft movies but none of them look like they're pretty awesome one I want
00:35:08
you to look this one up guys okay children shouldn't play with dead things oh what the [ __ ] it looks if you look at
00:35:15
the IMDb page for that it has like a little trailer for it or some little clip it looks
00:35:21
ridiculous and so weird ew even the cover I'm like yeah and he also had Close Encounters of the
00:35:30
Third Kind so he's not killing it in the horror game here definitely not so that
00:35:35
was found there was also and this is the most chilling to me they found several sketches of house Interiors in the area
00:35:42
what no no no no no no no no that is that's like some Angelus level [ __ ] creep [ __ ] bringing it to
00:35:51
the rewatcher they sketches of house Interiors that's on a different like what the [ __ ]
00:36:01
and it's like was he sitting there [ __ ] drawing people's houses in their house and it's like or was he to me I'm
00:36:09
like was he going around the outside of people's houses at night and like peeking in and like getting the layout
00:36:15
that way right before going in probably like what so he could go back home and study it and say like oh I'm gonna go
00:36:22
I'm gonna go in this way and then I'll go through this way this door usually is unlocked like what the [ __ ] horrifying
00:36:28
that is so chilling horrifying to me oh they found that broken guitar that Thad said he used to get out of there and
00:36:36
they also discovered three lists that were titled get to now can wait and leg thing and each of these lists had
00:36:44
several names of local boys in the area were they ever told I don't know if they
00:36:49
were ever told I hope they weren't but they were literally on you were either on a list get to reality can wait or
00:36:58
legs thing what like what so he was like predatorily watching young boys in the area and can like putting together lists
00:37:09
and then going off of those lists this is one of the wildest cases I've ever it is and it's like again he's 17. where
00:37:16
the [ __ ] are the parents not even we're gonna find out where they were these these two days
00:37:21
were you before that that your kid is drawing sketches of Interiors of homes and writing lists of boys in the area
00:37:29
creeping on boys in the area and you have no idea yeah like what are you doing you gotta do something here oh my
00:37:37
God now with Clark being relatively young 17 years old his crimes being [ __ ] brutal to the point of stunning
00:37:44
seasoned investigators and his history of getting in trouble there was some pause as to whether the soak
00:37:51
soak suck I can't [ __ ] say that word South County Juvenile justice system was even equipped to handle a case like this
00:37:59
because it was also going to attract a lot of public attention right and interest but after two days of debate
00:38:05
and consideration judge Virginia Woolf which I was like what a badass there you go ruled that Joseph Clark would be
00:38:12
tried as an adult yeah if he wasn't I would have been so pissed because that's an adult crime that [ __ ] is adults
00:38:18
everything that you've done and on September 7th 1995 he appeared before a judge in Circuit Court where he was
00:38:25
charged with attempted first degree intentional homicide burglary kidnapping intentionally causing great bodily harm
00:38:31
to a child Mayhem causing mental harm to a child and two counts of child enticement damn if convicted on all
00:38:39
counts he was going to get about 170 years in prison I hope he got all of those so the waiver of joe clark into
00:38:46
the adult Court meant that the offender's name could be released to the public so of course this made people
00:38:52
very interested in this case and knowing what the [ __ ] his motives were right what is going on here
00:38:58
it's wild so according to Clark Joe Clark's father Ron Clark we're getting into the parents now Joe was in a
00:39:06
motorcycle accident in May of 1993 the year earlier in which quote he was thrown 30 to 40 feet through the air and
00:39:13
landed on his head and he said potentially causing some brain trauma and his father said that maybe he had
00:39:20
kind of snapped he was a real hot tempered after that hmm mm-hmm oh there's more her face there's
00:39:29
more y'all so the following year things took another really difficult turn for um Joe Clark according to his parents
00:39:37
okay he had gotten into this car this motorcycle accident and the following year Chris Steiner was found dead
00:39:43
apparently kids at school immediately and regularly taunted him about the death saying that he had done it yeah he
00:39:51
did so kids at school knew he had done it what the [ __ ] they didn't know like they didn't like the evidence he didn't
00:39:56
admit it to them but they were like this [ __ ] did it wow he must have been like
00:40:01
I can't imagine being like Oh yeah like that was definitely my fellow classmates
00:40:06
that tortured that boy to death he for sure did it like what yeah and his father said to reporters I even heard
00:40:12
with my own ears a girl come up to him in the parking lot at school and say to him did you kill Chris Steiner
00:40:17
well and I want to say parents does that concern you at all that his entire peer
00:40:24
group believes that he killed one of their own like what is making them think that like I know kids can be [ __ ] I
00:40:30
understand that but maybe sit him down and be like why are they saying this like yeah because why would they say
00:40:35
some kind of reason behind that talk to him yes why are you not talking to him why are you just going wow [ __ ] that's
00:40:43
crazy like sit down with your [ __ ] child and go why does your entire School think
00:40:50
you killed this boy right because if this is just like a like a Witch Hunt here which is what they describe it as
00:40:56
later oh my God yeah then we need to do something about it but like if this is based off of things you have done or
00:41:04
said then you need help my boy right like that should be this is going to get you some help we need to get you some
00:41:09
help even if you are falsely admitting to this or alluding to that you did it you need to get help and we are here to
00:41:15
help us out exactly they did none of that so during her testimony at in the Phillips trial Joe's mother Bertha Clark
00:41:23
said to the jury that Joe was genuinely distraught over Steiner's death and it caused a noticeable change to him
00:41:31
but she said but what I think is when she says he was genuinely distraught I think what she means is he was trying to
00:41:38
act distraught yeah because it's like you're forgetting that he did it right like you're you're letting let's not say
00:41:44
he was fine genuinely feeling any kind of feelings about that because it's like no he brutally tortured this child to
00:41:52
death so no and she said Joey was hurt because his friend had died and people were trying to blame him for it could
00:41:59
you imagine how that would make him feel but Bertha girl he did it I'm like I'm sorry girl what so they didn't believe
00:42:07
that he did it no and also it's like I'm sorry can you imagine how it makes Chris
00:42:11
Steiner's parents feel right to know that your child your 17 year old child abducted and abducted him from his home
00:42:18
from his bed in his bedroom dragged him to his house and tortured him for God knows how long I'd also be like hey
00:42:25
Bertha what do you think about him all the [ __ ] images he has sketched of uh your neighbor Interiors of people's
00:42:31
houses wait what do you think about that what about the lists like that doesn't concern you at all
00:42:38
like we're not gonna touch that let's not put on rose-colored glasses now according to the parents the harassment
00:42:43
at school became so bad that they had to withdraw him from Baraboo High School and he was unable to before he was even
00:42:51
able to finish his senior year well don't murder people and that won't happen yeah and when they pulled him out
00:42:56
of school they said he worked a few entry-level farm jobs he had some stints as a cook and disc dishwasher at a local
00:43:02
restaurant which is horrifying but Joe's parents also uh came under a little scrutiny after this one would think
00:43:10
because they were trying to figure out everybody's trying to figure out what the [ __ ] is an explanation for this
00:43:14
kid's violent anti-social Behavior here and how the [ __ ] did this happen in your
00:43:19
home and you had no idea exactly now on the evening that Thad was abducted from his home the clerks were visiting their
00:43:26
daughter in the nearby Portage and they weren't planning to return until the following day so they had left Joe alone
00:43:32
in the house for most of the weekend his father did say to reporters and again he's 17. so like leaving him alone
00:43:39
is not a like a felony here no that's not crazy his father told reporters we called Friday night so it's not like we
00:43:44
were out of touch with him yeah so that's fine yeah whatever I'm not worried about that no me either but
00:43:50
according to investigators who conducted the initial search of the Clark home the
00:43:54
house was in a state of big disarray when they arrived the kitchen was strewn with beer bottles and when they looked
00:44:01
in Joe's personal uh Journal which was taken into evidence sure he details his parents extreme alcoholism oh and he's
00:44:10
at one point he says mom and dad are downstairs getting drunk again I don't like admitting it not even in my journal
00:44:16
that's sad it is sad now according to Joe his mother drank routinely during an interview she he was like he she drank
00:44:24
routinely and intensely to the point of passing out all the time wow she said that's not true she had never drank to
00:44:32
the point of passing out that's not true and of course the press in public at this point are hearing all this stuff
00:44:39
and they're speculating on Clark's possible motive and the circumstances that led him to become this but they
00:44:46
were going to have to wait for the actual trial to get any real sight into his psychology and they were going to
00:44:51
get it oh God so initially Joe Clark's trial for the crimes against Thad Phillips we're going to begin in early
00:44:57
September and it was going to be presented in two parts the first was going to be basically to determine did
00:45:04
he commit these crimes and the second was going to say did he do so because of quote mental defect or disease so
00:45:11
insanity uh but when he appeared before a circuit court judge on September 5th 1996 Joe
00:45:17
pleaded no contests to the charges against him interesting so the guilt and innocence phase was moot now they didn't
00:45:23
need it now all they had to do was determine whether he was mentally incapacitated when he abducted tortured
00:45:29
and attempted to kill Thad Phillips so the trial to determine his competency began September 16 1996.
00:45:38
um during this time his defense attorney Mark Frank presented the case for insanity
00:45:44
Frank's case really rested largely on that head trauma thing and the potential brain injury suffered when he was thrown
00:45:51
from I think it was a dirt bike more than a motorcycle oh 1993. according to medical records he suffered a blood clot
00:45:59
above the covering of the brain not below it which made a quick recovery after surgery uh but since the accident
00:46:07
Frank told the jury that Joe Clark quote has had and continues to have an abnormal condition of the Mind
00:46:14
now according to Frank the defense attorney the injuries that he got from the accident required treatments
00:46:19
including having arteries to the brain cauterized which could affect mental processes
00:46:25
he called several witnesses who also gave testimony saying that there were dramatic changes in his behavior and in
00:46:32
the years since the accident he had hallucinations psychotic behavior suicidal impulses
00:46:39
delusions social impairment and personality wow these are all none of them are experts they're all just people
00:46:45
okay so unfortunately for the depends defense under cross-examination several of these
00:46:52
Witnesses were a little less effective than they were when they had been uh initially presented by the defense Joe's
00:46:59
mother Bertha for example in this this part annoys me how they went about this because I think there was just a better
00:47:05
way to go about it but that's just me okay Bertha had to walk back a lot of statements about his her um his injuries
00:47:13
because she made them seem worse and worse and worse and definitely was like overplaying them sure but when
00:47:19
prosecutor Pat Barrett said came to cross-examine her they basically said that the woman's eighth grade education
00:47:27
could not be expected to understand Arcane medical terminology okay well and it's like like [ __ ] off I don't think we
00:47:33
need to do that because I don't care if you have an eighth grade education or what if it's your child like you know
00:47:40
you know what I mean like yeah I know what's going on I don't think that's a great way to go about it I think that's
00:47:45
kind of like it feels like well and I think they were I think they were treating her that way
00:47:52
probably because of what had that's the thing that's just kind of like and actually to demonstrate this
00:47:58
they handed her a paper clip and a ruler on the stand and asked her to tell the paper clip size in centimeters okay so
00:48:07
they're humiliating her that's the thing I don't think humiliation is necessary no I don't need a situation I don't
00:48:13
understand how comfortable yeah that's the thing it makes me uncut I was like that's not a good I wouldn't feel good
00:48:18
about that no like it's just I understand that like we're trying to prove that she's really not a great
00:48:22
witness but like you're taking mansplaining to the next level well there's very easy like she you can we
00:48:28
can tell that she is lying and over exaggerating things and that she is not a great credible witness and if you can
00:48:35
do that without pointing to her education and that's the thing you're just you're kind of going for like low
00:48:40
fruit that exactly that's what it feels like to me but whatever um and although she was not an effective
00:48:46
witness when it came to describing the physical trauma her son suffered in the accident uh she did insist that she'd
00:48:52
seen a big change in her son after the accident which could absolutely be true she said there's something terribly
00:49:00
wrong he needs psychiatric treatment which is like okay correct did you try to get him any yeah the answer is no and
00:49:07
if you were that concerned you would have yeah and Barrett countered this statement by producing a big amount of
00:49:13
reports from various school and social service agencies who had all done assessments of Joe in previous years
00:49:19
after he had punched another student and threatened to kill a teacher among other
00:49:24
things so there were warning signs here and the reports contradicted the claim that Joe required considerable
00:49:31
considerable care after the accident totally contradicted it and also the fact that he had been he was um in
00:49:39
evaluated for psychological impairments after that as well and there was it was an unremarkable report like not at all
00:49:46
so it doesn't look like we're getting this Insanity defense exactly and Barrett pointed out while Bertha Clark
00:49:51
may see a need for psychological treatment now his parents had at no time tried to get
00:49:58
him help before this yes before sitting on the stand and screaming at everybody that he needs help seems none of them
00:50:04
had even lifted a finger to try to get him help it shouldn't take your son murdering or kidnapping another child
00:50:09
and holding them hostage suddenly go you know what he needs help and it's like okay well too late sometimes I know it
00:50:15
can be hard to get help but of course but you didn't even make the effort right like there's no evidence of them
00:50:20
ever making an effort that's shitty and the problem with the case put together by the defense was that it relied almost
00:50:26
exclusively on the testimony of just regular Witnesses like language uh yeah no expertise to speak on physical mental
00:50:35
or emotional health of this child uh before or after the head injury and none of the they had four psychologists
00:50:42
evaluate Joe Clark after his arrest and none of them were willing to support a diminished capacity defense so that
00:50:49
tells you everything you need to know and as if the prosecution's well executed for the most part yeah
00:50:55
aside from that paperclip humiliation uh his they're well executed cross-examinations of the defense
00:51:01
witnesses as as if that wasn't bad enough Frank Mark Frank's odds of success plummeted even more when Barrett
00:51:09
called his first witness which was Thad Phillips oh [ __ ] so Phillips detailed the absolutely horrific ordeal for the
00:51:18
court he said he grabbed my throat and twisted my right ankle I could feel it snap oh my God he said when I looked
00:51:24
down my foot was on backwards holy [ __ ] he said he pushed my leg up at an angle
00:51:28
towards my head he kept pushing it and pushing it until it broke he also told the jury early on in the ordeal he had
00:51:35
asked Clark If he had ever done this before and Clark responded saying do you know Chris Steiner wow and according to
00:51:42
Thad Joe Clark also told him that there was an unnamed boy he had paralyzed yep and the boy's testimony money was so
00:51:52
like heart-wrenching and compelling that everybody was just like silent and I believe like people were crying like it
00:51:59
was just awful and at one point he became too emotional and he said he can't he was like please can I stop
00:52:05
talking about this course and they did recess was granted good now among the last and maybe the most important
00:52:12
witnesses to be called by the prosecution was well-known forensic psychiatrist Park Park Dietz
00:52:18
he had actually testified in the Jeffrey Dahmer case the Ted Kaczynski case and Betty Broderick ah now according to
00:52:26
Dietz Joe Clark quote is a Serial sexual sadist who takes pleasure in breaking his victims legs but his anti-social
00:52:33
personality disorder is not a legal defense to his crimes Dietz said Clark is faking his Amnesia
00:52:40
and falsely claiming every kind of hallucination known to man in order to avoid responsibility for his crimes
00:52:46
and he said as evidence of deviant pathology he said that Clark wrapped thad's legs and Ace bandages and put
00:52:54
three pairs of white gym socks on his feet before masturbating in front of him what the [ __ ] and he said quote Clark's
00:53:01
fetish for gym socks which he took from the Phillips home before abducting the boy
00:53:06
and the fact that he masturbated in front of the injured victim showed he was aroused by making people suffer
00:53:12
that's so so gross yeah now the following day September 18th and that was like damning that was real damning
00:53:20
yeah he stole gym socks from the house yeah that's on another level yeah this whole thing is on another level it's
00:53:26
really ick the jury deliberated for just one hour before unanimously rejecting the defense's claim that Joe Clark was
00:53:34
suffering from any kind of mental incapacity no when he kidnapped and tortured that Phillips the verdict
00:53:40
really wasn't a shock to anyone in the courtroom um an observing attorney in the
00:53:46
courtroom that day actually said he had sympathy for Mark Frank the defense team
00:53:50
in the defense team he said it was quote a dog case but somebody had to take it so basically they're all like yeah
00:53:56
you're not wanting this one right uh moments after the verdict was read Thad Phillips was smiling and hugging Pat
00:54:02
Barrett and he was very happy with the outcome of the trial he told reporters at the sentencing hearing on November
00:54:08
14th Joe Clark was sentenced to a hundred years in prison for the kidnapping and assault of God now in
00:54:15
October 1997 a civil court judge ruled in favor of Thad Phillips and ordered Joe Clark to pay 31
00:54:23
566 in medical damages six million dollars in compensatory damages and 21 million in damages to the victim holy
00:54:33
shiitake mushrooms Clark had no money at the time yeah and he's like you know 70.
00:54:38
he's in prison he's unlikely to really earn anything so how did he get that payout the judge ruled that he was that
00:54:44
she was going to allow him to make money from the case so that he could pay this
00:54:48
okay she said given The Sensational nature of this case it is entirely possible that the defendant could reap
00:54:54
some Financial game through media coverage in the future okay so she was like and it's going to go to them that
00:54:59
must have been okay with that against his family now on to the murder trial yeah
00:55:04
Phillips trial um so some of the most important parts of this was that they needed to connect Joe Clark to the
00:55:12
murder in 1994 of Chris Steiner and Clark had been among the small number of potential suspects that had been
00:55:19
interviewed following the discovery of Steiner's body oh wow yeah and Steiner's parents had strongly suspected him of
00:55:26
involvement in the death like from the beginning so investigator what Gators pretty much were like okay we got our
00:55:32
guy and their suspicions only grew when following Clark's arrest the previous year a second autopsy of Steiner's body
00:55:39
had shown those injuries that were so similar to Thad and then thad's testimony that Clark had
00:55:45
just admitted to him that he killed Chris Steiner that was really the last piece of evidence that they needed so
00:55:51
less than a week after the verdict was read in the case against Clark for the attack on Phillips Columbia County
00:55:57
district attorney Mark Bennett announced that he was going to be filing criminal
00:56:01
charges against Joe Clark for the murder of Chris Steiner in a press conference a
00:56:05
day later he cited the testimony collected during the Phillips investigation in the subsequent trial
00:56:11
but saying we feel those statements are very relevant but we do have other evidence some included in the complaint
00:56:17
and some not included okay so after the press conference Ron and Bertha Clark Joe Clark's parents they spoke out
00:56:26
against the county the Columbia County District Attorney's office they accused investigators of misrepresenting The
00:56:32
Facts of the case and they said quote we're talking about two kids who got in a fight the the police made up the rest
00:56:39
of the story I don't think that that's what we're talking about I think we're talking
00:56:43
about one kid that went home after uh killing the other and putting him in a river it's like I think we're talking
00:56:49
about different things here your son and Joe abducted and tortured uh somebody and was like convicted of it like is
00:56:57
sitting in prison as we say like I don't know how you deny it when this kid called 9-1-1 from your [ __ ] house how
00:57:05
do you deny this that's just like they he didn't go down the street and call and be like it was at that house he was
00:57:12
in your [ __ ] house and you have a broken closet door to prove that he broke out of it it goes beyond denial
00:57:19
like you can't that's ridiculous like are you kidding me right now and now you're gonna say that they're
00:57:23
railroading him when he admitted to killing this other kid in the exact [ __ ] same way like yeah it sucks that
00:57:29
your son is a murderer but you gotta come to terms here exactly because you're disrespecting another family by
00:57:34
saying like several other families it's like come on they thought their son was being unfairly accused of murder and
00:57:40
they said that he's only being accused because he was seen with Chris the day he disappeared and it's like no he's
00:57:46
being accused he said he did it and Ron said that's the charges they wanted to bring in the first place Thad Phillips
00:57:52
was just a way to get there thank Phillips was in your home dude you mean the fact that your son like absolutely
00:57:59
abducted tortured and tried to kill Thad Phillips in your home that was just a convenient way for them to get him on
00:58:06
murder charges I don't understand the how these people can't like that's the thing I understand that it's I can't
00:58:12
even fathom how hard it is to absolutely come to terms or grips with your child being this [ __ ] level of the monster
00:58:18
speak again like but it's like you can't you're sounding wild right now disrespectful disrespectful saying that
00:58:27
they were just trying to pin this on him are you saying that the entire thing was
00:58:31
set up like thad's bones are broken because they just wanted to get a murder conviction on this random kid like I
00:58:38
don't understand like no so the preliminary hearing was to be held in early October and Thad Phillips
00:58:44
was going to be the state's main witness in the case although they had other evidence his
00:58:49
testimony was really going to be that was already known to the public and it was pretty much key to Prosecuting the
00:58:55
case but a few days before the hearing was to begin Thad Phillips got into an argument with
00:59:01
another boy which resulted in the boy shooting Thad in the shoulder oh my God according to the shooter uh named
00:59:10
Michael Thad and a friend had threatened to kill him and were entering his home without permission so he shot Phillips
00:59:16
in the back I didn't see that coming yeah nobody did apparently Thad recovered by the
00:59:24
following month and in early November Joe was formally charged with three criminal counts including first degree
00:59:30
intentional homicide of Chris Steiner but that was like a what was thab in trouble I don't think he was in trouble
00:59:37
because he was the one that was shot but I was wondering if I don't think the truth I don't think they had a lot of
00:59:43
like evidence to the contrary but woof what a life I was just gonna say like you Jesus like you are very young
00:59:51
to be having all this stuff happen no the trial began on November 4th 1997 with Kathy and George Steiner being the
00:59:59
first of a lot of witnesses called in their testimonies both parents told the jury how they discovered their son was
01:00:06
missing the Frantic search that followed and then them finding out that Chris's body was found in the river uh Kathy
01:00:13
Steiner told the jury about the argument her son had had with Joe Clark that afternoon oh right I forgot about it and
01:00:18
the significance of which was compounded by Thad Phillips testimony in which he detailed the extent of his own ordeal in
01:00:25
Clark's confession to the murder of Steiner so they had everything they needed now there was a lot of overlap between
01:00:31
the two cases obviously um in the Steiner murder case kind of unfolded pretty much the same as the
01:00:37
Phillips case did a lot of the same evidence many of the same Witnesses and this time however Ron and Bertha Clark
01:00:44
attempted to provide an alibi for Joe they told the jury Joe was asleep in his bed on July 3rd 1994 the night that he
01:00:53
was Steiner was believed to have been abducted and you're just telling us this now how convenient well the prosecutor
01:00:59
quickly challenged that um she confront they confronted Bertha with the photographs of empty beer cans
01:01:04
in the house that being in such disarray as well as Joe's Journal where he repeatedly wrote about his parents
01:01:12
drinking and how they were always passed out they were always incapacitated and basically they said if this was
01:01:18
indicative of a pattern we really can't trust your Alibi true and it's the truth
01:01:23
yeah and that's the the whole point of this is to do you know discredit the witness of course now after several days
01:01:30
of testimony the jury sided with the prosecution and he was found guilty for the first degree murder of Chris Steiner
01:01:37
yeah two weeks later he was brought before Judge James Evanson for sentencing um Evanston called Clark a mean sadistic
01:01:45
killer and noticed noted that the evidence was overwhelming in proving Clark's guilt despite his continued
01:01:50
statements of Innocence uh before passing his sentence judge Evanson asked whether Joe Clark had anything to say to
01:01:57
the court and he said I've done nothing wrong you're condemning an innocent person or you've done nothing wrong
01:02:03
totally okay hey look at that over there yeah he was just in your house with broken legs yeah wanted to break through
01:02:10
your closet for funsies luckily Joe Clark was sentenced to 110 years in prison for the murder of Chris Steiner
01:02:16
wow which he had to serve concurrently with his 100 Year sentence he was already serving for the abduction and
01:02:21
attack on Thad Phillips 210 years he will have to serve at least 70 years of his sentence before even being eligible
01:02:28
for parole good now outside the courthouse his parents said the sentence was basically [ __ ] and they called
01:02:34
the trial a Witch Hunt yes a Witch Hunt like you're what it's not like he's this
01:02:40
innocent boy that they plucked out of nowhere he was there was a boy in his your house yeah calling 9-1-1 with
01:02:47
broken legs saying that this kid had abducted him from his house I I can't with these people ugh and apparently and
01:02:54
they accused the authorities of conspiring against their son it's only a bunch of circumstantial of
01:03:01
evidence testimony from a bunch of kids they dragged in here from jail to tell stories
01:03:08
all right doesn't change the fact that he's in jail for 270 years so uh in the fall of 1998 Joe Clark did appeal the
01:03:17
ruling in the Phillips case I figured um and apparently challenging the factual basis for his convictions on the
01:03:23
homicide Mayhem and mental harm charges excuse me what the petition said that Clark had been
01:03:30
wrongfully convicted of Mayhem this blows my mind because Mayhem is defined as an act committed by one who with
01:03:38
intent to disable or disfigure another Cuts or mutilates the tongue Eye Ear Nose lip limb or other bodily member of
01:03:46
another so Joe's lawyer said well due to advances in science and medicine that Phillips didn't suffer any permanent
01:03:53
damage oh so his client could not be guilty of Mayhem as it's defined by the law oh my
01:04:00
God I gotta ask sir how the [ __ ] do you sleep at night like that is that's you
01:04:05
go home and you put your [ __ ] head on a pillow like damn I don't know about that I know I know like defense
01:04:11
attorneys have a hard to have a very hard job some of the hardest jobs and I know you got to do what you got to do
01:04:17
but in this circulation I'm like there's a lot I mean we I'd be like dude I'm that's not that's not something I'm
01:04:24
willing to do I'm not stamping my name off you gotta give this one up like you gotta let this one go to be saying that
01:04:31
that due to Medical advances that didn't suffer any permanent damage like how about permanent mental damage are you
01:04:39
kidding joking and you're literally saying well if it was like back way back when and this happened sure he could
01:04:44
because it would be Mayhem but because we're smarter now and technology has advanced we can't do that also he has
01:04:51
like rods and [ __ ] in his legs negative damage oh it just if my leg is no longer just my leg that's damage
01:04:59
luckily the court justices disagreed with that argument they upheld the original finding imagine that like the
01:05:05
the background is when they got that they were like whoa they were like wow shoot for the stars I guess my guys
01:05:11
how's that reach they said we do not see anything in either the historical notion
01:05:15
of Mayhem or its current policemen in the statutory scheme which would require a victim's disablement or disfigurement
01:05:22
to be permanent it is reasonable to infer that Clark knew that these injuries would disable his victim from
01:05:27
escaping especially in light of Clark's additional threat to paralyze the victim
01:05:31
if he tried to leave the house yeah therefore the trial Court's findings of a factual basis for Mayhem was clearly
01:05:38
not erroneous now additional challenges were made to the attempted murder and mental harm to
01:05:44
a child charges which I'm like you gotta stop yeah like there's where is the line
01:05:49
and they were trying to do it the same way with the strict interpretation of the law like looking for a loophole and
01:05:55
these arguments were very unpersuasive all of them were upheld which is like you are really going after mental harm
01:06:02
to a child charge based on strict interpretation of that law I would never like like dude I I that I don't get
01:06:12
um there was a second appeal that was filed in March 1999 and it argued that several pieces of evidence in the
01:06:18
Steiner murder case specifically thad's testimony and the list of names discovered on those lists and the
01:06:24
investigations they lacked Merit what and the verdict should be reversed I don't think so essentially what the
01:06:32
petition argues is that because these pieces of evidence were from a separate trial from the Thousand Phillips from a
01:06:39
separate trial they should not have been allowed to be used in the murder trial and the justices were like no but like
01:06:45
these two events correlate the trial court properly exercised its discretion in determining that the evidence was
01:06:52
relevant for purposes of motive plan intent and identity and in determining that its probative value was not
01:06:58
outweighed by unfair Prejudice after reviewing all the evidence the ruling was upheld so Joe Clark is going to be
01:07:06
in jail forever and ever and ever ever and always I and then there's just like no info on
01:07:12
if you paralyzed a boy that one when I looked everywhere for that they could not find what that was so maybe he was
01:07:19
just [ __ ] talking so he could have just been [ __ ] talking or he he did it to
01:07:24
someone who was in you know a bad position and wouldn't be able to come forward yeah
01:07:30
damn wow that was something that was a really intense case very upsetting I feel so
01:07:37
bad for her in a lot of ways yeah and now Chris Steiner's family now knows what he went through before he
01:07:45
died it's like that's even worse absolutely like it's like they have that I want its closure is such a weird word
01:07:52
we always say but they have that closure of knowing what happened now instead of
01:07:57
just wondering what happened but my God at what cost like that I know knowing that that's what happened I don't know I
01:08:05
wonder how they feel about knowing I hope they're okay I hope they are too I hope I hope that's okay I know I hope
01:08:11
Dad's doing great and honestly wow that was a lot I hope Joe Clark's parents got
01:08:15
it together I honestly do I hope they got it together I hope they were able to accept what had happened yeah and move
01:08:22
forward and stopped and hopefully healthfully yeah like hopefully you got it together and yeah you know but oh
01:08:30
that's a sad story all around it's an awful awful awful case and where was that again Wisconsin that's crazy yeah
01:08:36
you guys are just supposed to be known for cheese I know what are you doing calm down calm down over there well
01:08:42
thanks for listening yeah and we hope you keep it weird whoa but not so weird that you forget to say weird at the end
01:08:52
of your own yeah and I don't think you should ever keep it as weird as Joe Clark did because or else you'll be in
01:08:57
prison for 200 and forever years don't keep it that weird at all Billy love you so much bye
01:09:03
[Music] oh [Music]