00:00:00
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selling a persona of confidence and care, patients trusted him. He wore cowboy boots in the operating room
00:00:45
and became sought after by patients. He promised to heal them. Instead, he left a trail of broken bodies.
00:00:51
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or binge the entire series right now only with Audible. Goodbye. This episode is brought to you in part by Vital Farms.
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Find your summer escape today. Visit Pura.com to learn more. Goodbye. hello and welcome to my favorite murder that's georgia hartstarr that's karen kilgariff
00:02:20
this is our 500th episode that's so bananas i can't even come to grips with it it is it feels
00:02:27
like five and it feels like 500,000. It does. Both. Both. Yeah. Did you ever think we'd get
00:02:34
to this number when we start when we were making single digit puns back in my old apartment in
00:02:40
Hollywood? Taking so much time to name these shows. Yeah. Really a couple days worth of wait,
00:02:46
wait. I thought of one. Here's a better one. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's pretty wild. It is.
00:02:51
Cheers. Hey, cheers. Good job. 500. Great job. And that's it. And goodbye. And that's the last.
00:02:59
And then we're both raptured. Wait, I'm a Jew. Wait, don't take me. Wait, wait, wait.
00:03:06
No, no, no. I don't want to go there. I want to go somewhere else, please. I want to go to Ireland.
00:03:09
Do they have any? That's a different kind of rapture. The Guinness rapture. What's going on?
00:03:13
God, nothing. I mean, we had incredible shows in Boston. Mm-hmm. Very tie-tie. Two shows in one night.
00:03:20
Yeah. By the time this episode goes up, we'll have been in Salt Lake City, and then tonight we'll
00:03:26
be in Oakland. Wow. Which is exhausting to just think about. It's the future. Hopefully you guys are enjoying the shows.
00:03:31
Go to myfavoritemurder.com slash live to get your tickets. And thank you, Boston, for just a delightful, power-packed evening of all kinds of things.
00:03:42
I mean, everything happened in those two shows. Speaking of, I have a movie recommendation because it made me cry, which I don't do.
00:03:49
Yes, you do. You've started to. I know. Once in a while, there's certain things.
00:03:52
But I really need those good cries. And there's this thing that all my girlfriends talk about and agree upon, which is that when you're on a plane, you cry harder at movies and it's a good cry.
00:04:04
And airplane movie cries are the best cries. And I've fucking never, ever had one.
00:04:10
And I've always been like, that sounds nice to have in your life. And it never happened until we were on our way home yesterday from Boston.
00:04:18
And I found myself sobbing in my seat from a movie that I think you'll love. I'm sure you love this movie.
00:04:26
It's a British fucking epic World War II love story. Atonement. Ugh, so good. Oh my fucking God.
00:04:37
The Typing Keys soundtrack as she runs around that. Everything about that, yes. Incredible.
00:04:42
And so the end, I have a video of it. I'm going to make a video. I just was sobbing in my seat.
00:04:46
I'm sorry. You have video of yourself sobbing. Yeah, because it was so good. It felt, I was like, finally, I'm a real girl.
00:04:53
I felt real for the first time in my life. We've got to get you to the place where you do it and then it's not content.
00:04:59
Why wouldn't it be content? Why wouldn't it be content? Why wouldn't it be? Why wouldn't everything be content?
00:05:05
Look around. So wait, can you do a little reenactment of what? So you start to cry.
00:05:09
Oh, this is really sad. I was like, oh my God, I'm crying. I was like, I felt like, oh my God, I have emotions.
00:05:15
This is so cool. They're in there. Yeah. They're in there. So either things are going really well and I'm like breaking through or things are going
00:05:22
really poorly and I'm crying a lot. Either way, the rapture's coming. I mean, when I learned that
00:05:32
it's very good to cry because it is one of the ways the body releases cortisol because I always had
00:05:38
not as much shut down feelings. It was more like you're not allowed to do this and no one has time for this.
00:05:43
I have part of that too. I start feeling it and then I just fully muscle it down.
00:05:49
I think that's what it is or it's almost like this isn't going to do anything. You wasting your time and everyone else is Stop it What will come of this Nothing But then like learning that where it like no no it for you Yeah You get to release some of that goddamn cortisol
00:06:05
Yeah. There are times when I'm like, I know that if I fucking started bawling right now,
00:06:10
I would feel so much better in 20 minutes, but I can't do it. And I don't want to do the things
00:06:14
that I know will make me do it. Like think sad thoughts because I'm trying so hard not to do
00:06:19
that anyways. Yeah. You gotta, I don't think that's the way to do it. I think you just have
00:06:23
to be open when it really comes. Yeah. But that's a hard thing. It's all easy to say and hard to do.
00:06:29
Yeah. Well, Atonement, the movie Atonement, it's like 2013, I think. Oh, Keira Knightley and what's his adorable face from?
00:06:38
James Mack. McAvoy. McAvoy. Oh, my God. He's the greatest. And Sarosi, how do you say her name?
00:06:45
Of the liver. How do you say her name? Saoirse. Saoirse. Saoirse Ronan. Thank you.
00:06:51
And fucking little what's-her-face from the football. Keira Knightley? No. Juno Temple?
00:06:58
Yes, thank you. Juno Temple. Oh, from, I almost just said Ed Hardy. This is the saddest conversation we've ever had.
00:07:06
I've shouted this all out. This is the 500th conversation. No, no, no. It's good.
00:07:09
Okay. It's good. This is exactly our kind of podcasting. Okay, great, great, great, great.
00:07:13
We were basically up for 48 hours straight. So this is the result. This is what podcasting looks like when you're doing it like that.
00:07:21
You overdo it when you commit too much stuff. I'm going to give you a recommendation for your next crying movie.
00:07:27
Great. Because it's a cry. Yes. Everyone give me airplane crying movies. Yes. Karen, go ahead.
00:07:31
Okay. This movie, first of all, I was about to say atonement again. This movie stars Alan Rickman and Juliette Stevenson.
00:07:40
British movie, very arthouse-y, but an amazing director. It was one of his first big ones.
00:07:46
I can't remember what director. It's like a great director. and it is called Truly Madly Deeply.
00:07:51
Okay, I've heard of it. It's really brilliantly, it's like one of those things where I bet the person who,
00:07:56
when they decided to make it, read the script and was like, holy shit. It's like great, beautifully written,
00:08:03
very real and true. Okay. But then also a little bit magical. Okay. Because it's so funny,
00:08:08
with Atonement, I was like, this is like a book I would read and normally I'd been like,
00:08:12
I wish I read the book, but this is like the first time I've been like, I'm so glad I watched the movie
00:08:16
because there's so many little details. Like I get cinematography now with the typing being part of the background
00:08:23
and the music and the little moments that you just can't see when you're listening to or reading a book.
00:08:29
And actually, if you love the movie Atonement, I highly recommend the author Kate Morton.
00:08:34
She does very similar style, that World War II, like epic. Kind of historical. Yeah.
00:08:41
And like seeing Dunkirk, the way they show it. But like, you know, you can't you can picture it all you want when you're reading it, which I fucking love.
00:08:49
But it was just done so well that I just don't think I would have my imagination would have never taken me there.
00:08:56
And I think you're so right. Those war scenes in that movie are so gigantic and like really put you there.
00:09:03
Realistic. And then they like slice in real fucking footage from the time. I mean, it was just I think one of my favorite movies I've seen a long time.
00:09:11
Now, Molly, please correct me when I'm wrong. but I'm almost positive that it's the same director as Pride and Prejudice.
00:09:18
Am I wrong about that? Yes. God damn it. Same. 500 episodes of the first time you're wrong about anything.
00:09:25
Can you believe it? Joe Wright directed Pride and Prejudice, the new one. Anthony Minghella directed Truly Madly Deeply.
00:09:32
Oh, no, no, no. But Atonement. Oh, Atonement. Wait, okay. You might not be. Hold on.
00:09:37
Oh, my God. Second chance. Okay, I'm wrong. You're right. Oh, my God. 500 episodes.
00:09:43
Oh, my God. It feels so great. How do you feel here? Congratulations. Thank you so much.
00:09:49
Oh, my God. I guess the first I'd like to thank the Rapture. The Kiko Box. Uh-huh.
00:09:53
I guess I have to thank Georgia because she's the reason I'm here. Thanks, Georgia.
00:09:59
Stephen. Stephen. R.I.P. He's not dead. We love you, Stephen. Good job. Congratulations.
00:10:07
Thank you so much. But, Anthony, it's because when I watched it, loving The Pride and Prejudice so much,
00:10:12
I was like, this man is unbelievable. But Anthony Minghella is the director of Truly Madly Deeply, went on to direct The English Patient.
00:10:21
Oh, such a good book. Of course I read the book. She always brags about the book.
00:10:27
Okay, I'm going to get rid of these. Okay, good idea. All right. Wow, that was amazing.
00:10:30
Thank you, Molly. Thank you for your honesty and your vulnerability. Yeah. And you're producing all these episodes.
00:10:38
Not 500, but it probably feels like it. It probably fits to you. There's two. There's three.
00:10:44
Oh, you know what I was going to say for the 500th? And I don't know if this has happened to you.
00:10:48
We've probably talked about it before if it has. But I think it was the first time it happened to me.
00:10:52
When I was driving to work last week before we left for a tour, I got off the freeway.
00:10:58
I had just never seen a bumper sticker. I'd seen pictures of bumper stickers. Like in the wild on your own.
00:11:03
Exactly. So not from my own car. Yeah. And so I pull up and it's SSDGM on the right side in the little talking bubble.
00:11:13
And on the left side, there's just a sticker of Bigfoot. And I was like, this is my person.
00:11:17
This is my friend I've never met before. And I'm just sitting there and I was like, honk, honk.
00:11:21
Just like that. And the person, I was looking at them through their own rear view mirror.
00:11:27
And they kind of weren't turning around. So I think they were just like, why is this asshole honking at me?
00:11:31
So then I was like, honk, honk, honk, honk, honk. and I then I rolled my window down
00:11:35
and stuck my arm in my whole head out the window and I was like that and they were like
00:11:39
they kind of look horrified I borrowed my best friend's car and I don't know who this
00:11:44
this woman is who's waving her whole body she must also be my friend who loves that fucking podcast
00:11:50
this must be another person who loves that fucking podcast or loves Bigfoot loves Bigfoot
00:11:54
but did she finally did it dawn I think so I think at the end Well if you have a SSD jam sticker and you in Burbank like Hey what up Karen we said hi to you
00:12:06
Was that you? Let us know. It was, yeah, let us know. But also it was really exciting.
00:12:10
Even though I know that people like this podcast and people support this podcast.
00:12:15
No, they don't. Get real. but to see it like that in the wild it truly was kind of like oh
00:12:24
almost like being able to see it through the eyes of the other like that's what this kind of
00:12:28
looks like. It's always exciting. Yeah. It was cool. Cool. Well besides having a podcast and 500 episodes
00:12:34
of it we also have a podcast network. Yeah. Thousands of episodes on that thing. Yeah. It's called Exactly Right Media
00:12:40
and here are a few highlights. My Favorite Murder now has a brand new YouTube channel. Yay. So you can
00:12:46
watch full episodes of this podcast mini-sodes, shorts, and more at myfavoritemurder.video
00:12:53
or by searching My Favorite Murder on YouTube. They're holding us hostage and making us fucking 40-plus women make videos.
00:13:01
Oh. And so please... Not YouTube. We really like YouTube. No, no, no. Not YouTube. Just in general.
00:13:06
Molly. I'm sorry. Please go watch them so they're not for naught. Yes, exactly. Right.
00:13:11
All of our strivings and lip liner. Lips liner. Lips liner and contouring is not for naught.
00:13:18
And for all your other favorite Exactly Right shows like This Podcast Will Kill You, Ghosted by Roz Hernandez, Buried Bones, I Said No Gifts, you can still find them all at YouTube.com slash Exactly Right Media.
00:13:29
And that's also where you can find MFM Animated. That's right. Our MFM Animateds are over at Exactly Right Media's YouTube page.
00:13:38
And this week we have a brand new clip from the one and only Nick Terry featuring my iconic, and I'm only saying that because it's written here, drunk Karen voice from Minisode 63.
00:13:48
My absolute favorite. It's so good. Go watch it. And if that's not enough content for you and the crying content that I make, then you should join the fan cult at fan cult.supercast.com for ad-free episodes of My Favorite Murder, exclusive audio and video, merch discounts, and access to our private Discord server.
00:14:06
Also, one last thing. As we said, we are on tour and there are still some gold VIP packages available that include exclusive merch bundles, a signed poster and more. So check your city availability and grab tickets at myfavoritemurder.com slash live.
00:14:22
And thanks for doing all of that. Yes. And more. And caring at all about any of it.
00:14:26
Yeah, we appreciate you so much. While the world watches the stars at the FIFA World Cup this summer,
00:14:34
Hyundai has its eyes on the next generation of talent. The future soccer stars who are already turning heads at age 14.
00:14:40
Making plays that end up on everyone's feed, scoring from angles that don't make sense,
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rewriting record books that barely had time to gather dust. Because Next doesn't wait for an invitation, and Hyundai doesn't either.
00:14:51
Hyundai has always moved the future within reach. Hyundai did it by making advanced safety standard on every vehicle.
00:14:56
Hyundai did it by engineering EVs with ultra fast charging capability. And Hyundai continues doing it every day.
00:15:03
From robotics that change how people live to young athletes changing the game, the future isn't some far off concept. It's already here.
00:15:10
Next starts now. Hyundai, an official partner of FIFA. Goodbye. This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace.
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They work, they're cute, they're stylish. And they're classy. Like it doesn't look lazy, it looks classy.
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Quince.com slash MFM. Goodbye. When you're young, you don't really buy furniture.
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the eye of an expert? Yeah. Where should I put this? And also, what should I move here and there?
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And what should I even get? But Article has it all, so you can get whatever there. That's right.
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dining table, or bed, head over to article.com. Goodbye. Okay. Okay. You're first, right?
00:18:35
Yes, I am. This is a straight-up true crime story. And just as a trigger warning,
00:18:42
it includes mention of sexual assault. It also takes place in and around one major roadway
00:18:48
in the Pacific Northwest, Highway 20 in Oregon. That highway cuts across the state west to east, running from the Pacific coast to Idaho, often through very remote areas.
00:19:00
So this story is about six victims, all women whose lives were either ended or torn apart on this highway.
00:19:07
They were all different ages and came from different walks of life. And we know more about some of these cases than we do about others.
00:19:14
But what we will learn is that one psychopathic man who knew Highway 20 better than most is presumed to be responsible for what happened to all of them and potentially many more women who have gone missing in the state of Oregon.
00:19:27
This is the story of suspected serial killer, convicted murderer, and Oregon State highway mechanic John Arthur Ackroyd.
00:19:35
Oh, my God. Maren basically got most of the research for this story from an award-winning multi-part series called Ghosts of Highway 20, produced by Oregonian journalists Noelle Crombie, Dave Killen, and Beth Nakamura.
00:19:50
We begin in 1977 with 20-year-old Marlene Gabrielson. Marlene is originally from Alaska.
00:19:57
She's a member of the Inupiaq tribe. But now she lives in the town of Lebanon in northwestern Oregon with her husband and their brand-new baby daughter.
00:20:06
So one night, the couple decides to drop their baby off with a sitter and head out to the rodeo in Sisters, Oregon, which is like an hour and a half away.
00:20:15
And Maren left me a note, but I think it's a note worth reading, which is that Marlene is ID'd in this research because she very intentionally and very powerfully identifies herself in the Oregonians reporting.
00:20:27
Wow. Which is really amazing for what she has been through. So at some point that evening when they're at the rodeo, Marlene decides to head home alone.
00:20:36
She said that she doesn't really remember the specifics here, but it seems like this happened because her and her husband got into an argument.
00:20:44
What we know for sure is that Marlene's husband stays behind with the car. And she goes, and because it's the late 70s, she's like, I'll just hitchhike home.
00:20:52
It's very common in the late 70s. She's hitchhiking, and before long, a car pulls over, and inside, a stranger introduces himself as John.
00:21:01
Nothing about him rings any immediate alarm bells for Marlene. He says he's in his late 20s.
00:21:06
He's back in town after spending time in the army. And he works for a local welding company.
00:21:11
So Marlene does get a ride home from John along Highway 20 towards Lebanon as promised.
00:21:17
And this highway, basically it's certain parts are just long, dark, isolated stretches of road that are surrounded by dense evergreen forest.
00:21:26
That's all that's out there. And there's some old logging roads that cut off from the highway, but that's basically it.
00:21:32
So out in the middle of all of that, suddenly, John pulls over and violently drags Marlene out of her seat and puts a knife to her throat, threatening to kill her unless she does what he says.
00:21:45
He then tears her clothes off, using his blade to cut her underwear and her boots off of her.
00:21:50
And then he rapes her. After the attack, he tells Marlene, quote, now what do I do with you?
00:21:56
Oh, my God. So she knows what this means. He's considering killing her. But even in these horrific circumstances, Marlene comes up with an ingenious plan. Somehow she starts to act and very convincingly act like she's charmed by John. And it actually works so much so he asks her to be his girlfriend. And of course, she says yes, and I'll be your girlfriend as long as you take me home right now. And he drives her home, knife still at hand. When they get back to Lebanon, Marlene is able to get out of his car alive and go home.
00:22:29
so the first family member she encounters when she's there is her mother-in-law and her mother-in-law
00:22:36
is shocked to see the state that marlene is in so she urges marlene to get in shower and go clean
00:22:41
herself up and marlene says no that would wash away evidence i need to go straight to the hospital
00:22:47
to get a rape kit oh my god incredible yeah and she even gives her clothes to the police from that
00:22:52
night with all the information that she can remember about john arthur ackroyd but it's
00:22:58
the late 70s so it's not surprising but it's always heartbreaking hearing these stories instead
00:23:03
of protecting her these investigators immediately doubt her story the fuck uh-huh he cut her boots
00:23:09
yeah like what the fuck dude but also she's a native woman right so these are these built-in
00:23:15
cultural excuses why people don't have to care yeah don't need empathy or why they are can be
00:23:21
lazy yeah and also just that that energy and attitude around rape victims at that time woman
00:23:27
at the time. Yeah. It's so bad. They actually make Marlene take a polygraph and they decide
00:23:33
she's lying about the sexual assault. So ultimately they choose not to prosecute John
00:23:38
Aykroyd. And years later, Marlene will tell reporter Noel Crombie, quote, I always thought
00:23:43
that's why these people get paid to protect you. They care. That's what I thought. But they made
00:23:48
me feel like a smelly, drunken native. So I just shrank if they had only listened to me. End quote.
00:23:55
So John Aykroyd never faces any legal consequences for Marlene's brutal assault.
00:24:00
Although, and this is obviously cold comfort and eye for an eye, he does get his ass kicked by Marlene's husband.
00:24:08
Great. But the problem is that it's not just Marlene who suffers because of these investigators' dereliction of duty.
00:24:15
It will lead to deadly consequences for many other women. Right. Because now he knows, like, oh, I can't let them live. Right?
00:24:22
Yeah. And also that maybe it won't be that big of a deal. Right. Whatever I decide to do.
00:24:28
Totally. So fast forward about a year and a half from Arlene's assault, and now it's late December 1978.
00:24:35
And John Aykroyd is employed by the state of Oregon as a highway mechanic. So in this job, he drives up and down Highway 20, usually between Bend and Newport, helping stranded motorists, repairing equipment, clearing wrecks, and maintaining remote stretches of road.
00:24:50
This is literally a horror movie. Yeah. Like. You've been given this power and a position of trust.
00:24:57
Yeah. Not even just trust, but like you have no other choice but to trust this person or like rely on this person.
00:25:03
Yes. The good faith that this person that's going to show up in a tow truck is helping you and not going to hurt you.
00:25:09
Doesn't seem like it should be that much to ask. This job also gives him unique access to and familiarity with this highway as he navigates it alone in his work truck with little to no supervision.
00:25:20
So on Christmas Eve, 1978, 35-year-old Kay Turner, who's a public health manager from Eugene, is on vacation with her husband and some friends in Camp Sherman, which is about 15 miles from Sisters, which is where Marlene and her husband went to the rodeo.
00:25:36
Kay decides that she's going to go out for a run. She's a serious runner. She doesn't think twice about going and doing her workout routine.
00:25:42
She tells her husband she'll probably be home in about an hour. After two hours pass and she still isn't back, her friends start searching for her.
00:25:50
And soon the police join them and comb the area, wondering if maybe Kay somehow got lost out in the wilderness.
00:25:57
And then they find some Nike running shoe prints that they think are Kay's, but there's also a large boot print there and signs of a struggle in the nearby dirt.
00:26:06
In stark contrast to how Marlene is treated, though, the police immediately take Kay's case very seriously.
00:26:12
She's a white woman. They immediately start to interview locals. And as they do, one name keeps coming up, John Aykroyd.
00:26:20
He's interviewed on January 11th, 1979, a couple weeks after Kay goes missing. And he admits that he did see her running the morning of Christmas Eve.
00:26:29
But the police get sidetracked. When they dig into Kay's private life, they learn that she's had extramarital affairs.
00:26:36
So they focus on those leads and they start scrutinizing her grieving husband. Dude.
00:26:41
But this is all a dead end, and John Aykroyd manages, once again, to not be investigated.
00:26:48
Eight months later, John Aykroyd reinserts himself into Kay's still active case.
00:26:53
One afternoon, he walks into a store in Camp Sherman where Kay went missing and claims that he's just gone hunting and found bones and a pair of jogging shorts in the woods.
00:27:03
He insists that these clothes must be Kay Turner's. So when investigators arrive at the scene and they speak to John, they immediately feel like he knows more than he's letting on. And when he's eventually polygraphed, he fails a question about whether he'd ever touched Kay and he starts spinning a whole new theory.
00:27:21
Now he suddenly claims that he'd first found Kay's body back in February, two months after she went missing.
00:27:27
And he says she was lying in the snow with her throat cut and several visible bullet wounds.
00:27:33
He tells police that he didn't report it then because he was afraid of becoming a suspect.
00:27:38
Investigators smell a rat. And finally, John Aykroyd is on their radar. But they don't have any hard evidence, so they have to let him go.
00:27:46
Twelve years go by. And now it's 1990, and the investigators assigned to the Kay Turner case get a call from the Linn County District Attorney.
00:27:53
So to give you a sense of location, to get to Linn County from Camp Sherman, where Kay was last seen, it's an hour's drive west on Highway 20.
00:28:01
Linn County is also where Marlene lives, and Sisters, Oregon, is in nearby Deschutes County.
00:28:08
So all of these areas are in the same general swath of Oregon, and they're all connected by Highway 20.
00:28:14
So when the DA asks investigators if they've heard of a Linn County resident named John Arthur Aykroyd, of course they say they have.
00:28:21
The DA then explains that John's stepdaughter, 13-year-old Roshonda Pickle, has just been reported missing.
00:28:29
Roshonda is a young girl. She's playful. She's silly. She loves animals. She's very close with her big brother, Byron, who's a year older than her.
00:28:37
Roshanda's mother Linda describes her as quote wonderful and adds quote you couldn't ask for
00:28:43
anything sweeter but life is not safe at home for Roshanda because in the mid-80s her mom marries
00:28:50
John Aykroyd believing that he's a good man that she's providing stability for herself and her
00:28:56
children instead John reveals himself almost immediately as violent and abusive particularly
00:29:02
towards his stepchildren. Roshanda's in the fifth grade she starts showing up to school with
00:29:07
clear signs of physical abuse. She'll then confide to her friends that her stepfather is also sexually
00:29:13
abusing her. Roshanda tries to stay with relatives or friends as much as she can. She's in fifth grade.
00:29:19
Yeah, no, that's just heartbreaking. So she doesn't have to live under the same roof as him,
00:29:22
and she does everything she can to avoid being alone with him. She and Byron lean on each other
00:29:27
during this time. They just focus on turning 18 when they can finally escape his abuse and his
00:29:33
household once and for all. In July of 1990, Roshanda finally tells her biological father
00:29:39
about this abuse she's been suffering at the hands of John. And the biological father lives
00:29:44
in a different part of Oregon. So he calls the mother, Linda, and threatens to get the police
00:29:49
involved The next day Roshanda vanishes So the police learn that John was alone with Roshanda the day she vanished which was frightening knowing how desperately Roshanda tried to avoid ever being alone with him But her mom was at work
00:30:05
Her brother was out of town visiting their father. John was supposed to be fixing a snowplow at his job.
00:30:10
He'll later tell police that he'd taken the day off because he was waiting for parts to come in.
00:30:15
But according to Noel Crombie's reporting from the Oregonian, that made no sense to his supervisors
00:30:21
because John had a lot of other work he could have been doing that day. Right. John claims that he invited Roshanda out into the woods to take pictures of deer.
00:30:30
This is a claim that baffles everyone in the family because he's never shown an interest in wildlife photography.
00:30:36
According to him, Roshanda turned down his offer and stayed behind at the house.
00:30:40
And when he returned later that day after going to take pictures of deer by himself, she was gone.
00:30:45
Of course, there's a ton of immediate suspicion around John. And while under interrogation, the mask begins to slip.
00:30:53
he offers up a bizarre theory about a stranger coming to the door and abducting roshanda
00:30:57
saying almost casually quote 87 pounds is nothing for somebody to carry you hit him over the head
00:31:03
and they have no fight oh my god how fucking chilling yeah like to be in that interrogation
00:31:10
room and hear that yeah and just knowing it's like that's the thing that i think is amazing
00:31:14
because psychopaths work very hard to be smart but they always think they're the smartest people
00:31:19
in the room and it's that when you watch you know any true crime show you see what bad liars they
00:31:24
are yeah not even bad liars like they think too that like this the person they're telling this
00:31:29
thing that you know they think is totally normal too but like to hear that like that you're not a
00:31:35
psychopath hearing that is fucking chilling it's chilling and then also if you're not that person
00:31:40
talking like and you clearly this is you're saying one thing yeah but what's actually coming through
00:31:46
is, oh my God, you know how much she weighs. Totally. You've picked her up. Like, you're giving yourself away
00:31:52
and you don't realize it. Yeah. The red flag of him knowing his stepdaughter's exact body weight is raised even higher
00:31:58
when John tells investigators unprompted that on the night Roshanda disappeared,
00:32:02
he and Linda had great sex. Ew. Yeah. As Noel Crombie reports, this is, quote, significant
00:32:09
because they almost never had sex. Aykroyd's low libido was the source of such open conflict
00:32:14
that Linda's teenage son Byron knew of their troubles. Oh. Not healthy, not okay.
00:32:20
No. Most disturbingly, though, John seems fixated on describing his stepdaughter's body in sexualized terms.
00:32:28
To the fucking police. Dude, he's so... Yeah. Can't control it. No. He even tells officers her exact bra size at one point.
00:32:37
Oh, my God. And when he's eventually shown a pair of pants that police find in the woods and believe are Roshandas, he becomes sexually aroused in front of them.
00:32:47
Are you fucking kidding me? Yeah. Just a complete animal. Like, that's the most—wow.
00:32:53
Yeah. How I never heard this. It's like, well, we're going to take a little break.
00:32:58
Oh, my God. And everyone has to go. So we can go wash our fucking hands. Leach bath.
00:33:03
Ugh. But again, the evidence against John Aykroyd is entirely circumstantial. So they have to let him go.
00:33:09
No, no, no. The police are doing everything they can to build the strongest case they can against him, not only in Roshanda's case, but in Kay's, which is now picking up steam after being cold for several years.
00:33:20
And that's because investigators on Kay's case are going back through the case file and they are looking for new avenues to explore.
00:33:27
And when they do that, they find the name Roger Dale Beck. Now, Roger was close friends with John Aykroyd, and he claimed to be with him the day that Kay was reported missing.
00:33:38
And Roger's then-wife, Pam, provided their alibi for that morning, but police never looked into Roger's potential involvement in Kay's murder until now.
00:33:48
So as they dig, police finally find the lead they've been waiting for. They learn from members of Roger's own family that on different occasions he'd bragged about raping and killing a jogger back in the late 70s.
00:34:01
Yeah. To who? I mean, for real. Like, can you imagine casually having beers with a friend or an acquaintance and them fucking, like, what?
00:34:11
Oh, my God. Like, this is psychotic. Well, and it's also, like, can we get a little perspective here where it's, like, everything that people called political correctness in, like, the 90s was trying to correct shit like this.
00:34:22
Yeah. Where it's, like, hey, if your bro brags about raping and killing someone.
00:34:27
He's just fucking around. I don't know. Make a phone call. Yeah. Pick up that phone.
00:34:31
No, he likes to brag about things. He makes up stories. He's still my very best friend.
00:34:36
Like, what the fuck? Insane. So when investigators tried to reconfirm Roger and John's alibi for the day Kay went missing,
00:34:43
Roger's now ex-wife, Pam, completely falls apart and tells them she lied. Both men had actually come home covered in blood on Christmas Eve of 1978.
00:34:53
Roger made her burn his clothes, destroy his brand new boots, and threatened her into covering for him and John.
00:35:00
I'm not sure he was terrifying. Yeah. Like the terror of that. And then what are you going to do?
00:35:06
Stand up. Right. He'll know it was you. Right. I mean, they just. So now it's May 1992.
00:35:13
This is two years after Roshanda goes missing. She still hasn't been found. But investigators working Kay Turner's disappearance have managed to put together a really strong case.
00:35:22
And there is a sense that John Aykroyd could be charged at any moment. But before the authorities can close in, two more young women from the same area in Oregon go missing.
00:35:32
They are 17-year-old Melissa Sanders from Sweet Home, Oregon, and 19-year-old Sheila Swanson of Lebanon.
00:35:40
So Melissa and Sheila disappeared during a family camping trip with the Sanders family to the Oregon coast town of Newport.
00:35:47
They were together. And the family was there, too. The girls share a tent that night but early the next morning when Melissa family wakes up they find both girls are gone At first their families think they hitchhiked home because Melissa and Sheila did sometimes spend days away from their families They you know in their late teens And they actually even called their respective boyfriends
00:36:08
to tell them they were going to leave the family camping trip. But when days pass with no sign of either of them,
00:36:15
they're reported missing. Weeks later, in June of 1992, John Arthur Aykroyd is finally arrested for the murder of Kay Turner.
00:36:23
Roger Dale Beck, his presumed accomplice in Kay's murder, is also arrested. This is 14 years after Kay went missing from Camp Sherman back in 1978 and 15 years since John's first known act of sexual violence against women, which was when Marlene was sexually assaulted in 77.
00:36:40
I can imagine being their families, or Marlene in this case, and waiting that long to even have movement in your case.
00:36:49
But also waiting that long knowing that this monster is just walking around, which is such a cliche.
00:36:56
But when you think about the fact of it where it's like. Yeah, it's not like we don't know who it is.
00:37:01
We haven't found a suspect yet. It's like it is clearly to everyone this fucking person.
00:37:07
It's this person and his fucking friend. Yeah. Like it's horrifying. So right out of the gate, police wonder if John knew he was about to get arrested and decided to kill more women while he still had the chance.
00:37:22
But when he's pressed about Melissa and Sheila's disappearances, he doesn't admit anything.
00:37:27
Several months later, in October of 1992, hunters find Melissa and Sheila's bodies in the woods outside Eddyville, Oregon, off Highway 20, about 20 miles from the campsite in Newport where the girls were.
00:37:41
At the scene, police discover a rivet, which is something a mechanic might have, but they don't have much else to go on.
00:37:47
Eventually, Melissa and Sheila's case goes cold. So the year after John's arrest in 1993, he's tried for the murder of Kay Turner.
00:37:56
The case against him is largely circumstantial, but prosecutors lean into a few key pieces of evidence.
00:38:01
Kay's Timex watch, her clothes, and her skeletal remains. So the watch is important because it stopped ticking the morning she disappeared and it's presumed it stopped working at the time of the attack. It was broken. This gives police a pretty strong sense of the exact time she was killed, which that time frame dovetails with when John told police he had spoken with her. He told them.
00:38:24
Yeah. Didn't he find her body, too? He claims to have, yeah. On top of that, forensic testing shows that Kay's clothes had been cut off, which calls back to the M.O. of Marlene Gabrielson's assault.
00:38:36
Which they didn't fucking believe happened. So much suffering with that kind of just because of an ego move like that.
00:38:44
Totally. But don't worry. It's just women who are suffering. They just. Yeah, that's right.
00:38:49
So prosecutors also have John's own words, which are damning in and of themselves.
00:38:53
because John did tell police he found Kay's body two months after she was killed.
00:38:58
He thought she looked like she'd been slashed and shot. The prosecution hammers home that he could not have known these things
00:39:04
given how badly the body had been decomposed unless he was the man that killed her.
00:39:09
The jury deliberates for four hours and comes back and convicts John Aykroyd on two counts of aggravated murder and three counts of murder.
00:39:18
His accomplice, Roger Dale Beck, is also convicted. Again, this is one conviction when John Aykroyd is suspected of many crimes against women.
00:39:26
Still, it's a huge victory for the investigators who worked to get him off the streets.
00:39:30
One of those investigators is a man named Bill Hanlon, who championed Kay's case and is arguably the man who secured John Aykroyd's conviction.
00:39:38
And he will later tell the Oregonian, quote, it saved women's lives. If he had stayed out, if he had never been convicted, he and maybe Beck would have done more crimes and killed more women for sure.
00:39:50
He managed to get through that whole thing without ever getting caught, not because he was all that smart, but because he slipped through, end quote.
00:39:58
Here's my edit to that line, but because the police didn't do their jobs. Fast forward to 2010.
00:40:07
At this point, John has served nearly two decades in prison and he's eligible for parole soon.
00:40:13
I mean, 20 years. So because of that, detectives dig back into Roshanda's disappearance with renewed vigor.
00:40:20
They're hoping they can create a strong enough case to bring charges and ensure John stays in prison for the rest of his life.
00:40:26
But when they press him for information on Roshanda, he doesn't give anything up.
00:40:30
Meanwhile, cold case investigators are also looking at the 1992 double murder of Melissa Sanders and Sheila Swanson.
00:40:37
And in 2012, they pieced together information that had inexplicably gone overlooked in the 90s, probably because of sloppy police work.
00:40:46
They learned that John Aykroyd was a regular at a 24-hour restaurant called Sherry's, which was frequented by local teens.
00:40:54
And he had earned the nickname The Perv because of how creepy he was about all those teenage patrons of Sherry's restaurant.
00:41:02
Among those patrons were Melissa and Sheila, who John had been seen interacting with at the restaurant.
00:41:09
So witnesses come forward and tell police that they saw two teens hitchhiking and entering a state truck that matched the description of John's work vehicle.
00:41:18
And the rivet found near the scene is determined to match the kind commonly carried by the highway workers.
00:41:24
Most damningly, one of John's co-workers will later report seeing John covered in blood around the exact time the girls go missing.
00:41:31
At first, his co-worker dismissed it because John said he hit a deer with his truck and got bloody, clearing out the remains.
00:41:38
So the whole incident goes unreported. But John never admits to any involvement in Melissa and Sheila's deaths.
00:41:45
And because of that, there's still a lot we don't know about what happened to them.
00:41:49
But the theory is that after talking with them at Sherry John knew the girls were camping at the coast that weekend and probably lied and say he be in the area if they wanted to get a ride home from him They could just let him know And clearly they took him up on that offer
00:42:05
As investigators continue working Melissa and Sheila's case, there's movement in Roshanda's case.
00:42:11
In 2013, 23 years after she was last seen alive, John Aykroyd pleads no contest to Roshanda Pickles' murder.
00:42:18
This means that he neither admits nor denies having anything to do with her death.
00:42:22
And in exchange for this no contest plea, which effectively closes Roshanda's case, he agrees to never pursue being paroled.
00:42:31
Wow. Like a literal deal with the devil. Yeah. The plea is sealed for a long time, so we still don't know the details on why he does this, but it means he'll live the rest of his life behind bars.
00:42:41
It just feels so like this little girl was not important enough to pursue justice.
00:42:49
it's like let's use this as a throwaway bargaining chip but unfortunately it's the best possible
00:42:55
well yeah because everything's been so fucked it's the best possible you know resolution yeah
00:43:01
and it's not it's a bargaining chip but it's not a throwaway because it actually works right so
00:43:05
there is that but yes the idea that he is not in some way forced to tell them right where the where
00:43:12
her body is where yes what he did to her yeah the answers for both melissa and sheila just don't
00:43:19
have to be given. And they've just been completely discarded by society. Yeah. It's just horrifying.
00:43:24
It feels like that whole metric needs to be readjusted to not like, what do we do just to
00:43:30
keep him behind bars? Because like, we have to do whatever it takes. And it's like, no, just do
00:43:34
whatever it takes to actually get the information out of him. Just a few years later, in December
00:43:39
2016, John Arthur Aykroyd dies in prison at age 67, taking many secrets, you know, presumably,
00:43:47
including the location of his own stepdaughter's body to the grave. So today investigators suspect that John Arthur Aykroyd
00:43:56
might be behind other unsolved cases in Oregon, many of which involve remains found near Highway 20.
00:44:04
This includes the 1976 cold case involving a victim found near the highway who was only known at the time as Swamp Mountain Jane Doe for decades
00:44:13
because of where she was found. just days before this recording in september of 2025 police have announced genetic genealogy has
00:44:21
now identified this person as marion mchorder holy shit so they just figured out who this
00:44:27
jane doe was oh my god chills yeah yeah so for the families of his victims the wounds will never
00:44:33
heal roshonda pickles beloved brother byron never stopped fighting for justice for his little sister
00:44:40
he keeps her memory alive by telling his children about aunt channy which was her nickname and he
00:44:46
has a tattoo of her on his arm byron sheila's brother bart swanson has also been her biggest
00:44:52
advocate over the years helping to keep interest in her case alive and he tells the oregonian
00:44:57
maybe sometimes visits the location where her body was found saying quote i go up there to
00:45:03
you know pretty much remind myself that i still haven't let it go and to let her know that i
00:45:08
haven't let it go. Marlene Gabrielson has had to live with the trauma of being sexually assaulted
00:45:13
and not being believed by the people who are supposed to fight for her after her attack.
00:45:18
She tells the Oregonian, quote, I figured it was because I was nothing. I wasn't ever going to
00:45:24
amount to anything. I was brown and I was ugly. So, you know, you're not going to amount to anything.
00:45:30
You don't think you are. I think that's why I cowered so much back then. My first thought when
00:45:35
I read that message, and she means from Noelle Crombies, the reporter that reached out to
00:45:40
her was, why would she care? Because that's the whole mindset that I've had about this thing from the gate.
00:45:47
But that's what made me come because there was somebody who actually cared. This makes me feel really good because there's a reason I am here.
00:45:54
And I guess I am not that ugly and I'm not worthless. I'm Marlene K. Gabrielson.
00:46:00
I'm Inupiaq. I'm a strong woman. Oh, my fucking God. And that's the story of the investigation into John Arthur Ackroyd and those cases linked to Highway 20.
00:46:12
It's these when everyone is just in the media like, why do women love true crime so much?
00:46:17
It's so like, what's wrong with you that you're interested? And it's like, because this is how little we have mattered for so fucking long.
00:46:26
If you think it's that different now, then you're not paying attention. Then please log on to any website and check out what our bodily autonomy status is.
00:46:38
But also. Like we're interested because we care. Can you imagine caring that much?
00:46:43
But also we're interested because it's about us. And especially like in Marlene's case, the more marginalized you are, the more you're affected and the less people help you.
00:46:52
So we as white women care and get upset. But it's like, but as you go and you're more marginalized and you're less represented and you're less empowered, people care less and less.
00:47:03
Until people literally are like, oh, you came here to report a rape and we're going to fucking polygraph you.
00:47:09
Right. Your throwaway. Bullshit. It's like we have to care 10 times as much because we're cared about as women 10 times less.
00:47:19
Well, and also it's like, guess what? Women are 50% of the fucking population, if not 51.
00:47:23
So our caring is like everybody can just stop asking that question. You just accept the fact that women are concerned and care and it's about themselves as much as it's about other women because we have to for each other.
00:47:38
That's the idea. Exactly. We're the targets. Wow. I don't want to do my story now because it is so different from that.
00:47:46
Well. Great job. Thank you. What do you mean? This is what we do. I know. Have you seen the big lit up number?
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00:51:20
Goodbye. Okay. You know, changing it up is what we're all about. Yeah, great job.
00:51:28
Thank you. That was an incredible story I'd never heard before and I'm shocked and horrified.
00:51:32
I mean, it's so horrifying. I really liked, you know, our producer Molly suggested like just doing straight up true crime.
00:51:38
Yeah, for a 500th. Yeah. And just, you know, like a classic. And Maren did an amazing job.
00:51:45
Yeah, that was incredible. Yeah. All right. Well, mine is not. Well, mine is true crime.
00:51:52
Oh, yeah? Yeah. You know what it is. Because we're going to start in Sherman Oaks or Beverly Hills, depending on who's fucking arguing about zip codes.
00:52:01
Do people in Sherman Oaks think they in any way live in Beverly Hills? No, but there's like a weird zip code dispute going on that we're not getting into.
00:52:08
I'm going to get into it myself. We're in Sherman Oaks, technically, at 5 a.m. on the morning of December 20th, 2008.
00:52:18
Remember 2008? I do. A very innocent time. Yeah. Very stupid. A security guard in the gated community of the Mulholland Estates has just realized that something is amiss at one of the mansions in the neighborhood.
00:52:33
When the guard gets to the front door, he sees that it's opened. And no one appears to be in the house, but he can tell the house has been ransacked.
00:52:41
He calls the police. And once they arrive, it becomes clear that burglars have taken a whopping $2 million worth of jewelry and watches from this estate.
00:52:51
In today's money, that $2 million would be... You said it was 2008? So that's a little less than 20 years ago.
00:53:00
Yeah. $2 million? In today's money... $3.5? $3. But great job. I mean, I'm getting closer.
00:53:07
Yeah, that was great. Police look at surveillance footage, which shows what appears to be a man in a sweatshirt, you know, who's the burglar.
00:53:15
And they say the person seems to know the house well. What police do not know yet is that this burglar is not a professional who's been casing the joint.
00:53:23
And also the mansion doesn't belong to just any old person. It's Paris Hilton's home.
00:53:29
Oh. And it's been hit three times before by the same group of burglars. The bling ring.
00:53:37
That's right, Karen. That's why I was like, I can't do this now. It's literally called the bling ring.
00:53:43
Yes. No, this is what we like. It's a, we do hot and cold, yin and yang, back and forth.
00:53:48
Yes, yes. The full scope of life. We're a fucking paradox. This group mostly teenagers would go on to burglarize their homes of celebrities for close to a year before finally being caught This is a story about obsession with celebrity and status but maybe also a story about how our teenage selves aren necessarily the people we are forever
00:54:08
But our mistakes sure are. This is the story of The Bling Ring. The Bling Ring! Did you ever watch the documentary about it?
00:54:17
No, I just watched the movie, Movie. Okay, got it. Well, the main sources for the story is a Vanity Fair article that was written by a woman named Nancy Jo Sales called The Suspects Were Louis Vuittons.
00:54:28
And that was the basis for the Sofia Coppola movie, The Bling Ring. And there's also a 2023 HBO documentary called The Ringleader.
00:54:36
And then another documentary that I watched called The Real Bling Ring Hollywood Heist.
00:54:39
And then also a short-lived e-reality show called Pretty Wild. And the rest of the sources can be found in the show notes.
00:54:46
This movie, when I saw it, it's like that kind of thing where you I don't like thinking about other people's families sometimes because I'm like, it's just very Irish Catholic for me.
00:54:56
But I'm like, they're not doing it right. It's not how you're supposed to do it.
00:54:59
So you think like the teenagers were raised wrong or what? Yes. Leslie Mann plays this mom.
00:55:04
She's so amazing. Like you don't even have to say more about what Leslie Mann played because I fucking know who she played.
00:55:08
You know what I mean? Yes. But there is a part where she's like, she doesn't care if the girls go to school.
00:55:13
She just wants them to work on their like affirmation manifestation boards. I know the mother you're literally talking about.
00:55:19
I know who you're talking about. And I watched a little bit of like the reality stuff.
00:55:24
And I felt the same way about her. You're just like get the stomachache of like, oh, no, not.
00:55:29
It's either they don't have a chance in the world or the world doesn't have a chance against people like this.
00:55:34
Totally. Yeah. It very much made me go, wow, I'm so glad I don't have teenage daughters.
00:55:38
Like I just. Yeah. I love that Leslie Mann telling the mom. She's really good. She's so good.
00:55:44
Okay. To understand the bling ring, we really have to go back to the celebrity media landscape of the early 2000s because it is so fucking different than it is now.
00:55:54
And thank God there's like kind of a reckoning happening. But it was so trashy and so awful and so insidious and so, you know, damaging to our psyche back then.
00:56:06
Yes. For sure. Horrifying. Right? So like at this time in the early 2000s, Us Magazine goes from being a monthly industry focused magazine to being a weekly magazine focusing squarely on celebrities.
00:56:19
So actually, Sofia Coppola cites this as the inciting incident that fomented the culture that resulted in the robberies because of this magazine.
00:56:27
That makes sense. The magazine and most the ones that quickly copied it was full of paparazzi photos of celebrities, some of them actual movie stars, some of them reality stars, some people whose names you know, but you're not even sure why.
00:56:41
Like this is when Paris Hilton became famous for just being Paris Hilton and which, you know, launched just so many celebrities who were just.
00:56:50
They didn't really do any. It wasn't like they were talents. It wasn't like, oh, my God, what a great actor.
00:56:54
Now I want to see them at the gas station. No. It was just fame. Which also meant to a lot of younger people that they could possibly do that as well.
00:57:02
Absolutely. You know what I mean? Like there was an opportunity just to be famous for being famous.
00:57:07
Yeah. That was simultaneous with like American Idol kind of TV shows where literally it was just like you can.
00:57:13
Yeah. You can go stand in line out in front of CBS and see if you can. Totally. I remember getting a job in the late 90s writing those.
00:57:21
They used to do like basically Fashion Police. I think it was called Fashion Police.
00:57:26
Yeah. And it was just like they would show a picture of a celebrity with a fucked up outfit on.
00:57:30
And then there was all these commentators. I remember just tearing them apart. And I did it.
00:57:36
I did it like for three different times. I think I did it. Yeah. And you would write like each celebrity picture they'd give you had to write like five jokes.
00:57:44
So they'd pick one from each. I remember this. And the only place you could go was mean and meaner and meaner.
00:57:51
And I remember on the third one, I went, what the fuck am I doing? And then I just didn't turn it in and I never got asked to do it again.
00:57:58
I was like, this is not like, yes, it's good to have one hundred and fifty dollars.
00:58:03
Yeah. Like, what the fuck is this for? Well, that's exactly it. Because I was also going to say they did things like who wore it better.
00:58:09
Yeah. Where they'd show a photo of two women always wearing the same outfit and then tear one of them apart and say the other one looked amazing.
00:58:17
Yeah. You couldn't choose both being like looking great. No. Who wore it better?
00:58:21
There was stars without makeup. And then there was best and worst beach bodies. It was so toxic. It was just it just, you know, created a generation of women with eating disorders, myself included.
00:58:36
Entirely. And it's the launching pad for the Facebook's hot or not world where women absolutely were primed to be like, oh, wait, I guess I either I need to figure out if I'm hot or not and then try to get hot so that I'm not a not.
00:58:51
Otherwise, I don't have worth at all. It was everything. Yes. And so, yeah, there's this frothing paparazzi culture who is just making so much money off of this.
00:59:01
That's what it was like. And it's in this environment in 2006 that a girl named Rachel Lee and Nick Prugo first find each other as sophomores at Indian Hills High School, which caters to kids who have struggled in more traditional schools in Calabasas.
00:59:17
Rich juvie kids. Rich kids who can't. Yeah. I mean, essentially, I went to one of those schools in Irvine, you know what I mean?
00:59:24
Which like it was called self. And it was the like you hate school and you're not doing well and your family doesn't force you to go to school.
00:59:33
So this is what you have to do now to get to graduate. Oh, so it was like the alternate school where PE was ping pong.
00:59:38
So I'm pretty good at ping pong now. I only went there for like a semester and went back to regular school because I was just like, I got it.
00:59:45
I have to do something with my life. Yeah. But it was yeah it was all the kids Basically it was any kid in this affluent neighborhood that had broken families Like really that all we had in common and became friends is because none of us had supervision we were neglected we didn have the money that everyone else had and so we didn really give a
01:00:06
shit about school yeah and we were fucking teased there we were made fun of there we were like
01:00:10
i didn't want to go there i was out i was a total outcast yeah so why would i go instead you go to
01:00:16
south where people are actually nice to you and you get to play some ping pong some fucking hardcore
01:00:20
Or ping pong. Yeah. So I get it. And also I became eventually when I was like in my early 20s, I was a lunch lady in the valley at one of these schools myself for elementary through high school. And these were the sweetest, most wonderful kids who couldn't hack it in the LAUSD school system in the valley. And I'm telling you, more than half of them were living in group homes. So it wasn't these were not bad kids. Yeah. They just didn't have the resources that everyone else had.
01:00:49
Yeah, the support. And also it's weird because there's some kids who have nothing but resources.
01:00:55
And it's not a good thing. No. It's also where I met Uncrustables. Because the kids loved them and I was like, I'm going to try this.
01:01:03
Yes. Lived off of them. Okay, enough about me and Uncrustables. So this girl, Rachel Lee and Nick Prugo, they meet each other at this school and they both have issues getting along with their families.
01:01:16
Rachel had been kicked out of Calabasas High School for stealing something from another girl.
01:01:21
And Nick was kicked out of Calabasas High School as well for excessive absences, which is like the fact that you're just like punished for that instead of like what's going on in his life that this that he's not coming to school.
01:01:32
Yes. Is so horrifying to me. Yeah. It's like so basically there's clearly a lack of support.
01:01:38
Right. And you're a child and you're being held responsible for the fact that you.
01:01:43
That no one will get you to school. There's no follow through. Yeah. Like maybe you have some, you know, and also he had been a troubled kid.
01:01:50
He had been diagnosed with ADHD. So he probably wasn't taken care of the way he needed to be.
01:01:56
Yeah. You know, so I just these kids, I feel for them. So Nick and Rachel, they feel like outsiders and then they meet each other and just fall immediately in friendship.
01:02:06
Love. Nick is gay during a time when the average high schooler hears gay slurs multiple times a day.
01:02:12
It was very casual then. And Rachel's Korean and has always felt out of place in her majority white town.
01:02:18
And it's at a time when the beauty standard is blindingly white and being beautiful is seen as a teenager's highest duty.
01:02:25
So it's really depressing for them. They're both very into fashion and celebrities and the very luxury brand focused aesthetic of the era.
01:02:34
You remember Jisuke Couture. You had a whole wardrobe full of it. My whole ass was covered in that brand.
01:02:38
But also I think there's, you know, especially in the Valley. Yeah. I mean, that's like the valley in Beverly Hills.
01:02:45
Totally. That's the center of like materialistic kind of like, here's what anybody cares about.
01:02:50
Like what kind of car do you drive? And it's aspirational. You could easily become part of that world if you play your cards right.
01:02:57
Yeah. You know, as Rachel will put it many years later, quote, I felt this insatiable energy
01:03:02
to have as much as I could have. But that was kind of the energy back then, end quote.
01:03:07
And so Rachel and Nick quickly form a deep, all-consuming friendship. I remember those fucking friendships from high school that were so amazing.
01:03:14
They're always talking or texting or IMing each other. And they just find this like kindred spirit in each other.
01:03:21
So sometime in 2007, Nick and Rachel start burglarizing homes. I just I don't know why.
01:03:29
Like I feel for them and I feel like by the grace of God, there goes moi. You know, not burglarizing, just doing really fucking stupid shit in a time when stupid shit sticks to you.
01:03:40
Permanent records. Exactly. Early 90s. You can't track my shit. But hold on. How did they get to that?
01:03:46
OK, here's what happens. It's kind of brilliant. They find out that a classmate is going to be out of town with their family.
01:03:54
It's a rich as fuck family. And so they go there when they know no one's going to be home and they break in.
01:04:01
At this classmate's house, they find a box with thousands of dollars of cash in it.
01:04:05
it's originally reported as eight thousand dollars but it gets bandied about maybe it was over twenty
01:04:11
thousand dollars in today's money it could have been worth about forty thousand dollars but they
01:04:16
find it and they take it and they go on a shopping spree on rodeo drive with it and i i fucking get
01:04:22
this thing of like how come everyone i i because i used to shoplift when i was a kid i will say
01:04:26
that right now you can't fucking come get me or come fucking get me if you want but i wasn't i
01:04:31
was underage i used to shoplift and it was this this feeling of like i deserve this everyone else
01:04:38
in my affluent community has everything they want i get made fun of for not i fucking deserve this
01:04:45
which clearly isn't true but i was a child so that made absolute sense to me that like it'll
01:04:50
solve the problem yeah like this is how i get mine too so i get that i wrote about it in our book
01:04:55
so they do that hit and then they take up this hobby that they call checking cars and so they
01:05:01
basically just walk by luxury cars in their neighborhood and see if the doors are unlocked.
01:05:06
Lock your fucking doors, right? Like, as we always say, when they find one that is open,
01:05:12
they plunder it for cash and credit cards and then go on more shopping trips with this.
01:05:16
By their senior year of high school, the fall of 2008, they hatch a plan to start robbing
01:05:20
celebrities' houses and decide they're going to start with Paris Hilton. Why not?
01:05:24
Yeah. It's so easy for them to do this. They find a subscription-based website that lists
01:05:29
celebrity home addresses on it. And then they go to Google Earth to kind of map out the house,
01:05:36
like see roots to get into the house. And then they go on social media and like TMZ
01:05:41
and see the celebrity themselves saying, I'm in Ibiza. I'm in New York filming this thing. I'm
01:05:47
going to be out tonight at this fucking bar. And so they just know when the celebrity is going to
01:05:51
be out of town They know where they live They know how to get in Yeah they can track it all Well thank you Us Magazine Yeah it creepily easy for them to do this The innocent days of the early internet Right So they study TMZ and Paris Hilton social media and know she going to be out of town for a few days in October
01:06:08
They look at her gated community on Google Earth and they find a hill in the back of the house where they think they can get onto the property without being noticed.
01:06:17
And it works. When they approach the front door of Paris's 8,000 square foot Mediterranean style mansion, they find a key under the mat.
01:06:26
That's how safe she feels in her community. Also, she doesn't have a house sitter.
01:06:32
I know. I know. Just a richy rich person that doesn't just have someone there. I don't think they think about it then.
01:06:38
I guess they didn't. They do now. They didn't have to. Right. When we go out of town at all for touring, my friend stays at our house.
01:06:44
Not just because we have pets, but because I don't want to leave a home completely unattended.
01:06:48
There's never not someone at my house. Yeah, we get it. We get it. No one can rob you.
01:06:54
They find a key under the mat and they let themselves in. On this first visit, they kind of just explore her house.
01:07:00
They go into the nightclub room. Like, this is a very wealthy woman. Then they do this brilliant, not brilliant, they do this very smart thing where they fish through all of her purses.
01:07:11
because she has hundreds of beautiful purses. And she goes out all the time. And so there's just crumpled bills in every purse from all her nights out.
01:07:21
That's really smart. Hundreds and hundreds and fifties that they just, she just crams back in her purse, puts her purse back on.
01:07:27
Eventually she'll grab it again. And, you know, like she doesn't care that there are all these wadded up dollars.
01:07:32
She is literally filthy rich. Exactly. So they take all of those. They say they take a lot of Coke.
01:07:39
Like they find, you know, baggies of Coke in the purses. But we're like, we don't.
01:07:43
That's allegedly we don't want Paris Hilton, who's the victim of this crime. We don't want to be like saying that she's a fucking coke head.
01:07:49
Seems like they were careful to make it not totally obvious that someone had been there.
01:07:53
Like, so she I don't know if she knew at first. She has a nightclub room. Exactly.
01:07:58
So they take little things like a bottle of Grey Goose on the way out, that sort of thing.
01:08:03
They return to Paris's house two more times that fall. And they also start bringing some of their other friends and associates into the scheme.
01:08:09
which is a bad idea. It feels a little less like a scheme, though, and more like the way teens like to break into abandoned buildings
01:08:17
that are just kind of trying their luck in a way. And they're so unaware of the consequences
01:08:21
that your stupid fucking actions as a teenager will bring. Especially when what's really taking up most of your attention is,
01:08:30
can I get a Chanel purse? Can I get a label fill in the blank blank? And I'm not good enough unless I have those things.
01:08:36
Yeah, absolutely. Part of this includes stealing many thousands of dollars worth of clothing and jewelry for them to wear.
01:08:42
Like they just want to dress the part. In the expanded group, there are some other kids from their school, some friends of friends.
01:08:48
It kind of becomes this like unorganized group of people who are all doing this together.
01:08:55
And there are a couple older adults, though. This includes a man named Roy Lopez Jr., whom one of the group knows from her job at a restaurant,
01:09:02
and a man named Johnny Ajar, who goes by your favorite name. ever. Johnny Dangerous. Johnny Dangerous. You had the first part right. Well, yeah. Well,
01:09:15
because his name is Johnny. Yeah. Johnny Dangerous. That is ridiculous. Yeah. And
01:09:19
what's Johnny Dangerous's deal? You're going to be shocked to hear this. Okay. He's a Hollywood
01:09:23
promoter. What? I don't think everyone who doesn't live in L.A. knows like promoters,
01:09:30
Hollywood nightclub promoters, especially back in the early 2000s and like late 90s,
01:09:35
were just this like breed of dude. Toothpick dudes. Oh, they were like slimy, but they could probably get you into the club for sure,
01:09:42
especially if you were underage. Slimy, but not unattractive. Yes. Kind of, there's a charisma there, but also-
01:09:48
Because they're like businessmen. Yes, they are. Or they're like marketing people.
01:09:51
I told you about that. This is one of my favorite memories and I'm going to try to do it quickly.
01:09:55
Okay. I was turning, remember the old DMV that used to be off of Vine above, between Sunset and Hollywood.
01:10:02
And there's like a DMV there. I'd always go there because there was rarely a line.
01:10:06
So I was driving in that neighborhood and I was taking a right hand turn in my old car.
01:10:12
Simultaneously, there was this dude taking a left. So our cars were passing and we were passing each other.
01:10:19
And he was super good looking, but he was like shaved head. Yeah. Very clean cut, like sharp.
01:10:26
Well, this guy was like super tan and he had a V-neck silk shirt that was open, like way open down here.
01:10:34
And he had a big necklace and he had like a big ring. He had a toothpick in his mouth.
01:10:38
And I was just like, and I just staring at him because I was like, who is this guy?
01:10:42
Like as we're passing each other and he just very slowly puts his arm out the window and points at me.
01:10:47
So as we're passing, he just like does one of those as we go by. Oh, my God. Like acknowledging your existence.
01:10:53
And I was like, I love the idea of like this. he looked like a nightclub owner or promoter.
01:10:58
It's a totally different thing. And I'm like his nerdy comic girlfriend. Yeah. Like it was this idea of like how hilarious,
01:11:04
but then he'd also like give me Coke. Can you absolutely give you Coke? He would get you into Ledoux,
01:11:08
which is what the nightclub of the time. Like seriously. So Johnny Dangerous was a promoter
01:11:11
for the Hollywood nightclub, Ledoux. Remember Ledoux? Ledoux? Ledoux. Ledoux. Ledoux.
01:11:16
I remember it, but I don't know what it looked like. It was on the hills all the time.
01:11:20
Like that's where they all went to or worked or whatever. So it was a big deal. And he'd get these underage kids who are not famous people into Ladue.
01:11:29
He was the promoter, the big Hollywood promoter. It feels like a lost, the culture is being lost.
01:11:35
I'm sure it's still there. We could go to Hollywood right now and meet four promoters within 20 minutes.
01:11:39
And we'd be like, hey, and they'd be like, I can't see you. You're over 25. You're a mom.
01:11:46
You're not invited. Yeah, there's no MILFs. Okay. So Roy, the other guy, is actually the one captured on security footage in the December
01:11:53
Paris Hilton burglary, and that ends up being the one to first be publicized. Johnny Dangerous,
01:12:00
mostly acts as a fence, like buying the stolen goods to sell them because the kids can't.
01:12:04
What are they going to go into a pawn shop with Paris Hilton's fucking like heirloom family jewelry and sell it on the market?
01:12:11
No. I just thought about Paris Hilton coming home from Ibiza or whatever it is and being like, hey, I put $8,000 in this purse.
01:12:20
Sure. Wait a second. Did Nikki borrow this purse? And then Nick later says, sweet Nick, he says, quote,
01:12:27
He gave us $5,000 for like 10 Rolexes, which I guess is a ripoff now that I think about it.
01:12:33
End quote. How much is a Rolex worth? $50,000, aren't they? And so 10 Rolexes, that just shows how naive and young they are.
01:12:41
He was like, here's $5,000. And they're like, oh, my God. Thank you so much. That's so incredible.
01:12:46
Yeah, exactly. It's a bit muddy regarding like when each of the members of the Bling Ring get involved.
01:12:52
It's very loose. It's clear that- There's no official history. Yeah, you're not going to believe it. It's clear that the network expands quickly between Rachel and Nick's first burglary in October and the fourth one in December. Since Rachel and Nick didn't actually really even know the guy Roy, the one who was in the security footage, it's almost like some guy heard about it too.
01:13:11
Yeah. So it's not actually a group. And then the burglars continue over the course of the entire school year and into the summer with various members of this group, but always Rachel and Nick. So they kind of are the ringleaders, I guess you could say.
01:13:24
Yeah. In February of that year, Rachel and Nick robbed the home of Adrena Partridge, one of the stars of The Hills.
01:13:30
Adrena Partridge. It says Partridge in everything I've read. And I always thought it was Partridge.
01:13:36
It is Partridge. I think it's Partridge. What was she on? The Hills. The Hills. Iconic TV show, The Hills.
01:13:42
Yeah, heard of it? I did. I watched the show out of it. Literally until I read this research by Allie, I would have said Partridge.
01:13:50
And then I saw that. I saw it in the Vanity Fair article. It's spelled Partridge.
01:13:55
By the way, I want to leave all of this in. And Audrina, if you're a murderino, we are so sorry.
01:14:00
I wouldn't dare edit it out. Thank you, Molly. It's clearly gold. And she says, quote,
01:14:05
They took bags and bags of stuff. They took my great grandma's jewelry, my passport, my laptop, jeans made to fit my body to perfect shape, which like, can I get that done?
01:14:15
I didn't know that was a thing you could do. No, you can't. The answer is no. God damn it.
01:14:20
The estimated value of her stolen property was forty three thousand dollars. But more than that, she is terrified from this.
01:14:28
And I think I've never think fucking God had a break in. But I think the sense of security that you lose when that happens is just psychologically so fucked up, especially from a reality star.
01:14:39
Like she's not, you know, a movie star that agreed to this life. I mean, she did because she's a reality star.
01:14:45
She was like in high school when she agreed to it. Yeah. Is she the one that lived in that very glass boxy house that was up above sunset down by like Sunset Junction?
01:14:53
I don't know. How do you know that? Because I remember I spent a lot of time at the E-Channel.
01:14:58
Oh, I know that boxy house. And I remember the video with the guy with a hooded sweatshirt and people jumping over the fence.
01:15:04
Yes, totally. Yeah. And it's like that's when I realized, oh, that's right. You're totally exposed if people know where you live.
01:15:11
Right. Exactly. Actually, Ed, she shares the footage of this robbery right away with the police and media.
01:15:18
And it's pretty clear. You can see Nick and Rachel in it, but nothing comes of that until later.
01:15:23
So the group hits Rachel Bilson's house in May from the OC. They have a trend. Right?
01:15:29
Rachel Bilson's from the OC, right? I think so. I'm from literally the OC and I don't remember.
01:15:34
Then in July, they hit Orlando Bloom's house, mostly because his girlfriend at the time is Miranda Kerr and she has really fucking good clothes.
01:15:43
So they hit his house. That night, they allegedly steal $500,000 in Rolex watches, allegedly, which is probably two Rolex watches.
01:15:51
Yeah, exactly. Louis Vuitton luggage, artwork. I mean, it seems like they just have all the time in the world in these houses and they take advantage of it.
01:15:59
And also all the choices in the world because this is like rich people having too much money and collecting stuff.
01:16:06
And not having security. Yeah. You know? Or a house sitter. A house sitter. Security.
01:16:12
A fucking dog. A Rottweiler with Nia's tape to it. Like anything. Plants that someone has to come and water twice a day.
01:16:19
Like something. The Orlando Bloom robbery is where 18-year-old Alexis Nyers claims she comes into the story.
01:16:26
And she's the daughter of the, like, secret manifestation mother. Yes. So she claims this when she comes into the story.
01:16:33
She says she's a drag-along. And it's like, I don't know, allegedly, allegedly, allegedly.
01:16:37
I mean, if there's a group of kids that are going around robbing celebrities' houses,
01:16:42
you're going to want to tell all the kids at school that you're out in front and you're the leader of the gang.
01:16:46
Right, that's true. Once you get caught, you're going to be like, I barely even understood what was happening.
01:16:52
And I do think, sorry, but I do think that I remember them trying to turn that story with the Adrena Partridge break in because they were talking about how scared she was.
01:17:02
Where it's like the times I've sat at my house in the middle of the night with the dogs barking, thinking someone is breaking in my house.
01:17:07
And it is the fucking scariest thing. And of course, it was raccoons or whatever.
01:17:12
But like a horrible threat, a horrible thing to go to, even if you're not home. That means someone actually did it and was there.
01:17:18
The violation of someone walking through this place that's like your sanctuary that you created,
01:17:24
especially when you're a famous person, to get away from all of that. And it's not safe and nothing's safe.
01:17:30
And they've taken your grandma's jewelry. Like I totally can imagine But then yeah it cute when you know it these teenagers that are being rebels Yeah well she originally was like I couldn believe it when I saw the footage because I figured like I was also terrified that it was these like big scary men
01:17:45
Yeah. It wasn't, but it was still confusing. Yeah, yeah. So Alexis, this 18-year-old, had known Nick and Rachel from Indian Hills High School, but she had dropped out to pursue modeling.
01:17:57
And she's, at the time, being homeschooled by her mother, Andrea, Leslie Mann. specifically Andrea says she is basing her curriculum around the movie not the book the
01:18:08
secret yeah the family believes firmly in the law of attraction and frequently says quote and so it
01:18:15
is wow that's they're like hey I want to be famous and so it is which is so culty isn't it culty I
01:18:22
mean it's so LA it's so and because sometimes it works and it's like yeah sometimes it works and
01:18:29
if you're delusional enough and like petite and hot enough, I guess. And then think you earned it because you did that and they didn't.
01:18:35
And it's like, well, you should. Yeah, it's just. And so it is. Petite and hot enough.
01:18:40
And you live in the, what are those apartments, the Oakwoods? And you just like, all you want is to make it.
01:18:46
Yeah. Whatever that means. God. There's no negative in making it. That's the idea.
01:18:51
It's like, there's no like, you can't do anything bad if it results in you making it because it was worth it.
01:18:56
Yes. No matter what. Is it? Alexis' best friend is a 19-year-old named Tess Taylor, and she lives in the house as well. Andrea treats her like another daughter. And then they're the ones who end up having that reality show, Pretty Wild, for a short time. The way it's presented on the reality show, Alexis and Taylor are very focused on becoming famous. And Andrea, the mother, is even more focused on this, Leslie Mann. And it appears that Alexis is raised in a family that prioritizes fame and proximity to fame over everything else.
01:19:25
And we know this because it's all chronicled on Pretty Wild, which starts filming at the time because they are following Alexis and Tess's life as little hell racers in the Los Angeles club scene, like going to Ladue.
01:19:40
They're looking for the new parasitman. Nikki. No, that's her sister. Nicole Richie.
01:19:46
Nicole Richie. Yes. So it's about that at first, about their attempts at, you know, going to modeling editions and becoming famous.
01:19:52
But it doesn't turn into that. But back to the summer of the summer, all the kids in the bling ring are pretty blatant with their spoils.
01:20:00
They are photographed in celebrities clothes on their social media with like fucking Rolexes and shit.
01:20:06
So stupid. I know. I know they brag pretty openly about it among their peers. One day, Rachel and Nick and possibly others spread out a blanket on Venice Beach and start selling stolen goods from celebrities houses.
01:20:19
Guys, cry for help. are teenagers doing dumbass teenage shit, which is why I'm so glad I'll never have a teenage child.
01:20:27
Just a nephew that I can be like the cool aunt to. Yeah, that's right. So then at the end of July,
01:20:31
TMZ re-ups the security footage from the burglary back in February at Adrena P's house.
01:20:38
For some reason, she had shared it back when it happened, but for some reason now people are more interested in it.
01:20:43
And Nick and Rachel are pretty identifiable in it's that footage you've seen. Like they really barely try to cover their faces at all.
01:20:49
They have like hoodies on and that's kind of it. So friends are calling them about it.
01:20:53
Rachel decides to move in with her father, who's an accountant and professional gambler who lives in Vegas to have like a low profile.
01:21:00
But she cannot resist the pull to do that one last job. Oh, no. It's so classic.
01:21:06
Like you're done. You're in a different state. Go fucking. You got out. Stay out.
01:21:10
Yeah. Go be a. What's it called? Dealer. Yes. Not a drug dealer. If you couldn't.
01:21:15
If you're not watching this on YouTube, I was doing cards. She was doing poker. dealer gestures. One night in August, one of the members of the ring, we're not sure who,
01:21:23
calls Rachel and says, quote, let's go steal, end quote. The intended target is Lindsay Lohan,
01:21:28
who pretty much is the white whale for any fashion-loving teenage burglar in the mid-2000s.
01:21:35
She's the famousest of the famousest. And the party, the most big party girl, too.
01:21:40
She's a big party girl. Also, I think I read, and this is alleged, so don't hold against me,
01:21:45
But there was a lot of stories about her taking clothing, really expensive clothing.
01:21:50
From sets. Yes. And from places where she, I think she had probably this, she was famous and had been since she was a child.
01:21:57
Yeah. And she kind of had the same disease, it sounds like. It's like entitlement disease.
01:22:01
Yeah. Rachel makes the four-hour drive to Los Angeles in order to participate in that.
01:22:05
She's like, don't go, wait for me, here I come. So that happens. And then very shortly after this, the walls start closing in.
01:22:12
several people anonymously tip the police about the members of the bling ring because they fucking
01:22:17
know them from Calabasas fucking high school or whatever. Yeah. And one of them probably like
01:22:21
the boy she liked like them. And then she's like, I'm dropping a dime on you now. Totally. Alexis
01:22:26
Nyers, it turns out, is one of the anonymous tipsters, which is weird because she is actually
01:22:32
part of the group, even though she insists that she didn't know what was happening and didn't
01:22:35
participate. In September, Nick Prugo is arrested based on one of these tips. And he basically
01:22:42
he's a child he confesses to not just everything but everything and stuff the cops don't even know
01:22:48
is related to the bling ring like that's how sweet and innocent he is he's just like yes it was me
01:22:53
here's what we did i didn't know it was illegal or whatever it is this includes a burglary from
01:22:59
90210 actor brian austin green's house which they broke into because he was dating megan fox who's
01:23:05
so fucking well-dressed at the time but the thieves also wind up stealing a handgun from him
01:23:10
which is like scary. Nick turns in tons of stolen watches and jewelry and is photographed for his mugshot And in the mugshot he wearing one of Orlando Bloom T
01:23:25
Jesus. Like, they're just children. I'm not saying any of this is okay. But they got away with it.
01:23:32
I mean, like, there's a part of it that's kind of delightful. Totally. Totally. Nick calls Rachel after his publicized arrest.
01:23:38
And even though rationally, she knows he got arrested. And she's probably like, I shouldn't talk to him when he's calling me.
01:23:43
I bet this is being recorded, but she talks to him anyways. And Nick casually says to her, hey, remind me what your dad's address is in Vegas where you're staying.
01:23:52
Moments later, the police bang on her door and find her. They search her house and find a bunch of stuff, including a nude personal photo of Paris Hilton that they had stolen, which is pretty shitty.
01:24:05
Oh, yeah. When Alexis is worn. Why doesn't Paris Hilton have a safe? A hundred percent.
01:24:10
She's from the richest of the rich. Like, isn't there some sort of internal protocol with these people?
01:24:15
I mean, the Kilgare family version of that is my dad had a big bowl that he used to put his spare change in.
01:24:20
And then we would go steal change out of the bowl. My sister had one of those, like, children's lock boxes that all you had to do was, like, find the opening.
01:24:28
And, you know, and then I'd go buy, like, fucking Reese's Pieces. That's my $3. Exactly.
01:24:32
And quarters. My dad would be like, quit stealing my quarters. And then quit putting them.
01:24:37
And then it's literally called the stealing place. Yes. Oops now. Okay. When Alexis Warren is served, the e-cameras are rolling and her arrest winds up in the pilot of Pretty Wild.
01:24:47
So suddenly, like, thank fucking God we gave this girl a reality show. We have all of this.
01:24:51
It's so cringe to watch. Like, I watched another scene and it's just cringe. The rest of the series follows her preparation for trial.
01:24:59
While searching the house, police find one of Rachel Bilson's purses, among other things.
01:25:04
At this point, the fact that this rash of well-publicized Hollywood burglaries has been committed by a ring of teenagers from the Valley
01:25:11
has become in itself this hugely sensational story. No one can get enough of it.
01:25:17
Vanity Fair writer Nancy Jo Sales covers the story mostly from Alexis's perspective
01:25:22
as she navigates her court dates and notes that the family seems to be simultaneously
01:25:26
treating her arrest like the scary problem it is, but also an opportunity to become famous
01:25:34
and really laughing at the attention. I mean, they manifested it, so you've got to live it.
01:25:39
At the time, too, like all of those starlets had DUIs and all it did was make them more famous.
01:25:44
Yes. It was really like you were saying that it's weird because paparazzi, although I know they still exist,
01:25:49
it's not the same as it was back then. No. Where everything was being driven by that.
01:25:54
So ugly. It was out of control. Yeah. The article goes on to be adapted into Sofia Coppola's
01:25:59
2013 movie, The Bling Ring, which is one of Karen's favorites. It's number one. That and Atonement.
01:26:04
That's what you cry on a plane to is The Bling Ring. Why aren't these children so amoral?
01:26:11
Alexis pleads no contest and a sentence to 180 days in the county jail. And she winds up serving 30 days.
01:26:18
Nick also spends this time giving lots of interviews and doing lots of television news appearances.
01:26:23
At the same time, Rachel, the, you know, Nick and Rachel, Rachel is saying nothing.
01:26:28
Her mom is a lawyer. Yes. And so she almost isn't part of the public narrative anymore, which is so smart in that, like, way of don't fucking say shit and no one will care.
01:26:39
Yes. It'll go away. Yes. Which is so true. The consequence of that is that in the cultural narrative, she is portrayed by all the other kids as the ringleader. They're able to point to her and she's not denying it. So everyone goes with it. The way she tells the story now is that it was more of a fallet adieu type situation where she and Nick had a shared compulsion to steal.
01:27:02
And justify to each other. Like it's we're doing it. It's fun. It's funny. It's I mean, I'm sure it was fucking thrilling.
01:27:07
Oh, my God. So fucking fun. Like the stories that they tell about it was. And then you have eight grand in cash in your pocket. Like now I get to do you're right. I get to have whatever lipstick I want.
01:27:18
And the purest Coke you've ever fucking smelled in your life. At the trial, many of the celebrity victims testify.
01:27:26
The prosecution builds their case around the sense of violation and fear that they felt to have their homes broken into as opposed to the actual material losses.
01:27:35
because hopefully they were all insured to, you know. They were. They were, for sure.
01:27:39
That's why there was no security. Ultimately, all the members of the bling ring who are charged together plead no contest.
01:27:45
Nick and Rachel get the stiffest sentences. Nick is sentenced to two years in prison
01:27:49
and Rachel to four and both serve about a year before being released on probation.
01:27:54
Everyone else finds up getting probation and this is partially because an LAPD cop
01:27:59
who is a major figure in the investigation is just as enamored with celebrity as the kids are.
01:28:06
He consults on the Sofia Coppola film while the cases are still pending, creating a big conflict of interest
01:28:13
that lessens everyone else's sentences. So it's not just teenagers. You know what it makes me think of
01:28:19
is I want to rewatch L.A. Confidential. Yes, such a good movie. It's such a good movie,
01:28:23
but that whole part with the now reviled Kevin Spacey, but that whole thing is so L.A.
01:28:29
It's like there are totally different rules here. And it is really acclimated to beauty and money and like and this achievement thing.
01:28:39
Status and fame. So it's like, yeah, the cops, you cannot get a cop to show up anywhere for any reason in most of L.A.
01:28:47
But you will see 25 of them standing around a set if they're shooting on Melrose.
01:28:51
Totally. And I mean that just how you just learn that Totally Like that just how it works here Totally Yeah That so true Such a weird town It so weird When Rachel does get out of prison she moves back in with her mom and stepdad to a bedroom with a mattress on the floor and a small box of belongings
01:29:08
I mean, she's got some stories to tell, though, for the rest of her life. That's right.
01:29:12
She says she remembers thinking, quote, this is all that I need in the world. Like she was just.
01:29:19
Just so happy to be home. Yeah. And done with the whole thing. because getting caught up in it, you know?
01:29:24
Yes. All of the members of the bling ring now lead pretty quiet lives. Rachel is a hairstylist.
01:29:30
It's unclear what Nick does professionally, but he's not clamoring for publicity.
01:29:35
Alexis, though, is kind of the only one who still maintains an Instagram presence.
01:29:40
So maybe she's still looking for that elusive fame. If I was getting my hair cut
01:29:45
and my hairdresser was like, I actually was the leader of the bling ring, I would be overjoyed in ways that...
01:29:51
Where does she work? I'll leave my beloved hairdresser for her immediately. Sorry, Marissa.
01:29:56
But like, it's the leader of the bling ring. That's a great way to spend three hours of like, and then what did you do with that watch?
01:30:02
Don't ask me about what I'm watching on TV right now. Tell me everything about your fucking incredible life, Rachel.
01:30:08
Fascinating. And that is the story for our 500th episode of the bling ring. Genius.
01:30:14
Genius. That was great. All props to Molly and Ali for suggesting the story. And I was like, I don't know.
01:30:19
It's kind of vapid and dumb. I'm like, is Karen doing a really good true crime? I'll only do this if like it like legitimately it's a good episode.
01:30:26
And they were like, it fucking is. You have to do it. Molly's like, trust the process.
01:30:30
Trust me. I'm like, all right, fine. I'll do the fucking bling ring. Well, you know, it's interesting you say that now because that's what I was going to say at the beginning is it's our 500th episode.
01:30:37
And from Stephen Ray Morris, but all by himself in on the floor of your apartment to this incredible staff of almost 40 people that we now have it exactly right.
01:30:47
Like, yeah, we would be nowhere and we could not have done it. And we certainly couldn't have done it to the degree that we have done it without all these people that we work with.
01:30:55
So for our own team, thank you, Molly and Liana and Aristotle and just everybody every week that makes this podcast possible.
01:31:05
Thank you all so much because, you know, that's not the two of us. It's in the least. And now there's like there's two other podcasts that go along with this podcast and there's video.
01:31:15
And it's just like we have team after team and people after people that really work their ass off.
01:31:21
It works despite us, not because of us. I disagree. No, no. It's just such a big old thing.
01:31:28
It's very exciting after 10 years and 500 episodes. Almost 10 years and 500 episodes.
01:31:34
That's so wild. Yeah. The way it's grown. It's crazy. We really fucking bling ringed the podcasting industry, didn't we?
01:31:41
What we did was we checked the podcast industry's doors. A couple of them were unlocked.
01:31:46
That's right. And we broke in. We stole some Greygoods. We went through their shit.
01:31:50
And we fucking. They don't need this 40 grand in cash. Yes. But what a joy. And of course, to the listeners, to the murderinos, to our fucking people, obviously, this couldn't
01:32:00
have happened without you. But you've made it into this incredible thing that we could never, ever tell you how grateful
01:32:06
we are for the lives that we get to lead now because of you guys listening to this podcast.
01:32:11
And thinking that we're your best friends. Yeah, because we are. Because we are.
01:32:15
We can fucking run you down in the street to honk at you. That's right. We will stick our whole arm and perhaps our head out the window to make sure you know that we see you.
01:32:24
And we appreciate it. Our lives 500 episodes ago were so different. We're very fucking different.
01:32:30
They were very different. It really is a beautiful place to be. So thank you guys so fucking much.
01:32:34
Yes. It's magical. Stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie?
01:32:43
This has been an Exactly Right production. Our senior producers are Alejandra Keck and Molly Smith.
01:32:54
Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo. This episode was mixed by Liana Squalachi. Our researchers are Maren McGlashan and Allie Elkin.
01:33:01
Email your hometowns to myfavoritemurder at gmail.com. Follow the show on Instagram at myfavoritemurder.
01:33:07
Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
01:33:11
And now you can watch us on Exactly Right's YouTube page. While you're there, please like and subscribe.
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