00:00:00
This is exactly right. It's here. The participating U.S. Taco Bell locations for a limited time only.
00:00:34
While supplies last, contact Store for availability. Your husband is not who you think he is.
00:00:38
Your body is not what you thought it was. Your identity is formed by a secret history.
00:00:44
I'm Dani Shapiro, and these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secrets.
00:00:52
He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move. And he went out the front door and he jumped in a car and drove off.
00:00:57
And that was the last time I saw him. Listen to season 14 of Family Secrets on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:01:06
You know the famous author Roald Dahl. He thought up Willy Wonka and the BFG. But did you know he was a spy?
00:01:13
Neither did I. You can hear all about his wildlife story in the podcast The Secret World of Roald Dahl.
00:01:19
All episodes are out now. Was this before he wrote his stories? It must have been.
00:01:24
What? Okay, I don't think that's true. I'm telling you, the guy was a spy. Binge all 10 episodes of The Secret World of Roald Dahl, now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:01:52
Hello. And welcome to My Favorite Murder. That's Georgia Hartstark. That's Karen Kilgariff.
00:01:59
And this is the Christmas holiday season. That's right. Hanukkah has long gone. Long gone.
00:02:07
That was like, didn't it start in November? November until December 6th. It was such a bummer when I was a kid when this would happen.
00:02:14
Because it was like too close to Thanksgiving? It was just like over so quickly and then everyone was still being festive.
00:02:20
Yes. And then, but it was kind of nice to have nothing to do during the Christmas break.
00:02:24
Oh, that's true. No parties or anything. No parties and no. I mean, do you worry about gift giving the way people do for Christmas?
00:02:33
Some people do. I don't. No, I'm not a big holiday gift person. Like we don't really do it much as adults. It's for the kids.
00:02:42
Oh, OK. Yeah. Like my mom will give a pair of slippers or something like a bathrobe or something cozy.
00:02:47
You save it all for Purim. That's right. Hard Purim. A hard Purim. No, we'll do like gift cards or whatever, but we're just not that big on it.
00:02:56
Yeah. I think for Christmas, we used to be because I think my mom had such a bad childhood that she always was just like, look, everyone, you have themed gift areas or whatever.
00:03:09
Need to make it big and exciting because I didn't have that. Yes. And make up for stuff, which was fine.
00:03:14
But we were so spoiled. You know, it was just kind of like I didn't get the bits I want.
00:03:18
There was a lot of that attitude that I'm ashamed about now. Yeah. But then once when my after my mom died, it was very perfunctory.
00:03:28
And we just for each other. Yeah. We would just get what we could get. Like keep it up.
00:03:32
But only kind of for mom. It all got pointed toward Nora, of course. Of course. So then she had themed gift areas, piles that were endless.
00:03:41
And like, you know, the only the only granddaughter, the only niece. Yes. When I was a kid, we had a lot of lean years where we a dollar a night was kind of the
00:03:51
my mom would tell us before Hanukkah, I'm sorry, this year is going to be a dollar a night,
00:03:55
which was for, you know, cash or you don't spend more than a dollar? No, no, no, cash. She'd give
00:04:01
us a dollar a night, which was, so I feel like it was never, and like when it was, you know,
00:04:06
it was like a calendar, it was never huge for us. And it was never about that. It was like,
00:04:11
we had a family Hanukkah party that was like the most fun at my grandma's house with tons of
00:04:15
latkes and cantors catering. We've got deli sandwiches. So it was like so fucking awesome.
00:04:21
Yes. And the kids all got presents, but it was never like it was. It was more about the hang as. Yeah. And you'd get like one big present from my grandma.
00:04:29
But that was like it. So, yeah, just I think that's really nice. Yeah. I appreciate it now as a kid. It was like you'd go back to school and everyone be like, you had Hanukkah for eight nights.
00:04:38
What did you get? You must have got so much. And you'd be like, hmm, that's not how it works.
00:04:42
Right. That's the Christian equivalency where it's like your your holiday must be exactly ours.
00:04:47
Right. Just like at your house with a different name. Right. Right. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Well, but I love and I love Christmas. I mean, we celebrate Christmas now.
00:04:56
Yeah. I mean, I just love the whole I love that it's winter and people are like, we better be nice to each other.
00:05:03
Yeah. Because I love this time of year. Yeah. It gets it gets nicer. But I think actually my favorite holiday has always been Thanksgiving. Yeah.
00:05:12
A because of my food issue. But B because of that exact thing you're saying where.
00:05:18
the size of my family. It would always be like a 30 to 50 person tardy at some house, outfits,
00:05:25
you know, cousins. Gee, you guys. Well, it's so funny because we're recording this before
00:05:30
Thanksgiving. Are we allowed to say that? So I still don't. So we'll talk this week in the real
00:05:35
episode about Thanksgiving because I want to know a lot about yours. Since we're on the subject of
00:05:39
presents, I hate to make you uncomfortable, but I have a present for you, a Christmas present for
00:05:45
That doesn't make me uncomfortable. Because it's so weird to like surprise someone with that and be like, and you didn't know.
00:05:49
So you didn't get me anything. Guess what you get? You can have Frank He yours now Great I bringing Mimi over This is actually this is funny because since since i knew we doing the christmas episode i bought you this like two years ago when we talked about
00:06:04
this on the podcast that's how long i've had this for and like meant to frame it but like can't find
00:06:10
i'm lazy okay here i got it okay it's an envelope everyone but no but i have to get you something
00:06:17
all right give me a thanksgiving present okay get me a hanukkah present it hasn't happened yet
00:06:22
Oh, right. This is like this is backwards world. I have to get you eight presents.
00:06:26
Here's a card, Georgia, with this very beautiful. Dear Karen, congratulations on Jesus being born.
00:06:33
I bet he was a rad baby. He was. Everybody gathered around him in a manger. So someday I'll frame this for you. Oh, my God. How rad is that?
00:06:43
Okay, I went on Etsy and I Googled or I searched Ticonderosa Roga Vintage and found a little postcard that has little 50s or 40s or maybe 30 school children.
00:06:58
And it says, Ticonderoga, America's favorite pencil. And like one of the kids is checking the other kid out.
00:07:06
Like that's kind of creepy. Yes, he clearly loves the girl sitting behind the boy who's trying to take the pencil from him.
00:07:12
And the boy standing is passing out Dixon, Dixon, Ticonderoga pencils. We'll post it.
00:07:18
We'll post it. Amazing. Isn't that great? I'm going to frame this. Yeah. I was just been looking for like an old vintage, like metal frame.
00:07:25
And I'm lazy. Thank you. Yeah. Literally, I've had that on my dresser for two fucking years.
00:07:31
And every time I see it, I'm like, shit, because it's not near Christmas. Oh, shit.
00:07:34
Frank, I need you to not. Frank, here. Frank is trying to crawl inside Georgia. It's very scary.
00:07:40
He's. hey back back hey he's so thick do you see that's his that's that's his like you can't move me
00:07:48
protest he's not movable he's all muscle and if he he's like leaning into me hold on hey yeah there
00:07:56
he goes good boy that's it good boy yeah i really love that i really love it that's what i love
00:08:02
presents for is like randomly oh my god she said she liked this thing i'm gonna look for it and
00:08:08
give it whenever yes so that's that's what that is also because it is out of order don't tell
00:08:18
anybody secret secret but it is kind of like you just kicked off my holiday season oh yeah
00:08:24
that's i love it thank you first present of the season what if we do i'll call it we'll call it
00:08:29
present assault and we just keep popping up with crazy presents when you don't don't realize it and
00:08:36
it surprises you and then you're like wait was i supposed to have one and it's all kind of like
00:08:40
or maybe a better way to say it is like present blitz have an uncomfortable present blitz but i'm
00:08:46
very comfortable being given presents very comfortable okay good good good good thank you
00:08:51
so much yes well we hope that you guys listening are having a a either passable or a wonderful or
00:08:59
anything in between kind of holiday we know this time of years can suck a lot so we're happy that
00:09:05
you're with us and with all your podcast friends, because what's better than a podcast when you're
00:09:11
like feeling low? Yeah. Or having to spend time with family when everyone knows family of origin
00:09:17
is complicated. At best. So hopefully you're spending it with someone you love or at least
00:09:23
tolerate. Yeah. Or at least there's a good dog or cat there you can walk out of the room and hang
00:09:28
out with. And if you don't have one, again, Frank is completely available for rentals around the
00:09:34
nation. I'll ship him anywhere in a box of three holes punched in. Frankie, you're a beautiful man.
00:09:44
Okay, do you want to talk about some ERM highlights? Sure, let's do that. Do it. Oh,
00:09:49
very exciting. Kate Winkler Dawson, our superstar podcast host is coming back with a season four of
00:09:56
Tenfold More Wicked in January. So if you haven't listened, you can binge seasons one through three
00:10:02
during these holiday weeks, during your downtime or your travels or whatever, get all caught up and then you're ready for the brand new season.
00:10:09
That's a great bingeable podcast. So good. She's such a talented, she's an author.
00:10:15
Yeah. It's so, it's historical. It's beautifully researched. It's beautifully executed.
00:10:20
Yeah. She's the greatest. It's a good anecdote to this podcast. Yeah. And then the podcast, the incredible, hilarious hit podcast, That's Messed Up.
00:10:28
They cover the SVU Christmas episode Presumed Guilty and a really extremely talented actor, Dennis O'Hare.
00:10:36
Dennis O'Hare is one of my faves. And he is the guy. I hope I'm not wrong about this.
00:10:42
But he's the guy from Michael Clayton in the very beginning of the movie where he hit somebody like and he's called in Michael Clayton to come to his house.
00:10:51
So because they want he basically wants Michael Clayton to get him out of a hit and run.
00:10:55
Oh, shit. And it's the most brilliant, amazing scene. with him, George Clooney, and then the woman who plays Dennis O'Hare's wife, who I wish I knew
00:11:04
offhand because you know her too. Amazing. Want me to look it up? Yeah, you probably should.
00:11:08
She has big... I don't think I've seen it. Michael Clayton? I know. No, you have to watch that movie.
00:11:14
I'm sorry, but it is, it's one of those movies when it came out, we got to go like for free.
00:11:22
Tilda Swinton. No, no, no. Tilda Swinton plays her, Tilda Swinton's name's Karen and Michael
00:11:27
Clayton. Yeah. And the therefore causing George Clooney to say the name Karen hundreds of times.
00:11:32
Is it Mrs. Clayton? What's her name? Julie White. She's at the very beginning. Yes, I think it is.
00:11:36
Julie White, Dennis O'Hare, George Clooney. This is an all star cast. Sidney Pollack. Come on.
00:11:43
No, no, no. It's such a perfectly made movie. I've talked about it many times. I've never seen it.
00:11:48
If you never seen it it such a like sleeper But we went because we got free We got in free because of the WGA and it was nominated and my friend lauren pomerantz and i went so this was i mean this was seven mid yes 2007 i just saw
00:12:02
it i'm not good at this i'm not i just saw it on google i was like yes you're right we sat there
00:12:08
and we we were just like oh let's go to a free movie and at the end we just looked at each other
00:12:12
like was that the best movie we've ever seen the christmas movie uh sure yes what's the best
00:12:18
christmas movie die hard i mean for for yeah what's your family yeah um we we put it on the
00:12:27
channel that plays a christmas story over and over they beat their kids oh yeah what's the
00:12:33
fucking 30s and 40s yeah yeah uh it's all of life was problematic back then like people
00:12:39
weren't doing it right yeah and yeah but but the in between parts of like a kid the story of a kid
00:12:47
basically living a real kid's life yeah that's very sweet i feel like i should that's going to
00:12:52
be a hot take and you can send hate mail to my favorite murder at georgia.com yeah they also go
00:12:59
out to chinese dinner after when the turkey gets fucked up and there's a kind of it's very
00:13:04
racist moment there we go uh yeah it's just it's so hard things from the past where it's like
00:13:11
Clearly no one was being represented correctly. Right. But yeah. And thank God it's fixed now.
00:13:18
Anyways, let's get on the... Your argument worked. It's no longer my favorite Christmas story.
00:13:21
We're supposed to be positive. Speaking of positivity. Oh, well, here's a positive fucking podcast if I've ever seen one.
00:13:27
Yes. Oh, I said no gifts. Oh, right. So fun. Bridger's Holiday episode is out today.
00:13:34
And people are competing in either Gift or Cursed or Gift Master. So there's a bunch of different guests assembled.
00:13:42
George and I are on it. It's very funny. It's so funny. There's no rhyme or reason.
00:13:47
It's just like Bridger being in charge of everyone, which I think is like, he's a great, he's great in that role.
00:13:53
He's so good at it. It's like, he's the coldest piano teacher you've ever experienced.
00:13:58
And it's a delight. Yeah. If you need to cheer up, that's a great podcast. Yeah, it is.
00:14:02
You know, and then just make sure if for Christmas is a Christmas present, you follow exactly right on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook for updates on all our shows.
00:14:11
And please rate, review and subscribe to all the podcasts you love out there. Yes.
00:14:16
It's such it's like the little thing you can do for your free podcast. Yeah, that's right.
00:14:21
Make a difference. That's right. Just like us. Hey, we've been doing it all month long.
00:14:27
Yeah. And we're very excited. This was Georgia's idea from the beginning of let's do a weekly donation because there's a lot of people in need out there, obviously, especially at times like this.
00:14:39
And so we're just basically giving suggestions for our favorite charities and places that we really like and trying to, you know, help encourage people to give a little if they can.
00:14:50
Yeah. And so we're giving 10 grand to all these charities in the name of Murderinos.
00:14:54
Yeah. So you guys, good job. And this week we're giving to one of my favorite charities and it's Homeboy Industries, who for the last 30 years have been the largest gang rehabilitation and reentry program in the world.
00:15:11
It's run by Father Greg Boyle. I've talked about his books and how much his books mean to me and how beautiful they are.
00:15:17
You should definitely read them. If you haven't, it's an industry that they've set up and it's totally based on like empathy and love and supporting people who maybe have never had it in their life and they've changed so many lives.
00:15:31
So we're very grateful. Father Greg and everybody at Homeboy Industries has been doing the work they've been doing to the point where now they have a bunch of other groups.
00:15:41
They have Homegirl Cafe. They have, you know, they have a bakery that like is at LAX now.
00:15:46
Yeah. Homegirl Cafe is a safe space for females who receive on-the-job training.
00:15:51
It empowers individuals to undertake what is often their first real job and their first real opportunity, like you were saying, and their first time someone believes in them.
00:15:59
So it's incredible. And we're so happy to be able to donate to them. Yes. Cool. Well, that was short and sweet.
00:16:05
Yeah. And I go first this week? Do it. For Christmas? For Christmas time? 10-10 shots fired in City Hall building.
00:16:14
How could this have happened in City Hall? Somebody tell me that. A shocking public murder.
00:16:20
This is one of the most dramatic events that really ever happened in New York City politics.
00:16:26
I screamed, get down, get down. Those are shots. A tragedy that's now forgotten and a mystery
00:16:33
that may or may not have been political. It may have been about sex. Listen to Rorschach, Murder at City Hall
00:16:39
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every story has a point where it's balanced on a knife's edge.
00:16:50
That's where we begin. For some, it's a confrontation no parent ever expects. They finally admit, we're here to take your children.
00:16:58
The department has taken custody and we're here to take your kids. It was just shock and horror and desperation.
00:17:05
For others, it's surviving the unthinkable. As they're having this gun battle, thousands of feet up in the air,
00:17:12
many of the bullets start to puncture the aircraft. I thought we were going to die then.
00:17:17
The Knife is a podcast about real people whose lives were upended in an instant.
00:17:23
We talk to the people who lived it, unpacking what happened, how they got through it,
00:17:28
and what came next. And on our off-record episodes, we go even deeper into the reporting
00:17:33
and answer the questions you can't stop thinking about. New episodes drop every Thursday
00:17:38
on the Exactly Right Network and the iHeart Podcast Network. Listen to The Knife on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:17:46
In 2023 Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins but the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax You doctored this particular test twice Ms Owens correct I doctored the test once
00:17:58
It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing.
00:18:05
Greg Gillespie and Michael Marancini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped.
00:18:12
Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences.
00:18:18
Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:18:26
All right. Well, this has nothing to do with the holidays. Great. It's just a mystery.
00:18:32
Okay. My gift to you. I love it. I love a mystery story. Right? This is the mysterious death of Blair Adams, which you may have seen on the old school Unsolved Mysteries season nine, episode 17.
00:18:45
Okay. I also got stuff from Medium, an article by Jennifer Baldwin, Unsolved.com, UnsolvedMysteries.Fandom.com, KnoxNews.com article by Travis Dorman, and a couple different Reddit threads and comments and stuff.
00:19:04
Oh, and fucking Wikipedia, obviously. Always. Please donate to Wikipedia if you can, even $5.
00:19:09
They need it. Yeah. So this is mysterious. Here we go. Okay. In the summer of 1996, Robert Dennis Blair Adams, known as Blair, he was born on December 28th, 1964.
00:19:23
In 1996, he's a 31-year-old construction company foreman in Surrey, British Columbia.
00:19:32
What's up, everyone? Hey. He could be played by Mark Duplass. Okay. Cute, you know, normal dude.
00:19:39
Everyone who knows him says he's satisfied with his life. He's good at his job. He's liked his work. He's a responsible employee. He has a cheery demeanor. Just a regular dude living his life in Surrey. But by that summer, Blair's personality begins to change pretty drastically out of nowhere. According to Unsolved Mysteries, his personality began to fluctuate anywhere from, quote, agitated paranoia to pensive withdrawal.
00:20:07
So he had had a drinking problem in the past, but he was two years sober and he was proud of it, which made it odd that he stopped going to AA meetings out of nowhere and didn't explain to his friends or family why.
00:20:20
But there were no indications that he had started drinking again. OK. According to his mom on this Unsolved Mysteries episode, her name's Sandra Edwards, he began having wild mood swings.
00:20:30
She said, quote, something was obviously very much the matter. He hadn't been sleeping well.
00:20:35
I asked him numerous times what was wrong. And he said, I don't think I should tell you about it.
00:20:40
And then she says, and to this day, I don't know what it is. I know. At one point, he also tells his mom that people were spreading rumors about him, but he didn't elaborate.
00:20:49
And there was no proof of that. He also told his friends that he was afraid someone was going to kill him.
00:20:54
Oh, no. But his friends didn't know why he suspected that he didn't elaborate on it.
00:20:59
So his strange behaviors take a turn on Friday, July 5th, 1996. That day, he withdraws his entire savings and empties his safe deposit box of more than $6,000 in cash, as well as thousands more in jewelry, gold and platinum.
00:21:17
This empties everything. That Sunday, he tries to enter the United States via a ferry in his Chevy Chevette.
00:21:25
the ferry leaving from Victoria, British Columbia would have taken him to Seattle, Washington,
00:21:30
but he was stopped from getting on the ferry because he's, he fits the profile of a drug
00:21:38
trafficker. He's unmarried, young man carrying a large amount of cash. And so they were suspicious
00:21:44
of him at the border crossing. He didn't have any drugs on him, but then, okay, so this,
00:21:50
there's so many things that there's like little pieces here and there of information on different
00:21:54
articles, so I can't confirm everything. But in one article, only one, it said that the border
00:22:00
police became more suspicious because he then lied about having no criminal history, despite having
00:22:05
convictions on drug and assault charges. But in other articles, it said he had a clean record. So
00:22:11
I don't know how true that is. So he was turned away from the border and refused entry into the US.
00:22:17
So after this, he told his friends that he didn't want to go back to his own apartment that day. He
00:22:22
was afraid someone was after him. So he stayed with his mom that night. He left her home on Monday,
00:22:27
July 8th, 1996. And this would be the last time that Blair's mother would see him alive.
00:22:33
That day, Blair showed up at his job and told his boss that he quit, gave no explanation,
00:22:39
got his last paycheck and left. That afternoon, he spent $1,600 on a round trip airplane ticket
00:22:46
to Frankfurt, Germany, which was leaving the next day. So he had worked in Frankfurt in the past.
00:22:52
He had an old girlfriend in the country, but she had no idea he was planning on coming there and
00:22:57
she had not been expecting him at all. So it wasn't like he had planned to see her or anything.
00:23:01
Later that same day, he cancels his trip to Germany. He's refunded his money. So at some
00:23:07
point, this behavior seems erratic. But to a lot of people, it also seems like he's trying to throw
00:23:12
someone off his trail. Oh, doesn't it? Yeah. Like maybe he's he is being followed. It's that thing
00:23:18
of like before you call someone crazy for thinking they're being tracked by the CIA, make sure they're
00:23:23
not being tracked by the CIA. You know what I mean? Yeah. No. Is that an old saying? Yeah. The
00:23:29
whole thing of like before you think someone's paranoid for being followed, make sure they're
00:23:32
not being followed because maybe they're not being paranoid. Maybe someone's fucking following them.
00:23:36
I mean, and the idea here's what I think is especially fascinating because I feel like I
00:23:42
have I watched this episode but it always blows my mind like it makes me it gives credence to
00:23:49
something actually going on Because he didn't tell anybody details. Right. So it's not like he's saying these are the people that are following me.
00:23:58
This is the specific. This is which, you know, this is completely my opinion, obviously.
00:24:03
But it's like, you know, when people maybe are having like a paranoid experience, it's there's a bunch of theories.
00:24:10
There's a bunch of details. Yes. About exactly who wants what this guy isn't saying a word.
00:24:16
He's just saying the thing he's afraid of and not giving details at all. Do you think it almost seems like he's trying to, like, if he told them who was following him, they would be in danger, too?
00:24:26
I mean, maybe. But it just, to me, it maybe indicates a level of control that he still has.
00:24:32
Yeah. As opposed to when you want to say, quote, unquote, this person's gone crazy or something.
00:24:37
This is happening. Specific specifics. Yeah. And it doesn't make any fucking sense.
00:24:40
But if he's not telling them specifics, then it does make sense. He's keeping something a secret.
00:24:45
Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. All right. That makes total sense. So that night, in the middle of the night.
00:24:50
Blair shows up to a friend's house in a panic, telling her that someone's trying to kill him and he needs her to take him to the border to help him cross into the U.S.
00:24:59
His friend can't take him because she has young kids sleeping at home. So she's, you know, and they're all a little like weary of like what's going on with him.
00:25:06
So he leaves. And then that next morning on Tuesday, Blair leaves his Chevy Chevette at the Vancouver International Airport.
00:25:14
He rents a Nissan Altima, so he gets a different car, so he's not suspicious, goes back to the U.S.-Canada border ferry, and this time he manages to get through.
00:25:25
Oh, wow. Okay. So he gets to Seattle, where he buys a one-way ticket to Washington, D.C., which is strange on its own, because when investigators later look into it, he paid around $770 for a one-way ticket when he could have purchased a round-trip ticket for like $350 to $400.
00:25:42
So he wasn't coming back. Yeah, but it also looks like throwing someone off of his trail kind of thing.
00:25:49
Yeah. Right? Sure. So he arrives in D.C. early Wednesday morning. He then rents a white Toyota, then takes off and he heads to Knoxville, which is more than a 500 mile drive southwest.
00:26:03
Okay. So just go in lots of weird, different places for no reason. Trying to escape.
00:26:08
Yeah. Doesn't know anyone in Knoxville. Just heads that as far as we know. So about 5.30 p.m., he ends up at a gas station in Knoxville, and his behavior appears to have become even more erratic.
00:26:20
As he's described by witnesses, he's described as distressed as well. He asked the gas station attendant for help because his rental car won't start.
00:26:28
So the attendant asked for his keys, and he tries to use them on the Toyota, and he realizes the key that Blair had given him was for the Nissan.
00:26:37
It was the wrong key. Okay. But like, wouldn't he have given those rental car keys back?
00:26:42
Maybe, who knows if you forget to, but he was like, this is the key I've been using.
00:26:46
And the gas station attendant's like, these don't work. Like, this is a different car.
00:26:51
Yeah. I've heard a couple different things. One, that he looked through his stuff and couldn't find the key, which is like, how did he get there?
00:26:57
Another one is that, yeah, he wouldn't go through his things. He was being really paranoid and suspicious about it.
00:27:02
So like, why didn't he want to go through his pockets? But I don't know which one's correct.
00:27:06
Yeah. So the rental car company was closed for the day, so he couldn't get a new set of keys.
00:27:13
So Blair got a ride to a nearby hotel via the tow truck driver who towed his rental car, who seemed really concerned about him as well.
00:27:20
He left his overnight bag behind, and so the tow truck driver brought it back to him at the hotel.
00:27:26
Sorry, I don't understand how he got there without the right keys. I don't know either.
00:27:31
That's so weird. That's so weird. But were they in his pocket? And he wouldn't go through them.
00:27:35
He was being really adamant that he wouldn't go through his pockets, according to one story.
00:27:39
Oh, that's and also if he is really distressed and really, you know, stressing out, he could have just put them in a weird place, gotten himself there and then put them in a weird place.
00:27:50
And, you know, that thing where if you have something in your hand and you realize you lost something else and you start looking for it, you end up losing the thing in your hand.
00:27:57
Oh, put it down somewhere like I do it constantly. I'm trying to leave the house.
00:28:01
I can't find my phone. I have my keys in my hand. I go looking for the phone. Once I find the phone, I realize I don't know where the keys are.
00:28:09
I do that where I go, I don't know where my phone is. It's in my hand. If I'm holding more than two
00:28:13
things, I don't know where my, one of the things are. Yes. Or like the glasses are on my head.
00:28:19
Absolutely. Yeah. But this, yeah. So anyway, it's like if he has this stress, some kind of real threat that he's really stressed out about. Or perceived. Yeah. Yeah. That losing
00:28:29
your keys is the easiest thing in the world to do, but that's just such a weird detail. It is very
00:28:33
odd, but it'll come back. So the woman working at the front desk at the hotel, her name is Tika
00:28:38
Hartsfield. She remembers Blair vividly and she's interviewed on Unsolved Mysteries. She says,
00:28:44
quote, the best way to describe him would be paranoid. He just was very nervous, agitated,
00:28:49
expecting someone to come in on him, even though there wasn't anybody there, like checking the
00:28:54
front door a lot. The hotel's security camera, and you can see the video on Unsolved Mysteries,
00:29:00
shows that in a space of an hour, Blair went in and out of the lobby five times before finally
00:29:06
paying for a room. He gives her a hundred dollar bill, doesn't wait for the change.
00:29:11
And after checking in, he pockets the key to his room. But instead of going to his room,
00:29:15
the surveillance camera shows that he walks out of the front door at 7.37 PM and never comes back.
00:29:21
And that's the last confirmed sighting of him. Whoa. 12 hours later, on the morning of July 11th,
00:29:28
1996 about half a mile from the hotel blair's lifeless body is found in a parking lot by two
00:29:35
construction workers oh no i know this is so bizarre he's naked from the waist down his pants
00:29:42
having been removed in a way that suggested to investigators someone else had taken them off because they were like inside out And same with his socks which were strewn alongside him along with his pants
00:29:54
Shoes are off, obviously, and his shirt is ripped. Initially, police were like, this must be a robbery.
00:29:59
But scattered around Blair's body was $4,000 in American, Canadian, and German currency.
00:30:05
Oh, no. And his fanny pack is nearby. And in it was another $2,000 worth of that golden jewelry.
00:30:11
So nothing had been stolen. So, yeah, that's that did not happen. Right. It was not a robbery.
00:30:16
Right. It just it just it removes a theory that would make sense completely and takes it out of the equation, making this seem even more nonsensical.
00:30:27
Yeah. His duffel bags nearby, which held maps and receipts, the hotel key card to the room he had checked into at the Fairfield Inn, as well as his missing Toyota car key is lying next to his body.
00:30:40
So the key is back. Yeah. Detectives also recovered his driver's license, passport, and credit card.
00:30:47
They said, quote, they were strewn about 100 yards from his body like they had been thrown from a vehicle as it was moving.
00:30:53
Wow. So according to the autopsy report, Blair had been killed at approximately 3 a.m.
00:30:59
And his cause of death was ultimately a blow to his stomach that caused it to rupture, which caused septic shock.
00:31:06
What? Yeah. So it wasn't self-inflicted? No, he was murdered. Whoa. But in addition, he had sustained many cuts and abrasions and his body also showed signs of a road rash as though he may have been dragged or hit by a car. It also seemed as though he put up a fight with his attacker defending himself. He had defensive wounds on his hands and a weapon, possibly a club or a crowbar, had sliced open his forehead, though no weapon was ever identified at the scene.
00:31:38
So that's just so mysterious. Like you think you could put it together that maybe it was self-inflicted if the weapon was there, but it's fucking not.
00:31:46
Right. The autopsy showed that he had been possibly been a victim of sexual assault.
00:31:52
But it differs from article to article. The medical examiner couldn't say for sure if the assault took place before or during the time frame of the murder.
00:32:01
Toxicology report shows there's no evidence of drugs or alcohol in his system, showing that he indeed remained sober before his death.
00:32:09
So authorities believe that Blair had eaten somewhere after he left his hotel. But remember, he had no car, so it couldn't have been that far if he was on his own.
00:32:21
His autopsy showed lettuce, meat and shrimp still in his stomach when he died. but there's no indication that authorities were able to place Blair at a specific restaurant before his death.
00:32:30
The only person who reported hearing anything out of the ordinary in the area the night that Blair was killed
00:32:35
was a security guard who was working at a nearby business. He tells detectives that he heard an abrupt scream around 3.30 a.m.
00:32:44
and believed it to possibly be a woman's voice. So on the night before his death, Blair was seen with an unidentified man at several restaurants in Knoxville.
00:32:54
A composite sketch was made of that man, but it's not known if he had anything to do with the murder.
00:32:59
And there was only one piece of evidence found that may be useful in the investigation, which was a long strand of hair found in the hand of Blair Adams.
00:33:08
The hair does contain useful DNA, but it doesn't match to anyone as of who knows when.
00:33:13
I mean, it's so long ago. Although Blair had been telling people his life was in danger just before his mysterious death, authorities ultimately believed his threat to be imaginary.
00:33:22
and that Blair's strange journey was just due to his own delusions, despite never having been diagnosed with any mental illness.
00:33:31
Either way, Blair Adams ended up inexplicably thousands of miles from his home in a town where he knew no one murdered just as he had feared.
00:33:42
And that is the mysterious death of Blair Adams. Oh, my God. He fucking ended up dead.
00:33:48
He was scared for his life. And people speculate like mob hit or, you know, all these things.
00:33:54
Don't make me talk about that theory. You love the mob. But like none of it explains why they left the money behind or like maybe he started a fight with someone in his messed up state and that person just responded to him.
00:34:10
And it's just a fucking coincidence. But it's just you can't you don't know. And like a long blonde hair.
00:34:15
Where did that come from? Yeah. Well, and in that way where if it was a state of delusion, then again, it would be, I think, much more erratic.
00:34:27
Like, it's not like he's, although he seemed paranoid, say, to the woman that worked at the motel, he also, it wasn't like he was doing a bunch of things.
00:34:34
He was just scared someone was after him. Right. Right? So he's not, like, threatening her.
00:34:39
Right. He's not, like, I don't know. It's not out of character, like, the things he's doing and the things he's saying.
00:34:46
If you're giving him the benefit of the doubt, someone is actually after him. Then he's responding as a normal person who knows that someone's after him.
00:34:54
That's a good point. I mean, to me, that's I mean, and also it is really unbelievable and amazing that all of that money passports.
00:35:04
I mean, like there's some of that stuff you could take that's incredibly valuable.
00:35:08
Yeah. Like or even just like they wouldn't have known he had his passport on him.
00:35:13
Exactly. something or they wouldn't have known he had german marks on him yeah like they could you know
00:35:18
it's a thing of like well maybe they knew the money was traceable or the jewelry was traceable
00:35:21
but it's like but they didn't know he had what money he had on him and it wouldn't would it have
00:35:26
been traceable in in knoxville right when he's from fucking british columbia right right wow
00:35:33
that's unbelievable isn't that odd so creepy and sad and also it's like what what piece are we
00:35:41
missing about his life where it like did you just strangely happen upon Yeah Like did you ever see the amazing hilarious movie foul play with Goldie Hawn and Chevy
00:35:52
Chase? It's from the late 70s. Yes. We saw that recently. It's really funny and crazy.
00:35:57
But this is it where she, her friends tell her she's too, you know, like too careful.
00:36:02
She's got her heart broken or whatever. So she decides to pick up a hitchhiker. And this hitchhiker has a pack of cigarettes that has film in it.
00:36:11
And he leaves the pack of cigarettes in her car. And then he gets out of the car and is immediately killed.
00:36:18
And then suddenly people are chasing her and she doesn't know why. And not to treat this like it's a comedy in any way.
00:36:27
But it just makes me think of suddenly she doesn't know what's going on. And she didn't even know she had this film.
00:36:34
She's just like, suddenly people are after me. And she looks like she's paranoid and deluded.
00:36:40
Totally. And Chevy Chase is like, I understand. I believe you. Or maybe he was dating a woman whose ex-husband was in the mob or like something that like just, yeah.
00:36:52
Right. But as we've talked about, the mob would take care of that business. Yes.
00:36:57
Locally. Yeah. They wouldn't chase them all over the place. Right. Right. I mean, like you would think they would be get it one and done.
00:37:06
Or maybe it's a coincidence. Maybe he did get in a fight with someone at a wherever.
00:37:11
Maybe he was hitchhiking because he didn't have a car. Right. Got in a fight and it happened.
00:37:17
The person hit him in the head, realized it was a fatal blow or like it was a, you know, a really bad injury.
00:37:25
He tries to drive away and ends up hitting him. I mean. Who the fuck knows? I mean, yeah, anything's possible.
00:37:33
That is crazy. Wow. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Yeah. You know the famous author Roald Dahl.
00:37:40
He thought up Willy Wonka and the BFG. But did you know he was a spy? Neither did I.
00:37:46
You can hear all about his wildlife story in the podcast, The Secret World of Roald Dahl.
00:37:51
All episodes are out now. Was this before he wrote his stories? It must have been.
00:37:56
What? Okay, I don't think that's true. I'm telling you, I was a spy. Binge all 10 episodes of The Secret World of Roald Dahl.
00:38:03
Now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Nancy Glass, host of the Burden of Guilt Season 2 podcast.
00:38:12
This is a story about a horrendous lie that destroyed two families. Late one night, Bobby Gumpright became the victim of a random crime.
00:38:22
The perpetrator was sentenced to 99 years until a confession changed everything.
00:38:29
I was a monster. Listen to Burden of Guilt Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:38:39
Before NXIVM, Nancy Solzman wanted to help people. Being able to help somebody, it's probably the biggest motivator of my entire life.
00:38:47
She trained in something called neurolinguistic programming. People loved our training.
00:38:52
Then, everything changed. Yeah, and they called it a cult. How does a method designed to improve lives end up in a cult?
00:38:59
A knife in the hands of a surgeon is an amazing tool. A knife in the hands of a murderer is a weapon.
00:39:07
Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:39:17
Well, great job. Thank you. That was fascinating. I also have a very bizarre story.
00:39:22
So this is something that cropped up on. I remember it from basically kind of mid quarantine before any kind of vaccination had been developed when we were all still washing our hands for 30 seconds while singing the theme to Mr. Rogers neighborhood or whatever.
00:39:39
Like just past the point where we were wiping down cereal boxes, but still stuck in our houses and very unsure as to what was going on.
00:39:48
So this was the kind of story that when it popped up, it was like, oh, it's what's that about?
00:39:52
And it just kind of like hit my radar. Okay. Essentially. So this is the story of the death of Amy Carlson and the love has won cult.
00:40:02
So there's an amazing article by Virginia Pelley. I hope I'm pronouncing that right.
00:40:07
Virginia in the magazine Marie Claire called love has lost. Got a lot of information about that because it was very comprehensive.
00:40:14
Cool. Also, there's a article in the Washington post by Marisa Aiti. there's an episode of Dr. Phil that actually has the whole family of Amy Carlson on it.
00:40:28
A Vice documentary called False Gods, Cult Leader, Abuser, or Goddess, Meet Mother God.
00:40:35
A BBC News article by Joshua Nevitt. A Denver Post article by Noel Phillips. There's obviously a Wikipedia article.
00:40:42
A People magazine article by Jeff Truesdale. And a Honolulu Star Advisor article by the Star Advisor staff.
00:40:49
For a second, I thought it was a woman named Star Advisor. It's just like, way to go.
00:40:55
And it's funny because this is such a recent story. So far, it doesn't ring bells.
00:41:00
Okay. So in September of 2020, so about six months into quarantine, there's a news story out of Kauai, one of my favorite Hawaiian islands.
00:41:10
Beautiful. That popped up about a group of roughly 11 people calling themselves Love Has Won who tried to relocate to the island from Colorado in August of 2020.
00:41:23
So aside from breaking the state's quarantine protocols, the group, who many believe to be a cult, had been co-opting native religious practices and generally pissing everyone off in the island.
00:41:34
because many of us know who like to go to Hawaii and like to visit there It like going to a very small town and you know it white people are very invasive over there they tourists and they oftentimes can be very disrespectful so ingratiating yourself into
00:41:53
the culture over there is a very important part of visiting those islands because it's about
00:41:58
respecting the the reason you love it there so much is because of the hawaiian people and the
00:42:05
native culture. And so a big group of people coming over there and basically ripping them off
00:42:11
and, uh, you know, disrespecting basically, yeah. Just being kind of a bunch of assholes.
00:42:17
It of course didn't sit well. People were immediate. And also they had, they already
00:42:22
knew because this was the second cult that had come to Kauai during the quarantine. So this was
00:42:27
actually a kind of a problem, um, for the people there, the locals, especially like the fact that
00:42:34
They're disrespecting them and possibly bringing COVID over. It's like... Yes, it's unsafe.
00:42:42
It's really shitty. It's disrespectful. And it's like, go fuck yourself. So there was vandalism.
00:42:47
There was several small fires. It was just a huge problem almost from the get-go.
00:42:52
And so for the safety of the residents of Kauai, the police end up escorting this group of people back to the airport on September 4th.
00:43:00
And they end up flying back home to Colorado. So at the time, this story was just kind of a blip in an already very overwhelming news cycle until about seven months later on the night of Wednesday, April 28th, 2021, when 43 year old Miguel Lamboy arrives at the Salita police station near the tiny hundred person mountain town of Moffat, Colorado in Sawatch County.
00:43:26
So basically, Lamboy is there to report that a group of people have brought a dead body into his home.
00:43:33
He explains it's the corpse of Amy Carlson, the leader of a local religious group.
00:43:38
Love has won. And he they got there the day before and they needed a place to stay.
00:43:45
Lamboy has also is a member of this religious group, quote unquote. And he didn't realize they had this body until the next day.
00:43:54
And so there's there are seven people, I believe, in the group. And so when he does realize this dead body is in his house, he he takes his two year old son and he goes to leave and they say you can leave.
00:44:08
But the boy has to stay here. And that's when he decided it's time to go to the police.
00:44:13
So the police are the local police are well aware of this group. Many locals have claimed it's a cult.
00:44:19
And the Sawatch County Sheriff's Department was quoted as saying, quote, they've received many complaints from families saying that the group is brainwashing people and stealing their money.
00:44:29
And that from all over the country, not just in the area. So according to Miguel Lamboy, this group drove from California to Colorado with Carlson's dead body in the back of their SUV.
00:44:42
Holy shit. And then they they landed at his house because they needed a place to stay. So the police are granted a search warrant for Lamboy's house, which they execute at around 1150 that night. And they find this group of seven people as well as the dead body as Lamboy had described to them. But the body is an even more disturbing state than they had imagined.
00:45:05
In the back bedroom, police discover what appears to be a mummified corpse with gray skin wrapped in a sleeping bag lying on a bed.
00:45:15
Her teeth are showing through her lips. Her eyes are missing. And her eye sockets are painted with glittery makeup.
00:45:22
Oh, my God. The whole body is wrapped in Christmas lights. What? And a shrine has been she's she's basically surrounded by a shrine of trinkets and different lights.
00:45:33
How do seven people agree that this is like seven people? That's so many. I mean, that's what cults do.
00:45:43
But yeah, I mean, it's the this is this is a long this has been a long process to getting to this point, basically.
00:45:52
So all seven adults are arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse. And because one woman who's in this group, her name's Karen Raymond, her 13 year old daughter is with the group and Lambo's two year old son are in the house.
00:46:07
The group is also charged with two counts of child abuse. even though both children were found asleep and safe.
00:46:14
It's just child abuse that they would even be in that scenario. So Raymond's daughter is taken into social services custody after the mom's arrest.
00:46:24
Lamboy's two-year-old son is returned to him after the search of the house is finished.
00:46:30
So when the coroner inspects the body, it's so decomposed that fingerprints can't be taken.
00:46:35
And it leads him to believe that Amy Carlson must have been dead for at least a month, if not longer.
00:46:42
Yeah. Oh, chills. In fact, the body so decomposed, it takes him three months to confirm that this is indeed the body of 45 year old Amy Carlson.
00:46:53
So over the weekend following the raid, other members of the Love Has Won group post a video on their Facebook page about their leader's death, saying that she has ascended to the fifth dimension.
00:47:06
So this video is later deleted, but Carlson's devoted followers still hold this belief.
00:47:12
And in fact, the idea of Amy's ascension had become the main tenant of the group.
00:47:18
Amy is called Mother God in this group. And she claimed to already have been reincarnated 500 times.
00:47:25
Whoa. Yeah. That sounds exhausting. She, well, and more so when you realize that she has already been Jesus, Joan of Arc, and Marilyn Monroe.
00:47:36
Right? It's the old joke. No one ever is reincarnated as just the person down the street.
00:47:41
Right. It's always Joan of Arc. And on her next ascension, she was telling believers in these video streams that she was making that the that starships were going to come and take her away.
00:47:54
And that when she ascended, her followers would finally learn this truth that a powerful, quote unquote, cabal had been keeping from the people of Earth in every incarnation that she had.
00:48:09
So right when she was about to that, right when the people of earth are about to learn like the ultimate truth, the cabal comes in, kills her and keeps the truth from coming out.
00:48:20
And that's basically her theory. What a bummer. Right. It's really unfortunate and kind of, kind of tidy.
00:48:29
You know, it's all just this one. This is the reason we're all suffering. It's just this one cabal of like rich people.
00:48:36
It's the same as you always hear. It's like the cabal is super rich people, Hollywood people, and, you know, and then just like villains from around the world.
00:48:46
Any nonbelievers that don't follow Mother God will be sent to live on the, quote, central galactic sun or be turned into rocks.
00:48:55
So there's a former member named Ash McCoy who said that the shrine that the police found around the body wasn't new.
00:49:03
They didn't put that there when the body got there. It had actually been made long before Amy Carlson's death with the idea that when she did finally ascend in this lifetime, her followers would want a place where they could come and commemorate her life and basically treat it like a museum exhibit.
00:49:21
So they had been preparing for her, quote unquote, ascension for years. Wow. The members of the Love is One cult are convinced their leader, Mother God, will go down in history as the greatest being who has ever lived.
00:49:33
which is just if you think about it all of this is just a perfect 2021 vibe just like super intense super apocalyptic everything's like everything is conspiracy
00:49:45
it's simplistic and it's kind of like do what i say yeah or the cabal will get you it's because
00:49:54
we're living in an unprecedented time so anything is possible and people just want to believe
00:49:59
something. Yeah. People are disenfranchised. They're scared. They're alone. A lot of people
00:50:05
are sick or feel like they can't, they're not healthy and they're looking for answers online.
00:50:11
And so as many, as many web MDs and like websites that are, you know, standardly reliable,
00:50:19
there are just as many websites that start out as kind of new age, quote unquote,
00:50:25
holistic medicine, alternative practices. And that, and that's how this started.
00:50:29
Okay. Okay, so we'll talk about Amy Carlson's early life. She was born on November 30th, 1975 and grows up in Dallas, Texas with her two sisters, Chelsea and Tara.
00:50:41
Their parents divorced when Amy's young. She lives with her dad at first, but then she goes back to live with her mom and her new stepdad.
00:50:48
She's a popular straight A student with a beautiful singing voice and her sisters say she was always really sweet and kind.
00:50:55
But if she gets older, she starts dating a lot of controlling or abusive men. By the time she's in her early 20s, she's basically on her third marriage.
00:51:06
Oh, my gosh. And she has a child with each husband. So she has a daughter and two sons.
00:51:12
But then after her third marriage, she basically starts to settle down. She gets a manager job at the local McDonald's.
00:51:19
And her family and friends, people on the outside, believe that she's happy. Okay.
00:51:24
But shortly after her third child is born, there's a noticeable change in her personality.
00:51:30
She begins to grow distant. Her mom, Linda, admits, although Amy has never really been maternal, but now she's basically become a neglectful mother.
00:51:39
Oh. And she disengages from her children's lives, and she's spending all her time online looking at bizarre, new-agey kind of websites.
00:51:49
And this is when basically her worldview begins to change. Oh, no. Then Amy starts meeting up with the people that are also on these websites, meeting them in real life.
00:51:59
And soon she's constantly talking about these things, like about Ascension, about alternative medicine, about starships, all kinds of kind of nonsensical new age philosophy.
00:52:11
And then when Amy's in her early 30s, she decides to leave her husband and her children who are age two, seven and 12.
00:52:19
It's heartbreaking. Yeah. Heartbreaking. She moves out of state with an unidentified man that she had met online.
00:52:27
It reminds me so much so far of Heaven's Gate. Yes. Of the, yeah. Yeah. Of the idea of people that have always kind of been unhappy in some way.
00:52:37
Yeah. That stumble upon a group that has all the answers. Totally. Yeah. So she moves out of state.
00:52:44
Her family tries to contact her. She doesn't ever respond. She basically cuts herself off from her family completely.
00:52:50
They're convinced Amy's new boyfriend has tricked her into joining a cult. But when she finally reemerges and they see her again years later, she's the one that's leading the cult.
00:53:02
Oh, twist. Yeah. So the man Amy ran off with called himself Father God and convinces Amy that she's Mother God.
00:53:10
And he brings her to Crestone, Colorado, which is a remote area 200 miles south of Denver that is considered sacred by the native people.
00:53:21
And because of that, it's attracted. It's almost like a Sedona type of town in Colorado.
00:53:26
It's attracted spiritual seekers for decades. The town itself only has about 1 people but it has around 24 spiritual centers Whoa With a full range of there like there Buddhist there Catholic there it I mean it everything Yeah So after a couple years father and mother God split
00:53:47
up. But Amy keeps the title mother God. And if they can't make it work. Yeah, who can? I mean,
00:53:53
that's a real sign. Relationships are so hard. The gods can't even get it right. So she, of course,
00:53:59
keeps on basically pursuing these interests. And then she starts releasing YouTube videos and
00:54:06
Facebook live streams. And she is claims to be the leader of a group called the Galactic Federation
00:54:12
of Light. So it's not in any way associated with Star Trek. She preaches about her plan to save
00:54:19
humanity. And in these videos, at first, she's just the voiceover. And it's just kind of like
00:54:24
images. But then after a while, she's front and center. She's the leader. And she's got followers
00:54:30
in the videos who were talking about Amy as if she is God. Wow. So we've gone from this kind of
00:54:37
like, oh, an alternative to Western medicine to I am God, which is pretty, that's a pretty steep
00:54:46
incline. And then in 2018 is when they changed the name of the group to Love Has Won. So Amy's
00:54:53
followers believe that she's God in human form and a being with an elevated consciousness that's
00:54:58
been continually reincarnating for the last 19 billion years so that she can complete her mission,
00:55:06
which is to save humanity by leading a chosen 144,000 people into the mystical fifth dimension.
00:55:14
They claim that she's currently on her 534th incarnation. And she also claims very strangely
00:55:21
after Robin Williams dies in 2014, that she has a direct spiritual connection with him.
00:55:27
Leave him alone. For real. She broadcasts herself channeling on these live streams.
00:55:33
She claims that Donald Trump was her father in another lifetime. I wouldn't brag about that.
00:55:39
But to the people who are starting to get into this kind of like this, it's a conspiracy
00:55:44
community. Yeah. So she's kind of using the buzzwords that attract people who are online in the first place because they're kind of like starting to be believers in these things.
00:55:55
And they're also I've said this before, but it's my personal theory. These are people that didn't grow up with computers.
00:56:01
They don't understand that websites can be made by anyone. Right. And they can say anything.
00:56:07
I mean, talk to Janet. It's just how it is for people that it's like they're looking at their people who grew up with one newspaper.
00:56:15
And that newspaper was just telling you the truth. There was no reason to question it.
00:56:19
So now we're in the world of the digital age of anyone can make any website and suddenly everything is this kind of believable.
00:56:27
Yeah. And it's also about numbers. The more people believe it, the more believable it is.
00:56:34
I definitely screamed at my mom the other day. What was the source? What was the source?
00:56:39
Some fucking bananas, batshit thing she said. It was WWW. that's the source um so a lot of her teachings end up dovetailing with q anon conspiracy theories
00:56:51
and basically the entire foundation of love has won draws from new age spirituality christianity
00:56:57
astrology scientology numerology and basically anything else that appeals to amy and that appeals
00:57:04
to kind of like quote unquote spiritual seekers she claims to have lived in the magical ancient
00:57:11
land of Lemuria. She claims the lost city of Atlantis is real, but sunk from an explosion that
00:57:18
took place after a certain technology was stolen and that her and her followers must fight an
00:57:23
everlasting war against the cabal. And that's all the same. That's that kind of same theme that comes
00:57:30
up all the time is that it's people declaring this small group are the pure, they're the noble,
00:57:37
They're the they're the they're their heroes of the story. And that basically, whoever they decide, Hollywood, rich people, whoever, you know, believable.
00:57:48
Yeah. Believable theories. But it's like but that these people are then whatever they decide and that they're they're trying to attack them.
00:57:56
They're trying to kill them. They're trying to they're trying to squash the truth, the truth and keep the world in darkness, essentially.
00:58:04
So there's anywhere from 12 to 20 followers who actually live with Amy, like in a commune between Colorado, California, Oregon, sometimes Florida.
00:58:15
They wind up basically they come back to that area in Colorado on two pieces of land, one ranch house in Salida and then this mobile home in Moffitt.
00:58:25
These two places become the home base for the group. so essentially how it goes is every day at six in the morning amy and her followers begin about a
00:58:36
three-hour live stream and uh in the beginning the videos are about energy connecting with spirit
00:58:43
um essentially new age stuff that's like lots of people ascribe to and that isn't in any way
00:58:51
destructive. Yeah. Then they start talking a lot about frequencies and about, you know,
00:58:58
negative versus positive. It's that kind of thing. Then basically the videos devolve into
00:59:04
these outlandish concepts about the cabal and, you know, them being hunted and all of that.
00:59:10
There's two young women in the group that serve as basically hosts at the top of the show and
00:59:15
their group names are Archia Hope and Archia Aurora. And they're like young, kind of beautiful
00:59:22
women who like, it's just, it's good marketing. Yeah, basically, they're hosting this and talking
00:59:30
about the tenants of these beliefs But they get into some stuff that like incredibly fucked up They start talking about like basically the pros of Hitler I knew it I knew it I just pointed at myself because I was like
00:59:44
they were anti this and that. I'm like say Jews. Like come on. That's the thing is they're basically
00:59:50
kind of floating the idea of being Holocaust deniers. And then floating the idea of maybe
00:59:56
that Hitler's intentions were better than you know. It's all that shit. And Basically, they they preach Amy's God status, her plan to save humanity.
01:00:07
And they start offering these things called spiritual surgeries. So that's like a virtual healing session with Amy.
01:00:14
It costs $88. She does spiritual surgery on you and claims that she can cure everything from addiction to cancer, saying that her words and her hands have strong healing powers.
01:00:26
So this is where they get people who are sick, people who have who have gone to doctor after doctor, like a typical Western medicine and haven't been cured.
01:00:39
Right. And or been told that they're it's all in their mind or they've been treated poorly by traditional doctors.
01:00:45
Yeah. And they're they're on here looking for other stuff. So in the beginning, that idea, and sometimes it really is just that mental thing of somebody going, I can spiritually, surgically cure you over the Internet.
01:00:57
And just the idea of that there's a solution. Right. And it's $88 is very alluring to people.
01:01:03
Yeah. Then you're coming in with, and while we're here, maybe we'll talk about how the Holocaust wasn't real.
01:01:10
I mean, that's, it's, they're playing upon people who are already like at low points and weak points of their life.
01:01:15
Right. Right. So as insane as that seems, Love Has One's Facebook group climbs to about 20,000 members.
01:01:22
Holy shit. And their YouTube channel gains nearly 10,000 followers. And their videos have like 1.5 million views.
01:01:31
Oh my God. So people are watching. We don't know how they're watching or what their approach is, but it's being seen.
01:01:38
There's lots of fan engagement. Viewers communicate with each other in the comment sections.
01:01:43
And Amy and her followers answer questions or give shout outs to people who are commenting in the live streams.
01:01:48
Plus, of course, this is a crucial element of it. Money is pouring into the group in the form of donations made out to either love is one or mother's joy.
01:02:00
So about this topic, this is a kind of a long quote from the Marie Claire article.
01:02:05
Love Has One's vocabulary is similar to that of other New Age meets QAnon conspiritualist spaces, says Amanda Montel, author of the book Cultish, The Language of Fanaticism, and the co-host of the podcast Sounds Like a Cult.
01:02:20
Oh! Have you heard of that podcast? Yeah! I can't wait to listen to it because that is, I love this topic.
01:02:27
Totally. And I think it's really fascinating and incredibly scary that this kind of stuff is happening more and more.
01:02:35
And I think it's so good to pay attention to it and be, you know, aware of the way people can get got at their weakest point.
01:02:47
Sorry, back into this quote. No, good. Do it. This is Amanda Montel's quote. It co-ops and bastardizes the technical language of physics and combines it with the lofty language of spiritual mysticism to imply that those who know it are tapped into a wisdom higher than science.
01:03:03
Such language can't brainwash people into believing something they have no interest in, she says.
01:03:08
It simply gives them license to believe what they already want to. Yeah. Language works to convert, condition and coerce certain followers, coaxing them on board with more and more extreme versions of whatever idea they were already open to. Whether it's the notion that a certain cult leader has the secrets to eternal salvation or a multi-level marketing recruiter has the key to making a million dollars in a year.
01:03:35
It's the words. Did she watch Lulu? Oh, yeah. What was it? Lulu Rich? I can't remember.
01:03:41
The documentary about Lululemon. About those. No. The leggings. Not Lululemon. Lululemon.
01:03:47
Yeah. About Lululemon. Yeah. Shit straight. So throughout the duration of this group, Love Has Won, they see a rotating cast of father
01:03:57
gods who partner up with Amy. But the most notable is the most recent, Jason Castillo.
01:04:03
He joins Amy in mid-2018 when the group changes its name to Love Has Won. It's uncertain how he and Amy have met, but what is certain is his criminal record.
01:04:14
His rap sheet lists charges for drunk driving, breaking and entering, and child neglect.
01:04:19
So after his arrival, things on the commune go from bad to worse. Members are only allowed to sleep when Mother God sleeps.
01:04:26
So they're usually limited to maybe four or five hours a night. They're always forced to rise at 5 a.m.
01:04:32
The live streaming starts at 6 a.m. every single day. and they usually last three hours.
01:04:39
They're also not allowed to sit for very long. The whole thing is leading to exhaustion for everybody.
01:04:46
And here's the other one. They're underfed. Right. So Carlson claims that eating too much is a symptom of our rampant ego,
01:04:54
which Amy claims stands for edging God out. They're only allowed to get small amounts of food that are donated from local food banks
01:05:04
and no snackings allowed. So they basically... I'm out. I'm out on so many levels.
01:05:08
I can't do any of it. I'm all about that ego. But this is fucking by the book, cult brainwashing practices.
01:05:19
Exhaustion and starvation. Yeah. The members live on the compound, rent free, but they have to serve Mother God
01:05:27
with whatever she needs. And they don get paid for anything and they don get any of the donation money Yeah Most of the time members wind up giving whatever money they have to Mother God And as one former member named Taylor puts it quote everything is revolved around Amy Of course But she not the gentle
01:05:44
compassionate leader that she claims to be. Even though drugs and alcohol are expressly
01:05:49
forbidden in the group, she drinks to excess every day and openly on camera. What? Yeah.
01:05:55
So this is a real like we're watching this is this really parallels the Synanon story.
01:06:00
Oh, yeah. Where the leader who starts out with these really lofty goals about helping people, it slowly slides into saving humanity, which slides into I am God.
01:06:11
Right. Which goes right along with some kind of substance abuse. Yeah. So when Amy's sober, she puts on a warm, kind facade.
01:06:18
But at night, she launches into drunken, cursed filled tirades on the live stream.
01:06:23
Holy shit. And on one cheek shouts into the camera, quote, spiritual ego whores die.
01:06:29
If you're not connected to me, you're out. Damn. So it's turning. Yeah. I feel so bad for her kids back at home.
01:06:36
Like they have to be explained where mom is. It's so sad. It's so sad. It's yeah.
01:06:43
It's a lot of a lot of victims here. Yeah. She also starts calling the followers Adams, A-T-O-M, like an Adam.
01:06:50
and there's one live stream where he brings her meatballs for dinner but she asked for chicken
01:06:57
parmesan so she starts screaming my vision was chicken parmesan so the fucking adams turn around
01:07:04
on me and get me meatballs i didn't say meatballs i love meatballs but i didn't fucking say that
01:07:09
chicken parmesan she's just like flipping out the fuck and recording it like why that's yeah you want
01:07:17
of hide that behavior. You would think. Also, Father God, he also gets in on it. He can be seen
01:07:23
getting into Robertson's face and glaring at him with rage and chastising him while Robertson
01:07:30
hangs his head in shame. So he got the order wrong and he's just being attacked by Mother
01:07:33
and Father God. You know, the way the Lord, the Lord you've always heard about. There's also a
01:07:39
thing where there's on video, they give a two-year-old child a timeout by putting it in a
01:07:43
closet and screaming at the child and saying that they're not that normal people, their child rearing
01:07:51
is programming. And it's basically a society that's the cult. Love has won as the only same
01:07:58
group of people. That's gotta be it. Okay. So around that time is when they try to go to Kauai,
01:08:03
they basically get kicked out real quick. So they come back and then, so they start pushing these
01:08:09
holistic health products. They make a thing called plasma coasters, which, quote, act as
01:08:16
receivers and transmitters with the ability to neutralize harmful energy. And you're supposed
01:08:21
to put them in glasses of water. They sell for $66.66. What the fuck? Sounds like a shrinky dink or something.
01:08:28
Yes. Sea, what were those sea creatures you'd put in water? Oh, sea monkeys. Sea monkeys.
01:08:35
They also are big on colloidal silver and gold supplements. Those were big. Colloidal silver was huge for a while.
01:08:43
So basically they sell their own version of it. Of course they do. Yeah. And they claim that it can cure COVID.
01:08:53
They end up getting a letter from the FDA saying you have to stop claiming this.
01:08:57
You have to stop selling these products. And they're not available anymore. So some of their other terrible medical advice, their holistic alternative medical advice, they say that turmeric cures diabetes, that lemon and baking soda cures cancer.
01:09:12
And they actually tell people that it's a myth that staring into the sun makes you go blind.
01:09:17
Oh, no. Yep. They say that you need to stare into the sun to receive healing, quote unquote, light codes, and that it, quote, burns away the darkness inside you.
01:09:27
Yeah. They also tell people that you don't have to worry about having heart attacks because it's just your heart expanding.
01:09:35
No, it's okay. It's not. So they it's just a bunch of super dangerous and very crazy, like basically personal theories and creative writing that they're now telling people is like medical, the medical truth.
01:09:50
Yeah. Okay. Dangerous. Basically, she's gone so far off the rails that her family goes on to Dr. Phil in September of 2020 to try to get her to basically be like this.
01:10:04
You have to come out of this. This is brainwashing. And her sisters and mother are there and they're all really worried about her.
01:10:13
Dr. Phil confronts her about how she's not a peaceful being. There's that they show the videos of all her cursing and confrontation.
01:10:20
she claims that that one of the reasons that she's been raped several times and that her house
01:10:26
has burned down and that she's basically grown weary of it all but essentially it's it you know
01:10:32
it just is kind of like it it doesn't yeah excuses yeah and it's it's an ineffectual way to
01:10:40
right kind of try to break this person out of the cults the problem is that her health is clearly
01:10:46
on the taking a downturn, probably maybe from the drinking, maybe from all the colloidal silver
01:10:52
that she's constantly ingesting. But her mom notices on the live stream she's being carried around by her followers
01:11:00
and she seems to be paralyzed from the waist down. What? Yeah. So something that her sisters are seeing it.
01:11:08
They're so scared and worried. They say that they knew she was ill. She looked weak and frail
01:11:14
and that she was basically that she was kind of turning a gray blue from how much colloidal silver she was ingesting.
01:11:22
Do we know, like, is that not good for you now? Like, do we know that now or it's just large quantities?
01:11:27
I have no idea. But yeah, if she if she was ill and they were saying this is what's going to fit.
01:11:33
you then then right large quantities of anything like that but i know i'd hate to say anything about
01:11:38
cloydia silver not knowing during a live stream on october 15th 2020 two of her followers admit
01:11:46
amy has expressed a desire to see a doctor but they refuse to take her and they say there's moments
01:11:53
when mom has asked us to take her to the hospital nope there's no way we know how a hijacking works
01:11:59
so the hijacking is this idea that right as when she's about to ascend the cabal comes in
01:12:06
kills her and represses the truth so they they're basically like you can't go to the hospital because
01:12:12
it's a hijacking so all of her own crazy theories are now turned yeah against her um and her
01:12:18
followers are basically like becoming the ones in charge wow the last time an outsider confirmed
01:12:24
Seeing Amy Alive is on April 10th, 2021. She's in California. She gets a visit from her landlord
01:12:30
and he sees that he thinks she's dying. Like she looks so bad. The members say she has cancer,
01:12:36
but she hasn't gone to a doctor. So there's no official diagnosis or records of that anywhere.
01:12:41
It's just what the followers say. So her mother calls the authorities in California asking to do
01:12:46
wellness checks. But every time they go to where the followers and Amy are, they turn the police
01:12:52
and the ambulance is away. Then on April 16th, 2021, a photo is posted in one of the
01:12:58
Love Has Won private chat rooms of Father God holding a very frail, incoherent looking Amy in his arms.
01:13:04
And it is unclear if she's alive or dead in the photo. Okay, so her cause of death
01:13:10
is as yet to be determined because of the lack of medical records and because of the state of the body
01:13:19
when the coroner got it. Yeah. Charges against four of the seven members that were arrested on April 28th have been dropped, including those against Father God, Jason Castillo.
01:13:29
Sawatch County District Attorney Alonzo Payne tells Dateline, our office looked at all the documents and everything that was provided.
01:13:36
And from our perspective, the allegations could not be met beyond a reasonable doubt.
01:13:41
Charges against the remaining three members are still pending. The group that existed under the name Love His One has since disbanded, but many of its members have splintered off and they continue preaching the same ideas under different names. And all the shops that sold products have been shut down. But Lamboy's opened a new nonprofit that basically it gets them out of paying taxes. So any of the money that goes there, they don't have to pay taxes on it.
01:14:09
They now have one of the groups that still live streams has they have a tapestry with a photo of Amy on it.
01:14:15
That's like behind them in the shot. Some of them are still selling etheric surgeries like the way that Amy did spiritual surgeries.
01:14:24
Those are 55-55 for 30 minutes. Discounted. And they're described as your ticket to heaven.
01:14:30
For the people who have escaped love has won Their search for spiritual fulfillment continues But now with a much more cautious approach a former member goes by the name Sarah That not her real name She scared of retaliation She says Amy took a lot of spiritual teachings about vibration and energy that are on the right track but she hijacked them and said they were hers
01:14:53
I still believe there's truth in those principles, but I'm working on taking Amy out of them.
01:14:59
And essentially, that is the very strange, bizarre death of Amy Carlson and the story of the love has won cult.
01:15:08
Wow. I want to find out how she died eventually, right? Yeah. Well, I mean, sounds like she, whatever sickness she had, there was never any, like they were just doing holistic practices and no one there.
01:15:25
So she could have gotten pancreatic cancer. Yeah. Or something that's quick and awful and just ravages your body.
01:15:31
And then she's just taking colloidal silver or drinking. Right. Right. Or liver cancer, maybe.
01:15:38
Horrifying. So fucking wild. I know. wild great job so crazy thank you i know sorry that was so long but it's like there was so much
01:15:47
it's just the weirdest thing because i remembered it i remember seeing the story and i think people
01:15:53
posting about it on twitter but it was just at that point in the pandemic where i'm like no
01:15:58
only comedies i can't do this like i don't want to know i can't look at this i mean it's wild that
01:16:04
in the middle of a pandemic that everyone's freaking out about you could have such an
01:16:08
like outside wild story yeah it's like didn't everything stop did everyone's life stop right
01:16:15
why didn't you just but also i think it's like that's the thing like you said in these unprecedented
01:16:21
times people are scared shitless and they're looking for answers they're looking for easy
01:16:26
like digestible answers and solutions um and it makes sense they're right to want that they're
01:16:34
human to want that yeah just don't be stupid just like it's i don't know yeah well here's the thing
01:16:42
you know there's very clear um you know they say in cults it's like if it's one leader you're not
01:16:49
allowed to contradict you're not allowed to like take in outside information you cut yourself off
01:16:55
from your family like there's the whole there's a whole thing of like is your are you just you know
01:17:01
Is it just a group of people who are like-minded spiritual seekers? Or are you basically being indoctrinated?
01:17:08
Yeah. And those are the things where it's like, if basically there's one person, their God, they have all the answers.
01:17:14
And the rules are theirs to make alone. And suddenly the rules become about, you know, like, you serve me.
01:17:21
Yeah. Chicken Parmesan. Wow. Yeah. Let's keep an eye on that one. Yeah. Yeah. Good job.
01:17:30
Thank you. Well because it Christmas should we do a couple of fucking rays Let do it All right I go first Okay This one is from Keybelf Keybelf Like maybe a Keybler elf
01:17:43
Oh. This is from the Fan Cult Forum. Keybelf says, my 18-year-old son rolled his Jeep on his way home from work and just has
01:17:51
an abrasion on his arm from the side airbags. Holy shit. Jeep is totaled. My son is sore, but no worse for the wear.
01:17:59
Holy shit. Oh, my God. Jeep is totaled. That's the scariest shit in the world. Yeah.
01:18:05
Wow. Yeah, I'm so glad. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's it. Wow. This starts. This is from the Gmail.
01:18:11
Is this where we send our fucking arrays now? I sure hope so. My fucking array is that after six years of sitting on the fence, talking endlessly about it, and generally feeling ambivalent about the prospect of becoming parents, my sweetheart and I have finally decided to remain child-free.
01:18:26
the pressure to have children has felt stifling these past few years but since landing on this
01:18:32
decision i feel light i feel free and i finally feel like i have permission to just be myself
01:18:36
i'm done torturing myself and trying to get excited about something i quote should
01:18:41
want just because most people do fucking array cat with a k yeah dude it's okay it's okay cat
01:18:50
yes congratulations it's not pioneer days i love it this is also from the fan cult forum it says
01:18:56
Hello, all. I wanted to send in our family's fucking hooray. Our grandma celebrated her 100th birthday on October 18th.
01:19:05
She has seen it all, buried her parents, sisters, two children and two grandchildren, but is still going strong.
01:19:13
She even still lives alone. Her new goal is 100 is 105. Holy. My grandma got to 104 and lived alone until like the last year.
01:19:23
It's amazing. Hell yeah. I'm glad my son told me about your podcast. I listen on my way to work.
01:19:29
I work for California State Prisons. You gals are awesome. Keep up the good work.
01:19:33
Jen with two N's. Amazing. Love it. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, Grandma. Fuck yeah.
01:19:40
Okay, this one might make me cry. Okay. I'm a veterinarian and the practice where I work has what is called an angel fund.
01:19:48
This is basically a donation-based bank account where we can use to help animals in need whose owners may not have the means to pay.
01:19:56
Last week, a super sweet stray orange tabby cat was brought into my work with a badly broken leg.
01:20:02
The good Samaritan who brought him in was unable to take on his care, so he was left with us.
01:20:07
Unfortunately, the leg was so badly broken that amputation was his best option. I named this sweet orange boy Pajama, amputated his broken leg, neutered him, and he is thriving.
01:20:19
He's now going to be adopted by my brother and sister-in-law who lost their cat a few years ago and are ready for a new pet.
01:20:27
Pajama. Pajama. It brings me so much joy that I could save and rehome Pajama and I will still get to see him on a regular basis Thanks for all you do Best Stephanie That awesome Oh that right She basically is like I want this cat in my life Yeah
01:20:45
You guys come again. That's awesome. It makes me think. I'm sure Stephen is crying right now.
01:20:50
Considering his orange chab, he's always meowing in the background whenever he's not muted.
01:20:55
Penny. Penny. Penny. All right. Thank you, guys. Happy holidays again. We hope you do the best you can.
01:21:03
That's all anyone can ask for. Don't forget to go to the movies during the holidays.
01:21:07
That's always a fun thing to do. Oh, good idea. Right? You know, just go or go walk around.
01:21:12
Go walk in the park or something if you're stuck at home. Oh, yeah. Yes. Great idea.
01:21:17
We love you. Thank you for listening. And stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye.
01:21:24
Elvis, do you want a cookie? This has been an Exactly Right production. Our producer is Hannah Kyle Crichton.
01:21:33
Associate producer, Alejandra Keck. Engineer and mixer, Stephen. Ray Morris. Researchers, Jay Elias and Haley Gray.
01:21:41
Send us your hometowns and your fucking hoorays at myfavoritemurder at gmail.com.
01:21:46
And follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at myfavoritemurder and Twitter at myfavemurder.
01:21:52
And for more information about this podcast, our live shows, merch, or to join the fan cult, go to myfavoritemurder.com.
01:21:58
Rate, review, and subscribe. Your husband is not who you think he is. Your body is not what you thought it was.
01:22:09
Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Dani Shapiro, and these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secrets.
01:22:19
He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move. And he went out the front door and he jumped in a car and drove off, and that was the last time I saw him.
01:22:27
Listen to season 14 of Family Secrets on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
01:22:34
I'm Bailey Taylor, and this is It Girl. This podcast is all about going deeper with the women shaping culture right now.
01:22:41
Yes, we will talk about the style and the success, but we are also talking about the pressure, the expectations, and the real work behind it all.
01:22:48
As a woman in the industry, you're always underestimated. So you have to work extra hard in a way that doesn't compromise who you are and your integrity.
01:22:56
You know, I like to say I was kind of like a silent ninja. Listen to It Girl with Bailey Taylor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
01:23:06
Before NXIVM, Nancy Solzman wanted to help people. Being able to help somebody, it's probably the biggest motivator of my entire life.
01:23:14
She trained in something called neurolinguistic programming. People loved our training.
01:23:19
Then, everything changed. Yeah, and they called it a cult. How does a method designed to improve lives end up in a cult?
01:23:27
A knife in the hands of a surgeon is an amazing tool. A knife in the hands of a murderer is a weapon.
01:23:34
Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.