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Sword and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences.
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Listener discretion is advised. I found my daughter and my wife. Somebody killed them in the apartment.
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They have been murdered. It's a little before 6 p.m. on a Saturday in Englewood, Colorado.
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It's sunny, but still frigid. It's the end of March 2023, and two local Englewood, Colorado police deputies are sitting in their cruiser.
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They're just talking and looking over some paperwork, really. Officer Aloise has been with the force for a few years now.
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But today he's got a trainee with him. Englewood is in the heart of the Denver metropolitan area.
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There are over 30,000 residents and a typical crime rate, which consists of basically two things.
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Robberies and drug-related incidents. Maybe a few traffic violations sprinkled in there as well.
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Neither Officer Aloise nor his trainee are expecting any crazy calls today. let alone a double homicide in a luxury apartment complex.
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901 Inglewood Parkway is going to be Unit N is a Nancy 308 break. He's got the cord to his radio wrapped around his finger,
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fidgeting with it as he listens to dispatch. Go ahead. Harvey states his wife and daughter are deceased.
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He thinks they might have been hurt. The wife is 70 years old and the daughter is 34.
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or Harvey thinks he knows the suspect, and we're still getting further. They'll be heading to a complex called Art Walk at City Center.
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Sounds fancy. There are one- and two-bedroom apartments that go upwards of $2,000 a month.
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It's usually pretty quiet over there. I think it's going to be on the north. Let me get a hold up.
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Paramedics, this is Kara. Hey, it's Julie from Inglewood. We're not sure what we have, but we need you to stage for right now.
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We might have two people that were killed inside of an apartment, 901 Inglewood Parkway.
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So this is like a homicide? Yeah, well, I don't know. He thinks it's his nephew. He thinks they're both dead, 70 and 34.
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I have a ton of officers going, as I'm sure you know. This is the 911 call that had come in just moments before.
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911, where's your emergency? Yeah, yes, ma'am. This is Reggie McLaren. I'm calling from Art Walk apartment.
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apartment N308. I came around 3 o'clock and I found my wife and my daughter murdered.
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I'm sorry, you what? I found my daughter and my wife. Somebody killed them in the apartment.
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They have been murdered. Okay, how do you know that they're dead? Well, I am here. They are dead,
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you know, because the guy who ever entered, he was trying to take them in a trash can or take
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away but he couldn't do it so I am just are your wife and daughter still inside the apartment
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inside the apartment okay how old are they wife is 17 years old okay and your daughter
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daughter is about 34 years old and what is your name Reginald that's your name Yeah, that's my name, Reginald McLevin.
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Okay. And are you in the hallway? No, I'm going in the hallway because I want to put on my jacket. It's very cold there.
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Okay. My officers are there, though, and they need you to not be in the apartment, okay?
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Okay. At the same time, Officer Aloise and his trainee were running up the stairs to Unit N-308.
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Hey, Arnie, I think it's this side. Which way did he go? Did he go that way? That way.
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Let's go. Aquinas? Oh, look out. What were we going to? North 308. North 308. North 308?
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Yes. When they finally get to that unit, the hallway is absolutely silent. There isn't a person in sight.
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They cautiously approach the apartment door, hoping they won't have to break it down.
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to a flash confirming and Nancy, please borrow the two hands. Did you call? Yeah.
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Step outside, step outside. They're bracing themselves for a potential showdown with whoever murdered
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this man's family. But instead, it's the caller himself who answers the door. He's still on the phone
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with dispatch. So let me know when you stepped out into the hallway because my officers
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are going to meet you in the hallway. Okay. How long ago did you find them? What time did you come home
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and find him? I don't know, man. I don't know. Okay. I don't know. I have no idea. And you're in
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Nancy? You go? Yeah. The man who emerges is frail and hunched over, clutching his jacket.
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Reginald McLaren is 81 years old, and the stress of this situation is making him look even older.
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He's a normal old man, except for the distant look in his eyes and a name that doesn't match his accent.
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He doesn't seem injured, just stunned. Officers help him out of the apartment and plan to take him back to the station to ask a few more questions Yeah you want to take him in Who the on detective sergeant and on staff
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You picked a bad time to be on-call supervisor. Looks like I had a double homicide.
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The new trainee stands guard at the front door while Reginald gets a pat-down in the hallway.
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Meanwhile, the handful of officers inside are getting a taste of what they'll be dealing with.
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Right away, they know it'll be more than their little police department can handle.
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Fuck. Garbage cans. Fuck. Yeah. Jesus Christ. There's a closet right now. The house is clear.
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There's at least one confirmed so far. Two. You have two of them? There's two. You want that one too?
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Yeah. Do you want me to stay inside? Do you want me to stay inside for now? All right.
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The apartment isn't chaotic. It looks like they're in mid-move. Boxes are stacked neatly in corners.
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Some are sealed, others are half-packed with clothes and books still visible inside.
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Along on their sides in the living room are two oversized black roller trash cans.
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The lids are open. With his gun and flashlight drawn, one of the officers carefully steps over to one of the bins
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and leans down so he can see inside. Immediately, he can see clothing, skin, limbs, and blood.
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Both of the victims are women. They've been stuffed inside, headfirst. Their arms and legs are bent unnaturally.
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One of the women's legs hangs partially outside its plastic vessel. There's a towel covering part of the first victim's body.
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Blood is pooled beneath her. The second woman is positioned mostly face down. Neither is moving.
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The officers don't touch the bodies. They don't try CPR. It's already too late. Double homicide.
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901 Inwood Parkway. In is in Nora. 308 is the apartment number. Sounds like husband came home.
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Finds his wife and daughter deceased. They both have been shoved into a trash can apiece.
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So it looks like by all appearances, it looks like whoever did this was trying to put the bodies in a trash can
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and take them wherever. Husband seems to think he knows he did it. We're trying to talk with him.
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He's pretty shook up, obviously. But yeah, you might want to call the troops on out, sir.
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Surveillance? In the building? No, they don't. No. Just FYI. The soap is covered in blood.
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Oh, yeah, I saw that. Yeah. I saw that. And if you look underneath those bed sheets and stuff,
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that pillow is covered in blood. And they probably were hiding something underneath there as well.
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So just for our safety, I asked where the suspects, do they live here? Which one?
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I asked where they might be at 788 West Jefferson by the station. That was in the apartment.
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So they're all gangbangers recording him. Thank you. Thank you. Blood spatters fleck the walls.
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A pillow soaked in blood lays on the floor near the couch. In a utility closet behind the loveseat, they find an axe and what looks like strands of black hair caught in the blade.
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A handsaw rests nearby. The kitchen sink has hair and blood in the basin. The rest of the unit looks oddly clean.
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Just before a deputy is about to drive Reginald to the police station to get a formal statement,
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he complains of chest pain. He explains that he has a history of heart attacks and has recently had open-heart surgery.
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He's 81 years old, after all. Finding your wife and daughter brutally murdered is asking for another incident.
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Luckily, paramedics are just arriving. Out of caution, officers have him transported to Swedish Medical Center for evaluation.
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An officer is assigned to sit outside his room. If Reginald is right, if this really is about his gang-banging nephews,
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The police department and emergency dispatch were wholly unprepared to deal with this situation.
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Dispatch scrambled, trying to figure out how to get in contact with the state crime scene unit.
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Officer Aloise's trainee frantically scribbled names into the crime scene log as personnel swept in and out of the apartment.
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A lot of these responders were newbies doing their absolute best. The crime scene was now sealed.
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The victims had been officially pronounced dead. Reginald was under observation at Swedish Medical Center.
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And if Reginald's nephews were involved, then time was already working against them.
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As the investigation unfolded, neighbors started noticing. It was dinner time for most people, and this group of cops who were jingling their keys and talking in the hall was starting to draw a little bit of attention.
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So the notes say that wife and daughter. What notes? Oh, no, no. Who's the guy who just came out of here?
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That's the husband and dad. And so he thinks he knows who it is, something about a hammer.
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So I got him going back to the station. We probably need to do at least a quick Miranda on him and just talk to him
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and see what information we can get if the suspect's out, you know, on the ballot because he's under a gay or a public.
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We need to find that out as quickly as possible. Okay. How does he know he knows who did it? That type of thing.
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Yeah. But it's definitely moralizing. Is everything okay? Everything's okay. Talk to him real quick.
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Just see it. Yeah. Yeah. Can I come in? Yeah, please see it. How are you guys? Good, how are you?
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Have you guys heard anything suspicious or anything lately with your neighbors? I saw him.
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I left around, like, when did I leave? I went to the liquor store around, like, 3 or 4, and he was leaving.
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He locked his apartment and was walking to his car. And then I got in my car, and then I saw him come back around, like, 3 o'clock, 3 or 4, whenever I had texted you.
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Yeah. Can we get that text to see what time it was? Did you guys hear anything? No.
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And they're supposed to be moving soon, they told me. They're super nice. Okay, did you know the daughter and the...
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Is he the husband? Yeah, I know there's a daughter, a husband, and a wife, right?
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Okay. I think. I don't... Have you ever seen any, like, disturbances? No. I heard talking a lot in the hall, and I've heard doors slam.
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Um, but I thought that they were moving and it was just kind of, okay. Yeah. When's the last time you saw mom and daughter?
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I don't, I don't know. I haven't seen them in a while. I've only seen him. I saw mom and daughter.
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Okay. The last time I saw them, I can tell you exactly because the fire alarm went off here.
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Okay. And I saw them leaving and I. Did they ever express any, like, problems? No, nothing.
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They've always been super nice. Never thought, never said, like, watch out for a suspicious person.
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Huh? Okay. I saw them on Tuesday. I saw the daughter. Oh, yeah, because you said it.
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Yeah, they had their door open and they were cooking food. And I smelled it and it smelled really good.
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And so I looked in and I saw, I'm assuming it's the daughter. She looked younger.
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Yeah. This is what they heard on repeat from all the neighbors. No one knew the family well.
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No one even knew their names. But they could always smell delicious food coming from their open door.
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I see them all the time. They seem fairly friendly. They speak, well, the guy speaks, the woman not so much.
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Seem like they just kind of come in and out. I think he works at an RTV or like the light rail or something like that.
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He always has a phone phone on. The RTV or the light rail stuff? Yeah, the light rail stuff.
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And the mom, I don't really see very much. At times they cook things, and so I kind of think they have to air out their apartment at times.
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Yeah, that's what your other neighbor said. They leave their door open and you can smell it.
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I just smell it because I haven't heard any issues or complaints. You haven't heard anything?
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Not anything super loud or banging that I'm aware of. Okay. And since Wednesday, you haven't seen anybody?
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No. Yeah. I hope they're okay. Well, to be 100% honest with you, mom and daughter are deceased.
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And so we're trying to figure out what is going on. So that's why I'm asking you so many.
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Yeah, okay. Oh, yeah. I guess I could have led with that before I started asking you,
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when are you coming back? No, I'm here. Yeah, so we're trying to figure out what's going on.
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Police continued canvassing nearby units. One neighbor, who lived just a few doors down from the family,
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told officers he remembered running into Reginald in the parking lot. I don't even know dude's name.
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Sure. I just told him about it on the street. Oh, he says, okay, I'm doing good.
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Yeah. He, sorry. he came over to me the other day when I was just opening the garage
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and he was like, can you do me a favor? We're moving up on Saturday. And I was like, okay.
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He was like, if it's after hours, can I drop off the keys to you? And I was like, okay.
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I told him my apartment number. Then we saw him walking around this morning and then I hear all this shit Did you ever make a plan to leave the keys at any point um he just said that he had to but he dropped them off okay and he said he was going
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overseas but he was going to come back and then uh did you ever see his wife and daughter
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Yeah. When was the last time you saw them? Probably yesterday. Did he ever mention anything about that when he said they were moving overseas?
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They were moving out, but he did say, I'm going overseas, so I didn't. Like I'm as in singular?
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Yeah, I'm singular. Okay. The women stuffed inside the trash cans were 70-year-old Bethany McLaren
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and her 35-year-old daughter, Ruth. Bethany and Reginald moved to America in the 80s
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and really kept to themselves. Back at the hospital, some of these details were beginning to come up
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in conversation with the officer assigned to watch over Reginald's room. Apparently, Reginald was born in India
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and his wife, Bethany, was from Nepal. Reginald had an estranged son from another marriage
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and then there was his daughter, Ruth. You can sit back. Is your heart feeling okay now?
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A little bit? Yeah. Okay. And then use some shirt. Yeah, we'll give you... Do you want a blanket for now?
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Is that okay? Yeah, we'll give you a blanket. It's kind of a temporary shirt until we can get you some regular clothes, okay?
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But it's better than nothing, okay? So the next thing we're going to do... Again, this is all your permission too.
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So we get like a hand swab of the DNA in your hand. to show that basically that's your DNA.
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So if we find other people's DNA, we know that's not your DNA. You know what I'm saying?
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So, like I'm touching this, right? Then you touch it. Then I can compare your DNA to this DNA.
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So we don't say, like, who's this? So we have yours to show. Is that okay to do?
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Yeah. Okay, thank you. It wasn't just his four prior heart attacks that had detectives worried.
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They wanted a full medical evaluation on Reginald because he told one of the officers that after he got home after 3 p.m. and found Bethany and Ruth in the trash cans, he passed out.
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It wasn't until around 6 p.m. that he tried to call the apartment property management's office.
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And then after that, he called 911. Here are the property managers. You guys are all heading back in here.
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Hi. Hi. I'm Lindsay. Lindsay Bryant. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. I'm Stormy.
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Stormy. We're here too and live here. We've got everybody. Sure. I'm Colin. You look great by the way.
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Oh, I do not look great. Thank you. Okay. How do I look for gosh soon? You look beautiful.
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So beautiful. Remember, this is a Saturday night. Everyone, including some of these cops, had been relaxing at home before all this happened.
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It's my day off, so I'm like, I know. What are you going to do? I'm doing your short staff, right?
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I know. I'm sure you guys were playing the same boat. We do know. I do know. Here's the voicemail to Reginald left.
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On three o'clock, I found my wife and my daughter murdered. So I'm going to call the...
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Mother was sitting there. It was left at 6.02 p.m. Okay. Now let's swing back over to the hospital.
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So make sure you have no injuries on you? No arms, no legs? Okay. We're going to take a picture to make sure that you have no injuries.
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We're going to show that you had no injuries, okay? Can you put your arms up for me?
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Does that make sure that you're okay? Injuries? Did you want to hurt at all? You weren't hurt at all?
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No, I wasn't hurt. Okay. Let me make sure. I heard that you passed out. Oh, yeah.
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But you didn't hit your head or nothing like that? I have no idea. Okay. I might have hit.
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We'll take some pictures real quick just to make sure, okay? Yeah. Imagine waking up on the floor three hours after finding your wife and daughter murdered.
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You've just come back to reality. You remember what happened. You're panicked and confused.
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Now listen to how Reginald McLaren sounds when he calls 911. 911, where's your emergency?
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Yeah, yes, ma'am. This is Reginald McLaren. I'm calling from Art Walk apartment.
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Apartment N308. I came around 3 o'clock and I found my wife and my daughter murdered.
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Hi, this is Ben. Apartment 10, 308. I just want to inform you that when I entered my apartment,
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around 3 o'clock, I found my wife and my daughter murdered. So I'm going to call the
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newsboy police right now. I almost said that channel was left at 6.02 PM. Now that you've heard both the voicemail he left for the property manager and this 911 call, don't they sound eerily similar?
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Almost rehearsed? Here's the rest of the call. Okay. And how were they injured? Can you tell?
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Well, ma'am, I am very disturbed. I have no idea. The hour is secured. I'm getting help to you, okay?
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I'm getting help to you. Yeah, thank you. Do you know who did this? Pardon? Yeah, well, before I go further, I want to tell you that our security door in the garage door is always open.
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I mean, it is never locked. I need you to answer my questions, okay? I understand this is very hard and I'm getting you lots of help, but how were they hurt?
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Were they shot? Were they stabbed? Can you tell me how they were injured? They were stabbed.
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Not stabbed. Somebody used a hammer or... I don't know, you know. Where are you at now?
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Where are you at now? I am in my apartment. I am in my apartment, ma'am. I need you to step out.
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I don't want you to be in there, okay? Oh, step out? Okay. Okay, have you touched anything?
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I was worried, you know, without coming around. Well, I went into the rooms. I just looked at my wife's purse, my daughter's purse, their IDs were gone.
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All the things are upset down, you know. Okay. Okay. So do the officers, if the security building, can they come in here still?
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Yes, we have lots of people coming. We even have an ambulance coming, okay? Who did this?
00:24:49
Okay, thank you. Can you tell me who did it? Yeah, well, we had a long enmity with our nephew,
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Is he there? Oh, no, no. He ran away from our home and he just goes all over the places.
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He's in gangs and here and there. And I just want to make sure. So your wife and daughter are currently inside the apartment in which room?
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Master bedroom. They're in the bedroom? Master bedroom. Okay. Do you have any weapons?
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Me? No. Okay. So wife and daughter are both in the master bedroom? No, they are not in the master bedroom.
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They were sleeping. I don't know what to explain, but they are in the living room right now.
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Okay, in the living room. Okay, thank you. Am I the only one disturbed by the way she says, okay, thank you.
00:25:51
Like it's just a routine checklist she's going through. Like she's asking for the ingredients to make a batch of cookies.
00:26:01
Maybe it's just me. And are you in the hallway? No, I'm going in the hallway because I want to put on my jacket.
00:26:08
It's very cold there. Okay. My officers are there, though, and they need you to not be in the apartment, okay?
00:26:15
Okay. So let me know when you stepped out into the hallway because my officers are going to meet you in the hallway.
00:26:21
Okay. Okay, and when did you, how long ago did you find them? What time did you come home and find them?
00:26:28
I don't know, man. I don't know. Okay. I don't know. I have no idea. And you're in N as in Nancy?
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You go? Yeah. Did you catch any inconsistencies? Englewood police were starting to rethink the idea that the suspects were on the loose somewhere.
00:26:48
Now let's rewind just a little bit. remember this neighbor? Is everything okay? She had mentioned earlier that she had seen Reginald that day,
00:26:58
around the same time that he said he had discovered his wife and daughter's bodies.
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I went to the liquor store around like 3 or 4, and he was leaving, he locked his apartment,
00:27:09
and was walking to his car, and then I got in my car and then I saw him come back.
00:27:13
She texted me at 3.55. That's when she left? Yeah, so I was like, you want to come over?
00:27:19
Yeah. And I was at the liquor store when you texted me back. And he is leaving as you were leaving.
00:27:24
Yeah. Well, he went to his car. Okay. I don't, I saw, I was like, hi. He normally says hi to me and he didn't say anything.
00:27:33
He just kind of kept walking. Did he acknowledge you? He said hi and then kept walking.
00:27:37
Normally he'll like stop and chat with me. Okay. So he locked his door and then he came.
00:27:46
Yeah. And then he went to the parking lot. and while I was going in the parking lot, he walked past me and didn't say anything and then came back.
00:27:53
Okay. Which I thought was kind of weird because then I was like, oh, he's probably leaving.
00:27:57
That's why I saw you guys out there. I was like, I need to go talk to you guys. Yeah, absolutely.
00:28:02
So right after this officer leaves the woman's apartment, he tells his colleagues they'll be changing course.
00:28:12
Thank you. Thank you. We need to find his car. Are you good? We need to find a car?
00:28:20
We need to find a car. Why? Around 3.55 today, she was going to the store. She saw him walk to the car.
00:28:30
He had locked the door, walked to the car. Doesn't know what she did in the car, but he came back.
00:28:35
What kind of car is it? It's a white sedan, possibly on the same floor that we're at.
00:28:39
They have a... Go look for it. So someone goes over to the adjoining parking garage to find Reginald's SUV.
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be. And when they do, everything kind of starts to make sense. Did you see the towels that were stuffed in here in this one?
00:29:19
And then you see down the front of the trash can. Any indication why Dad placed the guy's assessment?
00:29:24
So not yet, but we just were informed by Bryce that it sounds like he, Dad left at 3.55.
00:29:31
His neighbor saw him driving at his car. And so Bryce is going to locate the car right now, like the neighbor that saw it.
00:29:38
That was around 4. And he's saying, if I'm hearing what Bryce said correctly, he locked this door, left of the car, and came back.
00:29:46
So that might be our... Potentially. I'm going to go see what Bryce has at the car. You guys good here?
00:29:52
Oh yeah, yeah, we're good. Stay here with the cranking log Detective Aloise walks to the parking garage and spots his colleague who peering in through the windows of the SUV Just tell it it flat
00:30:10
Stay with this car till we touch it. Hey, who's it? You know, we'll be nice to meet him.
00:30:18
Yeah, we'll touch his hand a little bit. I see the SUV is completely flat, so I got Bryce sitting on it.
00:30:24
The apartment complex has its own trash system, one that doesn't require any kind of rolling cans you'd leave on the side of the road.
00:30:32
Could Reginald have flattened the back seats to make room for the new trash cans that were now in his apartment?
00:30:40
With this possibility in mind, they have to find a neighbor with a doorbell camera.
00:30:46
They need to get footage of whoever brought those trash cans into the apartment.
00:30:51
Hi there. Can I come in for a second? Yeah, you're going. Are you guys doing all right?
00:30:55
I'm Brent. I'm with the police department, obviously. Are you with Englewood? Yeah.
00:31:02
Okay. So you guys might have some video or something? Yeah, I have on the video doorbell there.
00:31:08
I'm not entirely sure what times. I think he said like around 3.30 was like one of them.
00:31:15
Okay. But it just catches clips. I think this was like one that they were like looking at.
00:31:22
So, you know what I'm looking for? Is someone dragging a trash can, a couple trash cans?
00:31:28
Okay. Like the rolling ones? Oh, gosh. Yeah, it happened, like, we hear that sometimes, like, at night.
00:31:36
Do you guys get rolled trash cans here? You put your trash outside and they collect it.
00:31:39
They collect it, but they have, like, a big, like... Like one of those ones you see, like, in a school, right?
00:31:44
Yeah. That they push and then come by and collect them. In this 911 call, Reginald weirdly mentions that whoever did this must have started the cleanup process and couldn't finish it.
00:31:58
Was he talking about himself? I mean, who breaks into a place, kills people, and then tries to remove the bodies?
00:32:07
Why would you do that unless you live there? The car discovery, paired with Reginald's claim that his wife and daughter's purses were empty,
00:32:15
prompted a search of the big dumpsters on the ground floor of the apartment complex.
00:32:20
Inside, they found an Xfinity bill addressed to Reggie McLaren, a credit union bank statement for the couple,
00:32:29
numerous ID cards for Ruth, three of Bethany's driver's licenses, and both women's social security cards.
00:32:38
All of these items had been cut up. They found bloody clothes, too. This all wasn't looking very good.
00:32:47
The next logical step was to find out which hardware store the rolling trash cans were from.
00:32:54
Maybe they'd even be able to get security camera footage of Reginald buying the items.
00:33:00
So, the deputy went to nearly every store in the area. Finally, he arrived at a particular Home Depot.
00:33:08
Yep, we got it. Sounds good. Sounds good. Hey, thank you. No, that's it. Thank you.
00:33:17
Hey, we were here. Thank you. There we go. What can you do? Well done. There we go.
00:33:26
What I can do is I can go back a footage of when he entered the store without items.
00:33:33
Yeah, if you can follow him from his car. Let's see where his car is. As long as he didn't go past this, because...
00:33:43
What's he doing? I forgot where he took. Is that him? Yeah, that's him. He's taking a lot of times his items.
00:33:53
Yeah. While he's in the... Like in the tool section. In the trash cans. Trash cans?
00:33:59
Yeah. There he is. All right. So he's already picked the trash cans. That's crazy.
00:34:11
I never thought, like, I would come after that. Because, like, I've always thought, because you see these people with these items.
00:34:17
Uh-huh. And they're like, you wonder what they use it for. Because last time when I was cashiering, I saw a guy with a tarp, shovel, and, like,
00:34:26
blockades and gloves. And I was like, oh, my God, it looks so sketchy and stuff.
00:34:31
Yeah. You never know. Her enthusiasm is cute, isn't it? Bet you never thought she'd be in a real-life episode of CSI.
00:34:40
Anyway, this footage showed him not only purchasing the two trash cans, but also a Stanley brand handsaw.
00:34:48
Good brand. He paid for all the items with cash. And remember that neighbor with the doorbell camera?
00:34:54
He found footage from March 9th that showed Reginald wheeling his two brand-new trash cans back to his apartment.
00:35:03
Weird. Then there was that long-handled axe. Footage showed Reginald in Harbor Freight's checkout line with his axe in hand.
00:35:14
Again, he used cash. This was all on March 9th, just before 4 p.m. Shortly after he got home that day, doorbell footage showed the three of them,
00:35:25
Reginald, Bethany, and their daughter Ruth, all leaving the apartment. Then they get back around 7.15 p.m., having just gone on an outing with the man who would soon end their lives.
00:35:39
While investigators rewound camera feeds and matched timestamps, a sense of disbelief washed over everyone.
00:35:48
How could 81-year-old Reginald, elderly and frail, have done any of this? I need a knitting doctor okay I looked your chart a little bit Can you tell me what happened today Okay How you ended up in the hospital
00:36:06
Well, I didn't know I did a mistake, and that's right. So the doctor asked him what happened, and Reginald said,
00:36:14
Oh, I made a mistake, and that's why. The audio isn't perfect. It's from the body-worn camera of the officer sitting in Reginald's hospital room.
00:36:28
Reginald calls the doctor, Doc. That might help you follow it a little bit better.
00:36:34
I was checking my doctor and everything to get his score. The doctor was saying something that he said.
00:36:43
If I may. I heard that you went home and that you found some of your family there.
00:36:50
I'm not trying to be a joke. No, no, no, it's not really. I have lived here for 40 years and I'm 53.
00:37:02
And I took care of my family very sick. And we were at the gym gym. We just ran out of money.
00:37:10
At this time, at 53, nobody would hire me. Nobody would hire me. And finally, she's pressing me to take an apartment
00:37:18
and go there and I have no rent. And then I have some money here. Still I have $8,000 in my briefcase at home.
00:37:29
But that was only for one month. And to sign at least for $15,000. And I want to cut this to be short.
00:37:35
I didn't want to see my family in the street, Barry. I don't want to see. No matter what happened.
00:37:43
But I just, because I see people on the roads The doctor asks him, So, you killed them?
00:38:13
Both of them? And Reginald admitted that he had. After this shockingly calm admission,
00:38:35
so creepy, really, Reginald continued, telling the doctor that he used to work for HSS security company
00:38:44
in a hospital setting. During his time there, he saw the harsh reality of homelessness every day. He said that after he lost his job, he knew
00:38:53
that he and his family would end up like these people, begging on the side of the road. At his
00:39:00
age, no one would hire him. To make matters worse, he said that they were being evicted.
00:39:07
Bethany and Ruth were pressuring him to sign a lease on a new apartment, and Reginald said
00:39:12
he was down to his last $8,000, which wouldn't be enough for first and last month's rent,
00:39:19
plus a security deposit, and his daughter's medication. 35-year-old Ruth lived with cerebral palsy and required constant monitoring.
00:39:32
Her meds were $800 a month, according to Reginald, who really emphasized that he'd been taking care of his wife and daughter for 35 years.
00:39:41
his family depended on him relied on him they couldn't survive without him apparently it had just become too much
00:39:53
he said he'd started planning about 10 days prior he just couldn't see any other way out
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Cha-ching. On March 25th, 2023, from a hospital bed under police watch, 81 Reginald McLaren calmly admitted he had murdered his wife and daughter he said he spent decades supporting them But when he lost his job and found out they were being evicted
00:42:06
he saw only one path forward. Everything, officer. I'm sorry? I can tolerate in life everything, you know.
00:42:14
There were times when we had a hard time and they can bear sickness, problems. But I could not see myself or my family.
00:42:25
According to Reginald, the plan had been in motion for a week. Here's what investigators believe happened that final day.
00:42:37
Sometime in the early afternoon, he grabbed an axe, the one he bought at Harbor Freight.
00:42:43
He set aside the handsaw that was for later. He purchased everything he needed using cash like the two rolling trash cans.
00:42:52
He wheeled them through the parking lot by himself. They were now waiting in his living room, lids propped open.
00:43:00
Bethany, his wife of nearly 40 years, was likely sitting on the couch. He struck her first, hard enough to slice through a major artery, causing a blood spray that painted the wall behind her.
00:43:14
Then he turned on Ruth, hacking away at her. She was 35 years old, and Reginald said she had cerebral palsy.
00:43:23
Detectives believe she may have been standing near the kitchen at the time. Later, they found the sink drain clogged with blood and hair.
00:43:33
Clear evidence of an effort to clean up what was becoming an unmanageably messy situation.
00:43:40
After they were both dead, Reginald used a combination of the axe and the saw to remove one of his wife's legs.
00:43:48
It was harder than he imagined it would be, so he abandoned that idea. Instead, he forcibly bent Bethany and Ruth's limbs at awkward angles so they'd fit.
00:44:00
He draped a towel over his wife, but it didn't cover much. He looked down out of breath and knew he still had to get both of these bins to stand up so he could roll them down the hall and into his SUV.
00:44:15
One of Bethany's legs was still sticking out, lying on top of the open lid. Blood was starting to pool around each of the bins.
00:44:25
Reginald panicked. His chest felt tight. He knew this feeling. Quickly, he cut up both of the women's identification cards, driver's licenses, and social security cards.
00:44:39
He tossed the pieces down the trash chute into the apartment's main dumpster, along with bloody clothes and other personal effects.
00:44:48
Then he picked up his phone and called the property manager, followed by 911. In his 911 call, Reginald said to the dispatcher,
00:44:57
whoever did this probably started the cleanup, but got tired and gave up. And that's exactly what he did.
00:45:06
During the process of hauling bodies, cleaning blood, and lugging heavy plastic bins into position,
00:45:13
Reginald overexerted himself. he began to feel the familiar warnings of a heart attack.
00:45:21
He'd already suffered four and had recently undergone open heart surgery. He just got scared.
00:45:28
Scared that he was about to die. Getting medical attention for himself became the number one priority.
00:45:37
I wonder how he was going to pay for that. A horrifying crime in Englewood and the suspect
00:45:43
talked about Colorado's housing crisis with investigators. The 81-year-old man told them he killed and dismembered his wife and daughter
00:45:51
because he could no longer afford to pay the rent. They were murdered in an apartment building in the Englewood City Center
00:45:58
just off Hampton Avenue in Santa Fe Drive. Karen Morfitt on the story tonight, and Karen the man,
00:46:03
told police he didn't want his family to suffer through homelessness. During his arrest, he reportedly told police that he had no regrets
00:46:12
because he felt like they were in a better place. Now, police responding today pleading for anyone who may be struggling to ask for help.
00:46:20
According to the arrest, David McLaren confessed to the murders, telling detectives he had recently lost his job and the family was about to be evicted.
00:46:29
Having worked with the homeless population before, he told police he, quote, knew what a miserable life that was.
00:46:36
Having planned for several days, he allegedly carried out those murders the morning they were to vacate.
00:46:42
You know, he seemed distraught, maybe, and I don't know what the reasons for his actions were.
00:46:48
I mean, that's part of our investigation. We're trying to determine why he did what he did.
00:46:54
But as far as our dealings with him, he was more than cooperative. Now, McLaren is expected in court sometime later this week.
00:47:02
We know the Arapahoe County Coroner's Office will identify those victims once their family is notified.
00:47:08
Notifying extended family about Bethany and Ruth's deaths was more difficult than expected.
00:47:14
Who were these women? The family had lived in the same building for years, and yet no one seemed to know them beyond their friendly smiles and the smell of food wafting from their unit.
00:47:26
Well, Jim, and the sadness over this terrible, terrible crime is the realization that this family lived quietly in an Englewood apartment building.
00:47:33
The mother and victim in this case, Bethany McLaren, was apparently from overseas.
00:47:39
But without the help of her husband, the suspect finding her family has been difficult.
00:47:44
And so the coroner's office has reached out for help. There was no one to claim Bethany and Ruth's bodies.
00:47:51
No one to plan their funerals or give them a peaceful sign-off. When leaders at the Colorado-Nepal Alliance...
00:48:00
found out about this situation, they couldn't let it end like this. There had to be someone who knew and loved these women.
00:48:08
They knew Bethany McLaren first got a social security number after arriving in the U.S. somewhere in the 80s and a little bit more.
00:48:16
But no one knew her relatives. The coroner's office called you. Yeah, they called me the Tuesday after the murders.
00:48:24
Anne Hines and Sangeeta Shrotria are both part of the Colorado-Nepal Alliance. and the coroner had found the mom, Bethany, had another name.
00:48:33
The fact that her name was Pavitra was a good clue that she might, if she wasn't Nepali, that kind of Nepali descent was likely.
00:48:41
And so they set to work to find family to remember them and their past. They brought a photo of Bethany to a local funeral.
00:48:50
Someone in the Englewood, Nepal community had passed away, and 600 people were in attendance,
00:48:56
It's all people who might know these women. Somebody has to mourn these women. Yeah.
00:49:03
Yeah. With a photo from Bethany McLaren's license, Sangeeta began to ask everyone she could in the 10,000-plus member Nepali community.
00:49:12
So I took the picture to the funeral and said, do you guys know her? And there were around like 600 people, and nobody could tell that they knew her.
00:49:21
Eventually, a man in Kansas responded, saying he remembered a woman named Pavitra.
00:49:27
She'd helped him find a job back in Colorado years prior. When he saw her name in photo, he was pretty sure this was the same woman.
00:49:36
So she was a kind woman. She was, yeah. Then after our reporting of the name got out, a woman reached out from India,
00:49:44
one who as a little girl once posed for a photo with Ruth McLaren. Then she opened up, and it happened to be Pavitra's niece.
00:49:54
The woman confirmed that she recognized both Bethany and Ruth. Apparently, Bethany was originally Pavitra Rana, born in northern India, but of Nepali origin.
00:50:06
She worked as a nurse and eventually moved to the United States, where she married Reginald after meeting him through a newspaper ad, of all things.
00:50:15
It looks like they had been in India for a few generations, because both of Pabitra and her sister were born in India.
00:50:23
There are so many uncovered parts of the stories that we don't know yet about their life.
00:50:29
I'm sure they have touched more life than we know. I'm sure they have too. Yeah.
00:50:34
They had succeeded in finding a needle in a haystack, one single member of Bethany's family.
00:50:40
But they were too far away to help with the funeral. So these two women from the Colorado-Nepal alliance took it upon themselves.
00:50:49
You didn't have to do this. Yeah, I did have to do it. Because... These women were so brutally murdered.
00:51:01
Yeah. And so few people in the Denver metro area knew them. And I could not imagine that there were people there that were grieving for them There was no family statement No recent photo No custom obituary Instead just a Bible verse
00:51:22
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me lie down in green pastures.
00:51:30
He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
00:51:41
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
00:51:46
For thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
00:51:58
Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all of the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
00:52:16
No mention of her daughter, her work as a nurse, nothing. Bethany and Ruth McLaren lived quietly, but they died violently.
00:52:28
and if not for the kindness of strangers they would have been buried without anyone to grieve them.
00:52:35
Everything we know about them comes from the fragments they left behind whether it be a neighbor's memory
00:52:41
a community's sorrow or a killer's version of events. And Reginald's side of the story
00:52:50
was built entirely on his lies. Because here's the horrible truth. The McLaren family wasn't facing homelessness.
00:53:02
Detectives recovered several documents addressed to Reginald and Bethany. One of those documents was a statement from a credit union.
00:53:10
It showed an account balance of over $11,000. Keep in mind, this was just one of their accounts.
00:53:18
In his hospital bed confession, Reginald had also mentioned a briefcase with $8,000 in it.
00:53:24
If that doesn't convince you that his entire excuse was a lie, maybe this will. There was no evidence that Reginald and his family were about to be evicted whatsoever.
00:53:37
There was no eviction notice, no court order, and it was just that their lease was up.
00:53:43
So, that's it. It was all a lie. This wasn't a man pushed into a corner. Reginald had made a decision.
00:53:52
He was done being the pillar of his family. He was done having a family altogether.
00:54:00
It was on April 3rd, 2023, that Reginald was formally charged with two counts of first-degree murder,
00:54:08
two counts of tampering with a deceased human body, and one count of false reporting.
00:54:16
On January 23rd, 2024, he entered a not-guilty plea. His trial began in June of 2024 It was a somber quiet courtroom No one sat in the gallery behind the defense table And no one sat behind the prosecutors
00:54:35
Well, at least there was no one in attendance that really knew the McLaren family.
00:54:40
Anne Hines, the executive director of the Colorado-Nepal Alliance, attended the entire trial.
00:54:46
Just like she'd helped plan Bethany and Ruth's burial, she wanted to be there when justice was finally served.
00:54:54
Anne sounds like a nice person. We need more Anne's. This is Bethany when she was a nurse in the Indian Army.
00:55:02
This is Ruth right here when she was young. The only pictures that the jury got to see of them were the pictures when they were dead.
00:55:09
The hardest part for me was hearing how many times he had struck his daughter with an axe.
00:55:18
The evidence shown at trial was convincing. After about a week in court and just a few hours of deliberation,
00:55:26
the jury found him guilty on all charges. The prosecution had a very good case, and they just reiterated all the pre-planning that had gone into these murders.
00:55:38
He had purchased the axe, the saw, and the trash cans. I think I was hoping to try to understand why these two murders had occurred,
00:55:50
but I left without any answers. I thought maybe having him convicted might make me feel better, but I don't.
00:55:57
Ruth and Bethany are still deceased. Anne, who had been in contact with Bethany's family in India,
00:56:05
told them about the guilty verdict. One of Bethany's friends ended up writing a letter for the sentencing hearing.
00:56:12
She asked Anne to read it on her behalf. I have known Pavitra Rana, also known as Bethany, for the last half a century.
00:56:20
We both belonged to Kalampong, a small hill town in eastern India. She was born, brought up, and did her schooling in one of the famous missionary schools,
00:56:29
the Kalampong Girls High School. We worshipped in the same Presbyterian church. After her schooling, she did her diploma in nursing.
00:56:38
In the late 1970s, she joined the Indian Army as a nursing officer in the rank of lieutenant.
00:56:43
She continued working and was promoted to the rank of captain. Around 1986, she married Reginald McLaren.
00:56:51
After marriage, she resigned from the army and moved with her husband to Denver, Colorado in the U.S.
00:56:56
In 1996, she came to visit us in India with her husband and daughter. Thereafter, we were in occasional contact over the phone.
00:57:05
Last I remember speaking with her was in 2015. After that, I was unable to contact her, despite trying many times.
00:57:12
The tragic news came as a great shock, not only to me, but to all of those who knew her here in India.
00:57:18
I would like to remember her as a fine and humble human being, a dependable friend, and a very helpful person.
00:57:26
She liked to do embroidery and tatting laces in her free time. She was warm and friendly, but reserved socially.
00:57:33
She was observant and we shared many laughs at her impressions of friends and colleagues May their souls rest in peace Reginald who was now 83 years old received two consecutive life sentences On top of that the judge tacked on two 12 sentences for tapering with deceased bodies
00:57:55
and a 120-day sentence for false reporting, with credit for time served. In the end, no one remembered when they moved in.
00:58:06
No one noticed the quiet lives of these women. And when they finally did, it was because the only person who ever saw them
00:58:16
was the one who made them vanish. Well, we hope you enjoyed that horrible story, you weirdos.
00:58:39
If you like this sort of thing, these tragic, terrible stories, head on over to our YouTube channel,
00:58:45
Sword and Scale TV. There you can get our visual version of Sword and Scale. Go get it.
00:58:57
You can also find us at swordandscale.com where you can subscribe for $10 to plus
00:59:03
or $20 to plus, including Sorenskel TV. I know it's a lot to ask, but this shit ain't cheap to make.
00:59:20
So you can keep freeloading or you can help out your favorite creator. It's up to you to decide, you know,
00:59:30
what a good person would do and what somebody like yourself would do. don't let me guilt you or anything
00:59:38
guilt guilt guilt alright we'll see you next week stay safe say hi to your mom Thank you.
01:00:33
I'm not in my life.