00:00:00
Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences.
00:00:06
Listener discretion is advised. I'm like I'm smart, like the devil inside me. And I said, who laughs last, laughs best.
00:00:23
Who was that weird sounding woman at the intro? You're about to find out. this is season 12 episode 292
00:00:31
a sword and scale a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real and literally all around you it's
00:00:38
fucking terrifying it's enough to make you want to crawl in a hole and just listen to podcasts
00:00:58
Just a reminder that we don't do this for free. If you like the show and want to support it, head on over to swordandscale.com,
00:01:12
download the app on your Android or Apple device, and become a Plus supporter or a Sasshole,
00:01:18
as we affectionately like to call our fans because we love people so much. In a relationship, it's easy to mix up being needed with being wanted.
00:01:57
Especially when you're in love. The dependency can feel like a sign of closeness.
00:02:04
But as time goes on, needing someone can become more important than wanting them.
00:02:10
And that's when problems begin. The distinction between being needed and being wanted might not seem like a big deal at first.
00:02:20
But it can make all the difference in whether a relationship lasts or it falls apart.
00:02:25
When someone depends on the other for their happiness, their self-worth, and even their identity, it's no longer about love.
00:02:35
It's about something else entirely. Control. The fear of losing that person isn't because of love.
00:02:44
It's because their whole sense of self is tied to them. It's not about wanting a life with them anymore.
00:02:53
It's about being scared of a life without them. When someone feels like they have nothing to lose,
00:03:00
they'll do anything to hang on and keep their life from falling apart, even if it means crossing lines they never would have thought to cross.
00:03:11
This kind of unhealthy reliance doesn't just hurt feelings. It ruins lives. And the aftermath?
00:03:20
it often affects the people who least deserve it. Outside the police department in Plantation, Florida, the parking lot is still dotted with the harsh orange glow of street lamps.
00:04:02
It's a little after 4 a.m. on June 28, 2018. The sun won't be up for at least another couple of hours.
00:04:11
Outside, it's a balmy 78 degrees with 93% humidity. Oh boy, do I not miss that. It's like a sauna every day.
00:04:22
The humidity makes it feel even hotter. The air is thick and moist. So much so that it feels difficult walking through it.
00:04:33
Inside, though, it's almost chilly. The fluorescent bulbs cast a uniform light, making the small room feel more impersonal.
00:04:43
The little boy sits quietly with curious eyes. He can sense there's something that the adults aren't telling him.
00:04:51
Do you ever get in trouble at home? Sometimes. What happens? What happens when you get in trouble?
00:05:00
I don't usually remember since it was a long time ago. I usually do that when I'm six or below.
00:05:08
Oh, okay. So you're a pretty good kid. Adrian was seven years old. The detectives are trying to gauge his understanding of right and wrong,
00:05:20
and whether he knows how to lie. He just witnessed something horrible, which is impossible for his undeveloped mind to understand.
00:05:31
Can you tell Mr. Mike who you live with again? I didn't write it down. Mom, her name's Nastia.
00:05:38
I usually call her Nastinka, since that's how I call her in Russian. Okay. And who else do you live with?
00:05:48
And Dad, his name is Mark. Adrian lived with his mother Anastasia and his father Mark They all lived in his grandmother townhome It was nice and spacious about 1 square feet with two bedrooms and two bathrooms There was plenty
00:06:09
of room for Grandma Barb and her three cats, but it got a little crowded when her son Mark
00:06:15
and his family found themselves down on their luck and moved in. We share the same room inside Grandma. She sleeps with the cats.
00:06:28
Grandma Barb gave up the biggest bedroom so the family of three could have a little more space.
00:06:34
It wasn't ideal, but they were having a bit of a rough patch after being recently evicted.
00:06:41
Of course, little Adrian didn't understand any of this. It was summer and he was living a kid's dream, staying up late and watching TV.
00:06:51
He explains that the night before, he had watched cartoons before bed. He was mesmerized by the colors and the sounds coming from the TV, oblivious to the brooding turmoil in his home.
00:07:05
When you go to sleep, do you watch TV to go to sleep? Oh, yeah. Yeah, do you remember what you were watching last night when you were going to sleep?
00:07:14
Um, oh yeah. What were you watching? The Loud House. The Loud House? Yeah. That's a cool show.
00:07:22
I like that. And also, when I finished The Loud House, I watched Spongebob Squarepants the movie.
00:07:31
Oh, okay. Who put that movie on for you? Oh, it just came up randomly when the talent show was over.
00:07:41
Okay, so when the Loud House was over, the SpongeBob movie came on? Yeah. All by itself?
00:07:48
Yeah. Adrian didn't know it yet, but that would be the last carefree evening in front of the TV that he would experience in a long time.
00:07:59
Do you get ready for bed all by yourself? Uh-huh. I usually sleep in the big bed.
00:08:06
Yeah? Yeah. Did you fall asleep in the big bed last night? I'm out today. In the bedroom they shared, there were two beds.
00:08:17
Squeezed in next to the full-size bed was a smaller kid-size bed. It was obviously for Adrian, but recently, Anastasia had started sleeping in the little kid bed.
00:08:30
That night, after watching the SpongeBob movie, Adrian took a melatonin gummy and got ready for bed.
00:08:37
he fell asleep in the big bed next to his dad mark anastasia was already sleeping in the little bed
00:08:44
next to the door was mommy and dad in the bed with you when you were sleeping no just dad was
00:08:51
in the bed with me dad was in the bed where was mommy oh sleep sleeping in on the little bed
00:08:58
Do you remember when you woke up today? Oh, I think it was for something. Yeah? Yeah.
00:09:10
How do you know it was for something? No, I just think. Oh, you just thought that?
00:09:15
You didn't see a clock or anything? No. Did something wake you up? Or did you wake up by yourself?
00:09:22
When Dad was trying to wake Mom up, Dad woke me up. How did that wake you up? Oh, because he was talking.
00:09:34
At 4 a.m., Adrian woke up because he heard talking in the room. Mark was trying to wake up Anastasia.
00:09:42
Adrian thought this was so she could get ready for work. He knew she had just gotten a job.
00:09:48
Was your mom saying anything? Oh, she didn't. She said she was sleeping so hard.
00:09:55
I'm not sure she was sleeping. Why did you say that? Oh, because when Dad was trying to wake her up, she didn't wake up.
00:10:06
That's why she had to drag her to the couch, and that's how I saw the blood. Okay.
00:10:28
Even a seven-year-old knows what blood is, and that blood outside your body is bad.
00:10:41
But Adrian didn't really understand what was happening, so he tried to make sense of it.
00:10:48
Adrian thought his dad was just trying to wake up his mom for work, but she wasn't waking up.
00:10:54
When Mark dragged her to the couch, Adrian didn't understand the danger. If any adult had woken up to this scene, they would immediately be filled with fear.
00:11:06
But in Adrian's innocence, he just watched with wonder. Well, I don't know why, but at least I know when my mom got a big boob on her head,
00:11:21
And then when Dad can't wake her, Dad couldn't wake her up since she was snoring.
00:11:29
Also, she had never snored before. And Dad was going to wake her up into the couch because she also got the dead dirty with her blood on her head.
00:11:48
And that's why she couldn't do it. So she was sleeping so hard. So dad dragged her on the floor And I saw blood Oh Mm And you said Mommy was snoring Oh yeah
00:12:05
She had never did that. That's how Dad figured out something was wrong with her.
00:12:11
Then she saw that was the blood in her hair. Oh, and then you heard your Mommy snoring?
00:12:18
She never did snoring before. Okay. I think she's going to the hospital. Okay. I think.
00:12:30
This poor kid had no frame of reference for what he witnessed. The plots from cartoons don't really prepare a kid for experiencing death.
00:12:40
And that's exactly what he saw. His mother wasn't snoring. That was her body losing the ability to clear the mucus from her throat.
00:12:51
He heard his mother's death rattle. Seconds after his father dragged his mother from the room,
00:13:00
Grandma Barb came in and grabbed him. She took him to her bathroom and shut the door.
00:13:07
She left him for a moment to grab her phone beside her bed. When she returned, she called 911.
00:13:14
Adrian had to be confused and likely afraid, But he knew 911 was the number to call for help.
00:13:47
And that's why Dad did it early because Mom has to go do her hospital work. And this morning...
00:14:04
Adrian explained everything he saw and heard. His mother snoring, his father dragging her, and the blood on the bed and the floor.
00:14:15
His grandmother took him to the bathroom so he wouldn't step in the blood. It's difficult to listen to, knowing he didn't fully understand the real reason he was in the bathroom.
00:14:28
He tried to make sense of it with a child's rationale. His mother, Anastasia, was a doctor.
00:14:36
He knew she had just started a job. The only reason they were up so early had to be for his mom's work.
00:14:43
In Adrian's young mind, Mom had a boo-boo. But Grandma called an ambulance. So the ambulance would take her to the hospital and fix her up just in time for her to start her shift.
00:14:58
The poor kid didn't get it. He was an innocent, in the purest sense of the word.
00:15:04
We got surgery to people in the hospital. Oh, okay. Was anybody else there when you came out of the bathroom?
00:15:12
Oh, yeah. Some police. Yeah? Yeah. Okay. Then what did you remember seeing after you came out of the bathroom with the police?
00:15:21
Then I saw Dad went to jail for some reason. I don't know why. Oh, okay. Adrian didn't know that his mother was dead.
00:15:32
He didn't understand his father was arrested for her murder. Maybe it's better that he didn't get it.
00:15:39
He was too young to process the full nature of what happened, which is a blessing in his case.
00:15:46
But he's not likely to forget his mom and dad anytime soon. And the memory of them, I imagine, will haunt him for years to come.
00:15:57
He'll never see his mother again or fall asleep next to his father. They won't be there to wake him up and take him to school.
00:16:05
In the events of that night, the trauma he experienced will eventually shape his understanding of death.
00:16:14
It'll shape him as a person, his whole personality. The lasting impact which only the adults involved understood will be the loss of his innocence.
00:16:35
On the morning of June 28, 2018, seven-year-old Adrian woke up to the sound of his father talking.
00:17:01
Even at such a young age, he knew something was wrong. He was confused by his mother's snoring and the boo-boo on her head.
00:17:10
He rationalized the events in his mind without being able to draw the connections between them.
00:17:17
His mother was hurt. His father was arrested. But he didn't understand why. Fourteen years earlier, in 2004, Anastasia first traveled to the U.S. from her native country, Belarus.
00:17:32
She used the trip to practice her English. and by 2005 she moved to Florida permanently.
00:17:40
What better place to pursue her dreams than the land of opportunity? She wasn't alone, though.
00:17:46
She had a close friend with her who also moved from Belarus. Did you guys go to college together?
00:17:51
Not the same college. I went to FIU. Anastasia went to FAU And it was a little bit later than I did Then I pursued legal career went to NSU law school and she went to NSU as well
00:18:08
Well, actually, that was the same school, but a different college with the university.
00:18:11
A different college. Right. Okay. This is Hannah Jamorlik, Anastasia's best friend.
00:18:19
Anastasia sort of followed her to the U.S. They were so close that after Anastasia gave birth to Adrian, she asked Hannah to be his godmother.
00:18:28
Of course, she said yes. And since 2005, she stayed and we lived together for some time.
00:18:36
But then she moved out, but we still stayed close and we still stayed friends. The two were both determined women with ambition and goals.
00:18:47
Anastasia quickly enrolled in college and started pursuing a degree. By the time she neared the end of her bachelor's degree, she had met a man, Mark Berkowitz.
00:18:58
She worked at Trump Hotel, and he worked there as well. And that's how they met each other, and that's how they started dating.
00:19:07
We hang out a lot. Then they got married. She got pregnant. And I was their friend.
00:19:14
I mean, I wasn't Mark's friend, but I was Anastasia's friend. And I communicated with Mark a lot.
00:19:19
A romance sparked between Mark and Anastasia But she didn't let that distract her from her goals
00:19:27
Yeah, she was always at the computer I mean, she enjoyed it It's not like she had to do it
00:19:32
And she was a bright student When many students failed the exams She passed them and with good grades
00:19:38
And she was very dedicated She felt like this is what she wanted to do She was enjoying it
00:19:43
Even though she wasn't required to do some reading She was just going through the books
00:19:48
or reading some stories, materials, because this is what she liked. Anastasia was an achiever.
00:19:55
She set her side on something and didn't stop until she got it. She did more schoolwork than was required because she actually enjoyed it.
00:20:03
This was a stark comparison to her husband, Mark. Here's Grandma Barb describing Mark as a child.
00:20:10
No, he was at school. He was probably dropped out in ninth grade. Like, you know, he was very, he was always a difficult kid and always getting in trouble.
00:20:24
And he was a very tough kid. And thank God my Brian, my younger son, God bless him.
00:20:33
He learned from him, like, what not to do. That's why he turned out to be such a good son.
00:20:38
Between Grandma Barb's two sons, Mark was the black sheep. He couldn't seem to stay out of trouble.
00:20:45
He dropped out of school his freshman year and started working a series of jobs in hospitality.
00:20:52
He also struggled with his mental health. Well, he's bipolar. Has he been diagnosed with that?
00:20:59
A psychiatrist, yeah. I have a list of all his medications, yeah. Mark suffered from bipolar disorder.
00:21:07
He would swing between manic episodes and bouts of depression. His uncontrollable swings in emotion and his decisions during these swings
00:21:16
made him prone to getting into trouble. It wasn't long before the troubled teenager became a convict.
00:21:24
Oh, yeah, he has a record. Even when he was 13, I was getting in trouble, drugs, problems.
00:21:33
I mean, he drugged me through hell, wrecked through my cars. Anastasia didn't care about Mark's troubled past.
00:21:40
it didn't matter to her. His past was just that, the past. She was young, in her 20s, by the time she met Mark.
00:21:49
He was in his early 30s and had a good job at a luxury hotel. Mark had become wiser with age.
00:21:57
He seemed to have calmed his rebellious youth a bit. But it didn't bother her because she was set,
00:22:04
as far as her career, it was the main goal, and nothing was not going to stand in the way.
00:22:11
She's very intelligent. She knows she could do it. She's one of the top 40 in her graduating class.
00:22:18
What school did she go to? No. No? You know, nothing was going to get in the way.
00:22:24
She's going to achieve her goal and make all her dreams come true. The romance bloomed,
00:22:31
and they both had a sharp eye on their future together. Mark was going to work and support Anastasia
00:22:37
as she earned her degree. Anastasia told me when they got married at the courthouse here in Fort Lauderdale
00:22:45
that she wanted to go to school, to become a doctor, and she wasn't going to work.
00:22:54
And I guess Mark was fine with that. He worked at the Fountain Blue. Mark was in love with her.
00:23:01
I mean, he was supporting her. Once Anastasia became a doctor, Mark could chase his dreams.
00:23:09
Dreams a high school dropout with a record could never seem to afford with a string of dead-end jobs.
00:23:16
Once she graduates, you know, he wanted to open a restaurant. He had all these big dreams, you know, like his dream also was to be like a DJ and he liked all this, you know, he loves music.
00:23:30
So their future was set. They had a plan. And Mark and Anastasia could see the path before them.
00:23:38
They just had to walk it. But turmoil was just around the corner. She was going to be a doctor.
00:23:46
She was going to it for several years. She was studying and everything. And there were people, and he was a loser.
00:23:52
I mean, he couldn't keep any job that he could get. Maybe because of his drug abuse, he was depressed.
00:23:57
and he lost every job as quickly as he I mean, got this job. Mark found himself trapped in a cycle of self-loathing.
00:24:06
He'd fuck up at work for one reason or another, get fired, and fall into a deep depression.
00:24:12
And these bouts of depression would last a while. Then, like a swing of a pendulum,
00:24:19
Mark would rebound, get another job, and all was right with the world again. At least in his eyes.
00:24:26
The cycle continued until one day, Mark spun out of control Adrian was about one year old
00:24:34
and they were living in Miami Gardens this incident would change everything and her parents were here
00:24:42
they were visiting Anastasia and they were visiting them to see the child I think he was high, he was under something
00:24:49
he didn't look like he was a typical Mark when he was sober and he started yelling at the parents
00:24:55
Anastasia's mom said something because he doesn't speak English. And she said something in Russian,
00:25:03
but he misinterpreted it and thought that was something in English. Yeah, Mark doesn't speak Russian.
00:25:08
Right, and it was something bad about him. So he started yelling at her parents and Anastasia trying to defend the parents,
00:25:16
but he got angry with her and he attacked her. He pushed her on the bat and tried to strangle her.
00:25:24
Anastasia was trying to diffuse the misunderstanding between her husband and parents.
00:25:31
But Mark lost it, grabbed Anastasia, and threw her on the bed. He straddled her body and wrapped both hands around her throat.
00:25:40
Her stepfather had to pull him off. Anastasia and her parents grabbed one-year-old Adrian, hid with the neighbors, and called the police.
00:25:51
Anastasia was frightened. Mark had never acted so violently before. She didn't know what to think or what to do.
00:26:00
Of course, the police didn't either. So after this incident, the parents left. The husband spoke to her.
00:26:07
I mean, he was begging to take him back. He said it's not going to happen again.
00:26:13
And, I mean, she did take him back. I mean, she was in a very vulnerable state. She was without work.
00:26:21
She was a student. She had a child. I mean, so I don't know. She probably believed that he can change.
00:26:28
But after some period of time, it looked like he stopped or she convinced him to stop.
00:26:35
Anastasia knew she couldn't raise Adrian and go to school on her own. So she convinced herself that this was a one-time thing and Mark could change.
00:26:46
After Anastasia took him back, Mark seemed to turn his life around. He really put in the effort to be a better man for his family.
00:26:55
He stopped his illicit drug use, got another job, and actually seemed happy. Mark was doing okay, just controlling his medication, and he was working at the Renaissance.
00:27:08
He was exercising, he was mentally feeling good about himself. And things were okay for a while.
00:27:17
All the while, Anastasia kept working towards her degree. By the time Adrian turned six, they lived in an apartment across the street from Grandma Barb.
00:27:28
Then something happened, something that would be the catalyst for change in their relationship.
00:27:34
The downfall started after they got evicted at Los Pados. I found out after they moved in with me that the reason they were evicted at Los Prados apartments in December is because she took out some money from the student loan and gambled it.
00:27:57
So they didn't have enough money for rent. Anastasia liked to gamble. It was the only thing she did for fun.
00:28:05
She spent the rest of her time studying and being a mom. So every once in a while, she would blow off some steam at the casino.
00:28:13
It's just that she rarely won. So things started going downhill. Of course, I lived across the street.
00:28:21
He was really upset that she did that. He was really upset having to move in with me.
00:28:29
And he blamed her. Mark resented Anastasia for what she did He turned his life around for her
00:28:37
Now he was 42 years old and he relied on his mother for a place to live Makes you feel like a real loser
00:28:45
When you get divorced and have to move back in with mom As an adult male It can really do a number on your self-confidence if you're not careful
00:28:54
Mark felt that he should have more to show for his life being where he was in life.
00:29:03
He felt like he was right back where he had started. Anastasia's life was moving forward with lightning speed
00:29:09
while his life was standing still. And it was all her fault. But he tried his best to move past it.
00:29:19
In March 2018, Anastasia became a naturalized citizen, a milestone she had been waiting on for years.
00:29:27
She was now a full-fledged citizen of the United States and only a month away from becoming a doctor.
00:29:33
Anastasia could not have been happier. She was so close to the goal she'd worked so hard to achieve,
00:29:41
and she wanted to celebrate. He was working for advice, okay, and he got offered a management job there,
00:29:48
and I said, that's great, Mark. I mean, they must really like you and have confidence in management,
00:29:54
so that month was okay and then she was supposed to have her graduation party at Vavice and he was going to get a discount there
00:30:07
Oh, okay. Well, the discount fell through. If you ask Grandma Barb, she'll say Mark quit.
00:30:14
But the truth is he was fired. Mark was caught skimming. Skimming is a childish scam of padding the check so the customer pays more,
00:30:26
essentially giving the scammer a larger tip. In Mark's case, he was pocketing vouchers for espresso.
00:30:34
He would apply the coupon to the customer's bill after they paid. He'd make like ten bucks each time.
00:30:42
He got caught when upper management noticed the vouchers being used when they knew that the espresso machine was broken.
00:30:51
Oops. Mark was busted, and it ruined Anastasia's graduation party plans. All for, again, $10 at a time.
00:31:02
The tension between the two was higher than ever. I mean, what a fucking loser. So anyway, so that was a disappointment.
00:31:12
You know, that was a big argument. and she was very upset with him with that fact that that didn't work out.
00:31:20
So now it hasn't been working since. So the friction, I mean, got worse then because she didn't want to talk to him.
00:31:27
She was upset he wasn't going to talk to her. Anastasia was pissed. She didn't ask Mark for much, but when she did, she was routinely disappointed.
00:31:37
Mounting tensions at home couldn't have come at a worse time. Anastasia was days away from graduation and tried to remain focused.
00:31:46
Mark, too, tried to play the role of dutiful husband, but the rift between them was already too great.
00:31:53
As her graduation day approached, she couldn't have been more excited. But when the day came, she didn't seem to want to share it with Mark or Grandma Barb.
00:32:05
I saw that the husband was very angry with her because she didn't want to hold his hand.
00:32:10
She was like, she didn't want him to be there, but he wanted to be there. He felt like he's being rejected.
00:32:18
He wanted her attention and he was giving her like very hard time. He was insulting her.
00:32:25
Basically, I mean, he brought her to tears and that was a special day. That was Anastasia's special day.
00:32:33
She spent the better part of a decade working towards that day. But Mark couldn't help but want to share in his wife's success.
00:32:42
After all, they were partners. He'd helped her get to where she was. Her success was their success.
00:32:50
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it. In fact, it was his success. It was Mark. Mark had done it all.
00:32:57
I mean, he'd, you know, kept the fork going. Anastasia couldn't have done anything if it hadn't been for Mark, right?
00:33:06
Needless to say, Anastasia didn't see it that way. To Anastasia, her success was despite Mark.
00:33:13
He would want to come up and kiss or hug her, and she would shove him away. Her girlfriends were there, and she completely ignored Mark.
00:33:23
She said she didn't like him, they would touch her. And she was disappointed in him.
00:33:29
And, you know, Mark felt rejected. I mean, I could see that, but she didn't want him.
00:33:35
That day, surrounded by all their graduating doctors, Anastasia was embarrassed by her unaccomplished husband.
00:33:43
She had a vision for the rest of her life that didn't include Mark. Mark was confused and angry.
00:33:51
This wasn't part of their plan. Anastasia's graduation was supposed to be the start of the rest of their lives together.
00:34:00
But it wasn't shaping up that way. Anastasia shunned Mark in front of her friends and his mother
00:34:06
Of course, Mark pitched a fit He disappeared with the car, leaving Anastasia crying
00:34:13
When he returned an hour later, he gave Anastasia the keys and told her he was walking home
00:34:19
His manipulative attempt at guilting her worked She and her friends picked him up and took him with them to celebrate
00:34:28
But Mark couldn't let go of Anastasia's disrespect towards him. The argument continued and grew.
00:34:58
Until Mark finally saw only one path forward. He was the one who started the conversation.
00:35:06
Maybe we should get divorced. He started. He started. And she was happy that he was the one who started the conversation.
00:35:15
But again, from what I heard from the parents, he took his words back several days later.
00:35:20
He changed his mind. But she didn't want to change. I mean, she was determined to get divorced.
00:35:25
Anastasia was secretly thrilled Mark brought up divorce first and she intended to file even though he changed his mind
00:35:33
There was just one little issue Adrian Her main concern was that she had a child
00:35:41
She was supposed to start working at the hospital The schedule at the hospital is very specific
00:35:45
You have to be there early and you finish very late So she was very concerned who was going to be taking the kids to school
00:35:53
and pick the kid back from school So she was trying to maintain the friendly relationship with the mother and maybe with the husband so that they in the future even though she going to divorce him
00:36:05
and move out, they still can try and help her in some way, maybe. Right. Anastasia was about to embark on a successful career as a doctor. She wanted to ditch the
00:36:17
dead weight of an unaccomplished husband, but she needed his help for the sake of their son.
00:36:24
The long hours that the job demanded conflicted with Adrian's school schedule, so Anastasia tried to maintain a good relationship
00:36:32
with Mark and his mom. It just wasn't easy. After graduation, she was like, okay, I don't need you anymore, attitude.
00:36:45
My friends I talked to, they said, she's going to dump him after she doesn't need him anymore.
00:36:52
I mean, that was the way his thinking was. But I could tell that they were going further and further apart.
00:37:01
Mark knew that Anastasia was preparing to move out. She told him as much. But he refused to accept it.
00:37:09
Instead, he would pick fights, usually about money, and often very petty. Living in a place he didn't want to be,
00:37:17
with a wife who clearly didn't love him, was wearing on him. and his mental state was starting to deteriorate.
00:37:23
They would fight a lot. And because, you know, she was a real screamer. She could be a drama queen, and she would provoke him,
00:37:32
and then they, you know, get into like a war zone. They were toxic for each other.
00:37:37
And Mark said he was feeling like he was being used. Mark felt like he was being used,
00:37:43
because after nine years of marriage, he was about to have jack shit to show for it.
00:37:48
He was a broke, 42-year-old, bipolar, unemployed man living with his elderly mother.
00:37:57
He had no career prospects and his wife was about to divorce him. So definitely the kind of guy that they give out popularity trophies to.
00:38:06
After everything he did for her, this is the thanks that he got. He felt like he was owed something, you know?
00:38:16
because like in the recent months there was police called to her house many times and she told me a
00:38:22
lot about all the situations at one during one of the situations she was hiding in the closet
00:38:27
because he was pursuing her in the house there was one point in time the recent time when
00:38:32
Anastasia had to like stand on her knees and beg him not to touch her because I mean he was raising
00:38:37
her arm and I was so embarrassed but they got in such a fight I mean she would provoke him because
00:38:45
They hated each other. And they knew they were getting a divorce. I can tell they both wanted out.
00:38:53
Three times the police had to respond to that home. One time, Mark was put on psychiatric hold.
00:38:59
The most recent time, Mark was arrested on an unrelated outstanding warrant. Anastasia couldn't have been more thrilled.
00:39:08
Anastasia was relieved. He was in jail. Yeah, and she thought, she asked her friend who's a lawyer,
00:39:17
and it said, because Mark has a bad track record, that he was going to be in until December 13th, and she was like relieved.
00:39:25
She said, well, maybe six months in jail will give him, he'll get straightened out and get his head together.
00:39:33
So she was relieved, and I was like, oh, God, no more fighting. Anna had read the release date on the sheriff's office website.
00:39:42
But it was inaccurate. The outstanding warrant was for unpaid child support. Oh yeah, Mark had another son many years earlier.
00:39:52
By this time, the kid was a full-grown 18-year-old man. Anyway, all Mark had to do was sign a promissory note saying he would pay back the child support.
00:40:03
And he was released. Anyway, he comes home, of course, he's even more furious because, you know, he's thinking, you know, she's ruined my life.
00:40:15
I have my track record. I'll never get another job. You know, he's really, really depressed. He didn't care about anything.
00:40:22
With Mark's return, Anastasia's fear grew. His erratic behavior and outbursts of anger were getting more frequent and more unpredictable.
00:40:33
She was frankly afraid of him. A couple of days ago, I said, one of my own knives.
00:40:39
And she says, I have him hidden under the bed. Would she just say, I'm afraid of him?
00:40:44
Yeah, she's afraid of him because you can tell that he hated her. And just when Anastasia thought it couldn't get any worse,
00:40:57
Mark found text messages between her and another man. So you're saying Mark saw the text messages?
00:41:04
Yeah, he saw some of the text messages, but they were very neutral. There was nothing romantic or nothing.
00:41:09
One of the text messages said that my husband was arrested again. Online it says that the release date is December, something like that.
00:41:18
Well, it's good because I'm going to have enough time to move out, and he's not going to prevent me from doing it.
00:41:24
Well, I don't think he thought that there was an affair, but the fact that maybe she was communicating with another man,
00:41:29
and they were talking about their relationship. Her living, I mean, he kind of knew that she was living.
00:41:35
In fact, it's going to happen. The text messages, of course, infuriated Mark. There was no way he could be in denial now.
00:41:44
The proof of Anastasia's betrayal was in writing, right before his eyes. He accused her of having an affair, the ultimate betrayal.
00:41:54
She tried to explain it was just a work colleague but Mark wasn buying it Needless to say Mark anger sent Anastasia fear and anxiety through the roof
00:42:06
So, yeah, she would normally lock herself in the room, especially like during the night.
00:42:10
The last couple of weeks or maybe a week that he asked her not to lock the door.
00:42:19
That he convinced her that he would sleep on the kid's bed. He was pressing. He was trying to convince her that he's not going to give any trouble to her.
00:42:30
And I don't know why, but she unlocked the door. Despite her fear, Anastasia unlocked the door and allowed Mark to sleep in the room.
00:42:40
She was just tired of arguing and gave in. She would be gone soon anyway, after her first paycheck.
00:42:48
She would have a place of her own. besides she never thought he was capable of well anything really but certainly not hurting her
00:42:59
while she slept next to their son she always thought that he's a coward he's not capable of
00:43:04
like doing it in cold blood she never thought that um she would i mean he would do it when
00:43:10
she's asleep or like the child is um next to her i mean she was like she was mistaken i mean
00:43:17
She was mistaken. You know how they say hindsight is 20-20? Well, after Anastasia's untimely death,
00:43:29
the events of the days preceding took on a whole new ominous overtone. The night before Mark was pacing in the room and staring at her while she was sleeping.
00:43:41
And she said that was kind of freaky and she just turned over. she woke up in the middle of the night
00:43:47
and she saw him standing by her bed looking at her so and she asked him why are you here
00:43:55
looking at me and he said that I cannot fall asleep you know because he hasn't been sleeping
00:44:02
and she said that's kind of strange he's been staring there watching me sleep and now I think
00:44:10
he must have been planning it Two nights earlier, Mark was pacing and watching Anastasia sleep.
00:44:19
At the time, it was weird, but now it's downright scary. The next night, Grandma Barb also noticed some strange behavior from Mark.
00:44:29
So I did notice something strange when she mentioned that, too. He's making me nervous and pacing, walking back and forth, like something's going through his mind.
00:44:40
And I was like... While Adrian was sitting on the couch watching Spongebob, Mark was in the background, pacing, contemplating the murder of his wife.
00:44:52
When the movie was over, Adrian took his sleep gummy and crawled into bed with his father.
00:44:59
Grandma Barb went to sleep around midnight. Mark heard her shut the bedroom door.
00:45:05
He lay there in the room with his family, but he didn't sleep. his mind was racing through every little wrong
00:45:13
Anastasia had ever committed against him he played out his future without her no house, no wife, no kid, no family, no life
00:45:26
with everything gone he had nothing to lose his mind was unraveling and then all of a sudden Mark opens the door
00:45:38
and he says, I killed Anastasia. Like, look what I did. And I was like, oh my God.
00:45:48
And he says, come here, look. Look, I killed her and he grabbed her arm and said, see?
00:45:53
Like that. You picked her arm up and fell to the floor? Well, no, no, no. She was already on the floor.
00:45:58
Right. But I mean, he just wanted to kind of turn her head this way to see that she was dead.
00:46:04
At 4 a.m., Mark burst into his mother's room and told her what he'd done. He'd killed Anastasia.
00:46:13
By this time, Adrian was awake, probably rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he witnessed his father dragging his mother's limp body
00:46:22
out of bed and down the hall. He says, I want to call the police. I'm going to jail.
00:46:29
Mark said that to you. Yeah, it was like he had a plan. It was like he has no life.
00:46:36
his problems are over. Yeah, his problems are over. Right. And he was like, I'm proud of it.
00:46:43
Look what I did. After Mark told his mother what he did, he dragged Anastasia further down the hall
00:46:50
and into the living room. Barb didn't hesitate for a moment. Adrian is in the room,
00:46:57
and the first thing I thought about was Adrian. Right. and I I went in the room and I got Adrian
00:47:09
I said Adrian let's go in the bathroom and Adrian like says I saw blood and oh god Adrian
00:47:16
Grandma Barb took Adrian to the bathroom and locked the door she wasn't sure what he'd already seen
00:47:23
but she didn't want him to see anything else she was also afraid of Mark she clearly didn't know what he was capable of
00:47:31
Oh, yes, yes, please. Mark just kills his wife. Please, please, Tom. How do you do it?
00:47:40
I don't know, with the knife. She's here, yes. Where's the knife right now? Hi. If you missed it, in the background, you can hear Mark asking for the phone.
00:47:53
That cordial and calm voice at the end saying, hi, yes, that was Mark. His voice sounds so much like his mother's that the operator didn't even realize he was on the call.
00:48:05
I don't want my son to see. I killed my wife. Okay. Where is he right now? I put her on the floor for the blanket over.
00:48:18
My son is in the bathroom for my mother. Do you know how long ago this happened?
00:48:26
I just killed her probably about like 10 minutes ago. Does he still have the knife right now?
00:48:33
No, I hit her with the hammer. Wait, I'm sorry, you're the one who did this? Yes, I killed her.
00:48:41
Mark was calm and matter-of-fact. His demeanor wasn't what you'd expect from a man who just murdered his wife.
00:48:49
He almost sounded relieved. And you don't have the knife on you anymore? The hammer.
00:48:56
I did not have a knife. I killed her with the hammer. Oh, okay, sorry. Okay. And she's not breathing, right?
00:49:04
No, she's dead. Okay. She's got to clean up the blood and everything. I don't want my son to see it.
00:49:10
How old is your son? She's seven. I feel bad. Is there a reason that you did this?
00:49:18
Yeah, because she was going to leave me. Okay. Are you feeling any thoughts yourself of hurting yourself at all?
00:49:27
No. No. No. No. If some arrest me, I'll spend the rest of my life in jail. I want to say bye to my son.
00:49:34
Because I'll never see him again. Let me say bye to Adrian. Let me say bye to Adrian.
00:49:42
Who are you talking to? My mom. You're in bed? I love you, okay? I love you, okay?
00:49:48
Where are you going? Where is he? Huh? Where are you going, Dad? Daddy's going to jail. I love you, okay?
00:49:57
Are you in contact with the officers? Mark said goodbye to his son and walked outside.
00:50:04
Officers arrived for the fourth time in as many months and arrested Mark without incident.
00:50:11
I'm here. I'm here. No reason for weapons. It's out of the ground doing that. Yes, sir.
00:50:18
When detectives got around to interviewing Mark, it was around 8 a.m. The orange glow from the streetlights in the parking lot had since been replaced by the early morning sun,
00:50:29
picking over trees in the east. Inside, Mark sat calmly, as he didn't have a care in the world.
00:50:37
But his deep-set eyes stared forward with a terrifying intensity. I was looking at her, and I was just thinking, she's so evil.
00:50:47
How could she? Why do you think she's evil? Because she turned on me. she lied to me
00:50:52
she broke my heart what is she lying to you about we were supposed to be with each other forever
00:51:01
we were supposed to move in the apartment she backstabbed me betrayed me it seemed like she
00:51:12
had to plan the whole time and she ended up using me I guess you know You know, it was hurtful.
00:51:21
How could she do that to me on the day she graduates? I'm just a very unstable person.
00:51:30
I just float from one place to another. You know, I just, I can't control my emotions.
00:51:37
It's hard being bipolar because your emotions go this way and they go that way. and like, you know, I'm good, I'm good, I'm bad, I'm bad,
00:51:49
I'm good, I'm good, I'm bad, I'm bad. But I know I'm absolutely freaking nuts because that raises me a hand.
00:51:56
What did you use? Oh, I used a hammer. I didn't want to do it. I really didn't. I just, I was saying to this, the voices,
00:52:11
I was just like, do it, do it, do it, do it. And I'd walk up, put the hammer, close to her head,
00:52:19
and I'd walk away, and then close my eyes, and close my eyes, and I just did it.
00:52:25
Why the hammer, though? I hate knives. I don't do it with a knife. Okay. Was there anything special about it, or, I mean, anything?
00:52:38
No. It was spontaneous. I hate knives. I don't want her to scream in front of my kid.
00:52:44
I don't want to see my kid hacking her to death. You hit somebody in the head with a fucking hammer, they're out.
00:52:51
That's it, you're out. You hit somebody in the head with a baseball bat, they're out.
00:52:56
That night, as Anastasia and Adrian slept, Mark got a hammer from his mother's toolkit.
00:53:03
It was old and missing one of its claws in the back. Mark held the hammer inches from Anastasia's head, his mind in conflict with itself.
00:53:15
Do it. Don't do it. Do it. Don't do it. Do it. Don't do it. Do it. Don't do it. Do it. Don't do it.
00:53:23
Don't do it. He tried to work up the courage to kill her, but his mind kept backing him out of it each time.
00:53:45
Then, suddenly, he swung. Anastasia's skull cracked open. like the shell of an egg.
00:53:54
I know she gonna die because I can see the gashes and the blood in her head I could see like a piece of brain sticking out and shit So you know she made noise
00:54:06
I'm like, Adrian, she's snoring, turn around, go back to sleep. I pulled her out very quickly.
00:54:13
I remember pulling her out very quickly. And then I had to shingle her to put her out of her misery.
00:54:19
When Mark grabbed her by the ankles and dragged her from bed, a trail of blood was left behind from the gaping hole in her head.
00:54:28
He stopped for a moment to show his mother what he did and then continued to the living room.
00:54:33
Then he wrapped an electrical cord around her neck and finished her off. And I did it very quick.
00:54:40
I did it very quick and I was very slick. And I said something to her, but I'd rather not say it.
00:54:47
Okay, that's good. I'll say it because I don't give a fuck. I'm going to let your chair anyways.
00:54:51
I said, you tore my heart out and you destroyed our family. So I wanted to stop and be together.
00:55:03
Mark was ricocheting between manic explanation and crippling sadness to the point where he could barely talk.
00:55:12
Even though he was crying, his words showed no remorse. he didn't feel guilty about killing Anastasia or traumatizing Adrian for life.
00:55:22
He confessed to what he did, but his explanation of why would show just how twisted his mind had become.
00:55:45
A nightmarish scene unfolded in the early morning hours of June 28, 2018. Seven-year-old Adrian's innocent mind tried to rationalize the horror,
00:56:15
believing his mother simply had a boo-boo, and that his father was just trying to help her.
00:56:21
Anastasia was an immigrant who moved to this country, learned English, and pursued her dream of becoming a doctor.
00:56:28
Mark, troubled since youth, struggled with his mental health and addiction into adulthood,
00:56:35
but tried to provide for Anastasia and Adrian. But after Anastasia's graduation, everything changed.
00:56:43
She acted as if she didn't need him anymore. But she was just really fed up with all of his failures.
00:56:50
Mark saw this as a betrayal, and in the following weeks, his mental health started to unravel.
00:56:57
The paranoia took over. I mean, basically, I supported her for 10 years while she went to medical school.
00:57:07
and, you know, paid all the bills and everything, you know. And then, you know, once I lost my job and everything,
00:57:15
things started to get very sour. And then she ended up graduating school. She was, you know, she became a doctor.
00:57:23
Mark is sitting across from the detective, looking tired and speaking softly. His life with Anastasia had fallen apart,
00:57:31
and he feels like she destroyed it completely. He's trying to explain how everything unraveled and his voice shakes as he does.
00:57:40
The day that she graduated, she didn't come up, hug or kiss me or anything. She went directly to her friend.
00:57:46
She completely ignored me and blew me off. And I was just heartbroken by that because we were so close.
00:57:52
Like, I was like, I don't want you anymore. You're stupid. You're an idiot. Like, she would always undermine me and everything.
00:57:59
I just don't, I was like completely blindsided by it, you know. I was destroyed. I was hurt, you know?
00:58:07
Mark expected gratitude on Anastasia's graduation day, a sign that all of his sacrifices were appreciated.
00:58:15
Instead, in his eyes, she betrayed him. When she walked past him with her success in hand,
00:58:23
that moment was the final straw. The deep love they once shared had curdled into jealousy and resentment.
00:58:31
Mark admits that something inside him was breaking slowly, steadily. He couldn't control it.
00:58:40
He paced in the dark, dwelling on her perceived betrayal. His mental state, already fragile from years of bipolar swings,
00:58:48
was unraveling faster than he could grasp. I just, the last few days have been pacing.
00:58:55
I can't concentrate. I have the devil inside my head. I'm just, you know, like, I'm just, like, kill her, kill her, like, kill her.
00:59:08
She's going to leave you. I don't want her to leave me. I love her. I'd rather have her dead than her leave me.
00:59:19
The admission comes out slowly, the weight of his words heavy in the room. marks mental state shifts between love and violence, need and control.
00:59:31
In his fractured mind, killing her was the only way to keep her. If he couldn't have her, no one would.
00:59:39
We all know how it goes. You know, I looked at her phone and she's talking to another guy and she's cheating on me.
00:59:47
How do you know she's cheating on you? Oh gosh, like sweetie and you know, all the, you know, all I'm blushing, you know what I mean?
00:59:55
Okay So then when you read the text messages um and I just want to to understand you felt sad but what else did you feel when you saw her saying sweetie
01:00:06
Oh, I felt angry. Okay. And this voice is my head. It's time. It's time. It's time. It's time.
01:00:17
Mark's jealousy boiled over. In reality, there was no affair, but Mark's mind twisted the truth, turning innocent texts into evidence of infidelity.
01:00:29
Or maybe it's because he can't read that well. Either way, he couldn't control his emotions anymore.
01:00:37
The voices in his head grew louder, more relentless, until they drowned out everything else.
01:00:43
I see a lot of black. I see a lot of shadows. I see it's coming towards me. I see black crows.
01:00:52
That's all I wanted. It was just a family. That's all I wanted. I'm 42 years old.
01:00:58
I don't have another chance at a family. That's all I wanted. I didn't want to lose her.
01:01:09
She's so mean to me. She's so mean to me. If she can't have a family with me, she cannot have a family with anybody else.
01:01:17
and now it's it. Mark's confession teeters between self-pity and delusion. He blames his mental illness,
01:01:25
claiming to see shadows and black crows. Yet, he can't admit that his possessiveness and fear
01:01:32
destroyed everything he wanted. A family, stability, love, everything. She betrayed me.
01:01:43
You don't sit there with somebody for 11 years, married for nine years have a child
01:01:50
and a family let me support her I supported her I was so proud of her every time I talk to everyone
01:01:59
I'm like my wife's going to be a doctor she had a beautiful future in front of her
01:02:04
but that beautiful future was supposed to be with me the pain in his voice is real but twisted by
01:02:12
possessiveness Mark didn't see Anastasia as an independent woman as an equal. Instead, he saw her as a part of himself, a token, a status symbol.
01:02:26
And now that part was leaving him. Her betrayal wasn't just personal, it was the destruction
01:02:33
of his identity. Without her, he was nothing. You know, the person did warn her. I mean, she was very afraid of him.
01:02:43
and she should have left him a long time ago. We tried to persuade her to move out of the house.
01:02:52
We said, why don't you divorce him? I mean, we're going to help you. We're going to pull out paperwork together.
01:02:59
We're going to help you. And she would say that, I'm scared because I brought this issue up several times
01:03:05
and he always told me, if you're going to divorce me, you'll see what's going to happen.
01:03:10
You know, somebody helping you pay through college is not worth the trauma or the hell you go through.
01:03:17
I don't know why she was so desperate. Well, that was, Mark was her, it sounds like her only reason to be in the country.
01:03:26
That's right. She's from Russia. That's right. If they're married, if she leaves, then she needed her citizenship.
01:03:32
So that's it. And then she doesn't need him anymore. Right. Well, she got her citizenship.
01:03:38
She's pretty much good to go. Yeah, yeah. from the outside it was clear to everyone anastasia could have left mark long ago but she
01:03:48
stayed she needed mark but she didn't realize how much he needed her i think that he just couldn't
01:03:56
accept the fact that she's going to be a successful doctor she's going to move out of that house and
01:04:02
she's going to leave him to live his miserable life with his mom because he knew he's going to
01:04:06
have no future. He has no job. He had criminal history. And he just couldn't let it happen.
01:04:14
I killed her. I killed her. That's it. That's it. There's nothing afterwards. I deserve to go to
01:04:21
the penitentiary. You know, with the hardest motherfuckers on earth. They probably beat the
01:04:25
shit out of me and rape me. But I deserve that. I don't give a fuck. You know what?
01:04:31
You reap what you sold, you know? There's a strange acceptance in Mark's words. he's resigned to his fate
01:04:39
knowing the only thing left for him is punishment yet even now he feels justified
01:04:45
as if Anastasia's betrayal warranted the murder the conversation shifts to Adrian
01:04:52
the other victim of his actions Mark despite his confessions doesn't fully comprehend what he's done to his son
01:05:01
I get to the bathroom I was going to say to my son, I go, Adrian, I love you. I got to go.
01:05:09
And he said, Daddy, where are you going? Like, you know, he doesn't know a thing.
01:05:16
You know, he didn't know what happened, you know. And I'm like, I love you. He's like, I love you too, Daddy.
01:05:24
Bye-bye. That's the last time I'll ever see him. He's convinced that Adrian doesn't understand and that he didn't see.
01:05:33
but he did. He saw everything. The house they all shared wasn't that big. When Mark dragged Anastasia's body from the bedroom to the living room,
01:05:46
he was only five feet away. Adrian had to step over his dead mother to get to Grandma Barb's bathroom.
01:05:55
How could he not see everything Anastasia body lay right there eyes vacant with an extension cord wrapped around her neck you don think your son didn see this no you honestly think that
01:06:12
i know so oh you don't know so because your son's blocking stuff out and with the trauma that's gonna he's gonna go through the rest of his life
01:06:20
I know and I understand I feel very guilty about that I don't think you feel guilty about that
01:06:26
I do I think right now you're kind of you've been cooperative up to this point which is very good
01:06:34
because you're being honest I'm here about the facts but my main thing is is the respect for your son
01:06:40
I love my son very much if you love your son that much then I'm trying to understand that
01:06:47
how the equative love versus what you just put your son through. He didn't see that much.
01:06:54
Mark can't face the truth. The trauma will stay with Adrian forever, but Mark is too far gone to accept it.
01:07:03
He loves his son, but his actions have destroyed any chance at normalcy. I want to tell you that...
01:07:12
Oh, God. I feel so, so bad for my son. I feel horrible that I committed this crime.
01:07:33
I did not want her to destroy my family. She ripped apart my heart. But I'm the one that destroyed it.
01:07:45
Kill me. Sir, it... Mark's greatest fear, that his family would fall apart, became a reality.
01:08:12
But not because of Anastasia. He destroyed it himself. He did a good job, ensuring that Adrian would grow up without either parent present.
01:08:24
Mark didn't get the death penalty. He was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree premeditated murder for the death of his wife.
01:08:32
Adrian was left in the custody of Grandma Barb until 2019, when Anastasia's parents adopted him and took him back to Belarus.
01:08:42
Grandma Barb passed away from natural causes on February 9, 2024, at the age of 90.
01:08:50
Mark and Anastasia's relationship was built on a strong foundation. As Anastasia became more independent and needed Mark less, he felt like he was losing his purpose.
01:09:03
When he lost his job and saw Anastasia succeed, he couldn't see a future with her
01:09:09
and made a drastic decision driven by fear and resentment. He felt that losing her meant losing everything that defined him,
01:09:19
leaving him with nothing to lose. It wasn't love, it was toxic dependency that led to Anastasia's death.
01:09:29
It blurred the lines between love, control, and possession. Mark believed it would hold them together,
01:09:36
but it ultimately tore them apart. leaving devastation that even Adrian couldn't escape.
01:09:44
Adrian witnessed his mother's murder and was caught in the crossfire of his parents' toxic relationship,
01:09:51
leaving invisible scars that may never heal. He may never fully understand why his father did what he did,
01:09:59
but he'll carry the weight of that night with him forever. Every memory of his parents once tied to love and safety
01:10:08
will be shadowed by violence and loss. The childhood innocence that allowed him to rationalize his mother's boo-boo
01:10:18
is gone, replaced by a reality far too heavy for a child to bear. As he grows older, the ripple effects of that night will likely shape his relationships,
01:10:32
his sense of trust, and his understanding of love, forcing him to navigate life haunted by the actions of those
01:10:41
who were supposed to protect him the most. That story was written by our senior producer, Evan Zegelman.
01:11:10
If you like it, you'll find a whole lot more like it at swordandscale.com. I'm sorry.
01:12:00
I'm I'm out.