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Episode 234

February 19, 2023 /

This episode of Sword and Scale covers the tragic double homicide of Cynthia and Sean Stack in Orlando, Florida, linked to a theft involving personal banker Amelia Bassoon and her husband Josh Ramsami. The episode discusses themes of betrayal, financial exploitation, and the consequences of a toxic marriage.

The story begins with a 911 call made by a neighbor who discovered Cynthia Stack unresponsive in her apartment. The investigation reveals that Cynthia and her son Sean were murdered after Cynthia began asking questions about $50,000 missing from her father Gerald Stack's account, which had been stolen by Amelia.

Amelia, a personal banker, had convinced Gerald, a dementia patient, to issue checks made out to her son instead of his grandson. After the theft was discovered, Cynthia sought answers, leading to her and Sean's tragic deaths.

As detectives question Amelia and Josh, both attempt to shift blame onto each other. Amelia eventually admits that Josh killed Cynthia and Sean after they hired someone to intimidate them into silence about the stolen money.

The episode concludes with the couple facing serious legal consequences, highlighting the devastating impact of their actions on the Stack family and the broader implications of their choices.

TLDR

Amelia Bassoon and Josh Ramsami's theft leads to the double murder of Cynthia and Sean Stack in Orlando, Florida.

Episode

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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. We just got done talking with your husband, and I will tell you exactly what I told him.
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You are throwing him under the bus, he's throwing you under the bus. One of you is one of the world's worst people.
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Hello, lovers of true crime. This is Season 10, Episode 234 of Sword and Scale A show that reveals that the worst monsters are real
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Well, happy Valentine's Day We have a very, very special love-themed episode for you.
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How exciting. A wonderful episode to snuggle up with your boo and listen to, who you've already threatened with violence if they don't listen to your favorite podcast with you,
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and enjoy some chocolate treats. You know? Hopefully he got you some. Otherwise, there may be someone other than the protagonist in this story getting murdered tonight.
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All right, that's enough foreplay. Let's get down to business, shall we? The worst prison in the world is a home without peace.
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So be careful who you marry. This quote has been recently attributed to actor Johnny Depp,
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even though he's not really the first person to say it. You may have heard of Mr. Depp.
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He is or was kind of famous. And in May and June of 2022, he was in the news quite a bit.
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Something about defamation and a shitty marriage. Anyway, regardless of who first warned others to be careful about who they chose to marry,
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it's good advice. In some cases, a bad marriage can absolutely feel like a prison sentence.
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And when this happens, walking away from one's spouse is usually much easier said than done.
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A husband or wife might feel trapped and decide to stay in what has become an unhealthy and unbearable relationship.
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Maybe their reasons involve finance. Maybe it's for the children. Maybe it's just an overwhelming sense of obligation to live up to some family traditions or your own promises.
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Whatever the reason, many unhappy spouses have chosen to remain in their self-made prison.
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But in other, more extreme cases, a marriage can be so bad and so lacking in all the things that make up a strong relationship
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that it can lead to a very real and very long stay in an actual prison, where the only thing a person is committed to for life is their prison cell walls.
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July 18th, 2018 was a hot and muggy day in the city of Orlando, Florida. That morning, a young woman stepped out of her apartment to do what she did most mornings, walk her dog.
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But before she would even make it out of her apartment complex, her day became anything but typical.
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Just a few steps from her front door, this young lady ended up making a phone call to 911.
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Hi, this is you, 911. This is Jocelyn. You being recorded? Hey, how you doing, man?
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My next door neighbor, she was like, her front door was wide open. My dog was picking her up, so she was running over to the door,
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So I said, come back over here, Bella. And I've seen the next door's neighbor. Her nose is bleeding.
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She unresponsive. Okay. She's just sitting on the couch, and her door is wide open.
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Okay. And you said that, is this a house or an apartment? Apartment. Okay. So it's just her in the apartment?
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Yes, ma'am. Okay. Does it look like she was maybe injured by someone, or does it look like she was maybe
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sick, or? I really don't know. I just want to make sure she's okay. And she is not moving, ma'am, and she looks purple.
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Not long after this 911 call was placed, Orlando police responded to the scene, and their investigation ultimately led them to question a different young woman named Amelia Bassoon.
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All right, Amelia. So how long have you lived at that house over there? We lived in June, either June or July. We just purchased that home.
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Okay. It's a big home. Yeah, we just moved here from New York. Oh really We in New York From Queens Queens Yeah And you married you said your husband name is Joshua Where are you working right now I work for Chase in Pine Hills How
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will you work for Chase for? December will be three years, I believe. Any issues while you're
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working at Chase? No, I got a write-up recently. You did? Yeah. What happened? I issued two checks
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for a customer, and I got a write-up for that because they weren't in the branch.
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25-year-old Amelia worked as a personal banker at Chase Bank in Orlando, and she had recently
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been given a written warning for issuing two $25,000 cashier's checks for a client that
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was not present in the bank when she issued them. This was, of course, against the bank's policy, as the client always needs to be present when
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money is taken out of their account. What was the name of the customer? Gerald. Do you know his last name?
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Stack, I think. I mean, had you been a banker for him for a while? Yeah, so I've been his banker since I moved here.
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How did he appear to you? Is he a young guy, old guy? He's old. How did he appear to you when you talked to him?
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He was okay. He was okay? Yeah. Did he ever have any issues when you talked to him about remembering things or anything like that?
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No, he told me he had brains. I know a little about himself. He had brain surgery.
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So what happened with these checks? I think I should call them. I have the record over global security.
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They wanted to make sure that I wasn't, like, I guess, stealing. 73-year-old Gerald Stack was a military veteran that suffered from dementia.
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And he trusted Amelia, as she had been his banker for a few years. Despite his mental issues, Gerald was aware that his health was in decline
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and that he might be on borrowed time. Should the worst happen, Gerald wanted to set aside some money for his grandson.
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So Amelia convinced Gerald to put $50,000 into a very special account. When he came in to get the cashier's checks,
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who were they made out to? The grandson? No, they were made out to my son, Julian Hewick.
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Really? Yeah. Why is that? So he didn't want his son and grandson to have the funds right away.
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So he said that if we can keep the funds and just keep it safe for him. Why did he write it in your son's name?
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I put it in my son's name. So he didn't ask you to do that? No. I want to make sure I sum this up right.
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So you convinced a 73-year-old man with a lot of money. Did he talk to you about giving his grandson $50,000?
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He did, yes. Okay. And so when he's talking about giving this $50,000 to his grandson,
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you convinced him to take that money and put it in your son's name and put it in an account and hold on to him.
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Yes. Essentially, Amelia persuaded this elderly, trusting, and disabled man to issue two $25,000 checks to her son.
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And the agreement was that Amelia would hold on to those checks for safekeeping.
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Shockingly, Amelia didn't keep those checks safe. Instead, she gave them to her husband.
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Where did you put them? My husband took them. And what did he do with them? I guess he opened an account with them.
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Where? I don't know. And what were you supposed to do with the checks? Keep them until his grand, he told me his grand son, he didn't know, so.
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Did he tell you that yet? Mm-hmm. So you gave the money back already? No. Where's the money?
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My husband, I guess he used it, I don't know if he has, I don't know what happened.
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Amelia and her husband, 28-year-old Josh Ramsami, were newlyweds. They had been married for less than a year.
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When Amelia gave Gerald's checks to Josh, he opened a new account at Bank of America and deposited them.
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Then, the two of them quickly began spending that money. They bought home appliances, they paid off some credit card bills,
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covered their mortgage payments, and even purchased a shiny new laptop. So we trusted you this money and you were supposed to give it back to him at some point in time?
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Yes, sir. Yeah, but you spent it. Is that the good thing to do? No, sir. How are you going to pay him back?
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Over time, I guess. Well, that money was for his grandson. In a sense. What do you mean in a sense?
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I mean in a sense, yeah. But he did give me permission to put the check in my sense.
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But you didn't give your permission to spend it? I guess not. Well, we've talked to Gerald, right?
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Gerald can barely tell you what day it is, okay? So, and anybody who talks to him should know that.
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He has mental issues. Right now, you look like somebody who wanted to steal from a confused old man.
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Amelia didn't just look like someone that wanted to steal money from a confused old man.
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She was someone that did steal money from a confused old man. And the way she went about it was pretty clever.
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In an attempt to cover her tracks, Amelia had added a computerized note to Gerald's bank account.
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and this note explained that Gerald had mental issues and would frequently forget about purchases he made and money he withdrew.
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Of course, anyone taking a close look at the account would see that Amelia was the one who added this note.
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To avoid that, Amelia convinced a co-worker to let her use their login. Were you at the teller line or were you at your desk?
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At my desk. At your desk. Okay, so Amelia came over to you at your desk. And she said she wanted to borrow my computer to put notes in the system because her system went down.
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So I was busy with that customer. She typed the notes in the system. Do you know what she typed in the system?
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I don't know what she typed in the system. Obviously the theft of Mr Stack money wasn something that just happened It was a well and premeditated operation Interestingly despite that Amelia boss notified the bank security and even though Amelia had been
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investigated, she did not lose her job. Chase didn't fire her, and they didn't report any of
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their findings to the police. Which reminds me, I need to change bank accounts immediately.
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So when you were made aware that Amelia had done these two transactions for $25,000 each and you had told her not to, what did you do next?
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I went into the account and I reviewed it myself. So you reviewed the account as well?
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Correct. Okay. And did that indicate anything to you? Well, it indicated that she avoided getting someone else involved.
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Sure. Okay. Which was suspicious. Okay. So what step did you take next then? I submitted a global security investigation.
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Okay. Did she get suspended or how did the investigation turn out? She was placed on a written warning.
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A written warning, okay. The reason that Amelia didn't get fired was because the savvy security at Chase Bank
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didn't put it together that the two checks were written out to Amelia's son. She wasn't fired for stealing her client's money because nobody knew that she stole it.
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Amelia only received a written warning for issuing two checks without a customer being present in the bank, and that was it.
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She had seemingly gotten away with it. That is, until one of Gerald's family members
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noticed that the money was missing from Gerald's account. Do you know any of Gerald's family members?
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I know his grandson who came to open the account. And I know he has a daughter. His daughter's name is Cindy.
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She had called me. She called you? Mm-hmm. Okay. And what did she say to you? She asked about the checks.
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Mm-hmm. That was really it. How many times did she call you? She called me that day.
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Mm-hmm. She called me the day after. Mm-hmm. I think she skipped a day and called me one day after that as well.
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This is only your cell phone? Yes, my cell phone. In case you didn't know, it is not common practice for a personal banker
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to give out their cell phone number to family members of their clients. For obvious reasons, Amelia didn't want Gerald's daughter calling the bank,
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so she convinced Cynthia to call her cell phone instead. I want to see that I'm not this person.
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If I can pay him back the money, I can give him everything back. Well, I think that's kind of what happened with Cindy, wasn't it?
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She was pushing for that money to get returned, wasn't she? Was she going to call the police?
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No. She was just like... She was going to make a report? No. The last time she was supposed to call me back, last week, Friday, I believe.
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And I haven't heard from her since then. Do you think it's unusual that Cindy hasn't called you since then?
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Do you think she just stopped? Well, she had told me that she was going to reach back out to me Friday.
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So today's Thursday. It's been almost a week that she hasn't reached out to you at all.
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Have you reached out to her? 52-year-old Cynthia Stack lived in a small apartment with her 22-year-old son, Sean Stack,
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and the two of them were the only people caring for elderly and disabled Gerald.
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But on the morning of July 18th, one of Cynthia's neighbors saw that the apartment door was left wide open.
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When this neighbor peered into the apartment, she saw Cynthia on her living room couch.
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And I've seen the next door neighbor. Her nose is bleeding. She unresponsive. Okay.
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She's just sitting on the couch, and her door is wide open. Is this a house or an apartment?
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Apartment. Okay, so it's just her in the apartment? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Does it look like she was maybe injured by someone, or does it look like she was maybe sick, or...?
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I really don't know. I just want to make sure she's okay. And she is not moving, ma'am, and she looks purple.
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Oh, God. Okay. All right, hang on one second. I'm going to transfer you over to the paramedics so they can give you instructions, okay?
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After this 911 call was placed, Orlando police arrived on the scene, and they quickly determined that Cynthia Stack was dead.
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She'd been shot in the head, and the police also found something else. Or rather, someone else.
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So she didn't go all the way in. We didn't know there was a second one in there.
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Did it look like gunshot? Yeah. Well, I just haven't moved her or anything. They're still checking her. One in the back is totally covered in blood.
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male in the bathroom. After walking further into the home, the police found Gerald's
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22-year-old son, Sean Stack, dead on the bathroom floor. He was covered in blood, and
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he'd also been shot to death. As the police continued processing the scene, they questioned
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many of the apartment complex residents. Before long, the events surrounding this double murder
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started to become a little more clear. I heard the gunshot. It was really, like, slow.
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Like, someone was, like, shooting and trying to aim. I could hear it. And after that, you could hear the tire
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and the streets and all. We looked outside and we seen the door was still open. You know, with nobody out here.
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Okay. We didn't actually see the car. In the early morning hours of July 18, 2018,
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someone had gunned down Gerald Stack's daughter Cynthia and his grandson Sean. The killer or killers apparently left in a
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hurry leaving the apartment door wide open and screeching their car tires as they fled. Police
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say a man and woman found dead in an Orlando apartment complex yesterday morning are a mother
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and her son Cynthia Stack and her son Sean Stack were found in their home on West Jefferson Street The cause of their deaths has not been released but police say it is being investigated as a double homicide Following the discovery of Cynthia and Sean bodies
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the Orlando Police Department quickly learned that Gerald Stack was Cynthia's father.
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From there, all they had to do was follow the money. and it led all the way back to 25-year-old personal banker Amelia Bassoon and her husband Josh.
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On July 18, 2018, the dead bodies of 52-year-old Cynthia Stack and her 22-year-old son Sean Stack were found in their Orlando, Florida apartment.
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Both Cynthia and Sean had been ruthlessly gunned down in their own home, and the killer or killers had left in a hurry.
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Aside from Cynthia's 73-year-old father, the only other surviving family member was Cynthia's daughter, Emily.
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It's never anything Emily Rivera ever imagined having to deal with. Her brother, Sean Stack, and mom, Cynthia Stack, killed on July 18th inside their Paramore apartment.
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Always trying to spread her love to other people. Always trying to help other people.
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She was just the weirdest woman. After the cold-blooded murders of her mother and older brother, 19-year-old Emily was left to fend for herself.
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The GoFundMe that was set up for her reads as follows. My best friend Emily, a 19-year-old college student, needs your support.
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Earlier this year, she dealt with the tragic loss of her father, and on July 18th, her beautiful, selfless, loving mother and brother
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were taken from us in a cold-blooded act of violence, leaving Emily completely alone in the world.
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She must now find out how to survive with the challenge of balancing school and her traumas.
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Her world has been completely turned around, and she's now trapped in a void of uncertainty surrounding the loss of her family.
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As Emily was dealing with the trauma of unexpectedly losing two members of her family in a brutal double homicide,
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the police continued investigating the crime. They eventually learned that Cynthia Stack had recently been asking questions about the $50,000 that was missing from her father's bank account
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and that she had been directing those questions at her father's banker, 25-year-old Amelia Bassoon.
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Before long, homicide detectives brought Amelia in for questioning, and after playing coy, she eventually admitted that she had stolen Mr. Stack's money and given it to her husband.
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interestingly at the start of this interview amelia seemed unaware that mr stack's daughter
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and grandson had been murdered i think you need to start understanding that how this interview goes
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and where what you know what decisions you make here are going to affect your life for a long long
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long time there's a lot more going on here all right and you know whose name is all over this
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right now you you didn't just hand joshua two twenty five thousand dollar checks he said oh
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okay, it went and opened a Bank of America account. That didn't happen. Well, don't listen.
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When we came in here, you're like, oh, it's Josh. Uh-huh. All right, you're spending money like it's going out of style.
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All right, his money. You're the one who figured this whole thing out. You're the one who put this together.
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You understand what I'm saying? This isn't Josh's idea. This is your idea. So Josh is not the mastermind of this.
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You are. When it came to the stolen money, Amelia was more than willing to throw her husband, Josh, under the bus.
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But the cops that were questioning her didn't usually investigate financial crimes.
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They were two homicide detectives. They investigated murders, and they wanted to know exactly how involved Amelia's husband became
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when Cynthia started asking questions about the stolen money. Okay, so he knew that they were asking about it?
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No, he knew. He knew about it. He knew about the situation in general. What was his response to it?
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What was he saying when he told them, hey, Cindy's asking questions about this? I think he was just like, why?
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What does she want to know? He's normally there when I talk to her sometimes. But I would imagine, like, for two people like you
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that have never been in trouble in your lives, that's going to cause you some stress, wouldn't it?
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Because, like, hey, we have a family member, and you guys knew that you would spend money.
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Yeah, of course. I mean, we never said the fact that she kept calling us, but we didn't think anything of it.
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What could she do? Because it's not her account. It's not her money. It's not her anything.
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Amelia continued to play coy. and detectives kept pressing her. If her husband Josh was somehow involved in the murders,
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Amelia must have known something about it. If Josh screwed up, he screwed up. That's not on you.
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Anything you know about that, we need to know about. I don't want to go to jail.
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I don't want to. Tell us, listen, you have to trust us. I don't want to get in trouble for any of this.
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We know you didn't do this. I don't want to get in trouble for any of this. Nothing to do with me.
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What did he do? it's possible josh went over there and you didn't know i mean how would he know where they lived
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though um that's not the question i was asking is it possible that he went over there not that i
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know no so you don't you can't say for sure he did or didn't i can say no how can you say no
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because he doesn't know where they he doesn't know that Repeat after me. Women do not receive favorable treatment in the criminal justice system.
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Did Josh do something that he wasn't supposed to do? Not that I know of. Is it possible?
00:24:11
No. How many guns does Josh have? Amelia's husband owned at least two handguns, one of which had been fired a few months before this interview
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when Josh accidentally shot himself in the leg. Yes, we are dealing with a real criminal mastermind here.
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The other gun, the one that police were more interested in, Josh had purchased from a pawn shop just days before Cynthia and Sean Stack were killed.
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And you don't know where his gun is now? No, I don't even know where it was to be in my...
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But he showed it to you? I saw it, yeah. You saw it? That's how I found out about it.
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I saw it. Where was it when you saw it? It was in a holster. Eventually, after poking at Amelia for some time,
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the detectives finally revealed the real reason that they were questioning her. A reason that Amelia was likely already aware of.
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What did he do? I don't know what he did. What do you think he did? I don't think he did anything.
00:25:20
They're both dead. What? Yeah. They're dead. so now we really need to talk how did they die they were murdered there's anything that you know
00:25:31
anything you know about that's okay now's the time okay because let's let's listen to me
00:25:37
listen to me you're you're all over their stuff talking to them you took money from their father
00:25:43
this was not an amicable let's talk about this no of course yeah i don't that whoa
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Someone go get this girl an Oscar. And maybe we can also invite Will Smith back to slap her across the face.
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This is how you get in trouble for her. For murder. Me? Yeah, if we find out in any stretch of the imagination, in any way, shape, or form,
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that you're providing some type of alibi, that you're lying to us about where he was, what you know, what you don't know,
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about the gun, about any of it. If we find that out, guess what you become? I don't know.
00:26:14
You become a principal. Principal to homicide in the first degree. My biggest thing right now is I need to know that I'm going home.
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I need to know that I'm going to see my son. I need to know that I have no part of this whatsoever.
00:26:29
Listen, if you didn't know he was going to go over there and do that, then that's fine.
00:26:32
I have no, okay, so me and Josh, we don't communicate. And I can say that it's a bad thing that we don't, but we don't.
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We don't communicate with one another. If he's going somewhere, he's going somewhere.
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If I'm going somewhere, I'm going somewhere. Now remember, Amelia and Josh had only been married for less than a year.
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They were newlyweds. For police, if Josh had killed two people, two people whom Amelia had recently been in contact with about $50,000 that she stole,
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it didn't seem likely that Amelia wouldn't know anything about the murders. Naturally, the police kept pressing her,
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and they wanted to know where Josh was on the day that Cynthia and Sean were killed.
00:27:24
That day he told me that he was, I saw him at lunch. When I got home, he was home.
00:27:31
When I left to go back to work, he was still at home getting ready to leave. Where?
00:27:39
He told me he was going out. Where? He didn't say where. He just told me he was going out.
00:27:43
I didn't talk to him for the rest of that day because we were fighting. We got into a huge fight.
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According to Amelia, on the night that the murders took place, Josh wasn't home and he didn't show up until the following morning.
00:28:00
He was nervous when he got home. He was really nervous. Do you think Josh killed these people?
00:28:05
Do I think so? Yeah. No, I hope not. I mean... So it's just a coincidence that they ended up dead that day and he wasn't home?
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Is he capable of killing people over this? He's capable of killing someone, yes.
00:28:19
I mean, he was in the Navy. Even as disconnected as you two are, I find it hard to believe that something like that happened
00:28:26
and you have absolutely no knowledge of it whatsoever. You know more about what he did,
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so I don't think there's a loyalty to him. I don't think you're worried about telling us what he did.
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I don't think it's that. Am I right in that? I mean, you're not worried about telling us what he did.
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I don't care about him, and he knows how I am with my job. I don't want to lose my job.
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I don't want to get fired. Like, I have a great job. I have an easy job. I'm really young.
00:28:46
Like, this is my career. I don't want to mess anything up. He forced me to withdraw the funds out of the guy's account, and I did it.
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And he took the two checks, and he did whatever he wanted to do with it. Amelia claimed that her husband forced her to steal Gerald's money.
00:29:04
You know, that same husband she never communicated with. Amelia also explained that she had no clue where Josh was on the night that Gerald's family members were killed.
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I know he did buy a gun. I don't know if he had intention to do something to her.
00:29:22
I didn't know that Josh was going to do what he was going to do, or if he did whatever it is that happened, or if he's the one that did this.
00:29:30
Okay. What do you think your responsibility is in all this? just i was the one that initiated the chance i did the transaction that's what i did do you feel
00:29:40
like a burden of having these it looks like these two people got killed over this too
00:29:45
i mean i don't know what like like the whole extent to it but i mean i don't know how to
00:29:51
react to that like that the thing i covered a lot of stories about a lot of terrible people but I have to say this woman might be the most insufferable bitch i ever heard of not only was amelia clearly holding back and
00:30:08
not telling detectives everything she knew but she was also playing dumb unconvincingly
00:30:16
amelia pretended that she couldn't put two and two together and was unable to recognize her role
00:30:22
in getting two innocent people killed. That poor guy right now, he lost his daughter and his grandson.
00:30:30
Like I said, he would gladly have let you keep the 50 grand if he could have them back.
00:30:36
In the end, if these two people lost their lives because of it, it doesn't happen unless you take that money out of that account.
00:30:43
So, I mean, in the ending, it leads back to me? There are moments throughout this interview where
00:30:48
it can be hard to tell if Amelia is an awful person trying to lie her way out of trouble, or if she's just stupid.
00:30:57
But let's not forget that this is the same woman that was able to outsmart the security at her bank.
00:31:05
The detectives were well aware of this, but even so, they played along and spelled everything out for Amelia.
00:31:13
That you and your husband stole $50,000 from an elderly man, And then a couple days after a family member inquires about these withdrawals, her and her son are murdered in their apartment.
00:31:27
And I know you did some things to cover your tracks. You did. You got away with it until Cynthia started asking questions about it.
00:31:35
Let me just tell you right now, just so you know, okay, if we find out that you knew about this murder, contributed to it anyway, knew about it before or after it happened,
00:31:46
you're going to be charged with first-degree murder, and that is life in prison,
00:31:49
even if you didn't pull the trigger. As the detectives wrapped up this interview, they also placed Amelia under arrest.
00:31:57
And at a minimum, she was going to be charged with the crimes associated with stealing Mr. Stack's money.
00:32:04
As for the potential murder charges, there was still some investigating that needed to be done.
00:32:10
I'm getting fired, aren't I? Oh, yeah, that's definitely going to happen. That kind of leads to your problems.
00:32:15
Yeah. So I'm going to jail, basically. Yeah. For the whole. The financial stuff.
00:32:23
And what kind of crime is that? Can I know? Yeah. I don't know anything about this.
00:32:26
It's a lot of different charges, actually. But like I said, the big ones that you need to be concerned about are the felonies.
00:32:31
And he said. Felony? I'm a felon? The biggest charge in this is the exploitation of the elderly.
00:32:37
When it comes to exploiting the elderly, the state of Florida doesn't fuck around.
00:32:43
In fact, if the funds or property involved in that kind of crime meet or exceed $50,000, as it did in this case, it is considered a first-degree felony and carries a possible sentence of 30 years in prison.
00:33:02
After Amelia was made aware of her charges, the detectives left the interview room and let her stew in the potential consequences she was facing.
00:33:12
Then, when a different detective checked in on her, Amelia decided to reveal a little more about what she knew.
00:33:20
Well, we're not talking about the check situation. We're talking about the homicide part.
00:33:24
What do you know? My husband called these people. He pretended he was somebody else.
00:33:33
He got their address. The next day he went and he bought a gun. He went over there.
00:33:39
I didn't know. What did he tell you? all he kept saying to me is i'll take care of it what did he tell you afterwards um when he got home
00:33:47
he took the gun apart he was shaking um he took all his clothes off he put it in a garbage bag
00:33:55
so he told me that he was he didn't tell me what he was going to do because i don't know the
00:33:59
severity of the situation like i didn't know it was he never described how what he never physically
00:34:05
said like did he tell you that he shot him yes he said he shot him so he knew he killed him
00:34:11
Who? You knew he killed him? Yeah. Okay. I just don't want anyone to think that I, like, I didn't know that it was going to, like, I didn't know that this was going to happen.
00:34:22
To absolutely no one's surprise, Amelia knew that Cynthia and Sean Stack were dead long before the police questioned her.
00:34:32
And she also knew that her husband had killed them. After this admission, the original detectives returned to the interview room.
00:34:40
I was told you wanted to talk to us a little bit more. Okay. What's going on? I just know the severity of the situation.
00:34:49
And I don't want to be, like, held, like, that I'm a part of any of this or that, like...
00:34:56
So I know what Josh did. And I know what he went to do. Okay. And he told me if I were to get involved, and if I were to say anything, that he would kill me.
00:35:07
there it is you were waiting for it weren't you of course you were because you're a sasshole
00:35:18
that's heard one or two of these tales before you already knew and i don't have to remind you that
00:35:26
every single time a woman gets in trouble for doing something reprehensible they end up saying
00:35:31
that a man forced them to do it. Well, that's exactly what happened. Amelia's story had changed.
00:35:39
Now, not only was she aware of what her husband had done, but allegedly he threatened her,
00:35:47
warning her that he would murder her entire family if she talked about it. Sure Amelia sure Of course after hearing this the detectives had some more questions An hour ago you said you didn know anything about it Now all of a sudden you know How do you know that Josh did this besides how do you know
00:36:08
When he came home, he told me that he handled the situation. He told me that she was sitting down and that the kid was like, I guess, trying to run away or something.
00:36:21
What made you decide to tell us? I don't want to go to prison. I don't want to go to prison.
00:36:28
When we told you before that they were both dead, that was a complete act. No, well, I didn't know that they, like, I didn't know the severity of, like, if this was true.
00:36:37
I didn't know that this, like, these people were gone. Did you think they were alive after you shot them?
00:36:43
I mean, I don't know the severity of the situation. And you did nothing to try to find this out.
00:36:48
Look on the internet, watch the news. Did he show you any articles? No, he didn't.
00:36:52
I didn't Google anything. I didn't look anything up. That kind of defies logic, don't you think?
00:36:58
That your husband would come home and confess to killing two people and you would be like,
00:37:01
wouldn't even try to find out if it was true. But it's just, I don't want any piece of this.
00:37:06
This is why I don't want, I don't want my name on anything. I don't want to look up anything.
00:37:11
I don't want any part of any of this. Well, it's a little late for that. needless to say the police weren't entirely convinced that amelia was telling them everything
00:37:24
that she knew and at the very least they needed to verify or discredit what she was saying the
00:37:32
detectives wrapped up this interview and prepared to question someone else that was very important
00:37:37
to their investigation amelia's husband josh now clearly amelia had no issue with throwing her
00:37:46
husband under the bus, and when detectives questioned him, they quickly realized that
00:37:52
Josh wasn't much different than his wife. Much like Amelia, Josh was more than willing
00:38:00
to give police information that might send their spouse to prison for the rest of their
00:38:08
life. In July of 2018, 25-year-old personal banker Amelia Bassoon confessed to Orlando, Florida homicide detectives
00:38:40
that her husband Josh had murdered the daughter and grandson of one of her banking clients.
00:38:46
The murder victims were 52-year-old Cynthia and her son, 22-year-old Sean Stack.
00:38:53
The presumed motive for the murders involved $50,000 that Amelia had stolen from her dementia-ridden elderly client, Gerald Stack.
00:39:03
After Gerald's daughter started asking questions about that money, both she and her son were found shot to death in their home.
00:39:12
After Amelia was questioned by police, it was time for her husband, 28-year-old Josh Ramsami, to answer some questions as well.
00:39:23
Are you married? Yes. To Amelia. Amelia, right? Okay. We actually just got married in September of last year.
00:39:28
Hey, congratulations. Thank you. All right, so you work at Chase? Yes. How long have you worked at Chase?
00:39:36
May 7th. Which is kind of a new job. Yeah. You like working for Chase? Oh, I love it.
00:39:41
Yeah? One of the best jobs I've ever had. What did he do with Chase? Card collections.
00:39:45
Oh, boy. Yeah. Like his wife, Josh also worked at Chase Bank, but he hadn't been there nearly as long as she had.
00:39:54
Before he was hired at Chase, Josh was out of work for several months because he had accidentally shot himself in the leg.
00:40:02
Since Josh was recovering from this injury and not bringing in any income, times were tight.
00:40:09
Hence, the likely reason why he and Amelia decided to steal Mr. Stack's money. Now, when the police sat down to question Josh, they didn't outright tell him why he was there.
00:40:22
Instead, they wanted to hear it from him. Why do you think you're sitting here right now?
00:40:27
I honestly have no idea. No idea? What was the last bank account that you've opened?
00:40:32
Bank of America. Okay. Tell me about that. My wife came home. She gave me two checks.
00:40:38
I think they were $25,000 each. And she told me, hey, you know, she met a customer.
00:40:45
He basically gave her the money for, I guess, safekeeping or something like that.
00:40:50
That was it. We started to use the money, you know, to pay for our mortgage, credit card bills.
00:40:56
Just like Amelia, Josh played coy with the detectives. And if it meant saving his own ass, he was more than willing to direct blame elsewhere.
00:41:06
specifically at his wife. in gerald's family according to josh he didn't know anyone in the stack family the only problem
00:41:43
with that is that eyewitnesses had placed josh or at least someone that looked a hell of a lot like
00:41:49
him at cynthia stack apartment how is it that you wound up at cynthia house cynthia apartment over on jefferson because i have i have eyewitnesses that put you there With a guy that your height hair parted two earrings everything You there okay I have no question about that all right
00:42:06
So we're trying to understand why you were there. Why were you at Cynthia's place?
00:42:10
And again... I was never at her place. Okay. Initially, Josh denied ever being at Cynthia's apartment.
00:42:16
But it didn't take long for the police to break through this denial. eventually josh did admit he was at the apartment on the day of the murders did you go inside yeah
00:42:29
i actually sat down and talked to her who's her to the lady cynthia was anybody else in the house
00:42:36
i think the same kid sean and how'd the conversation go i told her you know i was there
00:42:44
on amelia's behalf because she fucked up for what i understand because apparently the money was
00:42:50
not given to Amelia correctly. And I told her I found out about it. I talked to her, and then I guess I left.
00:43:00
Josh explained that he and Cynthia reached an agreement. Amelia would return Mr. Stack's money,
00:43:07
and that would be the end of it. After this conversation, Josh simply left the apartment,
00:43:12
or so he claimed. Of course, that didn't explain how Cynthia and her son ended up shot to death.
00:43:20
but Josh was ready with a possible explanation. But after I got done talking to them, I got in my car, sat down.
00:43:28
I was vaping in my car. After that, that's when the guy approached me. And you were in your car?
00:43:33
I was sitting in my car. And he put a gun to your head? I put a gun to my head. I had my gun sitting next to my shifter in my car.
00:43:42
So he let you get the gun out of the console? He got a gun to my head. He said, give me the piece.
00:43:48
We've been watching you. we know why you're here. And I said, okay. I put my vape down, grabbed my gun, and I gave it to him.
00:43:55
According to Josh, after he left Cynthia's apartment, a tall black man wearing a do-rag
00:44:01
approached him, put a gun to Josh's head, and demanded that Josh hand over his weapon.
00:44:09
Josh complied and then left the apartment complex. Josh explained that he didn't know the man's name,
00:44:16
but he did recognize the gunman from an earlier encounter. Josh claimed that when Amelia came to him and explained that the money was stolen
00:44:27
and that Cynthia Stack was asking questions about it, Amelia had decided that their best course of action would be to hire someone to handle the situation.
00:44:38
If I'm understanding you right, you're saying Amelia is the one that talked to somebody to take care of them?
00:44:44
Yeah, and I don't know. I have no idea. Well, I mean, how do you know that? Well, there was a kid that came to our house,
00:44:51
and I know she gave him some money or something like that. And then he texted me about money, and I'm like, what are you talking about?
00:44:56
How much money did she give him? I think she gave him like $10,000. She gave him $10,000 to what?
00:45:02
I have no idea. And from my understanding... What do you think she gave him $10,000 for?
00:45:06
To kill him or something. I don't know. You know you're making this hole that much bigger.
00:45:10
You know that. That doesn't make any sense to anybody. Josh. I realize that Josh's story might be a little hard to follow, but Josh told police that Amelia had hired two hitmen to kill Cynthia Stack, and he knew about it.
00:45:27
Josh also admitted that he went with Amelia to pay these two men, and one of them was the same mysterious tall black man that would later hold Josh at gunpoint.
00:45:37
We gave him like $1,000 that night. Did you know what you were going to do when you went there?
00:45:43
To give him money. For what? To fix the whole issue. I didn't know what they were going to do.
00:45:48
I didn't know if they were going to get money back for drugs. He said, we'll make things right.
00:45:54
The first conversation was, we'll get her to shut up. Josh claimed that he didn't know the tall black man that they gave money to,
00:46:02
but he did know the second hit man. And Josh provided detectives with a name. 23-year-old Jay Persaud.
00:46:38
the lady from reporting her. And what exactly did she want you to find a person to do?
00:46:42
Scare the lady. How did she say that? Like, what did she want you to do? She just said, just scare the lady so she doesn't come in on Monday. Make sure she doesn't come in
00:46:50
on Monday to report me. What information did she give you about this lady specifically?
00:46:55
She said that she has all the information on her. Let me know when I'm ready to give the people
00:47:02
that I find so she can give them the address and all that stuff. It turned out that Amelia and Josh had met and hired Jay Persaud.
00:47:12
Together they gave Jay $1,000 and the agreement was that he would find someone to scare Cynthia's
00:47:20
stack into keeping quiet about the stolen money. This meeting took place at a Walgreens parking lot of all places, which happened to have
00:47:30
plenty of surveillance cameras. To no one's surprise, there was no tall, black second hit man like Josh
00:47:38
had claimed. It was just Amelia, Josh, and Jay. The fact of the matter is these two people that she wanted you to go
00:47:46
hire somebody to go scare, they're dead. Yeah. Okay. So you understand how important we are now, right?
00:47:59
Not just dead, they were birthed. After the police made Jay aware of the seriousness of this situation, he was ready to tell all.
00:48:08
And he explained that he did take money from Amelia and Josh, but he never intended to hire anyone.
00:48:15
Nor did he. Once Amelia gave herself up and said that she's going to jail on Monday, it sunk in on me on Friday.
00:48:23
I said, fuck her. She did some old people wrong like this. She has some money. Let me get a little something out of it.
00:48:30
Okay. Let me, I'm paying bills. It's hard out here. Right. It's too hard. I can't even, I can't even pay my phone bill, man.
00:48:38
Yeah. So you're, it's tough times. Yep. So I said, I got to show, you know, if I do talk to someone, I got to have, you know,
00:48:46
from my past experience, I got to have show good, you know, faith. You know, I got to at least have some kind of money when I'm talking.
00:48:52
I'm like, hey, like show that I'm serious or something. Maybe if I go find someone.
00:48:55
So I did meet up with Josh and he did give me a thousand dollars. and I never spoke back to them.
00:49:01
Jay took Josh and Amelia's money and ran. The scammers had been scammed. Of course, when the detectives questioned Amelia about this,
00:49:12
she played innocent and once again pointed the finger at her husband. Let me ask you this question. Who's Jay?
00:49:19
Jay? He's like a friend from high school. When was the last time you talked to him?
00:49:25
Josh called him from my phone. like last week. Josh called him from your phone? Why?
00:49:31
He took my phone, he called him, and he said for him, because I saw the text messages,
00:49:35
he said for him to come to my house. Like, hey, stop. Listen, if you called him or texted him,
00:49:39
we need to know. Oh, yeah, of course. I mean, see, again, we're starting to get this little convenience thing.
00:49:44
This is like a marriage made in hell, I gotta be honest with you guys, because you're each throwing each other under the bus.
00:49:49
Are you taking this phone? And if you talk to him, we need to know that. No, I didn't speak to Jay at all.
00:49:54
I don't know. Needless to say, the detectives had had enough of Amelia's storytelling,
00:49:59
and they had pretty much figured out what had happened. Josh and Amelia tried to hire someone to scare Cynthia Stack.
00:50:08
When that didn't work, Josh likely took matters into his own hands. We just got done talking with your husband,
00:50:16
and I will tell you exactly what I told him. You were throwing him under the bus, he's throwing you under the bus.
00:50:21
one of you is one of the world's worst people okay i'm not sure which uh but he this is what
00:50:30
you know he's he's bringing this jay prasad into it did you and him on friday and saturday go to
00:50:36
a walgreens in metro west and meet with jay yes what josh was giving him money or i don't know
00:50:43
do you think josh is that mad or i don't know what is to just to make this up to say that
00:50:51
Instead of taking responsibility and saying, yeah, I didn't want my wife to go to prison, so I went over there and shot him.
00:50:58
Instead, he's saying, I had nothing to do with this. She paid Jay Prasad to go do this.
00:51:03
Why would I want to kill these two people if I'm in contact with them? Because, Amelia, realistically, you're the one.
00:51:10
Again, I don't know how many times we can say this without you taking it in. If it weren't for you, okay, I'm going to flat out say it.
00:51:17
If it wasn't for you, those two people would be alive. Both Amelia and Josh were culpable, and both of them were more than willing to let their spouse take the fall.
00:51:29
There is no honor among thieves. But in this case, it appears there's also no honor in marriage.
00:51:37
Josh, here's the thing. We've talked to Amelia already. She's spilling it because she's looking at the prospect of never seeing her son again except for through bars.
00:51:47
she's over there saying that you killed these people i didn't i don't have a bone in me to
00:51:52
kill anybody is that i'll tell you right now straight up i was there my gun was taken for me
00:51:59
by some black guy amelia gave him ten thousand dollars josh maintained his story but detectives
00:52:08
seemed pretty confident that josh was the one that pulled the trigger and they were clearly as fed up
00:52:15
with him as they were with Amelia, if not more so. I feel like Amelia paid him the money to go kill him.
00:52:22
That's how I do it. But you paid him the money. We both did. Yeah. We both did. Sometimes monetary...
00:52:27
So why would she go behind your back and talk? Again, I get lost. Why would she go behind your back and tell him to go take care of business?
00:52:33
I don't know. She's not that kind of person. You should go ahead and look her...
00:52:36
Hey, let me explain something to you. You know who's all over that account? You know who's all over that account?
00:52:40
You are. Okay, so don't say this whole thing of, oh, she came home and she just gave me these $225,000
00:52:45
checks and I just did this? That's bullshit. At this point, Josh had lied himself into a corner.
00:52:52
Since he admitted to paying a hitman, he only had two options, and neither of them were good.
00:52:59
He could either fess up and admit that he murdered two people, or maintain that he paid someone else
00:53:05
to do it. Because you're basically saying that she paid this guy Jay to go kill her. If that's
00:53:09
the way you want to go, then guess what? When she gets in trouble for her, she's going away.
00:53:13
Then Julian grows up without a mother, okay? Now, I don't know about that, but to me, if that's not the case, that's a really shitty thing to do.
00:53:19
If that's what it has to be, it has to be because for me, all I know is she gave Jay the money.
00:53:25
For me... You gave him the money, too. Exactly, and you're right. Don't see what you're doing.
00:53:29
You keep doing that. Stop doing that. You gave him the money. Both of you. Both of us.
00:53:33
So guess what? We're both liable. Yeah, exactly. So one way or another, you're in trouble.
00:53:37
Correct. Okay? So let's figure that out. And I'll own up to that, but I... Oh you going to own up to the fact that you gave this guy money to go kill these two people I did not No Yes No I not owning up to it Well it doesn work both ways I open up to the fact that I gave the money Josh it doesn work both ways You can sit there and say she did it when you there with her You there with her You right
00:53:51
You're right. So don't say she went outside and had a conversation. That's bullshit again.
00:53:54
No, it's not. You can have a... No, it's not. Josh, stop. You listen for a second.
00:53:58
You can ask her parents. Listen to me, Josh. Josh, I don't want to ask her parents.
00:54:02
I'm talking to you. You're a grown man. I don't understand. and you're saying these two people are dead because of it.
00:54:13
No matter how hard detectives pressed him, Josh would not admit to committing the murders.
00:54:19
But he did admit to hiring someone else to do it. And Josh wasn't willing to assume that blame alone.
00:54:26
If he was going down for conspiring to commit double murder, he seemed intent on taking Amelia down with him.
00:54:34
That Thursday night, she told me she's going to call Jay and have him take care of it.
00:54:39
and I'm guilty for that. I paid Jake to go ahead and... Josh, I think you shot and killed these people.
00:54:47
I mean, and if that's what happened, and you're lying to us, then you absolutely are throwing her under the bus.
00:54:53
She could have set in motion something, and she didn't know what you were going to do,
00:54:55
and that's what she's claiming. If your objective is to not get her in trouble, and what both of us truly believe happened,
00:55:02
that you went over there and killed both those people, then you need to tell us the truth about that.
00:55:07
No, I didn't. Okay. But you conspired to have them killed? Correct. We both. Despite this admission, Josh's story still didn't make any sense.
00:55:19
If he and Amelia had hired someone or multiple people to murder Cynthia Stack, why then would Josh go talk to her in an attempt to amicably resolve the stolen money situation?
00:55:33
It didn't make any sense. This is after you paid these people to take care of her.
00:55:37
Correct. Why would you be worried about paying her back the money when you repay these people $10,000 to kill her?
00:55:44
Why would you go over there and try and talk to her? Why would you talk to Amelia about paying her back?
00:55:47
Because they're two innocent people. Okay, did you make any efforts to call Jane and tell her not to do it
00:55:51
and we want the money back and we want to go pay her? No. No. Why not? I don't know.
00:55:57
You don't know? That's the best answer you have? I don't know? All I know is I went there.
00:56:02
No, it's not all you know. Stop saying that. I got to tell you, Josh. I think both of us are totally baffled after talking with both you and your wife for the whole day.
00:56:12
Two people like you end up in a situation like this. And it's compounded by the fact that one of you is trying to send the other one to prison for the rest of their lives because you're telling totally different stories.
00:56:23
After several hours of questioning, the detectives had had enough of both Josh and Amelia.
00:56:29
Both of them had tried to implicate the other in this weird, deranged plot. But in the end, it didn't matter.
00:56:40
Rightfully so, this married couple was booked, and both of them faced murder charges.
00:56:47
And you know what, Amelia? Here's the thing. I was home. You've painted, because like I said, at this point, I don't believe either of you.
00:56:53
You've done nothing but lie to us since we've walked in this door. I'm not trying to lie.
00:56:58
I'm not trying. I'm just, I'm scared. It's not happening by accident. My question really is, how is this, how is this tying to me?
00:57:08
I guess I would ask back, how is it not? But how, why? You stole money from a guy, a woman, and makes inquiries about it,
00:57:17
and your husband murders both of them. That's what you're telling us. How are you not?
00:57:21
Neither one of you are very nice people, I'll be honest with you, because both of you stole from an elderly disabled veteran,
00:57:27
which is a real crappy thing to do. And then two people get killed, and then neither one of you were taking responsibility
00:57:34
and pointing the finger at each other. I mean, that is just awful. After Josh and Amelia were taken to jail,
00:57:41
Josh made several phone calls to his family. During these calls, he seemed more than willing to cut all ties with his wife.
00:57:50
I guess some people don't take that whole till death do us part thing very seriously.
00:57:56
It seemed to be until my wife accuses me of murder. Yeah, I'm not staying with her. This is it.
00:58:02
I just got married with this divorce. That's fine. For her to pin me in, do something like that to me,
00:58:08
and try to throw me under the bus for something she did. Yeah, they have me on uttering forgery, forgery,
00:58:15
fraud, impersonal fraud, use without consent, victim 60. Like, I didn't do any of this.
00:58:21
All I did was deposit two checks for Amelia. Strangely, when Josh talked to his family, he only talked about the financial crimes.
00:58:31
He never mentioned the murder charges. Perhaps due to shame, he couldn't bring himself to tell them.
00:58:39
But his family eventually did learn about it by simply watching the news. I see the charges have been uplifted to first remord with a firearm.
00:58:49
But it's all over the news and everything. Really? Yeah. It's all over the news.
00:58:55
28-year-old Joshua Ramsami and 25-year-old Amelia Bassoon each face a long list of charges.
00:59:01
At the top of that list is two counts of first-degree murder and also face charges in another case.
00:59:07
Those charges include theft, fraud, forgery, and exploitation of the elderly. Needless to say, when Josh's family found out about the murder charges, they didn't take it very well.
00:59:18
And it was clear that the collateral damage and emotional pain that he and his wife had caused was immense.
00:59:27
Hey John. Hey. Don't hurt. Please. You're my only brother. I know. Just be strong.
00:59:40
Just be strong. Look, you have to be strong for your brother, okay? I don't want you to cry.
00:59:48
Just be strong for me and pray. That's all you can do. Just pray for me, okay? Just pray for your brother.
00:59:56
I love you. I love you. In listening to Josh's jailhouse phone calls, it's difficult to make sense of the fact that Josh clearly came from a very loving and supportive family.
01:00:11
As a young man, his character and the way he treated others certainly needed a lot of work,
01:00:16
but Josh never comes across as a murder-for-money kind of guy. At the very least, we know that he didn't come from an environment or family that would encourage or excuse that kind of behavior.
01:00:43
Given that Josh had never been in any kind of trouble with the law before, this was likely the case of terrible decision-making caused by very bad circumstances.
01:00:55
Namely, Josh's marriage to Amelia. Of course, a bad marriage doesn't excuse what Josh did.
01:01:03
He's a grown-ass man and responsible for the choices that he makes. But it's probably safe to say that none of this would have happened
01:01:11
if Josh hadn't met and married Amelia. Unfortunately for him, Josh's circumstances didn't matter.
01:01:21
All that mattered was that two innocent people were gunned down in their own home over a measly 50 grand,
01:01:29
and because of that, Josh was on the hook for two counts of first-degree murder.
01:01:34
As for Amelia, she was charged as a principal to first-degree murder, and amazingly was able to bond out of jail while she awaited trial.
01:01:45
But surprise, surprise, she wasn't out for very long before she got arrested again.
01:01:52
In April of 2021, while out on bond, Amelia was picked up on the side of a freeway and charged with assault after getting into a fight with a new boyfriend.
01:02:04
I was kidnapped. Like, that's the problem that I'm having right now. And that's why I'm so upset.
01:02:10
The thing is, you guys are arresting me. I asked you multiple times if you ever did anything to him,
01:02:16
and every single time you said you didn't. No, well, I told you when we were in the car.
01:02:20
You never said you started hitting him. I asked you multiple times, and you said you didn't.
01:02:25
And I go talk to him, he has bruising and scratches and everything all right here on the side of his head.
01:02:31
Hold on. He also has extensive bruising and stuff like that on his chest, which makes no sense.
01:02:37
You're going to jail. What a prize. Never put your male genitalia in crazy, fellas.
01:02:44
Okay, now let's all just collectively take a deep breath for a second. Okay? I'm going to count to three.
01:02:52
Just breathe in. One, two, three. Exhale. One, two, three. Why did we do that? Well, it's because you're about to get pissed off and your blood pressure is going to rise.
01:03:08
You ready? You ready to get mad? All right, here we go. Florida prosecutors did not pursue murder
01:03:17
charges against Amelia. But no, yeah, yeah, yeah. The criminal justice system totally treats women
01:03:24
and men the same. Amelia agreed to work with prosecutors and testify against her now ex-husband,
01:03:33
Josh, but she was still on the hook, at least, for the fraud and exploitation of the elderly charges.
01:03:42
So at least there's, you know, a silver lining of sorts, right? Should we do another breath? No? All right, here we go.
01:03:51
In July of 2021, Amelia was sentenced to a grand total of three years in prison and is scheduled to be released in 2024.
01:04:09
You okay? You alright guys? Check your blood pressure. You don't want to get it out of control.
01:04:14
fuck this place I don't even want to be here anymore as for Josh he was convicted of two counts of first degree murder
01:04:27
and given 30 years in prison total fairness right completely fair just go ahead and type your comments in the show notes
01:04:38
let us know what you think of this whole debacle This girl set me up for failure here, bro.
01:04:47
And I should have knew it from the get-go. I should have listened to my parents.
01:04:52
I should have listened to my friends. But not with me in a fucking jail. There is no denying that Josh and Amelia are terrible people.
01:05:03
At least they were when they were arrested. The flaws in their characters and selfish natures are a big part of why this all happened Even if they had never met and gotten married they very well might have found themselves in some kind of trouble
01:05:24
But maybe, and perhaps more than likely, had they not tied the knot, Cynthia Stack and her son Sean would still be alive.
01:05:36
Marriage is a complicated venture, and getting married is not something that should be taken lightly.
01:05:44
Yet oftentimes people get married for reasons that don't always produce the best results.
01:05:51
Maybe it's to overcome loneliness. Maybe it's to have kids. Or maybe it's to live up to some societal or religious expectation.
01:06:02
Whatever their reasons, Josh and Amelia were obviously lacking in many important qualities that are required to make a marriage work.
01:06:12
The two qualities that really stand out are devotion and loyalty. In less than a year of being hitched,
01:06:21
Josh and Amelia had no loyalty or devotion for each other. If it meant saving their own selfish ass,
01:06:30
both of them were willing to send the other spouse to prison for the rest of their life.
01:06:37
Notably, this also meant that they were both willing and actually hoping to pursue their own lives without the person they agreed to stay with forever.
01:06:48
The modern-day institution of marriage is the result of historical, religious, and cultural norms.
01:06:58
Every day, more and more people are seeing this institution as a bit outdated. But for those considering the traditional route,
01:07:08
and for those that might soon be saying those two powerful words, I do, it's probably best not to say them to someone simply because they can live with you.
01:07:22
Instead, if you decide to take the plunge, make sure it's to someone that can't live without you.
01:07:32
Otherwise, you might find yourself in a figurative prison. And if you're anything like Josh or Amelia, you might even find yourself in an actual prison.
01:08:07
pictures of crime scenes. Go to instagram.com slash short and scale to join for 99 cents.
01:08:13
Stay safe. Thank you. Jesus fucking Christ. I just became a plus member starting in October 18th.
01:09:17
I'm on plus episode 90. Jesus fucking Christ. My dude, you're the man helping us with all this other stuff.
01:09:29
I literally stopped listening to all my other podcasts. I just went directly here.
01:09:35
I'm going to be a parent. I fucking hate everybody else around here and that's because of you
01:09:40
so thank you for having me become a much stronger parent buddy you're doing the world service
01:09:45
god damn every week, every new week, it's all you man alright stay safe to you my dude, bye
01:10:06
Thank you. Thank you.

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Most shocking
  • 90
    Most unpredictable
  • 90
    Biggest twist
  • 85
    Most heartbreaking

Episode Highlights

  • A Valentine's Day Special
    This episode takes a dark turn on love and relationships, revealing the worst monsters are real.
    “A wonderful episode to snuggle up with your boo and listen to.”
    @ 01m 04s
    February 19, 2023
  • Amelia's Deception
    Amelia admits to stealing money from her elderly client, leading to a shocking investigation.
    “She was someone that did steal money from a confused old man.”
    @ 10m 50s
    February 19, 2023
  • Double Murder Unfolds
    Cynthia Stack and her son Sean are found dead in their apartment, raising alarms.
    “The killer or killers apparently left in a hurry leaving the apartment door wide open.”
    @ 17m 40s
    February 19, 2023
  • The Missing Money
    Cynthia Stack had been asking questions about $50,000 missing from her father's account.
    “Before long, homicide detectives brought Amelia in for questioning.”
    @ 20m 56s
    February 19, 2023
  • Amelia's Confession
    Amelia admits to knowing about the murders and her husband's involvement.
    “To absolutely no one's surprise, Amelia knew that Cynthia and Sean Stack were dead long before the police questioned her.”
    @ 34m 22s
    February 19, 2023
  • Threats and Coercion
    Amelia claims her husband threatened her to keep quiet about the murders.
    “He told me if I were to get involved, and if I were to say anything, that he would kill me.”
    @ 35m 01s
    February 19, 2023
  • The $50,000 Motive
    The motive for the murders is linked to stolen money from an elderly client.
    “The presumed motive for the murders involved $50,000 that Amelia had stolen from her dementia-ridden elderly client.”
    @ 38m 53s
    February 19, 2023
  • Josh's Alibi Unravels
    Josh initially denies being at the crime scene but later admits to visiting Cynthia.
    “Initially, Josh denied ever being at Cynthia's apartment.”
    @ 42m 11s
    February 19, 2023
  • The Hitman Connection
    Josh reveals that Amelia hired hitmen to deal with Cynthia Stack.
    “Josh told police that Amelia had hired two hitmen to kill Cynthia Stack.”
    @ 45m 13s
    February 19, 2023
  • Married to Murder
    Josh and Amelia's tumultuous relationship leads to a shocking double murder plot.
    “Neither one of you are very nice people, I'll be honest with you.”
    @ 57m 21s
    February 19, 2023
  • The Fallout
    After their arrest, Josh and Amelia's families react to the shocking news of their crimes.
    “Just pray for your brother.”
    @ 59m 59s
    February 19, 2023
  • A Complicated Institution
    Exploring the complexities of marriage and its consequences through Josh and Amelia's story.
    “Marriage is a complicated venture, and getting married is not something that should be taken lightly.”
    @ 01h 05m 44s
    February 19, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • In some cases, a bad marriage can absolutely feel like a prison sentence.
    Episode 234
  • She was just the weirdest woman.
    Episode 234
  • I didn't know that Josh was going to do what he was going to do.
    Episode 234
  • I don't want to go to prison.
    Episode 234
  • There is no honor among thieves.
    Episode 234
  • This girl set me up for failure here, bro.
    Episode 234

Key Moments

  • Listener Discretion00:06
  • Investigation Begins20:56
  • Gun Ownership24:12
  • Murder Admission25:23
  • Threat of Imprisonment36:25
  • Caught in Lies54:19
  • Facing Consequences56:47
  • Emotional Fallout59:18

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown