00:00:11
I did what I did nobody guilty but me you know what I'm saying if she were here now I would
00:00:19
start by telling her that I'm sorry and that I love her I would tell her I need my big
00:00:26
sister back he chose a certain category of victims who he believed he could victimize without
00:00:37
repercussions this is a person who was on a path at an early age and just progressed and became somebody who was a
00:00:45
danger to everybody around him I can only imagine the fear that is felt at this time I would characterize it as evil I
00:00:57
would characterize it as subhuman I think he's a monster every day I am haunted by
00:01:06
memories and images I will never be whole again [Music] [Music] Stuart welon was born in 1977 he grew up
00:01:51
in Jamaica Queens New York which was an area that was known for having a lot of drug
00:01:58
activity his father died when he was a teenager there was indications that he was sexually assaulted that he was
00:02:05
experimenting with drugs and was introduced to pornography at an early age in 1990 just after his father's
00:02:14
death Stuart won's mom moves them out of the city to Montclair New Jersey a safer neighborhood with a lower
00:02:22
crime rate no mother wants to see their child involved in criminal activity so what is
00:02:30
often done is let us move to a more Suburban life and we can start all over that was probably the intent of
00:02:39
this caring mother trying to move her son to a different way of life but Stuart weldon's difficult start
00:02:48
to life continues when he reaches high school he seemed to have some pretty significant learning problems he was
00:02:57
diagnosed with severe ADHD he apparently had dyslexia I think when a child um has
00:03:05
some learning challenges how that child does depends on a couple of different things not just
00:03:11
the severity of their disabilities which is important to know but also how the school handles those so are they getting
00:03:19
diagnosed early are they getting appropriate treatment and it sounds like that he ended up having a pretty limited
00:03:26
education in 1996 Stuart Welden is at a mall and he and his buddy uh basically pick up
00:03:39
three girls they're going to go out and party they end up taking two of them
00:03:42
home but the third one they end up kidnapping and sexually assaulting at the age of 19 when he was
00:03:51
in New Jersey he was charged with uh sexual offenses as well as a weapons charge he was picking up women that were
00:03:58
might have been drug involved uh mental health issues involved in prostitution we often see a progressive
00:04:07
nature of criminal offenses For Those who commit very serious crimes the issues of violence often have
00:04:16
their foundation in control that if I'm able to violently get you to do what I
00:04:22
want I have control over you he's not starting out painting graffiti or even loitering in places where he's
00:04:33
not supposed to be or being on top of the school when he's not supposed to be
00:04:36
on there or you know things that we might think juveniles are exhibiting poor judgment and they're going to grow
00:04:43
out of it this kind of crime is not like that another step up the ladder of engaging in criminal activity engaging
00:04:54
in violence especially when you see sexually uh related or sexually involved offenses you know typically that's a red
00:05:02
flag sometimes those behaviors are innate and they repeat uh sometimes they get progressively
00:05:10
worse it suggests premeditation it suggests violent Behavior it is violent Behavior it suggests predatory behavior
00:05:21
and those are things that are often times predictors of future violence and future
00:05:28
sexual offenses [Music] when we look at serial killers we often do expect them to come from the most
00:05:36
horrendous backgrounds and have parents who don't love them don't care about
00:05:40
them abuse them take advantage of them and then you find parents who for whatever reason uh indulged their
00:05:46
children were permissive and basically prevent that child from developing a sense of right and wrong that's internal
00:05:58
[Music] Stuart weldon's criminality reaches a new level now 28 years old he commits
00:06:10
assault with a deadly weapon and receives a 3-year prison sentence when he's released he moves
00:06:20
with his mother again this time to Springfield in Western Massachusetts they live in a a property
00:06:30
made of two separate Apartments it would hide some chilling Secrets Springfield is the largest city
00:06:39
in Western Massachusetts and the largest city in Hampton County there's a lot of poverty here a
00:06:46
lot of crime a lot of drugs essentially it's an old industrial town that has uh
00:06:51
been kind of overtaken by crime and drugs it's essentially like a distribution center of heroin between
00:07:00
Boston and New York this kind of underbelly of criminal activity um is something that is
00:07:07
appealing to him he kind of gravitates to it and I think he feels like he fits in and he understands it the narcotics
00:07:15
detective once told me the only reason we don't have methamphetamine moving into the Springfield area is because
00:07:19
heroin is so cheap here it's likely that his mom thought she was moving him to a
00:07:24
better place what she doesn't realize is she's basically moved moves him from the
00:07:30
frying pan Into the Fire there's a Road in Springfield that is essentially known
00:07:40
for sex workers to hang out for people to be looking for to make money in exchange for drugs and for Stuart Welden
00:07:51
who is very involved in criminal activity this would be like a candy store he could just drive down and pick
00:07:58
and choose whatever he wants Welden became very well known in um circles involving women who were
00:08:07
prostituting themselves became very well known in certain criminal circles in particular
00:08:15
an area of high in School Street in the City of Springfield he became sort of embedded
00:08:22
in in a particular uh criminal aspect here in the City of Springfield when you have kind of a
00:08:32
subculture of criminal behavior in a community it is easier to get away with things because people kind of look out
00:08:40
for each other in a way and you don't stand out Stuart weldon's respect for the law
00:08:50
deteriorates further he breaks into someone's home and when apprehended he violently
00:08:58
attacks a police officer he receives a 2-year prison sentence this is somebody that really
00:09:06
strikes me as he doesn't care about anything he doesn't care about himself
00:09:11
that much he puts himself at all kinds of risk he pulls a knife on a police officer I mean he could have been shot
00:09:17
by police for legitimate reasons on many different occasions so he's somebody who doesn't
00:09:23
care about anybody or himself and I think that is scary that is something you don't often see
00:09:32
[Music] Stuart welen was very involved in the drug world and he was dealing drugs which
00:09:53
made it very very easy for him to encourage and entice women who were struggling with addiction into his
00:10:01
car Wen used that as a way to lure them to his house a lot of the times he would get
00:10:13
women into a car with an offer of hey I've got some drugs let's go do them uh
00:10:17
and then as they got closer maybe a negotiation took place about a sex act that ended up going too far but in a lot
00:10:24
of cases women went to his apartment thinking they were going to hang out and then when they got there they would find
00:10:29
out it was far more involved than just smoking drugs together it was more about physical
00:10:35
controls slaps punches uh ordering them around uh forcing acts on them that they
00:10:41
did not agree to he was kind of pushing the boundaries to see what he could get away with he
00:10:48
subjected the victims of his crimes to experiences that could could only be termed as near-death experiences
00:10:56
[Music] Stuart welon now aged 40 already has a criminal history spanning kidnap burglary sexual offenses and assault
00:11:17
with a deadly weapon he served two prison sentences he's now luring vulnerable
00:11:26
women to his basement where he's torturing them almost to the point of death despite this increasingly alarming
00:11:38
Behavior he isn't drawing police attention these women are vulnerable on a lot of different levels not only in
00:11:45
terms of getting into a car with somebody they don't [Music] know not only desperate perhaps in terms
00:11:54
of looking for drugs to kind of feed an addiction but also their relationship with the police is going to be very
00:12:00
difficult and so you know Stuart won knows this he knows that most often when a sex worker is raped or beaten up
00:12:11
either she's not going to go to the police because she's afraid she's going
00:12:15
to be arrested for what she's been doing or that she's not going to be believed
00:12:21
and all too often that's exactly what happens these are women who sometimes fall out of touch with their for periods
00:12:30
of time and uh liveed very transient lifestyle so sometimes not being around uh wouldn't be noticed it was actually
00:12:36
the women uh who hung out in high and School Street who are the first ones to realize we haven't seen this person for
00:12:42
a while but even they said that's not uncommon sometimes people go to uh rehab
00:12:47
they get clean or they try to move on or simply find another area move in with a
00:12:51
with a man things like that so these are people whose disappearances might not go
00:12:56
noticed uh right away it is almost a matter of you you haven't punished me so why should I stop
00:13:07
committing the crimes or maybe even escalating those crimes I think we see the latter in this
00:13:18
case you haven't punished me severely I am going to continue doing these crimes
00:13:25
and since the system is not stopping me or deterring me these crimes will continue he does not have some of the
00:13:35
normal restraints that most people have and that makes people afraid of him they're aware that he'll do whatever
00:13:48
he's intimidating he'll fight cops he'll run from cops he'll fight anybody I mean
00:13:54
this is somebody who truly seems to have no restraint when it comes to getting what he wants or doing what he wants to
00:14:04
do a lot of these women described feeling like their life was draining away they were losing vision and unable
00:14:10
to speak having that complete and utter control over someone's life that essentially having the power over
00:14:16
whether or not they live or die and being able to see their face react to the situation that they're in it's just
00:14:22
astonishing to see the fact that he's doing all these things not hiding them
00:14:26
not seeming to care about the consequences [Music] America Len is a 33-year-old mother
00:14:48
who's just completed a drug rehabilitation [Music] program 47-year-old Ernestine Ryan has
00:14:59
lived her whole life in Springfield she is a mother and soon to be [Music] grandmother Kayla Escalante a
00:15:11
26-year-old mom from neighboring lllo struggles with drug addiction and has lost touch with her
00:15:19
[Music] family police have no idea where these three vulnerable women are or even if
00:15:26
they're alive [Music] it's not until 5 months after America Leiden is reported missing that
00:15:34
authorities suspect Weldon is involved the first time I learned about Stuart Welden he was pulled over for a
00:15:44
routine traffic stop essentially by by some detectives the car took off and Mr Weldon had just taken off in the middle
00:15:52
of the stop which obviously the officers gave Chase to him the traffic stop all for the police officer with probable
00:16:02
cause with probable cause to do a search of the vehicle to check out the welfare of the
00:16:10
individuals inside the vehicle and perhaps to ask questions if there is any speculation of criminal activity taking
00:16:20
place this isn't somebody who's sophisticated and trying to hide his criminal activities he's doing whatever
00:16:27
he wants to do right then a Chase occurs and at the end of the chase the police officers find that
00:16:38
there is a woman tied Bound in the back seat of the [Music] car it's really the case of outstanding
00:16:49
police work police officers being observant uh aware of of uh their surroundings and and people of interest
00:16:56
in the area it probably saved a life and it probably saved more than one life the woman who was in the front
00:17:06
passenger seat began screaming and it became very obvious at that point she was significantly
00:17:12
injured she immediately tells them she has been held captive for one month that she has been unsafe unwell
00:17:21
that she's been kidnapped and taken by Welden the police officers uh see some odd and very serious injuries she
00:17:33
complains to them about pain the victim then communicates with police officers about how Mr Welden had
00:17:41
been abusing her and and striking her with an object and she had injuries on her body very consistent with this sort
00:17:47
of abuse she was giving this information a very hysterical uh way that was sometimes difficult to follow a little
00:17:55
rambling she was in obvious trauma and distress essentially saying that he'd
00:17:59
been holding her against his her will in his house for the past 30 days he had been beating her tying her up things
00:18:05
like that uh she claimed that he had been beating her with a hammer in the leg and the injuries to her leg were
00:18:11
obvious it was very clear that she'd been receiving abuse on that leg for quite some time and she had to be rushed
00:18:16
to the hospital uh where she was actually in almost in danger of losing that leg welon is charged with kidnapping
00:18:26
threatening to commit a crime carrying a dangerous weapon and resisting arrest despite the claims of his victim
00:18:35
police don't have enough evidence to search his house Mr won was brought to court and uh
00:18:43
the next day and I I handled the arraignment on that case he was charged with kidnapping and a a variety of other
00:18:48
assaulted charges I believe at that time we requested a high cash bail and he was
00:18:53
held on a million dollar cash bail for given the kidnapping and the serious allegations which we later came to find
00:18:58
out was only the tip of the iceberg we didn't have probable cause at least in
00:19:02
my opinion that time to go and search his home uh that came a few days later [Music]
00:19:12
on Springfield police received a call from his adoptive mother who was complaining about a smell in the
00:19:20
basement uh the way she described it to police officers on on that call was she was worried about potentially there
00:19:26
being a dead animal in the basement and she was afraid to go and check it out a number of uniformed Springfield
00:19:34
police officers entered the home and immediately were struck with uh a very strong inv vile odor that they were
00:19:42
familiar with as either decomposing uh human remains or animal remains for those of us who have been
00:19:50
involved in investigation there is a distinct smell you do not forget at this point it was dark out it was
00:20:13
8:30 or [Music] so I recall getting onto the driveway of the home I remember smelling an odor that I
00:20:24
was somewhat familiar with at the time even uh a great distance from the home probably 50 ft at the end of the
00:20:32
driveway I went accompanied by police officers into the home and down the stairs I remember at that point the the
00:20:40
smell was very very strong and then I was taken into a a bathroom area and I I witnessed a body
00:20:48
there that was uh at that point pretty severely [Music] decomposed when you find that it is is a
00:20:58
human being there is a drop in your in your heart in your stomach because that was someone's Mom Dad brother sister
00:21:07
family member and when you find that the death has occurred that's an awful lot to
00:21:17
take the victim in the bathroom we believed was the most recent victim went missing sometime April or May of that
00:21:26
year a distinctive an tattoo and fingerprints allow police to identify the first victim as missing 27-year-old
00:21:34
Kayla Escalante her body was bound and gagged the first body was just in a basement bathroom that anyone could have
00:21:44
really walk down to I then walked outside and I was brought down to the garage area down at
00:21:51
the end of the driveway by police officers again the smell was very strong even being in the open air uh walked
00:21:59
into the to the garage just a few steps and could see at that point uh a severely decomposed body the smell was
00:22:06
very strong there were black flies present we believe the victim found in the garage uh was abducted sometime in
00:22:14
April the second victim is confirmed as missing 47-year-old soon to be grandmother Ernestine
00:22:22
Ryan her body was dumped and Loosely covered with cardboard I knew that we we had a very
00:22:28
serious situation on our hands uh I made some phone calls to members of my staff
00:22:33
called uh assistant district attorney Max Bennett and asked him to respond to the
00:22:39
scene at that point it looked like we had two bodies that had just been kind of [Music]
00:22:53
left the following day after detective had noticed uh Disturbed dirt underneath a wooden shed in the backyard and a uh
00:23:01
State Police Cav dog had alerted on the area detectives began digging there where we Unearthed the body of the third
00:23:12
victim bound with internet cords computer cables and almost completely decomposed
00:23:19
in a skeletal fashion uh with very little tissue left based on our investigation we
00:23:26
pieced together we believe she went missing sometime in September investigators need to use
00:23:32
dental records to identify 34-year-old America lien it certainly presents in in my
00:23:42
experience now as a very unique crime scene and uh a very unique set of circumstances that um you know at the
00:23:51
time were were startling were were scary were horrifying and now stand out as uh some
00:23:58
of the more uh heinous crimes and really egregious you know scenery that that I've seen in my years in law
00:24:11
enforcement women that were in the home while his mother was around or present in the home they walked out alive uh
00:24:17
when his mother would leave the house or be gone for a long periods of time that's when we believe the murders
00:24:22
occurred we do believe that Mr Welden has been living up uh up until the time of his
00:24:34
arrest at this address this is a a largely residential area with you know sort of middle class
00:24:42
families who take pride in their homes and who go to work every day you know children lived in that neighborhood uh
00:24:49
so there was a lot of shock especially from that area of the City of Springfield that you know this kind of
00:24:54
behavior that became National and international news was happen happening you know just yards away from their
00:25:05
[Music] homes Welden is now charged with the murders of America Leiden Ernestine Ryan
00:25:15
and Kayla Escalante along with the previous charges related to the kidnap and attempted murder of the victim found in
00:25:24
his car with well off the streets other victims now feel able to report what he's done to
00:25:34
them so here you have Welden in police custody and police work now shows that a series of rapes that had been ongoing in
00:25:45
that same city also stopped police work then puts two and two together to look at Welden perhaps
00:25:54
being the suspect for those rapes he was incredibly brutal in his rapes and I think that he didn't really
00:26:08
care if they lived or not I can certainly see that once somebody died in his care how that would become
00:26:19
an additional fun thing for him and then it would continue even if something was reported
00:26:26
to police you know Prosecuting a case involving a person with serious mental health issues
00:26:33
and serious addiction issues who's homeless in transient really presents very difficult
00:26:39
circumstances for prosecutors to maintain you know these cases are very challenging it wasn't until a lot of
00:26:48
these women realized that women they knew had been killed in that house that's what brought them forward it was
00:26:52
doing it for other people and realizing this this was a lot more serious and they had to stand up for these women
00:26:57
that no longer had a voice he's looking for people who are less likely to go to the police he made
00:27:04
several statements to some of them go tell someone no one's going to believe
00:27:08
you a and quite frankly that that's the exact mentality of the women that he was
00:27:12
seeking out people who didn't think they'd be believed who didn't think it
00:27:15
was worth coming forward and would just be happy to move on with their lives after the fact having
00:27:21
escaped his objectives with with these women his propensity to rape and commit acts of violence are are are things that
00:27:29
have no place in our society those rapes We Believe became more and more violent involv
00:27:37
strangulation involved the use of uh various sort of tools or Machinery in in to to carry out these rapes and to carry
00:27:47
out uh the violence that was a part of this experience for Mr Welden some cases murder becomes a
00:27:55
product of one's desire not to be apprehended but we believe in Mr welden's case it was truly a sexual
00:28:01
murder in which the murder became a part of uh his fantasy and carrying out his desires Stuart welen was a sexual
00:28:11
stist in many respects so it wasn't just a murder this isn't somebody who's
00:28:16
raping women and then killing them to avoid capture this is somebody that I think given the level of torture that he
00:28:25
inflicted on his victims who got sexual satisfaction from that torture from hurting them from seeing them cry or beg
00:28:36
or [Music] plead eight cases of rape are added to weldon's charges thanks to the testimony
00:28:53
of survivors who are granted anonymity a rape by its very definition is a vile act one of the most heinous
00:29:01
crimes that um we know uh in our Criminal Justice System but certainly Stuart welden's behaviors as we came to
00:29:09
know them were particularly dark uh and focused where he brought them to a level
00:29:16
of violence where uh they were strangled where they were beaten and so on and so
00:29:21
forth in very very severe ways this guy is not just a min to sex workers this guy is a loose
00:29:32
cannon to everybody in his life this is somebody who's been known to threaten to shoot up a bar because
00:29:41
he's angry to assault a woman on the street and yet this is somebody who's
00:29:45
engaging in all of these activities in any other neighborhood this guy would be in in
00:29:52
jail and then prison for any one of these and yet he seems to be operating with few consequences if
00:30:00
any Welden pleads not guilty to all charges as prosecutors prepare for trial they fear the nature of the crime scene
00:30:10
and the accounts of some survivors may allow Welden to plead Insanity so at that point it was my
00:30:18
concern that this is going to bode poorly for us trying to prove that he was able to conform his conduct the fact
00:30:23
he would leave rotting bodies out like this [Music] [Music] there was a description by one victim of
00:30:37
him uh essentially putting candles on the floor in a pentagram another one indicated that he
00:30:44
had motioned to an area underneath the basement stairs and said that a demon lived there and he threw salt there um
00:30:50
other times he he would just maybe ramble about something satanic in a way that uh the victims couldn't really tell
00:30:56
us exactly what he was saying just that he was rambling on about satanic things one of the things that I do
00:31:02
wonder about Stuart welen is whether he had some kind of brain impairment or brain damage that in some
00:31:09
respects affected his impulsivity that's a problem for us because one of the
00:31:14
things we're going to have to prove in this case is that he was uh sane and that he appreciated the wrongfulness of
00:31:18
his actions and that he had the ability to conduct himself in a lawful manner when you hear things like that or the
00:31:25
fact that he he was obsessed with a ghost detecting web site those are things that you're going to need to
00:31:30
[Music] explain Stuart welon is in custody pleading not guilty to three counts of
00:31:46
first-degree murder and 49 other charges relating to a total of 11 victims prosecutors are working to prove
00:31:56
he was criminally responsible for his actions as they fear weldon's defense may claim Welden was insane or under the
00:32:04
effects of a mental disorder at the time of the offenses he's due to face trial in April
00:32:12
2020 we had to show that there was going to be some kind of organization to What's Happening Here some kind of some
00:32:17
kind of pattern rather than just random chaotic violence I tell this a lots of new prosecutors the most important
00:32:24
witness and the most consistent witness in any murder prosecution is going to be
00:32:27
your scene we had to ask for an extension here because crime scene detectives spent
00:32:32
days digging in that yard and then going through that house and being very careful to procure DNA evidence swabbing
00:32:40
everything uh looking for fingerprints things like that they were very careful in making
00:32:46
sure that they're preserving evidence this is preserving your crime scene are
00:32:52
you keeping as many people out of the crime scene as possible are you thinking in the fure future is there something
00:33:00
that could change my crime scene weather for example we had to take a lot of small disparate pieces of evidence link
00:33:08
them together to build a pattern that we could extrapolate we found two bleach bottles
00:33:13
there which kind of indicated some kind of cleanup had happened the ground was sticky also indicating some kind of
00:33:18
cleanup had occurred under there at some point yo it's me Jersey I apologize if I ever my over
00:33:37
say wish I could have did better with my life you know what I'm saying but I'm
00:33:42
tired of living man the video isn't a confession but evidence of Welden trying to cover his
00:33:50
actions would help prove he was acting with intent there were inconsistencies in his
00:33:57
story too it became kind of known to me that he might be saying the the victims were
00:34:02
only bound after they were they were killed so that they' be easier to move and so we had to look at the exact
00:34:08
circumstances we found him in at that point and uh the first victim uh in discussions with the medical examiner we
00:34:15
were able to determine that the she was bound in duct tape and due to some of the lividity and the blanching of the
00:34:20
skin uh that medical examiner was going to be able to give us testimony saying that blood was still flowing at the time
00:34:26
that those Bonds were were applied lied to the victim and that she was alive when that
00:34:31
happened there's a broken hyoid bone in the neck and and we knew that to mean
00:34:35
that some Force had been applied manually to the neck uh most likely with hands we got very lucky with a DNA hit
00:34:43
from our second victim uh on one of the backs of the post there which let us know her body had some at some point
00:34:50
been underneath those basement steps and then we found her in the garage that was
00:34:55
very helpful because it brought back uh the art Theory essentially that the bad things were happening to these women in
00:35:00
the basement and then the bodies were brought out which showed an organized pattern and that allowed us to start uh
00:35:06
bringing in the stories of the survivors from from uh his basement and we're able
00:35:10
to start applying what happened to them to what happened to the bodies that we [Applause]
00:35:15
found essentially through all these pieces of evidence it became very clear that Mr Welden knew uh who was a
00:35:23
suitable victim for what he wanted to do he knew where to procure them from and how to procure them uh without any
00:35:28
resistance there weren't reports coming in of him dragging women into his cars
00:35:32
he knew how to charm them in and then he knew how far he could go with these women if there's someone in the house he
00:35:38
knew he had he had to let them go if he knew he had the house kind of completely
00:35:42
unfettered for a long period of time that's when we believe these killings were happening
00:35:53
[Music] [Music] when you have bodies buried in your basement you know one of the only
00:36:12
options left is to plead insanity and the fact that he didn't plead Insanity U
00:36:18
likely means he was evaluated and was told as an attorneys were told that he doesn't meet the insanity defense he
00:36:24
wasn't legally insane at the time he committed these crimes this was definitely premeditated and well thought
00:36:31
out by him people evaluated him and said bad news you're not insane to discover that a human human
00:36:43
being was capable of uh really torturing victims uh systematically in that home and the the deaths that those three
00:36:55
women experienced and what Mr Welden did in frankly a ham-handed attempt to cover
00:37:02
up his crimes is very unique it it's it's something that I have not seen otherwise
00:37:08
and I hope to never see [Music] [Music] again pleas be seated course now on session no talking
00:37:33
[Music] please your honor many of these women didn't come forward because they were terrified
00:37:41
about what happened to them based on who they were how they lived what they were
00:37:44
going through they didn't think anyone would believe them or care about what
00:37:48
happened to them the only good thing that comes from this case your honor now they know that that's not
00:37:54
true when America Ernestine and cayb were in his house he knew he had that house to himself for an extended period
00:38:01
of time he knew he would not be interrupted or disturbed he would have time to do what he
00:38:07
needed he tailored his lies and the cover up about this case depending on who he was talking to he would explain
00:38:13
the smell in a way that was designed to cause the least amount of alarm to his audience he tailored these lies about
00:38:20
the smell while searching the internet on how to remove the smell of dead animal carcasses always careful to never
00:38:26
search them as dead bodies the intent for what he did here is all over this case kayy was a daughter a sister and a
00:38:47
mother she could light up a room with her smile fill it with her laughter her love for her friends and
00:38:54
her family never dwindled but instead it grew every day she could love with the power of a
00:39:00
thousand Hearts she never gave up on the things that meant the most to her there are no words to describe the
00:39:12
pain in my heart that start of the day I found out my mom was one of the defendant
00:39:17
victims the feelings of hurt sadness confusion loneliness regret and most of all anger are just few of my daily
00:39:25
emotions now I wake up every day hoping that this was all the bad dream and relive the world
00:39:32
when I realized it was real they they say time heals all all wounds but your honor I don't feel like this is
00:39:39
a wound that will ever heal I miss my mom for 3 months I wondered every single day where she was
00:39:57
is she okay having hope we would see her again the day I gave birth I still wasn't aware she was dead playing alone
00:40:05
in a dirty dark garage my life crumbled and stopped the minute the detectives came to my
00:40:15
door I'll never forget those moments every day I am haunted by memories and images I will never be whole again
00:40:28
the defendant took away my daughter my sweet little angel Kayla Jean take care Out Mr Stewart Wen in consideration of
00:40:44
this offense court orders that you be confined at MCI Cedar Junction for the term of your natural
00:40:54
life to give voice to people who are downtrodden to give a sense of respect to people who have really been at the
00:41:03
lowest rungs of society for a very long time uh to give a sense of purpose and meaning to people who are suffering from
00:41:11
addiction and are suffering from mental health issues to give them worth through
00:41:16
this process is is really very special work I want to give credit to our team and in particular assistant district
00:41:25
attorney Max Ben who pieced together a case and worked with great compassion and in great fortitude to
00:41:37
give the murder victims families and the living victims a sense of dignity a sense of closure a sense of
00:41:47
justice around the horrible things that happened to them or happened to their loved ones there's nothing I could say
00:41:53
that would ease the pain of the of the families of of the victims in this case seart won's victims were at a very
00:42:06
desperate point in their lives and they were all battling addiction and trying to beat it and it's can be easy to
00:42:12
forget that these were women who had children often they were sisters they were daughters they had interest they you
00:42:25
know they loved their family and they really were much more than that snapshot of what they were struggling
00:42:35
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