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If I Can’t Have You /// Part 3 /// 537

November 02, 2022 / 46:59

This episode covers the trial of Kyler Jessup, including testimonies about the murders of Jessica Runions and Cara Cox, and the prosecution's portrayal of Kyler as a violent individual. Key discussions include witness testimonies from family and friends of the victims, evidence presented by law enforcement, and Kyler's confessions to multiple individuals.

The prosecution presented evidence that Kyler had a history of abusive behavior towards women, with witnesses like Rhonda discussing Cara's fears of him. Testimonies revealed that Kyler had confessed to several people about his involvement in the murders, including Caitlyn Ferris, who recorded a conversation where Kyler admitted to killing Cara.

Witnesses also described Kyler's behavior after the murders, including his nervousness during a traffic stop and injuries on his body. The defense argued that there was no physical evidence linking Kyler to the crimes and suggested that others, like Jessup, could be responsible.

The episode highlights the emotional impact on the victims' families, with statements made during sentencing reflecting their pain and loss. The jury ultimately found Kyler guilty of voluntary manslaughter and second-degree murder, leading to a lengthy prison sentence.

Throughout the trial, the defense attempted to cast doubt on the prosecution's case, but the overwhelming testimonies and Kyler's own confessions led to his conviction.

TLDR

Kyler Jessup's trial reveals confessions, witness testimonies, and emotional family impacts surrounding the murders of Jessica Runions and Cara Cox.

Episode

46:59
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thank you [Music] [Music] I don't want your love [Music] [Music] Captain we have reached the point of we
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are at a trial now we're not going to go through the whole trial but there were certainly plenty of highlights it's
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interesting to note that Kyler appeared at trial looking clean cut in a dark suit almost appearing respectable
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and earlier proceedings he was wearing ratty clothing long hair and showing off tattoos and piercings while this was a
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part of the defense's strategy the prosecution painted Kyler as a vengeful irrational jealous young man who became
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lethally violent with women who rejected him saying he killed both Jessica and Cara
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because he could not stand to see them moving on to other men and he confessed to six people over the years they said
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the bodies of the women were found on private property owned by a family that Kyler was very familiar with he had been
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in a band with one of the family members and had visited their Farm often the prosecution presented Cara's case first
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Ronda was the first witness talking about Cara and her concerns about Kyler how he was abusive and how Cara wrote a
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poem about being afraid of Kyler which Rhonda had found in her room after she disappeared Rhonda read it out loud it
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said I want to go back but we have seen too much bad pressing charges on the one I love
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scared of the person I used to love I'm through she also discussed her daughter's
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protection order against Kyler other Witnesses included friends of cars who testified about her volatile
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relationship with Kyler his possessiveness and the abuse that left visible bruising on car and how they had
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counseled her to leave him well in the five years or so that we've been doing the show we see this so much and we hear
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about so much abuse in relationships especially men towards women and this should go without saying but real men do
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not abuse women period Then in Jessica's case Jamie and other family members testified about Jessica's life and
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Friends testified who saw Jessica leaving that party that night with Kyler photos were shown in court of the burns
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on Kyler's face and body and his singed hair when he was found at the Edwards trailer
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in September of 2016. again scratches are also visible on his face the prosecution pointed out that
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Kyler had scratches on his face when he was arrested for the car fire and it should be noted that nobody at the party
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has ever stated that Kyler had scratches on his face the day of the party meaning
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that the scratches came afterwards photos were also shown of the contents of a burn barrel that was found on the
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property of jessup's Uncle the barrel was determined to contain aerosol cans outside the barrel on the ground Tex
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found a black cloth a buckle and a black otter phone case the uncle testified that Kyler Jessup and Crystal
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were at his house on the evening of September 9th he says he went inside and then the three left when he came out
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there was a fire burning in one of the barrels so he put it out and also testified that his house was
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burned down in July of 2018 and he knows that his nephew Jessup was responsible for burning down
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his house and listeners will remember that he was in fact arrested for arson of this property right Kansas City
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Police Department Sergeant Terence Carter a retired Kansas City Police Department Master detective and bomb and
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arson expert testified about the burns on Kyler and how they likely came from a gasoline flash burn such as setting a
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car Ablaze Melanie fields Kansas City Police Department crime scene unit supervisor testified that the
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girl's bones were scattered over a wide area she also testified about the photos
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of Kyler's Burns a County Deputy Dustin love testified about arresting Kyler and
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noticing injuries on Kyler's face and when he asked Kyler about these injuries Kyler told him that he ran into a tree
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that's too bad that tree didn't fall on him and crush his skull correct but it's
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just a lie to cover up for the injuries obviously and here's a portion of this story that we really have to we kind of
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continue along the way of filling it out but what is important to the trial and to whether or not Kyler is actually
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guilty surrounds a lot of this story of Jessup Crystal and Kyler being together on that night
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right okay so here we're going to have a deputy that will testify about the vehicle stop
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when he stopped Jessup Kyler and Crystal in that vehicle the deputy says that he
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knew Kyler as they attended elementary school together so he is obviously aware of who
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it is in the vehicle and according to this deputy's testimony he said that Kyler looked extremely
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nervous knees shaking pale in the face and had obviously peed his pants ew so the deputies trying to point out exactly
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how nervous Kyler a man that he knew right appeared to him he's physically nervous to the point of pale in the face
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knee shaking and he says obviously peed his pants on if you get on to law enforcement you're going to know all the
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kids that you grew up with that have become scumbags and are on the other side of the law crime scene Tech Matthew
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Force testified about processing Jessica's Equinox and the red gas can found inside one potential witness this
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would be Alfred used the grandfather he could not testify at his grandson Kyler's trial as he passed away before
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the start of the trial but he had been deposed in July of 2019 and the prosecution succeeded in having
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his deposition read at the trial Alfred's son Kenny is Kyler's father Alfred said that on May 4th 2007 he had
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coffee read the paper did some lawn work and then he and his wife Doris went to the nursing home to visit his
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sister-in-law which is Kyler's aunt this was at 12 45 they stayed until 2 45 went home and napped then watched the
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news Wheel of Fortune in a baseball game before going to bed Kyler wasn't living there
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at that time but came by often right on the fourth he stopped in in the morning sometime between 11 and 11 30 to get gas
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for his truck Alfred and Kyler went to a gas station where he said that Kyler put eight to
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ten gallons of gas in then Kyler met them at the nursing home to visit with his aunt around 12 45 stayed for about
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an hour and then left at 1 45. Kyler seemed to be in a normal mood said his grandfather the implication was that
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Kyler's morning was unaccounted for until about 11 something a.m right we know Cara disappeared after she left
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school at 9 19. but this is a little more in favor of Kyler right because we have a witness who's putting him while
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accounting for more of his time that day more of his time and also his demeanor yeah as for Jessica on September 8th
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2016 Kyler was staying with Alfred he said that they awoke at six Alfred dropped Kyler at work at eight
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Kyler worked until four and Alfred picked him up then he went bowling and didn't see Kyler again until September
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9th which was a Friday morning both got up around six for work and Alfred drove Kyler to his job at extreme bumpers but
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he picked Kyler up around 9 or 10 a.m Kyler left work early that day and a co-worker testified that Kyler had
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scratches on his face and looked as though he didn't want to be there again Kyler's time between when he left the
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party with Jessica around 11 40 p.m and 6 a.m when Alfred saw him again is unaccounted for well that's a very good
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testimony because like I said nobody at the party sees him with scratches next morning he's at work and co-workers say
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hey look he's acting strange he doesn't want to be there and he has cuts and scrapes on his face well this
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leads us Captain to Crystal Taylor this is jessup's Widow who testified for the prosecution about the incident where she
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was driving with Jessup and Kyler on the day Jessica's car was burned right she said that when the officer pulled them
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over Kyler started freaking out saying and pardon my French because my French is just not very good quote Oh my God
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someone might just as well [ __ ] kill me now she was asked about the timeline on the
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day Jessica went missing crystal said that Jessup was home on that night and everything was normal until the morning
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of the ninth Kyler called their mother demanding to see Jessup so Jessup and Crystal went to Kansas City to meet
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Kyler at his grandfather's home when they picked him up he seemed like he was in a hurry to get out of there
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this is when they went to jessup's Uncle's house Kyler told Crystal he and Jessica had broken up mutually
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but were still in touch while she was talking to him he got a phone call from someone asking if he had
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seen Jessica because she was now missing and he suggested that the caller file a
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missing person's report Crystal was scared of Kyler at this point she says because she knew he was a
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suspect in Cara's case and now she's learning on the spot this other girl Jessica is missing as
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well then Jessup and Kyler went somewhere on their own for maybe 45 minutes she says
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she does not know where they went or what they did it's probably when they're burning her car when they got back
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she said that Jessup looked shocked scared and uneasy the three of them went to a friend's
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house at this house Jessup went upstairs and got a gun and slipped it to Crystal
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telling her to hold on to it according to Crystal Kyler did not see this take place
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and Kyler asked her and Jessup to take the batteries out of their phones out of their cell phones
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and he had already thrown his out so at this point they left Kansas City to drive to Edwards Missouri where the
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plan was to leave Kyler hiding out in a trailer and this is when they were pulled over for that erratic driving
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and Kyler was freaking out well think about this too jessup's not a good guy right he has some problems of his own so
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whatever he saw or whatever he helped Kyler do once I get into a situation where he can
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get some kind of weapon he gets a weapon yep because he is now fearful for his safety and his girlfriend's safety or
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his wife's safety it also kind of points out that wherever they disappear to for
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that 45 minutes he heard something witnessed something or was told something or all of the
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three that scared the crap out of Jessup and I look I'm gonna just say I'm guessing he
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saw something maybe he saw Jessica's body because I don't think you'd be that physically shaken up
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just if somebody told you something because half the time you want to believe them
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well and then the other move here Captain is as soon as they drop Kyler off at this trailer where he's supposed to
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you know hide out for a while right it's as soon as they get back home from dropping him off that they call police
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and reported Kyler for the murder so as soon as they can get away from this guy who had called them for help
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they're immediately reporting hey something terrible happened here and we're pretty certain that this Kyler guy
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is all mixed up in it and he's responsible for something horrible well that doesn't mean that they felt bad for
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whatever Kyler did or felt bad for what who whatever victim they possibly saw but I think they called the cops because
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now he's a threat to them and so if the cops get him off the street then I don't have to constantly
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be worrying what he might do to stop me from telling anybody what I saw cell phone tracking
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evidence was presented by the prosecution in the form of a map but they did not have specifics on Kyler's
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movements that day because remember he took his battery out of his phone one thing that the jury was specifically
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charged with deciding whether or not was Kyler in Cass County on September 8th between the hours of 11 45 pm and
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September 9th at 6 a.m the prosecution expert also said that jessup's phone was nowhere nearby at all during that time
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frame as well Candace Saint Claire testified about the episode where Kyler found her packing
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her bags to leave him and he tells her she's not allowed to leave choked her and at some point even
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confesses that he had killed ex-girlfriends out of jealousy to her she said he told her something bad had
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happened to Cara and he dragged her body into the woods and he told her he had gone around Gathering up missing persons
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signs about Cara and then dumped them in her parents yard she said she didn't go to police because
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she was terrified of Kyler oh yeah because this guy is a freaking psychopath and on top of that you should
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be able to smell him coming because he he reeks a pee Nick eats a former roommate testified that Kyler once told
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him that he killed Cara because she would not love him and he didn't want anyone else to have her now on the stand
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he also made reference to Kyler raping an ex-girlfriend but the defense cut him off and his comment was stricken from
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the record this leads us to Caitlyn Ferris this is an interesting little portion of
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our story here captain Caitlyn dated Kyler in high school now before she moved to North Carolina when
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she got married she told the police twice in early 2011 that Kyler had confessed to her about killing Cara
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she testified about wearing a wire at the request of the FBI and trying to get Kyler to confess on tape right the feds
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had approached her and asked her to help them out because she was still in touch
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with Kyler at that time the FBI actually paid for her to fly to Missouri and tried to entrap Kyler on recorded audio
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they hoped that since he had already confessed to her previously that he would do so again
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so Caitlyn was given a recording device hidden in a key fob and reached out to Kyler some of the recording was played
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for the jury in it Kyler tells her he is going to kill himself because every girl he has
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ever loved has left him he cries and says he is always alone and that he has killed someone Caitlyn says
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he will feel better now that he has told her then Caitlyn suggests that the two drive to a wooded area to play Ouija
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like Ouija board yeah they want to do like a summons or a seance and try to talk to Cara's Spirit yeah they played
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that audio and video at the trial because it's almost like she set up her cell phone like in between the two of
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them while they're driving and you could see him like turning his head and talking to her and at one point he's
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like biting her lip and not letting her lip go and it's very strange and then he's constantly you know she's going
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well what would you say to Cara and he keeps saying well Cara please don't hate me
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yeah at one point Kyler can be heard saying dear Cara I'm really sorry love Kyler the jury also
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heard Kyla referring to their Excursion as the death spot of the girlfriend I killed later Kyler is heard saying on
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the audio tape that he had killed her and I dumped her in the woods Kyler also talks about what he's going to do with
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his inheritance mind you from his grandfather who is still alive at the time of the recording
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yeah dirt pads so given what this guy suspected of man is that disturbing to hear him talking about not
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all these not just all these things with Cara and her spirit and what he did with
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her but oh what I'm going to do with my inheritance from my grandfather who's still alive
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through this whole thing there are portions where Kyler is telling Caitlyn that he loves her that she's the only
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one for him and so on the state presented a recording of two jailhouse phone calls Kyler made to his mother his
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mom says that she loves and supports him but Kyler tells her that he dragged Jessica Into the Woods
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because of her and that she was never there for him so this is just one of many confessions
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this time to Jessica's murder yeah it seems like he confessed to anybody that would listen to him anybody that's
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willing to spend more than five minutes with this guy he's going to start telling you that he killed somebody this
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time he's telling his mother as he's sitting in jail waiting to go to trial hey I
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I dragged Jessica into the woods because of you mom because you were never there
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for me well partly that's probably true he probably has some Early Childhood trauma and he's probably has some
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abandonment issues and so if a girl leaves him he doesn't know how to deal with that as an adult as a as a human so
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therefore I have to take this individual's life so they can't leave me yeah and the
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interesting thing here too Captain just looking at my notes this must have been this conversation between Kyler and his
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mother must have been after he was arrested for setting Jessica's vehicle on fire before her body was found
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because he blames whatever he did to Jessica on his mother to which his mom responds
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you know she's pleading with him to you know you need to tell people where Jessica is right and so he then hangs up
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on on his mother never revealing the location of Jessica or exactly what he did we have Megan runyon's uh this is
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Jessica's little sister she testified that she was so devastated after the loss of her sister that she wanted to
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end her own life and it sounds like she almost did so instead at some point she decided to do what Jessica would want
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her to do she says so she graduated with honors from school Amy Clark the friend who reported Carr
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missing testified the two weeks before Carr went missing Carr showed up at her house distressed about Kyler she was
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trying to leave him Kyler called and called her phone she says maybe 20 times that day until Cara finally agreed to
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meet with him uh she left for a bit and came back to Amy's with a swollen lip and choke marks
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on her throat of course this controlling douchebag afterwards has to then just keep calling her and harassing her well
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the prosecution is going to argue that okay we have these bones that we found the remains of the two young women
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unfortunately there were only about 50 bones of each were found the prosecution is going to say that the
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remains were consistent with strangulation and they've shown time and time again with all these witnesses that
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this was consistent with Kyler's treatment of other women women who survived on the flip side of all of that Captain
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the defense Kyler's defense mounted a vigorous defense they allege that the police suffered from tunnel vision and
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focused on Kyler when others such as Jessup were equally viable suspects and were never investigated well of course
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that's what this giant pile of dog [ __ ] is going to do he refuses to accept responsibility for his actions and so he
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throws everybody else under the bus hey go look at these other guys that they were seeing Oh by the way go look at my
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half-brother he's a person of interest yeah his defense tried to poke holes in the case the evidence and the
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methodologies used by the state they said that there was Zero physical evidence linking Kyler to the crimes
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they portrayed Kyler as a lost little kid a talented artist a goofball someone non-threatening and misunderstood they
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also said that Kyler had Alibis and could not have killed I either Jessica or Cara in quite a few instances the
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defense Witnesses testified only in front of the judge in an offer of proof these Witnesses
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were not heard by the jury because the judge refused to allow them to testify in open court and then the defense tried
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to raise suspicions about jessup's involvement [Music] thank you [Music] [Music]
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all right we're back cheers Captain you silly willies you Willy sillies we're back so
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I mean think about this his defense you know first of all we know he calls Jessup his half-brother to
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come help him now we don't know exactly what Jessup helped him do you know we don't know if Jessup was involved in
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burning the car we know he possibly was there but there was something that startled Jess up
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and that's what I believe it was a body uh the movement of a body or something like that something startled Jess up
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that's why he told his wife here's a you know that's why at that well the defense
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pointed out that it took Jessup six hours after dropping Kyler off at the trailer to call police so they wanted to
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present the obvious question of well what was Jessup doing during that time and the defense pointed out that Jessup
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was the one who started the fire at Paul's house you know they wanted to imply that maybe he was destroying some
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kind of evidence they also questioned why Crystal and Jessup got married in 2017 this after 15
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years together was it so that she could not be forced to testify against Jessup they emphasized that police didn't find
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anything of evidentiary value in the burn barrel at Paul's what they did find was aerosol cans and their expert argued
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that Kyler could have gotten the burns on his face and hands from burning those cans and having them explode
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this is a alternative to him burning himself setting Jessica's vehicle on fire right the defense focused on the
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fact that no one had proven when or how Cara died an attempt by them to introduce a witness who would testify to
00:27:07
rumors that she had OD'd on meth this was rejected by the judge the defense also focused on a long brown
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hair found near Jessica's remains Jessica's hair was blonde again the implication was that someone else was at
00:27:24
the crime scene the defense tried to imply that Kyler could not have killed Jessica based on the timeline based on
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phone records Kyler was home from 2 am to 2 46 a.m but Jessica's phone was pinging at 3 A.M in Belton Kyler was
00:27:40
home at this time so he could not have killed her is what they were claiming further they tried to introduce evidence
00:27:47
that Jessica was a pothead and had been smoking pot at the party yet no THC was found in her brain matter
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this meant that she had not died soon after the party as THC needs time to pass through the system
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so they're pointing out that she must have died much later so anyone could have killed her not Kyler or maybe not
00:28:12
just Kyler right the defense points out that the wiretap girl Caitlyn moved in with Kyler after that saying that
00:28:22
clearly she was not scared of him also they suggested that the two were role playing on the audio but that's great I
00:28:28
mean that's a great defense because it's absolutely insane that you would move in
00:28:34
with somebody after that tape recording of basically a confession exactly because what they're saying is they're
00:28:42
role playing in this audio Kyler went along with her because he thought she would put out if he pretended to have
00:28:49
killed someone because he says that she told him it turned her on they implied that she was that she tried
00:28:56
to use sex to entrap him and he played along with it so he could get some ew Deborah Heflin who lived two blocks from
00:29:06
Belton High School in May of 2007 testified for the defense about something not heard by the public before
00:29:12
she said that on May 4th the Descartes disappeared she saw a teenage girl walking down the street around 11 30 or
00:29:20
12 noon then the girl was crying and distraught on the phone with someone suddenly a dark sedan with four people
00:29:29
inside approached her and Deborah heard a blood curdling scream she did not know
00:29:34
Cara but recognized her quote three years later when she saw a news report on the case and said I knew it was her
00:29:43
this was her testimony across the state Castell on her recall well of course it's three years later this is one of
00:29:51
those don't you hate when you see one of these at trial some some lady that saw something that
00:29:57
that stood out in her mind and stuck in her mind for so long because it was terrifying all the sedan pulls up and
00:30:04
four people inside approached this girl that she didn't know and then the girl's
00:30:08
gone right she hears a scream but doesn't do anything about it on that day and it's not until three years later
00:30:17
when she sees a news report on on Cara's case and says oh my goodness that's the
00:30:23
girl I saw three years ago it it's just casting doubt here at trial on something that you just you have to
00:30:32
question every sentence in her statement this isn't a strong witness to me and I
00:30:39
don't even know if I would have necessarily called her well if you're the defense you're calling her but yeah
00:30:44
you're right it's it's one of those ones that I think just kind of muddles the waters a little bit you know
00:30:51
really gets muddies the waters a little bit here and gets things more confusing than they than they certainly need to be
00:30:57
now one thing that we shouldn't call into question is this next expert witness the for the defense it's a
00:31:04
forensic anthropologist who took the stand and said you know the prosecution is trying to
00:31:12
paint the picture that Kyler strangled both of these victims and then dumped their bodies however
00:31:20
at the crime scene investigators failed to locate the victim's hyoid bones so they couldn't really be sure about
00:31:27
strangulation which obviously that argument goes in Kyler's favor yeah yeah and really what you're pointing out here
00:31:35
captain and I think that we need to really hit home is the defense is going to not just kind of poke holes in some
00:31:44
of the state's case but a large part of their defense is focused around nobody being able to prove that Kyler was where
00:31:53
they thought he was during the times that he's committing these crimes right and eventually this is going to lead to
00:32:01
the defendant himself taking the stand and you pointed out off Mike earlier what an interesting turn of events where
00:32:09
earlier the defense is saying this guy's not even competent to stand trial and now later he's taking the stand in
00:32:17
his own defense well and again that's look you're trying to start off the argument by going oh he's incompetent to
00:32:24
stay in trial but now because he's such a psychopath a sociopath he's such a good liar he comes
00:32:34
off as believable he might be even Charming to some people again like you said he comes into court with disheveled
00:32:42
clothes and now he's all dappered up I mean this is just a it's a [ __ ] defense and we're going to put him on
00:32:50
the stand knowing that he's just lying through his teeth yeah and it's interesting because he gets up there and
00:32:57
he he's calm and he's kind of soft-spoken at times now under direct from his attorney he
00:33:05
said that he did not kill either Cara or Jessica saying I don't know exactly what
00:33:09
happened to Cara I didn't do anything to either of them and he says that the families had been
00:33:15
hounding him over the years but that didn't mean that he did it he didn't do it instead he said that his dead
00:33:23
stepbrother Jessup was involved yeah and both murders that his his half-brother Jessup is a serial killer
00:33:35
I wonder why Kyle while Kyler was on the stand if he was wetting himself Mr pee pee pants yeah he said that on
00:33:49
May 4th 2007 so we're going back to the the car case here and this is again Kyler's words on the stand
00:33:57
he says on May 4th 2007 he was at his grandfather's house for a time and then went to practice with his band then and
00:34:06
this is a big departure from what he had been saying since 2007 he said that he and Jessup went to pick Cara up from
00:34:14
Belton High School on May 4th the three of them hung out at his apartment and tried to score some weed then Kyler left
00:34:23
to go visit his aunt at the nursing home and Jessup was going to go to a state park with Cara so here's a
00:34:31
little recap from that testimony on the witness stand Kyler admitted to lying to police on multiple occasions
00:34:39
over the last 14 years about being with Cara on the day of her disappearance right he said he lied because he didn't
00:34:47
want to get in trouble because Carr had a protection order against him at the time
00:34:52
Kyler also claimed his half-brother Jessup Carter was driving the pickup truck when he picked up Cara at Belton
00:34:59
High School Kyler testified he went back to his home with Cara and Jessup and then tried to get some marijuana from a
00:35:06
friend he then claimed he left Carr and Jessup to go to that friend's house and then on to Kansas City to see his great
00:35:14
aunt at a rehab facility so all this time he's stuck to one story about not seeing her that day at all the
00:35:23
day in question for 14 years and then all of a sudden while he's on the stand trying to save his own butt he
00:35:31
throws his dead half-brother under the bus saying the last time I actually saw her
00:35:37
we did hang out that day yeah but I left her with with Jessup and when I came back I don't know what
00:35:44
happened yeah and the prosecution is going to say hey are you the most unlucky man ever to walk the face of the
00:35:51
Earth two girls that you dated went missing they're both last seen with you you have abusive violent past with both
00:36:01
of the girls and you then confess to hundreds of people and tell people that you're
00:36:08
responsible for the murders but now you're saying that you're you're half brother is a serial killer and decides
00:36:15
to just kill girls that you dated or girls that just recently broke up with you you must be the most unlucky man to
00:36:23
ever walk this Earth yeah his response was anyone who has a brother who is a serial killer is unlucky which is such a
00:36:30
[ __ ] answer because the No No the two girls you dated are the most unlucky people in the world if your half brother
00:36:37
is a is a serial killer that just happens to kill his half-brother's girlfriends well that's his story in
00:36:45
Cara's case but he says that the night that Jessica disappeared in 2016 that Jessica drove him home because he was
00:36:52
super drunk that seems believable right based off of what we heard from the witnesses at the party
00:36:58
and Jessup was in the car as well how he magically got there I don't know the next thing he says he remembers is that
00:37:05
he woke up at his grandfather's house the next day again implying that he's too drunk to have done anything to
00:37:12
Jessica and last time he saw her she's fine and in the company of Jessup yeah doesn't explain the scratches on your
00:37:19
face Jessup scratch your face well he goes on to say that um Jessup killed himself because Kyler then
00:37:29
pled not guilty in the killing of the two girls meaning that Jessup may not have killed
00:37:35
himself had Kyler just pled guilty taking the blame and then it was only after he decided to plead not guilty
00:37:45
that Jessup felt that he had to kill himself yeah this guy's a liar liar pee pants on fire and then all those people
00:37:53
that he told or at least that testified that he had told them that he had killed
00:37:58
one of the girls or both of them or had done something leaving one of them or both of them in the woods he on the
00:38:06
stand just flat out denies having confessed to anyone about what he had done so all those people are just making
00:38:14
up all those people are lying you're the only one telling the truth and on top of
00:38:19
that you're the only one with peed filled pants everybody else their pants are clean they're Mr Clean pants that's
00:38:27
right well you're not buying it Captain I'm not buying it and the jury didn't buy it either because on April 15th this
00:38:34
after 15 hours of deliberation they found Kyler guilty a voluntary manslaughter in Cara's case and second-degree murder
00:38:43
in Jessica's case which showed that he killed her with intent the family was permitted to give Victim Impact
00:38:50
statements prior to the jury's sentencing recommendation Cara's mom talked about how Cara had planned to go
00:38:57
into the medical field and she was a loving trusting girl whose disappearance ripped the family apart and started a
00:39:04
10-year nightmare she told the jury that she did not feel the manslaughter conviction was enough I agree Carr's
00:39:11
stepfather told the jury that Rhonda had been paying cars phone bill for the entire 14 years since she vanished in
00:39:22
case they needed the number for her case right they had called the phone often just to hear Cara on the voicemail
00:39:31
then we have Jessica's mother Jamie runions said it's been the longest four years and seven months of my entire life
00:39:38
her daughter who was kind to everyone and loved music and dancing was taken from them far too soon she said that one
00:39:47
of her other daughters tried to take her own life since Jessica's murder her ex John Jessica's father said he would
00:39:55
never get to walk Jessica down the aisle and her younger sisters would never get
00:40:00
to see her grow as a role model for them the jury recommended life for the murder
00:40:06
and 15 years for the manslaughter after the verdict Rhonda and Jamie addressed the media saying we are thankful to be
00:40:16
where we are today because there were days when we didn't know if our girls would ever be found right and we're just
00:40:25
so thankful that they were found and we have them back but this is also because they didn't give up the mothers didn't
00:40:34
give up the mothers leading the charge having the community not give up I think that's why you keep that people talking
00:40:42
about it that's why he confessed to so many people because people were continuing to talk about it because he
00:40:49
was a suspect for nine years and the community wouldn't let that go which kept that on his that kept that on
00:40:58
Kyler's mind and on his conscience and then he had to tell people about it to try to feel better about the bad stuff
00:41:07
he did that's really interesting captain and I agree with that 100 percent uh the
00:41:12
judge sentenced Kyler to the max which was was 15 years for the voluntary manslaughter and life imprisonment for
00:41:18
the second degree murder in Missouri look this is this is an ongoing issue and we're not going to
00:41:25
solve it in the garage here today but oftentimes life does not mean life and Missouri a life sentence is capped at 30
00:41:33
years prisoners who serve about 85 percent of the sentence become eligible for parole these sentences will run
00:41:42
consecutively but Kyler will also receive credit for some time served which was about four years at that point
00:41:49
so he could be out in about 34 years Kyler rejected the opportunity to say anything in court before the sentencing
00:41:58
which is ironic as you pointed out how he confessed to so many people along the way
00:42:06
this is the one time that he chose to keep his mouth shut and again you have to wonder
00:42:13
if he had simply kept his mouth shut to begin with between 2007 and 2016 we didn't have much physical evidence in
00:42:21
this case right there's a possibility he would not be in prison today so we should be thankful that he couldn't stop
00:42:28
talking in June of this year Kyler filed his appeal for his conviction as is his
00:42:36
right he will see that process through as he rots in a Corrections Facility in Missouri well hopefully he serves the
00:42:44
full amount of the term and hopefully he gets a little prison Justice and hopefully there's some people that find
00:42:51
him to be annoying and don't like his stupid face and and maybe get so scared that he
00:42:58
wets himself and so people take out some anger on this douche but also maybe when he's up for parole
00:43:09
they won't parole him Keith Todd remember he's the mushroom hunter who found the girls yeah he later told
00:43:19
kshb.com that he has a daughter who is Jessica's age he said I was honored that I was able to
00:43:26
help bring this to a closure I mean for a family to go 10 years without knowing where your child is is just
00:43:33
heart-wrenching and with Jessica seven months is like an eternity I am just grateful that the good Lord and these
00:43:41
girls led me to the remains that day now before we wrap up here this week Captain
00:43:47
I want to use a quote from an article from earlier this year Robert D keppel PhD is a man that we
00:43:56
have spoke of several times on this show throughout the years Robert keppel was instrumental in the investigations and
00:44:04
capture of Ted Bundy the Green River Killer Gary Ridgeway and the Atlanta child killer Wayne Williams he is also
00:44:12
the author of many brilliant true crime books sadly Dr keppel passed away a few months ago but there was something he
00:44:21
said in an interview years ago that was in this recent article as well that very much pertains to this week's
00:44:29
case and it said Robert keppel says there are more serial killers than people think everyone knows the famous
00:44:37
ones that the newspaper headlines cover nobody knows all the rest all the rest are more dangerous there are more of
00:44:46
those out there that kill two three or four people thank you for all of your incredible
00:44:52
work Mr keppel rest in peace love oh I don't want your love [Music] [Music] thank you so much for joining us here in
00:45:20
the garage if you have thoughts and opinions on this case please go to truecrimegarage.com and comment on the
00:45:27
blog section Colonel do we have any recommended reading for the listeners why yes we do here Captain uh this week
00:45:34
we're recommending deviant the Shocking True Story of the original Psycho by Harold Schechter driven to commit
00:45:41
gruesome and bizarre acts beyond all imagination Ed Gein remains one of the most deranged Minds in the annals of
00:45:49
American homicide this is his story recounted in fascinating and chilling detail by Harold Schechter one of the
00:45:57
most acclaimed True Crime storytellers of our time and hey friend of the show we had him on as a guest on our other
00:46:04
great show off the Record so check out deviant the Shocking True Story of the original Psycho by Harold Schechter you
00:46:12
can find that great title and many others on our recommended page at truecrime garage.com and until next week
00:46:18
be good be kind and don't let it [Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Most heartbreaking
  • 85
    Most shocking
  • 80
    Most emotional
  • 80
    Biggest twist

Episode Highlights

  • Kyler's Transformation at Trial
    Kyler appeared clean-cut in court, contrasting his previous appearance. 'He was wearing ratty clothing.'
    “He was wearing ratty clothing long hair and showing off tattoos and piercings.”
    @ 01m 26s
    November 02, 2022
  • Caitlyn's Wire Recording
    Caitlyn wore a wire to capture Kyler's confession. 'Dear Cara, I'm really sorry.'
    “Dear Cara, I'm really sorry. Love, Kyler.”
    @ 18m 56s
    November 02, 2022
  • The Chilling Confession
    Kyler confessed to multiple people about killing Jessica and Cara. 'I dragged Jessica into the woods.'
    “I dragged Jessica into the woods because of you, mom.”
    @ 20m 10s
    November 02, 2022
  • Kyler's Defense Strategy
    Kyler's defense attempted to cast doubt on his involvement in the murders, suggesting alternative scenarios.
    “It's absolutely insane that you would move in with somebody after that tape recording of basically a confession.”
    @ 28m 28s
    November 02, 2022
  • Victim Impact Statements
    The families of the victims shared their heart-wrenching experiences during the sentencing phase.
    “It's been the longest four years and seven months of my entire life.”
    @ 39m 36s
    November 02, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • Real men do not abuse women, period.
    If I Can’t Have You /// Part 3 /// 537
  • Oh my God, someone might just as well [ __ ] kill me now.
    If I Can’t Have You /// Part 3 /// 537
  • Dear Cara, I'm really sorry. Love, Kyler.
    If I Can’t Have You /// Part 3 /// 537
  • I wanted to end my own life after losing my sister.
    If I Can’t Have You /// Part 3 /// 537
  • This is just a it's a [ __ ] defense.
    If I Can’t Have You /// Part 3 /// 537
  • I don't want your love.
    If I Can’t Have You /// Part 3 /// 537

Key Moments

  • Trial Highlights01:13
  • Abuse Awareness03:11
  • Emotional Confessions20:10
  • Witness Testimonies21:51
  • Trial Testimony32:01
  • Guilty Verdict38:34
  • Victim Impact38:50
  • Sentencing41:12

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown