Snapchat Affair Ends In Devastating Murder: The Case Of Ryan Cooper

In June 2021, 42-year-old Ryan Cooper was found shot to death inside his family home in rural Iowa. His wife, Karina, called 911, claiming someone had broken into their home and killed her husband while he slept. But what initially appeared to be a home invasion would soon unravel into a far more complicated story of secrets, betrayal and deception. Huge thanks to StayAwake Crime & Psychology https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoV5rqQ-ZwLahX1Q0aEsneA. NACG https://nacg.org/?srsltid=AU7gw4UPy6RUUsjfSmREmcIb5rockE3QzPL3Du0BzIFYwxQdc4qwbY2m This episode is sponsored by: Cash App: Download Cash App today and make your money work for you. Click here to get started: [https://capl.onelink.me/vFut/4g1zpylb] #CashAppPartner. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App’s bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. Cash App Visa® Debit Flex Cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC, and The Bancorp Bank, N. A., pursuant to a license from Visa U. S. A. Inc. See terms and conditions for the Sutton prepaid card (https://cash.app/legal/us/en-us/card-agreement), Sutton debit flex card (https://cash.app/legal/us/en-us/debit-flex-card-agreement-sutton), and Bancorp debit flex card (https://cash.app/legal/us/en-us/debit-flex-card-agreement-bancorp). Cash App Green features, Savings, Direct deposit, Round ups, Overdraft coverage and Discounts provided by Cash App, a Block, Inc. brand. Visit cash.app/legal/podcast http://cash.app/legal/podcast for full disclosures. Warby Parker: Our listeners can buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional pairs at WarbyParker.com/TCKR https://www.warbyparker.com/?&wpsrc=Podcast&singular=59085_2026Q1?utm_campaign=2026Q1&utm_content=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=truecrimewithkendallrae — and using our link helps support the show. #WarbyParker #ad Ladder: If you have an iPhone, head to ladder.fit/TCKR https://www.joinladder.com/podcast/define?utm_medium=paid&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=032026-podcast-tier-1-true-crime-with-kendall-rae-true-crime&utm_term=audioboom-true-crime-with-kendall-rae&utm_content=true-crime-with-kendall-rae and take a quick quiz to find your perfect Ladder plan. Use my link and get a free 7-day trial with NO credit card, and $10 off your first month if you join. Whatnot: Download Whatnot today and get $20 off your first purchase. Search Whatnot in the app store, sign up, and start finding the best deals on the products you love with $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Quince: Find the fall pieces you’ll reach for most at Quince. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to quince.com http://quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. Check out my foundation: Higher Hope Foundation: https://www.higherhope.org/ Watch my documentaries: 530 Days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjUWkmOjNLk Apartment 801: https://bit.ly/2RJ9XXr True Crime with Kendall Rae podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3rks84o Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3jC66pr Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop https://kendallrae.shop/ Check out my other podcasts: Mile Higher (True Crime) @milehigherpod YouTube: https://bit.ly/2ROzJcw Instagram: http://instagram.com/milehigherpod The Sesh (Current events, a little true crime, pop culture, and commentary) https://bit.ly/3Mtoz4X @the_seshpodcast Instagram: https://bit.ly/3a9t6Xr *Follow My Social!* @KendallRaeOnyt Instagram: http://instagram.com/kendallraeonyt Facebook: https://bit.ly/3kar4NK True Crime TikTok: https://bit.ly/3VDbc77 Personal TikTok: https://bit.ly/41hmRKg REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://zfrmz.com/yg9cuiWjUe2QY3hSC2V0 Form for people directly related/close to the victim: https://zfrmz.com/HGu2hZso42aHxARt1i67 Join my discord to chat with other viewers about this video, it’s free! https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN C O N T A C T: For Business Inquiries - [email protected] Send me mail: Kendall Rae 8547 E Arapahoe Rd Ste J #233 Greenwood Village, CO 80112

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Kendall Rae?

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• 0:44Kendall Rae?

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• 1:01Speaker 01

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• 1:39Kendall Rae?

  Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so very much for joining me today. And if you're new to the show, make sure to click Subscribe or Follow, whether you are listening or watching this episode, and depending on where you are doing that from. I hope that makes any sense. But that way, you'll never miss an episode from me. So you guys, I have got to say, I have been covering true crime for many years now. I have seen a lot of, well, just straight up dumb shit in my day. And I'm talking next level. You cannot imagine someone could possibly be so stupid, but somehow they are.

• 2:22Kendall Rae?

  And what honestly shocks me is that these stupid people are oftentimes accompanied by more idiots that are part of their stupid plan. And it's people who think that they can get away with absolutely anything, especially if they keep their story straight or they delete their Google searches. It will never cease to amaze me that people, still to this day, don't understand you cannot get rid of what you look up online. If you have said or searched something incriminating on your phone or your laptop, it can and it will be found. Maybe not so much like 20 years ago and before that, but in the last five to 10 years, it's all definitely traceable.

• 3:07Kendall Rae?

  And that's why it just shocks me so much that people are still doing the shit they're doing today. And that, ladies and gentlemen, leads me into the case I'm going to be telling you about today. We're going to be talking about the absolutely heartbreaking, very frustrating murder of Ryan Cooper, who was a loving father of four, who only ever wanted to work as hard as he could to provide for his family and himself. Ryan's case is so upsetting for many different reasons, and I was truly pissed off at several points while preparing for this episode. But one of the biggest reasons that this case just really infuriates me and tugs at your heartstrings really is the fact that he had an absolute traitor in his life.

• 3:52Kendall Rae?

  Luckily, though, that traitor is an absolute moron, and we love that for them because morons always get caught, right? But of course, it doesn't change the fact that at the end of the day, Ryan is no longer here. His children are without a father, and no amount of justice can truly repair what has been lost. I think Ryan's story truly deserves to be told and to be told right. And I feel like I've been kind of saying this a lot lately, like across my different shows, but the professional coverage done on this case, in my opinion, and I'm not going to call out anyone specifically, was not very good. And to be clear, I'm not talking about other creators or podcasters at all. I'm talking about professional coverage.

• 4:33Kendall Rae?

  And so I wanted to cover it myself because I think his story can be told a lot more clear and without being salacious. Before getting into this episode, I just wanted to thank you all for listening to and supporting my show and also any of the Mile Higher Media shows. Your support makes it possible for us to continue funding grants through my foundation, Higher Hope, which supports victims of violent crimes, their families, and like-minded nonprofits. And with that, let's go ahead and jump into Ryan's case. So Ryan Roy Cooper was born on June 1, 1979, in Waterloo, Iowa, to his parents, Jan and Connie. And he also has a few siblings, Michelle, Erin, and Jason. Now, the Coopers were a Midwest farming family,

• 5:17Kendall Rae?

  and it's been said that Ryan knew that he wanted to fill his father's shoes from a very young age. After graduating from North Tama High School in 1998, he officially joined the family farming business where he drove trucks and helped produce cattle. Farming seemed to truly be a really big deal to the Cooper family. And so it sounds like Ryan really took a lot of pride in being able to carry on that tradition for his family. And on top of farming, he was also a very loving, devoted father. When he and his wife first got pregnant, his first wife, to be clear, he was just elated to be having his first baby boy. There's not much information available online about why his first marriage didn't work out, but honestly, I don't think it really matters.

• 6:02Kendall Rae?

  Whatever the reason is that it didn't work out between them, it certainly didn't stop Ryan from wanting to find love. And in September of 2009, he married a woman named Karina Alpers. And together, they had three kids of their own, two boys and a girl. And Ryan's love for his children was seen and felt by everyone. So to be clear, Ryan is a father of four. He has his first son from his first marriage, and then he has three children with Karina as well. And as cliche as it sounds, and I know it's something that is said in true crime all the time, it's certainly something that I say often, but there's no other way to describe it really. But things on the surface of their marriage seemed to be just fine. Things seemed to be going very well. I mean, of course, they had their shit. Who doesn't?

• 6:46Kendall Rae?

  But, you know, for the most part, people around them thought they were quite happy. They lived in the small town of Trayer, Iowa, and Karina worked as a hairdresser. And she was every bit as, you know, chatty and social as you might imagine someone with that job to be. And Ryan, on the other hand, had a much more laid back demeanor, which was perfect for a life of farming, of course. And he actually worked alongside his sister, Michelle, who was the farm's business accountant, and his brother, Aaron, who helped him manage the crops and the animals, all of that. Now sadly, their mom did pass away, but according to Michelle, she says she knew that she would have been proud of the way that they were all working together. And I think it's really cool that they were able to work together because it can be difficult to work with family, right?

• 7:30Kendall Rae?

  And for many years, the status quo for the Cooper family was family, farming, and friends. And Ryan definitely had a big group of friends who all enjoyed doing outdoorsy things together. Between boating, camping, and motorcycling, it sounds like he spent a lot of time out in nature, surrounded by good people, just really living a simple, happy, fulfilling life. And Karina also had a big group of friends. They actually called themselves the Tama County Housewives, which of course, if you've seen the Bravo Housewives series, this meant that there were many girls' trips and wine nights and gossip sessions, things like that. When it comes to Tama County, though, there wasn't a whole lot of excitement, you could say.

• 8:13Kendall Rae?

  Obviously, they had your typical small-town gossip because no matter how big your town is, there is going to be gossip, correct? But nothing ever really warranted any kind of newsworthy attention. Or at least, that's how it was until June 18, 2021, the day that Ryan Cooper was murdered. That morning at 4:34 a.m., Ryan's brother, Aaron, called 911. And Aaron only lived a few miles away from his brother's house. And he had just received a call moments before this from Karina, screaming at the top of her lungs that someone had broken into their home.

• 8:53Speaker 04

  911, what is the location of your emergency?

• 8:57Speaker 05

  I just got a call from my sister-in-law that somebody's in the house.

• 9:02Speaker 04

  Okay, someone's in our house?

• 9:04Speaker 05

  Yep, I'm just pulling in now.

• 9:06Speaker 04

  And you're there?

• 9:08Speaker 05

  I'm just coming in right away.

• 9:09Speaker 04

  Okay, because that's up in Trayer area?

• 9:12Speaker 05

  Yep, yep.

• 9:13Speaker 04

  I have a, I have a, what's your, what's your sister's name?

• 9:18Speaker 05

  Karina Cooper.

• 9:19Speaker 04

  Cooper? Karina?

• 9:21Speaker 05

  Yep, yep.

• 9:22Kendall Rae?

  As this was taking place, Aaron jumps into his truck and just races over to the house. And like you heard, he does sound relatively calm, but he later on explained that was because he just didn't understand the gravity of the situation. He barely understood the situation at all because through her screams and sobs, Karina only mentioned that there was an intruder, not that her husband had been killed. And then when he arrived, Aaron said he was even less concerned because Ryan's oldest son, his nephew, was the one who opened the door.

• 9:53Speaker 04

  We have a female on 911, but can't understand her.

• 9:57Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 9:58Speaker 04

  I'm just wondering if that's her.

• 10:00Speaker 05

  It probably is. I am armed. Do you want me to proceed? Okay. Yeah? This kid just came out and told me to come out.

• 10:09Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 10:10Kendall Rae?

  But moments later, as he's getting further into the house, you can hear the panic in his voice really starts to build because he realizes what had actually happened. Take a listen.

• 10:30Kendall Rae?

  When Aaron went into the living room, he sees his brother slumped over on his recliner chair, clearly deceased with a large pool of blood surrounding him. And he told the dispatcher he didn't know if Ryan had been shot, that there was just too much blood to know for sure. But there was no pulse when he checked. Now, Aaron is actually a volunteer firefighter, so he did have formal training about how not to disturb a scene. The same, however, cannot be said for Karina, because she was literally sitting on top of him. And as she's sitting on his body, she just continues to scream at the top of her lungs. It's absolutely terrifying to listen to. And you can definitely hear it all in the background of Aaron's 911 call,

• 11:15Kendall Rae?

  as well as the 911 call that she placed herself.

• 11:22Speaker 06

  What's going on? I think Ryan's dead. Oh my God, he's bleeding.

• 11:29Speaker 06

  Ryan killed my kid. Oh baby, what?

• 11:34Speaker 06

  Ma'am. Oh my God.

• 11:40Speaker 06

  Move. Oh please, don't do that. What is going on? I think Ryan was dead. He's dying. There's blood all over him. I'm so sorry.

• 11:56Speaker 06

  God, the bedroom. Ma'am. Help.

• 12:03Speaker 06

  My brother's dead.

• 12:07Speaker 06

  He's bleeding everywhere.

• 12:10Kendall Rae?

  Now, their 911 calls came in simultaneously, but despite Karina's call being somewhat more descriptive, it wasn't until the first deputy actually arrived at the scene, which was at 4:42 a.m., that the seriousness of this situation was really made clear. For my audio-only listeners, I am about to play some body cam footage from the deputy that first arrived at the scene. And if you do want to see it, it does help quite a bit to actually be able to visualize this yourself. So that is available, of course, on YouTube. But when he came in the house, he is greeted by Aaron. They go into the living room, where Karina can be seen straddling Ryan's body. And I want to warn you, this video and audio is quite disturbing,

• 12:53Kendall Rae?

  but it is very important to the case that you are able to see it.

• 12:57Speaker 05

  Sheriff's office. What's going on?

• 13:01Speaker 06

  My brother's dead.

• 13:05Speaker 06

  Help, help me.

• 13:13Speaker 06

  Ma'am. Ma'am. Ma'am, come talk to me, please. Ma'am. Ma'am, talk.

• 13:23Speaker 06

  Stop, come talk to me. Mom, stop, mom.

• 13:27Kendall Rae?

  God, seeing that footage just rips my heart up. I mean, this poor young boy having to see all of that. I cannot imagine the trauma that he has experienced. And his demeanor and ability to stay somewhat calm and collected is so impressive at his age. But yeah, seeing that is very difficult. Although, like I said, I think it's really important, especially to see how Karina was acting. Not only to see it, but to hear it. And yeah, just hearing his son try and calm her down, ugh, just gut-wrenching. Thankfully, though, she and the kids were taken away from the scene. They were taken out of the house. But her hysterics continued.

• 14:12Speaker 06

  Are you the firefighter? What happened?

• 14:16Speaker 06

  She said.

• 14:18Speaker 06

  Where is the ambulance? Where's the guy with the gunshot? My brother's dead. In the living room. Were the other deputy? No.

• 14:28Kendall Rae?

  As you can see, Aaron, Ryan's brother, is trying to calm Karina down, trying to comfort her. But imagine everything that he is trying to process in that moment as well, having just seen his brother lying there dead. So soon after this, additional officers, the medical examiner and the paramedics arrive. But it was too late to save Ryan. And there was so much blood that it was hard to tell the depth of what happened to him and what exactly happened. But it did eventually become clear to everyone that he had been shot. But what wasn't clear was whether someone had shot Ryan or he had done this to himself.

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• 16:23Kendall Rae?

  So here is a clip of Karina outside talking to a deputy, and she is sharing her story in more detail when she has calmed down a little bit more.

• 16:31Speaker 06

  Karina? Can you tell me what happened?

• 16:39Speaker 06

  There was a loud noise. I thought something fell. Okay. And then what happened? I got out.

• 16:49Speaker 06

  I peeked in the living room and then I went to the kitchen. Okay. I didn't find anything. And then I heard him snore. It was so weird. Can you put them? Can you put them in your truck? No, I want my cash. I want my baby. They're right there, okay? They're in your brother's truck, okay? Did you see anybody else in the house? No. He made a noise and I turned on the light. And then that's when he was there? I was everywhere. Okay, but you didn't see? You didn't hear or see anyone else?

• 17:24Speaker 06

  No, what if they're here? What?

• 17:30Speaker 06

  What if they're here? I couldn't get my fucking gun out of the safe. You couldn't get your gun out of his face? I woke up and I put him in the bedroom with the other kids. And I told him to stay. And I couldn't get the safe open to get my gun. So did he do that to himself? No way. No fucking way. Okay.

• 17:53Kendall Rae?

  And this is something that everyone in his life agrees with Karina on. There is no way that he would have done this to himself. That was, you know, something that no one in his life entertained for even a moment. Even when Aaron called their sister Michelle before they even had any details about what had actually happened, she did not think it was even a possibility that he would have taken his own life. One friend did say that he had been a little bit down lately, but not so bad that he would have left his children without a father, let alone take his own life in a house where his children are sleeping. And for investigators, the scene certainly didn't suggest that this was self-inflicted. I mean, for starters, they couldn't find the gun, which if he had done this to himself, that would have definitely been nearby.

• 18:38Kendall Rae?

  And then they also learned that he was shot in the face twice. So that really shuts the idea of this being self-inflicted down. The autopsy would later confirm this, as well as the fact that his manner of death was indeed homicide. Plus, and this was a big one, they found a single 22-caliber shell casing at the scene. So let's do the math here. Two gunshots, one casing. What does that tell us? Someone has taken the other casing with them. That being said, though, these facts don't automatically make the intruder theory true. And as investigators are continuing to process the scene, they found conflicting evidence to that idea. First of all, there was no sign of forced entry. There was cash on the living room table.

• 19:22Kendall Rae?

  And according to Karina, the family's 100-pound protective Rottweiler, who had been sleeping in the bed, never alerted that anyone was in the home. Anyone who's had experience with really any protective dog breed, but especially a Rottweiler, knows how protective they are. They don't just chill while an intruder comes through the house. They don't continue to sleep through it. So of course, all these things together are starting to form a picture where there was no intruder. But they did find a bloody shoe print outside of the house, as well as her wallet in the driveway, as if maybe someone had stolen it, taken the cash, and then dumped it before driving off.

• 20:05Kendall Rae?

  And that could possibly suggest that there was an intruder. So to get a better picture of everything, really, Karina was brought into the station later that day, and she had calmed down quite a bit. And while she was there, she was questioned by two agents with the Iowa DCI, who had already been brought in to support the Tama County Sheriff's Office with the investigation. And like I said, by this point, she had really settled down quite a bit. So she was able to more clearly explain what she said happened. So you fall asleep between midnight. You think that you get up around 3:00, because like you're kind of your usual time?

• 20:42Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 20:44Speaker 07

  Then you go back to bed? Shut the door, the kids are in there, I went back to sleep. Okay. And I didn't feel like I was like, hard asleep. When there was a, it sounded like something crashed in the kitchen, sounded like something falling. I have a wire rack in the shower, and it's on a suction hook thing, and it fell a couple of days ago. And it was loud, and it sounded just like that. And that woke you up, or that? It scared me. Okay. I kinda laid there for a second. Uh huh. See, kids woke up, which they didn't. I got up and I peeked in the living room, and he was laying there, and I went to the kitchen and turned the light on

• 21:30Speaker 07

  in the living room, and then...

• 21:33Speaker 07

  I looked. Okay. I looked in there first before I went to the kitchen, and it looked like he was sleeping. So when you turned on the light, what exactly do you remember seeing? It looked like he was sleeping. Okay. And then I walked up to him and touched his foot, and there was blood, like, everywhere.

• 21:58Speaker 07

  I started screaming, like, a lot. But I always scared the kids, because kids came running down, I thought, I don't know what I thought, I thought somebody was in the house. I put them in my bedroom, told them to lock the door. And I called Aaron. And Aaron lives just down the road, right? Okay.

• 22:18Kendall Rae?

  Karina also talked about how she crawled on Ryan, she shook him, she even hit him, trying to wake him up. And then she talked about how she called Aaron, and was attempting to get their gun from the gun safe.

• 22:32Speaker 07

  So, when you notice that, obviously, you know, you see a large amount of blood, and you realize that something, something's wrong, right?

• 22:45Speaker 07

  Do you make any attempt to, you know, do you touch him? I crawled on him, I hit him, I think I was shaking him and screaming at him, for him to wake up. Okay, you think you were hitting him? I think I got hit and tried to get him to wake up. Shaking him. Okay. So, after trying to wake him up or get his attention, you said you called Aaron?

• 23:15Speaker 07

  I called Aaron before, while I touched him, or whatever. And then I just remember I started screaming, and screaming.

• 23:27Speaker 07

  And Kate came down. That's when I told him to get in my room with the other two kids, and I called Aaron from in there. Inside the room? Yeah, I think I locked the bedroom, I was in and out, I went in and locked it, and then I thought I had to go call Ryan. I tried to get my stupid gun, and I don't even know how it works, and I've never shot out of the safe that he said we had to have. And I couldn't even get the thing open.

• 23:53Kendall Rae?

  Then she was, of course, asked about Ryan's behavior the last few days, and more importantly, she was asked about how their relationship had been going.

• 24:02Speaker 07

  Nothing out of the ordinary with Ryan's behavior yesterday? Nothing. Okay. Probably the whole day. What about in the last few days, or like, the last week, is there anything out of the ordinary with him, or maybe between the two of you, or anything like that? No? Better than we have been in a while. Kids are finally getting older, and we can breathe again. He's got a lot on his plate right now. His mom passed away a year ago, so some shift in responsibilities with the farm, and... You mentioned that it's, things have been better now, recently, than they were in the past?

• 24:42Speaker 07

  No, but they've been bad, we're just finally getting to spend some time together again, and not have a child all the time on top of us. Not to be personal, okay, but again, these are things we need to ask, just to try to figure this thing out. Is, has there been any marital issues between the two of you? We had a rough patch shortly after his mom passed away, where we just weren't, we weren't getting along. There wasn't any real issue, we were just both sad and mad, and not communicating, and he shuts down, and... Okay. Nothing where there was ever any doubt about our marriage. Okay, so, no affairs of any kind? No.

• 25:25Speaker 07

  By him or by you, or, and the only reason I ask, is if someone went in and did something to him, and again, we don't know, could be that, could be, could be medical, we don't know. I'm just thinking about, like, the scorn lover type of thing, or anything like that? No. Okay. So there's no, no concern? We don't know anywhere, we don't do anything. He might go to the bar after work with his friend Riley, and he's never home past eight. That's how exciting we are.

• 25:54Kendall Rae?

  Now, as her interview is taking place, Aaron is also at the station, speaking to detectives himself, and he brought up something that they could not ignore. He tells them that Ryan and Karina had recently experienced some problems in their marriage because of a guy named Houston Danker. I guess Ryan had supposedly seen a Snapchat on Karina's phone from Houston, which made mention of seeing her naked, or something along those lines, not totally clear, but after taking a brief break in the middle of Karina's interview, this was obviously something they asked her about.

• 26:30Speaker 07

  What can you tell me about your relationship with Houston?

• 26:36Kendall Rae?

  You catch her reaction to that? The immediate shock, or attempted shock?

• 26:43Speaker 07

  Danker? Yeah. My friend? Okay. And I'm gonna be blunt with you, I'm gonna be forward with you, the only reason we ask is, Aaron made mention about, maybe Ryan seeing something on your Snapchat, not that that was Houston, but there would, maybe there was a, something with your Snapchat?

• 27:06Speaker 07

  Last fall, there was a Snapchat that wasn't even meant for me. Okay, tell me about that. Supposedly, Ryan saw it, not me. And he told me about it, it was something about a married woman, and naked, seeing her naked, or something like that. Okay. And Ryan saw it, and confronted me, and I confronted Houston, who were friends, on Snapchat, and that's it. And Ryan took a picture of the, like, message that he sent through Snapchat about something about being a married woman, or something. I barely even saw it, because I didn't know what the hell it was. Okay. And he swore up and down, it wasn't meant for me.

• 27:47Speaker 07

  And I had snapped, we had snapped each other earlier in the day that day, because he got some product from my salon. Okay. So he said that, he sent it to the wrong person. This is dumb. Oh, I, that's, we're trying to get to the bottom of dumb? Oh my god. We're just making sure that all the questions are answered. So, and correct me if I'm wrong, is it a situation where Houston sends a snap to you, that's not supposed to go to you? Supposedly. He did send a snap to me, yes. That is about you being a married woman, or naked with a married woman? I don't know. You don't know, well, what does Ryan say about that?

• 28:29Speaker 07

  He's, we've talked about it since then, we've talked about it with friends, that's how non-issue it became after we've talked about it, that said something about, remember, I've seen you naked, and something about a married woman. Has Houston seen you naked? No, god, no. Okay. He's 22 years old.

• 28:53Speaker 07

  No! To each their own, I'm just... Stupid town and their rumors, no. Okay. I come to hang out. Okay. I watched his kids a couple of times when his babysitter flaked. So, and I'm not trying to put words in your mouth, but it's safe to say that nothing is going on between you and him? Absolutely not. After that Snapchat, I don't even talk, I don't cut his hair anymore, I told Ryan, I would just keep a distance from everybody, from him, from his brother, from anybody related in that age group. Okay. To make him feel better, and it's been a non-issue since then. And this was, you said, last fall? Get a better timeframe on that? This snap was not last fall. It was more like this spring or late winter. Okay.

• 29:38Speaker 07

  Last fall is when I was supposedly horsing around with him because I babysat his kids and his truck was at my house because I babysat his kids. That's what all that stupid Houston Danker stuff started with.

• 29:50Kendall Rae?

  Okay. So very adamant that everything with Houston Danker is a big nothing burger, right? But yeah, after this, Karina was allowed to leave and she went back with her brother Kurt to their mother's house. And I believe that's where her children were as well. And oh my God, this is just so disturbing. My heart absolutely shattered when I heard this, but according to a friend of theirs who had gone to see the kids that morning, she said both of the boys had their father's blood on them. And his oldest son, the one who had answered the door for Aaron, actually said that he felt guilty for what had happened, which just breaks my heart. And we see that so often in these cases, kids who have absolutely

• 30:34Kendall Rae?

  nothing to do with what happened, carry this type of guilt. And this guilt was coming from the fact that normally he slept on the couch near his dad's recliner. And just a few days before his father was murdered, his mother, Karina, told him that he needed to start sleeping in his bed again. So he sort of felt like maybe this wouldn't have happened if he was there with his dad, which makes sense for a child to feel that way. But of course, it's just devastating thinking he had to deal with those thoughts because it's so untrue. And it's situations like that that just remind you that when someone takes the life of another, they're not just taking their life, they're taking the lives

• 31:15Kendall Rae?

  of those around them who will be forever altered by what they have experienced and what they have lost. And in this case, and in so many cases where a parent is killed, they're taking so much from their children or their child, so much of their innocence, you know, it's just hard to even put into words. And I wanted to quickly mention that there are some great resources available for children who are experiencing grief, whether it's related to homicide or not. And I just wanted to throw out there that there's an example called the National Alliance for Children's Grief. They are a nonprofit that raises awareness about the needs of grieving children, and they also help connect families

• 31:57Kendall Rae?

  to resources and local support. And they just want to ensure that no child grieves alone. And I really, really stand behind what they do. It's something that I want to continue to mention on episodes where we talk about children who experience the loss of their parent and experience some of the feelings that Ryan's son did, and I'm sure his other kids as well. I think it's just such a fantastic, extremely needed resource that I wish more people knew about. So that's why I wanted to mention it today because, you know, it can apply to so many different situations. Obviously more than just murder as we talk about here, but there are just so many, so many children dealing with grief. It's such a heavy emotion that comes with so many other different emotions.

• 32:41Kendall Rae?

  And I'm going to have that linked below for you guys.

• 32:49Kendall Rae?

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• 33:34Kendall Rae?

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• 34:16Kendall Rae?

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• 35:05Kendall Rae?

  But back to the case though, as I was saying, Karina was able to leave. And that same afternoon, they were actually able to bring back the man that they were talking about earlier with the Snapchats, Houston Danker. And it seems like the tactic for questioning him really was to make him feel as comfortable as possible, totally not threatened. And I think it was a really good way to approach him.

• 35:29Speaker 06

  What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna really cut to the chase. Why your name came up is Ryan Cooper and I. And one of the first, I don't know, in the first hour, someone said, hey, we heard that Karina was having an affair with Houston. That's why you're here. Okay? Yeah. So all I gotta do is I gotta sort out a few things with you about that. I'm gonna get you out of here and then we may have to follow up with you again some other time. Okay. But the rumor's out there, so we have to talk to you, right? Yeah.

• 35:58Kendall Rae?

  He went over some basic information about himself that we don't really need to get into, but the important facts to know are that he was 24 years old, not 22, and he also worked in the farming industry. Now I should mention that it turns out Houston had a bit of a reputation. He was known around town for, I guess you could call it sexual preferences. Houston was into older women, cougars, you could say. Apparently, he once had an affair with his best friend's mom, and that ended with her getting a divorce. So his best friend's parents got divorced because of him. So not necessarily relevant to the case, but pretty interesting. And yeah, he was being questioned and he seemed

• 36:42Kendall Rae?

  to really downplay the connection that he had to Karina.

• 36:46Speaker 06

  Um, all right. So, um, the rumor that's going around is Ryan, or you and Karina were Snapchating. Did that actually happen at some point? Yeah. Okay. When, when did that happen? Yeah. I mean,

• 37:05Speaker 06

  I, if it's once a week, twice, you know, I mean, it's- Is it still going on? With me and Karina? Yeah. No, I mean, it's, like I said, it, it's random Snapchat shit. You know, I mean, it's- Randomly? Yeah. And how long has that been going on for? Oh,

• 37:26Speaker 06

  shit. I don't know. Probably November, October. And you think you said like once or twice a week? Yeah. I mean, it's not, it's not anything spec, you know, just your typical Snap, like I said, Snapchat random, you know? Did Ryan never know about you two Snapchating? Oh, yeah.

• 37:47Kendall Rae?

  I mean, you heard it yourself, but he makes it seem like their Snapchating was totally cash and something that Ryan even knew about. But here's where things get interesting. The guy questioning him gave him a pretty open door to say that he and Karina were having an affair, but he maintained that they were just friends.

• 38:09Speaker 06

  Yeah. So we have her phone, okay? We have Ryan's phone. Yep. And what we are able to do is we basically are able to clone everything off the phone. Gotcha. Um, in order to, so any conversations that she's had with you, even if she deleted it, we can still get it. It's like FBI technology stuff. So we're still able to get that. We'll be able to get locations. We'll be able to get all that kind of data. I mean, the, the stuff that we can do now as opposed to what we could do back in the nineties with cell phones is it's like, um, it's unbelievable, really. Right. So if you were screwing around with her, or whatever, doesn't make you a killer and you didn't like that, right? Um, guess what? People have affairs all the time. Right.

• 38:55Speaker 06

  There's not a perfect marriage out there, at least that I'm aware of. Yeah. Where people don't sometimes do things that they don't regret, whether it's, you know, have an argument that they said something they shouldn't have, or they have an affair, or they, you know, used too many drugs, or drank too much alcohol, or gambled too much. Everybody's got weird shit going on in their lives, right? Right. Okay? Yeah. So I don't want you to get too nervous. No. Cause if you had an affair with Karina, it doesn't make you guilty of anything other than you had an affair with her. Right. Well, and that, that, I'll put it this way. I'll, I'll completely dumb it down. So like- Right. With me and Karina, the hard thing with all that rumor being spread is I was literally sitting there like a, I would say a gay best friend.

• 39:41Kendall Rae?

  Oh, okay. Just a gay best friend. That's so cute. Totally makes sense now. Thank you so much. Wow. But let's keep going and listen to him explain how he and Karina's friendship evolved.

• 39:52Speaker 06

  Me and my baby mama split up, okay? I was getting my hair cut by Karina and I have two kids, you know? Right. She loves kids, whatever. And she, she always told me, you know, if you're ever in a pinch, hey, you know, I don't have a problem watching your kids, whatever. And so- You know, everybody was friends, whatever, you know, well then, you know, she watched my kids a couple of times when I was in a pinch. Well, then it fucking, you know how small towns talk, you know? Houston's kids are over at Karina's. He's fucking nailing her, you know, and then, yeah. And I guess that's probably where Ryan probably got upset, you know, I mean, You kinda, eh, again, I keep in mind, I don't know you. I've known you for like 10 minutes now.

• 40:34Speaker 06

  But you, you kinda got a reputation where you're pretty successful with the ladies, right? I won't. Better luck than some.

• 40:44Speaker 06

  Or not as bad as others. Years ago.

• 40:48Speaker 06

  Yeah, I mean, it's bad to say, but I'm young with two kids. Alright, so your kids are staying over or would Karina would watch them every now and then. Yeah, I think she watched them a total of fuck three times. Did you meet Karina then just from the hair shot? Yeah, I've always known Karina. You know, everybody's always known Karina and Ryan. Because obviously I grew up in Trera, but that's where, you know, she started cutting my hair and bullshit, you know? Then how long were you getting your hair cut there? Two years out there, year and a half. And then the Snapchatting, did that kind of coincide with watching the kids or? Yeah, that's, that's where, that's where that picked up was, you know, there for a while Karina, she was just my, you know, cut my hair, whatever.

• 41:32Speaker 06

  And then, you know, I started having kids and she, you know, I honestly needed fucking help is what it, you know, and I wasn't, I wasn't. I wasn't telling her I needed help, but I was kinda, you know, and then she offered and yeah, that's where the, I would say that's where the chatting started, you know, the, the friendship, you know?

• 41:50Kendall Rae?

  Then he gets into his alibi.

• 41:53Speaker 06

  So what was your day like yesterday then?

• 41:57Speaker 06

  Oh, got to work typically. Yesterday I got to work about six forty-five. Mo day until, well, what time we got done? About, I would say six thirty, seven o'clock last night is when I finished up. Where'd you go after that? Well, I left Van Horn and naturally, you know, I needed gas, so I ran into Trera. Got gas in Trera and then went home and hung out. And who was home with you last night? Just I lived by myself. What time do you think you went to bed? Last night, oh, probably eleven, eleven thirty.

• 42:40Speaker 06

  Yeah, bro. Yeah, I'd say ten thirty, eleven. So we do a thing, it's called a geofence. And what the geofence does, it's a tech, technology thing that I'm not capable of explaining. But say this is, this is Ryan's house and Karina's house. We do, we do is a geofence, so we'll take the map or whatever and draw like a big box.

• 43:07Speaker 06

  Um, around it and every phone that travels through that box at a certain timeframe. Gets picked up and there's this, it's scary if you knew how easily our phone, our phones are literally being tracked, whether we want to.

• 43:24Speaker 06

  At any point, say like after midnight or would we, are we gonna find your phone in the, in our box?

• 43:35Kendall Rae?

  The interview ends shortly after that. They said they, you know, might have some follow-up questions for him, but he's free to go on and live his life as normal. Karina, however, of course, was under quite a microscope. And she was brought in for questioning the following day. And they were a lot less gentle with her this time around. Over the course of the last 24 hours, investigators had finished processing the house. And it had started to become clear to them that this was likely not a random home invasion. So when they brought her in this time, it was because they were growing suspicious of her and her story.

• 44:13Speaker 07

  Cause I think that this is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Whatever's happening between you and your husband, whatever the issues are, okay? There are no issues. Because my husband sleeps in a chair in the living room? Because rumors flew last fall that I was sleeping with some kid that he even said was ridiculous and apologized to me for. Because as a married couple, we had a few months that we weren't communicating very well because we dealt with his mom's death. We're, we've been fine. Never once did either one of us ever say that we were gonna leave. Never once did we doubt our marriage, our kids, our family. We have plans.

• 44:57Kendall Rae?

  And this was just absolutely mind blowing to me, but she denies even knowing how to fire a gun despite having a permit to carry, which mind you, requires firearm safety training in order to obtain in the state of Iowa. And then eventually she ends up storming out.

• 45:16Speaker 02

  Karina, listen, okay? Um, just listen, we're not yelling at you.

• 45:20Speaker 07

  You're accusing me of killing my husband? Karina, no one else is in that house. Besides you and the three kids.

• 45:31Speaker 07

  How could you even say that? I don't even know how to fire a gun. Why, why do you have a permit to carry? You know how to fire a gun. So I want a lawyer and I want out of here. I did not shoot my husband. This is insane.

• 45:46Kendall Rae?

  Now, even though it's pretty obvious that investigators were suspicious of her from the very beginning, they did do their due diligence and looked into other possibilities. For example, police did get a tip that Ryan was in a bar fight a few nights before he was killed. And so they of course reviewed the bar's security footage to see if maybe that was a potential lead. And it ended up being absolutely nothing. And they didn't even look like they were fighting in the video, but of course it was worth checking out and I'm glad they did. But they also looked into a former employee named Nolan who Karina had mentioned to them. Now Nolan had been a business partner for the family farm operation.

• 46:28Kendall Rae?

  And he had previously been in trouble with the law for bank fraud. I guess he had written like a quarter of a million dollars worth of bad checks, so pretty wild. But I don't believe that any of it was related to the farm from what I understand at least. But either way, the Coopers fired him because they felt like he may have been doing more shady shit. And they just didn't want to risk anything. And so investigators thought, you know, maybe this is a possibility. Maybe he was angry with Ryan. Maybe there's some type of connection there. But after interviewing Nolan and following up with his alibi as well, they ultimately decided that he wasn't a suspect either. And as for their friends and family's theories, nobody could pinpoint who would possibly want Ryan dead, even Karina.

• 47:13Kendall Rae?

  This is something that she said over and over, everyone loves him, no one would want to hurt him. So one theory that started floating around by friends and family and also just people in the town was the idea that the farm was off of a major highway and people thought maybe someone did this as a crime of opportunity. There was even this big carnival just one town over that weekend. So that made some people question if someone over there just came and did this randomly. But in that small of a town, something like that happening is very, very unlikely. Plus a double gunshot wound to the face feels incredibly personal. And of course, with this being a small town, people are talking about all the different possibilities, trying to make sense of this.

• 47:57Kendall Rae?

  And people definitely were talking about Houston and people had heard rumors about him. But for the most part, from what I could tell, it was sort of laughed off by most people. One of Karina's friends even said that she thought Houston was more of a lover than a fighter. So it seemed like in most people's mind, it just really wasn't very likely for him to be involved. But regardless, everyone in the town was totally freaked out as they should be. Something like this is so uncommon there and it's a very, very terrifying murder. So of course people started locking their doors and this is a town where people are known for just leaving their doors unlocked. Especially people who have been there a really long time and have never witnessed anything like this or remotely like this happening.

• 48:42Kendall Rae?

  So people are also putting up security cameras and I don't blame them. I mean, it's scary. And that fear only got more and more intense for people as time went on because I mean, how can you feel safe when months go by without an arrest? And this person is potentially still on the loose, potentially still in their town. And what's really wild and quite unheard of, I was pretty surprised by this, is this case was classified as cold within the first six or seven months. But internally speaking, it sounds like it wasn't cold for a lack of suspects, but instead a lack of arrestable evidence. Investigators felt strongly that Karina was involved in her husband's murder and her motive, or one of them at least,

• 49:27Kendall Rae?

  was apparently not hard to find. Turns out her finances were a fucking mess and she was constantly overdrafting her accounts. Other people said that she and Ryan disagreed over certain financial decisions. So when they found out he had a half million dollar life insurance policy out in his name, the alarm bells started to ring. And I'm sure this was something you were waiting to hear about, just as I was when I started researching this case. I knew that there had to be an insurance policy. Of course, the issue is though, a life insurance policy is not proof of murder by any means. And neither was Karina's vile behavior when she drank.

• 50:11Kendall Rae?

  Listen to this. When some of her friends spoke with police, they found out that Karina really had another side to her when she drank. So much so that they had a name for this other version of Karina that would come out. And of course, that name was Karen. And what's funny is they say that they started calling her Karen before the Karen name was popularized as a certain type of person that we all know. But yeah, they would call her Karen when she was drunk and when she was specifically really nasty when she was drunk. I guess she would have these super angry outbursts, just terrible behavior, embarrassing. And a lot of her anger and outbursts were directed at Ryan and she would just say these terrible things to him.

• 50:54Kendall Rae?

  And I guess Ryan and some of their other friends would really just brush off this behavior because she was drunk and be like, oh, you know, she's in Karen mode, that type of thing. And you know, I have some friends who, when they drink, they. Just become completely different people. And I use friends lightly, like some people that are in my life. And I have one specifically that we actually have a nickname for when she drinks. But definitely not to the level that they are describing Karina as when she was in her Karen mode. And some of them really started to wonder if it wasn't just drunk behavior, if maybe Karina really had a dark side to her.

• 51:35Kendall Rae?

  But of course, being a bitch when you're drunk doesn't necessarily make you a killer. So the case stalled and it ultimately took another two years before any more progress was made.

• 51:54Kendall Rae?

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• 52:37Kendall Rae?

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• 53:19Kendall Rae?

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• 54:01Kendall Rae?

  In 2023, one of the lead detectives on the case, Detective Killian, started to get frustrated that more wasn't being done. In his mind, Karina's behavior was suspicious and he felt like this case was solvable. And there were a few things that really stood out to him. And in my opinion, these are pretty big red flags, pretty obvious red flags that I'm sure a lot of you have already picked up on as well. I mean, for starters, Karina calls Aaron before she calls 911. Interesting. And then, of course, and I know a lot of you had thoughts about this right away, but the fact that she was throwing herself all over Ryan's body when first responders arrived, that is a huge red flag.

• 54:45Kendall Rae?

  And Detective Killian felt the same way. I mean, she was literally rubbing her face on his. She was getting his blood all over her. Almost seems like she was trying to make a reason for his blood to be on her, right? Not to mention the fact that they never saw her attempt to render any kind of aid. And she didn't seem concerned with the fact that her children were literally in the room. I guess I can't speak on what I would do in this situation because I have never been in this situation and I hope that I never will be. But I just cannot imagine not shielding your kids or trying to comfort them as they are looking at their other parent's dead body.

• 55:26Kendall Rae?

  I can't imagine a world where I wouldn't be able to function enough or at least have the thought of how horrible that has to be for them. And, you know, again, what can I really say? Because I've never been in that situation. So I don't want to judge too much, but I think most of you who are parents will agree with me that how can that not cross your mind? And then another huge red flag to Detective Killian that I haven't mentioned to you yet is that she never contacted law enforcement during this entire time to ask where her husband's murder case stood, to ask if there was any updates, anything, never called. Even Ryan's family, who initially seemed to really stand by her, started to question

• 56:10Kendall Rae?

  if maybe she could be involved just because of the way that she was acting. Apparently, when she found out that there was a shell casing left at the crime scene, she called Aaron to ask him what that meant, which is very odd. Like, obviously, a shell casing being left behind at the scene is a good thing if you want to know what happened to your spouse, unless you're hiding something. So yeah, even Ryan's family started to feel like something was off about her. But what's interesting, though, is Aaron and Michelle were actually told to keep Karina close because investigators were hopeful that maybe she might slip up and say something if she feels comfortable enough. Granted, that didn't end up happening.

• 56:51Kendall Rae?

  She never slipped up, but surprisingly, she did agree to come in for another interview. It took place on May 4th, 2023, right there on the farm. And the purpose was to hear more of her story and to hear if anything had changed. Here's a portion of that audio, and I want to say thank you to the channel Stay Awake: Crime and Psychology for sourcing this footage, as well as some of the additional footage used in today's episode. Big shout out to you guys.

• 57:16Speaker 07

  Shut up and kind of just to look and find that noise and find Ryan. Why, why didn't he wake up to that?

• 57:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 57:25Speaker 07

  When I went in the living room, I said his name a couple of times because it looked like he was sleeping. And I remember Aaron over my shoulder, took his pulse and he was on the phone with 911 because I remember him saying, no, there's no pulse or something to that effect. Screamed and screamed. I know that. And I'm embarrassed that I did everything wrong. And I just remember screaming.

• 57:50Speaker 07

  I thought somebody was here.

• 57:52Speaker 02

  And was ransom in the bed or is he?

• 57:54Speaker 07

  No, I think he was at the foot of the bed.

• 57:56Speaker 02

  Because you said you almost tripped over him.

• 57:57Speaker 07

  I did trip over him.

• 57:59Kendall Rae?

  After a little while, it seems like she wanted it to be over. And that's when she was confronted by the fact that they did not believe her story. Using geofence technology, they determined that no cell phones entered the area in or around their house before or after the shooting, suggesting that the killer was already inside. And boy, did that piss her off.

• 58:22Speaker 07

  Be finishing up soon, so if there's something you have to do yet?

• 58:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. No, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much. So Karina, I mean, at this point, the case fact shows that, that, that nobody did come into the house that night.

• 58:35Speaker 07

  Somebody did. Somebody obviously came in here. My husband's dead.

• 58:40Speaker 02

  He is Karina. And we, we both know at this point why that is. Karina, we know that it wasn't someone coming inside the house.

• 58:48Speaker 07

  You're leaving my property now. Somebody came into my house and killed my husband. Go figure out who killed my husband.

• 58:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, well, we did. We did.

• 58:59Speaker 07

  No, you obviously did.

• 59:01Kendall Rae?

  She then runs out of her house and you can hear how not so pleasantly that ended.

• 59:07Speaker 02

  Let's talk about.

• 59:08Speaker 07

  No, get off my property. You want to talk, you talk to my lawyer.

• 59:12Speaker 02

  Well, I don't want to talk to you. I just want to talk to you because you're the one that knows what happened to Ryan that night.

• 59:18Speaker 07

  No, I don't. If I knew what happened to my husband, I'd be in jail because I would be dead.

• 59:25Speaker 02

  Karina.

• 59:27Speaker 07

  Get off my property.

• 59:29Kendall Rae?

  Hopefully, they were not expecting a confession from her because, yikes. But the good news is that was not even necessary. After a failed first attempt trying to get the help of the Iowa Attorney General's Office, Detective Killian pitched the case one more time to the AG herself, leaning into her pursuit of Iowa cold cases, and she agreed to look into it. And not long after this, a new prosecutor, Michael Ringel, was assigned to Ryan's case. And what a massive blessing that was. And for the next several months, he dug into the details and he ultimately came to the only reasonable conclusion. Karina Cooper was responsible for her husband's murder. So on February 19th, 2024, Detective Killian was among a group of deputies who arrived

• 1:00:14Kendall Rae?

  at her residence and arrested Karina for first degree murder. All right, we got some paperwork for you.

• 1:00:21Speaker 04

  Do you have news about Ryan?

• 1:00:22Kendall Rae?

  Well, you're under arrest.

• 1:00:24Speaker 04

  What?

• 1:00:24Kendall Rae?

  Yep. So we're placing you under arrest. There's going to be some people at the sheriff's office that are going to be talking to you down there.

• 1:00:29Speaker 04

  Why am I under arrest? If you'll let me, my children, you guys, my children. What is happening here?

• 1:00:37Speaker 04

  What is happening here?

• 1:00:38Kendall Rae?

  So you have a copy of your warrant for the end. What? This is insane.

• 1:00:46Speaker 04

  My kids are gonna be so scared.

• 1:00:50Speaker 04

  How is this happening?

• 1:00:54Kendall Rae?

  Oh, I love that clip. So satisfying. Detective Killian actually said that this was one of the best moments of his career. And honestly, how could it not be? I can't even imagine what that was like. The satisfaction after all of those years had to just feel so good. It's so satisfying to even watch it. That being said, of course, not everyone shared in the excitement for her arrest. Her brother Kurt was very heartbroken and he couldn't help but think that investigators had to have this wrong. And he truly believed in her innocence. In fact, he got her a really good defense attorney and he was hoping that they would be able to prove her innocence very quickly. But what Kurt didn't know, at least not yet, was that the evidence against her was only getting stronger, you guys.

• 1:01:38Kendall Rae?

  I mean, buckle up for what we're about to go over. You may or may not have caught this in the earlier clips that I have played, but investigators did have possession of Karina's phone. Well, actually phones. She actually had three phones and they had all of them from the start. And while all of those devices had already undergone a forensic examination, a second, more thorough examination was done that uncovered a goldmine of evidence. Okay, listen to this. After Karina was finally arrested, a handful of her friends came in for questioning and one of them said that she had been holding on to some information. God, that pisses me off so much. Why she did this is beyond me. I'm sure the reasons are pretty obvious.

• 1:02:23Kendall Rae?

  She wanted to protect her friend. But she shared that several months before Ryan's murder, she and some other moms were with Karina when they saw hundreds of Snapchat messages come up on her phone from Houston. And then he showed up at the house they were all at. I have no clue why, but they ended up stealing his phone and looking at the messages. And I guess they were basically exchanging a lot of I love yous and things that just made it clear they were together. So with this information, the new prosecutor reached out to a more experienced forensic examiner and she uncovered shit you would not believe, dude. The Snapchat and text messages between Karina and Houston not only outlined that they were

• 1:03:05Kendall Rae?

  definitely having an affair, but it became undeniable that they had conspired to commit murder. And of course, I'm going to read you these messages. Now I am abbreviating the names of the kids for the sake of their privacy. But let's begin with March 8th, 2021. A few months before the murder, Karina Snapchatted Houston saying in part, I just read this 10 times. Heart emoji. I swear, heart emoji. And just fell even harder for you, which I don't think I could have been any more crazy over you than I already was. C wants to get back to wrestling. He loves it. He just got his ass kicked at a tournament and is scared to compete now. Just wants to go to practice.

• 1:03:47Kendall Rae?

  And you know what the sperm donor said to him after he got his ass handed to him? Not a fucking word other than it happens. Not let's go home and I'll show you how to get out of that move. Just it happens. They need you so badly. She followed up this message with, good morning, baby. You would have woken up to your horny wife's hand wrapped around your this morning, just so you know. Then in the same Snapchat thread, she says, here's hoping for a rogue semi today. Big accident, no survivors. And if it wasn't obvious, which I'm sure it is, that last message is about wanting Ryan to die. He drove semi trucks for the family business and she was literally saying that she hopes he gets in an accident where no one survives.

• 1:04:32Kendall Rae?

  And also let's just run it back a second here. She also called him a sperm donor and tells Houston that her kids need him as a father instead. Just disgusting. And dude, it just keeps going. On March 12th, 2021, Karina said, I read somewhere that even if the surgery doesn't work, you can still do IVF. Might be pregnant this time next year. Heart, heart, heart. And then Houston replied, IVF? Would love for you to be pregnant this time next year. I'd love babies in my slow season so I can be around to help and spend time with you and the baby as much as possible. To which Christina responded, in vitro fertilization. So wait, I thought he was saying IVF as in like, oh, we would do IVF?

• 1:05:16Kendall Rae?

  No, he didn't know what IVF was. She had to explain it to him. Anyway, yeah, she says, in vitro fertilization. They implant your sperm in my egg. Not the old fashioned way, but our baby. Option if the surgery doesn't work. Then moving forward to June 17th, 2021, which was the day before Ryan was murdered. Karina messaged Houston, just be prepared for your wife to constantly be tearing something apart and redoing it. And Houston responded with, not worried about that one bit. You got to see me in my underwear this morning and I haven't gotten to see you. To which she said, train wreck. And he said, going to sleep with my hand on your very soon. And believe me, you guys, it doesn't stop there. I mean, I wish it did because it's disgusting.

• 1:06:01Kendall Rae?

  We have to keep going over it. But if you're distracted, lock in for a minute because this is evidence everyone definitely needs to be aware of. Okay, so on June 18th, 2021, at 3:31 AM, one hour before 911 was called, Karina and Houston's messages read as follows. Karina sends a red heart emoji. Two seconds later, Houston responds, seriously? More than fucking life. Eight seconds later, she says, forever. Then 19 seconds after that, Houston replies, more than anything. Okay, babe, phone's going down. Send me something after I leave your house. To then wait for me to open it. Deal? Eight more seconds later, Karina tells him, deal. Followed by the kissing lips emoji.

• 1:06:45Kendall Rae?

  And Houston's response to this is crazy, especially the fact they had all of this over Snapchat, these fucking idiots. Oh my God. He says, remember those casings. Fucking remember those. No ifs, ands, or buts. And she responded with, absolutely, 100%. Then after 10 seconds, he tells her, okay, phone's going down. I love you. And Karina says, I love you too. And he responds, so much. She once again says, forever. And he once again says, okay, babe, seriously, putting the phone down. Have to get this shit done. I love you. Karina then says, go. And then there was an hour and nine minute lag before his final response, which came

• 1:07:29Kendall Rae?

  at 4:42 AM, to which Houston said, yep, just woke up. Isn't that absolutely insane? Like, I don't think there is another way that you could possibly interpret all of that other than exactly what it is. And to investigators, and I'm sure to all of you, to anyone with a functioning brain, it sure as shit sounds like Houston was on his way over to murder Ryan. So naturally, finding all of these messages meant it was time to pay Mr. Houston Danker another visit. And he agreed to meet with agents on April 29th, 2024, in a Menards parking lot of all places. And dude must have been shitting absolute bricks. I mean, his girlfriend was just arrested and now they want to talk to him.

• 1:08:13Kendall Rae?

  Not looking good for you, bud. But on the outside, he did seem to maintain his composure. Very confident in himself, it seems. And interestingly, when he was confronted about the affair the second time, he didn't deny it. He was no longer the gay best friend. Now I do have brief portions of the audio from this interview, thanks to the Stay Awake channel as well. So I want to play that for you now.

• 1:08:36Speaker 06

  Thanks for taking time out of your busy workday. Obviously, at this point, Karina's been arrested, you know? As things have moved along, there's still a few gaps in our knowledge. You've become romantically attracted to her. Yep. Right? And things have progressed. Yep. Did you guys ever talk about a plan to relocate together or live together at some point in the future? No. Basically ask you if there was something going on between you and Karina? Pretty much. And you just straight up said no. Yeah. When he got ahold of me about that, I mean, that made me feel pretty low as a, I mean, it took all a spade to spade. I felt bad for kind of pissing the mischery out.

• 1:09:12Kendall Rae?

  So he says they never had a plan to live together, but I'm sure you can agree, those Snapchats certainly suggest otherwise. I mean, they were planning on trying to have a baby together. And in a really nice fuck you move to Houston, the agent ended up just slipping him a nice little piece of paper on the dashboard with pictures of their Snapchats on it. And then I loved this. He actually lied to Houston and told him that Karina was in jail already and she was pointing the finger at him. And what did Houston do? He finally admitted to knowing about the murder, but he said it was all her idea and that he had been manipulated the entire time.

• 1:09:50Speaker 06

  Karina has a way of explaining this. And it's Houston who is the love crazed person who just hated Ryan. And, and that will be the story that goes on. And that's not true. No. It's not true. Tell me about that night. So, I mean, just to be honest with you, Karina wanted me to go over there and do it? Let's start over and talk about these early morning hours. Right? I guess what, I'm going to ask you guys right now, are you guys telling me that I'm the one that did it? Who first put the idea forward to, to end his life? Karina. What would be the next thing then that would happen if the plan? Was to, I guess, be together and live life together. Which that would have never happened.

• 1:10:34Speaker 06

  Was this 50 50, would you say? I would feel like I was forced into a lot of that stuff. Ryan got shot with a 22 that I own. Who shot? Karina. Where were you at? At home. And did she receive that? When you're like, I don't want to do this. Not very good.

• 1:10:56Speaker 06

  Called me up, put, you know, thought you were going to take care of us, things like that. She's a pretty dominant person. It was so forced upon me with, and like I said, once again, should have just been a bigger person, said Karina, you, this is stupid, this dumb, what are we doing?

• 1:11:13Kendall Rae?

  So in Houston's version of events, Karina was the one who pulled the trigger. He did say that he drove to her house that night to pick up his gun, which he said that she used. But he also said that he drove there in a four wheeler to stay under the radar. Oh, and also that he left his phone at home, which is why it wouldn't have been detected in the area. But of course, all of that is a load of shit and investigators didn't think that he was a victim to Karina's game. They thought he was equally as responsible.

• 1:11:49Kendall Rae?

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• 1:12:34Kendall Rae?

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• 1:13:16Kendall Rae?

  They believe that Houston was inside the home that night when the murder took place, as was evident by the bloody shoe print they found outside the house. It turns out that he had a pair of van sneakers that had the same print as the one they found at the scene. So he ended up being arrested right there and later being charged with first degree murder. Now, as for the murder weapon, investigators were luckily able to find that, too. In fact, they found out that Houston had actually given a coworker three of his firearms sometime in 2023. And he told this friend that he was moving in with a girlfriend who had kids and he just didn't want guns in the house. Well, anyways, this coworker named Bradley took the guns and stored them for several months. And long story short, the weapons

• 1:14:00Kendall Rae?

  were recovered and investigators believed they found the one that was used in Ryan's murder. So with these two dumbasses behind bars and all the components squared away, plenty of evidence everyone spent the next year preparing for trial. And their bonds were both set at $1 million. They both entered pleas of not guilty and were expected to face separate trials in the summer of 2025. Now, Karina's trial came first, and what a doozy that was. Her trial began in early July 2025 and the prosecution just came out swinging. In opening statements, they portrayed Karina as a calculated and active participant in the planned murder of her husband alongside Houston Danker, who they said the evidence

• 1:14:41Kendall Rae?

  would show she was having an affair and plotting the murder with. They said the digital and physical evidence would outline the affair, the desire to kill Ryan, and disprove Karina's story and timeline of events. According to the evidence, they plan to argue that she resented her husband, told friends she wanted to shoot him in the face, and that her motive, besides being with Houston, of course, was the $500,000 life insurance policy that she stood to gain. And while they believed and argued that she was the one who pulled the trigger, the jury did not have to unanimously agree on that. They just had to agree that she shot him, or at least that she aided and abetted Houston in doing so. And as for

• 1:15:22Kendall Rae?

  the defense's opening statements and what they ended up arguing throughout the trial, it was all about pointing the finger at Houston. He was the one who wanted Ryan dead. He was the one who shot him. And Karina was actually a victim of his as well. Sure, she was awarded the life insurance money, but after paying off some bills, they said the rest was put into a trust for her kids and not something she used to upgrade her life. As for the assertion that she and Houston wanted to start a new life together, well, they argued that their relationship ended immediately after what happened because of how horrified and distraught Karina was by what he did. So, right off the bat, the first deputy to arrive on the scene took the stand. He talked about meeting Aaron outside the house, walking into the

• 1:16:04Kendall Rae?

  living room, and ultimately finding Ryan's body. What was crucial from his testimony, though, was what he had to say about Karina, specifically her position on top of Ryan's body. If you remember from earlier, investigators believed that this was strategic. As for other testimony that day, Aaron took the stand, and a few things that he said stood out. When he walked everyone through the call that Karina made to him on the morning of the murder, he testified that she never once mentioned Ryan, never mentioned any injuries to him, and never mentioned 911 or needing an ambulance. And he also testified about some concerning observations regarding Ryan's body.

• 1:16:43Speaker 02

  Did you make an attempt to touch Ryan or determine if he had a pulse?

• 1:16:49Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 1:16:51Speaker 02

  And explain that for us. What did you feel?

• 1:16:53Speaker 05

  Um, I remember grabbing his leg and that, at that point, did not feel warm. It wasn't cold, but didn't feel warm. And I checked for a pulse and got no pulse.

• 1:17:06Speaker 02

  Did you make any observations regarding any blood or tissue or anything else at the scene?

• 1:17:11Speaker 05

  Um, just blood on his face, um, coming out of his nose and ears.

• 1:17:17Speaker 02

  Any observations about the blood itself? Did it appear wet or dry or no observation at all?

• 1:17:23Speaker 05

  Uh, I remember it was either the nose or the ears that it seemed like it was drying or dry.

• 1:17:29Speaker 02

  So this is the blood that's on his face. Did you see blood elsewhere in the room?

• 1:17:33Speaker 05

  On the floor.

• 1:17:35Speaker 02

  What observations did you make of that blood?

• 1:17:38Speaker 05

  At that point, it looked like it was darkening. It wasn't bright red.

• 1:17:42Speaker 02

  What did that mean to you?

• 1:17:44Speaker 05

  That it wasn't immediately fresh.

• 1:17:46Kendall Rae?

  Now, this piece of testimony actually brings up something really important to discuss, and that's the timeline. So in Karina's original statement, she stated that she woke up at around 3:00 a.m. She said that her body normally just woke up around that time and she went to pee. You know, pretty normal. Well, when she woke up at 3:00 a.m., she initially stated, as you may have heard earlier, that she heard the TV on and that she heard the sound of Ryan snoring. Then she claimed she fell back asleep until the crashing noise that she claimed to have heard that woke her up shortly before 4:30 a.m. But ladies and gentlemen, the digital evidence shows us that that is a lie. Tiffany Lord, a forensic

• 1:18:30Kendall Rae?

  examiner who conducted those searches of Karina and Houston's phones, took the stand herself, and she blew their timeline wide open. As I mentioned earlier, Karina and Houston were Snapchatting for a few minutes around 3:31 a.m., and these were the messages where Houston said, remember those casings? Fucking remember those. No ifs, ands, or buts. So let's do some math here. That means that she was not asleep shortly after 3:00 a.m. like she stated. And that's not the only thing that proves that she's a lying moron. It was also the Apple Health app. When that phone data was extracted, it was determined that Karina took 170 steps between 4:23 and 4:33 a.m. And this would have been

• 1:19:11Kendall Rae?

  before she called Aaron. And take a listen to why that is so suspicious. Yeah, it shows here on June 18th, 2021, at 4:23 in the morning, movement started, and then it ended at 4:33.

• 1:19:25Speaker 02

  Okay, so seven minutes prior to the call to Aaron Cooper, movement started. You were able to determine both steps taken and distance. What were those steps and what was that distance?

• 1:19:36Kendall Rae?

  Yeah, it shows the distance in meters as 120. If you translate that to feet, it goes to 393 feet, and then 170 steps taken.

• 1:19:46Speaker 02

  Okay, so starting prior to that phone call to Aaron Cooper, a distance of 120.5 meters was covered?

• 1:19:53Kendall Rae?

  Yes.

• 1:19:54Speaker 02

  What are we seeing here?

• 1:19:55Kendall Rae?

  So the, that is actually a blueprint of the house. And so the average size of a school bus is 45 feet. So you can see that the width of the house, so the perpendicular is actually smaller than if you put two buses perpendicular. That red X is where I was advised where Ryan was shot at.

• 1:20:18Speaker 02

  What are we seeing here?

• 1:20:20Kendall Rae?

  This is showing distance traveled. So as I said, the 170 steps, if you were to take the meters and turn it into feet, it actually turns into 393 feet. And so it's a little bigger than one football field.

• 1:20:34Speaker 02

  Okay, so this image shows 100, excuse me, 100 yards of a football field, 300 feet, and then an additional 30-plus yards, correct?

• 1:20:44Kendall Rae?

  Yes.

• 1:20:44Speaker 02

  Did you compare that then to the, the house itself and the size of the house?

• 1:20:48Kendall Rae?

  Yes.

• 1:20:49Speaker 02

  What were you able to determine?

• 1:20:52Kendall Rae?

  That were taken like nine and a half houses, basically. Detective Lord also went over Houston's Apple Health data, and not surprisingly, he had a lot of movement, too. At 2:43 a.m., he took 75 steps. At 3:13 a.m., he took 244 steps. And at 3:23 a.m., he took another 62. Now, I've just got to say, I really appreciate her testimony and her approach to the entire thing. She seems incredibly smart, very good at her job, but I think it really did paint the clearest picture of the affair and Karina's desire to have her husband killed. She even read through more of their messages, and you can just hear the resentment she had towards Ryan and how much that was building.

• 1:21:36Kendall Rae?

  And it's just heartbreaking. And just the way they were so blatant about it all and thought they were so slick, so smart, when they're really just two of the stupidest people to walk planet Earth. And are we shocked to learn that they actually did try to delete those messages, thinking they would just disappear into the abyss after that? Of course, we're not. Most of it was recovered. Not everything, but most of it. And that included several Google searches as well. And just get ready for your brain to melt with these ones, you guys. Oh, my God. Now, these actually come from Houston's phone, but since they were trying to prove that they conspired together, it made total sense in the context of Karina's trial. And I'm just going to rattle these off here. And

• 1:22:19Kendall Rae?

  just so you know, the first ones that I read are from before the murder. How to kill someone with antifreeze. Best ways to kill somebody with no way for anybody to find out who did it. You have got to be lying to me that you idiots thought you could actually type that in and no one would ever see it. That is truly one of the stupidest things I have ever heard someone Google search. Best ways to kill somebody with no way for anybody to find out who did it. Are you fucking kidding me? Zero brain. Zero brain. How to save snaps without them knowing. I love how it's just them knowing. How to SS screenshot on Snap without them knowing 2021. Sodium sulfate, is it deadly? The black market. So then in

• 1:23:00Kendall Rae?

  the weeks after the murder, he Googled, old open Snapchat be found again after being seen in the state of Iowa. Our Snapchats encrypted.

• 1:23:11Kendall Rae?

  Where do murderers go to prison? Oh my god. Minimum-security prisons in Iowa. High-security prisons. How long does it take to go through data forensics? Leavenworth Prison. How to permanently delete Snapchat data? Does your Snapchat location turn off when you log out? Can messages accidentally be sent to somebody else on Snapchat? Can the feds pull Snapchats back up? Can data forensics retrieve old Snapchat conversations from an iPhone? Can old open Snapchats be found again after being seen in the state of Iowa? Does Snapchat save every message and picture I send, even if opened? What is received with a search warrant sent to Snapchat? Can a state investigator read through old Snapchat conversations? Snapchat saved messages.

• 1:23:55Kendall Rae?

  Can data forensics pull Snapchats up? What is Snapchat able to give the feds? What kind of conversations can data forensics pull back up? And there were more of pretty much just the same Snapchat-related ones that are stupid and I'll spare your ears because don't worry, we've got plenty of other searches to go through, okay? He also Googled, "What's the best way to poison someone quickly? Is chloroform traceable?" Cyanide, sodium cyanide. Where to find arsenic? What's the best gun to use to kill somebody? Really? How do people get caught for shooting? How to positively get away with murder? That's an interesting one. The best way to kill somebody with no evidence. How much does it pay to dig a grave?

• 1:24:38Kendall Rae?

  I have so many questions about that one, but I don't think I want to know the answers. How much does it pay to dig a grave? Like, he wants to get paid? Or is he dumb enough that he is asking Google how much he'd have to pay someone to dig a grave for him? No fucking idea. Number one lawyers in Iowa. That was a smart one. Probably your only smart one. So was Bro freaking the fuck out every day since they murdered Ryan? Sure seems like it from those searches. Wow. And what's interesting is Karina actually didn't have any searches at all. Like, literally any. Between February 13th, 2021 and June 1st, 2021, Detective Lord said that she made zero searches, all the way from February to June,

• 1:25:22Kendall Rae?

  which was out of character for her usual Google search behavior. Like, she didn't even look up a recipe for cookies, nothing. What she did find on her phone, though, was a bunch of screenshots from a gun website taken in November of 2020, where she was looking up common types of handgun bullets. So yeah, digitally, Karina wasn't looking so hot either. And this trial was very difficult for all of their loved ones to experience. I mean, from an emotional standpoint, the jury really heard some very upsetting testimony from family and friends that truly pointed to Karina's level of calculation here. Her oldest son even took the stand after everything that he has been through. And it wasn't recorded, because he's a minor, of course, not that I would play it anyway,

• 1:26:06Kendall Rae?

  but he said that just a few days before his dad was murdered, his mom told him that he needed to start sleeping in his bed because as a reminder, he normally slept on the couch next to his dad's recliner. But now, all of the sudden, Karina had an issue with that. And it really twists me up inside and makes me so angry thinking about all of the guilt that he was experiencing in the early days. Well, I guess for probably quite some time before he found out what actually happened. Thinking about how maybe he could have done something or saved his dad somehow if he was in the room, sleeping next to him when he was killed. And for her to have let him just suffer through that guilt, knowing that she was the one responsible, is sick beyond words.

• 1:26:49Kendall Rae?

  I mean, she is truly someone who never deserved to be a mother. Now, obviously, the prosecution really drove home the fact that the reason she made him move to his bed was because she knew what was going to happen to him soon, what she was going to do. A bunch of their friends also testified about Karina and Ryan's relationship and how she would tell him she hated him. And two people specifically testified that she once said she would shoot him in the face. And look what ended up happening. Now, as it related to the financial part of the motive, the jury also heard testimony about her finances and from a life insurance agent about her policy. And like I said, she collected over $500,000.

• 1:27:30Kendall Rae?

  And also, her bank accounts had been overdrafted for quite a while. So overall, it was not looking good for Karina in the slightest, who, by the way, testified in her own defense. Her attorneys decided to let her take the stand. And I think that's because they wanted to try and humanize her, but that did not go well.

• 1:27:55Kendall Rae?

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• 1:28:37Kendall Rae?

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• 1:29:21Kendall Rae?

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• 1:30:00Kendall Rae?

  But they also did want the jury to hear her say that she was victimized by Houston. And to be clear, at this point, there was absolutely no denying that the affair took place. So they didn't even try to argue that. But what they did try and argue, though, and what Karina testified to as well, was that the affair wasn't this big, in-person romance. Take a listen.

• 1:30:21Speaker 04

  I want to talk about the relationship with Houston. How did you meet him?

• 1:30:26Speaker 07

  Technically, by cutting his hair. Like others have said, it's a small town. I knew of him for years, but I started cutting his hair is how I met him.

• 1:30:36Speaker 04

  How do we go from cutting his hair to Snapchat buddies?

• 1:30:44Speaker 07

  Flirting a little bit when cutting his hair, talking about, um, he was having a lot of problems with his girlfriend or ex-girlfriend, the mother of his child at the time. He only had one. He confided in me a lot about that.

• 1:31:01Speaker 04

  How do we get to Snapchatting Houston? What we've seen?

• 1:31:07Speaker 07

  Sometimes, negative attention is still attention. And I was being showered with attention by him, being told I was beautiful and funny. And I would post pictures of the meal I had made that night for supper, and he'd praise it, or the garden that I planted. And he'd make a big deal out of, "Why can't I find a woman like that?" And it became very flattering to me.

• 1:31:31Speaker 04

  All right. Was your relationship with Houston, was it primarily online?

• 1:31:37Speaker 07

  Yes, 99% online. Yes, I cut his hair. But that ended at one point, and the online relationship continued.

• 1:31:49Speaker 04

  When did you stop cutting his hair?

• 1:31:50Speaker 07

  In February of 2021. Even when I was still cutting his hair, it's odd because when I would cut his hair, we would talk about the same things that I would talk about with any other customers, family, work. It wasn't lewd. It wasn't flirtatious. That was when we Snapchatted at night, that that... It was like we were shy in person, but became other people when we were texting each other.

• 1:32:23Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 1:32:23Kendall Rae?

  According to Karina, they were only ever physical one time.

• 1:32:27Speaker 04

  Did it, at one point, did it become physical?

• 1:32:30Speaker 07

  There was one physical encounter, yes. That was the last time that I cut his hair. The last time I cut his hair before he killed Ryan, it would have been in February. I cut his hair and we had sex.

• 1:32:44Speaker 04

  Why did you stop cutting his hair?

• 1:32:46Speaker 07

  Because I had sex with him. And I wanted him around, and I didn't want that chance of that happening ever again. It was an online fantasy, like, like going to a chatroom or playing video games where you steal cars and shoot at cops. It was, it was a, it was an online fantasy thing. And when it became a physical, in-person thing, I was disgusted and scared of losing my husband.

• 1:33:16Kendall Rae?

  She also explained how aggressive Houston had become over time and that he would act like he was her husband and that Ryan was somehow her boyfriend and that she was cheating on him with Ryan. And a lot of her time on the stand was just spent defending her own actions.

• 1:33:32Speaker 04

  Tell me about Google searches about firearms research. Were you researching this hunter education website?

• 1:33:41Speaker 07

  I wasn't researching it. I was enrolled in an online hunter safety course.

• 1:33:45Speaker 04

  Were you aware that some of this was being done on a private browser?

• 1:33:49Speaker 07

  Not particularly. I don't really know how all of that works, but it's very possible. And I took screenshots. Shots of several of the slides, I guess you would say, because at the end of each chapter, there was a test and I took those screenshots to kind of help me cheat on the test because I wasn't doing very well. Okay. Have you shot a rifle? I have. It's been 25 years ago, but I have. You told the police that you'd never even shot a gun. Yes. That was not true. That was not true and I, the only thing I can say is in my head, I was thinking of handguns at the time. I have not shot a handgun.

• 1:34:33Speaker 07

  I have shot two long arm rifles in my lifetime. Then when the police get there, why didn't you tell them Houston shot my husband? I was so scared. I was scared. I was panicked. I instantly thought I was being set up in some, one of his plots that he laid out all the time through Snapchat. I panicked. And then did you continue to lie to law enforcement for years? I did. I was also being threatened by Houston for over a year and a half afterwards.

• 1:35:13Kendall Rae?

  The biggest hurdle that she had to overcome though, were her messages to Houston about wanting Ryan dead, especially those Snapchats that she sent an hour before he was killed.

• 1:35:23Speaker 07

  There's a message about a rogue semi accident that we saw on Snapchat. Did you want your husband dead? No. Why would you say that? Cause I have a really sick sense of humor sometimes, inappropriate humor and I was probably angry. There were times that we weren't getting along the greatest and I, like people I've said, especially when I drank, I can say, I have a sharp tongue sometimes and can say nasty things. We do have these Snapchats about shell casings. What's going on? Again, it's not the first time that that had been talked about. I didn't take him seriously. He'd said, he had made a comment before about walking into the shop. When Ryan was there, I was gone with the kids at the swimming pool.

• 1:36:08Speaker 07

  And he had made a comment and he said, if you get home and find your husband dead, make sure you pick up those shells for me. And I had asked him, what in the world, you know, like LOL, what does that mean? And he said, well, according to CSI, that's how they always catch the killer. So I took it as a joke. Okay. So it had been referenced before. It was 3:30 in the morning, like you said, and I said, there were several messages before that he was very aggressive towards me that night and upset and angry. When those messages came through, I was more or less, Snapchat, like most of you know, once you open a message and you exit out, the Snapchat is gone. It's not like a text that you can go back and reread what was there.

• 1:36:49Speaker 07

  I halfway read messages, didn't always read them thoroughly, didn't, I wasn't paying attention, plain and simple. And your belief, when you said go, did you believe that you said more? I know I said more. I said three messages in a row. What did they say? Go to sleep. Three messages, like putting periods in between the words to emphasize, go to sleep. Did you ever take him seriously? No, I thought he was full of crap. He liked to brag about how he knew powerful people and his dad knew dangerous people and he insinuated that he had been involved in some other crimes. But you didn't believe him?

• 1:37:34Speaker 07

  No, he, he's got quite a reputation around town with women and telling tall tales. What would your reaction be when he's making these threats? How did you handle it? Laughed it off, used sarcasm, sometimes replied inappropriately, like when he would say, he said one time, don't use your husband's truck in the morning, there's going to be a bomb planted under it. And I replied, gee, thanks for the heads up. Yeah. Do those messages mean that you, or did you want your husband dead? No. Ryan was killed with your three children home. Would you ever orchestrate the murder of your husband with your three kids home? Never. Did you participate in the death of your husband?

• 1:38:19Speaker 07

  No.

• 1:38:20Kendall Rae?

  So there you have it. She never wanted her husband dead and she never took Houston seriously when he made those threats and she was, in her opinion, a victim of Houston's as well. And don't forget, a big point for the defense was that the affair ended immediately after the murder occurred and that was because of what Houston did and only what Houston did. When it was time for her cross-examination though, the prosecution tore this down. They destroyed this innocent woman image that she spent the last hour trying to paint. They actually made her read her explicit messages to Houston out loud for the jury to hear.

• 1:39:01Kendall Rae?

  She was also faced with everything that she lied about and she sat there having to admit what she withheld from the police for all those years.

• 1:39:09Speaker 07

  When the name Houston Denka comes up, you don't tell him what you told this jury this morning, do you? No. You don't tell him that Houston Denka has been sending you some messages that were very threatening that somehow disappeared? No. You don't tell him that Houston Denka wanted to harm your children? No. You also don't tell him that you wanted to have children with Houston Denka? No. You don't tell him that a year after Ryan's Cooper's death, you were planning to have a child with Houston Denka? Because I was not.

• 1:39:51Speaker 07

  You don't tell him that you were planning to do IVF and that you had to explain to Houston Denka what IVF means? No, I did not tell him about those Snapchats. You don't mention the story you've told today, correct? Correct.

• 1:40:06Kendall Rae?

  And I just gotta say, the way that she can go from so emotional to so cold between her two testimonies is really chilling to me. I mean, it just creeps me out that people like this walk the earth. But yeah, I think you guys certainly get the point here and the jury must have too because it only took them about three hours of deliberation to come back with their verdict. On July 11th, 2025, Karina was found guilty of first degree murder. And although this may seem like it would be a relief to his family, they expressed that it was honestly just sad. I mean, they felt like they lost another family member in all of this and of course, at the end of the day, it didn't bring Ryan back.

• 1:40:49Kendall Rae?

  And Ryan's friends felt the exact same way. They just felt empty after that verdict was read. And as for her family, despite having believed in her innocence, this trial really opened their eyes to the truth. Her brother Kurt was deeply disturbed by what he had heard and I thought this was so heartbreaking, but one day after the trial, their mom turned to him and said, where did I go wrong? And Kurt explained that he actually thought Karina really thought that she could get away with this, but luckily that was not the case. And luck, and more importantly, the truth really was on everyone's side when it came to these trials because on August 12th, 2025, the day his trial began, Houston changed

• 1:41:30Kendall Rae?

  his plea to guilty, meaning that Ryan's loved ones wouldn't have to sit through the pain of everything again. And while I'm so thankful that he did that and it was definitely the right thing to do, I don't think it came from a place of realizing it was the right thing to do or wanting to spare everyone the pain or remorse or, you know, anything like that. I think he just realized that he didn't stand a chance with the jury, especially after he saw the way that Karina was found guilty. But at the end of the day, I am happy to tell you that both of them were given automatic sentences for life in prison without parole and I'm just so thankful for that, for, you know, Ryan's kids sake, for everyone who loved him and everyone who has suffered so

• 1:42:14Kendall Rae?

  much through all of this and especially with how long it took for them to get justice. I hope the two of them sit in prison and think about what they did and what they stole from everyone that loves Ryan for the rest of their lives and most importantly, what they stole from him. All of the moments that he'll never get to experience with his kids and his friends and all of the life experiences that he will never get to have because of two selfish morons who are just evil. They're just evil and they are exactly where they belong. I mean, the details of this case are just so upsetting, such a horrific way to die. Honestly, I'm just sick of even saying their names. They're both such disgusting humans, but I did want to leave you guys with a somewhat

• 1:42:59Kendall Rae?

  happy note. I just wanted to let you know that Ryan's kids, I guess, are doing well, all things considered, which I was very happy to hear. Aaron and his wife stepped up and took custody of them, which is fantastic. In addition to their three kids, they are also raising their two nephews and their niece. And then I'm assuming that Ryan's oldest son is with his mother, but yeah, Aaron built a bigger house for their bigger family now and they're raising their family on the farm where all of their kids can grow up and play together and be free. Of course, at the end of the day, the pain, the trauma, the destruction that all of them have experienced will never truly go away, but I'm grateful that they are at least being

• 1:43:41Kendall Rae?

  raised by people who love them and will constantly remind them of what an amazing father they had and how much Ryan loved them. But definitely let me know your thoughts on this one in the comment section if you're watching on YouTube or if you're listening on Spotify or Apple or wherever else. Come and let me know on my Instagram page, which is official TCKR. I would love to hear from you guys and that is going to be it for me today. Oh, before I go, I did want to mention that our fall and Halloween merch is live. I'm actually wearing one of the pieces right now. This collection has been selling like crazy, which we really, really appreciate because 100% of the proceeds does go towards funding our grants through the Higher Hope Foundation

• 1:44:26Kendall Rae?

  and you guys are directly supporting families when you purchase anything. Not only are you getting something for yourself, but you are really helping people who need it. I will be back next week, you guys, with another case, but until then, as always, stay safe out there. I felt a jackhammering pain in my jaw. Like someone sawing my bones. Barbed wire in my shoulder. Like a cattle prod in my hip. Like I put my foot in a blender.

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