227: WARNING: Canadian Version of Chris Watts | The Case of Robert Leeming

When Jasmine Lovett and her 22-month-old daughter, Aliyah Sanderson, vanish from Calgary, the search leads investigators to the stunning wilderness of Kananaskis Country—and to Jasmine's boyfriend, Robert Leeming. What begins as a missing person’s case unravels into a chilling tale of betrayal, violence, and shocking discoveries. What secrets did Robert Leeming try to bury, and how did they come to light? Ancient NutritionGo to https://ancientnutrition.com/ae for 20% off your first orderShop the Merch:www.annieelise.com Follow the podcast on TikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@serialouslypodcast Follow the podcast on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/serialouslypod/ Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/annieelise All Social Media Links:https://www.flowcode.com/page/annieelise_ SERIALously FB Page:https://www.facebook.com/SERIALouslyAnnieElise/ About Me:https://annieelise.com/ For Business Inquiries:[email protected] Sources:CBCCalgary NewsCalgary HaroldGlobal NewsRed Deer AdvocateMirrorDaily HiveCalgary SunPeopleThe Canadian Press

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

• 0:00Annie Elise?

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• 0:42Annie Elise?

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• 1:09Speaker 01

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• 1:37Speaker 02

  I had no issues with them at all.

• 1:40Speaker 03

  But isn't it hard to believe that somebody would kill them?

• 1:43Speaker 02

  It's crazy. Of course it is.

• 1:45Speaker 03

  But you're saying that is not you?

• 1:47Speaker 02

  Of course not. Of course not.

• 2:16Annie Elise?

  Hey everybody, welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistically with me, Annie Elise. Today's case is a wild one, okay? This one has been literal, like, I don't know, several, several months in the making. And it's a notorious case in Canada because this guy is being dubbed as the Canadian Chris Watts. There are a lot of twists and turns throughout this case, a lot of details. I also want to just, um, kind of put out a trigger warning ahead of time. It is definitely not an easy case to hear. But I'm gonna break down everything for you from start to finish. So, let's jump right in.

• 2:56Annie Elise?

  In Calgary, Canada, on June 24th, 2017, Jasmine Lovett and Robbie Sanderson welcomed their first child into the world. A daughter named Elia Lynn Sanderson. Elia was born early in the morning and she was a very, very tiny baby. But she quickly became her parents' entire world. I mean, that's how it always happens, right? You have this baby and your whole world just shifts and nothing else matters but this little baby. Now Jasmine and Robbie, they weren't married at the time and they were both also pretty young when Elia was born. I'm not sure Robbie's exact age, but Jasmine was in her early twenties. She was around 23 years old. And she was absolutely a beautiful guy. She had this long, dark hair, dark eyes, full lips, you know, a perfect little button nose with a bunch of freckles on her face.

• 3:41Annie Elise?

  I mean, just truly stunning. Now, being a new parent is of course really difficult, no matter what age you are, 100%. But it was even tougher for them once they started having some issues in their relationship in addition to being newborn parents. So Robbie began coming home later and later, leaving Jasmine all alone. Then, he began coming home drunk, or maybe sometimes even high. And then that escalated and he began becoming aggressive. I'm not sure of the exact date of this incident, but one day Robbie came home and was aggressively asking Jasmine for money. Now she refused because she- She didn't know what he was planning to use this money for, and she was quite frankly worried. But Robbie would not take no for an answer. He was adamant, he needed this money.

• 4:26Annie Elise?

  So Jasmine, who was now worried about her safety and the safety of her young daughter, told him she would give him that money, but she needed to go upstairs, she needed to get her purse, and then she would bring it back down to him. But instead, she locked herself in the bathroom and she called the police. Now somehow Robbie found out what she was doing, and he completely lost his mind. He kicked down the bathroom door, he grabbed the phone out of her hands and was just completely irate. Thankfully though, he didn't attack Jasmine, and pretty soon after he got the door down, he left the house entirely. But when the police arrived, he was absolutely nowhere to be found. And since Jasmine hadn't been harmed physically, they kinda told her that there wasn't really anything that they could do about what happened.

• 5:08Annie Elise?

  Thankfully though, even though they weren't able to do anything in that moment, Jasmine was able to obtain an emergency protection order. However, the protection order ended up being revoked thirteen days later. This was after Jasmine and Robbie said that they were able to come to an agreement, they resolved their situation. They got over their differences, they came to this mutual agreement, they no longer needed this order. A lot of the information surrounding this situation is still very vague, but we do know that Jasmine and Robbie ended up splitting up. And when they did, Jasmine received custody of Elia. So after this, it kind of seems like Robbie and Jasmine were able to maintain, you know, an amicable relationship, co-parenting, and trying to make things just pleasant and peaceful. And like I said, Elia was Jasmine's entire life, and so

• 5:53Annie Elise?

  she was absolutely fine with being, you know, the sole caretaker, the protector. Family had always been the most important thing to her. She had also always been very close with her mom Kim and her sister Genevieve. Now of the three of them, Jasmine was definitely the funny one. I don't know a whole lot about her childhood, but I do know that she love, love, loved pranking her family. And her favorite day of the year, of course, with that, was April Fool's Day. Now Jasmine was not only funny, she was also incredibly kind. She was the kind of person who would literally give you the shirt off of her back. Her mom also said that she was the type of person who would quote, Take her last two dollars and spend it on you. She was just really generous, really warm, really genuine and kind. Traits that of course translated really well into Jasmine being a great mother now.

• 6:38Annie Elise?

  Because on the one hand, she was fun. She loved joking around. But on the other hand, she was so comforting. She was such a loving mother, something that every child needs. I mean, truly such a great balance. So in 2018, after breaking up with Robbie, Jasmine decided to put herself back out there. And she ended up signing up for a few dating sites, see if she could meet somebody new. And Jasmine caught the eye of a lot of guys, which was not too surprising because again, she was beyond stunning. But she wasn't all that interested in the guys that were reaching out to her because nobody's really catching her eye. She was particular. I mean, she didn't want to let just any old kind of random into her life, especially now that she had a daughter. This person had to be worthy in her eyes.

• 7:20Annie Elise?

  Well, eventually Jasmine did find somebody who met her very high standards. His name was Robert Leeming. Now, when he and Jasmine met, Robert was 34 years old, maybe even a little older, and Jasmine, as a reminder, was still in her mid twenties. So there definitely was an age gap there. I mean, nothing crazy, about 10 years or so, but an age gap nonetheless. Robert had been born in the United Kingdom, but he traveled a lot during his childhood because his father worked in the military. So as a result of that, because he was always bouncing from place to place and, you know, all over the place, he had a really difficult time making friends. And that was still an issue in his adult life now. However, he was able to come out of his shell online.

• 8:01Annie Elise?

  He loved meeting new people in chatrooms where he didn't have to be so tightly wound, so self-conscious almost. And that's actually where he met his first wife. She was from Canada too, and when she and Robert met, she was studying to be a teacher. They ended up getting married in 2013 and Robert moved to be with her in Canada. The two of them had a son together. But unfortunately, the relationship didn't last very long and they decided to call it quits in 2017, just a few years later. And Robert's now ex has full custody of their son with Robert having supervised visitation. So even though Robert and his Canadian wife were separated, he was able to stay in Canada. He wasn't a citizen by any mean, but he did have what's called permanent residency. And that's because he had a job there.

• 8:46Annie Elise?

  So he stayed and he worked as a mechanic, an HGV mechanic to be specific, which that stands for heavy goods vehicle. So after his marriage ended, Robert, like Jasmine, found himself on, you know, various dating sites. And he dated quite a few women before falling for Jasmine. Their relationship started in September of 2018. And then, just a month later, Jasmine and Elia moved into Robert's home. Now, obviously, a month is pretty quick to go from first date to living together, especially when there's a child involved. But other than that one big rush, that one big leap of faith, I guess you could call it, their relationship did seem pretty normal overall.

• 9:28Annie Elise?

  And I think it's worth mentioning that the quick move-in date makes sense from a financial perspective, because obviously, we all know, especially this day and age, or even the recent years, living with a partner can definitely be cheaper when you're splitting the rent. It's not like you need an extra bedroom, the way that you would with a roommate. So you're able to split the costs of what normally one person is trying to absorb on their own. Not to mention, you're having somebody who's around to help out with chores, the grocery shopping, and of course, childcare and babysitting. I mean, it just makes things tremendously more helpful. Now, it doesn't seem like Jasmine was working during this time. She was receiving child support from her ex, and she was focusing on taking care of Elia full-time. And Robert just absolutely loved Elia and loved taking care of her.

• 10:12Annie Elise?

  So if Jasmine ever needed to get out of the house, or run an errand, or needed to do something, Robert was more than willing to watch Elia. Whenever she was gone, he wanted to help. He would cook, he would clean, he would play with her. He was just a great person for Jasmine to be with, because he loved her daughter so much, almost as much as she loved her. So like I mentioned previously, Jasmine was pretty close with her family. She met up with her mom and sister pretty often for family dinners. And then, once Robert was in the picture, he would join these family dinners as well. Jasmine's family thought that the relationship was really normal, was good. They liked him. However, her sister, Genevieve, wasn't really happy with how quickly everything was moving. She had some reservations, some hesitation there. But she saw how well Robert was treating Jasmine and Elia,

• 10:56Annie Elise?

  and that's really all that mattered. That's what mattered the absolute most. So one night, Robert, Jasmine, and Elia met up with Jasmine's family for dinner. It was April fourteenth, two thousand nineteen. The dinner was pretty normal, but Genevieve thought that maybe Robert and Jasmine seemed a little bit distant from one another, more than usual. So at the end of the dinner, Jasmine and Genevieve made plans to go meet up for dinner again on April nineteenth, which was Good Friday. And you know how that goes. It's like you leave and you're like, when should we do this again? I don't know. Let's look at the calendar. Let's set a date. It was that kind of thing. So then the nineteenth rolls around, but Jasmine never showed up for dinner with her sister. She tried texting and calling Jasmine over and over again, but Jasmine didn't answer.

• 11:38Annie Elise?

  And that was very concerning for a lot of reasons, but mainly because Jasmine would never miss a dinner with her sister. And she would also never just not reply to her text messages or her phone calls. Genevieve even tried messaging her on Facebook, but all of those messages were marked as undelivered. So it was so concerning that Genevieve went over to Jasmine and Robert's house around five P M. that evening. And when she did, she noticed that the basement light was turned on. So she figured, okay, somebody has to be home, right? The basement light is on. So she knocked on the door, but there was no answer. So she waited, she knocked again, still nothing. So she rang the doorbell multiple times. And it was like the house was empty. So that definitely didn't make Genevieve feel any better.

• 12:23Annie Elise?

  But eventually she didn't get an answer, so she left. I mean, what else was she going to do? And a couple of days later, on April twenty first, Jasmine's mom, Kim, went over to Jasmine and Robert's house. She wanted to check out what was going on. Like Genevieve, Kim hadn't been able to get in contact with Jasmine. And her visit was basically just a repeat of what had happened with Jasmine's sister. She was knocking, she was ringing the bell, all of the things, but there was no response. Now, one difference, though, this time around, when her mom went there, is that before she left, Kim noticed that there were two pairs of sneakers near the front door of the home. It looked like one pair had been recently cleaned and they were soaking wet. So it looked as though somebody had done like a deep clean on them. But anyway, she noticed that and then left.

• 13:08Annie Elise?

  And now it was pretty clear that nobody was gonna get a of Jasmine the traditional way through calls or text messages or even you know now in-person visits. So later that day, Kim taped a note to the front door of the home. It's not clear what that note exactly said, but she put the note on the door hoping that that would be a way to get in touch with Jasmine, or at the very least, she could track it and see if anybody had read it and pulled it off the door. So now four days have gone by and on April 23rd Jasmine was supposed to meet her mom and sister for another dinner. Now, even though they hadn't been able to get into contact with her, they were still expecting her or at least hoping that she would show up and you know, explain what had happened, that this was all just a huge misunderstanding. But she didn't turn up at any point during the evening.

• 13:52Annie Elise?

  So they knew that they had to do something because this was so unlike Jasmine, they were beyond worried at this point. So Genevieve went to the police station to file a missing persons report and she was really open with the officers because I, why wouldn't she? I mean, she had nothing to hide. She wanted them to have all of the information that they could possibly ever need to find her sister. So she let them search her phone, ask her questions, do anything. Initially, the detectives asked her if Jasmine could have just left on her own, but she assured them she would never, ever do something like that. She cared about her family way too much to just disappear without a trace and especially to not answer calls or texts or anything. So they also asked Genevieve if Jasmine's ex Robbie could have had something to do with her disappearance.

• 14:37Annie Elise?

  I'm not quite sure how they came to that conclusion or what evidence they were going off of, but I do know that they did decide to rule him out. So Genevieve told the officers that things had been a little bit weird between Jasmine and her current partner, Robert. She had mentioned how she appreciated how loving Robert was toward Jasmine, her daughter, but that their relationship had gotten a little bit weird and kind of seemed a little bit strained. And I mentioned before how Genevieve thought that it kind of seemed off at the last family dinner that they all had where the tension was there or the vibes just weren't quite right. There was almost like a little bit of distance between them. But as it turned out, that wasn't all that was going on and Genevieve knew a lot more about things that had gone down in the past few months, a lot more.

• 15:23Annie Elise?

  See, in December of 2018, Jasmine had texted her sister and told her that she and Robert were not in a good place. They had actually broken up, but she said they had made the decision that they were going to continue to live together as roommates. Which, weird, but okay. I get that it's not easy to find a place and move out with no warning, especially when there's a toddler involved, but I can't imagine that that would be comfortable. But then, a few weeks later, Jasmine told Genevieve they got back together, they worked out their issues. Jasmine also told Genevieve that she had gotten pregnant. And not only that, that she terminated the pregnancy. It's not entirely clear to me where that part fits into the timeline, if it was part of the reason they broke up, or maybe got back together, or a separate issue entirely.

• 16:08Annie Elise?

  But obviously, it was information that was worth sharing with the police now. Maybe it would lead them somewhere. So a couple of months after that conversation, Jasmine told her sister that she was really stressed about money. Robbie had given up all of his rights as far as Alia was concerned, and that meant he didn't have to pay child support anymore. And it now meant, instead, that Jasmine needed to find a job and she needed to start supporting both of them. Which has actually kind of worked out well, because in fact, she told her sister that she was sick of being home all the time. She was ready to be around other adults, be productive, and get into working society, and like, talk to other adults, things like that. She even felt jealous whenever Robert got to leave the house every day to go to work.

• 16:50Annie Elise?

  She just, unfortunately, at this point, hadn't managed to find a job yet, so it was stressing her out. So she wanted the job, but she couldn't find one yet. So again, there was very little reason to think that Jasmine would have just taken off, when all of the signs prior to that day were looking like she was actually trying to settle down more, get a job, put Ruths down, things like that. Thankfully, the detectives took Genevieve at her word, and this wasn't some sort of like, possible runaway kind of case, nothing like that. They started searching for Jasmine right away. And in no time at all, they had worked out a timeline of her disappearance. So like I mentioned before, Jasmine and Elia were at their family dinner on April 14th.

• 17:31Annie Elise?

  Then, they appeared on CCTV footage on April 15th at a local grocery store. Everything on the tape looked normal. Elia was in her stroller. Jasmine paid for her groceries at self-checkout. Then, they left. Then on April 16th, Robert dropped Elia off at daycare. This was at 7:12 a.m. Then he went to go pick her up at 4:46 p.m. Now, the problem with that was, Robert wasn't officially listed on the pickup list for her. So he had to call Jasmine so that she could give the okay to the daycare employees and they could release Elia to go home with Robert. But then after that, Elia and Jasmine were never seen or heard from again. However, Jasmine's credit card was used on April 18th to order food delivery.

• 18:15Annie Elise?

  It wasn't clear whether Jasmine was the one who actually ordered the food, or maybe if somebody else got their hands on her card and they're the ones who ordered food. But either way, the police were confident now that Robert was the last person who had spent any time with either of them. And given what Genevieve had told them about the tension in their relationship with Jasmine, I mean, it seemed pretty fair to question him, right? Partner, the spouse, they've broken up. There was turmoil now. Seems relevant. So they went to his home the next day on April 24th and did a welfare check. They knocked, they knocked. It was kind of like Groundhog's Day. They were just like knocking, but nobody was answering. And that note that Jasmine's mom had left up on the door a few days earlier was still there.

• 18:59Annie Elise?

  And not only that, but the window on the front door was now covered with something. And it looked like it was cellophane. You know, that like clear plastic thing that you use to wrap gifts sometimes? And it was the only window in the house that was covered, and it made it absolutely impossible to see inside this house. So they kept on knocking, kept on ringing the doorbell, but nobody answered. So they just waited. Eventually, one officer noticed that a car's trunk liner was lying over the air conditioner and it was drying out. It was wet, and it obviously had been recently cleaned. They also noticed that the garden hose was unwound, so they figured- Somebody must have used that to rinse down the trunk liner. But then also remember, it immediately takes you back to when her mom first went to the house

• 19:42Annie Elise?

  and she saw that those sneakers had been washed recently and they were soaking wet. Not a good sign, right? A lot of things that point to a possible cleanup. But the other thing that I think that's really important about this is that the house had not been abandoned. Somebody had to have been home putting all of this stuff outside and cleaning all of this stuff. It was just a matter of the police getting inside. However, they couldn't do that through a welfare check alone and through this locked door. They couldn't even see through the front door's window. And the rest of the windows were all on the top floors, so it's not easy to see into those from the ground. Except these police officers decided that they were going to get very creative. They ended up calling the fire department and they brought one of those ladder trucks.

• 20:24Annie Elise?

  So they used that to then go peer into these top floor windows. But when they did, they didn't see anything. However, almost as soon as that fire truck arrived, the lights downstairs turned on. And finally, Robert opened the front door and he let the police officers come inside. So now they were asking him, in addition to what took you so long, where is Jasmine?

• 20:53Speaker 04

  How's it going? Says she's with her sister.

• 20:57Speaker 04

  Hmm. Well, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

• 21:05Speaker 04

  All right, well, we're just gonna take a quick look around. We need to have a look.

• 21:09Speaker 04

  So, so are you Robert? Okay.

• 21:13Speaker 04

  So.

• 21:15Speaker 05

  I was sleeping. I sleep with plugs in and.

• 21:18Speaker 04

  Have we been here for hours and hours and hours now, hey? Hanging on your door and.

• 21:24Speaker 05

  Bringing out the doorbell.

• 21:25Speaker 04

  All in here for a while, yeah.

• 21:28Speaker 05

  I'm, I'm, I've been drinking and smoking hot, so.

• 21:32Speaker 04

  Okay. Okay, so she's not with her sister?

• 21:41Speaker 05

  What do you mean?

• 21:44Speaker 04

  Well, that's the reason that we're here.

• 21:46Speaker 05

  Why do you think we're here?

• 21:47Speaker 04

  Is that the family's calling us, saying we haven't heard from our daughter and our sister.

• 21:51Speaker 05

  Yeah, makes sense.

• 21:53Speaker 04

  Okay, that makes sense?

• 21:54Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 21:55Speaker 04

  Okay, why does that make sense?

• 21:57Speaker 05

  Cause I haven't heard from her either.

• 22:02Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 22:09Speaker 04

  So, did you guys get in some sort of argument?

• 22:14Speaker 05

  No, I'm aware.

• 22:16Speaker 04

  Well, not that you're aware of, but you're not making a whole lot of sense to me, guy.

• 22:19Speaker 05

  No, like, like, I don't know what.

• 22:23Speaker 05

  Whoa, what? Sorry, I'm...

• 22:29Speaker 05

  Still getting my bearings here.

• 22:35Speaker 05

  So, she's not with her family.

• 22:38Speaker 05

  But she did threaten to move out.

• 22:45Speaker 05

  I don't know, like, three weeks ago, we got into a... A tizzy, she, she threw a bunch of my stuff out, food, and stuff like that. And I had a disagreement about that. Um...

• 23:01Speaker 05

  But...

• 23:03Speaker 05

  Nothing that would, like...

• 23:06Speaker 05

  Concern me.

• 23:08Speaker 04

  Nothing that would concern you, okay?

• 23:11Speaker 05

  Like, I mean, I, I've had, I've had people living with me before, and they move out, you know, here.

• 23:18Speaker 04

  Right, but this isn't just like a roommate, this is your girlfriend.

• 23:22Speaker 05

  No, it's more roommate than girlfriend.

• 23:27Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 23:28Speaker 05

  She's more roommate than a girlfriend? Yeah.

• 23:44Speaker 04

  Okay, so the last time that you saw Jasmine was when?

• 23:49Speaker 05

  Thursday.

• 23:51Speaker 04

  Okay, and at that time, you guys were A-OK or fighting, or what was the status?

• 23:59Speaker 05

  I would say in the end.

• 24:02Speaker 05

  Judging by what obviously has gone down. The husband, she up here.

• 24:23Speaker 04

  So what makes you believe that she's with her sister?

• 24:26Speaker 05

  She told me that, that she was gonna go and spend Easter with them on Tuesday. Was talking about it, cuz I have my son, so, you know, it's kind of depressed about that. Just, you know, drink, love drinking a lot. Weekend could have been on my own, right?

• 24:47Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 24:50Speaker 05

  Does she have a card? I don't know. She doesn't have a license. Are we? That's for mom. We got a phone number for the sister.

• 24:58Speaker 04

  No, off the phone, mom and start digging, but that doesn't drive.

• 25:03Speaker 05

  What's the slam rap for her? Just privacy. Privacy.

• 25:09Speaker 05

  You see the note on the door?

• 25:12Speaker 05

  I didn't know.

• 25:19Speaker 04

  Okay, I'm gonna go make the call to mom and try and get somewhere.

• 25:28Annie Elise?

  It was especially weird that he said Jasmine was more like a roommate than a girlfriend. But in Robert's defense too, apparently there was a chance that they really weren't together at this point. It's hard for me to say because I've read conflicting things online, but it seems like there was some disagreement around the story that Jasmine had told Genevieve about how she and Robert. Robert had broken up and then decided to just be roommates, but then got back together, things like that. It sounds like there's the possibility that they didn't actually get back together at all, that they stayed broken up as roommates. And maybe that Jasmine was just telling Genevieve these stories about getting back together because she was embarrassed, maybe she didn't want to be judged, that she was still living there, maybe she was hoping that she and Robert would reconcile, maybe there was some wishful thinking on her part.

• 26:13Annie Elise?

  It's unclear. But regardless, the police weren't trying to get to the bottom of the exact nature of Jasmine and Robert's relationship. It was just a welfare check, just a time to see if she was okay. And the officers didn't know, because there was no sign of her or Elia in the house at all. But they were able to take a closer look at Robert, and they were also able to dig into some of his past, especially given how weird he acted that entire time. It turns out that when Robert and his ex divorced, she claimed that it was due to emotional abuse. She said that Robert neglected her, he gaslit her, he emotionally mistreated her. He would call her crazy all the time, and then towards the end of the relationship, he was also apparently drinking quite a bit.

• 26:56Annie Elise?

  She also reported that Robert had a personal gun and knife collection. And not only that, but that this collection was growing. So the amount of guns that he was buying, combined with his excessive drinking and his anger issues, I mean, it had her pretty worried for her safety, and also for her son's safety, which I would say that's for good reason. The police also discovered that Robert's ex had reported him for animal abuse. Robert had taken the dog that they owned together, brought him to a park, and then tied him to a tree without any food or any water. Thankfully, somebody at the park found this dog, and they brought him to the Humane Society to be taken care of. Robert was charged with animal abuse, and he pled guilty to three of the charges.

• 27:41Annie Elise?

  Those charges were causing an animal to be in distress, failing to provide an animal with food and water, and also failing to provide an animal with shelter. Now, he didn't go to jail over this, but he did have to pay a fine of five grand, and he was also banned from owning animals for 10 Years, which I didn't even know that that was a thing. I mean, I get that like Michael Vick, all of that stuff, but like, I didn't know that you could be charged for not giving an animal food and water. It makes sense now that I think about it, but I guess I've just never really heard any instances like that. But in any event, and I've never heard that you would be banned from owning animals, because how would you exactly track that? I don't know. So during the divorce hearings, his ex also brought up some very bizarre internet searches that she

• 28:24Annie Elise?

  found on his phone. One was about chaining a dog to a tree and leaving him there. But another search was about a mother and a child dying in a house fire. So obviously, that left her feeling very scared, because if Robert had searched the dog thing and then went through with it, what was to stop him from trying to go through with this next search and hurt her and her son by setting the house on fire or doing something similar? So now, given all of this new information, and just how weird Robert had been acting, the police decided to return to Robert's home on April 25. And this time, they arrested him in connection with Jasmine and Elia's disappearances. And then they brought him into the station for a formal interrogation.

• 29:10Annie Elise?

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• 29:52Annie Elise?

  too. But here's the thing, it doesn't have to. Mint Mobile is making it so much easier to stop overpaying for wireless, with plans starting at just 15 bucks a month. And you're not sacrificing quality either. All plans include high-speed data, unlimited talk and text. And access to the nation's largest 5G network. You can also use your current phone and your current phone number. You just sign up online and you are good to go. Now, I changed carriers probably a year and a half ago at this point to Mint Mobile. And when I tell you, not only was it the best decision of my life, I now have like service in places my husband doesn't even have service. But it was so easy. It took me 15 minutes, kept my phone, kept my phone number. It was the best. So for a new wireless plan, starting at 15 bucks a month,

• 30:37Annie Elise?

  go to mintmobile.com/ae. That's mintmobile.com/ae. $45 upfront payment required, equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.

• 30:58Annie Elise?

  They asked Robert about the last time that he saw Jasmine and Elia. He said that on April 17th, they all went on a picnic near Brad Creek, which is about 30 minutes from Robert's home. Then afterward, they went back to the house. Jasmine sat on the couch in the living room, was watching some TV while Robert apparently was getting ready for a date. Because again, remember, he said that he and Jasmine were just roommates at this point. In fact, according to Robert, he had been seeing a different woman for quite a while now. So he said before he left for his date, everything with Jasmine seemed fine. But then she and Elia were gone when he got home later that evening. The investigators were really surprised though to hear that Robert was dating other women. Again, they had heard from Jasmine's family that Robert and Jasmine were a couple,

• 31:41Annie Elise?

  and a fairly serious one at that. So they contacted the woman that Robert said he went on a date with that night, which we will just call her KJ. And she confirmed that she was with Robert that night. So the police asked her some follow-up questions, and KJ said that she and Robert met online in February of 2019. So we're talking about five months or so after Jasmine and Elia moved in with Robert. They went on some dates and he occasionally stayed over at KJ's house. So it wasn't like he was trying to hide the relationship. Except KJ told the police that she had never been to Robert's house. And when she would ask him why she couldn't Didn't come to his place, he always said that his room was messy and that he had a roommate. And he apparently told KJ that the only way that they could ever sleep over at his house

• 32:26Annie Elise?

  was if they slept in his car in the garage. And he also described Jasmine as his tenant to KJ, not his girlfriend. Now to my mind, that's actually a point in favor of the idea that Jasmine and Robert were still together because he probably didn't want to get caught cheating. So, of course, that's the reason he refused to let KJ come over, right? Now, I don't know if the officers were picking up on what I'm picking up when I first heard this, but I do know that even with this, they didn't think that they could prove that he had anything to do with Jasmine and Elia's disappearance. They were still suspicious, but they couldn't hold him for much longer. So Robert was released. However, his car and his cellphone were seized. They also got a search warrant for his townhouse and told him that he couldn't go home

• 33:11Annie Elise?

  until they were done going through everything. So they conducted their search over the next couple of days. They also looked at his cellphone data. And when they did, that's where they saw that on April 23rd, the day that Jasmine and Elia were reported missing, Robert deleted around thirty photos of the two of them. He also deleted a few photos of a gun around the same time. His phone's location data also showed that he was in the Bragg Creek area around the time that Jasmine and Elia went missing. Now remember, he said that's where they went to have a picnic, but that was prior to when Jasmine and her daughter went missing. So the police decided they needed to go to this creek area. They needed to check it out. So when they went and searched the area,

• 33:54Annie Elise?

  they found a makeshift fire pit that looked as though it had been recently used. And it wasn't just used to burn charcoal for hot dogs or smores or anything like that. In fact, when the police searched the fire pit, they found the seatbelt from a car seat, diapers, toddler shoes that were Elia's size, parts of children's books, and also a Jungle Book DVD. They brought sent dogs to the area, and the dogs alerted in a way that told them that a fire accelerant had been used in that fire pit. And CCTV footage from a local gas station showed Robert filling up his car and then also filling up a gas can and later going through a car wash.

• 34:36Annie Elise?

  On top of that, the search of his home was very strange, to say the least. The police couldn't get through that front door because it had been barricaded with two long poles. The front window was still covered in that cellophane, and then there were multiple spots on the walls that looked like they had been sanded down and cleaned. They also discovered that the master bedroom had a pin code lock on the door, which, that's not a good sign. A lock on the bedroom door, sure, but a pin code lock? Something feels weird here. I don't think it's unfair at all to say that this was strange. It was beyond weird. They also found a plastic hammer that was filled with sand, which I guess it's the kind of hammer that is used to fix dents in cars, I'm not really sure.

• 35:19Annie Elise?

  But in addition to that, there were also multiple boxes with blue moving blankets. I mean, something just didn't feel right. Now beforehand, the police had found footage of Robert going back and forth to the garage, so they decided that they needed to search there. And when they did, they spotted a gun safe, and it contained multiple guns, multiple boxes of ammos, I mean, you name it. And in the trash cans in the garage, they found a partially melted firearm part. They also found infant toys, Jasmine's prescription bottles, Jasmine's passport, which had been shredded. I mean, this was looking more like a dump site than a regular trash can. And that wasn't even the weirdest thing that they found, not at all.

• 36:00Annie Elise?

  There were pieces of bacon scattered all over the house, literally raw strips of bacon, just thrown all over the place. One piece was found draped over the dining room chair, one piece was found in the garage, another was in the room where the furnace was, and then an empty bacon package was just sitting there in the kitchen. But you know what wasn't in that house? After all of the weird things, the bacon, the everything? There was no sign of Jasmine or Elia. Still, the police did feel good about announcing to the public that Robert was their main suspect.

• 36:32Speaker 06

  On Tuesday, April 23rd, we received a report that a young mother and her daughter are missing. We now believe that we are investigating a double homicide. The last place anyone saw either of the two was in the community of Cranston on the evening of Tuesday, April 16th, 2019. We have Jasmine's bank card being used for an online purchase on the 18th, but we still can't determine if that was her who was purchasing. And police responded to her residence in the community of Cranston the night of April 23rd, based on concerns from her immediate family that she failed to show for a pre-planned family dinner.

• 37:15Speaker 06

  We took a suspect into custody for questioning this morning. No charges have been laid as of yet. We do not believe this incident to be random because the suspect and the victims knew each other. We are currently working with multiple other agencies to search the community of Cranston and the area around Bragg Creek for evidence. The crime scene unit is at a residence in the community of Cranston. Through the investigative process, we have determined that the area around Bragg Creek may have been of interest for further investigation. So we're working with search and rescue and many external agencies to search areas that are obviously very wooded and mountainous in that area.

• 38:00Speaker 06

  Any investigation involving a child is extremely difficult. A lot of the members within the homicide units have children themselves. As a result of the investigation, we believe the suspect may have attempted to destroy evidence related to the homicide by means of burning sometime between Tuesday, April 16th and Saturday, April 20th. This occurred in the area of Bragg Creek, Elbow Falls, Pritus, and/or East Canavaskas. Anyone who may have signs of suspicious fire in an unusual place, not in a designated fire pit, is asked to contact police. We continue to seek witnesses to the movements of a gray Mercedes SUV in the same area.

• 38:41Speaker 06

  A forensic search of the home in Cranston has been completed and the residence has now been released to the homeowner. The search of the Brad Creek area will resume once so snow accumulation has melted. Members of the public are advised not to attempt a search on their own during this time period as it could result in accidental destruction of evidence under the snow. However, police continue to seek public assistance with any information about the movement of the gray SUV or fires in the area during the week of April 16th. Obviously, we keep an open mind in any investigation, but the the person that was taken into police custody last week remains our prime suspect.

• 39:21Annie Elise?

  And while the police were still searching Roberts' home and all of his stuff, reporters tracked him down while he was just kind of out and about running errands or something. And he was not afraid to talk to them, not at all.

• 39:34Speaker 07

  You were kind of the the primary suspect in this in this homicide investigation. You still are. What are your thoughts about that and what are your emotions right now? What's kind of going through your head?

• 39:45Speaker 02

  It's very stressful, but um I hope they will be found and um I hope we can move forward from this. No, we were friends, um absolutely friends, um and supporting each other. I would like, obviously, for them to be found, um and um for me to be clear of this.

• 40:12Speaker 03

  How do you feel about this whole thing?

• 40:13Speaker 02

  Terrible, of course.

• 40:16Speaker 03

  But to know the police are calling this a homicide, to know that someone has killed a 22-month-old child.

• 40:23Speaker 02

  It's crazy.

• 40:24Speaker 03

  But you're saying that is not you?

• 40:26Speaker 02

  Of course not. Of course not. Of course, I took care of her and she's a great kid and I had no issues with them at all.

• 40:37Speaker 03

  But isn't it hard to believe that somebody would kill them?

• 40:39Speaker 02

  It's crazy. Of course it is.

• 40:42Speaker 03

  But you're saying that is not you?

• 40:44Speaker 02

  Of course not.

• 40:46Speaker 02

  Of course not.

• 40:47Annie Elise?

  So, why is it?

• 40:49Speaker 02

  But who says that they're dead? That's crazy. I don't know where they are.

• 40:57Annie Elise?

  He said that while the police had been searching his home and his car, he had just been, you know, casually hanging out at bars, which you can tell by the way that he was talking, in my opinion, too, that he had been drinking. According to Robert, that had been his life for the past three days. Everybody thought he was some kind of kidnapper or murderer, and he had lost his job. His friends had all turned on him. He had no money. He had nothing to do all day but just drink each and every day. He also complained that the police had destroyed his house and made a huge mess all over the place. He says he hired a lawyer because, according to Robert, he was innocent, and he thought that he needed some help proving that. And that's when someone anonymously came forward to the police.

• 41:38Annie Elise?

  This person was close with Robert, and they said that Robert was known to be a loose cannon and to just behave erratically. And the investigators believed it because they already had all these weird interactions with him, right? So it was one more little detail and piece of information that made him look very suspicious. But still, there was not enough evidence and not enough information to press any sort of charges on him. So now the police decided to go forward with a new strategy. And on May 5th, two undercover officers approached Robert on the street near his home. When they did, they said, "You're the dude from the news. You're like a fucking rock star. Oh, my gosh, nice to meet you." And Robert replied with, "Hardly. There's nothing good about my effing life right now.

• 42:23Annie Elise?

  I'll tell you that much." Well, the officers just kept sort of praising him, giving him this ego boost. They said, "You know, we think that you're innocent, but you should know one of your neighbors was sneaking around your house while the police were doing their search." Which, to be clear, that wasn't true at all, but I guess they thought that he would trust them more if they told him some sort of like BS story that was trying to help him out or something? So according to these undercover officers, the neighbors had found a bag of evidence, had stolen it, and then had given it to the two of them. Then they asked Robert if he wanted to go with them to get a beer, talk over their options, talk about destroying this evidence, which he agreed to. And a few times during this conversation, Robert asked them, "Hey, are you guys cops? Are you just trying to trick me?" But they assured him that they weren't.

• 43:09Annie Elise?

  So they started telling Robert stories about how they were part of a crime group, like a gang. And naturally, this meant that they had a criminal background. They also went on and on about how terrible cops were, how awful they are, and they started giving Robert advice on how he could really make the police stop suspecting him. And then eventually, they asked Robert if he wanted to go to their warehouse, where they kept all of their guns. And it was kind of made out to be like, this warehouse was like their secret hideout of sorts. But Robert fell for it. He agreed, and they all drove to that warehouse. There, the undercover officers showed him this arsenal of guns that they had, still trying to gain his trust, still trying to really prove that they were these

• 43:51Annie Elise?

  criminals. And eventually, after seeing that, Robert started opening up. He told them that when he and Jasmine had been dating, he had cheated on her, because according to him, that's what, you know, every single guy does. Every guy cheats. Which, I don't think that that's true of every single guy, but I'll be honest, I can think of a lot of exceptions. But anyway. So he tells them, we started dating and I was cheating on her. And he claimed that Jasmine wasn't happy in their relationship because of this. She wanted to get married, but he didn't. So he told these officers, women, man, they always want more, right? Tell me when that ever stops with a chick. When does it ever stop? From what I understand, she pretty much even told her family. And then, after

• 44:32Annie Elise?

  complaining and talking about cheating and all of this stuff, he just flat out confessed. Just confessed to these two men that he just met a few hours earlier. Now, he didn't exactly say how he killed Jasmine or her daughter, but he did tell them that after killing the two of them, he used his phone to look at what remote areas were nearby. When he did, he settled on Bragg Creek, and then he drove there to scope everything out. However, he says he waited until the very next day to hide the bodies. When he decided to hide them, he brought them to the woods near Bragg Creek. He hid them, and then he drenched them in gasoline. He didn't burn their bodies, but he did hope that the gasoline would throw off any cadaver dogs from finding them.

• 45:16Annie Elise?

  He also said that he made a makeshift fire pit to burn all of Jasmine and Elia's personal belongings. He said he burned things like Elia's car seat, other personal items that belonged to them, all to make it look like Jasmine had really taken her and run away. Then he covered his backseat in mulch, and he also used the mulch to cover the bodies in the woods. And he told these officers, "Well, mulch is death, right? So, it smells like death." Now, from that, it almost sounds like he thought that the smell of the mulch would again throw off the cadaver dogs, kind of like how he had hoped that the gasoline would also throw them off. But one thing that was pretty consistent for Robert was he was very concerned about these cadaver dogs.

• 45:58Annie Elise?

  That's why he also apparently had all that bacon all over his house. But his thinking wasn't just like, "Oh, it's this delicious fatty meaty treat, these dogs will love it, it will distract them." He actually put a lot of thought into this. Because according to Robert, pork smells similar to human flesh. So, he figured that the bacon wouldn't just throw the dogs off because it was food, he actually thought that it would somehow stop them from detecting Jasmine and Elia. And I mean, it sounded so thought out and so carefully planned after all, he went very far to try and cover his ass after these deaths. So when these undercover officers asked if he had cleaned up his car afterward too, because of all this, all of the mulch, all of everything, Robert replied and said, "Oh,

• 46:43Annie Elise?

  yeah." He also said, "It's funny, because they were telling me about my Mercedes, and they pretty much can hook up the computer in the car and know exactly where I've been, but my car, it's just too old. If it was a 2018, then I would be in jail." So it was almost as though he was gloating. He was explaining all of this, kind of gloating how he was so much smarter than the police. And then, after he explained all of it, Robert said that he was going to show the officers where he hid Jasmine and Elia's bodies. What are you looking for?

• 47:15Annie Elise?

  Them? Yeah. So they drove to the Bragg Creek area in the middle of the night and Robert took them to the bodies. It wasn't too far from where that weird fire pit was and both of the bodies were wrapped in those same blue moving blankets. And they were buried underneath dirt, sticks and mulch, which it's so interesting to me that he was so wanting to brag and boast about what he had done, so much so not only that he just admitted to these strangers essentially what he had done, but let me show you my handiwork. Which we know killers love to revel in the crime and they like often return to the scene of the crime or they keep trophies and things like that. But like to bring somebody else there who's literally a stranger, that's how proud he was, which is really unnerving.

• 47:59Annie Elise?

  Obviously, all of this information was enough for the police to immediately arrest Robert. The Calgary Police Department also held a press conference, but they didn't immediately tell the public exactly who was arrested or that they had conducted this undercover investigation.

• 48:14Speaker 06

  Somally 4 a.m. this morning, members of the CPS located the bodies of a woman and child in Caninascas. On behalf of the entire police service, we would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to the Lovett and Sanderston families. Jasmine would have celebrated her 26th birthday last week, and this is truly a tragic loss.

• 48:37Speaker 06

  Earlier today, a man was taken into custody and charges of second degree murder are currently pending. The suspect cannot be named by the police until charges are officially laid by the justice of the peace. This is expected to occur later today or early tomorrow morning. However, I can confirm that the suspect is the same man who was taken into custody two weeks ago. This has been a lengthy and complex investigation. I will share what details I can with you, but please keep in mind that our primary goal at this point is to see this case through the conclusion in court.

• 49:13Speaker 06

  And to do that successfully, we must maintain the integrity of the evidence and limit what information is shared publicly from this point on. We believe their bodies were subsequently transported by the suspect to the Grizzly Creek area sometime between Wednesday, April 17th and Saturday, April 20th. We believe the suspect and Jasmine were in a relationship and this was a targeted attack motivated by domestic-related matters. I can tell you that the investigative process picked up momentum and over the last few days, which led us to locate the bodies early this morning.

• 49:48Annie Elise?

  Was there a lot of snow out there? Like, what kind of conditions were the searchers having to deal with?

• 49:54Speaker 06

  The area where the bodies were located did not have as much snow as the Brad Creek area.

• 50:01Speaker 07

  Were officers working through the night vent to discover at 4:00 a.m.?

• 50:04Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 50:05Speaker 07

  Had that been going on for a number of days prior?

• 50:07Speaker 06

  I can tell you that officers have worked every day to bring this case to a successful conclusion.

• 50:13Speaker 07

  But searching, like, through the night?

• 50:14Speaker 06

  I wouldn't say searching, but investigating. And through the investigative process, we were confident that bodies would have been located.

• 50:24Annie Elise?

  Can you just clarify, sorry, clarify what you said, that you believe suspect and Ms. Lovett were in a relationship?

• 50:31Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 50:32Annie Elise?

  Can you just say what could have gone wrong? You said it was a domestic?

• 50:38Speaker 06

  Yeah, and I'll just leave it. It was a domestic relationship, which deteriorated over a period of time.

• 50:43Annie Elise?

  Why aren't we still outside the residence?

• 50:47Speaker 06

  Obviously, we're still investigating and it'll be up to the investigative team to determine if further search warrants will be executed at the residence.

• 50:56Annie Elise?

  Was the vehicle ever returned to the suspect?

• 50:59Speaker 06

  It's still in police custody, sorry, pending further warrants.

• 51:03Annie Elise?

  Have tips from the public been helpful? Can you add to this?

• 51:07Speaker 06

  We have received over 250 tips from the public and, obviously, the tips have been combed through and we encourage anyone with any information to call police.

• 51:21Speaker 07

  And is he the only suspect in the case?

• 51:25Speaker 06

  Right now, we have determined that there are no other alternative suspects.

• 51:31Annie Elise?

  You've talked about this throughout the course of this investigation.

• 51:39Speaker 06

  Obviously, I think I mentioned in the first press release that there are a lot of similarities in this case to other domestic homicides that our officers have investigated. I can tell you that the officers that were in Canaanaskus last night obviously had a very difficult time when they discovered the bodies. When was the last time you were in conversation with the loved ones? We're in daily conversation with the victims' families. And did you, at what point did you contact them? Before we let the media know.

• 52:14Speaker 04

  So how much similarities have been established between this case and the case of Kania? Was also, I guess, murdered by?

• 52:24Speaker 06

  Well, I think when you look at motive, deteriorating relationships, domestic violence, you'll find some similarities.

• 52:34Annie Elise?

  Eventually, the police department confirmed with DNA evidence that the bodies were Jasmine and her daughter. Jasmine had multiple blunt force head injuries and also a bullet wound on the left side of her head behind her ear. Elia also had multiple blunt force injuries to her head, one on each side. She also had one on the back, and she also had a spinal injury. Both of their deaths were ruled as homicide. So that's why they felt good about going after him for murder charges rather than something milder like manslaughter. And on May 7th, Robert was officially charged with two counts of second degree murder. The prosecutors thought about trying to charge him with first degree murder, but they didn't think that there was enough evidence to prove that Robert had premeditated these killings.

• 53:18Annie Elise?

  So they wanted to just make sure that they would have a strong conviction. And his trial began in October of 2021. He actually pleaded guilty to Jasmine's murder, but he said he did not kill Elia. His defense team argued that on April 17th, Robert picked up Elia from daycare and brought her home. Jasmine was gone, so he played with Elia. She watched that TV show, The Wiggles. They were all just hanging out. But at one point, she apparently wanted to go to the kitchen, which was upstairs. And as she was walking up the stairs, she fell backward and hit her head. But he says she got up and she seemed fine, so they ate dinner together, they watched some more TV together, and then Robert put her to bed. Then he went outside and he smoked a cigarette and made himself a drink.

• 54:01Annie Elise?

  Jasmine came home soon after at around 7:00. And at 9:00 PM, she went upstairs to check on Elia and she found that she wasn't breathing and she was unresponsive in her bed. And according to Robert, Jasmine became enraged. Hello, of course, she's a protective mother, so she started yelling at him. She started accusing him of killing Elia. But that made him angry. And he says he took that hammer and hit her on the head until she fell to the floor. Then he went and got a gun and he shot her to make sure that she was really dead. Then he grabbed a blue moving blanket from downstairs and wrapped Jasmine's body up in that blanket. And then he used a towel to clean up all of the blood. He threw the towels away, made himself another drink, and then he fell asleep.

• 54:42Annie Elise?

  Over the next couple of days, he buried their bodies and he burned as many things as possible. The autopsy had showed much more serious injuries, though, around Elia's head and spinal cord. It wasn't really in line with a fall on the stairs. And that wasn't all that came out in that report. The medical examiner also found injuries in her genital area. And it suggested that she had been being sexually harmed. So the prosecutors believed that when Jasmine got home on April 17th, she caught Robert in the act. She freaked out and Robert killed her to stop her from telling anybody what she had found him doing. Then, he had no other choice, they think, but to kill Elia and make up this story about

• 55:25Annie Elise?

  her falling down the stairs, all to cover his tracks. And I have to say, that does go in line with what we have heard from Jasmine's family about Robert always doting on Elia. Picking her up, cooking for her, doing all of these things. Not to say that a good man and a good stepparent can't do that. But maybe he was showing a little bit too much interest in her, especially when the medical examiner did report that there were injuries in her private area consistent with that. So the lawyers thought that it was pretty notable that Robert never denied killing Elia either when he was talking to those undercover cops, although now he was making it seem like he didn't kill her on purpose. The idea is that generally, people will be very quick to deny killing children because

• 56:09Annie Elise?

  that crime is seen as even more horrific than killing an adult. So they argued that if Elia truly did die in an accident, Robert would have made sure that everybody knew that. In court, the prosecutor said, "You didn't once say, 'I didn't kill the kid, it was an accident.' You didn't tell them the story you told this court. Everyone thinks that's one of the worst things you can do, and you didn't once, not once, take the opportunity to tell these guys that it was all an accident." Now, Robert was the only witness for the defense, and he told that same story that he had been repeating. Elia fell down the stairs, she hit her head, she died in her sleep. Then Jasmine discovered her dead daughter, she freaked out. Robert says he didn't call for help because he couldn't find his phone, and that Jasmine

• 56:54Annie Elise?

  just started blaming him for Elia's death, and that's when he killed her, which, hello, that is not a good excuse. Especially because Robert did, in fact, have his phone with him, the entire time. And the police knew what time he had killed Jasmine and Elia, and they also knew that he was texting his, you know, side piece KJ right before then. So, this wasn't even a good lie. Robert waived his right to a jury trial, so the judge ended up finding him guilty of second-degree murder for Elia. He said that Robert was not a credible witness, that he couldn't be trusted, and that he had no doubt that Robert had done this on purpose. Specifically, the judge said, "Her injuries were not accidental. He meant to cause Elia's death, or meant to cause bodily harm to Elia, and that was

• 57:38Annie Elise?

  likely what caused her death. So why would he not use his best efforts to find Elia help? Instead, he went downstairs, made himself a drink, and had a cigarette." Robert was given an automatic life sentence with a chance of parole in 22 years. Jasmine's family was satisfied with Robert's sentence, though, and her mom, Kim, said, "22 years without eligibility for parole is really good." Obviously, 200 years is not going to bring them back, but we're pleased. We feel that justice has been served. Justice for Jasmine, and justice for Elia.

• 58:10Speaker 03

  Very relieved. Very relieved. I think I held my breath the whole time. Yeah. I actually wanted to get up and hug the judge, but I know that would have looked super weird. So I, um, obviously happy is not the best word, right? But pleased that we got justice and relieved that it's over. His actions and demeanor were nothing but disturbing. Yeah, at one point, um, they thought he was falling asleep. Yeah. So we stopped for a little bit to wake him up. Oh, we can go back to healing and just getting on with our lives and not having to think about coming here and.

• 58:53Speaker 03

  Not have to worry about what the decision will be. Yeah. Yeah, that's a big relief.

• 58:58Annie Elise?

  In 2022, Robert appealed his conviction. He still said he didn't kill Elia, and he said, "The point of my argument was that the medical pathologist, the doctor who did the autopsy, could not rule out that there was an accidental fall down the stairs. For example, one that could have caused the injuries to the child's brain that ultimately caused her death. There was a reasonable alternative that existed." During his trial, the medical examiner did testify it was possible that Elia could have just really landed badly on the stairs, and it was possible for her head and spinal injuries to all be from an accident. But they ultimately ruled that Elia's death was the result of a homicide, because if she had fallen down the stairs, she would have also had injuries to her arms and her legs, which she didn't.

• 59:42Annie Elise?

  So on July 23rd, 2024, Robert lost his appeal and his conviction was upheld. As for Jasmine and Elia's families, they have been working very hard to spread awareness about domestic disputes and ones that turn violent. They raised $25,000 and gave that money to the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter. They also started a memorial scholarship in Jasmine's name through the charity Gems for Gems, a Calgary-based nonprofit that is committed to empowering women who survived domestic issues like these. And I'll just say, it always touches me when families and loved ones channel their grief and their anger into helping victims, future victims, whether it's a foundation.

• 1:00:25Annie Elise?

  An organization, a donation, whatever it is, education, self-defense classes, whatever, to be able to harness all of that, trying to help other people, I think is just incredibly powerful. And I would imagine that that would also help you a little bit in the grieving process, knowing that they're not dying in vain and that their legacy will continue. So, that being said, thank you for listening to Jasmine and Elias' story. I hope that Robert does not get parole after 22 years. I think he is the worst of the worst, and I guess they couldn't prove it, but I do wonder why he wasn't charged with any sort of sex crimes against her daughter. If the medical examiner did see the indications of that, but maybe there wasn't enough to prove that, but I don't know. But to me,

• 1:01:08Annie Elise?

  I don't know. I think that probably was a motivating factor or something involved in this. So I hope he's not released, and I hope he gets the worst possible treatment ever. But that's just me. Thank you guys so much for tuning into another episode of Serialistically with me today. I appreciate it. I will be back on the mic with you first thing Thursday morning with headline highlights where we are going through everything that's happening in the true crime world. I appreciate you guys sticking through and hearing today's case. I know it wasn't easy. And I will be talking with you guys again soon. Until then, be nice, don't kill people, and just be a good human. All right, bye.

• 1:01:55Speaker 03

  Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. From roof repair to emergency plumbing and more, when you use Angie for your home projects, you know all your jobs will be done well. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find a pro for your project at Angie.com. My six-year-old little sister is taken from her bed and violently murdered, and we don't have any answers? It's been 30 years. It's not okay. We will find this person. It's not a question of if, but when. Who killed JonBenet Ramsey? You think you know this mystery? But do you know about the DNA at the crime scene? Can science finally solve this case? And who is Unknown Male One? An intruder, a third-party male. So Unknown Male One is out there somewhere? Yes. The stunning, all-new Diane Sawyer investigation, Friday night on ABC.