253. The Throuple Murder Mystery - Aileen Seiden

In this episode, Payton unravels the chilling case of a Jane Doe murdered in a peaceful Florida town. As rumors of a serial killer spread, investigators piece together a shocking murder mystery you won’t believe. Links: NEW MERCH LINK: https://mwmhshop.com Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/themwmh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murderwithmyhusband/ Discount Codes: https://mailchi.mp/c6f48670aeac/oh-no-media-discount-codes Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@murderwithmyhusband Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-dark/id1662304327 Listen on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36SDVKB2MEWpFGVs9kRgQ7?si=f5224c9fd99542a7 Case sources: NBCMiami.com - https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/2-arrested-in-love-triangle-murder-of-south-florida-woman/148945/ FoxCharleston.com - https://www.foxcharleston.com/friend-who-heard-murder-confession-thought-furniture-heiress-would-end-up-dead-in-love-triangle/ FoxNews.com - https://www.foxnews.com/us/friend-who-heard-murder-confession-thought-furniture-heiress-would-end-up-dead-love-triangle Sportskeeda.com - https://www.sportskeeda.com/us/shows/5-chilling-details-aileen-seiden-s-murder WCTV - https://www.wctv.tv/content/news/Franklin-County-authorities-identify-murder-victim-481062551.html DailyMail.com - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13977901/torture-murder-heiress-aileen-seiden-throuple-episode.html NewsHerald.com - https://www.newsherald.com/story/news/crime/2018/04/28/friends-eastpoint-murder-victim-had-become-distant-sent-strange-messages/12368606007/ MyPanHandle.com - https://www.mypanhandle.com/news/local-news/franklin-county/second-person-found-guilty-in-franklin-county-murder-trial-has-been-sentenced/ ParamountExpress.com - https://www.paramountpressexpress.com/cbs-news-and-stations/shows/48-hours/releases/?view=110443-a-throuple-checks-into-a-motel-room-but-only-a-couple-walks-out CBSNews.com - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/aileen-seiden-throuple-florida-murder-mystery-48-hours/ People.com - https://people.com/aileen-seiden-throuple-spiraled-out-control-young-woman-murder-8730493 Franklin County News - https://franklincounty.news/2024/06/07/araujo-sentenced-to-25-years/ Police1.com - https://www.police1.com/arrests-sentencing/watch-fla-officer-testifies-at-daughters-sentencing-for-murder-after-he-helped-coordinate-her-arrest The Independent - https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/throuple-murder-aileen-seiden-documentary-b2633105.html Tallahassee.com - https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/2024/10/18/48-hours-to-report-on-brutal-murder-of-miami-woman-at-an-eastpoint-florida-motel-aileen-seiden/75733392007/' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Whoever says saving money is hard doesn't know that new customers who bundle and save with Progressive save hundreds because switching your home and auto insurance is better than cutting down on the things you love, like those ice lattes that help you get ready to face the day. So, switch your home and auto to Progressive and see if you could save and keep sipping away. Get your quote today at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and other insurers, not available in all states.

• 0:27Payton Moreland?

  If you are like me, protecting the people inside your home is a top priority. I have Daisy at home, I'm about to have a baby at home, and Garrett and me. And there are a lot of times where I've thought about our safety, but that is where SimpliSafe comes in and has had my back honestly for years. Unlike traditional security systems that only alert you after a break in is already underway, SimpliSafe is built to stop it before it starts, which is exactly what I'm looking for. I don't even want someone in my home. I want it stopped before the alarm has even gone off. We've partnered with SimpliSafe to offer our listeners their biggest savings of the year. 70% off your new system with

• 1:11Payton Moreland?

  professional monitoring. If you've been thinking about a security system, it is now. 70% off, guys, when you visit simplisafe.com/husband. That is simplisafe.com/husband. And when you order, just write in Murder With My Husband at checkout. Tells them we sent you. Really helps the show. SimpliSafe, ahead of crime in real time. You're listening to an Ono Media Podcast. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder With My Husband. I'm Peyton Morland. And Garrett Moreland is alive and well, but he is not here today, okay? Garrett had a procedure two days ago and currently, right now, as I'm filming, cannot open his

• 1:54Payton Moreland?

  eyes because they are completely swollen shut, okay? He talked about it, I think maybe last week's episode. He got his hair transplant. It went well, but geez, no one tells you how invasive and insane that procedure is, okay?

• 2:10Payton Moreland?

  14 hours, entire head bloody, can't lay down for a week. Like now can't open his eyes because his head is so swollen and it's like moving from the top of his head down and it reached his eyes like he, he literally looks like he has the worst bee sting allergy on both of his eyes. If he lets us, I'll put a picture in, but if not, that is why he's not here today. Okay. It was a very heavy and hard procedure. The aftercare is intense and he's not sleeping very well. So I told him, hey, just take the week off and it'll just be you and I today. But hey, listen, before we jump into the episode, I want to ask you guys to do something for me.

• 2:56Payton Moreland?

  And that is that what I'm doing right now, sitting alone, getting ready to dive into a true crime story is literally what I do over on my solo show into the dark. Okay. It is basically bonus episodes for you guys, murder with my husband listeners. So if you are all caught up on everything and want to just keep listening to your typical true crime murder with my husband case minus Garrett. Okay. And I know he's the best part, but over there it is minus him. Please, please, please go follow my show into the dark. And honestly, if you don't want to listen to it, can you please just go follow it and turn on automatic downloads? And then maybe one day when you have nothing to listen to, you can listen to it. Okay. I work really, really hard on that show and it is my baby.

• 3:41Payton Moreland?

  And it surprises me how many listeners of murder with my husband still don't even know that into the dark exists. So yes, that is my solo show. I do basically the same thing I do over here. What you're getting today is basically what I do on into the dark. Okay. That being said, let's jump in to today's case. Our sources for this episode are CBS news, NBC Miami, Fox Charleston.com, Fox news.com, sports, kita.com, WCTV, Daily Mail.com, News Herald.com, My Panhandle.com, Paramount Express.com, People.com, Police One.com, The Independent and Tallahassee.com. Okay. So let's be honest, you guys, we have seen parents do some pretty unthinkable things

• 4:26Payton Moreland?

  for their kids on this show. We have seen parents who hide evidence. We have seen parents who hide bodies, even attempting murder themselves for their children.

• 4:37Payton Moreland?

  But when you're in law enforcement and your job is to serve and protect from people like this, what do you do when your child is the one who steps out of bounds? Do you use your connections and your power to make it go away? Or do you stick to that oath of honor? I honestly imagine that this is probably one of the biggest moral dilemmas you could face in your life. But if you ask Colonel Tony O'Rahoe, he would say duty and justice comes before all else. So today we are headed to Miami, Florida. And in Miami, we are meeting a little girl named Eileen Seiden.

• 5:20Payton Moreland?

  Now, Eileen and her sister Francesca are the two daughters to a pretty wealthy local businessman named Frank Seiden. He had the unique job of selling furniture to luxury hotels and cruise lines, including the Disney resorts. But from a very early age, Eileen and her sister learned what it was like to suffer a tragedy. When Eileen was nine and Francesca was 16, their mother died of cancer. The illness was swift, leaving the girls with little time to say goodbye, let alone process that they were losing their mother.

• 6:02Payton Moreland?

  And suddenly Frank had to raise the two girls alone. But life was not done throwing them challenges. When Eileen was 14 years old, her father Frank died of a heart attack. So this now leaves the two girls, Eileen and Francesca, orphaned. Now Francesca at this point is 22 years old. She's barely an adult herself, but she becomes the legal guardian to her 14-year-old sister. Now she was in charge of making sure her sister got fed and got to school on time, all while trying to finish up college and keep a job for herself. So seven years go by, okay? And Francesca ends up moving out west to Los Angeles to

• 6:47Payton Moreland?

  Become an artist and start fresh. And meanwhile, Eileen, now in her twenties, stayed behind to build her own life in Miami. She got a job as a property manager. She lived in a beautiful apartment. She knew what it took to be independent and stand on her own two feet. She had already been doing it for so long at this point that she really didn't have a choice. Now, Eileen built this strong group of friends that practically became family. And she stayed close with her sister, even though they were on opposite sides of the country. In fact, it seems she was even considering moving out to Los Angeles when she visited her sister there back in 2016.

• 7:28Payton Moreland?

  But when Eileen goes back to Miami, those plans to move fell to the wayside. Now, while Francesca was likely bummed that her sister chose to stay on the East Coast, she knew Eileen was independent, smart, and had a good head on her shoulders. However, this is where the story takes a turn. Eileen's friends started to question some of her decisions around March of 2018. Okay, we're back in Miami. On March 25th, 2018, Eileen had plans to meet with several of her close friends for brunch, but she didn't show. And this is something that was wildly unlike her.

• 8:07Payton Moreland?

  And so her friends decide to drive past her place that afternoon because she no-showed and didn't say why. But Eileen doesn't appear to be home. But later that night, one of Eileen's friends received a call from her on an unknown number. Okay, so Eileen calls her friend and says, hey, my cell's broken. And over the next few weeks, that same friend received texts and calls from a few random numbers. And again, it was always Eileen calling her for something, but saying, I'm calling you on a different phone because my cellphone broke. But she always says she's okay. She's working on getting a new one.

• 8:48Payton Moreland?

  And to many of these friends, Eileen's life at this point kind of remained a mystery. They all knew something was going on, but they weren't sure what. So at around 5:00 PM that night, a couple is driving around Appalachia Cola, Florida, about 600 miles northwest from Miami. It's this sleepy little coastal town on the Panhandle. It's quiet, it's quaint, hardly the place that you'd expect to see a dead body on your way out to go fishing. And yet, that is exactly what this couple spots in an abandoned cul-de-sac that evening. So they call it into the Franklin County Sheriff's Office.

• 9:32Payton Moreland?

  They tell them it's right off of Highway 98 in this underdeveloped area by the water. And when police arrive, they are shocked at the state that this body is in, okay? It is clear the victim is a woman, though she is so badly beaten, it's hard to make out distinguishing features. She has bruises from head to toe. Almost all of her ribs are broken. In fact, the medical examiner says her injuries are so substantial that it's comparable to what you would see after someone gets in a terrible car crash. The body also has no phone, no wallet, no ID on her.

• 10:16Payton Moreland?

  So for now, they take her in as a Jane Doe. But the police are wondering, does our quiet little town have a serial killer on the loose? Like, this is a very gruesome murder. What could we possibly be dealing with? But the following day, things become a bit more clear when police get another call. It is about a room at a sportsman's lodge motel six miles away in East Point, Florida. So when detectives arrive, they are led to room number 15, and immediately upon entering, they realize that this is most likely where their Jane Doe had died.

• 10:58Payton Moreland?

  Not only do crimes like this never really happen around this part of Florida, they really have two crime scenes found a day apart from one another. So to them, they figure she was killed here and dumped here. Plus, the room is destroyed. There is furniture knocked over and thrown everywhere. The sheets are missing from both of the beds in the room. And one of the mattresses is still soaked in blood. Oh, and by the way, this hotel room reeks of vinegar, which told the investigators that someone had clearly tried and failed to cover up their tracks here. Not to mention, a luminol test showed traces of blood all over the room, okay? Not just on the mattress.

• 11:43Payton Moreland?

  Basically, the room had been cleaned, but there was nothing they could do about the mattress. So there's blood in the bathroom too. And they also find that the shower curtain rod had been pulled off, and there is a giant bloody handprint left on it. So, I mean, for any investigation, this is a pretty big piece of evidence, which also told detectives that whoever did this was rushing to get out of there quickly. They must have just forgot to clean this. And when police speak to the manager of the motel, they get some pretty good intel as to what happened leading up to that crime. The manager said that on Saturday evening, four nights before police arrived, three people checked into that hotel room.

• 12:26Payton Moreland?

  They said the trio was well dressed and well spoken. They were respectful when they had a little barbecue in front of their room on Sunday night. They even brought the manager back a little gift after they went out. And they were checked out by Monday morning with their bill all settled up. Of course, the motel staff at that point had no idea that their hotel room they were checking out of was a bloody crime scene. It wasn't until later that afternoon that the housekeeper went inside, noticed the red stain on the mattress, the furniture strewn about, and obviously, something bad had happened there. And even then, the motel property manager didn't report it to the police until the following day.

• 13:09Payton Moreland?

  And I'm not sure really the reason why they waited, but it almost seemed like they cared less about the crime scene and more about the damage to the hotel, because when police talked to them about it, they said, "We just really need a police report for when we charge the credit card for extra damages." Now, of course, the biggest question here was who paid for that room? Obviously, there's a credit card on file and police do get a name from motel staff. 38-year-old Christina Araho. But who were the other two people motel staff saw her with? Remember, three people checked in. Well, after testing the DNA from Jane Doe alongside the blood found in room 15, police learn, okay, we were right.

• 13:54Payton Moreland?

  This was, in fact, the same woman. Both of these crime scenes are tied together. And it doesn't take long for them to get a name, too. Jane Doe is now 31-year-old Eileen Seiden. So they have 38-year-old Christina Araho's credit card on file. And they've now confirmed that the other girl with her was 31-year-old Eileen Seiden. So obviously, they locate Eileen's next of kin, Francesca. Which hasn't this poor woman been through enough? She's lost her mother, her father, and now she's lost her only sister. It's heartbreaking to think about. But when they call Francesca and they update her on everything they know so far,

• 14:37Payton Moreland?

  she tells them that she has a pretty good idea who the third person was in the hotel room with the two girls that night. She believes it's 30-year-old Zachary Abel. Now, remember when I mentioned earlier that Eileen was considering moving to Los Angeles until she went back to Miami and kind of changed her plans? Well, according to her sister, a big part of that decision was due to Zach Abel. So Zach and Eileen had actually known each other since high school. And in 2017, shortly after Eileen took that trip to LA, the two reconnected in Miami and they began dating in the weeks after that. But

• 15:20Payton Moreland?

  Secretly, see Zach already had a girlfriend at the time, one he had been with the last five years. Do you want to guess who the girl is? Christina, the other woman who was in the hotel with them. Now Zach had told Eileen repeatedly that he planned on ending things with Christina. They weren't a match. She was controlling and demanding. But Zach told his friend Mike Picavet that it wasn't easy for him to just walk away from Christina for Eileen like that. Not only did he and Christina live together, they actually had a business together, a used car dealership. But still, Eileen was head over heels for Zach.

• 16:04Payton Moreland?

  And every time he told her he was waiting for an opportunity to end it, she believed him. Until one day, he finally did have the conversation with Christina. She offered a different solution. She said, okay, instead of leaving me for her, why don't the three of us date instead? A throuple, if you will. All right, guys, we're jumping into an ad. And if you are like me, protecting the people inside your home is a top priority. I have Daisy at home, I'm about to have a baby at home, and Garrett and me. And there are a lot of times where I've thought about our safety, but that is where Simply Safe comes in and has had my back, honestly, for years.

• 16:50Payton Moreland?

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• 17:34Payton Moreland?

  It is now 70% off, guys, when you visit simplysafe.com/husband. That is simplysafe.com/husband. And when you order, just write in murder with my husband at checkout. Tells them we sent you, really helps the show. Simply Safe, ahead of crime in real time.

• 17:52Speaker 02

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• 18:19Payton Moreland?

  Shockingly, when Zach approaches Eileen about it, she agrees. So, they agree. In fact, when Eileen lost her job as a property manager that year, she also joined Zach and Christina's used car business. And when she lost her apartment, she got a place in the same building as them. But as you can imagine, this wasn't the happy solution they were all hoping for. It wasn't long before Christina began getting jealous of the affection Zach was showing Eileen. If she was the odd man out, she made sure her frustrations were known, okay? She got even more erratic when she drank, often threatening Zach that she could make him disappear without repercussion.

• 19:01Payton Moreland?

  See, Christina's father was a high-ranking colonel with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. And she made sure everybody knew it. She often threw it in Zach and Eileen's face, that if anything happened, she could easily cover it up because her father was police royalty. That he could make her problems go away in the blink of an eye. And that she had gotten away with pretty much everything in the past by pulling her cop's daughter card. Which was why Eileen was terrified to go to the police when things in their relationship started getting violent. According to their friend Mike, who knew about this throuple,

• 19:41Payton Moreland?

  the first physical fight between Eileen and Christina happened in his house back in 2017. When Eileen made a comment about how she'd been sleeping with Zach long before Christina had even knew about it, that they had been having an affair, Christina began throwing punches at Eileen. But the fighting seemed to become a regular occurrence, especially when the two women were drinking. Mike said it wasn't abnormal to see one or both of them with a black eye. Soon, the fights were almost daily. But Eileen's friend Ally said she heard a different side of this story. She would get calls

• 20:21Payton Moreland?

  from Eileen saying, "Please come over and help me. He hurt me again." Meaning Zach. When Ally encouraged her to go file a police report, though, Ally refused, calling back to Christina's father, saying she didn't think that she'd be believed because of Christina's connection to the force. But eventually, Ally said the abuse had gotten so bad that she actually at one point had to take Eileen to the hospital. And even then, when the staff asked her where the bruises came from, Eileen was afraid to legally report it. So that's when Ally warned her. Like, if you don't get out of this situation, someone is gonna wind up dead. But at this point, Eileen felt trapped.

• 21:04Payton Moreland?

  She was struggling financially. She couldn't afford a place on her own anymore. And around March 2018, instead of moving on from the couple, she actually decided to move in with them. I mean, it can definitely be challenging enough to live and work with your partner, but then double that? Two partners? And there's already a violent contentious dynamic to begin with? This is not gonna end well. Still, Eileen told her friends and sister, "No, no, no. It's just temporary. She was gonna give it a month or two and see how it played out." But Eileen couldn't even make it that long. A few weeks after moving in, Eileen had to get out of there.

• 21:45Payton Moreland?

  Then, everything changed when on April 7th, Zach came to Eileen and told him, "Hey..."

• 21:53Payton Moreland?

  I'm done with Christina too. So that day, Zach and Christina had gotten into a vicious fight, perhaps their most violent yet. Eileen called her friend Ally right after to say she and Zach were getting out of the house and away from Christina. But Ally thought that meant out to the mall or coffee shop for a minute. She didn't think that meant they were running away, like out of the state. However, the next call Ally received was from Christina. She said, hey, since Zach and Eileen aren't answering my calls, I'm gonna call you and have you relay a message to them.

• 22:31Payton Moreland?

  She said she was going to report the car Zach and Eileen were driving as stolen if they didn't come back for her. So Ally called Eileen, said, hey, Christina called me. This is what she said. But Zach and Eileen were already on route to Georgia. And apparently, they had gotten out of the house so fast that Eileen didn't even grab her phone or her wallet. She's just using Zach's. Still, Eileen kept telling Ally, this was the best thing, okay? They were just gonna finally escape Christina and be together, how it had originally supposed to be. But this doesn't last long. So when they run away together, Christina begins sending Zach texts saying you two deserve each other.

• 23:16Payton Moreland?

  But over the next few hours, they become more threatening. She began saying things like, my dad's gonna be calling you. You F me over and now I'm Fing you over. Over the course of 24 hours, Christina sent them over 150 text messages. And Zach and Eileen did not reply to a single one, okay? They were ghosting. So it looked like they were holding strong until the following day. The couple reaches Texas. And that's when Christina changed tactics. Suddenly, she's begging Eileen and Zach to come back home. She promises to change, says you'll never have to question my love again. And Zack caves.

• 24:00Payton Moreland?

  But instead of telling Eileen, we need to go back, let's turn around. He told her that he invited Christina to fly to Dallas to join them for the rest of what's now become just a little road trip. And of course, the second Christina shows up in Texas, things turn ugly between the three of them. Eileen would sneak off with Zack's phone to call Ally saying things were getting really bad between the three of them. She didn't know how to get out of the situation, especially because she doesn't have her phone or her wallet. Now, this continues for several more days and Eileen's sister Francesca is starting to get extremely worried too, because she hasn't heard from her sister in over a week, which again is very unlike her.

• 24:43Payton Moreland?

  But when the throuple finally turns back and passes through New Orleans, Eileen gives her sister a call. And on this call, okay, Eileen tells Francesca flat out, I think they're gonna kill me. Now, of course, this terrified Francesca, who told her sister, hey, run to the nearest police station, gas station, anything, get away from Zack and Christina. But for some reason, Eileen tells her she can't. And then she rushed Francesca off the phone, leaving her completely hopeless. She had no idea what hotel they were staying at, what they were doing next, where they were going. All Francesca could do was pray that her sister somehow would make it back to Miami okay.

• 25:26Payton Moreland?

  Now, that was around April 17th, when the two spoke. By April 21st, the throuple is back in Florida, still driving their way down to Miami, when they decide to call it quits on the driving for the night and hole up in the Sportsman's Lodge Motel in East Point, Florida. This is our crime scene. And for the first night, it seemed like the trio was actually getting along. Remember, according to hotel staff, they were pleasant. They check in. On the evening of Saturday, the 21st, the three of them grabbed dinner before going out to play mini golf. Then they went back to the Sportsman's Lodge and partied for a while before calling it a night. The following morning, Sunday, the 22nd, the three of them made a plan for the final

• 26:11Payton Moreland?

  leg of their road trip. They decided to spend one more night at the hotel before making their way to Tampa on Monday morning. So they go to the liquor store. They buy two huge bottles of vodka and a massive thing of Fireball. Then they spend most of the day hanging around the motel, barbecuing and drinking. But Eileen was not having a good time at this point. Once again, she sneaks away to call Ally. And she told her friend, I just really need to find a way to leave right now. I, I cannot wait until tomorrow. And she tells Ally, honestly, I'm being treated like a sex slave right now in this relationship. Zack was being scary ever since Christina joined them.

• 26:56Payton Moreland?

  Um, according to her, she told Ally that Zack had this look in his eye that she didn't recognize. She's like, can you help me? Please help me come up with a plan. So Ally buys her a Greyhound ticket and tells her hop a bus when they made a pit stop in Tampa the following day. So wake up the next morning, get to Tampa and then take this bus. And then Ally would scoop her up from the bus station in Miami and she'd take her home to get her things. While Christina and Zack were still on the road. And then Eileen would go stay with Ally for a while until she figured out her next chapter in life. Only as we know, Eileen would never make it to Tampa. And that was the last time Ally would ever speak to her friend.

• 27:39Payton Moreland?

  By Monday morning, Zack and Christina were back on the road and as we know, Eileen is no longer with them. Now, I'm not sure where they went that afternoon, but it seems they spent those early hours probably looking for a place to dump Eileen's body. And I know that by Monday night, April 23rd, they were knocking on the door of their good friend, Mike, back in the Miami area. Now, when they arrived to Mike's house, he's like, guys, where's Eileen? He knew the three of them had been on this road trip together. So it's a little strange that just Christina and Zack are showing up. Christina's like, oh, Mike, Eileen ran away. Now, Mike doesn't buy this for a second. He can sense that something is up. The two are acting weird.

• 28:25Payton Moreland?

  And it doesn't take long for Zack to break it. He looks at Mike and says, Eileen is dead. Now Mike is obviously reeling from this news. I mean, he's friends with Eileen too. And also, two of his really good friends that are in a throuple with Eileen are sitting in his home, acting really strange and saying that Eileen's dead. But it isn't until Christina leaves the room that Mike gets the details out of Zach. And here's what Zach tells Mike, okay? He claims that on Sunday night, the night before, Christina killed her. He didn't see or hear it happen, but when he woke up that morning, apparently Eileen was dead in the bed next to him. He woke up, tried to give her CPR, which wasn't working.

• 29:10Payton Moreland?

  And when he told Christina he was gonna call 911, she stopped him. And when Mike's like, dude, why? He says, "Well, I listened to her because I wanted to protect Christina." I mean, she murdered Eileen. But he also gives him a pretty good description of where they left the body, which is definitely a useful piece of information in this confession. Except now, Mike's worrying for his own life. He's thinking, okay, I just let a murderer, maybe two, who killed a girl yesterday, into my home, and now they're confessing to me that they've done it. This is dangerous. Am I next? Who knows what these people are capable of? So Mike pulls a really smart move.

• 29:54Payton Moreland?

  When the couple passes out on his couch, he takes a photo of the two of them. And then he goes on Google Maps to try and find the exact location Zach was talking about. And it isn't hard for him to find that abandoned cul-de-sac in the small rural Florida town. Finally, he goes on Facebook and finds Christina's father. Because Mike knows Christina's dad's a police officer, obviously, she's told him a million times. And he thinks, I've gotta reach out to her dad. He sends him the photo he just snapped of the couple on his couch, and tells Colonel Tony that he has some really important news to share about his daughter. And Colonel Tony doesn't hesitate, okay? He tells Mike, "Meet me at a gas station nearby."

• 30:36Payton Moreland?

  So Mike pulls up to this gas station, Colonel Tony is there, and he really can't hold it in. Mainly because he's worried for his own safety now. He tells Colonel Tony outright, "Your daughter just killed someone." And when Colonel Tony realizes how serious the thing that Mike needed to tell him was...

• 30:55Payton Moreland?

  He says, nope, we're not doing this here and wastes no time getting Mike down to the station to make a formal statement about whatever this is. In fact, he even gets two other officers to do the questioning because he knows this is a conflict of interest. So despite Christina saying that her father could protect her from anything, that is definitely not what this scenario is shaping up to be. Colonel Tony Arojo takes this statement very seriously, especially when they learn from the Franklin County Sheriff's Department, hey, we did find a body. They try to corroborate Mike's story of what Zach and Christina had told him. They call Franklin County Sheriff's Department, they're like, yeah, we found the body exactly

• 31:38Payton Moreland?

  where Zach had told Mike it would be. So that same day, Colonel Arojo has Mike take a look at a photograph of the victim and he confirms without a doubt, yes, that is my friend, Eileen Seiden. So what does Colonel Arojo do? Well, it's the opposite of what his daughter Christina's been threatening all this time. He doesn't actually help her get away with anything. Instead, he coordinates her arrest. Thanks to Rover for sponsoring today's show. If you have a dog like ours, you know, they can be quirky. Dogs can have their quirks and so when you're trying to find someone to help you take care of them, that can be hard. But that is where Rover comes in.

• 32:23Payton Moreland?

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• 33:05Payton Moreland?

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• 33:07Garrett Moreland?

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• 33:18Payton Moreland?

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• 34:03Payton Moreland?

  You can even bring your current phone and your number. You can choose from three, six or 12 month plans and say goodbye to monthly billing.

• 34:10Garrett Moreland?

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• 34:25Payton Moreland?

  Limited time offer upfront payment of $45 for three month, $90 for six month or $180 for 12 month. Plan required, $15 per month equivalent, taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabyte. May slow when network is busy. Capable device required. Availability, speed and coverage varies. See mintmobile.com. Within hours, police are circling Mike's home with arrest warrants for 30 year old Zachary Abel and 38 year old Christina Orojo. They were transported back to Franklin County and were later charged with first degree murder. But thanks to a series of complicated delays during the pandemic, it would actually take six years before there was any movement in this case. So like I said, the arrest happens in 2018 and the murder happens in 2018.

• 35:07Payton Moreland?

  It's not until January 2024, one year ago from the time I'm recording this, that Zachary Abel stands trial first. He is pleading not guilty to those first degree murder charges. But eight months prior to that, Christina actually accepted a plea deal to lesser charges of second degree murder. Along with that deal came 25 years in prison and the agreement to testify against Zachary Abel in court. You know, just your typical two-person-involved murder, who's gonna turn on who? And it's exactly what happened. Christina Orojo becomes the star witness in Zach's trial.

• 35:48Payton Moreland?

  And for the first time, she reveals more details on what had happened that evening in room 15, or at least, we get her version of it. Here's what she said. "That Sunday night, the three of them were just relaxing in the room after a day of heavy drinking. But Zach was not acting like himself." She said, "Whenever he was drunk, he became more aggressive." And this is exactly what happened when Eileen posed one tiny question to Christina that night. She said, "Christina, guess what?" Now Christina doesn't know what Eileen is gonna say, but according to her, Zach clearly knew what she was about to say because he snaps. She says, "He gets up, walks over to Eileen, and starts hitting her in the face, screaming

• 36:33Payton Moreland?

  at her and asking her why she's always gotta start problems." Christina gets in and she gets involved in it, but for different reasons. She wants to know what Eileen was gonna say. She wants to know what Zach was trying to cover up. She says violence was a normal thing in this throuple, so when she can't break up what's happening between Zachary and Eileen, she says she just leaves the room to catch her breath. And when she came back 15 minutes later, Zach was in the bathroom with Eileen, and he had that shower curtain rod in his hand and was beating Eileen with it. Now Christina said he moved her back to the bedroom where he began hitting her with a wooden walking stick, and he hit her so hard that he broke it. That's when Christina claimed she got in between Zach and Eileen because this was too

• 37:18Payton Moreland?

  much for her to bear. Wow, I'm so glad that eventually at this point, it was too much. She said Zach stopped beating her. Eileen was still laying there. You remember the autopsy? Absolutely broken. She said she and Zach passed out shortly after from exhaustion, thinking they would all wake up. Eileen would be injured, but would be alive. She says when they woke up the next morning, they realized that wasn't the case, that Zach had beaten her to death. Christina only admitted to helping cover up the crime because she was terrified of what Zach might do to her if she didn't help. Now, I don't know how much of Christina's account can be trusted. After all, we know she's had violent tendencies in the past and was clearly abusive towards Eileen.

• 37:59Payton Moreland?

  But some of the evidence does seem to match her claims, although I want to point out the obvious that even this confession, this version of the story does not make Christina look like a good person. Okay? The bruising on Eileen's body was consistent with a shower curtain rod. One that was confirmed to have a palm print on it that matched Zach's, which doesn't match Zach's version of events. Detectives also testified that they found broken shards of wood in the motel room. Again, with Eileen's DNA on it. So Christina is saying how the murder happened does kind of match up as far as the murder weapons. However, Zachary Abel's defense at trial painted a totally different picture.

• 38:43Payton Moreland?

  They said Christina was the aggressor and she had acted alone. Evidence that was supposedly visible in the photo Mike took of the couple sleeping on the couch because in that photo Christina's hands and feet are covered in bruises. Not to mention, there were those 150 text messages she sent to Zach and Eileen when they left her behind on that road trip, many of which spoke of the bodily harms she would cause both of them. When she saw them again, she threatened them. They also argued that Christina told Zach to pick up the curtain rod so he would leave his prints behind. That she had been driving the bus almost literally the entire time. This was all calculated, something that was confirmed when a surveillance video caught the two after the murders.

• 39:27Payton Moreland?

  In this Christina's driving Zach's car and he's riding in the passenger seat. The defense argued Zach had no reason for wanting Eileen dead, but Christina O'Roh did. Jealousy.

• 39:41Payton Moreland?

  But the jury didn't buy the idea that either of them sat idly by while this crime was committed. And when they returned from deliberations, they found Zachary Abel guilty of second degree murder instead. But their friend Mike, who is probably the closest to all of the people involved in this case, he thinks that might have been a mistake. He says he doesn't think Zach is the kind of man who would murder someone. He doesn't think he's capable of killing Eileen. In fact, Mike said he had a camera inside his apartment that night that captured Christina admitting to being solely responsible for the murder. Why this wasn't included in evidence during the trial, I'm not totally sure.

• 40:26Payton Moreland?

  But Mike does think that Zach was pressured to help cover up the crime. Still, one of the bigger questions is what triggered either Zach or Christina that night in the hotel room? What happened? What was Eileen about to say when she said Christina, guess what? Why had Eileen told her friends she needed to get out of there? Why did she tell people this was dangerous? She needed to get away. She was being treated like a quote sex slave. Well, Zach shared a clue during his sentencing hearing about maybe what Eileen was about to say that moment in the room. He told the judge that he had proposed to Eileen before Christina had joined them on that road trip.

• 41:11Payton Moreland?

  Okay, when they ran away, he proposed with a ring pop. According to Zach, Eileen said yes. Now, was this a story at trial to sort of reduce his sentencing? Maybe make the judge sympathize with him more? If he was willing to get engaged to Eileen, why would he then kill her? I don't know if we'll ever have that answer. But I do know that Zachary Abel will be spending his life in prison while Christina is scheduled to be released in 2043, when she's 63 years old. And I also know that her father made an incredibly difficult but correct choice in making sure that she got what she deserved.

• 41:53Payton Moreland?

  At her sentencing hearing, he made sure she knew what side he was on when he told his daughter, quote, You will own up to the truth. You will accept responsibility. You will be the voice of the victim and you will testify under oath in a court of law. And then whatever is sentenced to you, that's fine. And that is the case of Eileen Seiden. I don't know if we have a clear cut picture of what happened in that motel room back in 2018. But I do know that Eileen loved Zach. Okay, she loved him. She wanted to be with him. And she also felt like her life was in danger.

• 42:36Payton Moreland?

  She couldn't wait to get back to Miami and get out of this situation. And sadly, she wasn't given the chance. Her life was taken unfairly and unjustly. And in my opinion, long sentences should be served because of that. You guys, thank you for sticking it out this week. I think Garrett will be back next week for another episode. I love it and he still hates it. Goodbye.

• 43:10Speaker 04

  Great meeting. Who took notes? Anyone?

• 43:15Speaker 05

  With Monday Note Taker, nobody has to take notes again. It joins your call, transcribes it, and turns the whole conversation into a clear plan. Action items, owners, deadlines, all right there on your monday.com board, ready for the team. So the meeting ends and the plan already exists. Meetings aren't just talk anymore. Go to monday.com, the AI workspace platform.