310: Emmanuel Haro, Giovanni Pelletier & Throuple Lived With Ex’s Corpse

This week on Headline Highlights, Annie is joined by special guest and sister, Amy, to break down the most shocking crime stories making headlines. A pregnant teen disappears after sending a chilling text, a couple allegedly lives with their partner’s corpse for over a year as dogs gnaw on the remains, and new details surface in the case of missing 18-year-old Giovanni Pelletier. Plus, a son decapitates his father and carries the head in a plastic bag, and updates emerge on 7-month-old Emmanuel Haro after his alleged kidnapping during a brutal attack on his mother.🔎Join Our True Crime Club & Get Exclusive Content & Perks 🔎 Join The Club: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise🎧 Need More to Binge? Listen to EXTRA deep dive episodes every week on Apple!https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serialously-with-annie-elise/id1519456164🚩Announcements🚩Want to Catch Annie LIVE on Tour? 🎤 🎟Grab your tickets now for a city near you: https://annieelise.com/pages/tour🌸MERCH IS OFFICIALLY HERE! 🌸Shop now at https://annieelise.com/collections/shop-allDon't miss out before your faves sell out! 🛒🌷Follow Annie on Socials 📸 🩷Instagram: @ _annieelise, https://www.instagram.com/_annieelise/?hl=en💜TikTok: @_annieelise, https://www.tiktok.com/@_annieelise?lang=en🗞️ Substack: @annieelise, https://substack.com/@annieelise💙Facebook: @10tolife, https://www.facebook.com/10toLIFE⭐️Sponsors ⭐️Function Health: To learn more and get started, visit http://www.functionhealth.com/AE. O Positiv: Head to http://OPositiv.com/AE or enter AE at checkout for 25% off your first purchase. Shop Annie’s Closet & Must-Haves! 👗Poshmark: https://posh.mk/Tdbki6Ae0RbShopMY: https://shopmy.us/annieeliseAmazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/10tolife?ref_=cm_sw_r_apin_aipsfshop_BKN1ZMCMEZHACVFQ2R75&language=en_USDisclaimer ‣ Some links may be affiliate links, they do not cost you anything, but I make a small percentage from the sale. Thank you so much for watching and supporting me.🎙️ Follow the podcast for FREE on all podcast platforms! Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serialously-with-annie-elise/id1519456164Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6HdheEH8WeMTHoe5da34qUAll Other Platforms: https://audioboom.com/channels/5100770-serialously-with-annie-eliseGet Involved or Recommend the Case 💬 About Annie: https://annieelise.com/For Business Inquiries: [email protected] Sources 🔗9 News DenverCBS NewsKCAL NewsKTLA 5Law & CrimeNBC 10 WJARNewsNationNew York PostPeople.comWLKY News Louisville*Sources used to collect this information include various public news sites, interviews, court documents, FB groups dedicated to the case, and various news channel segments. When quoting statements made by others, they are strictly alleged until confirmed otherwise. Please remember my videos are my independent opinion and to always do your own research. ••••••••••••••••••Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this video are personal and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the creator(s). These views are subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time and are not to be held in perpetuity. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information on this video and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts.

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

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:26Speaker 01

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• 0:55Speaker 02

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• 1:26Annie Elise?

  Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistically.

• 1:50Annie Elise?

  Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to an all-new episode of the True Crime Podcast, Serialistically. With me, your host, Annie Elise. I hope you guys are having a good week so far. I know that there is so much going on this week in the true crime world. I mean, there's, I can't even get started. We're going to talk about all of it, obviously, but there is so much happening. And this case that is breaking out of Yucaypa, California, the little boy, the seven-month-old Emmanuel, I have been all over it. Don't worry, we're going to talk about everything, not only... Is there so much detail to the backstory of this? But it seems like things are coming out every minute, I feel like. And I've been doing some digging, you know, I like to be like nosey and get my way in there.

• 2:36Annie Elise?

  And not only the backstory with the father and all of that, but there's so many other red flags going on with the mom, going on with her route the day before. I mean, a lot that we have to talk about. So I know I'm jumping ahead of myself a little bit, but like, we just have so much to go over here. Now, before we get into all of the cases, I want to announce, obviously, we're going back out on tour for another leg of the tour. It is going to be next week, actually. Gosh, that came up fast. And I'm going to be hitting Nashville, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Atlanta. I think we are sold out of meet and greets. I'm not entirely sure, but I know there are a few tickets left as well. So if you're in the area, you're local to the city, you're close to one of those cities, come out, live show, meet and greets, the whole thing.

• 3:21Annie Elise?

  We're going to be talking about an all-new exclusive case. We also will be talking a lot about Idaho, a lot about some other cases that I know you guys have been, you know, probing me for information on. So tickets are at annieelise.com and then just toggle over to the tour tab. Also, a little announcement, you may have missed it if you don't follow me on Instagram, but we decided to launch a couple of pieces of the exclusive tour merch this week. Not all of it, but a couple of pieces. And so you can get that also at annieelise.com. We have our, you know, not a detective, just nosey tea. We have some other stuff. I also have one of the tumblers right here. We had this design, it said, it says adventure is out there, but so are serial killers, so I stay home.

• 4:06Annie Elise?

  We did this design on a t-shirt in the, gosh, what was it? It must have been the spring and it sold out immediately. So we smacked it on a Stanley. And so quantity is limited, but if you were unable to make the tour so far, you can buy one of those items. It's a couple of the pieces and designs we have on tour. And if you're going to one of the shows, you can buy it and you can wear it to the tour. So, you know, a little win-win-win. Now, I'm really excited about today's episode because we are starting something a little bit new. I have a very special guest joining me today and a lot of you already know her. You either know her from my past episodes, you've met her while I've been out on the road on tour, but it's definitely not a name that is going to surprise you.

• 4:49Annie Elise?

  It is my sister Amy and for, let me give you the backstory here for a second. For those of you who don't know, the whole reason I got into true crime was my sister Amy. Okay, we had our Dateline Fridays, we'd eat froyo, we'd watch every single Dateline. Anytime a case pops up, you know, daily or week to week, we're texting each other, DMing each other about it. And we're just always talking true crime. So she started working with me a couple of years ago on like the backend, the operational stuff. Cause I'm, you know, so short circuited, I can't make sense of anything. But we still are talking about cases regularly all the time. So there's been a few over the past few months where she like messages me or is talking to me in the office. And she's like, have you heard about this case? Have you talked about this case?

• 5:34Annie Elise?

  Like all of these things. So I'm like, why don't you just come on, come on the podcast, come on headline highlights with me and talk, let's talk about these cases together. So I know she is not a stranger to most of you, but I wanted to give you guys a little bit of that backstory for maybe anybody who has been living under a rock and is not familiar with Amy. But yeah, she's going to be joining me today and talking with me and you guys about some of the cases that she's been following this week and some things that stand out to her. So everybody, let's give a big, warm welcome to Amy. Cue the fake applause, right? Now, um, thanks for being here.

• 6:08Speaker 04

  Of course, thanks for having me.

• 6:10Annie Elise?

  I know, I'm so excited. So for those, I know I just kind of gave like a rough intro, but for those who don't know who you are, which I feel like everybody does know who you are at this point, especially if you follow me on Instagram. But um, tell, how did you get into true crime? Like, why are you so fascinated with true crime? Cause you follow a million cases at once. So like, what makes you so into it?

• 6:32Speaker 04

  I don't know. I mean, I feel like back when we started doing Dateline Fridays, I think there, I don't know how we got started, but I love Dateline. I love the documentary piece of it. And obviously, when there are cases close to home, it made it more interesting. And then I kind of feel like the true crime industry took off. And then there were just a lot more series that were available to watch. They were doing a lot of the reenactments of crimes that we were really familiar with. So it was kind of interesting to go back and revisit those and see it from a different perspective when there's been updates. But

• 7:06Speaker 04

  obviously, now, working with you, I've learned that, and I know there's no shortage of true crimes. So it's actually become a lot. But there are some that are really interesting and some that I think that you're lucky that you're bringing awareness to. And I think that piece of it now has become more of an interest to me is really advocating for the families and through you getting to meet some of these families and being more involved in that process.

• 7:32Annie Elise?

  Totally. Well, and I know that there's a couple of cases that are on your radar this week that you were like, we got to talk about these. So I'm actually going to have you share everything that you've researched in these, rather than me.

• 7:42Speaker 04

  I hope I do a good job.

• 7:43Annie Elise?

  You're gonna do great. You're gonna do great. And like I said, I know you, and we'll get to it, but like, I know you know, I've been all over this Emmanuel case and like, probably to an unhealthy degree. There's also another case that I don't know if you've heard about, but so many people have been requesting that I talk about it. And it's a case about this young man, technically an adult, 18 years old, named Giovanni, and the text message that he sent to his mom. Yeah. So we're going to talk about all of that. And let's just kind of start with this first case, because it's really unnerving when you break it down. And it's about a pregnant teen who went missing after sending a super crazy red flag text message. So on Monday, August 7, 18 year old Kylie Montero

• 8:25Annie Elise?

  was reported as missing from this really small town in Massachusetts. I hope I don't butcher it, guys, don't come for me, but it's called Rehoboth, I believe. Okay. So it's about 50 miles right outside of Boston. She's described as being six feet tall, light brown hair, beautiful brown eyes, and she had just graduated. From Attleboro High School back in June. Now here's the interesting part, okay? Kylie is 11 weeks pregnant and though it hasn't been explained as to why Kylie was actually living in a shelter for pregnant women at the time that this all went down in a nearby town called Pembroke. So the day before she vanished Kylie reportedly got into an argument with her on and off again boyfriend, which unfortunately I feel like in a lot of domestic violence types of relationships, we see this, right?

• 9:10Annie Elise?

  It's on again, off again, and once again, they got into this argument. And while it hasn't been said what they were fighting about Kylie did call several family members and several of her friends to talk about it, to confide in them. And she let them know that while yes, the fight was now over, it had calmed down quite a bit. She was still fearful for her life. That's according to her. Now, in fact, she was actually planning on going to his house the very next day to grab some of her stuff. But when she did that, a friend received a text message from her which read, quote, "I don't feel safe right now. Something's not right."

• 9:45Speaker 04

  Oh no.

• 9:46Annie Elise?

  And from there, it was literally nothing, complete radio silence, no calls, no text messages, no social media activity, nothing whatsoever. Now, her sister Faith said that Kylie was constantly active on social media, specifically on TikTok and Snapchat. And so for everything to just suddenly go dark like this and for her not to be active, not to be posting, not to be engaging, it wasn't like her at all. And I think anytime there's not even like a young person, I mean, anyone, myself included, being radio silent on social media for like an extended period of time, even for like 12 or 24 hours, as unhealthy as that sounds like, that's a red flag. That's not the norm these days. So her sister Faith knew this.

• 10:31Annie Elise?

  She also had told reporters that the last time that anyone actually heard from her sister, heard her voice, was the day prior to all of this, on Wednesday, August 6th. Now, if you'll remember, she had confided in her friends and her family that they were in this argument, but the things had calmed down and that she was planning on going to his house the next day to grab her stuff. So in reality, she got, they got the text message the next day. But nobody had heard her actual voice, except for the day prior.

• 10:59Speaker 04

  I'm curious to know why if like her friends and family knew that they were having trouble, that she's pregnant, she's so young, why she didn't have anywhere else to stay. And like they said, they're not sure why she was in a shelter, but I'm sure we'll find out when more details come out.

• 11:15Annie Elise?

  Yeah, it's tough because right now it's like, we of course know that she was in the shelter. She obviously, by all accounts, it appears that she was very close with her sister Faith.

• 11:22Speaker 04

  That's what I'm thinking, yeah.

• 11:24Annie Elise?

  That Faith would know her patterns and her routines. And when I was kind of going through this too, for the first time, I was like, well, why would they allow her to go over to his house on her own to get her stuff? Which, that's not really a fault of theirs, I don't think. Because I think if she had said like, look, the fight's calmed down, it's gonna be fine, I'm gonna go grab my stuff. I don't know that I would ever necessarily think twice about that. Maybe they would be like, we don't want to overreact and go with you and make it worse. Like, I could understand where maybe they weren't obviously anticipating something bad to happen. But I want you guys to hear directly from her sister Faith during this interview. Take a listen.

• 12:00Speaker 05

  This is not normal behavior. We have no clue what happened.

• 12:03Annie Elise?

  It's been eight days since anyone has seen or heard from 18-year-old Kylie Montero, who was last seen on August 7th, near County Street in Rehoboth.

• 12:10Speaker 05

  The last time we heard her voice was Wednesday night, but last point of contact was Thursday through text.

• 12:17Annie Elise?

  So within 24 hours of Kylie's disappearance, authorities launched a massive search. We're talking drones, canines, helicopters, dive teams, I mean, you name it, so much. And they also searched a huge area of the woods right around that town that she had lived in, as well as a reservoir that was, I can never say that word, as far as a reservoir. It's like, words are hard. Um, as well as the reservoir that was near her last known location. Yet, despite all of those search efforts, there was no sign of Kylie. Still, no sign of Kylie has been found. So as of now, police haven't officially said if foul play may or may not be involved in this. They also haven't named any suspects in her disappearance, but I feel like everybody is-

• 13:01Speaker 04

  What's the boyfriend's been up, what's he up to?

• 13:02Annie Elise?

  There's not really a word yet if he's like an unaff- Suspect if they've been questioned, it's all still breaking. So a lot of the details are still coming out. But I think everybody's mind is probably going in that direction. Is that necessarily the case? Who knows? But we do know that she is a young woman, pregnant, and I mean, it's obviously incredibly scary. Her family has also started a GoFundMe trying to support awareness efforts and even put together a reward for any information that leads to finding her. They're just kind of saying, you know, we're not going to just sit around and wait for Kylie to come home. We need to be out there. We need to be active. We need to like be physically searching every day. So we'll keep a close eye on this and let you guys know of any updates, but

• 13:45Annie Elise?

  there are a lot of red flags, especially with the past history. And again, I don't want to just like say, you know, the boyfriend did it, obviously, but like, well, no, I'm just kidding. But like, you know what I mean?

• 13:55Speaker 04

  He would have maybe a reason.

• 13:57Annie Elise?

  Yeah, there wasn't really any other turmoil that we know of in her life. Now, hold on. Actually, there is breaking news coming in right now, saying that the Bristol County District Attorney's Office has announced a major development into this investigation. The authorities stated that human remains were discovered on the boyfriend's property, 22-year-old Gregory Groom. And the remains that were discovered are consistent with the missing pregnant teenager. He has been charged with aggravated assault and battery on a pregnant person, also domestic assault and battery and intimidation of a witness. And that was for acts allegedly committed against her back on August 6, 2025.

• 14:40Annie Elise?

  It says, let me see here, it says that he also will face a murder charge. So he's currently being held without bail. I mean, definitely not the way that people were hoping that this case would end. I think everybody was hopeful that she would be found alive, but I'm glad that they caught him early on. I'm glad her family has answers and they've found her remains so that they can lay her and her baby to rest, but how awful. And I'm just looking at a picture of this guy and what a frickin loser. He looks like such a dweeby douchebag. I mean, what a piece of crap. Like what a Frickin' prick. Now, I know that there was a case that you were talking to me about this week that I didn't, I like, had to do a double take them all.

• 15:22Annie Elise?

  Hold on, are you, am I hearing this right? About a thr- like a throuple, basically, and a dead body?

• 15:28Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 15:28Annie Elise?

  Okay, can you break it down? Cause I know you said you'll fill me in, like, for the first time ever, right now, so like, let's see what-

• 15:35Speaker 04

  No, I know. When I read the headline, I thought I read it wrong too, the first time. So this one started, it actually took place not too far from us either.

• 15:42Annie Elise?

  Really?

• 15:43Speaker 04

  In Lakewood, so in between like, Orange County and LA. But this one started in June of this year, when a welfare check was called in on James O'Neill. So his brother hadn't heard from him since 2019, which wasn't really actually that weird, because their family was estranged. And his brother was currently living with his throuple, um, a gentleman named James also, and Suzanne Agnew. So for now, we'll refer to James, the victim, as Jim, just so that it's not super confusing. But basically, Jim's brother was trying to get ahold of him, because he had inherited some money.

• 16:17Annie Elise?

  Ooh.

• 16:18Speaker 04

  And couldn't get ahold of him, and so he ended up reaching out to the police and requesting a welfare check. So when the police arrived, because James O'Neill and James Agnew have the first same name, they assumed that they were speaking with Jim, the victim, but it was actually James-

• 16:36Annie Elise?

  The boyfriend.

• 16:37Speaker 04

  The boyfriend. So the police told him that his family was worried about him, and he seemed to say that he knew that they were looking for him, they had even come by the house, and he knew that, but that he just had no interest in talking with them.

• 16:49Annie Elise?

  So, hold on, so he was, they thought he, that he was the missing Jim.

• 16:54Speaker 04

  Exactly.

• 16:54Annie Elise?

  They have the same name, then he played along with it, and said basically, like, yeah, I know my family's looking for me, like, pretending to be him.

• 17:01Speaker 04

  Exactly.

• 17:01Annie Elise?

  And being like, I know they're looking for me, but I don't want to talk to them.

• 17:04Speaker 04

  So then the police left, thinking everything was fine, reached out to Jim's brother and said, hey, we went by, we talked to James, Jim, and everything's fine. He said he knew that he was, you were reaching out, and just doesn't want to talk with you. So when those officers showed the body cam footage of the discussion with the man to Jim's brother, Jim's brother quickly realized, this is not my brother, it's actually James- Agnew, his roommate. And so later that was determined that that was one of the partners in this romantic relationship or this throuple.

• 17:34Speaker 06

  Earlier this summer, Lakewood Police went to the condo after O'Neal's brother couldn't reach him to let him know he'd inherited some money. Officers talked with the man who said his name was James, his face and his shoes captured by a body camera. But when the brother saw that image, they learned it wasn't James O'Neal they'd spoken with. It was James Agnew.

• 17:55Speaker 04

  So then the officers went back and visited the condo again. And this time they spoke with Suzanne Agnew, the third member of the throuple. And she claimed, according to court documents, that Jim had not lived there for several years and had, in fact, met quote unquote, a foreign woman and had run away and moved out to live with her.

• 18:13Annie Elise?

  I feel like how many times in cases do we hear that of like, not necessarily a foreign woman, but like, oh, no, they fell in love. They like ran away to be with someone. Usually we hear that. I feel like, well, I guess this is a romantic relationship. I was going to say in marriages, they'll be like, no, she left me. She was cheating on me. Kind of like Drew Peterson. Remember when he's like Stacy left and she ran off with her boyfriend.

• 18:34Speaker 04

  For a better life.

• 18:34Annie Elise?

  Bikinis and yeah, like be original.

• 18:38Speaker 04

  Right.

• 18:39Annie Elise?

  Come on, like, get real.

• 18:41Speaker 04

  Which I guess too, I mean, if they're estranged family, he doesn't know what's been going on. Like, I guess in some world, maybe these people thought that they could pull one over on the family and, and they wouldn't know any better. But after hearing this, Jim's brother reached out to Suzanne just to get more information. He's obviously curious now, like what woman? Where did they go? How did they meet and get more information? And she actually said that Jim was sitting right next to her, but didn't want to talk to him.

• 19:08Annie Elise?

  So he wasn't with a foreign woman?

• 19:10Speaker 04

  Well, so that's what I was confused about when I read it is I'm thinking, so did he run away or is he sitting next to her and he won't even get on the phone? Like, granted, we don't know why they were estranged, but what was so terrible that he wouldn't even get on the phone?

• 19:21Annie Elise?

  To tell his brother, like, I'm alive and I'm fine. Just leave me the hell alone.

• 19:24Speaker 04

  Exactly.

• 19:25Annie Elise?

  If he really didn't want to talk to him.

• 19:26Speaker 04

  Well, then after that, Jim's brother said, well, I have some inheritance money that I'm trying to get to you and I need it to be deposited into Jim's account. And so Suzanne Suzanne gave him Jim's account number and social security number. But then Jim's brother said, well, yeah, but Jim's gonna have to go in himself to the bank in order to get this money and to sign for it. And so then she quickly broke off all contact and stopped talking to him.

• 19:52Annie Elise?

  Oh.

• 19:52Speaker 04

  So again, I'm like, if you're sitting right next to somebody, hearing that you're getting inheritance money, you've been estranged, you're living in this throuple, but you also are with this other woman supposedly. Just pick up the phone.

• 20:03Annie Elise?

  No, I will. And what's so interesting is it sounds like so Suzanne was like, he's right next to me. Oh, he's getting money. Here's his account number. Here's his social security number. Like he'll gladly accept that money, even though he won't get on the phone to talk to you. But then when he's like, okay, but Jim himself has to go into the bank. She's all, nope, I'm gonna ghost you. Bye. Like that screams shady.

• 20:24Speaker 04

  Well, also I was kind of surprised that the brother even gave the account information, like or took the account information and was like, acting as if he was, yeah, exactly entertaining it. So officers then arrived again at the home on July 3rd. So about a month later, after this all started, this time with a search warrant in hand. And when Suzanne was made aware that there was now a warrant for her condo to be searched, she said she quote, "understood and immediately told me we would find James O'Neill's body in the residence, indicating he was deceased." So basically she just kind of admitted to everything very quickly, which is surprising. But when they went in, in fact, and searched their home in a bedroom, they found Jim's decomposing remains under an air mattress.

• 21:08Annie Elise?

  Under an air mattress?

• 21:09Speaker 04

  Under an air mattress.

• 21:10Annie Elise?

  So I wonder how that, hold on, how does that even actually work now that I think about it? Because air mattresses are usually on the floor, right? They're not usually like on a box spring or a bed frame. And like, I mean, like, look, I'm not trying to be overly graphic, but like when we've used air mattresses growing up or like when we're all spending the night in the cabin or whatever, you put an air mattress on the floor because you need something level for it to sit on. So like, if you threw an air mattress on top of a body.

• 21:37Speaker 04

  Just to hide it.

• 21:38Annie Elise?

  Wouldn't it kind of like wobble around and there'd be like gaps and stuff? Like unless it was an air mattress on a bed frame.

• 21:43Speaker 04

  Well, and I was thinking too, I mean, again, not to go too graphic, but it's not really covering the body to your point. And so when the officers were there on the first visit, were they not going inside? Was there not the smell of?

• 21:57Annie Elise?

  Well, that's what I was just gonna say, the odor of it all.

• 21:59Speaker 04

  Right.

• 21:59Annie Elise?

  He is decomposing for what, years at this point?

• 22:02Speaker 04

  Like, secure space.

• 22:03Annie Elise?

  No.

• 22:04Speaker 04

  So that feels very random.

• 22:06Annie Elise?

  Normally, yeah, normally when, in cases that we've covered, when people are concealing a body, it's like either in a freezer, it's in a closet, it's somewhere that's like sealed off.

• 22:15Speaker 04

  Well, you're gonna hear, you're gonna hear more.

• 22:17Annie Elise?

  Oh, God, great.

• 22:17Speaker 04

  Way more disturbing.

• 22:19Annie Elise?

  Great.

• 22:19Speaker 04

  So, the Agnes had been in a relationship with Jim for several years, this throuple, and he lived with them most of that time. And Suzanne said that her husband, James, found O'Neill dead in December of 2023. And instead of calling 911, she decided not to because she didn't wanna, quote unquote, "give Jim up."

• 22:40Annie Elise?

  Give Jim up for what?

• 22:42Speaker 04

  I guess like they're, this romantic relationship, she wasn't ready to like let him go.

• 22:46Annie Elise?

  Oh, not like spill.

• 22:47Speaker 04

  I think is the way I understood it, yeah.

• 22:49Annie Elise?

  Okay, not like give him up, like, turn on him.

• 22:51Speaker 04

  No, just like give him up as a person in the relationship.

• 22:54Annie Elise?

  And 2023, it's almost two years ago.

• 22:56Speaker 04

  Exactly, so instead, they left Jim's body on the floor of the bedroom, and somehow just kept like living their lives as if nothing happened. But wait.

• 23:06Annie Elise?

  I'm so fucking grossed out right now.

• 23:10Speaker 04

  No, well, here comes why he ended up under an air mattress, which is disturbing. Suzanne claims that their dogs, Chihuahuas, which I know how you feel about those, so...

• 23:22Annie Elise?

  Small dogs freak me out.

• 23:23Speaker 04

  So, their Chihuahuas started chewing on the remains of Jim, so they decided to hide his body under an air mattress, which again, why an air mattress? Like, all of this disturbing, but...

• 23:37Annie Elise?

  I'm gonna vomit.

• 23:38Speaker 04

  Couldn't there be a better spot?

• 23:40Annie Elise?

  Hold on, okay.

• 23:41Speaker 04

  So they lived with the remains of the dead, their dead partner, hidden under this air mattress for 18 months, in an attempt not to hide it like from the police or from anyone else, but to hide it from their dogs.

• 23:54Annie Elise?

  Okay, okay, hold, hold on. I just wanna make sure I'm understanding this right, so I'm gonna backtrack a little bit. So they're in this throuple. Jim passes away, which I know it hasn't been indicated how, but I would imagine they say natural causes, or that's their argument because they say he died and they didn't want to like, quote, let him go because they love him so much. Then they didn't do anything sinister, so they're not trying to hide him from the police. But his body's laying there on the bedroom floor and the dogs start chewing on it like a chew toy, so then they decide to hide his body?

• 24:27Speaker 04

  So here's like a couple of things. So when I first was doing my research, number one, I thought, okay, if it was natural causes and they had nothing to hide, like, why risk getting in trouble for hiding this body, concealing it?

• 24:41Annie Elise?

  Yeah, that's still a crime.

• 24:42Speaker 04

  If one day it's going to be found out, and so all the while, like, just because you don't want to let him go, or did something more serious maybe happen? Because this whole time that he's been in their home, deceased, they've also, they had access to his bank accounts and his social security.

• 24:58Annie Elise?

  There we go.

• 24:59Speaker 04

  And they've spent, I believe it was over seventeen thousand dollars of his money.

• 25:04Annie Elise?

  In eighteen months.

• 25:05Speaker 04

  So I don't know if there was a motive there, or if that was just, he did pass and now they had access, so it just made it easy to get access and no one knows, so let's just keep delusionally living as if this person is still alive and we don't say anything, or if they were actually like covering something up, or this was the motive, I'm not sure.

• 25:24Annie Elise?

  That is so weird on so many levels, because it's like, you're just willingly deciding to live with the odor. To your point, it's gonna be found out at one point, so you're also deciding, you know, to live with that risk. But then, I would be curious to know what they did for a living, or if like Jim was the breadwinner of the relationship, because maybe then it was financially motivated, and maybe there was something that took place, but I could also see where, and because I have covered unfortunately cases like this in the past, where like somebody dies and you're like, oh, we're not going to say anything, because he does get social security, he still does get regular like deposits into his account, and we want to use those, so let's just pretend he's still alive, and that would, I guess, also then explain why when the brother was

• 26:07Annie Elise?

  looking for him, they just said he doesn't want contact with you, because they were just gonna like, ride this financial wave until they got caught, which obviously they did. I think at some point, even if that is your master plan and you think you're gonna get away with it and that it's all like great and you've like cracked the code in the system. The moment your dogs start feeding on a dead body, it's like it's time to reevaluate your life choices. That is so foul for so many reasons.

• 26:34Speaker 04

  And just the whole thing is just so sad and that poor guy and just his brother having to find out.

• 26:40Annie Elise?

  Oh, my God, I don't even know, like, yeah, finding out that your brother or sister is like dead is traumatic enough, then to find out that his corpse has been there for 18 months, that the dogs are feeding off it, they've been stealing money from him. It's like, how evil.

• 26:55Speaker 04

  I'm not sure if money really could have been the real, I mean, who knows, it could have been the root of it, but I don't feel like that was a huge windfall that they came across. And obviously, if the brother's reaching out to really try to get this inheritance money to him and they were all rooming, I don't know, I don't know what their situation is, but maybe it was just something like.

• 27:13Annie Elise?

  They're freaks regardless, okay, like honestly, I don't care.

• 27:16Speaker 04

  I'm just trying to figure it out.

• 27:18Annie Elise?

  Bless your heart, Amy, like, call it what it is, these people are sicko freaks, I don't care what the reason was, that is disgusting.

• 27:25Speaker 04

  Yep, that one comes to you straight from our backyard.

• 27:29Annie Elise?

  Okay, God, so what happened and were they arrested or what?

• 27:32Speaker 04

  So yeah, the couple was arrested on four charges, including theft and tampering with a corpse, but they haven't been charged yet with any connection on Jim's death. So we'll see if that comes out later, but Suzanne is set to appear in court on August 27th and James about a week later, first week of September.

• 27:50Annie Elise?

  I'd be interested to know too, if there's any charges coming down the pike for like fraud.

• 27:54Speaker 04

  Oh, for sure.

• 27:55Annie Elise?

  Yeah, for like his banking and all of that.

• 27:57Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 27:58Annie Elise?

  What a bunch of bharicazoids. I feel like I need to scrub my brain a little bit after that case, but I'm gonna do that after we record because I do have to talk to you about this next case and it's the one that everyone has been in my DMs about and it's really sad and it's the case about Giovanni.

• 28:15Speaker 04

  I think I sent this one to you while we were in New York.

• 28:17Annie Elise?

  Yes, yes, so I've been doing like the deep dive and let me break it down for you.

• 28:21Speaker 04

  Okay.

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• 29:10Annie Elise?

  Okay, so as I said, I've been following this very, very unsettling case about a missing 18-year-old boy named Giovanni. He had just graduated high school, literally just stepped into adulthood.

• 29:22Speaker 04

  Another high school graduate.

• 29:23Annie Elise?

  Yes, yes, unfortunately, I know, it's disgusting. So, he had just graduated high school and then suddenly, on Friday, August 1st, he just vanished, just completely vanished. And this was about an hour south of Tampa, Florida. Now Giovanni, who everybody calls Gio, was from this very, I don't want to say like super small town, but a smaller town in North Carolina, right outside of Raleigh, which, P.S., we're going to next week. And I'm gonna probably butcher the name of this, but it's called Fuquay Varina.

• 29:55Speaker 04

  I like being in person, watching you try to pronounce things.

• 29:57Annie Elise?

  No, I know. Hold on, let me see if there's a pronunciation guide out there. Everybody's probably laughing at me right now, because, you know, you guys know I'm not good with towns, okay? Pronounce. Fu. Quay. Varina, there is a thing, okay. Fuquay Varina. I was pretty close.

• 30:16Speaker 04

  That's pretty close.

• 30:17Annie Elise?

  Okay, so anyway, it's right outside of Raleigh. Now, as the oldest of five kids, he kind of naturally fell into that role of being the protector of his family, like, not the patriarch, but kind of, you know, taking care of his siblings, just being the man at the house. And earlier this month, he had gone on a trip to Inglewood, Florida with his mom, Bridget, and his mom's Fiance also went with them on this trip. They were going down there to visit some family. And while they were there, Gio ended up telling his mom something that felt really important to him and that had been weighing heavily on him. He had said he really wanted to finally connect with his dad's side of the family. So he had been texting in a group chat with some of his cousins, the ones that he had never met before, and they were all planning this meetup.

• 30:57Annie Elise?

  And the plan was for one of the cousins to come pick him up where he was staying with his mom and her fiance in Inglewood, and then take him over to his grandfather's house in Brevard County, which is about three hours away from where he was staying. So he would obviously need a ride. Now, as you can imagine, his mom Bridget was a little bit nervous about this. This was a cousin that Giovanni had never met before. It was brand new. It was like reconnecting with that side of the family. And we also don't know why they were necessarily estranged.

• 31:24Speaker 04

  That was gonna be my question. Like, does the parent, does the mom have a relationship with them at all?

• 31:28Annie Elise?

  It doesn't appear so, and we don't know what went down with her and the dad and like the dad's side of the family. Like if there's hostility or what it is, but she was pretty nervous by this. Yeah, exactly. And on top of all of that, Gio was completely estranged from his father. So like, there was definitely some family rifts going on here. But at the same time, she also wanted to support her son. He was now 18 years old. He was curious. This was his family too. He wanted to meet them. So like, what was she gonna do? So despite her hesitation, she agreed and she let him go. Not that she could necessarily keep him back. I mean, he was 18, but she, you know, supported him. And later on, according to the family, he was so excited.

• 32:09Annie Elise?

  Like, their word that they had used was that he was just buzzing with excitement to go meet this side of his family. So around 1:30 in the morning on Friday, August 1st, Gio finally met up with his cousins and he ended up getting into their car and then making that long three-hour trek over to the grandfather's house. But things went sideways almost immediately after getting into the car. He climbed into a white Chevy Malibu that was driven by one of those cousins from his biological father's side. Now, remember, and I know I keep saying this, but I just want to remind everybody, Giovanni had never met this cousin in person before, ever. Not at all. And on top of that... Not only was it his cousin in the car, but there were two other guys in the car as well.

• 32:50Annie Elise?

  There's a little bit of confusion because some reports say that all of the people in the car were all cousins. But other reports say that these other guys were just friends of the cousin who was in the car. But either way, it wasn't exactly, I don't want to say the safest situation, but like, he didn't know any of these people.

• 33:07Speaker 04

  Three people that knew each other well and he was the new person.

• 33:10Annie Elise?

  He was the outsider. Yes, 100%. And here's where it gets really scary and kind of chilling when you really think about it. Because just 25 minutes into the trip, Giovanni's mom Bridget got a text message from Gio. And this text message was very clean, very simple. It only had two words in it. And it said, "Mom, help," with an exclamation mark.

• 33:31Speaker 04

  Oh my gosh, I just got chills.

• 33:32Annie Elise?

  I know. He also had tried calling her, FaceTiming her, and he even sent similar messages to his grandfather and to an aunt on his father's side of the family. But after all of those messages and the phone calls that went unanswered, there was nothing. He just stopped all contact. That was the last time that anyone heard from him.

• 33:51Speaker 04

  So I find it really interesting that both the story you covered earlier and this one, they're two 18-year-olds. And when they're in an unsafe or uncomfortable situation, they text their parents or their family or friends versus like calling 911 or trying to reach out to someone else.

• 34:09Annie Elise?

  Maybe that's just, I mean, it could just be the way that technology works these days. I kind of am thinking in my situation, like where, yeah, we'd hope that they would call 911. I could see where if like, if your crutch and like your security is your mom, and with texting being so big, especially for the younger generation, I could understand where maybe that is happening. But he also did try making phone calls and FaceTiming. So it wasn't just limited to the text message. So that was the last time that anybody had heard from him. And when he didn't come home, the county sheriff's office ended up getting involved pretty quickly. They ended up seizing that Chevy Malibu. They questioned the guys who were in the car. And when they did that,

• 34:51Annie Elise?

  according to their story, they kind of painted Giovanni as the villain. They said that he, once he got in the car, he suddenly started acting erratically. And then he got out of the car and just walked away. Which that's not the whole picture in all of this, because Giovanni's grandfather says that he heard that there was actually an argument that took place in the car. Another family member said that the group had all smoked weed together before things went south and started spiraling. Apparently Giovanni started panicking. He started cursing at his cousin. I don't know if that was because he was having like a bad trip after smoking or what it was, but they ended up, it ended up getting so chaotic that they pulled the car over. And according to the story, they say that Giovanni then pulled out a knife. So the cousins claimed they wrestled

• 35:36Annie Elise?

  it away from him. But then as soon as they did that, Gio just bolted and just took off, ran off into the night and disappeared. Which maybe is plausible if you think about it. Like, if somebody's having a bad trip, maybe when they get out of the car, they do take off because they thought they were in a dangerous situation or something. I don't know. It's not the craziest thing I've ever heard. But what I will say is like, friends, family, argument, estranged, whatever it is, what kind of cousins leave their 18 year old cousin who is clearly distressed and in an altered state, according to them, who just leaves them on the side of the road in the middle of the night? I mean, even if you didn't know him well, you just abandon him? You just let him take off and you don't call anyone? You don't call his mom or another

• 36:20Annie Elise?

  family member to be like, Gio just took off. We're paranoid. Like, we need somebody to find him or maybe call the police?

• 36:25Speaker 04

  Or the grandpa, who obviously is kind of aware of what's going on at this point.

• 36:29Annie Elise?

  Exactly. It just does not make a lot of sense. And his mom Bridget, along with Giovanni's aunt, they do not believe this version of events for a second. Not at all. They both have said that this behavior doesn't sound anything like Giovanni. His aunt Desiree even had pointed out that the boys had all changed. Their stories and that one of them even lied about his name, which I'm sorry, but who's lying about your name if you have nothing to hide, right? And his mom believes that Giovanni might have felt not only threatened, but also outnumbered. Remember it was like three against one. And of course there's that text message that says, Mom, help, which I can't even imagine being a mother and getting that text message.

• 37:08Speaker 04

  Oh, I can't even imagine.

• 37:10Annie Elise?

  No, and realizing then that that's the last time that you've ever heard from your child. It is like the worst kind of pain I think that you could deal with. I mean, I take that back. There's obviously a lot more pain out there, but like trying to wrap your head around what those final moments were like for them when they were fear so fearful and so scared and like, what was he feeling in that moment? Like I could just feel, you know, her feeling like I want to find him. I want answers. I want to know what's going on. Like we want him home. We don't want him to be alone. Now going to the cell phone data of it all, his phone had last pinged near the intersection of I-75 and State Route 70. So that's where the family decided to start searching right away, trying to see if they could find him.

• 37:53Annie Elise?

  Authorities joined in too, but it was really driven by the family. And get this, on the very same day that he went missing, a truck driver ended up finding his bag and his cell phone just dumped on the side of the road, which once the truck driver found this, he turned it over to the investigators. But obviously this was not boding well. It's like what 18 year old kid who to your point is using their cell phone as their lifeline, texting their mom, doing all this is just again, bad trip or not, who's going to just dump their bag and their phone on the side of the road? It doesn't make sense. So for a week, the search continued. Then in the worst possible way, his family got their answer. Not the police, his family got the answer.

• 38:35Annie Elise?

  They are the ones who discovered a decomposing body in a retention pond right off of the interstate ramp, close to where his phone had last pinged. And it of course, did not take long for the authorities to confirm that the remains belonged to Giovanni.

• 38:50Speaker 04

  So sad.

• 38:51Annie Elise?

  Now, right now, a lot of people are, you know, in uproar over this, like, what was it? The Cousins? What happened in that car? What was this text message all about? And right now, his cause of death is still unclear as of this recording. And the tox results are pending, which could take weeks. But the authorities have said that there is no clear indication of foul play at this point, at least not yet. So I don't know if maybe there is some truth to this being a trip gone bad, but then what's the cause of death? I mean, did he come across a stranger? Maybe, yeah, possibly, who knows? But the sheriff's office has also said that both sides of Giovanni's family are cooperating with the investigation. So that's good.

• 39:29Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 39:30Annie Elise?

  Um, then on Saturday, his mom shared a post on Facebook, which is just like heartbreaking, and I want to read it here. It says, quote, "My son was recently found after a desperate search by only our family alone, and we are still facing an active investigation into his death. I am living every parent's worst nightmare, trying to find the strength to give him the goodbye that he deserves." And she's right. I mean, when you think about it, Giovanni wasn't found by police or trained search crews or canines or drones. He was found by his own family, after they already had been the ones to hire this group of former police, former military members to come in their search effort and help them look. Like, they're the ones who drove this entire thing. Even their leader said, quote, "This is horrible. This shouldn't have happened.

• 40:15Annie Elise?

  They should not have been the ones to locate their loved one." And there's been a lot of flak out there for the police department.

• 40:21Speaker 04

  We have the cellphone brought them right to the location, and it was pretty easy for the truck driver to find his belongings. Like, why was it so difficult for anyone else to find that?

• 40:31Annie Elise?

  Exactly. And like, why aren't you taking this search seriously enough to have like more crew on the ground and not make the family the ones responsible for doing this?

• 40:40Speaker 04

  Do you think it was they were chalking it up to maybe it was a drug thing? And that he was out there and they didn't suspect foul play?

• 40:46Annie Elise?

  Maybe, could be. Well, actually, hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm just getting a ping on my phone. There is an update, and it looks like that might be the case. Let me read through this. Okay, so surveillance footage captured Giovanni's final moments, and he was alive when he- Got out of the car. He crossed a highway and it was 2:18 a.m. And let me just watch this. But it looks like a truck had to swerve to keep from hitting him. And the footage is really grainy, but it looks like this camera caught it, which this is a camera that was on an overpass. Then it shows him running down a steep embankment toward that retention pond. It's reportedly between the highway and the parking lot of a garden center.

• 41:26Annie Elise?

  Again, in this footage, it's really difficult to make it out, but it was captured by a security camera at that garden center. Now, both times, according to this report, Giovanni is by himself. Nobody was chasing him. And the sheriff says it's not clear what happened when Giovanni got to the pond or how deep it is. But he did give in this statement, a few more details about what happened inside the car. Allegedly Giovanni did start freaking out and he said, quote, "I am a demon and I will wreck this car." Apparently, he also said that he was going to kill all of them and he tried to open his door while the car was still moving. So going back to that current theory of like, maybe it was more than just weed, maybe it was laced, maybe it was something else. It seems like that is tracking.

• 42:08Annie Elise?

  It doesn't make it any easier that he was left alone and that people didn't call 911, but if he really was suffering from delusions and had smoked something or done something like this makes it make more sense, but also it says here that the death is still undetermined. And the tox report, as we know, hasn't come back yet. So like, what's going on here? Like, how did he die? You don't die from a bad trip. And it says here that the, let me go back and double check, the retention pond is not very deep. So it's not like he fell in the retention pond and drowned. Hmm. This is very interesting. Wait, no correction. It doesn't say that it's not that deep. It says it's not clear how deep it is.

• 42:51Annie Elise?

  But I would assume that they would know based on his condition and like the decomposition when he was found if he had drowned and if he had been in the water for quite some time. I don't know. Clearly, even if he was having a bad trip, he was coherent enough to realize like, I'm not only going to text my mom for help, I'm going to text all my family members, people who know my cousins as well. Like, there's something below the surface here.

• 43:11Speaker 04

  Of course, yeah.

• 43:11Annie Elise?

  It's so strange. And more than that, it's just absolutely heartbreaking and devastating. And so, our thoughts, obviously, with his mom, his siblings, for everyone who loved him, and hopefully, answers do come out. I probably will end up doing a deep dive into this case as we like, continue to like, dig into it. So, for those listening, check back for that. But like, yeah.

• 43:31Speaker 04

  And this poor mom who thought she was just making the right decision and letting, supporting her son and letting him go.

• 43:37Annie Elise?

  It's awful.

• 43:37Speaker 04

  Meet his family.

• 43:38Annie Elise?

  I know. Okay, switching gears a little bit. I know you have another case you want to share, and...

• 43:46Speaker 04

  I have the two crazy, like, really crazy sick ones this week, I feel like.

• 43:50Annie Elise?

  I know. Well, when we had first talked about this one, I'm kind of glad that I'm, I don't have to do the research on this one, because I feel like we needed to cover it, but I'm glad that I was able to like, let you run with that one. So, take it away, Amy.

• 44:05Speaker 04

  Okay. So, this next one started last week, on August 14th, and this one's a crazy story also, but basically, there was a welfare check called in for a 73-year-old man named Eric Winect by his ex-wife, Ann, and they were still on friendly terms and would talk regularly. But their 30-something-year-old son, who was still living with Ann, had been acting, quote-unquote, "very delusional and weird" over the last two days. There had been a lot of contention between him and his father, and he was just acting out of sorts. And so, on, in the morning, around 9:00 a.m., apparently, according to, um,

• 44:46Speaker 04

  Ann, Bryce had been acting erratically and came running down excited with a knife out of the house. So, she was worried based off this past behavior and what was going on, and so she called in a welfare check. And when the police- Lee showed up to Eric's home. They found a homicide scene, blood splatter all over the ceiling, and he was unfortunately deceased and decapitated. So there wasn't anyone else at the scene at the time. They ended up going to Anne's house in search of Bryce. And when they got there, he barricaded himself in the home and which led to a four hour standoff with SWAT.

• 45:27Speaker 04

  And when they finally were able to make contact with him, they found him with a plastic bag and the head of his father inside.

• 45:36Annie Elise?

  Jesus.

• 45:36Speaker 04

  I know. And what was crazy is when Anne tried reaching out to her son Bryce to try to reach him that morning, when she reached him, he answered and said, I killed him. I went over to dad's because he is the evilest person that ever lived. I cut his head off.

• 45:51Annie Elise?

  Oh, so she probably knew that this was going to be the outcome, obviously, but then they went over there. They found the scene. So and if there was contention in the weeks and days leading up to it, and especially with the dad saying that he had been acting delusional, maybe there is something like mental health at play here. Who knows?

• 46:07Speaker 04

  Well, and those are the motions that his attorney are filing now. So I think we'll like, find out more information.

• 46:12Annie Elise?

  Yeah.

• 46:13Speaker 04

  But yeah.

• 46:14Annie Elise?

  That's gnarly. Well, this one, I think I actually saw it come across. I don't know if it was TikTok or Instagram, but there's ring footage, right? Or like home surveillance footage that shows him with a plastic bag and a knife.

• 46:26Speaker 04

  With like a 12 inch knife. He was entering the house around 11:45 PM and then or 11:30 PM and then left about 45 minutes later. And that was all on the Ring camera from the dad's house.

• 46:39Annie Elise?

  Geez.

• 46:40Speaker 04

  I know.

• 46:41Annie Elise?

  Oh, God. Okay. So I guess more to come with that. Now, I want to break down everything that we know about this case of the seven month old little boy Emmanuel, originally from the Cabzon area, but then went missing allegedly in Ukaypa. And kind of break down, this is all changing as every single day passes, literally new information's coming out. So. At the time of this recording, this is the information we have. If more information surfaces, I will add that in just so that everything is fresh, but just as a heads up. So on Friday, August 14th, this woman, Rebecca, basically was facing every mother's worst nightmare,

• 47:21Annie Elise?

  saying that her seven-month-old son had been kidnapped. And she basically, what had happened is she and her husband Jake were driving their three kids in Ucaipa, California, but they're originally from Cabazon, which you know, that's like where Morongo is, where the outlets are, and Ucaipa is about 25 minutes away from Cabazon. So they were in Ucaipa because it was their oldest son's football practice. So according to Rebecca, she dropped off her husband and their two older sons wherever this practice was happening, and then she drove over to Big Five, the sporting goods store, so that she could buy a mouthguard for her son that he needed for practice. Now, according to her, when she got there and parked, she still had her seven-month-old son Emmanuel

• 48:02Annie Elise?

  with her. She pulled him out of the car seat and started changing his diaper in the back of the truck. Then she says, all of a sudden, she hears a stranger come up to her and say, "Hola," and then everything, she saw a flash of white and then everything went dark. And she claims that she was punched in the face and blacked out. Then, when she finally woke up, she saw Emmanuel was gone. She starts looking around, all over the floor, on the ground, like, you know, everywhere, going into the store, into Big Five, looking for him, and then called 911 when she couldn't find him. And so again, like I said, every parent's freaking worst nightmare. The police then launched a very extensive search, including helicopters, canines, but there was no Amber Alert that was issued because, remember, according to her, she didn't see

• 48:47Annie Elise?

  anything. So there was no, like, description of a suspect, no description of a vehicle. All she knew is that this person said "Hola" and then knocked her ass on the ground. And here's a quick interview that she gave explaining what happened herself.

• 49:01Speaker 07

  What do you have to say to the person who took him? Please don't hurt him, protect him, and just bring him back to his parents that love him. Please, I'm just begging you. Please.

• 49:13Speaker 05

  During our interview, Rebecca said she was attacked while she put Emmanuel on the backseat of their pickup truck to change his diaper.

• 49:19Speaker 07

  Someone said "Hola," and I couldn't even turn, and that was just... I don't remember nothing. I got up off the floor and I didn't see my child. Someone took him from me. When I asked about the injury to her face, she said she was punched. I can't help but notice that you have an. Yes, he hurt me. He punched me. And I ran a big five minute ask the lady if she saw anything or saw a baby. She said, no. I came back to get my phone a call. I went one night around. Oh, permanent editor and there's nothing here.

• 49:55Annie Elise?

  Now, immediately following this interview, there was just like scrutiny in every single direction because people were saying she was had crocodile tears. No tears were actually coming out of her eyes. She was faking it. There were a lot of comparisons to the infamous Chris Watts interview, which in the true crime world, something you probably know, everyone jumps to that comparison. Oh, it's Watts. It's Watts. But people were saying like these parents on screen look weird. Something looks shady. It felt very performative, but not very genuine. And there were also some other like really weird things that I kind of clocked right away. They made a flyer for their missing son and the big text on it, it just said, missing kid, which kind of to me feels very impersonal and like

• 50:39Annie Elise?

  kind of random. The dad, when giving the interview too, when they're asking like, okay, what descriptors are there? Are there any distinguishing factors or remarks like highlights that people can be on the lookout for? He says, the only thing that was distinguishable about his son was his eye, because it looks as though he either cross eyed, has a lazy eye. It's very difficult to know because there are a lot of different reports. Some reports have said that he's special needs. Some have said that he has shaken baby syndrome, which I'll get to in a minute. He also referred to him as an it, which is obviously like a huge red flag. And so there were just a lot of things that were throwing up a lot of shadiness, especially like if you're trying to describe your missing seven month

• 51:21Annie Elise?

  old, I don't care if he doesn't have a birthmark or anything. You make you find something. You don't say, oh, it's his eye, like, whatever. It just, you know. Then other parts of her interview got even weirder because when she says she was knocked out, instead of being like, I woke up on the ground, which is I think what you would say when you're recounting your event, she's like, I was on the floor, which could be explained away, but that was kind of weird. Then when she was referring to the car seat and the car, she says the chair.

• 51:51Speaker 04

  That was weird.

• 51:52Annie Elise?

  Yeah. So a lot of people were like, oh, she's recounting some truths in here and like little tells almost of like, maybe something did happen inside the house. And so she's explaining the same type of setup or scenario, but like using the incorrect words. But then there were also a lot of other inconsistencies with the mom's version of events. As she was getting re-interviewed by police over and over, she, her story started to change. And then altogether, she declined to continue the conversation, lawyered up and said, I'm no longer going to cooperate. The dad also was asked to take a lie detector test, to which he said, not until my lawyer is present, which a hot take, a lot of people say, if you have nothing to hide, take it. But then a lot of people say, no, it can

• 52:36Speaker 04

  And you hear so many times.

• 52:38Annie Elise?

  Right. So like, I get that. I'm not going to fault him necessarily for that. Meanwhile, as all of this is happening and unfolding, the child's grandmother insists that the parents are innocent, saying they like just pleading for the safe return of the little boy. They even said that the deputies have searched the couple's cabazon house and that they used cadaver dogs, but she believes them, which maybe she doesn't know what really happened, right? But I want to play this interview really quick. They're not gonna hurt their baby, those, that couple were just home baddies. She's been without her baby since yesterday afternoon. If you have my grandson, please give it to his mom. She's going crazy. Please have mercy on her.

• 53:21Annie Elise?

  Now here are some other details that have started surfacing over the last several days. And it's not just about the father's past, which we're going to get into all of that, but even more red flags about the mom. Now let's start with the dad. And this is pretty widely known at this point, but I want to break down all of the details. So the dad has charges. From back in two thousand eighteen for child cruelty. Was sentenced to seventy-two months. Suspended, okay? And let me tell you about these details, which, warning, they are.

• 53:51Speaker 04

  Were they with, in regard to his children?

• 53:54Annie Elise?

  His child. With his ex. And it, so it takes us back to two thousand eighteen, and again, warning because it is incredibly difficult to hear. But it's about a ten-week-old baby girl, okay? Now, according to the police report, his ex-wife Vanessa told officers that on October twelfth, two thousand eighteen, she had picked up Jake, the husband, the dad, from work, dropped him off at home, and then she drove to Beaumont to pick up her oldest daughter from school. About an hour later, she came back home and she tried to nurse their ten-week-old daughter. But something was wrong. The baby wouldn't latch, the baby wouldn't drink, just something completely out of the normal. And so Vanessa rushed her to the hospital. She was frightened and paranoid.

• 54:36Annie Elise?

  Now Jake gave the investigators a very different piece of this story. He had said that after Vanessa dropped him off at the house, he decided to take the baby's temperature. And he noticed that the baby was running hot between ninety-nine and a hundred degrees. So he decided to give the baby a bath, to like break the temperature to cool the baby off. But during that bath, he quote, accidentally dropped this baby chest first. Onto the divider between their twin basin sink. So you know, when there's like a side by side and there's that like middle part? That he accidentally dropped the baby onto that, like onto her sternum. But he claimed he didn't notice any of the injuries after this fall, which it's not a fall, it's a drop, you know?

• 55:16Annie Elise?

  But then, later that same night, Vanessa apparently actually woke Jake up and asked him to feel the baby's back. And when he did, he said he quote, felt something crackle. That is the exact word in the affidavit. And here's the strange part, Jake also told the investigators that he did not feel that crackle earlier when he had bathed the baby right after, you know, she was dropped and all of that happened. So as for Vanessa, when it came time for her to be questioned, she eventually said, I'm not answering any questions unless I have my attorney present. Which, take that for how you will. Doctors at Loma Linda University Medical Center told the officer who wrote the affidavit

• 55:57Annie Elise?

  that upon bringing this baby into the hospital, the baby had an acute fractured rib, healing fractures of six ribs, a skull fracture, a brain hemorrhage, swelling of the neck, and a healing fractured leg bone.

• 56:13Speaker 04

  So this wasn't an accidental drop?

• 56:14Annie Elise?

  No, this was ongoing.

• 56:17Speaker 04

  Abuse.

• 56:17Annie Elise?

  Yes, ongoing in various stages of healing. I mean, a 10-week-old freaking child.

• 56:23Speaker 04

  Disgusting.

• 56:24Annie Elise?

  Disgusting. Then, things took an even darker turn when Jake told the investigators that after he went home from the hospital that night, his sister opened up the web browser on his iPad, and when she did, she found a search for, quote, "how to feed a baby with broken ribs." Now, Jake insisted he was not the one who made that search, even though it was on his iPad, but what's interesting is this search happened before the hospital visit. So it's like, they knew this baby's condition, right? So then, of course, came the finger pointing. Jake turned the blame on to Vanessa, saying that she was the one responsible for the baby's injuries. He said, she said it was him, but ultimately, both of them were arrested. And in 2023, each of them pleaded guilty to

• 57:09Annie Elise?

  the charges. He was sentenced to the 72 months. It ended up being suspended for whatever frickin' reason, and-

• 57:15Speaker 04

  And then they went and had another baby?

• 57:17Annie Elise?

  Well, this was his ex. So then he went and now is with Rebecca and had another baby. And like, I've seen some reports out there that Rebecca's the stepmom, but I've only seen that once, and like, everything else I've read refers to her as the mom. I don't know if she knows the backstory or not, but you now have like, you know, you have that whole backstory, now coupled with another missing and endangered baby, very young as well. Like, it doesn't look good. And get this, there's some other red flags we've learned along the way, and this is all alleged. Everybody do your own research. We'll confirm things as we go. But there's been reports that the mom, Rebecca, went to the Big Five the night before this all happened, and that she reported that her car was broken into, and she was asking the employees if they had cameras.

• 58:02Annie Elise?

  In the parking lot. Probably, and this hasn't been verified by the police yet. But trying to basically like suss out like it's a dark corner of a parking lot. My car got broken into. Do you have cameras? No, we don't. Not in that area. Great. Clocking it. Things like that. Which is like, what a moron. Like, do you not think that they're gonna tell, like if you use that same story? Like, come on.

• 58:21Speaker 04

  And there's not a coincidence. Now you're back there the next day with this other traumatic event happening. They're gonna tie the two together.

• 58:27Annie Elise?

  Yeah.

• 58:27Speaker 04

  But, so, obviously I'm staying with you temporarily right now. And I heard in my room the other night, ranting and raving out from the living room. So I came out to you on Patreon, talking about the story. And when I re-listened to it, just because I wanted to hear what all this commotion was about. You had said that, well, who changes their baby like in a dark part of the parking lot? It's 7:47. But then I kind of felt, you know how I am, like, give them a little bit of grace. It's 7:47. It's summer. It's not dark out yet. If you were changing, I'm not a parent, but I would imagine if you're trying to change your kid, maybe you would go somewhere in privacy. And like, if it's light out, it's a parking lot of a sporting goods store, like, I didn't feel like that was completely.

• 59:12Annie Elise?

  Okay, fine. Fair.

• 59:13Speaker 04

  That suspicious. But now that she's been there the day before and accused of like, you, even if, let's just say this was a crazy coincidence, if your car was broken into in a parking lot, you're not gonna go back there the next day.

• 59:24Annie Elise?

  No, like, no, right. Um, and you're right. I did jump on Patreon because like some, and you guys who are in Patreon and know this about me, when there are cases that break, sometimes I can't wait until I'm recording. And so I just jump on a live stream on Patreon, like.

• 59:39Speaker 04

  You were heated.

• 59:40Annie Elise?

  I was heated. I was wearing my pajamas, had no wake up on. I was just like, going. So, if you want that kind of a behind the scenes access, you gotta go to Patreon. Um, no. So, again, it hasn't been confirmed, but reports that she had gone to Big Five the night before. Also. During her interview, she had, the mom had a black eye. And she says it's because this guy who came up and said, "Hola," punched her in the face and that was it. But right at the get, everybody was kind of like, "This black eye looks like it's been healing. It doesn't look fresh. That's not what a black eye would look like immediately following." Like, not only is it not big enough, but it's too, it's like too developed that quickly, things like that. And now there are reports that the mom has, there's possible video of the mom having that bruised and black eye

• 1:00:25Annie Elise?

  as early as August 3rd.

• 1:00:27Speaker 04

  Oh.

• 1:00:28Annie Elise?

  Could it be from a domestic situation with him? Was it because something happened to baby Emmanuel weeks ago? And this was part of setting the stage and like framing it up and like all of that? Who knows?

• 1:00:41Speaker 04

  Do we know the time of death or anything?

• 1:00:43Annie Elise?

  No, we don't. Well, they haven't found him. They haven't found him. So, in addition to all of this, they're no longer cooperating. The mom has removed her phone number from the missing persons flyer, which, again, and this is kind of what I went off on a rant about, I think last night actually on Instagram, is like, I don't care what kind of public hate you're getting, if my seven-month-old child was missing.

• 1:01:03Speaker 04

  No.

• 1:01:04Annie Elise?

  I don't care if people are calling me, harassing me, doing whatever. I'm not taking my number off of that missing flyer. Absolutely not. Like, certainly not. Then, there's also reports that the day of that alleged kidnapping, there was this family get-together at a park and the baby was not there. Emmanuel was not there. And again, these are all like not confirmed by police yet. It's just all these details that are coming in as we go. There's some other allegations that, and this isn't like related, but maybe, that the nephew allegedly died from fentanyl a few weeks ago. Could the baby have accidentally gotten into something? Are they trying to cover up? Like, there's just, it opens the door to a lot of questions.

• 1:01:42Annie Elise?

  And another thing that I found interesting is apparently the mom's brother reportedly is in prison right now for murder because he shot his girlfriend in the forehead when she was unconscious in the bathtub.

• 1:01:56Speaker 04

  Oh my gosh.

• 1:01:57Annie Elise?

  So it kind of just like shows you this horrible history with all of these people involved, right? Um, now, obviously Emmanuel has not been found yet. They have not officially named the parents as suspects, but it's not looking good. They have said that like publicly, the police have said there are a lot of inconsistencies. And through this investigation, their other two-year-old child has been removed from their custody. So obviously, the authorities are thinking that they are a danger to the other child and like that there's something going on here. Another interesting note is that a nonprofit organization called the Uvalde Foundation for Kids initially had offered to help in this search, and they offered a $5,000 reward, but they now have withdrawn that reward.

• 1:02:40Annie Elise?

  In a statement to the news, they said, "We cannot in good conscience utilize our team and resources when so much is missing in this case. Of particular concern to us lies within the inconsistencies in the details and the sudden decision by the mother to end communication with law enforcement and our team who was originally prepared to help. Tell me, what parent would do that who was missing a child? Something is not right in this whole picture. We hope law enforcement will continue to pursue the case so that this precious child may be found and placed in a safe environment." And it's my opinion that this is going to be a recovery, not a rescue. I think that he is probably buried somewhere, nowhere near the home in Cabzon.

• 1:03:20Annie Elise?

  I know there were some reports that maybe they were in Beaumont at one point and like had been seen weeks ago. So like, I think it's going to be, I, I hope a quick search and, and recovery, but I would imagine it might take some time because I don't think that this happened on the fly. And there's a lot of parallels. I don't know if you're familiar with the Orin and Orson West case that happened in Bakersfield back in 2020. There are a lot of parallels with this, even with the interview. And I, I had like deep dived into that case. I have probably done 20 videos on that case and like the body language, them saying the kids were rambunctious, this and that. And we already know the father has this history of cruelty against a child. And like, if Emmanuel is special needs, if that is what is happening.

• 1:04:03Annie Elise?

  Maybe there was frustration there and he and they weren't, obviously they're not cut out to be caretakers, right? I mean, look at the past history and charges. But I found this interesting too. A friend of mine had texted me last night saying, how do they not have any forward facing pictures of Emmanuel? Everything is from the side. Everything is a profile picture. And part of me thinks whether he was special needs, or whether he had a lazy eye, or is cross-eyed, or shaken baby syndrome, whatever it is, part of me thinks that if they were so ashamed of that, that they would not have taken any forward facing photos of him, only side views because it's kind of masked in that way. You can't really see everything. And all the photos we've seen of him, for the most part,

• 1:04:45Annie Elise?

  are side, which that's just like heartbreaking in and of itself, right? So like I said, breaking all the time, new updates every day. I'm gonna end up doing a huge deep dive into this because I'm like fricking in it.

• 1:04:56Speaker 04

  I know, I have so many questions.

• 1:04:58Annie Elise?

  I know, I wanna like drive down to U Kip and like boots on the ground, figure out what the hell's going on. Cause that's like, what, an hour and a half from here, two hours from here?

• 1:05:06Speaker 04

  Well, and I'm just wondering what his ex-wife is, would say, and yeah, how much Rebecca knew going into it? And if she is part of this, if she's not?

• 1:05:16Annie Elise?

  Well, and what I wanna know, and the older children.

• 1:05:18Speaker 04

  Like, is she a victim also?

• 1:05:20Annie Elise?

  Right. Well, and what I would wanna know, which the older children, I think, could for sure answer this, is when is the last time anyone had eyes on Emmanuel?

• 1:05:29Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 1:05:29Annie Elise?

  And to your point, is Rebecca a victim in all this? And just helping with the cover up because she's scared of him? Or is she complicit in this? Like, is the black eye part of selling the story? Or is it from previous incidents? A lot of questions. So like I said, things are breaking all the time in this case. And as of now too, there's reports that Emmanuel has not been seen for a month. That the last time any family members had eyes on him was a month ago. And this is something that I think, again, is really important because there are older children in the home. So I would imagine that the police have talked to them and interviewed them and all of the things. So when is the last time someone physically had eyes on Emmanuel, other than Rebecca and Jake?

• 1:06:13Annie Elise?

  Late on Tuesday night, the house next door to their house caught fire. It was set on fire, I believe, by two homeless people. I don't know if it was intentionally done because they thought that that was the Harrow home or what the cause was, but that's an interesting little, you know, tidbit of information. There also have been reports out there that baby clothing has been found in a dumpster in Cabzon, where the family lives. Now, there's speculation that it's tied to Emmanuel. The police have not confirmed that, but it's just, as I said, information coming out all the time. And going back to that 2018 incident with his 10-week-old daughter, I got some more information that I just want to share because, as I said,

• 1:06:53Annie Elise?

  information is literally coming in as we're recording and as this is happening. And Vanessa, his ex-wife, her cousin actually adopted their 10-week-old little girl. And her name is out there on social media, but I'm still gonna just refer to her as Jane Doe because I feel like, you know, her privacy should be protected. But Vanessa's cousin had adopted her. And, look, when I tell you this poor little girl, she was born healthy. Let me start there. Vanessa reportedly did drink when she was pregnant, but this little girl was born healthy. However, because of those injuries inflicted on her, from birth to 10 weeks old, when she was then

• 1:07:33Annie Elise?

  put in critical condition in the hospital, she now, years later, is allegedly blind. She has a trach, she's wheelchair-bound, and it is just awful. There's another boy, too, who was Jake's other son, named Jake Jr., I believe, or Jake II, who has now been renamed, who was also adopted by Vanessa's cousin. And he allegedly was born with fetal alcohol syndrome because Vanessa's a drinker and like, it just dead beats all around. And as I mentioned, Rebecca and Jake's, the two-year-old child that was in the home, has been removed since this whole investigation broke. Rumor has it, and I haven't been able to confirm this entirely,

• 1:08:13Annie Elise?

  but I have heard that that boy is also now under the care of Vanessa's cousin. Which, it's like, what a saint this cousin is, right? Taking in all of these children who- Were harmed at the hands of your family member and your family member's ex-husband. It's just horrific. And when I went on News Nation the other night with Ashley Banfield, right after my segment, the Jake's attorney actually joined. And let me just tell you, this guy is like a sleaze ball and a half. And what I thought was so interesting is he kept saying, I don't represent Rebecca. I only represent Jake. So in my mind, I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no. The writing is on the wall here. If you're not representing both of them,

• 1:08:55Annie Elise?

  Jake's gonna turn on Rebecca. He's gonna blame her for this whole thing, just like he tried to blame Vanessa for the whole thing with the 10-week-old daughter. Because tell me in what world, I mean, right now, if Jeremiah, my husband, and I were under investigation and we hired a lawyer, you better damn well know that that lawyer would be representing both of us. Or at the very least, if we had to for some reason have separate representation, he would say, like, oh, well, I'm not representing Annie. You can talk to her lawyer for that. But like, something is shady here. So I believe, you know, history has a way of repeating itself. I believe Jake is going to put this whole thing on Rebecca. Mark my word. And so anyway, yeah,

• 1:09:36Annie Elise?

  that attorney was on. He's a sleaze ball. He also did confirm that the two-year-old is no longer in the home. And it's just sick. The whole thing is sick. So we will continue following this, and I will be bringing you all of the details. But until they find a body, it's very difficult to have charges without a body. It's not impossible, but it's difficult. So I hope that they do find him soon. And while I wish and pray that they would find him alive and safe, I just don't think that that's the outcome we're gonna have. So we'll keep researching it. I'll give you guys a deep dive in the future. And obviously, I'll let you know as literally the moment I hear something on Patreon, I'll let you guys all know too. But that's what we've got this week. I know it was a longer episode than usual, but I appreciate you guys being

• 1:10:19Annie Elise?

  here. As a reminder, the new merch is out, limited quantities. You can get that now at annieelise.com. You can grab your tour tickets for next week, Nashville, Raleigh, Atlanta, the following leg is gonna be Houston, Austin, Dallas, Venus. All the things, um, but you can meet Amy there in person. She's goes with me out on tour too. She runs the show, quite literally. She like right in the booth and then she's with us in the meet and greets and all that. But thank you guys so much for tuning into another episode of Headline Highlights. Curious to know how you like having guests on here. I feel like it's nice to just like

• 1:10:51Speaker 04

  Thanks for having me.

• 1:10:52Annie Elise?

  Yeah, I loved it. I feel like it's so nice to like, we talk about these things off camera. So like, well, why not talk about it on camera, right? Uh, but yeah, thank you guys so much for joining. As I always say, be nice, don't kill people, be a good human, don't decapitate anyone and I'll be back with you guys on Monday with an all new deep dive. So until then, stay safe and we'll talk soon. All right. Bye.

• 1:11:14Speaker 04

  Bye.

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