Case 331: Girl Meat Hunter

In 2010, a user known as Girl Meat Hunter joined The Fetish Network, a website where people with extreme sexual fetishes could connect and interact. On their profile, Girl Meat Hunter described their interests as the “easy A. B. C” – Abduction, Bondage, and Cannibalism. What was only meant to be an online safe space for creative roleplay soon took a dark turn, as Girl Meat Hunter’s deadly desires began to blur the line between fantasy and reality. --- Narration – Anonymous Host https://www.instagram.com/caseys.snaps/ Research & writing – Milly Raso Creative direction – Milly Raso Production & music – Mike Migas http://mikemigas.com/ Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/casefile-true-crime/id998568017?ign-itscg=30200S&ign-itsct=casefile_podcastsSpotify Premium https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/9gSwcv7USsbPatreon https://www.patreon.com/casefileFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-331-girl-meat-hunter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• 2:52Speaker 00

  In 2009, with the help of two others, Russian national Sergey Morankov co-founded a website called The Dark Fetish Network. The trio had identified a niche market of people with sexual fetishes and fantasies outside the mainstream, and they set out to create a social media platform where those individuals could connect and interact. It was essentially a clone of Facebook, featuring personalised profiles, public chats, private messages, groups, and the ability to publish photo albums. Sergey took on the role of webmaster, overseeing the administrative side of the website and providing technical support.

• 3:35Speaker 00

  He also wrote all of the descriptive text on the site’s homepage. About a quarter of the way down, under the heading “Welcome to the Dark Fetish Network”, Sergey had written:

• 3:50Speaker 00

  “Welcome to the social network where you won’t feel like an outcast because of your dark fetish. Why? Because this place is created by people like you for people like you. So feel free to look around, meet some crazy, in a good way, people, and become part of our growing adults-only, 18+ community.”

• 4:14Speaker 00

  The welcome message ended with a disclaimer: “Please also remember that this place is about fantasies only, so play safe.”

• 4:48Speaker 00

  Para utilizar todas las características del sitio, los espectadores de la red Dark Fetish tuvieron que inscribirse para ser miembros. Todo lo que necesitaban era una dirección de correo y un nombre de usuario. A diferencia de otros sitios web que tenían temas similares como FatLife, que tenía casi 2 millones de usuarios en todo el mundo, la red Dark Fetish acumuló una comunidad mucho más pequeña, de alrededor de 38.000 miembros. Una vez registrados, los miembros podían crear un perfil personalizado que podía ser visto por otros usuarios. Fartearlo era opcional, pero hacerlo se consideraba esencial si querías conectarte fácilmente con personas de ideas similares.

• 5:30Speaker 00

  Un perfil fue dividido en tres secciones principales. La primera sección cubrió información personal básica, incluyendo los nombres de origen, país de origen, género y edad de los miembros. La segunda sección, titulada “Sobre mí”, permitió a los miembros escribir resumos autobiográficos sobre sí mismos. La tercera y más importante sección, titulada “Sobre mi fetish” donde los miembros podían describir sus preferencias sexuales. La red Dark Fetish abarcó todos los tipos de fetiches. El más popular era la asfixia sexual, pero otros comunes que aparecían en el sitio incluían bondage,

• 6:11Speaker 00

  voyeurismo, exhibiciónismo, humillación y objecificación. Había fetiches centrados en el cuerpo, centrados en los pies, el estómago y el pelo, y otros involucrando temas supernaturales o míticos. En el extremo extremo del espectro, había fetiches pertenecientes a excremento, tortura, vóruo, necrofilia y cannibalismo.

• 6:35Speaker 00

  Users interacted through consensual role-play scenarios, following storylines they devised and assuming roles much like actors in a movie. For site co-creator Sergey Morenkov, the fantasy aspect of the Dark Fetish Network was paramount. He claimed to terminate the accounts of anyone who violated the site’s terms of service, including those engaging in conversations that, in his words, “could have led to something bad.” Sergey stressed that the fantasies discussed on his site should never spill over into real-world criminal activity.

• 7:18Speaker 00

  In 2010, a new member joined the Dark Fetish Network under the username #GirlMeatHunter. While he withheld any identifying details, his profile revealed that he was a man from the United States. His profile picture depicted a woman with a large red apple stuffed in her mouth, accompanied by the quote: “Tonight, my dear, you are the main course.”

• 7:46Speaker 00

  In the “About My Fetish” section, #GirlMeatHunter listed what he called “the easy ABCs: abduction, bondage, and cannibalism.” While others enjoyed fantasies of women willingly submitting to torture, death, or being eaten, #GirlMeatHunter dismissed consent, saying it “ruined the whole thing.” “I am a little different,” he wrote. “I am a little more sadistic. I would want her to suffer. I would want to see her suffer.”

• 8:21Speaker 00

  Not long after signing up to the Dark Fetish Network, #GirlMeatHunter followed a trend that had unfolded on the site by uploading a photo album titled “What Would You Do With Her?” The trend involved users compiling photos of women they claimed to know in real life, typically lifted from their social media accounts. Other members then commented on the photos, reflecting their own sexual fetishes. For example, those interested in BDSM might write about hogtying the women and forcing submission, while those drawn to sleep play might describe drugging the women and engaging with their unconscious bodies.

• 9:04Speaker 00

  One Friday, Girlmate Hunter uploaded images of ten different women, labelling them “Girl #1”, “Girl #2” and so on. By the time Girlmate Hunter logged back in on Sunday night, his album had received approximately fifty comments.

• 9:24Speaker 00

  Out of courtesy, most of the comments were tailored to indulge his passion for bondage and cannibalism.

• 9:31Speaker 00

  “Damn, she looks tender”, one user wrote. Another left a comment urging rape and mutilation. Delighted, Girlmate Hunter referred to the women as “extremely rapeable”, outlining how he wanted to tie them down and assault them, before escalating into the more macabre.

• 9:55Speaker 00

  He said he would “truss” one up like a turkey and place her into an oven while she was still alive. Once dead, he would “butcher” her body, “cook the meat” and “ “The sounds of her screams will be the sweetest music to my ears.”

• 10:15Speaker 00

  By January 2011, Girlmate Hunter was well-known on the Dark Fetish Network for his group chat contributions and for sharing large amounts of hardcore pornography, though his real-world identity remained hidden.

• 10:31Speaker 00

  Whenever users praised his posts or shared an interest in his fetishes, he reached out to them privately. Over time, he established a close-knit circle of around twenty people with whom he kept a regular contact, some more frequently than others.

• 10:49Speaker 00

  Their conversations were far from casual small-talk. “Hey, got some time to play around a bit?” they asked one another, before beginning or continuing a role-play scenario. Others enjoyed role-playing with Girlmate Hunter because he was a decent writer. He also catered to their fetishes rather than focusing solely on his own, crafting in-depth stories that spanned a wide range of kinks, even after his own needs were met.

• 11:20Speaker 00

  If Girlmate Hunter wasn’t satisfied with how things were progressing with a role-play partner, he abandoned them.

• 11:28Speaker 00

  Meticulous and detailed-oriented, he preferred partners who were equally graphic and explicit. Scenarios couldn’t be rushed. They could last weeks, with roleplay sessions lasting for several hours at a time. While he wasn’t online every night, he typically appeared three or four times a week, and sometimes throughout the day. GirlMeatHunter was often invited to roleplay as the captor of fictitious women in peril, but those scenarios didn’t excite him. What aroused him were fantasies involving the ten women he allegedly knew in real life.

• 12:09Speaker 00

  He continued to share their photos online, along with their names, ages, physical descriptions, occupations, and relationship statuses.

• 12:20Speaker 00

  He imagined them chloroformed and kidnapped, stripped naked, bound, and displayed on a platter with an apple in their mouths.

• 12:29Speaker 00

  He fantasized about slit throats, decapitations, and making bacon strips from belly flesh. When a user asked if he would ever actually eat human flesh if the chance presented itself in real life, GirlMeatHunter bluntly replied: “Yes.” Over time, his fantasies grew to include almost 100 women, each one described as someone he longed to kidnap and cook.

• 12:59Speaker 00

  One of the downsides of the Dark Fetish Network was that it could be slow to load. Eventually, GirlMeatHunter and his core group of roleplayers shifted their conversations to Yahoo Messenger. The free platform offered features the Dark Fetish Network it didn’t, including instant messaging, file sharing, and the ability to see when others were online. While GirlMeatHunter remained active on the Dark Fetish Network, if he connected with a roleplayer he particularly enjoyed, he shared his Yahoo Messenger handle to continue the scenario there instead. While he used multiple usernames across different websites, for the sake of clarity,

• 13:43Speaker 00

  Casefile will refer to him exclusively as GirlMeatHunter.

• 13:49Speaker 00

  Around June 2012, about two years into Girlmate Hunter's online presence, he began receiving messages from a member of the Dark Fetish Network named Meat Market Man. Based in England, the only other thing Girlmate Hunter knew about him was that they shared a mutual lust for cannibalism. Meat Market Man claimed he had killed and eaten two women in real life. Their conversations soon moved to Yahoo Messenger, where Meat Market Man went by the name Moody Blues.

• 14:24Speaker 00

  The two chatted almost non-stop and often late into the night. By July, their conversations had taken on a more purposeful tone, as they began plotting ways to make their fantasies a reality. Moody Blues assumed a mentor-like role, helping brainstorm methods to torment Girlmate Hunter's intended victims. In one exchange, Girlmate Hunter described a softball player he knew as “the most desirable piece of meat I’ve ever met”. Moody Blues suggested knocking her out with a baseball bat, calling it poetic justice.

• 15:06Speaker 00

  In another conversation, Girlmate Hunter proposed that Moody Blues travel to the US so they could kidnap one of the ten women he was infatuated with. Moody Blues agreed. “How big is your oven?” he inquired. “Big enough to fit one of these girls if I folded their legs,” Girlmate Hunter replied.

• 15:30Speaker 00

  They ultimately settled on a woman named Charlotte, who Girlmate Hunter described as “one of his favorite victims”. He had fantasized about her for ten years, relishing the idea of slaughtering her and noting she had “good meat on her arms”. When Moody Blues suggested they eat Charlotte alive, Girlmate Hunter replied: “I’m not really into raw meat.”

• 15:58Speaker 00

  The men proceeded to discuss staging a cookout with Charlotte as the main course.

• 16:08Speaker 00

  "I have a place up in the mountains," Girlmate Hunter wrote. "No one around for three-quarters of a mile. Maybe we'll tie her to the rotisserie and cook her outside." Moody Blues questioned how they would get Charlotte over the fire, noting that a spit would kill her quickly. He suggested she be confined in some kind of cage instead.

• 16:32Speaker 00

  Girlmate Hunter considered securing her body to an apparatus and cooking her slowly over a low flame, deliberately keeping her alive for as long as possible.

• 16:43Speaker 00

  He said he was in the process of building a pulley system in his basement to hang victims by their feet. "That's where she will be held captive and raped," he explained, adding that once Charlotte was dead, she'd be taken down and properly butchered before being put in the oven.

• 17:03Speaker 00

  Moody Blues noted that if they didn't waste any of her, they would have nearly seventy-five pounds of food. "What do you want to do with the head?" he asked. Girlmate Hunter replied that when they sat down to eat, he wanted Charlotte's head displayed as a gruesome centerpiece, fixed in her final expression of terror.

• 17:26Speaker 00

  Moody Blues expressed doubt about Girlmate Hunter's commitment, saying, "I've been let down before." Girlmate Hunter confidently explained that he had the entire event planned in his mind, though he was still working out the final details of the abduction, which needed to be flawless. He intended to show up at Charlotte's home unannounced, so she would never see it coming. He would then knock her out with chloroform and wait until dark before taking her away. When Moody Blues suggested it might be better if they targeted a stranger to avoid suspicion, Girlmate Hunter responded, "Her family is out of state",

• 18:09Speaker 00

  convinced that no one would connect him to the crime.

• 18:14Speaker 00

  As the pair continued to devise their plan, Moody Blues mentioned he had anaesthetic gases, while Girlmate Hunter would make the chloroform using a recipe he had found online. They grew giddy at the thought of Charlotte sleeping peacefully elsewhere, completely unaware of what they were preparing for her. “Her days are numbered,” Girlmate Hunter exclaimed. He intended to do a dry run, showing up unannounced in Charlotte’s neighbourhood under the pretence of a casual hello.

• 18:48Speaker 00

  Though unsure how the plan might eventually unfold, he insisted that his intention of kidnapping Charlotte and getting away with it was the absolute truth.

• 19:02Speaker 00

  On Thursday, July 19, 2012, Girlmate Hunter informed Moody Blues that he had arranged to meet Charlotte in person for brunch that coming weekend. He then emailed through a document he had prepared titled “Abducting and Cooking Charlotte: A Blueprint.” The document contained personal details about Charlotte, including her name, date of birth, height, weight and bra size.

• 19:32Speaker 00

  In a section titled “Materials Needed,” Girlmate Hunter had listed the tools required to carry out his fantasy, including his car, a plastic tarp to line the trunk, chloroform to render Charlotte unconscious, the strongest kind of rope to bind her, duct tape for gagging, plastic bags for her clothes, and a pair of cheap sneakers to wear.

• 19:57Speaker 00

  “I’ll be eyeing her from head to toe and licking my lips,” he wrote, adding that he longed for the day he could render her unconscious with chloroform. Moody Blues joked that Girlmate Hunter would be more focused on eating Charlotte than his brunch. After the weekend, Girlmate Hunter immediately messaged Moody Blues, commenting on how mouth-watering and delicious Charlotte was.

• 20:26Speaker 00

  By late August, his fixation had switched to two other women on his top-ten list: An eighteen-year-old high school senior named Lily, and another woman named Georgia. He spoke of his desire to capture and kill Georgia, saying he wanted her to absolutely suffer, and claimed it was personal. “If Georgia lived near me,” he wrote, “she would be gone by now. Even if I get caught, she would be worth it.”

• 20:58Speaker 00

  While Girlmate Hunter remained primarily dedicated to abduction, bondage, and cannibalism, he also developed a fascination with slavery scenarios, in which kidnapped women were sold to the highest bidder. Combining this new interest with his existing fetishes, he created a new photo album on the Dark Fetish Network titled “Cook Her or Sell Her.” Starting in late January 2012, he confided in another slavery fetish enthusiast known online as @mikevanhys81 about plans to also turn these fantasies into reality.

• 21:38Speaker 00

  Girlmate Hunter offered to abduct a woman off his list to sell to Mike Van Hys for $5,000. Her name was Marissa, and she was an elementary school teacher whom Girlmate Hunter knew in real life. He sent Mike Van Hys four photos of Marissa taken from her Facebook page, warning: “She is kind of feisty and no-nonsense. Not sure how soon she would submit.”

• 22:07Speaker 00

  Certain he could break Marissa in more ways than one, Mike Van Hys eagerly envisioned turning her into his slave: “S ex, maid, and otherwise.

• 22:20Speaker 00

  If she tried to escape, he would beat her. If she tried again, became pregnant, or was unfaithful, he would kill her.”

• 22:30Speaker 00

  Girlmate Hunter's tone grew grisly and mechanical as he outlined his plan to stalk Marissa. He knew she had a week off work coming up, and suggested abducting her then, as this would give him more time before anyone realised she was missing. He described rendering Marissa unconscious, placing her in a large suitcase, and wheeling it to his van to deliver to Mike Van Heysers home in New Jersey. She would remain fully dressed so that Mike could have “the pleasure of unwrapping his gift”. The pair even discussed raping Marissa together before going their separate ways.

• 23:15Speaker 00

  Girlmate Hunter demanded the full $5,000 payment upon delivery. When Mike tried to haggle, Girlmate Hunter refused to accept any less, insisting he needed the money, and emphasising the very risky nature of the job which could ruin his life if he were caught. He wrote: “I am putting my neck on the line. If something goes wrong somehow, I am in deep shit. $5,000, and you need to make sure she is not found. She will definitely make the news.” He added that he aspired to become a professional kidnapper, framing the price strictly as business.

• 23:59Speaker 00

  When Mike Van Heys expressed doubt that Girlmate Hunter was going to follow through, Girlmate Hunter replied: “I am just afraid of getting caught. If I were guaranteed to get away with it, I would do it.” When asked “Are you sure?” He answered firmly: “Definitely.”

• 24:22Speaker 00

  Then, on the night of Saturday, September 9, 2012, something unexpected happened. After two years of consistent activity on the Dark Fetish network, Girlmate Hunter abruptly closed his account. He immediately informed Moody Blues on Yahoo Messenger, who wanted to know why.

• 24:45Speaker 00

  Girlmate Hunter explained: “Less of a chance of getting caught.”

• 25:01Speaker 00

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• 28:34Speaker 00

  In mid-2012, elementary school teacher turned stay-at-home mother Jackie Valley was growing increasingly concerned about her husband's unusual behaviour.

• 28:46Speaker 00

  28-year-old Gilberto Valley, known to friends and family as Gil, had recently been spending much more time on their computer in the living room. He had always been a night owl, as he worked late and struggled to go straight to sleep. He typically stayed up for a couple of hours playing video games, watching television, or browsing the internet. But after Jackie became pregnant, his behaviour worsened. He started staying up until 3, 4, or even 5 a.m. Sometimes he wouldn't come to bed at all.

• 29:23Speaker 00

  Jackie had met Gilberto about three years earlier on a dating website. He sent the first message, and when she viewed his profile, his occupation immediately caught her eye. He was an officer with the New York Police Department. Jackie's father had been a police officer, and she thought the job sounded so cool. She replied to Gilberto, and the two arranged to meet for dinner.

• 29:51Speaker 00

  Their first date went exceptionally well. They shared laughs, enjoyed dessert, and cuddled together at the movies. The night ended with a passionate kiss and the shared sensation that something special had just begun. Things moved quickly after that. Within weeks, Jackie and Gilberto were officially a couple. A year later, they moved into a New York apartment together and got a puppy. Then, in January 2011, Jackie discovered she was pregnant.

• 30:26Speaker 00

  Gilberto's initial reaction was one of shock and uncertainty. He didn't feel they were ready. But after long discussions, he seemingly embraced the idea of becoming a father. Their daughter was born that September. Five months later, Gilberto proposed. The couple celebrated with a small but lovely wedding soon after. Life as new parents started off happily enough, but Jackie gradually felt that she and Gilberto were drifting apart. As their intimacy faded, Gilberto immersed himself deeper online.

• 31:09Speaker 00

  Whenever Jackie caught a glimpse of the computer screen, it appeared he was browsing innocuous sites like ESPN, Major League Baseball, and a message board for New York cops.

• 31:21Speaker 00

  It wasn't until Gilberto started regularly deleting his internet search history that Jackie began to suspect he was hiding something, possibly an affair. When the computer stopped working in mid-2012, Gilberto began using Jackie's laptop. He created his own account on the device, secured with a password.

• 31:45Speaker 00

  One night in August, as Gilberto slept, Jackie saw that he had forgotten to log out. At the bottom of the home screen were two small image files. She clicked on them, but the pictures wouldn't load. However, she could view the file information which revealed their source: A website called The Dark Fetish Network.

• 32:14Speaker 00

  Jackie typed the website's URL into a browser and discovered it was a pornographic forum for hardcore fetishists. Its homepage displayed a naked woman hogtied and covered in blood. To Jackie, she appeared to be dead. The discovery left her stunned.

• 32:36Speaker 00

  Gilberto was a kind, baby-faced man who some likened to a teddy bear. Sensitive, patient, and respectful, he was the perfect gentleman: Opening doors for Jackie and pulling out the chair for her at dinner. He supported the family on his single income while treating them to special joys such as Meals Out or trips to the zoo. Gilberto had never faced any misconduct complaints as a police officer, nor had he been involved in criminal activity or substance abuse. Though he and Jackie sometimes disagreed, he had never shown aggression, anger, or any inclination to harm women. A virgin when they met,

• 33:21Speaker 00

  his intimacy with Jackie had never involved anything resembling the content on The Dark Fetish Network.

• 33:30Speaker 00

  Gilberto was still asleep at 8am when Jackie tapped him on the shoulder. Nervous, she tried to meet his gaze, but couldn't quite manage it. She told him he had left his account open on her computer. She hadn't meant to pry, but when she clicked on an image, it took her to a website showing a woman tied up.

• 33:55Speaker 00

  Jackie's tone wasn't angry or accusatory, yet Gilberto looked frightened. He quickly apologised, insisting he hadn't meant for her to see it, and explaining that it was nothing. Sometimes, after late shifts, he said he came home wound up, and instead of waking Jackie, he watched pornography instead. Most of it was normal stuff, though occasionally he looked at bondage content.

• 34:24Speaker 00

  Jackie relaxed slightly. She told Gilberto she understood, and even suggested they experiment together as a way to reconnect. She proposed that he stop by a sex shop the next day to pick up a few items for them to try.

• 34:41Speaker 00

  Gilberto seemed both relieved and enthusiastic. For Jackie, the exchange offered a flicker of hope, the first since before her pregnancy. She later recalled: "I thought maybe we had a breakthrough, that we were communicating, that he was going to be honest and talk to me."

• 35:05Speaker 00

  Despite Jackie's optimism, the discovery changed both her and Gilberto irrevocably.

• 35:12Speaker 00

  Jackie couldn't stop thinking about what she'd seen, while Gilberto seemed increasingly suspicious of everything Jackie did. Overcome with a growing sense of dread and feeling she had no choice, on Sunday, September 10, 2012, Jackie installed Spyware on her laptop. The programme recorded every keystroke, tracked every website visited, captured screenshots every five minutes, and monitored all emails sent and received.

• 35:44Speaker 00

  The spyware revealed that Gilberto was still secretly visiting fetish websites. Jackie later reflected: "I know S&M is kind of popular, like Fifty Shades of Grey, but this seemed different."

• 36:02Speaker 00

  When she came across images of feet detached from bodies, Jackie realised her husband's interests went far beyond just bondage content.

• 36:13Speaker 00

  The following morning, Jackie once again tapped the shoulder of the sleeping Gilberto, waking him. "I logged into the computer just now," she immediately told him, "and I saw everything." Gilberto tried to feign ignorance, but Jackie laughed sarcastically. "Oh, so you're going to deny it?" When he tried to speak, Jackie cut him off. "Cook women, grill them, that's what we are to you."

• 36:46Speaker 00

  She said she intended to take their baby and get away for a while. Desperate, Gilberto pleaded: "Jackie, what you saw is not who I am."

• 36:58Speaker 00

  He professed his love for Jackie, insisting she knew him, while apologising and begging her not to leave. Tears streaming down her face, Jackie went to the bedroom and began packing. Once she had calmed down slightly, she told the anguish to Gilberto: "I'm just a little freaked out, I need to get away."

• 37:23Speaker 00

  She gathered their daughter and left for the airport, heading to her parents' home interstate.

• 37:30Speaker 00

  In shock and grappling with a whirlwind of emotions, Jackie sent a text to Gilberto shortly after leaving that said: "I do love you."

• 37:42Speaker 00

  Later, she messaged him again, saying that she wasn't giving up and that they would work through this together. Jackie suggested he schedule a couples' therapy appointment in a few weeks. "Sounds great," Gilberto replied. "I'm happy to hear that. When you come back, we start over. That's it. I never want to see you like that again, and I won't let it happen again."

• 38:13Speaker 00

  Jackie had taken her laptop with her. Days later, she logged into the spyware programme again to further inspect the data it had collected. Among the screenshots, she noticed an unfamiliar Yahoo email address. Curious, she went to Yahoo's website and entered the sign-in details. Although she didn't know the password, she tried one that she and Gilberto used for everything else.

• 38:43Speaker 00

  It worked. Jackie was confronted with thousands of disturbing messages and images Gilberto had sent under the alias of Girl Meat Hunter and others. The lurid messages detailed his desires and plans to abduct, rape, kill and eat women. Even more horrifying, his targets included ten women they both knew in real life, whose photos he had taken from their Facebook pages and shared online. Among them was an old friend from Jackie's workplace, Gilberto's supervisor at the precinct, his high school crush, an eighteen-year-old graduate from his former high school, and several of his college friends.

• 39:30Speaker 00

  Overcome with equal parts repulsion and terror, Jackie clicked on the inbox's search bar and typed in "Jackie". There were countless hits. In messages from early 2012, Gilberto had corresponded with someone using the name Ali Khan. Ali said he had been banned from the Dark Fetish Network for trying to turn his fantasies of buying and killing women into reality. This piqued Gilberto's interest, given his growing fascination with the idea of selling women. The two men quickly struck up an online friendship.

• 40:13Speaker 00

  Gilberto suggested taking his wife on a trip to India where they could meet with Ali Khan. The two men would then take turns raping Jackie before Gilberto planned to hang her by her feet and slit her throat, then cook and consume her remains. He shared a photo of Jackie in a bikini noting that she had a lot of meat on various parts of her body. Ali Khan said he would enjoy watching her blood gush, adding that if she cried, they should show no mercy.

• 40:48Speaker 00

  Gilberto replied: "It's okay, we will just gag her."

• 40:54Speaker 00

  For Gilberto, the live cooking of Jackie was solely for his own entertainment and her suffering. He said he wanted Jackie to experience as much pain as possible through her ordeal, insisting that the rape would be the easy part for her.

• 41:13Speaker 00

  Upon uncovering this horrifying information, Jackie messaged to Gilberto: "I need to know who you really are. Right now, I'm betrayed and terrified. I need the truth about everything."

• 41:29Speaker 00

  She asked whether he had ever shared pictures of her or their daughter on the websites he frequented or in the emails he sent.

• 41:38Speaker 00

  Gilberto replied: "Absolutely not, I promise."

• 41:44Speaker 00

  Jackie knew Gilberto was lying. While she hadn't found any pictures of their now one-year-old daughter in his correspondence, he had shared plenty of images of her and much more. In an email titled "Fourth of July Menu", Gilberto listed the personal details, physical descriptions, and photos of several women he knew.

• 42:10Speaker 00

  Woman number six was described as 26 years old, 5'7" tall, weighing 150 to 160 pounds, married, and with a baby daughter.

• 42:23Speaker 00

  The name given was Jackie, and the accompanying photo was of her.

• 42:30Speaker 00

  Gilberto asked Jackie when she would be coming back, but she refused to answer. Instead, she demanded that he be completely honest. Gradually, he began to confess everything.

• 42:48Speaker 00

  By Wednesday, October 24, 2012, Jackie had been gone for six weeks. Gilberto had the day off from work and was alone in their New Yorker apartment watching a movie when around 2pm, a knock sounded at the door. He didn't move. He wasn't expecting anyone and was not in the mood for visitors. The knocking eventually stopped, but minutes later, his cellphone lit up with a call from unknown. He ignored it, only for the phone to ring again five minutes later. This time, he answered.

• 43:30Speaker 00

  A male voice asked, "Hello, is this Officer Valley?" "Yes," Gilberto replied, "who's this?" The caller identified himself as a police officer from the 112th precinct. He explained that Gilberto's parked car had just been hit and suffered pretty bad damage.

• 43:53Speaker 00

  He asked Gilberto to come outside so they could file a report.

• 43:58Speaker 00

  Gilberto got dressed, holstered his work-issued handgun, and headed for the door.

• 44:05Speaker 00

  Gilberto stepped into the hallway. As he rounded the corner toward the stairwell, he was met by six police officers with their guns trained on him. "Put your hands up," one ordered.

• 44:20Speaker 00

  Gilberto raised his hands, protesting that it was all a misunderstanding. Within moments, his wrists were cuffed behind his back and his service weapon taken. Among the officers stood an FBI agent named Anthony Photo.

• 44:38Speaker 00

  "Everything is going to be alright," Agent Photo told him. Gilberto shook his head and said, "I don't think so."

• 44:52Speaker 00

  Gilberto Valley was taken into custody and placed in an interview room with Agent Photo, who explained that this was Gilberto’s one chance to get ahead in the game by sharing his side of the story. Gilberto declined the offer of a lawyer and began speaking. He started, quite literally, from the very beginning: his childhood. Gilberto grew up in a quiet, uneventful neighbourhood in New York. He was well-liked in school, had plenty of friends, earned good grades and stood out as a talented baseball player. The only shadow over his childhood was his parents’ troubled marriage.

• 45:35Speaker 00

  They argued often, and when they weren’t fighting, they tended to ignore each other. By the time Gilberto was five, his parents had separated. Both remained devoted to him, with his father pushing him to work hard and aim high, while his mother nurtured his kindness, generosity and love for animals. In 2002, Gilberto left for college, where he shared an apartment with three roommates. He threw himself into campus life, parties and social activities. Midway through his senior year, he decided to pursue a career in law enforcement.

• 46:17Speaker 00

  He passed the admission test with ease and completed the 1600-question-long multiple-choice psychological evaluation, probing everything from racial attitudes to finances, relationships and even bedwetting. Gilberto claimed he answered truthfully and no red flags were raised. He then completed a 30-minute face-to-face examination with a psychologist, covering his upbringing, relationships, education and lifestyle. The only issue he had admitted to was trying cannabis three times. He was cleared to begin training and progressed smoothly through the academy.

• 47:00Speaker 00

  His first posting was to one of New York’s most violent precincts, but he handled the pressure well and found it less intimidating than expected.

• 47:09Speaker 00

  Afterward, he was reassigned to the quieter 26th Precinct, where he still worked six years later.

• 47:18Speaker 00

  Gilberto loved his job, but the long irregular hours made it difficult to maintain a social life. When a colleague suggested online dating, Gilberto decided to give it a try. He met Jackie, became a father, got married, and settled into family life.

• 47:38Speaker 00

  Telling all this to FBI Agent Anthony Foto, Gilberto said he had nothing more to add.

• 47:49Speaker 00

  Agent Foto was incredulous. He knew of some very serious allegations against Gilberto that were deliberately omitted from his otherwise flawless backstory. Determined to uncover the truth, Foto spent the next two hours questioning Gilberto about the Dark Fetish Network, Girl Meat Hunter, and the ten women at the centre of it all.

• 48:15Speaker 00

  Gilberto admitted to everything, though he struggled to explain why he did it. He claimed he didn't particularly enjoy the experience, and acknowledged that it was destroying his personal life. The long nights in front of the computer left him exhausted, created distance and suspicion in his marriage, and eroded any desire for intimacy with his wife.

• 48:40Speaker 00

  Recognizing his online life was beginning to damage his real one, Gilberto said he'd started taking steps to change.

• 48:49Speaker 00

  In what he insisted was pure coincidence, the night before Jackie uncovered everything, he logged into the Dark Fetish Network for the last time and permanently deleted his account.

• 49:02Speaker 00

  Gilberto was resolute that while his online conversations about harming women might have sounded realistic, they were nothing more than make-believe sexual role-play. He was adamant that he had never hurt anyone, and that no one was ever in any real danger. Despite the thousands of gruesome messages in which he discussed the abduction, rape, and murder of several particular women, all of them were found safe and completely unaware of Gilberto’s online activities. Many hadn’t spoken to or thought about him in years. Others maintained only casual contact, exchanging birthday wishes or brief life updates.

• 49:48Speaker 00

  The 18-year-old on Gilberto’s list didn’t even know him.

• 49:54Speaker 00

  It seemed Gilberto was telling the truth, that everything he did was confined to cyberspace. At least, that’s what he said.

• 50:12Speaker 00

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• 52:16Speaker 00

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• 52:30Speaker 00

  During his interview with Gilberto Valley, Agent Anthony Foto revealed that the FBI had made a major discovery in their investigation of Girl Meat Hunter. One of the women on his list was a New York resident named Marissa. She was an old friend and former colleague of Jackie Valley from when she worked as an elementary school teacher. Online, Gilberto had schemed to abduct and sell Marissa to a user he interacted with, known as Micah Van Heiser 81.

• 53:05Speaker 00

  On Thursday, March 1, 2012, the day after a round of these discussions, the GPS in Gilberto’s cellphone traced him to the block where Marissa lived. The implication was chilling. Gilberto hadn’t merely fantasized about stalking women, but had seemingly carried out the behaviour in the real world. He insisted it was a coincidence or misunderstanding, but struggled to offer a fully credible explanation as to why he had been in the area. This discovery led to Gilberto’s first chargeable offence: conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

• 53:46Speaker 00

  Yet, that wasn’t the only piece of evidence authorities found that suggested Gilberto had taken steps to turn his fantasies into reality. While on duty, Gilberto had access to a restricted law enforcement database containing sensitive information such as individuals’ addresses, dates of birth, licence plate numbers, and other personal details.

• 54:10Speaker 00

  Officers were permitted to use it strictly for official police work. Records showed Gilberto had conducted unauthorised searches on multiple women from his list during his time as girlmate hunter.

• 54:25Speaker 00

  This discovery led to Gilberto’s second and final charge: unauthorised access to a law enforcement database. On the conspiracy charge alone, he was facing a potential life sentence.

• 54:42Speaker 00

  Gilberto was denied bail and remained in prison until his trial began nearly four months later, in February 2013. By then, the case had become a headline staple, with the horrific and grotesque nature of Gilberto’s online messages filling tabloid pages.

• 55:02Speaker 00

  The idea that an apparently normal, functioning member of society spent his nights talking about slitting women’s throats and roasting them alive was made even more frightening by the fact that he was an active police officer, sworn to protect the community.

• 55:20Speaker 00

  Dubbed by the media as “The Cannibal Cop”, Gilberto was likened to the fictional cannibalistic serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter from the horror thriller novel “The Silence of the Lambs”. Even more damning were comparisons to real-life serial killers, including the infamous Milwaukee cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer, who murdered seventeen men and boys and, like Gilberto, harbored disturbing fascinations with human flesh. For that reason, Gilberto was widely perceived as a deviant monster and a danger to society. That was, right up until his trial began.

• 56:05Speaker 00

  As Gilberto’s trial date loomed, the evidence supporting his charge of conspiracy to commit kidnapping weakened. The police had initially claimed that GPS data placed Gilberto on the same block as the home of one of his intended victims, but this was then reduced to “in the vicinity”, and later to being “within five hundred yards”.

• 56:29Speaker 00

  Finally, the morning that Gilberto’s trial was set to begin, the prosecution conceded that they would not be using the GPS evidence at all.

• 56:39Speaker 00

  While the charge remained, the evidence now relied solely on the content of Gilberto’s online activity.

• 56:47Speaker 00

  “Make no mistake”, the prosecution asserted, “Gilberto Valley was very serious about these plans”.

• 56:56Speaker 00

  They contended that Google searches he had carried out demonstrated intent.

• 57:02Speaker 00

  Gilberto had searched for such things as: how to make homemade chloroform, the best rope to tie someone up with, the world’s largest baking dish, and even how to prepare human meat. He had even searched “how to kidnap someone”. The prosecution stated that while Gilberto might not have purchased or prepared anything by the time of his arrest, the fact that he had researched these things indicated he was taking steps toward carrying out an abduction. In their view, it was fortunate that law enforcement intervened before anything could be carried out.

• 57:42Speaker 00

  Yet, it was the absence of any physical evidence that formed the crux of the defence's case. They posited that Gilberto was being accused of a crime he didn't commit. Searches of his apartment, car and work locker uncovered nothing of importance. According to his own so-called blueprints for abductions, he lacked the tools and materials necessary to execute his plans. He had no rope, duct tape or tarps, no chloroform ingredients and no payments from wannabe slave owners. Contrary to Gilberto's claims, he didn't have a van to transport victims,

• 58:23Speaker 00

  a remote house in the mountains to hold captives, or a large enough oven to fit a person. The basement of his apartment complex contained a communal laundry room, not the pulley system he said he was constructing to restrain women.

• 58:40Speaker 00

  The defence pointed out that Gilberto might have thought about it, he might have talked about it, but he hadn't done anything offline that demonstrated actionable intent to kidnap anybody. While acknowledging that Gilberto's online writings were scary and the stuff of horror movies, the defence maintained that it was pure fiction, pretend. They argued that if having disturbing thoughts or writing violent content were a crime, then horror movie directors and author Stephen King would be in prison.

• 59:18Speaker 00

  In the lead-up to his trial, Gilberto Valle was interviewed by Dr. Park Dietz, a world-renowned forensic psychologist and criminologist, who had provided expert opinions in numerous high-profile cases, including that of real-life cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer. Gilberto told Dr. Dietz that once he reached puberty, he immediately sensed he was different from the other boys. He discovered that he was turned on by bondage and sadomasochism, a sexual practice in which pleasure is derived from inflicting or receiving pain and humiliation. There was nothing in particular that led to these feelings, with Gilberto explaining: "It was just there."

• 1:00:05Speaker 00

  He didn't worry about it, as it was just something in his head that no one else knew about.

• 1:00:11Speaker 00

  In every other respect, he considered himself a normal, successful, and good person.

• 1:00:18Speaker 00

  In the late 1990s, Gilberto went online for the first time, describing it as "love at first sight." Over time, he discovered instant messaging and realized he could chat with strangers pretending to be anyone he wanted.

• 1:00:35Speaker 00

  He also came across pornography, including images of women in bondage. While these images weren't particularly violent or graphic, his desires grew. He explored more websites and increasingly diverse and taboo fetishes. He first encountered cannibal-related pornography in college. One site led to another, until he found the Dark Fetish Network.

• 1:01:03Speaker 00

  Gilberto explained that the "weird stuff" took over when he was at the computer, but he never brought his sinister thoughts into his daily life, nor did he ever experiment with his fetishes or speak about them to others.

• 1:01:19Speaker 00

  Although he enjoyed fantasizing about brutal scenarios involving women, Gilberto insisted he had no desire to harm them in real life. He didn't fear any real-world consequences, saying: "Why would I? I wasn't doing anything illegal."

• 1:01:38Speaker 00

  Gilberto claimed that his time as Girlmate Hunter on the Dark Fetish Network was a safe and contained way to explore his fetishes with like-minded people, not to plan crimes, adding: “They are called fantasies for a reason.” In his report on Gilberto Valle, Dr. Parker Dietz stated that, in his opinion, “Girlmate Hunter was a role only, an exercise in sexual imagination and collaborative creative writing,” and that there was “no reliable evidence to suggest that his erotic conversations could reasonably be construed as conspiratorial plans, rather than conversations that were

• 1:02:23Speaker 00

  an end in themselves.” Dr. Dietz ultimately concluded: “I found no evidence whatsoever that Mr. Valle ever harmed, or actually intended to harm, any woman.” In Gilberto’s words: “The whole thing was like this big fantasy group, like a group of guys getting together to play Dungeons and Dragons or World of Warcraft. Except in our case, we weren’t talking about rogues and mages and the spells they could cast. We were talking about kidnapping women, and sometimes, killing them too.”

• 1:03:06Speaker 00

  Examination of Gilberto’s extensive online correspondence showed that he frequently reminded those he engaged with that his messages were fiction. His profile on the Dark Fetish Network even included the disclaimer: “I like to press the envelope, but no matter what I say, it is all fantasy.” When he shared photos of women he knew in real life, he told recipients they were “for fantasy only.” When plotting the supposed abduction of Charlotte, Gilberto reminded Moody Blues: “If you’re wondering, it’s all fantasy.”

• 1:03:46Speaker 00

  Likewise, when Mike Van Heys81 asked if he would actually kidnap Marissa, Gilberto admitted he didn’t think so. “I’m just talking fantasy,” he wrote. “No matter what I say, it’s make-believe.”

• 1:04:05Speaker 00

  Gilberto had exchanged thousands of emails and instant messages with around two dozen people in which he discussed kidnapping, rape, murder and cannibalism. The FBI divided the chats into two groups, ones they felt were fake and ones that they thought were real. In 21 out of 24 of these cases, the FBI had no choice but to conclude the exchanges were clearly fictional role-play. For instance, Gilberto told others that he had a woman from his top-10 list named Amanda bound and gagged in his basement and that he planned to sell her for three-and-a-half-thousand dollars.

• 1:04:48Speaker 00

  This wasn't true at all. In fact, the only real-world event mentioned in Gilberto's fictional chats was his brunch with Charlotte. Everything else he discussed had no direct links to reality. Still, the FBI concluded that Gilberto engaged in three real exchanges aimed at conducting criminal behaviour with Moody Blues, Mike Van Heys81 and Ali Khan, targeting Charlotte, Marissa and Jackie respectively. The defence emphasised that the chats Gilberto had with these men contained the same language as the fictitious conversations, sometimes word for word.

• 1:05:32Speaker 00

  Additionally, the so-called “real chats” were filled with plenty of fictitious content as well, such as Gilberto’s claims that he had a human-sized oven and a remote house up in the mountains. During the year-long communication, none of the men involved ever took any serious steps to meet up. They never tried to uncover each other’s real identities either. Gilberto routinely lied to the others about his age, marital status, job, work-hours and where he lived. Their communication was sporadic, often with months passing between chats, causing them to forget what had previously been discussed.

• 1:06:18Speaker 00

  Although they sometimes set dates for kidnappings, Gilberto never took any action on those days. One time, he made separate plans with each of the men to abduct three different women on the same day. One was from Manhattan, one from Ohio, and the third from Pakistan. Not only did he not follow through on any of these plans, the dates passed without comment, explanation, or follow-up from the others.

• 1:06:48Speaker 00

  Gilberto even fabricated details about the women on his list. While he did give out their first names, every other detail such as their last names, addresses, occupations, and dates of birth were false.

• 1:07:04Speaker 00

  Despite repeated requests, he never provided identifying information that would allow anyone to actually find the women.

• 1:07:15Speaker 00

  The trial's first witness was Gilberto's wife, Jackie. Her appearance on the stand marked the first time the two had seen each other since Jackie left their apartment in tears after discovering Gilberto's secret life. Jackie avoided making eye contact with Gilberto as she explained how she accidentally uncovered a girl mate hunter.

• 1:07:40Speaker 00

  She also described strange behaviours Gilberto exhibited in the months leading up to the discovery. She said he became angry when she threw away an old suitcase of his, raising questions about whether it was the one he intended to use to abduct Marissa for Mike Van Heij's 81. Gilberto claimed he never got angry, or really cared about the discarded suitcase. He merely found it odd that Jackie got rid of it.

• 1:08:10Speaker 00

  She said that Gilberto encouraged her to start jogging at night, and began asking questions about her route, including where exactly she went, whether it was well lit, and if there were people around. Although there was nothing in his online communications to support it, it was speculated that Gilberto had been gathering information about his wife's movements for a co-conspirator. Gilberto said he was only ever curious to know about Jackie's jogging route to see if she was challenging herself by running up steep inclines in their neighbourhood, or sticking to flat ground. Jackie painted Gilberto as a disengaged father who rarely helped with their baby,

• 1:08:54Speaker 00

  and often appeared despondent, sighing in a way that made her feel as though she was wasting his time.

• 1:09:02Speaker 00

  Overall, she described their marriage poorly. Gilberto felt the opposite. To him, the year that they had a child and tied the knot was a good one, full of love and celebration.

• 1:09:17Speaker 00

  He said he loved his daughter, and described Jackie as his best friend. Text messages Jackie sent Gilberto throughout 2012 showed affection and care. She wrote about how much she loved him, how he made her smile, excitedly planned family activities, called him good to her, and referred to him as the best when he agreed to bring home ice cream and cookies.

• 1:09:43Speaker 00

  While Gilberto acknowledged that his computer use and hidden sexual proclivities had created some distance and a lull in intimacy, things were overall good at home, with plenty of great moments. And it wasn't until Jackie discovered girlmate Hunter that she began to view their time together differently.

• 1:10:04Speaker 00

  It was Jackie who turned Gilberto into the FBI. She handed over her laptop and authorised agents to copy its hard drive. She also gave them keys to the couple's apartment and consented to the seizure of another computer Gilberto had used before it malfunctioned. When the defence asked to meet Jackie before the trial, she snapped: "You're representing the man who wants to kill me. No, I don't want to talk to you."

• 1:10:38Speaker 00

  Jackie was the only woman on Gilberto's top ten list who had anything bad to say about him at his trial. While all the other women who Gilberto fantasized about were disturbed to learn about what he'd done, none of them reported ever feeling threatened or uneasy around him in real life.

• 1:10:57Speaker 00

  During his time as girl meets hunter, he'd stopped by one of the women's workplaces to say hello, had seen others in passing at social events, and visited another in the hospital after she had a baby. At those times, he was typically accompanied by his wife or a colleague, and nothing sinister had ever occurred. The prosecution placed significant emphasis on the brunch meeting Gilberto had with Charlotte in July. Charlotte was a former college classmate of Gilberto's who lived in Maryland. The two had kept in touch over the years, and it was Charlotte who had asked to meet up.

• 1:11:39Speaker 00

  According to Charlotte, the brunch had been pleasant and entirely normal. Gilberto had even brought his wife and daughter. In her opinion, he was a doting father who appeared to have a good relationship with Jackie. She didn't get any sense that he was plotting anything nefarious.

• 1:12:01Speaker 00

  When Gilberto returned home, he immediately rushed to his computer to message his friend Moody Blues that Charlotte looked mouth-watering. Gilberto explained this: "As much as a fantasy like this may not be normal and might be shocking to many, it is no different than if I were to see a woman I knew for lunch and told a buddy of mine, 'Man, she looked hot.'"

• 1:12:28Speaker 00

  He didn't speak with Moody Blues for a month after this exchange, at which point the pair never mentioned Charlotte again. The defense claimed that Gilberto used his wife and their friends as the objects of his fantasies because 'sexual fantasies often include those we know or find attractive', not because he actually intended to harm these specific women.

• 1:12:55Speaker 00

  As Gilberto's trial neared its conclusion, public perception of him had shifted. The prosecution's lack of concrete evidence led many to label the case a sham. Newspaper reports criticised the FBI for cherry picking statements to construct a narrative that ultimately amounted to nothing. In the eyes of many, the defence had successfully underscored the absurdity of the charges. For example, why would an experienced police officer need to Google how to kidnap someone if he were truly intent on doing so? At times, the courtroom even broke into laughter at the sheer implausibility of the evidence being presented.

• 1:13:42Speaker 00

  The second charge, unauthorised access to a law enforcement database, had also lost traction. Gilberto admitted to making unauthorised searches, calling them stupid, reckless and wrong. He said he had run many names over the years, including members of his own family.

• 1:14:02Speaker 00

  He explained that he sometimes entered a random name into the database when turning on the mobile data computer in his patrol car, just to test if the device was working. He had developed this habit after an NYPD officer was shot when approaching a suspect vehicle. The officer hadn't been able to run the licence plate beforehand because his mobile data computer wasn't working.

• 1:14:28Speaker 00

  Aside from Jackie, the only other person from Gilberto's list that he had actually looked up on the database was his high school crush, Chloe.

• 1:14:38Speaker 00

  It was found that he had only searched her name once during his time as Girlmate Hunter, but he didn't do it to gather intelligence.

• 1:14:48Speaker 00

  Chloe testified that she had reached out to Gilberto after getting into a car accident because she needed the report number. Although Gilberto wasn't technically supposed to do this, it wasn't uncommon for officers to misuse the system, and he had run Chloe's name through the database to get the number for her.

• 1:15:09Speaker 00

  The defence moved to have the case dismissed, arguing that the government had fallen far short of meeting its burden of proof. However, the judge allowed the trial to proceed in full, while underscoring one critical point to the jury.

• 1:15:27Speaker 00

  There is almost no evidence of action by Gilberto Valle beyond computer-based activities.

• 1:15:38Speaker 00

  In their closing arguments, the prosecution contended that Gilberto's fantasies were unacceptable, and that the pornography he indulged in was “not normal pornography for any human being”.

• 1:15:53Speaker 00

  They argued that the defence was attempting to convince the jury of ideas that defied common sense, including that it was acceptable for an armed police officer to go about his day making detailed plans about killing real women.

• 1:16:10Speaker 00

  In their closing statements, the defence compared the case to the 1938 CBS radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds, which was presented as a series of realistic news bulletins about a Martian invasion of Earth.

• 1:16:26Speaker 00

  Many listeners who turned in late missed the opening disclaimer that it was a dramatization, resulting in widespread panic.

• 1:16:35Speaker 00

  They also drew parallels to George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, specifically the Thought Police, whose role was not just to punish crimes, but to detect and eliminate thought crime, any thinking that contradicted the state’s ideology. The defence argued, “You can’t convict people for their thoughts, even if they’re sick.”

• 1:17:02Speaker 00

  The jury deliberated for more than two full days before returning a verdict. They found Gilberto Valle guilty of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, as well as guilty of the unauthorized use of a federal database.

• 1:17:20Speaker 00

  The decision sent shockwaves through the courtroom and beyond. Despite personal opinions of Gilberto's disturbing fantasies, the prevailing belief among the press, the public, and trial observers was that the defense would win. Instead, Gilberto received the maximum penalty: life in prison on the kidnapping conspiracy charge, along with a concurrent 12-month sentence for database misuse.

• 1:17:51Speaker 00

  Speaking to the press after the verdict, lead defense attorney Julia Gatto remarked: “Obviously, the case involved thoughts that were unusual and bizarre, and frankly, very ugly. We think that the jury just couldn't get past that.” Defense attorney Robert Baum added: “We were always worried that that thought would prevail over an objective, rational, non-emotional view of the evidence. People can be prosecuted for their thoughts and convicted, which is even sadder to think about.”

• 1:18:32Speaker 00

  One juror later spoke anonymously for the HBO documentary Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop. They said the entire jury had immediately agreed that Gilberto was guilty of the unauthorized database usage. It was the kidnapping conspiracy that required longer deliberation.

• 1:18:53Speaker 00

  While all the jurors acknowledged that Gilberto had problems, some felt more strongly than others that he was guilty of that charge. For the juror being interviewed, the fact that Gilberto had shared photos of real women he knew was what made his actions more than just fantasy. However, it was Gilberto’s discussions with Moody Blues about Charlotte that truly shifted the jury’s perception. According to the juror, his trip to Maryland to visit Charlotte, along with the document titled ‘Abducting and Cooking Charlotte: A Blueprint’, made it very real to the jury that any one of the women could have wound up a murder victim.

• 1:19:42Speaker 00

  Gilberto Valle appealed his conviction with the case heard in July 2014. In delivering his findings, the presiding judge described Gilberto’s online communications as ‘deviant, depraved, and misogynistic’, but noted that they contained “a veritable avalanche of false, fictitious, and fantastical information concerning himself and the steps he had allegedly taken to facilitate a kidnapping’.

• 1:20:14Speaker 00

  The judge ruled that, based on the evidence, it was more likely than not that all of Gilberto’s online communications about kidnapping were just fantasy role-play.

• 1:20:26Speaker 00

  His chats and emails about these topics by themselves were not enough to prove the legal elements of a conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

• 1:20:36Speaker 00

  The conspiracy charge was overturned, while the charge for unauthorized use of a federal database was upheld. By that point, Gilberto had already spent 21 months in solitary confinement due to his protective status as a former police officer. He was sentenced to time served and promptly released under the conditions of one year of probation, ongoing mental health treatment, and various restrictions, including no contact with the women involved in the case and no internet use. He remained in home confinement at his mother’s house while the prosecution pursued their own appeal.

• 1:21:19Speaker 00

  The matter was fully resolved in the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December 2015. In a two-to-one ruling, the court rejected the prosecutor's arguments and upheld Gilberto's appeal. While the decision acknowledged that fantasies of violence against women contribute to a culture of exploitation and are a massive social harm that demeans women, the court emphasized that not every harm is meant to be addressed with the federal criminal law.

• 1:21:53Speaker 00

  The Second Circuit also reversed Gilberto's unauthorized database usage conviction.

• 1:22:01Speaker 00

  Outside the courtroom, Gilberto Valley offered a formal apology to everyone who had been hurt, shocked, or offended by what he described as his infantile actions. Speaking to the women involved, he said: "I just hope they know they were never in danger. I would never do the things I talked about on the internet. Never."

• 1:22:26Speaker 00

  He reiterated that he was incapable of violence while acknowledging that his words alone wouldn't mean anything unless he rebuilt his life. Taking full responsibility, he added: "It was my fault for doing all this. That's not who I really am. People who know me never believed the allegations."

• 1:22:51Speaker 00

  Gilberto's co-conspirator Moody Blues was later identified as 57-year-old Dale Bollinger, a nurse from Canterbury, England. He also faced conspiracy charges related to the Girl Meet Hunter case, as well as additional charges for separate offenses, including grooming an underage girl and possession of child abuse images. Bollinger was convicted on 11 charges and sentenced to nine years in prison, though he was released after roughly three years for good behavior.

• 1:23:26Speaker 00

  He relocated to the American state of Nebraska, but when local residents raised concerns about him living near a playground, he was taken into custody and transferred to a treatment facility for sex offenders.

• 1:23:41Speaker 00

  Gilberto’s second co-conspirator, Mike Van Heys, eighty-one, had used his real name as his online username. Van Heys was a twenty-three-year-old mechanic from New Jersey. He was also charged and found guilty of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and sentenced to seven years in prison. His reduced sentence reflected his cooperation with authorities, a troubled childhood, and the court’s determination that he was less culpable than Gilberto.

• 1:24:14Speaker 00

  The third co-accused, Ali Khan, was identified as a man from Pakistan, though his full identity remains unknown.

• 1:24:27Speaker 00

  Gilberto Valli has spoken publicly about his experience through various media interviews and engagements. He was featured in the HBO documentary on his case and authored a memoir titled “Raw Deal: The Untold Story of the NYPD’s Cannibal Cop.” He appeared in person at CrimeCon in 2019, and his case inspired an episode of Law & Order Special Victims Unit titled “Thought Criminal.”

• 1:24:57Speaker 00

  Reactions to Gilberto’s outcome remained mixed. While some people accept his claims of fantasy, others believe he genuinely intended to harm women and that he remains a danger to society.

• 1:25:12Speaker 00

  He has received letters from supporters, including individuals with unconventional and morbid fetishes of their own. He has also received messages from people expressing their desire to put a bullet in his head.

• 1:25:28Speaker 00

  Gilberto claims he is unbothered by such remarks, explaining: “They can’t overlook the fact that they can say that and have nothing happen to them, in part because of how my case played out. You can dislike me as much as you want. You can say he’s a scumbag, he’s a piece of garbage. But if you look at the case merely from a legal perspective, there’s one conclusion you can reach: This is the country of second chances. I’m holding out hope that people who make mistakes don’t have to be forever defined by those mistakes.”

• 1:26:09Speaker 00

  To this day, the case continues to spark dialogue on several contentious issues, including the distinction between thought and action, the role of online platforms, media and public sensationalism, and free speech and legal precedent. It is often cited as an example of thought policing, where someone is punished for their ideas rather than their actions. Speaking about the case, the policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union, Lee Rowland, said: “There is always reasonable doubt about whether or not someone is going to take a particular action.

• 1:26:50Speaker 00

  Police officers don’t have some magical psychic wand that allows them to know either. We don’t want to give the government the ability to decide what fantasies meet the thought police’s bar for acceptability. That bar is rightly high. If the First Amendment protects someone fantasizing about violently raping and killing and eating a woman, it’s going to protect pretty much anything you’re thinking about. And that’s what principles mean.

• 1:27:23Speaker 00

  They make us uncomfortable, and we apply them regardless.”

• 1:28:25Speaker 05

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