Pod Insights Criminology Aileen Seiden About this episode On April 23rd, 2018, officers responded to a call about human remains found in Eastport, Florida. They found the body of a woman who had been a victim of foul play; she had obviously been beaten before her murder, and it was a brutal one. She was later identified as Aileen Seiden. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss Aileen Seiden. Early the next day, investigators were alerted to a suspicious scene at the Sportsman's Lodge Motel about six miles away from where the Jane Doe had been found. They had to figure out who killed her. You can help support the show through Patreon. We'd love to connect with listeners on social media. We are available on the following platforms: Facebook - Instagram - Threads - X Formerly Twitter - Blue Sky - Twitch - Tik Tok Criminology is an Emash Digital production hosted by Mike Ferguson and Mike Morford.
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised.
0:37 Speaker 01 Hello everyone and welcome to episode 359 of the Criminology Podcast. This is Mike Ferguson.
0:43 Speaker 00 And this is Mike Morford.
0:45 Speaker 01 Morf, how you doing this week, buddy?
0:47 Speaker 00 I'm doing pretty good. How you doing?
0:49 Speaker 01 I'm doing well. I've actually had a really good week. I can't say that every week, but this week I can.
0:57 Speaker 00 That's always a good thing.
0:58 Speaker 01 Yeah, the weather here is warming up. Things are, you know, get that warm weather. You're able to get outside and walk. I know you don't have that problem, but we do up here, so it's good for us.
1:11 Speaker 00 Yeah, I myself, I'm getting ready to do some sports coming up. Kids got football camps and more soccer camps and just getting all that stuff. And that's the good thing about being nicer, not too hot yet, but you can still get out there and do a lot of stuff.
1:29 Speaker 01 Good deal. Well, we had no Patreon shout outs to give this week, but we do appreciate everyone who is a Patreon member with us.
1:39 Speaker 00 Yeah, a lot of people have taken the time to support the show. It really helps us out if you can, and you'd like to, please go to patreon.com/criminology to get started.
1:48 Speaker 01 So let's talk about Crime Con for a second. The world's biggest and best true crime convention. Time is running out to make your plans to go, and we really hope to see a lot of our listeners there.
1:58 Speaker 00 Crime Con is happening September 5th through the 7th, 2025. That's in Aurora, Colorado at the Gaylord Rockies Resort Convention Center. So just about four months away. We're going to have our annual joint criminology TCAT meetup at Crime Con with our friends and listeners, and we'll be announcing where and when that is, so stay tuned.
2:18 Speaker 01 And if you're going to join us there, why not save a little money in the process? Use our promo code CRIMENOLOGY to save 10% on your standard badge at checkout when you book through crimecon.com. We're really looking forward to seeing everyone there. So Morf, now that we have all of that out of the way, let's jump into this week's case. And you know, this is one of those where it's hard to understand how things turned out the way they did. And how did things get to the point where they wound up? At its core, it's a domestic violence case that like so many ended up fatal. We're talking about the tragic and senseless murder of Eileen Sidon.
2:58 Speaker 01 And sadly, what happened to her sometimes is overshadowed by the unconventional relationship she was in.
3:06 Speaker 00 At around 5:00 PM on April 23rd, 2018, officers from the Franklin County Sheriff's Office responded to a call about human remains found in a dirt cul-de-sac off of Highway 98 in Eastport, Florida. They found the body of a woman who had clearly been the victim of foul play. She had obviously been beaten before she was murdered, and it was a brutal one. Detective Ronnie Jones, the lead investigator assigned to the case, told 48 Hours, she had bruises from head to toe covering her entire body. And Franklin County Sheriff A.J. Tony Smith told the Bradenton Herald, "It's the most savage beating I've seen in my 40 years in law enforcement." Most of her ribs were broken. Dr. Anthony Clark,
3:49 Speaker 00 the former chief medical examiner for the Second Judicial Circuit, summed it up when he told the Appalachia Cola Times, "That's the kind of thing I see in motor vehicle crashes." There was no identification found with her body, so she was initially a Jane Doe. It had rained overnight, and the body showed no signs of having gotten wet. So police believe that she had not been there for long.
4:11 Speaker 01 And Morf, you know, just kind of going through some of those quotes from law enforcement officers, there's no doubt that this was a very savage and brutal beating and murder. You know, when someone says, "Those are the types of injuries we would see in a very serious car crash." I mean, I think that tells you a lot.
4:34 Speaker 00 Yeah, the fact that this is a trio of people saying this and they've seasoned investigators with long backgrounds doing the work they do for all of them to sort of back each other up, it really demonstrates how bad this was.
4:50 Speaker 01 Early the next day, investigators were alerted to a suspicious scene at the Sportsman's Lodge motel about six miles away from where the Jane Doe had been found. Detective Ronnie Jones, who's now retired, immediately connected the two crime scenes. He told 48 Hours, "It wasn't just somebody who cut theirselves and bled a little bit on the bed. I mean, the amount of blood tells me that whoever was here was probably deceased. It was so easy to," in his words, "put two and two together." Inside the bloody motel room, Detective Jones noticed the overpowering smell of vinegar.
5:31 Speaker 01 It was just kind of everywhere. He believed that this smell meant that someone attempted to clean the crime scene, and he was right. Due to a possible cleanup, luminol was used in the bathroom. It showed that the blood was not limited to what had soaked into the mattress. Pretty much the entire room had a reaction to the chemical. It was obvious that someone had been badly injured in that bathroom.
5:57 Speaker 00 The details of the motel room crime scene help show how disturbing it was. It wasn't all blood, though. Miranda Kilborn, one of the cleaners at the motel, recalled the scene, telling the Appalachia Cola Times, "Whenever I first walked in the room, there was a bunch of trash, nothing on the bed, and the comforter was on the floor wet. There was vomit on the floor and a spot of blood on the sliding glass doors and blood on the toilet paper roll." Investigators believed that the shower curtain rod had been used as a weapon during the assault. A bloody palm print was lifted from the rod and authorities hoped it would lead them to their suspect, but they still didn't know who their victim was.
6:37 Speaker 01 Believing that the unidentified female body found on the side of the road had been killed in the bathroom inside of room 15 at the motel, investigators compared the woman's DNA with the DNA profile pulled from the blood in the room. It was a match. Authorities were eventually able to confirm that the body was that of 31-year-old Eileen Seiden.
7:01 Speaker 01 Eileen was from North Miami, Florida, over 400 miles from where her body was discovered in Franklin County. Now investigators had to figure out how she ended up on the side of the road so far away from home.
7:15 Speaker 00 Sometime in 2016, Eileen reconnected with Zach Abel, who she had known since they attended high school together at Allison Academy. They ended up dating, and to many, she seemed very happy. As Zach's friend, Mike Pickavet, would tell 48 Hours, Zach was very entertaining and very extroverted. It was hard not to like him. Mike would also explain that Zach had been dating a woman named Christina Araho for around four years. Then one day, when Zach stopped by to see him, he was with Eileen, not Christina. Mike could tell that Zach and Eileen were dating from their body language, even though Zach was still dating Christina. He didn't approve of it, but wasn't exactly surprised.
7:57 Speaker 00 Though Zach and Christina had been together for a long time, they weren't exactly exclusive. Zach was usually seeing at least one other girl at the same time as Christina. Some of Eileen's friends knew that they were dating in secret, but Zach apparently felt comfortable enough around Mike to bring her around him. Mike told 48 Hours, "It was the weirdest thing. If your relationship's not working, just end it and move on."
8:22 Speaker 01 At the time, Mike was somewhat understanding about Zach's two-timing, because he had apparently tried to break up with Christina multiple times, but somehow failed each time. Mike told 48 Hours, "He tried so many times. He just didn't know how to." It might seem pretty straightforward to break up with someone, but according to Mike, there were threats all the time that Christina could make him disappear, which made him hesitant to break things off. Mike actually recalled that the first time he met Christina, she started bragging to him about her powerful father. He told 48 Hours that when they first met, Christina bragged to him, "Oh yeah, my dad's a major with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department, and if we ever get into any trouble
9:07 Speaker 01 with the law, he can take care of it." Mike remembered thinking, what? Who says that? But it didn't deter him from hanging out with the couple. Mike had met Christina at a bar. So it was likely written off as drunk nonsense or some kind of misunderstanding. Mike described them as heavy drinkers who preferred to take shots. Over time, Mike became close friends with Christina. And eventually he became friends with Eileen too. And more of the one thing that that jumped out at me was Mike talking about, you know, Zach not being able to break up with Christina, because she was making threats that she could make him disappear.
9:50 Speaker 01 Okay, I mean, I don't know how you take that. If somebody says, you know, if you leave me, I'll make you disappear. I mean, that's, that's not a veiled threat. That's, uh, that's pretty direct. And on top of that, the fact that she's talking about, you know, her dad and how powerful he is and all that. I could see why someone would feel threatened by that.
10:15 Speaker 00 If you're Zach and you want to get away from Christina, you might be nervous and think that, hey, her dad's going to be coming after me. But is this a question of her trying to scare him so he doesn't leave her? Or does she really have some kind of pool with her dad that he might come after Zach? So have to wonder if he was nervous about that. Until 2017, Eileen had been working as a property manager in Miami. She was always an independent person. Eileen had been forced to grow up fast. By the time she was 14 years old, both of her parents had passed away. Her older sister Francesca became her legal guardian at the age of 22.
10:58 Speaker 00 But in 2017, Eileen was let go from her job without warning. She ended up working for Zach and Christina at their used car dealership, Abel Automotive. Christina's best friend, Ally, told 48 Hours, she was really starting to lose control of her life. This may be why she ended up open to the idea of a throuple, a romantic couple with three people rather than just two. It was actually Christina's idea for the three of them to start a relationship together. According to Ally, Eileen at first rejected this proposition, saying, absolutely not. There's no way. It's never gonna work. But for whatever reason, after a few weeks, Eileen apparently changed her mind. Ally told 48 Hours, when she heard
11:40 Speaker 00 that Eileen was okay with the three-way relationship, I was in shock, but also a little bit happy for them. Maybe this could work.
11:48 Speaker 01 More if you've ever been in a throuple?
11:51 Speaker 00 I didn't even know what a throuple was until this episode, so.
11:54 Speaker 01 I, you know, I've heard the term before, but, uh, you know, obviously I've been married almost 30 years and I, I don't know that 30 years ago, before I got married, that term existed. If it did, I had never heard of it. And, and I had never heard of anyone, or at least that I knew of, being in a relationship like this. My first thought is, how's it ever gonna work? How is at least one person in this group not going to get jealous at some point?
12:32 Speaker 00 Yeah, I don't know how that works. It's hard enough with two people to make a relationship work, let alone three. So this seems like a challenge, but hey, you know, different strokes for different folks. If, if it worked for them and they were happy, more power to them.
12:48 Speaker 01 Yeah, I mean, nothing against it. If, you know, everybody's consenting adults and that's what they decide to do. It just seems like it would be really hard to pull off. And in this case, it was. Things didn't really work out and pretty quickly, things went very wrong. Ally explained that this whole dynamic started to change where one of them always seemed to be the odd man out or was jealous. Things were bad between Zach and Eileen and bad between Eileen and Christina. Eileen called Ally multiple times.
13:23 Speaker 01 Telling her, "He hurt me again." There were a few times that Ally is aware of that Eileen and Christina physically fought, usually after they had been drinking or using drugs together. But most of the time, it was Zach hurting Eileen. In early 2018, Eileen decided to move in with Zach and Christina. Despite the problems in their three-way relationship, her friend Ally described this to 48 Hours as a one- or two-month trial. Because Eileen felt that that was one last chance to make it work. Eileen was desperate to make things work with Zach and Christina, not only because she had real feelings for Zach,
14:08 Speaker 01 but because, as Ally put it, she was trapped in the relationship because she was trapped financially. She had lost her job, which meant she lost her place to live as well. Zach and Christina had given her both a job and a place to live.
14:25 Speaker 00 Despite the awkwardness of the situation in general, and how badly she wanted Eileen to get away from them and get a fresh start, Ally tried to support Eileen. She didn't seem ready to leave. Ally told 48 Hours, "She wouldn't tolerate being messed with usually by anyone." There was something different about this. It wasn't just the living situation or the job. Eileen was also afraid of Christina's father. On April 7, 2018, Zach and Christina got into an altercation. This one was particularly bad. Eileen called Ally from Zach's phone. She didn't have her own phone anymore because, according to Christina, Zach threw it in a pool after finding out that Eileen was using a dating app.
15:06 Speaker 01 Eileen wanted to get out of the house and take Zach with her, so she picked him up. A while later, Ally got another call. But this time, it was Christina who wanted to talk to her. Ally said Christina was angry and furious. To get away from her, Zach and Eileen ended up leaving the state on an unplanned road trip. Eileen didn't even have her wallet and neither of them packed any bags. They headed to Georgia and then eventually made it to Texas where they were going to stay with one of Zach's friends. In just 24 hours, Christina sent over 150 text messages to the couple. Some of them were threatening, all of them were angry. After two days, she
15:51 Speaker 01 decided to try a different approach. This time Christina texted Zach, "If you want to come back home, come back. You never have to question my love." After getting that text, Zach told Christina to fly to Dallas to meet them, and she did.
16:09 Speaker 00 It seems unlikely that it was the nice text that won Zach over suddenly. He was likely just trying to get Christina off their backs. According to Zach, Christina threatened to call the police and report the car he and Eileen were in, which belonged to A-Bell Automotive, had been stolen. Eileen had no wallet and Zach had no driver's license. This would definitely be a hiccup in their little road trip. According to Christina, she was pretending when she told Zach she put out a BOLO or be on the lookout for the car because she was desperate for him to call her back. And she was also legitimately concerned as a business owner because the car hadn't been fully registered yet.
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17:31 Speaker 01 24/7 messaging with your care team. So support is always in reach. Ready to reach your goals? Visit for hers.com/criminology to access personalized, affordable care for weight loss, hair, menopause, and more. Individual results may vary and stopping treatment may result in weight regain. Weight loss by hers is not available in all 50 states. Wegovy is the registered trademark of Novo Nordisk AS. To get started and learn more, including important safety information, Wegovy clinical study information and restrictions. Visit for hers.com. So Morv, I just want to take a minute and kind of step back and talk more about this relationship.
18:11 Speaker 01 You know, these three people, as, as I said earlier, you know, how is somebody not going to get jealous? And I think we're seeing it that it did happen. But there's a lot going on here. There's apparently physical abuse. At the very least, on the part of Zach against Eileen. And then you have Christina, who seems to be threatening people a lot over different things. Right? We talked about her bragging about her powerful father. It seems to me that she used threats to try to get her way.
18:55 Speaker 00 Yeah, it doesn't seem like a good basis for a relationship to threaten the two other people that you're in the relationship with. And it's, it's clearly some friction going on here because you have two of the three people leaving the state to escape the other person. And then after some texts and some phone calls, she's flying to Texas to meet up with them. So a lot of back and forth and a lot of, it seems like mixed signals going on here in this, in this three-way relationship.
19:26 Speaker 01 And then you throw heavy drinking and drugs into the mix. I mean, it does seem pretty toxic. And how can we not talk about 150 text messages in a 24-hour period? I certainly don't send 150 text messages probably in a month. There's no way I could do it in a day. I mean, I don't know how somebody would have time to write that many text messages, or, or maybe I just don't text as much as other people do.
19:56 Speaker 00 Yeah, I text a pretty good amount, but not anything like that. And if somebody got 150 texts from me over that shorter period, I wouldn't be surprised if they blocked my phone number. And I think it's troubling. It shows some kind of obsession, or she's hell bent on trying to get a hold of them and upset that she can't.
20:20 Speaker 01 10 days after she left with Zach, Eileen called her older sister Francesca from New Orleans and told her that she was afraid. Francesca told the Appalachia Cola Times that Eileen said, I think they're going to kill me. Francesca said, I was like, Eileen, run to the nearest gas station. And Eileen replied, I can't. Sadly, that was the last time she ever spoke to her sister. After New Orleans, the trio stopped in Pensacola, Florida, as they made their way home. On April 21, they checked into the Sportsman's Lodge motel in Eastport, north of Jacksonville. They were just going to stay there for one night on their way back
21:02 Speaker 01 to North Miami, but they decided to stay a bit longer. On the morning of the 22nd, the three went to a liquor store near the Sportsman's Lodge motel where they bought vodka and Fireball whiskey. The same day, Eileen called her friend Ally. She told Ally that she was finally ready to leave. Because Eileen had set out on the road trip with no phone or wallet, Ally bought her a Greyhound ticket. The three were set to get to Tampa the next day, and that's where Eileen would make her escape. She just had to make it to the bus station and get the ticket Ally had purchased for her. Sadly, she never made it there.
21:42 Speaker 00 It seems like this was the point where Eileen decided, I've had enough. I've got to get out of here. And her friend was willing to help her with that bus ticket. But unfortunately, she was never able to get on that bus and escape the situation.
21:57 Speaker 01 And I just wonder, you know, how long had she been thinking about leaving? You know, we've talked a little bit about how toxic the relationship was, you know, between the, the three people, but we also talked about how it seems she felt trapped. You know, I, I think she was a bit dependent on Zach and Christina, you know, for money. As it related to, you know, the job they gave her, it sounds like she was dependent on them for living arrangements, you know, stuff like that can make it harder to extricate yourself from a situation.
22:38 Speaker 00 On April 23rd, Zach and Christina showed up at Mike's house in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He owned a boat and the two may have thought they would be able to flee via the water if necessary. Mike told 48 Hours that he thought it was odd that Eileen wasn't with them. But when he asked about her, Christina claimed she ran away. Mike didn't believe the story, so he pressed them on Eileen's whereabouts. Finally, Zach got emotional and confessed blurting out, she's dead. Mike was shocked by this. He likely had no idea what he was expecting them to say that day, but he probably didn't think it would be that Eileen was dead. After hearing the news, Mike just played it cool while they were at his house.
23:19 Speaker 00 Eventually Christina was out of the room and Mike asked Zach what happened. Zach placed all the blame on Christina and said that Eileen was already dead when he woke up. He told Mike that he tried to perform CPR and that he wanted to call 911, but that Christina wouldn't let him. He insisted that he had to protect Christina.
23:39 Speaker 01 And more of, I don't know what everyone would do in that situation. I don't know how many of us have ever been in that situation, will ever be in that situation. Hopefully, most of us are wishing not to be, but you know, if your really good friend confided in you that someone you knew was dead and they were there when it happened, then you got a lot of decisions to make.
24:06 Speaker 00 Yeah, that's a tough spot to be in because having that information, you have to wonder, does that make you an accessory after the fact? Are you somehow going to get involved and maybe? You could start even thinking, are they going to do something to me because now I have this information, they don't want it to come out. So if I was Mike, I'd definitely be worried and upset with this information and I'd probably want to call the police right away.
24:32 Speaker 01 Mike didn't know exactly what had happened, but he did know there had been a death and that Zach and Christina were involved. This did put him in a tough spot. He wanted to call 911 and spill everything, but he was afraid that it would make the situation worse. He told 48 Hours, I didn't want them to get killed. I just wanted to make sure that they were brought in, in a safe way, explaining the thoughts behind his next actions. Instead of calling 911 right away, Mike waited until the couple fell asleep on his couch, secretly took a photo of them and decided to call Christina's father, Palm Beach County Sheriff's
25:13 Speaker 01 Office Colonel Tony Araho. Mike didn't know Christina's dad. They had never met, but as we talked about, she had bragged about him and who he was. So it wasn't hard for Mike to find him when he searched online. He told Colonel Araho that it was a very important matter regarding his daughter and set up a meeting at a nearby gas station where Mike then told him everything. Colonel Araho then took him to the police station where he gave a formal statement and was interviewed by two detectives. He was also shown a photo of Eileen's body. She was still a Jane Doe at the time of his interview and he confirmed
25:55 Speaker 01 that it was her. And I thought more of this was a very interesting part of the case. You know, you had this guy built up Christina's father as, you know, a powerful person who she could call on, who might do things for her. But when Mike calls him and tells him what happened, he does everything by the book. Now, it must've been shocking to hear the details. He doesn't know all the details because Mike doesn't know all the details, but to just hear that your daughter could somehow be involved.
26:36 Speaker 01 In someone's death, that would have to be very shocking. But it's amazing that, you know, he, he does the right thing as you would expect. But it goes against, I think, what Christina had kind of built him up to be.
26:52 Speaker 00 Yeah, I kind of wonder if Mike, when he called him, didn't know what to expect. Is he going to come over like some kind of cleaner that's going to cover up the, the death and help them get away with this? Or is he going to do the right thing and, and help solve this case and figure out what happened? And, you know, it wound up being the latter.
27:16 Speaker 01 And I'm kind of surprised that Mike decided to call him of all people. You know, he could have called someone else in law enforcement, not related to Christina. I feel like he was taking a chance, but it worked out. And at the same time, you know, he was able to identify this Jane Doe as Eileen Seidman.
27:44 Speaker 00 Zach and Christina were arrested with that incident on April 24th, 2018. They were still at Mike's house when they were taken into custody. Police determined that it was Zach's palm print and Eileen's blood on the curtain rod. Christina needed treatment for an infected spider bite before she was sent to Franklin County. They were each charged with second degree murder and tampering with physical evidence. Christina Rahoe decided not to go to trial. In May 2023, she pleaded guilty to second degree murder. There was no guarantee that her plea meant she would receive a lighter sentence. In January 2024, Zachary Abel went on trial for first degree murder. As part of Christina's plea deal, she testified against him.
28:26 Speaker 00 She admitted that on April 22nd, 2018, she, Zach and Eileen had been drinking most of the day. She told the jury that Zach was a different, very violent person when he got drunk.
28:38 Speaker 01 In the courtroom, when Christina was describing to the court, Eileen and the relationship she had with her and Zach, she said she was a girlfriend. She was a little bit more than the other girls. Other girls came and went, but she didn't. Maybe she never expected things to last so long with Eileen and was growing tired of her being around. All the other girls left on their own, but Eileen wouldn't leave Zach. It was hoped that clarity would come as to just why it was that Eileen was killed. But Christina's confession on the stand, or rather, what we can call Christina's version of events, doesn't really help anyone understand anything. According to her testimony,
29:24 Speaker 01 they were all in the motel room and everything was fine. When Eileen said, Christina, guess what? According to her, she never got a chance to finish that thought. As soon as she said, guess what? Zach jumped up and got in her face. He screamed at her and began to hit her yelling, "You always start problems." The only explanation for why this was his reaction is that, according to Christina, when Zach drinks, he becomes very aggressive, very mean. He continued to hit her and bite her face. We have no way to know whether Eileen ever even said this, but Christina used it to justify her own role in the murder.
30:07 Speaker 01 She admitted to hitting Eileen too, basically taking turns with Zach, assaulting her because she wanted her to finish what she was going to say. Christina told the court, "I got so frustrated that she had to go outside and cool off."
30:24 Speaker 00 This is kind of a weird turn here because Christina is saying, "I started beating her too because I wanted to know what she was going to say." If you wanted to know what she was going to say, why would you start beating her in the first place? Same goes for Zach. So again, this is Christina's version of what happened. We don't know exactly how it went down, but if it really all started with Eileen starting to tell them something, it doesn't make sense they would start beating her in the middle of her sentence.
30:55 Speaker 01 Well, would it be shocking that Christina?
31:00 Speaker 01 Would craft a narrative that would help maybe diminish her role a little bit, or at least try to explain why she did what she did. But I'm with you, Morv. It just doesn't really make sense. I started hitting her because I wanted her to finish what she was going to say. I don't know how you make sense of that.
31:24 Speaker 00 As for why Zach wouldn't want Eileen to keep talking, Detective Ronnie Jones has only one idea. He said that there were rumors that she was fixing to disclose the fact that she was pregnant, though her autopsy would prove that she wasn't. Detective Jones told CBS, I don't know if she thought she was or not. The crucial thing is whether or not Zach thought that Eileen was pregnant. If he did, and he thought Eileen was about to say it to Christina, it may explain why he suddenly attacked her. Christina claimed she was outside of the room for a few minutes. When she finally went back inside, Zach and Eileen were in the bathroom with the door closed. She opened the door to find Zach holding what we now know to be the shower curtain rod.
32:06 Speaker 00 She told the court he had something white in his hand like he was poking at her.
32:12 Speaker 01 Then after all of this, the three somehow ended up back in the main part of the motel room by one of the beds. Zach used his large wooden walking stick to hit Eileen multiple times. According to Christina, it broke when he hit her in the back. She also told the jury that Zach used the broken walking stick to sexually assault Eileen. Some of this does line up with a bit of the truth. Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Jared Patterson told 48 Hours, "We had actually found pieces of that wooden staff in the hotel room," adding, "We didn't realize the significance of it until we found the other piece in the vehicle
32:56 Speaker 01 that contained our victim's DNA." Christina says she grabbed the broken walking stick from Zach and threw it outside. She gave him a paddle they had purchased on their road trip, and he continued hitting Eileen with it. Finally, the assault ended when Christina jumped in between Zach and Eileen, physically blocking him from hurting her anymore. After this, they all just went to sleep, despite the large amount of blood on the bed and all of Eileen's horrific injuries. Christina told the court, I didn't think she was gonna die from it. And here again, my feeling is that, you know, you have to take Christina's statements with a grain of salt.
33:41 Speaker 01 I mean, there's gotta be a little bit of skepticism, right? That she's telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I think she's telling some truthful aspects, but I think she's also trying to make herself look better. As most defendants do, you know, she admits that handing Zach a paddle. So he can continue the assault, but then says she jumps in between them to stop the assault. I don't know, everything just doesn't line up to me or ring true.
34:21 Speaker 00 Yeah, it does seem like there's some contradictions and maybe some of that is her lying, twisting the truth, making herself look better. And maybe some of it's like we talked about earlier, the drugs and alcohol mixed in. Maybe she doesn't even know the full truth of what happened and she's, you know, just got bits and pieces that she's relying.
34:42 Speaker 01 And then this statement that after this horrific assault beating, they all just decided to go to sleep. That doesn't ring true either. And I want to go back to, you know, Zach's kind of motive for the assault in the first place. You know, it does seem as though Eileen was about ready to disclose something. Was it that she thought she was pregnant? We don't know what it was, but it seems like she was about ready to say something to Christina. That Zach didn't want her to say, and that's what prompted him to begin this assault that ultimately ended with her death.
35:28 Speaker 00 And really nags at me because we don't really know what she was gonna say. Was it that she was pregnant? Maybe she's going to tell them, hey, I've decided I'm leaving you guys. I'm, I'm getting a bus ticket and I'm, I'm out. There's just no way to know what she intended to tell them. When they woke up the next morning, Eileen was dead. Zack and Christina immediately tried to cover their tracks. Zack possibly because he had murdered someone. And Christina, because she was afraid that if she didn't help Zack, that she might be next. Zack's defense attorney, Alex Morris, believes that Christina was actually responsible for Eileen's death. Just like Zack told their friend Mike. He described her as manipulative, cunning, and a chameleon.
36:12 Speaker 00 And going as far as to say, I think there's evil in her. He tried to tell the jury that Zack was simply following Christina's directions. After she killed Eileen. And that his palm print got on the shower curtain rod. Only because Christina told Zack to move it while they were cleaning up the blood. And Christina's own testimony places her as the main aggressor at one point. She claimed that Zack was upset and said to her, I'm part of the situation now. I'm an accomplice now. Which indicates that he was only part of the cleanup.
36:42 Speaker 01 Zack's attorney also stated that there is photographic evidence. Showing that Christina was the one to attack Eileen. In a photo, their friend Mike snapped of them napping together on his couch. After the murder. Zack's attorney says you can see injuries to Christina's hands and feet. Proof that Eileen fought back against her. The issue is, the photo is extremely low resolution. It was snapped quickly in secret while Zack and Christina were napping in a dimly lit room. The photo is grainy and it's really kind of hard to see much. Eileen's blood alcohol level was found to be .377. Four times the legal limit.
37:25 Speaker 01 It's possible that this level rose as her body began to decompose. But if it was anywhere near this high during the attack. It seems very unlikely that she would be able to fight back at all.
37:40 Speaker 00 Photos from a toll booth taken after Eileen was killed showed that it was Christina driving the car. She knew Zach didn't have a license and she was willing to threaten to report the car stolen before Eileen was killed. So there are a number of ways she could have ditched Zach and gotten help if she was truly afraid of him. They both looked somewhat relaxed in the photo, considering what had just happened. With how much the pair lied, Sheriff Smith isn't even sure that they're telling the truth about knowing she was dead when they decided to leave her on the side of the road. He told 48 Hours, "For all we know, she may have been alive when they dumped her."
38:16 Speaker 01 After deliberating for around five hours, a jury found Zachary Abel guilty of second degree murder, a lesser charge. They all agreed that he was responsible for Eileen's death, but could not agree whether or not he meant to kill her when he started hitting her. He was also found guilty of accessory after the fact of second degree murder and tampering with physical evidence. According to Christina's father, Colonel Tony Araho, any bragging she did about his law enforcement status was false and completely unbacked by himself. He told the court, "As a 42-year veteran of law enforcement, I know how critical
38:59 Speaker 01 time and legal process was in apprehending the suspects in this case, one of them regrettably being my daughter. As heartbroken as I was, I did my duty without fail." At his daughter Christina's sentencing hearing, he said he told her, "You will own up to the truth. You will accept responsibility. You will be the voice of the victim and you will testify under oath in a court of law. And then whatever is sentenced to you, that's fine." His daughter Christina Araho, then 44 years old, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. And I know we talked about it a little bit more, but-
39:40 Speaker 01 You know, Tony really seems to be a stand-up guy in what had to be a horrible situation for him, you know, to find out that his daughter was allegedly involved in a murder. And yet, he still followed every protocol that that he was supposed to. And like he said, he did his duty without fail. And you got to give it up for the guy.
40:09 Speaker 00 Yeah, that had to be a really tough situation. I think we've heard a million cases of family members helping someone cover something up that they did wrong. We don't hear nearly as often that somebody like this, in a position that might have been able to help cover things up, didn't do that and did the right thing and did the tough thing and said, I'm going to help bring her in. And even at court, he was telling her what she's going to do to try and make this right. At his own sentencing hearing, Zach used his time to speak to claim that he had proposed to Eileen while they were on the road trip.
40:51 Speaker 00 He said, I had stopped and I had grabbed a ring pop and I proposed to her with a ring pop and asked her to marry me. And she said, yes. And me and Eileen were going to go our own way and leave Christina out of it. He also claimed that the two had started trying to have a child together. Zach concluded by saying, I'm sorry for everything that has transpired and I take full responsibility for my actions. Thirty-six-year-old Zachary Abel was sentenced to life in prison, the maximum sentence allowed in the state of Florida.
41:21 Speaker 01 Is there anything in Zach or Christina's past that may have been a warning sign that they could be dangerous? As for their past, they both had a criminal history. Zach's record includes a 2011 arrest for misdemeanor battery and two charges of felony possession of a controlled substance for resale in 2013. And Christina had a history of drug-related arrests. Mike is adamant that Zach was only trying to cover for Christina.
41:51 Speaker 00 And that the only crimes he is guilty of are tampering with evidence and accessory after the fact. According to an online post from someone claiming to be Mike, he had a hidden camera in his kitchen that he believed picked up Christina, confessing that she was the one who killed Eileen. But investigators were unable to recover anything useful from the device. Mike described Christina, who was eight years older than Zach, as very controlling and directed. Christina Rahou's current release date is set for March 25, 2043. She'll be 65 years old. As far as Zachary Abel, he's serving a true life sentence.
42:33 Speaker 00 There's no possibility of parole for this charge in the state of Florida. Three adults chose to enter into a relationship that many people consider unconventional. And even if it was unconventional, maybe it could have worked and three people could have lived happily together. Sadly, that didn't happen. And instead, one of them wound up dead at the hands of the two others, who will now be in prison for a long time. This is a case with no good outcomes.
42:58 Speaker 01 And for me, this is a case that, you know, also has a lot that is unsettled. Two people were convicted, but I think there still remains quite a bit of mystery about what each person actually did. Now, obviously Christina has her story and Zach has his story. Not all of it can be true. Now, there's no doubt that they both participated in this event. It's really, it really comes down to, you know, what was the degree of participation?
43:36 Speaker 01 Christina managed to make it seem as though, you know, she was not the biggest part of it, but I don't know. Morf, what do you think?
43:48 Speaker 00 And I think the truth probably lies someplace in between Zach and Christina's versions of what happened. Maybe they're both trying to minimize what they did. And I think that's the tough part when they're both protecting their own well being or trying to maybe get the lightest sentence they can. They're going to make themselves look like they didn't do as much. So I wonder, was this coordinated? Did they both say, hey, let's kill Eileen for whatever reason? Or did one of them truly snap and the other one was surprised by it? I don't think we'll ever really know what happened in that motel room and why it happened
44:31 Speaker 00 and, and really have the full story. And I guess the only thing we can really take comfort in is that both people that were involved are in prison and can't do this to anyone else.
44:41 Speaker 01 Yeah, I guess the only thing would be, you know, if Christina's involvement was more or greater than, you know, what she has admitted to, then she probably got off a little bit lighter than she should have. But I think you see that a lot in these types of cases where there's multiple people involved. Everyone is going to try to minimize their involvement. I mean, you just see it in case after case. It's natural, right? For people to want to make themselves look as, as good as they can. But what that does is it leads to, you know, a lot of uncertainty in how
45:24 Speaker 01 things really went down. When both people or multiple people have different versions of events, I think it, it makes it tough.
45:34 Speaker 00 Yeah. And I go back to the fact that with drugs and alcohol mixed in, I think it was just, you know, powder keg, because you already have three people in a relationship. You don't know if everybody's fully comfortable with that. If there's any lack of trust or someone that's not fully committed to the three of them being together, and you have alcohol, drugs mixed in, that can be a recipe for disaster. And in this case, I think it clearly played a role in the outcome here.
46:05 Speaker 01 Yeah. And for me, I really go back to, you know, what was Eileen going to say? That possibly either Zach or Christina didn't want her to disclose? I don't know that it would have been that she was leaving, even though I do think she was thinking about leaving, right? According to her friend, Ali, would that have been the catalyst for, you know, this savage beating and murder? And that doesn't seem as likely as maybe something along the lines that she was pregnant. And maybe Zach didn't want Christina to, to know that.
46:47 Speaker 01 That seems like a very plausible theory, and I know it's just a theory, but that does seem very plausible to me. That it was something like that, that exactly, or along those lines.
47:00 Speaker 00 Yeah. And just very tragic that Eileen was so close to having gotten on that bus and just short of getting there, this happened to her. You have to wonder, had she made it onto that bus, got home? Maybe she could have reset her life, got out of this relationship and rebuilt, you know, from the ground up, a new job, place to live, that kind of stuff, but she never got the chance.
47:26 Speaker 01 Yeah. Just, uh, like you said, no good outcomes, kind of sad all the way around. But that's it for our episode on Eileen Sidon. If you love the show, but haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, leave us a rating. You can also leave a review. Also, keep telling your friends. Word of mouth about the podcast really helps us out.
47:48 Speaker 00 If you want to find us on social media, we're on X with the handle at CriminologyPod. We're also on Facebook at Facebook.com/criminologypodcast. And you can join our Facebook discussion group, Criminology Podcast Discussion and Fans.
48:02 Speaker 01 So that's it for another episode of Criminology, but Morph and I will be back with all of you next Saturday night with a brand new episode. So until then, for Mike.
48:12 Speaker 00 And Morph.
48:13 Speaker 01 We'll talk to you next week.
48:15 Speaker 00 Take care, everyone.
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