Pod Insights SERIALOUSLY 251: Lori Vallow on Dateline, Teen Found Dismembered After Social Media Meetup, Karen Read Updates, and More! About this episode Today’s episode dives into everything happening this week in true crime with @_annieelise. From new cases to updates on existing ones and more. Join our True Crime Club for access to BTS, Bonus Content, Our Private Group Chat, Giveaways and More! Shop Our True Crime MerchFollow the podcast on: IG, Facebook and TikTokFor Business Inquiries: [email protected] AnnieToday’s Sponsors:Helix: Go to helixsleep.com/serialously for their March Madness sale of 20% Off Sitewide. Jolie: Head to jolieskinco.com/AE to try it out for yourself with free shipping. Episode Sources: AP NewsCOURT TVInside EditionMass LiveNBCPeople.comTampa Bay TimesTODAYWFLA
Transcript 10,137 words · 8 speakers
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1:27 Annie Elise? Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialishly.
1:50 Annie Elise? Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to this week's episode of Headline Highlights with me, Annie Elise, over here on Serialishly. And guys, we have got so much to talk about today because there have been new cases that are breaking that I have just been flooded with requests asking for me to cover, get my take on it. We have to... Of course, talk about the just like batshit crazy interview that Lori Vallow did on Dateline. I watched the entire thing and it was honestly painful. It truly was, which y'all know how I feel about Lori Vallow. We also are going to talk about a new case that is breaking where this young teen girl was lured on social media by these disgusting freaks. She ended up being found dismembered. There have now been two arrests.
2:34 Annie Elise? The story is just absolutely appalling. There's been updates in the Gene Hackman case and the cause of death and some interesting things there. We also have updates in the Karen Reed retrial and the motion to dismiss. A juror also is coming forward, another one speaking out. So we have got a lot to go over today. And also, don't think that I've been sleeping on these Idaho updates coming out because now we have the 911 call. We also have the texts that happened that night. I have a lot to say about that, but I'm going to do that on a totally different episode, like a full episode dedicated to that because there is a lot to talk about in what's going on with the Idaho case. So don't worry, I haven't forgotten that, but we will be doing a solo episode on that very, very soon.
3:18 Annie Elise? I think I'm planning to record it tomorrow. A lot of news came out this week about it too, even more updates. So we will definitely get to all things Idaho soon. And if you missed it, just a reminder, this last Monday, I did a deep dive on Kevin Frankie. And if you're watching this on YouTube, it released way earlier over on the podcast. So as a reminder, if you want to listen to these episodes before they get released on YouTube, like days before, you can do that on the podcast because you know YouTube likes to be a thorn in my side and not approve things all the time. But we did a deep dive into Kevin Frankie because I did that deep dive in Ruby Frankie a few weeks back. And after watching the Hulu series and knowing so much about that case, I was left with a really bad taste in my mouth.
4:00 Annie Elise? I was like, feels like this guy is not taking accountability. It's almost as though he's trying to just like absolve himself of having any responsibility related to the treatment of his kids, which I get it. He wasn't there when everything came to a head and to this boiling point with Jody and with Ruby. However, he was there for the whole backstory before Jody even entered the picture. He was seen on camera inflicting these very, in my opinion, harsh punishments against his children, exploiting them, caring more about the paycheck than his own children. And then he disappeared for a year. And so. I felt like, and I'm not, you can listen to the episode, of course, but I just felt like he was trying to get off scot-free and say now how he wants custody of his children, how he just wants to do right by them.
4:44 Annie Elise? Yet, in every other sentence in his interviews that he's doing in his like media press campaign tour, he's still talking about how Ruby, like he loves her and justifying actions. And so I wanted to do an episode where I'm like, no, no, no, let's kind of like lay all the cards out on the table, right? I'm going to play original clips from you that you had made public where it's contradicting your statements that you're making now. And let's just like really call it out, Kev, and let's call it like it is and call out what kind of father you truly were because this whole little act, which is what I'm calling it and what my opinion is on it, this act that he's putting on, I'm not buying it for a second. I think he is still like a little puppy dog devoted to Ruby. He's waiting for her to be released. I think he's going to allow her around the children as soon as she is released.
5:29 Annie Elise? I think that he's making up excuses along the way. And again, I know I'm like going off on a tangent right now. You can listen to the deep dive on it, but I really wanted to talk through all of that and give specific examples of why I think he's a liar and why I think he now is just like cowering in the corner when he could have been a much better father. I truly believe so. So anyway, that released on Monday, you can go take a listen to that because like I said, he just not sitting right with me. It ain't landing for me, Kev. So let's jump into what we have to talk about this week and I want to start with those updates that I mentioned in the Karen Reed retrial case. Now, a lot of people are probably super familiar with this case because I've been talking about it for quite a while now.
6:10 Annie Elise? But for those of you who maybe aren't as familiar, let me give you just a quick little debrief on the situation. So in 2022, Karen Reed's boyfriend, former Boston police officer John O'Keefe, was found dead outside of a home on a snowy January night. This was after the couple had gone out with friends for a few drinks. They were then going to go to a house party after at a friend's house. Karen didn't end up attending. It was just going to be John, so she dropped him off. She turned around in the car and then she went back home to their shared home where they were, or maybe it was just his home. I can't remember. But anyway, she didn't stay at the party. So then when people came out of the house the next morning, they found him dead in the snow. It was alleged by friends and the prosecution that Karen hit him with the SUV that she was
6:54 Annie Elise? driving and then left him there to die. And even though it sounds pretty clear cut, it really isn't because I would say that the public's opinion on whether or not she's guilty is still pretty 50/50. A lot of people think that, yes, she must have just been drunk, she had a lot to drink, she hit him and then drove away. But then a lot of people, especially the sleuths online, they've been looking at it being like, well, no, due to his height and the damage on the taillight, it wouldn't like the impact wouldn't have been the way it was. People are saying that there was a fight that actually happened inside the house at the house party that night and that those people are the ones responsible for killing John O'Keefe. And then now they're pitting the blame on Karen. And the reason they are saying that too is there's text message timestamps that come
7:39 Annie Elise? into question where there were apparently Google searches from one of the partygoers' phones at 2:30 in the morning. How long does it take to die in the snow? Things like that. There's also been, I'll just say it, a lot of corruption going on with people who are involved in this case, not only law enforcement officers and officials, but it just does not smell right at all. And people are torn on this. And if you want to hear the deep dive, I will link it because we have done so many episodes on this case. But it is a very, it's a very complex case and one that I do feel like a lot of people are divided on. I personally don't even quite know which way I'm leaning. Actually, I take that back, I do. I think that it's probably more than likely, actually, no, I'm not going to say that because
8:24 Annie Elise? that's going to just cause a lot of trauma. So I, maybe I'll share my opinion after the trial, the retrial, I should say, happens. But anyway, so last year Karen went to trial for the first time and instead of being found guilty or non-guilty, the entire thing ended in a hung jury, meaning that the jurors could not reach a unanimous decision and it was declared a mistrial. So her second trial is now set to begin in just a few weeks, April 1st to be exact. And her team has seriously been working overtime on this case because
8:53 Annie Elise? Karen's defense team recently filed a motion to dismiss the entire case, arguing that the prosecution had purposefully withheld critical evidence during the trial, and therefore, because of that, they violated her right to a fair trial. So what does all of this mean exactly? Let me break it down. Her defense team is mainly stuck on video evidence in this case particular. Because as we know, the prosecution is claiming that she hit John with the SUV, and that in the process, the taillight was shattered, which I briefly mentioned. And I will say, he was a pretty big man, so it would definitely make sense that if she hit him with the SUV, there probably would be some damage. But her defense team argues that the taillight was cracked, not shattered, and that after the investigators took it to the station, they are the ones who shattered it.
9:37 Annie Elise? Before then taking some pieces and leaving them back at the crime scene and trying to like, stage the entire scene. Basically arguing that this whole thing was a setup. And there is one really big thing that could very well be what convinces a jury of her possible innocence in all of this. Because apparently, the prosecution failed to provide the first 42 minutes of the SUV being at that station in their custody. That would have shown and proved how the taillight was when it arrived, and how it was after the fact. But those 42 minutes of footage are apparently not provided, just, you know, hidden, so to speak. So the motion wrote that the missing part of the video when the SUV first arrived is, quote, "the most critical and highly contested issue in this case." And honestly, I gotta just be honest, you know, I have to agree.
10:22 Annie Elise? I mean, whether or not the taillight was cracked or shattered when it arrived, it could definitely convince me one way or another, or at least, at the bare minimum, create reasonable doubt. And I think that that would be pretty similar for any jury members as well. And my thing is, if what the prosecution is arguing is true, then why not provide that part of the video? Why not be fully transparent? It would clear up a lot of things, and it would really make it seem as if everything that the defense is trying to grasp at is just like, straws, thin air. I think that it would help the prosecution's case. Unless, of course, there really is something to hide. So like I said, it's pretty 50/50 on whether or not people think Karen is guilty or innocent. But just recently, one of the jurors from her first trial ended up coming forward.
11:06 Annie Elise? And they alleged that during her first trial, the jurors' opinions on that matter, whether she's guilty or innocent, wasn't quite as polarizing as the headlines would have had you believe. Take a listen.
11:18 Speaker 05 Let me start right with the headline. I'm gonna get right into it, Ronnie.
11:23 Speaker 05 Did all 12 of you inside that jury room agree that Karen Reed was not guilty of murder? Count one in that indictment.
11:33 Speaker 06 Correct.
11:34 Speaker 05 Okay, now let's roll up our sleeves a little bit. How did, did you vote? Was there, was there a raising of the hands? Was there someone writing down what your vote was? Was it a secret ballot? How do you know? And how was the process that all 12 agreed that she was not guilty of murder? Count one.
11:57 Speaker 06 So, we all raised our hands in terms of a vote. And we voted on that first count that we all agreed not guilty. Unfortunately, at that time, we did not fill out any of the paperwork there, nor sign it. So, we were under the understanding that each charge could not be treated separately. And so, we continued to deliberate despite the fact that we had agreed on two of the counts as not guilty.
12:34 Speaker 05 And the second count was, was count three? And, and the same process where I guess the foreperson is asking for a vote and everyone raised their hands?
12:44 Speaker 06 And everybody agreed not guilty for those two charges. That's correct.
12:48 Speaker 05 Was there, now you mentioned that you didn't fill out paperwork. Was there any discussion about, should we check the box on the verdict slip?
12:59 Speaker 06 So, we didn't check the box on the verdict slip because we were still deliberating on the second charge of involuntary manslaughter. And that continued with deliberation. We did send out notes asking for clarification. But unfortunately, we did not ask the question at the time, should we treat each charge individually and separately?
13:28 Speaker 05 So, explain to us.
13:31 Speaker 05 Why the presumption was that you had to come to a conclusion on all three? Was there any debate among the jurors about whether or not we have to agree on all three counts? Or it can be just one count? Or it can be two counts? Was there any discussion or debate amongst the 12 of you about what the rules were when it was time to fill out the verdict slip? And determine and let everyone know where you were in these deliberations?
14:05 Speaker 06 So what one of the big things that happened was we all agreed and voted. And we kind of not came back to any of those charges. We never revisited them because we had already voted on them. And then we kept on debating on that second charge. And because we kept on debating on that second charge and deliberating, that kind of got us caught off guard at the end in terms of how to respond to that and whether to ask. There was a couple of us who did clearly indicate that maybe we should ask about treating each charge independently.
14:50 Speaker 06 But the majority overruled. And essentially, we were left to believe that it needed to be all or nothing.
15:00 Annie Elise? So regardless of where you stand on Karen's guilt or innocence, I think that we can all agree that this trial has pretty much been a complete mess from the very beginning. If the motion to dismiss is denied, we will be seeing the trial, the retrial, begin in just a few weeks, which I for one am on the edge of my seat with how all of this is going to play out. Because it's very divided out there. And I am going to probably misquote this exactly because it's been quite a few months. But even when the hung jury and mistrial situation happened for the first trial, other jurors had come forward at that point too, saying that they unanimously had agreed that she was not guilty of the murder charge or one of the Degrees of murder, you know, again, don't quote me here.
15:43 Annie Elise? But because of the way that it, the verdict had to be written or decided on, it was all lumped together. It wasn't separated. So that is like the technicality of how there's even a retrial here happening. Cause a lot of the jurors are like, well, no, we may have found her guilty on some of the other charges. Why, again, I can't cite them exactly at this moment, but on the murder charge, we all agreed that she was not guilty. But that doesn't matter because the, it's all lumped together and she now has to go to a retrial. And a lot of people think it's a waste of time, resources, money, all of those things. So we will see what happens with Karen Reed. Now this next case is taking us all the way over across the pond. And I gotta say, it is a case that is just insanely heartbreaking, especially as a mom.
16:28 Annie Elise? It just hits even harder, I think, when I read about it, when I researched it and knowing the details of it. But let's go over to England for a moment because on Wednesday, March 5th, a very panicked call came into 911 around 4:58 PM. The caller was stating that a car had driven onto a soccer field that was full of kids playing soccer, which that in and of itself is already such a terrifying thought, right? But this caller also told the operator that the car had hit at least two young children who were on the field. So it's basically 5:00 PM. All of these kids have been in school all day long, just waiting to be able to run around, see their friends, go to practice, you know, looking forward to their game, just trying to have fun. And then this horrific tragedy occurred.
17:11 Annie Elise? So the authorities rushed to the scene where they found a 40-year-old man behind the wheel of a black BMW i4. And for whatever reason, I don't know exactly why, but this man's name hasn't been released yet. But in light of some of the scarier things that have happened recently in the world, like the New Year's Day truck attack in New Orleans, the authorities have clarified in the press that they do not believe that this was a purposeful attack. So sadly, the caller was correct in thinking that two kids were hit because one of the kids who was hit was only 10 years old and they were sadly killed as a result of the crash. We don't know yet the name of this kid or even the gender, but the second kid who has been reported as an- eight-year-old little girl was also hit and she was taken to the hospital and thankfully
17:55 Annie Elise? was cleared of having any life-threatening injuries. The man behind the wheel was arrested on what the press release called, quote, "suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving." Which, I'm definitely curious to know more about this case, especially what this guy ends up saying was the cause of all of this, if he does even talk at all. I mean, was he drunk? Was he under the influence? Was he just being reckless? Was he texting? Like, what was really going on here if it was not intentional? I don't think it's that easy to just drive on a soccer field, especially a soccer field full of people, and when it's daylight outside. I mean, 5:00 PM, I mean, I get it that maybe that's dusk at that point, but like, what? Like, what is the reasoning here? Not that any reasoning would excuse it, obviously, but like, what, what really happened here?
18:37 Annie Elise? And one key detail in this entire crash is that the car didn't just come up off the curb and then it ended up in a field a few feet away from the curb. This car was driving so fast that it hit a barrier that was surrounding the field and it completely busted through this barrier. So like I said, I don't know if this is a possible scenario of texting and driving, drunk driving, or just driving like a complete fucking idiot and losing control. Who knows? But I will be interested to hear more. And my heart in the meantime, of course, obviously goes out to the parents of the poor kid who passed away because I can't imagine sending my child to soccer practice or just sending them to the field after school or whatever it is, thinking everything would be fine, everything would be okay, because, you know, it usually is. You usually don't have psychopaths driving onto the field and then you just hear this
19:22 Annie Elise? devastating news of what happened. It is like such a freak tragedy, and I don't want to say freak accident because we aren't entirely sure of what happened, you know, but a freak tragedy nonetheless, and it's devastating. Now, coming off of the heels of that, I do want to kind of go into a situation that has a little bit of positive news, which we don't often get to talk about on here, and that makes me really happy that I get to share this positive news, because we have updates in a 27-year-old cold case. Just recently, a press release out of New Haven, Connecticut, announced that a 27-year-old cold case has officially been closed. And spoiler alert, it is for an amazing Reason. So let me take you back. On October 5th, 1999, an almost two-year-old little girl
20:06 Annie Elise? named Andrea Reyes was believed to have been kidnapped from her home in New Haven by her mother, Rosa. Now, at the time, she was in the custody of her father, whose name has not been released and is currently being kept from the public. But because of this, right away, the investigators on the case believed that this was a case of non-custodial parent kidnapping and then hiding the child. So a warrant was issued for custodial interference. But both Andrea and Rosa were nowhere to be found. So the belief for many years was that Rosa had taken her daughter to Pueblo, Mexico. Now, why exactly they honed in on this specific area, I'm not entirely sure. Maybe that's where Rosa was from. Maybe that's where she still had family. I don't really know. But despite this theory, neither one of them
20:48 Annie Elise? was ever found. So for years, her father would travel to Mexico trying to search for his daughter. There were age progression photos that were released every year. There was trying to keep her name in the news all the time. Yet, nobody called in with any useful information, not that one tip that could have changed everything. And I'll be honest, it's not uncommon for kidnappings like this, when it's a custodial interference case, for them to end very tragically. I mean, think of Susan Powell and what happened with those boys. And it, we see it time and time again, where it's more of that mentality of like, if I can't have them, no one can. And that's what everybody was beginning to be afraid of. That's what they were fearful of, that that same kind of thing would happen in this situation. And it just kind of went quiet. There were no leads, there was no
21:29 Annie Elise? information, and the trail just ran cold. But remember, this was 1999. So in 2023, the case was reopened. But now the case had fresh eyes. And this case was really heavily publicized. And because of that, eventually, a woman came forward, and she was claiming that she was this little girl. She was all grown up now, but it was her. She recognized herself. The woman even sent messages to the father personally, saying, I'm your baby, Andrea, you know, it's me, I'm all grown up. And I would imagine, receiving messages like that as a parent, you're full of a lot of mixed feelings, right? Probably feelings of hope and excitement and optimism, hoping that this is reality. That you're finally getting answers and that you're reunited.
22:13 Annie Elise? But also a lot of what ifs, like what if this is all fake? What if I'm getting my hopes up? What if this person is a scam artist like we've unfortunately seen happen time and time again in cases like these? So finally, the woman provided her DNA sample. And after it was recently tested with the father's DNA, it came back that it was a match. Now, we don't have a whole lot of information about what happened after they learned this news, but it was a match. I mean, she was who she was saying she was. We also know that Andra does in fact currently live in Mexico, but we don't know what her relationship is like with her mother, Rosa. The warrant for Rosa's arrest is still active. However, it's only valid in the US and the investigators have reason to believe, of course, that she's also in Mexico.
22:55 Annie Elise? So I'm sure that she probably will never not only enter the US again because she doesn't want to be arrested, but I would imagine she's trying to lay low even there, even if they can't get her on a warrant there. But it seems at least that there were answers, not that that makes it right, but at least that it was in fact custodial interference. We also don't know if Andra and her father are working on their relationship at this point or not. We don't know what the dynamic is and what, you know, what has transpired over the last two decades, what the reasoning was, why she didn't come forward sooner. We don't really know much of anything. And I can imagine that rebuilding that relationship would be a really difficult thing to do, right? I mean, from both sides of the coin. I can't imagine one day learning that I have a father that I never knew about.
23:38 Annie Elise? I feel like that feels scary that time is limited. This person is a stranger. What really happened? While on the dad's end of things, I would imagine he probably feels similar, maybe like happy that his daughter is back, but wanting answers, wanting questions and like that's got to be a major adjustment. So I just hope that everybody in this situation can heal in whatever way makes the most sense for them. And I'm so glad that after all of this time, we know that she is alive, she is well, and she has been reunited with her father. Now I want to talk with you guys all about Lori Vallow on Dateline. What's going on with the manner of death and cause of death ruled with Gene Hackman? Also, this new case that everybody's asking me to cover about a teenager named Miranda
24:20 Annie Elise? who was lured on social media and then dismembered by two freaks. So we're going to get into all of that, but first we are going to take a quick break and hear from today's sponsors.
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25:16 Annie Elise? With PolicyGenius, you can see if you can find a 20-year life insurance policy, starting at just $276 a year for $1 million in coverage. Head to PolicyGenius.com to compare quotes right now. That's PolicyGenius.com. Okay, guys, so the next thing that I want to talk with you about is the updates, and we'll be very brief here, but there have been updates in the Gene Hackman cause of death and his wife's cause of death and everything with that situation. Because if you remember, at first, they said, "No suspicion of foul play." Then they ruled it suspicious. Then it looked as though they had been there for days or weeks.
26:00 Annie Elise? Then there were reports of mummification. So, we're finally getting some answers. The investigators believe that on February 11th, his wife, Betsy, died in the home due to something called hantavirus. Now, this is apparently an extremely rare disease, and thank God it's rare, because, like in this case, it can be very fatal. And those of you who have never heard of this virus, trust me, you're definitely not alone. I was like, "What is this? I've never even heard of this." But it's a disease that is spread from rodents that are infected to humans. So, this can be transferred through contaminated urine, feces, even saliva. And on the more extreme side of things, it can also be spread through a bite. Now, remember, both of their bodies, along with their dog, weren't found in the home until February 21st.
26:42 Annie Elise? So people were wondering, okay, what was the reasoning for the huge lapse in time between when they were saying Betsy died on the 11th and then when their bodies were eventually found? Well, the investigators have claimed that due to Gene's pretty advanced Alzheimer's, he more than likely hadn't even realized that Betsy was dead. Betsy was also his primary caretaker, so unfortunately, there's a pretty good chance that for days, he kind of just wandered around, not even realizing what was going on, maybe not eating, maybe not drinking. And you would think that just by hearing that, that maybe he did die from that starvation or dehydration, especially depending on how advanced his Alzheimer's was and his lack of independence. However, his official manner of death was ruled as heart disease. Heart disease with complications from his Alzheimer's disease.
27:27 Annie Elise? So both of their causes of deaths were ruled as natural causes. And the investigators came to this conclusion from a kind of shocking piece of evidence: his pacemaker. Due to the data on his pacemaker, they believe that Gene likely died on February 18th. And here's why.
27:43 Speaker 07 Gene Hackman was one of 3 million Americans to have pacemakers attached to their hearts. The battery-powered devices control irregular heartbeats and can even record any unusual activities. The newest models can even alert your doctor in case of an emergency. The device is sending electricity to pace the heart. Okay? It's also taking snapshots of what the rhythm is in the heart. Now, those wires that send the electricity is also giving data back to the computer here, the pacemaker. And if that data suddenly goes haywire, that's when we know that the heart muscle itself
28:25 Speaker 07 is no longer responding, which is how you infer that that was the moment of death.
28:30 Annie Elise? Now, I've seen a lot of people online who still aren't happy with these answers, and people who believe that this is still some sort of big cover-up. And I gotta be honest, I don't think it goes that deep. I really, really don't. I think this was just a very tragic and sad case. All in all, we're still in the early stages of the investigation, though, so in the upcoming weeks, we might get more answers or more little breadcrumbs here and there of information to make this whole. Thing come together, but I think sometimes when really odd things like this happen that just seems so out of the blue or so impossible. People want the answers that make them feel good and sometimes we don't get that it's not realistic. And so I think that's why people are still demanding more information. But regardless of where you stand, I think the one thing we can all agree on is this case is truly a tragedy through and through.
29:12 Annie Elise? And it does make me feel a little bit better at least that this wasn't some, you know, well thought out gruesome type murder case or some situation of both of them suffering in a horrible way. I mean, hopefully not at least, maybe Jean did. I don't know. I hope not, but at least we are starting to gather some sort of resolution. Now, how do I want to queue this up? Now let's talk about Lori Valo and you know how much I freaking hate this lady. And if you follow me on Instagram or Tik Tok, you know, I was having a heyday last week and over the weekend with short forms of Lori from like previews of the state line episode. Where she says Keith Morrison's name literally like 10,000 times and in a very narcissistic way of trying to almost like,
29:57 Annie Elise? I don't know, not manipulate him, maybe manipulate him, but like, okay, Keith, well, what do you think about that Keith? I don't know Keith, who told you that Keith? I don't know. How old are you Keith? What do you think? Like just like, shut the fuck up lady like honestly. So I was thinking when I was making all of those reels, which you can see them at underscore Annie Elise on both platforms. I was thinking like, okay, these clearly are just like the highlights. Surely she didn't act this unhinged the entire interview.
30:26 Annie Elise? Guys, if you can't see my eyes right now, they are very big. I'm rolling them so about far back. I can see my brain. This was the most tough interview I've watched in a long time and I watch a lot of interviews. I watch a lot of footage out there. She is so unhinged, so much so to where like, I'll be honest, when everything was going on with her and during her trial, when we were following it, we even had sent our correspondent to attend the trial in person. I thought, okay, this is all a facade. She clearly is just deranged a little bit and evil to the core, absolutely, but I didn't really. Think that there was a huge element of her being mentally unwell. I thought like,
31:07 Annie Elise? okay, she's a lunatic for having these beliefs, but not, I truly didn't think that there was a chemical imbalance. After watching this interview, not to give Lori a pass, but like, I'm not so sure. She seemed nutty in this interview. And that's not to like shade anybody who goes through mental health struggles, not at all, but like, she was on a different planet. She truly was, unless she really was just trying so hard to sell this version of herself ahead of her new trial that's going to be happening in Arizona for her ex-husband Charles. Or not even her ex-husband, her former husband, Charles, which I'm getting ahead of myself. So let me kind of break it down. So if you have no idea what I'm talking about, last Friday, Lori Vallow was interviewed on Dateline. And what she had to say for herself, it was pretty on brand, but it doesn't make it any less insane.
31:52 Annie Elise? Because this episode was about an hour and a half long. And if you want to see it for yourself, I highly recommend checking it out. But be warned, it is a painful watch. And here's the quick overview. Lori's mannerisms throughout the entire interview are straight up like the Joker. That is the best way that I can describe it, truly. I was going to try to sugarcoat it maybe a little bit, but trust me when I say this was an absolute impossible feat. I mean, take a listen.
32:16 Speaker 03 Were you there the night that Tiley died? Were you there the night that JJ died? Was I where?
32:24 Speaker 03 Was Alex in these places when they died? In the place where they died, were you there? What place was that? Did you watch? What place was that? Did? Do you have any idea? I'm asking. Well, I'm the only one that knows. Do you know? You're pretending like you know. Doesn't matter. I'm not pretending I know. I'm asking you a question.
32:41 Annie Elise? Now, just from that short little clip, you can already tell that Lori was in this like silly goofy kind of mood. But that honestly wasn't even close to being the worst of it. It's hard to pick out just one thing, but I think that the most controversial and out there thing that Lori did claim during all of this is that she knows in her heart and soul that she and Chad will both be exonerated. Which that's a huge claim to say you both are going to be exonerated and not just saying it like flippantly like, huh, we'll both be exonerated one day. You guys don't know the truth. She was like saying it with so much conviction. She truly, I think, believes this, saying, "No, I've seen it. I've talked to Jesus. He has showed me this. We will be exonerated."
33:22 Annie Elise? Like, using her chest and saying this, like, really believing it, saying, "Jesus is still, to this day, showing her visions, even from prison, and that she just knows because of these visions that she is gonna be exonerated, because she's seen it. Simple as that." Which I wish I was making this stuff up, guys, but take a listen.
33:40 Speaker 03 How could you possibly think that Chad would be exonerated, um, after what happened? The same way I will be exonerated. We will both be exonerated in the future. Because? I have seen things in the future that Jesus showed me when I was in heaven. Uh huh. And we were not in jail, and we were not in prison, and they were still in the future.
33:59 Annie Elise? I'm very rarely speechless, but this was pretty close to being one of the times that I was speechless, because there's so much that I want to say, yet so little that I'm able to even find the accurate words for. Even after this whole discussion about being exonerated in the future, Lori just goes on to confidently list all of the different things that she's gonna do with her life, once she's exonerated. And guess what one of those things is? Not, you know, be reunited with my weirdo Peter Griffith-looking husband, not continue to think that I'm one of the 144,000s, nothing like that, no. Lori thinks she's gonna be on Dancing with the Stars. Like, I, I'm trying not to laugh, like, no.
34:41 Annie Elise? She thinks she's gonna be on Dancing with the Stars, that she's gonna be exonerated, that she's gonna have this warm welcoming with open arms by all of the public, all of Hollywood, and they're gonna say, "You know what, doomsday mom? Even though you were convicted of killing your two children in a horrible way, and even though you were also going on trial for killing your husband, and even though there's been death all around you, your brother, your husband's wife, all the..." You know what? We don't believe that. We don't believe that. Come put your heels on, girl. Come do the tango with us. Like, is she out of her fucking mind? Which the answer to that is obviously yes, right? She's gotta be, she's gotta be. So, you would think that, given her whole religious, whatever you want to call it...
35:21 Annie Elise? I don't know. I lean more towards psychosis that she would want to do something with her newfound freedom that she thinks is going to happen like something related to preaching the word of God, starting a new church. I don't know. Not going on Dancing with the Stars, but she really, you know, believes it. Now, maybe the most upsetting thing from this entire interview is that pretty much from the very moment that she sat down, she just continued to paint a very elaborate picture of her daughter, Tylee, who, by the way, was 16 at the time of her murder, killing JJ, who, remember, was only seven years old. And then she says after Tylee killed JJ, she killed herself, which this isn't exactly new news. She's been saying this, but the fact
36:03 Annie Elise? that she is still sticking with this story is not only insane to me, but so cruel. You're desecrating your daughter's memory by painting her as a murderer and then saying she took her own life out of guilt because of it. It's like you can't even let them rest in peace, you psychotic fucking bitch. Like now you're trying to ruin their memory. It's so evil. And as a mother, which you can't even call her a mother at this point, right? But like, I'm not expecting her to have remorse for what she did because I truly think she is evil through and through. And I think she believes a lot of this weirdo stuff that she's peddling, but I'm not even asking her to have remorse. I'm just asking her to shut the fuck up. And I'm sorry that I'm cussing a lot, guys. I know sometimes that happens and I just get carried away. But it's like, just shut up,
36:47 Annie Elise? stop talking. Nobody wants to hear from you. Zip your mouth. And like the fact that you are now gonna not only double down on your innocence, but you're gonna paint your innocent 16-year-old daughter as the villain, as the murderer of saying she murdered a seven-year-old? I mean, are you crazy? Or like, do you not have an ounce of humanity or motherly love in you? Which I don't even know why I'm getting so worked up because obviously the answer is no, right? Obviously not. There's just no respect whatsoever to her deceased children. It is absolutely sickening. And it's just so heartbreaking that even in their deaths, even with both Chad and Lori in prison and Chad getting the death penalty, these kids just cannot rest in peace. But remember to Lori, those kids still
37:32 Annie Elise? were the ones who were the problem in all of this. They were the zombies. They were the dark spirits. They were the ones who Lori and Chad perceived as threats. Keith Morrison described the entire interview like this, and I think it gives a pretty good idea of how it went down for those of you who may not want to sit down and watch the entire thing. But here's what he said, and this is a direct quote, "She wanted to fill that entire 90 minutes that we had with a long, shaggy dog tale about how her daughter killed her son and then killed herself. The authorities and the police who investigated this, know for a fact that this is not possibly true. For one thing, they died two weeks apart. So I tried to get her off that narrative and on to some of the issues, some of the things that they knew happened, but she wasn't going there. So it was a very interesting
38:16 Annie Elise? little tennis match that we had, which I'm just thankful that Keith wasn't going to let her fully spew all of her bull, because even though she didn't really seem to care what his opinion was of her, or how she was acting, even what the public's opinion is of her, she just still was spewing all of her BS, but he was doing a great job shutting it down. And to Lori, she says, all the people who have these opinions about her, the public judgments, everybody who has this perception of who she really is, she says, well, those people, they don't have the full story. She's just misunderstood. They don't know the real her, which, again, huge eye roll, so much I can see my brain. And maybe this is a hot take, though, I'm sure most of you will probably agree with me, but I genuinely don't believe
38:59 Annie Elise? that Lori will ever see the error of her ways or regret what she did. I really think that until the day that she dies, she really will believe that everything that has happened, two dead children, two dead spouses, a brother who died, the public hate, all of it, that it was all a necessary part of this lifetime life plan that she and Chad had planned, how they will just meet again in their next life, like they apparently had all those other times before, and that this is just, you know, a tiny little chapter in their story. And what's so wild to me is that prison breaks a lot of people. How many times do we hear people finding God and reform and rehabilitation, even though I think a lot of that sometimes is bull too, I think it's performative. But we do know that
39:41 Annie Elise? And does break a lot of people, but clearly not Lori. If anything, she just seems even more arrogant and more feisty than before. And as interesting as this interview was, I'm honestly just ready for her to just fade away into the background of everything. I want her to be held accountable, found guilty of Charles's death, which that is going to be happening in April. Um, and maybe we'll cover that. Let me know if you guys want us to cover that trial. I personally am just so freaking done with Lori Dipshit Valo. But I feel like, honestly, I feel like she doesn't even deserve for people to know her face or her name. But if you want me to cover that, I will. But I hope after that she just like fades and like disintegrates and goes away. And we never have to see her crazy face or crazy voice again. So good riddance, Lori Valo.
40:26 Annie Elise? Now let's talk about this case because I think we might end up doing a deep dive into this case. It is awful. And when I say awful, I mean awful in like with my gut to the nth degree. I think that was the expression when I was a kid, but so many of you have been tagging me and DMing me and emailing, asking me to cover this. And it's just really, really devastating. And it shows you once again how predators are using social media as a tool to lure people in, to bring in the most vulnerable, the most excited, the most optimistic, and use social media almost as their playground for sinister activity. And let me talk about why I'm saying all of that. So this is a case that's coming out of Florida.
41:09 Annie Elise? And like I said, it's pretty infuriating. So on February 24th, 16 year old Miranda Corset was reported missing to the local police. Miranda was homeschooled and she lived with her grandmother. So right away, the investigators were pretty stumped on what could have led to Miranda's disappearance. It wasn't like she was walking to and from school, maybe had a bus stop situation. It wasn't like there was any weird turmoil in the home happening or family arguments or custodial issues. So they were kind of stumped. However, pretty early on in the investigation, a tip did come in from somebody who claimed to have been a witness to a possible kidnapping, even a possible homicide. And they believed that the victim was Miranda. And we don't know a whole lot about this tip so far.
41:52 Annie Elise? But it did turn out to be pretty helpful because an arrest quickly followed this tip. Thirty-five-year-old Steven Gress was charged with first-degree murder in relation to Miranda's case, which, to be fair, Steven was actually already under arrest for a separate incident where he had allegedly pointed a harpoon at somebody and then received a charge for aggravated assault. But here's what the investigators believed happened. It's believed that Steven and his partner Michelle met Miranda online and "met," really, I'll be honest, it's not really an accurate term because she was more like lured, 100% lured in my opinion, into trusting these awful people. So saying "met," it makes it seem like it was okay or maybe even acceptable from the start, and it definitely wasn't. Now, some sources say that it was
42:36 Annie Elise? through a social media app. Others are saying that it was through a dating app, so the exact app that was used is a little bit unknown. But either way, it was online. So after messaging Miranda on Valentine's Day, February 14th, Steven and Michelle convinced Miranda to let them pick her up from her home and take them back to the place that they shared together. Now, not a lot is known about that day, but according to Tampa Bay Times, Miranda apparently went back home that night alive and well. But then, the following day, she went back to their place. This time, though, when she went back, she didn't return home, and things got very ugly. Apparently, at some point, the couple accused Miranda of stealing a ring, and I guess this theft or this accusation of theft really set them off, because it's
43:21 Annie Elise? believed that over the course of the next seven days, Miranda was held against her will, and she was tortured continuously. Finally, sometime between February 20th and February 24th, they believe Miranda was killed, and the details are very, very gruesome. Steven allegedly put a billiard ball in her mouth, like a pool, a pool ball, you know, those big, hard, like, I don't even know, ceramic? What are they even made out of? Those really hard balls. And he put one of these balls into her mouth, making it nearly impossible for her to breathe. Then, he wrapped her face in plastic wrap, which, ultimately, between the plastic wrap and the billiard ball in her mouth, it ultimately suffered. And killed her.
44:03 Annie Elise? But he wasn't done because after that he dismembered her and then he dumped her remains in a trash can. Now, the really unfortunate thing in all of this is they still haven't recovered her body and they believe that her body might be in a landfill, which would make the recovery, of course, all that more difficult. So like I said, Steven was already in police custody, so charging him was easy. There must have been some pretty good evidence involved, some evidence that they aren't making public and we aren't aware of yet since still no body has been found, but maybe there has been an admission or something on his phone, something like that. Now, his partner, Michelle, who is believed to also be involved in the entire thing, she was listed as a wanted person in all of this. And then last Saturday, she decided, you know, jig was up, she wasn't gonna try to
44:46 Annie Elise? hide out, I guess, she wanted to just get it over with, and she ended up turning herself in. I mean, she must have known that she could only run for so long, so she was also charged with first degree murder. And while I don't want to point fingers or be super accusatory, my biggest question is why wasn't she filed as a missing person sooner? She was only 16 years old, so a teen being missing for even a day, in my opinion, should be a huge red flag. And as we know, she was missing for way longer than that. And it kind of reminds me a lot of the N'Zaya Harris case, which you might be familiar with that case, and if you are, you know that there were lots and lots of questions about potential neglect from her caregiver being involved. Which, I get it, as a teen, we all thought it was so annoying for our parents to check
45:27 Annie Elise? in on us or be mindful of where we were every day, every hour, all the time, but as adults, I think now, looking back, we can understand that those things were really essential for our well-being. People take advantage of young, innocent, naive teens, and it happens every single day. And I'll be clear, I don't want to make it sound like her grandma was neglectful at all, because that's a pretty big accusation without knowing a lot of information or backstory, but I am curious why Miranda wasn't reported sooner or what that exact timeline of events looked like. Maybe because the grandma's older, she didn't notice things, or maybe she was too lax, I don't really know, but I just find that whole situation very weird and very concerning, and I'd be curious to know what information comes out there. Now, I mentioned this, I think, already, but this case-
46:11 Annie Elise? Is still breaking. So I think we will be doing a deep dive into this case and a dedicated episode because there is just so much information on it. So check back for that. But I at least wanted to bring it up here because so many of you have been asking me to cover it. And I wanted to let you know it is on my radar. I hear you and we are looking into everything. Now, before I get going, I do want to give a public service announcement because for any of you who are listening to this, or maybe even watching this, who live in Orange County, we are hiring. And while I wish that we could hire and have remote jobs and do all that, we've tried it. It just unfortunately doesn't work. So you do need to be local. But we are hiring for an in-house graphic designer, somebody who knows our brand, can do merch designs, who is creative, who has all of the skills with Photoshop, with Canva, with this,
46:56 Annie Elise? with that. So if you think that that's you and you're interested, please send us your resume and portfolio or sample work to [email protected] . The only thing that I ask is before you do that, please go onto our website, annieelise.com, and double check that how we do our graphics, because it is very niche and it's different than a lot of corporate companies, that that aligns with your skill set. Because sometimes we're getting some applicants who do more of like the corporate branding, where it's just newsletters or texts. And we do more of like the actual graphic artwork for like merch and for logos and icons and things like that. So that's one position. We also are looking for a junior producer position. And that also is
47:37 Annie Elise? going to be here in-house in our studio where we have everything. And this is somebody who's going to help us with creating episodes, with working closely with us, with editing skills, things like that. And all of these jobs are listed on LinkedIn as well. But for the junior producer position, we are looking for somebody who is familiar with Premiere Pro, Final Cut, DaVinci, whatever editing software, knows how to edit, knows how to do effects, things like that. And somebody who just wants to really work closely with us while I'm in the room, picking cases that we are going to be covering, while we're talking about a lot of these cases with each other, while we're developing episodes, while we're working with victims' families, somebody who just really wants to be part of all of that. So if that sounds like you, you can also send your resume to [email protected] .
48:22 Annie Elise? But again, I'm sorry, locals only. It is in office four days a week just because it's really tough to do all of these things remote. It's way better when we can collaborate in person together. So again, that is hello at Annie Elise dot com. Other than that, if you feel like you guys need more content to binge going into your weekend, we do have a library of deep dive episodes that we give to our Patreons and to our Apple subscribers. There's about 75 of those right now. They're all deep dives into single cases. So you can get access to that either through Apple Podcasts on the app or over on Patreon. Last week, we covered a group of college students who basically wanted to recreate that TV show series to Catch a Predator with Chris Hansen. They wanted to do that themselves. So they posed
49:05 Annie Elise? online. They lured somebody in and they all started filming it and like reenacted this whole thing and it ended disastrously. I'll just say that. We also talked about Brian Laundrie a couple of episodes ago and the conspiracies about him possibly still being alive and his parents' involvement. Another one that we have talked about is Chloe Jones. She was unfortunately held captive and tortured for days and she bravely escaped. You may remember seeing the iconic footage and picture of her coming down from like the, was it a crawl space or an attic in the garage where she had like the big black eyes and she was finally rescued. So there are just always so many cases to go over and we don't have enough days in the week to publish all of them. So again, you can get access to that.
49:47 Annie Elise? We put a new one out every single Friday and that is through Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Other than that, guys, that is all we've got for today's episode of Headline Highlights. Thank you for tuning in. I will be back on the mic with you on Monday with a deep dive into a very, very important case, one that is close to my heart. You may have seen it go viral on TikTok a couple of weeks ago. I am joined in studio with a very special guest regarding this case. So check back Monday for that one. All right, guys. Thanks again. And until the next one, stay safe, be nice, don't kill people, don't join any cults, and please, please, please stop giving Lori Vallow airtime. She lives rent free in my head. All right. Bye, guys.
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