406: Mackenzie’s Dad is SPIRALING, 2nd DNA Sample Found in Anna Kepner & Serial Killer in Mexico?

This week on Headline Highlights: Rebecca Haro pleaded guilty in the death of her 7-month-old son Emmanuel and was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison, though his remains have never been found. Nearly a year after Melissa Casias disappeared, hikers found her remains in a remote area of Carson National Forest. New court filings reveal disturbing new evidence in the cruise ship murder of 18-year-old Anna Kepner, as prosecutors build their case against her stepbrother, Timothy Hudson. Three women were found dead in Puerto Vallarta in two weeks, sparking serial killer rumors. And new interviews, phone calls, and legal filings in the Mackenzie Shirilla case have reignited debate over her conviction…. If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow the show for weekly deep dives into the darkest true crime cases! To watch the video version of this episode, head over to youtube.com/@annieelise. ..🔎Join Our True Crime Club & Get Exclusive Content & Perks..🎧 Need More to Binge? Listen to both of my weekly true crime series 10 to Life & Serialously with Annie Elise wherever you get your podcasts on the Annie Elise Channel!🍎 Apple Podcasts | Where you can also unlock access to 100+ and growing extra exclusive deep dives.💚 Spotify🔴 YouTube🎙️ All Other Platforms.📸 Follow Annie on Socials Instagram: @_annieeliseTikTok: @_annieeliseSubstack: @annieeliseFacebook: @10toLife.👗 Shop Annie’s Must-Haves! ShopMY: bit.ly/AnnieElise_ShopMy Amazon: bit.ly/AnnieElise_Amazon.🫵🏻 Get Involved or Recommend a CaseAbout Annie: www.annieelise.comFor Business Inquiries: [email protected].📚 Episode Sources AP News | Facebook | Mexico News Daily | NBC | News 6 | New York Post | People | Riverside County District Attorney’s Office | TMZ | True Crime This Week••••••••••••••••••🚨Disclaimers1️⃣ Some links may be affiliate links, they do not cost you anything, but I make a small percentage from the sale. Thank you so much for watching and supporting me. 2️⃣ Sources used to collect this information include various public news sites, interviews, court documents, FB groups dedicated to the case, and various news channel segments. When quoting statements made by others, they are strictly alleged until confirmed otherwise. Please remember my videos are my independent opinion and to always do your own research. 3️⃣ The views and opinions expressed in this video are personal and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the creator(s). These views are subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time and are not to be held in perpetuity. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information on this video and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts.

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• 1:45Annie Elise?

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

• 2:08Annie Elise?

  Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistically with me, your host, Annie E. Lee. I hope you're having a fantastic day and week so far. It's Thursday, which for those of you who are brand new and maybe a newer listener and you don't know the whole rundown over here, let me just kind of break it down for you. Mondays, we do a full deep dive together where I go through a singular case, the full rabbit hole, all the details, all the red flags, everything. And then on Thursday, I come back on and we do headline highlights together where I talk through everything that's going on this week in the true crime world, case updates, trial updates, brand new cases, you

• 2:51Annie Elise?

  know, everything in between, just so that you can really stay on the pulse of everything that is going on in the true crime universe. So, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for listening. Coming off of Crime Con Weekend, which was in Vegas and was a lot of fun. We will talk more about that in a little bit. But we have a lot to get into today. And, you know, I have an announcement that I was a little nervous to make, but I feel like sometimes you gotta just, you know, throw it out into the universe, put breath into it, make it reality, and then you won't be scared anymore. And that announcement is that Amy Collette is here today.

• 3:30Speaker 04

  I'm so glad you just ripped that Band-Aid right off.

• 3:33Annie Elise?

  It's been, it's been a wound.

• 3:34Speaker 04

  I'm glad it's out there.

• 3:35Annie Elise?

  I hate that word. That's so disgusting. Well, here's what I really want to say to you. Hella.

• 3:40Speaker 04

  Hella.

• 3:41Annie Elise?

  And the reason we want to say hella is a special shout out, hella to our friend Alyssa. We met Alyssa for the first time a couple of years ago at Crime Con and she and her husband are absolutely like incredible human beings and they've come out and seen me on tour. They go to Crime Con, they've become friends. And so she came by the booth this weekend and actually brought Amy and I these

• 4:03Speaker 04

  The cutest.

• 4:04Annie Elise?

  The cutest sweatshirts.

• 4:05Speaker 04

  Sweatshirts ever.

• 4:06Annie Elise?

  If you're watching YouTube, you can see they are embroidered and they say hella on them. So I was like, oh, we're 1,000% gonna wear that in headline highlights. So Alyssa, if you are listening, shout out, we love you.

• 4:17Speaker 04

  Thank you so much.

• 4:18Annie Elise?

  Thank you so much. And we miss you guys already.

• 4:19Speaker 04

  I know.

• 4:20Annie Elise?

  So yeah, Crime Con, how you feeling? It was our 30 year

• 4:23Speaker 04

  I feel re-energized.

• 4:26Annie Elise?

  Yeah, it was a really great weekend. Vegas, I'll be honest, Vegas wasn't my favorite out of the years. Denver has been my favorite so far, just because of the hotel layout. And I know you and I talked about that a little bit, but overall, really great crowd, had great conversations, spoke with Steve Kinsalvis, Kaylee Kinsalvis's father, we spoke with Macon Trussell's mother, we spoke with Vinnie Politin, I mean, so many great conversations throughout the weekend, meeting all of you incredible viewers and listeners as well, speaking with family members, survivors, and just being together, it's always a great feeling.

• 5:01Speaker 04

  Yeah, and I think it's just, um, it's a little, it's a huge reminder, like I always say, but it's like you're in the booth, you're taking photos with people, you're saying hello, you're meeting the community, and most of that is all very positive and light. And then you're introduced to a family member who unfortunately has lost somebody, and it's just a very big, strong reminder of what the work is that you do, and hearing their story, and hearing them just trying to bring awareness, and just having to relive all of those details with each person they're trying to share it with in honor of their loved one. And I just put myself in their shoes, which you know I get emotional when they come up to the booth,

• 5:43Speaker 04

  because I think of myself suffering a loss like that and going out, and of course, wanting to spread awareness, but then you are forced to be very bright, brave and courageous yourself, and share that story over and over again, and hope that you're getting the reception that you want.

• 5:58Annie Elise?

  And you know what, I'm not going to put anybody on blast, but I am going to say, I'm going to share a little story that we heard while we were at CrimeCon. We were speaking with a family member of a victim, and I'm not going to say which case or anything like that, because again, I don't want to put anybody on blast. But we sat with her and we chatted for maybe 15 minutes, I think it was. And at the very end, someone who was with her came up to us and just was overly thankful, saying, "Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with her, thank you for listening to her." She just was at another podcaster's booth who said basically, And I'm going to paraphrase here because I don't want to again, get too specific to where then it identifies these people and makes them uncomfortable.

• 6:39Annie Elise?

  But where the podcaster basically said to them like, well, if you want this story to get picked up, you need to make sure that it's really compelling. Which like, what a gross thing to say to somebody who's talking about losing their family member. Like, oh, it's not compelling enough for you? Like, what are you even talking about? And so, like, I can't even imagine the audacity of saying that. Like, it's just unbelievable. And so,

• 7:02Speaker 04

  It was.

• 7:02Annie Elise?

  Heavy weekend, but also, you know, had really great pockets of some levity and me- meeting all of you guys and fun moments. And I have to say too, does it officially mean that I have made it? When Chris Hansen comes up to the booth and asks for a photo with me?

• 7:18Speaker 04

  For me, that was my fangirl moment. Not only, I heard the voice before I saw the face.

• 7:23Annie Elise?

  You just didn't want him to say, "Take a seat."

• 7:24Speaker 04

  And I was like, "I know that voice. It means someone's in trouble."

• 7:27Annie Elise?

  Yeah, he's catching a predator.

• 7:29Speaker 04

  When he came over and wanted to meet you and wanted to shake your hand and wanted, and then he got in our photo booth and everyone wanted to take photos.

• 7:36Annie Elise?

  I told everybody who was like waiting in line for a photo, I was like, "Hold on, guy, like, for a photo with me," which sounds so stupid saying that. But I was like, "Hold on, this is the Chris Hansen booth until further notice. He has taken over. Like, he trumps everything."

• 7:49Speaker 04

  And his wife is just the sweetest.

• 7:52Annie Elise?

  The sweetest human being. I know.

• 7:53Speaker 04

  Talk about a power couple.

• 7:54Annie Elise?

  No, I know. And so, yeah, came over, wanted to do a photo, was asking how we can collaborate together. So, stay tuned for that. And he had a great panel on the dangers of Roblox, which I mean, it's no secret. I have talked about Roblox ad nauseam on this channel, about how dangerous it is and how I don't believe that any child should be on it. And that's not to fear monger, it's because of what I have seen. And I think, I have to talk with Josh a little bit about it because he sat in towards the end of the panel. And I, something happened during that panel where they were doing a live demonstration where an account tried to lure someone off, off-platform onto Snapchat and the account got banned like in real time.

• 8:33Speaker 04

  Within seconds.

• 8:33Annie Elise?

  Yeah. So, again, do your research into Roblox. Actually, I know Josh from Dad Challenge Podcast. That's his YouTube channel. He, I don't think he's on a podcast. I think it's only- YouTube. He just did a whole recap of the Chris Hansen presentation. So you can go check that out and it'll give way more details. But yeah, overall, a fantastic weekend. We were sad that our girl Elizabeth couldn't make it. She was under the weather last minute, so we're gonna have to make up for it in Orlando. That's where Crime Con will be next year. It's next September, so September 2027, Orlando. I don't think you can use my promo code now, but you could try.

• 9:10Speaker 04

  Pretty soon. I think they go on sale soon.

• 9:13Annie Elise?

  So yeah, the promo code whenever you get your tickets will be Annie Elise. So just try, whenever you're gonna buy tickets, try to use that promo code because you'll get a huge discount. But yeah, it was really great. I'm trying to think what other big, I sat in on the Nancy Grace panel, of course, where she talked all about Nancy Guthrie. Yeah, chatted with Vinnie offline a little bit about the David case.

• 9:35Speaker 04

  I think for me, I always just love connecting with the community. I think the feedback we get at Crime Con is the most valuable of the year because you hear across all audiences why they tune in, what cases they're interested about hearing, what really meant a lot to them that we did cover. And I think that's the most important feedback for us.

• 9:57Annie Elise?

  Getting out there, yeah. Like not being alone in a studio with a camera and like talking to people. That's why I love doing the live tour so much, too, because it's kind of like Crime Con, just on a smaller scale, where you're talking to people every night, meeting everyone. And that's one of the fun parts, too, is like how many people we see time and time again, whether it's at Crime Con or out on tour, who are wearing merch from like three years ago.

• 10:18Speaker 04

  It's like the third or fourth time we've seen them out, which is really cool.

• 10:22Annie Elise?

  Beth, shout out if you're listening. I saw her in the hall. I'm like, hey, like, you start to recognize each other. And I don't know, it becomes fun. Then you're having drinks together in the lobby and like hanging out and yeah.

• 10:33Speaker 04

  And one other thing, just I'm constantly impressed by, but I think being newer in the space on the first Crime Con, and now it's our third, I'm beyond impressed with fellow creators and how supportive they are with one another. I mean, Annie was recording on a Thursday when we arrived, so our team got there. She arrived shortly after. But before she got there, Josh stepped up, Cece stepped up. Her husband Tony, so helpful, just helping us set up the booth. No questions asked. Um, obviously our friends at Crime Weekly, one creator of the year.

• 11:07Annie Elise?

  Shout out, I'm not even mad, guys. We were up for the award and we, which I was kind of thankful because I was like dreading speaking, but I'm so happy they won. It's their second year in a row. So well deserved. We love Derek and Steph. We hung out with them literally every single night.

• 11:21Speaker 04

  But that's what's so cool. There's not, both of us, both going into the Clue Awards, we're like,

• 11:26Annie Elise?

  Good luck.

• 11:26Speaker 04

  Good luck, like awesome for whoever wins, you know, and I just, I, it's really nice to go somewhere where there isn't competitive energy. And there's a sense of community.

• 11:37Annie Elise?

  Yeah, no drama.

• 11:38Speaker 04

  This is awesome.

• 11:39Annie Elise?

  I know, it was great. And we went and saw, the very first night we got in on Thursday, we went and saw Wizard of Oz at the Sphere. Highly, highly recommend. It was incredible. And yeah, I, I agree with you. It's so much nicer when there's not this weird competitiveness or like underlying, yeah, competition to where it's like, we, what's the thing? Like there's plenty of seats at the table, like we just encourage each other.

• 12:06Speaker 04

  Everybody's going, working towards the same

• 12:08Annie Elise?

  Goal.

• 12:09Speaker 04

  Purpose is to, for victim advocacy and awareness. So why would there be competition?

• 12:15Annie Elise?

  I remember even like, I love to pick other, the brains of other creators too, just because like, I want to get their opinion on cases or their insight. And I, where it was, it must've been during Wizard of Oz or right after, because Derek and Steph came with us. Um, and their team actually came with us as well, which their team, they have like some of the nicest people on their team. And it was either at Wizard of Oz or at dinner the following night. And I remember asking him like all of these questions about the David case. Because of his time working in the field, because he's obviously, he's seen so many different homicides and things like that. Where I was asking him some details, which I don't want to get like overly gory, but like, because I wanted to increase my knowledge on the subject. And like, he was like, yeah, let's talk about it. And I don't know, there's just like, again, it's so nice when people can come together rather than be like,

• 13:01Speaker 04

  You just want to help.

• 13:01Annie Elise?

  Weird energy. Yeah. So we don't like haters. Um, that was a fucking 11 minute recap. I'm really sorry. And I'm sorry if that gave you FOMO, or I'm sorry if you just felt like, Annie, I don't even care about Crime Con. Um, what are you talking about? But I wanted to at least talk about it because I do think sometimes Crime Con gets a bad rap. People think that it's sensationalism, or that it's all about like exploiting people. But what they don't realize is that a lot of these victims' families go there for the purpose of either not only doing a panel, like Kaylee's family from Idaho, um, from the Idaho four case, but families going because they want the coverage. They want to keep their story in the spotlight. Like, it's not about, oh, we're fans of true crime. Let's talk about our favorite thing.

• 13:46Annie Elise?

  It's no, it's more purpose driven than that.

• 13:48Speaker 04

  I've heard directly from a few of the family members that they choose this convention intentionally because of the ethics around it.

• 13:55Annie Elise?

  Yep.

• 13:56Speaker 04

  And I, I was saying to you, I feel like the panels have gotten just better and better over the years and more of them. Because I think more people want to participate.

• 14:05Annie Elise?

  A great example of that is there was a panel, actually, I think there may have been more than one with the Epstein survivors. And they came and they never, they, they're obviously advocating in public and they're being very vocal about things, but they were extremely raw and vulnerable in these sessions, talking about it because they felt like they were in a safe space. So I think sometimes Crime Con can get a bad rap, but really it's such a moving weekend and like.

• 14:29Speaker 04

  Josh said he's never going to miss another one.

• 14:31Annie Elise?

  Oh, really?

• 14:31Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 14:32Annie Elise?

  Oh, because this was, yeah, his first one. So yeah, there you go. Chew on that. I don't know why.

• 14:38Speaker 04

  Wow.

• 14:39Annie Elise?

  Um, okay. Well, let's go into this first update. Okay. We are going to talk about a major update that actually happened while I was at Crime Con, in the case of baby Emmanuel Harrow. So you'll probably remember this one. Back on August 14th, 2025, Emmanuel's mother Rebecca had reported that her young son, who was under one year old, had been kidnapped from the parking lot of a Big Five Sportings Good Center. This was in Yucapá, California. Rebecca claimed that she had gone to the Big Five because. I think she had just dropped off her son at football practice. She needed to get like a mouthguard or she needed to do something. So she said that she was changing Emmanuel's diaper while then somebody came up from behind her, like as she was reaching for the diaper, said hola,

• 15:24Annie Elise?

  and then knocked her unconscious to the ground and ran off with Emmanuel. She claimed that when she woke up after being knocked down, he was just gone. However, a lot of things just were not adding up from the very beginning. First of all, the fact of like the surveillance footage or lack thereof, the time of day and night, it was like nothing in her story made a lot of sense. And investigators within days also said that they found a lot of inconsistencies in her story. According to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, when the detectives confronted her about these inconsistencies, she ended the interview and she and her dirtbag husband Jake completely stopped cooperating with the police. Also come to find out that during all of this, Jake's past also came to light,

• 16:09Annie Elise?

  where he had a ton of past convictions of child abuse against his previous child, so much so that resulted in disabilities, lifelong ailments, horrible things. So as that was of course coming out, people were like, obviously there where there's smoke, there's fire, something's not right here. He has a history of this. This whole interview is off putting. I remember they couldn't even like give a full description of him. Like whereas if it were me, it's like, or you, I'm sure you're basically like, oh, my child, you know, has a little scar on their ear, a freckle over here. They have big eyes, they look blue, like things that are easily identifiable and characteristics, and they couldn't even like list one, which I'm like, that's weird.

• 16:51Annie Elise?

  So finally, on August 22nd, the authorities announced that this alleged kidnapping really hadn't even occurred at all. And after hundreds of hours searching for baby Emmanuel, investigators said that they believed that he was in fact deceased. So then they were shifting their focus in the investigation to finding his remains. That same day, there was a huge raid on the house and both Rebecca and Jake were arrested on suspicion of murder. So as we know, or if you've been following the case, Jake, the Father later pleaded guilty to murder and to filing a false police report, also child endangerment. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, plus an additional seven years and two months for a probation violation.

• 17:33Annie Elise?

  So in total, a little over 32 years before he will ever even be eligible for parole. However, Rebecca pleaded not guilty and she remained in custody on a $1 million bail. And at first, I think the thought was in this was that he was going to take the fall for her. He would take the rap, she would be released, that maybe she was helpful in the cover up, but didn't really participate in the crime, that it was Jake, and maybe that's the reason that he was taking the fall, who knows? However, all of that has now changed. Because on Friday, May 29th, nearly nine months after Emmanuel was first reported missing, Rebecca has suddenly changed her plea.

• 18:13Annie Elise?

  She pled guilty to felony child abuse, involuntary manslaughter, and accessory after the fact. So she was immediately sentenced to 12 years and eight months in state prison, which personally, I do not believe that that's enough.

• 18:27Speaker 04

  I was just, my eyes, like 12 years?

• 18:30Annie Elise?

  No, I know. I know. I know. So the assistant district attorney said, quote, "Rebecca's plea and sentence today reflects her sins of parental omission. Her choice not to intervene was a choice to allow, if not facilitate, Emmanuel's death. This defendant had a legal and moral responsibility as Emmanuel's mother. She catastrophically failed in that duty." So even though both parents have now pleaded guilty, there is still, of course, a huge, major unanswered question in this case. Because at the time of this recording, not only do we not know what happened and why, not that the why necessarily matters, but like, when did it happen? Why did it happen? Because there also weren't any recent photos.

• 19:12Annie Elise?

  But also Emmanuel's remains have not been recovered. Now, early on, I will say this too. After Jake was arrested, it's believe they did, there was like all of this footage where he brought the police to like this shoulder of the freeway, this off like not off ramp, but like the shoulder of the freeway where there's just like all this vast land and desert and it's in Ukaypo, which is like more of like the desert area. So a lot of people believe that, oh, okay, he was arrested. Now he's cooperating. He's leading the authorities to Emmanuel's remains. Why else would they be there when it's and take him out? I think he was even in his like orange jumpsuit when they took him out. However, they searched and searched and searched and it didn't

• 19:53Annie Elise?

  yield any results. So then the conversation became more of even if they did dispose of his remains in the desert, animals may have gotten to him. Things could have moved. I mean, so many different scenarios. So I don't know that we will ever know where Emmanuel's remains are, if he was placed in the desert or something like that. And I don't know that they necessarily will ever cooperate and say that. Maybe they will, since they already pleaded guilty. I mean, maybe there's, you know, nowhere to go but up from there if you cooperate and share that information. But as of now, we still don't know the why or the where.

• 20:30Speaker 04

  So number one, I'm annoyed. Like you wasted so much time.

• 20:35Annie Elise?

  I know, and resources.

• 20:36Speaker 04

  And resources. Like, that's one thing. But more, I'm quite, I'm curious to know from your perspective, you just said if they were to give the whereabouts, that might help them to maybe, you know, get a lighter sentence or a shorter sentence, I should say.

• 20:53Annie Elise?

  I don't know if that would because they've already been sentenced, but when they're eligible for parole, then or early release, then that would probably go a long way. If you're cooperating, you show remorse, you're saying, let me tell you where he is and everything that happened.

• 21:07Speaker 04

  Well, because my first thought was, why not share where the remains are at this point? Like, put that little boy to rest the way he deserves. Like, you already fucked up as a parent. There's no coming back. You've admitted to it. So do the right thing at this point and give that little boy the burial he deserves.

• 21:25Annie Elise?

  Which maybe Jake was trying to do that, though, not trying to be the good. Person, but like trying to lighten his sentence early on and take them to that area where that his remains were supposed and unfortunately animals moved him.

• 21:38Speaker 04

  Oh, so you think the intention to show, because I was thinking is that one of the

• 21:41Annie Elise?

  There's nothing to lose at this point.

• 21:42Speaker 04

  Well, in in the manner of which perhaps that he died, could that maybe

• 21:47Annie Elise?

  Possibly.

• 21:48Speaker 04

  worsen their sentence? And that's why they're like, if they don't find them, then we don't have to say, find him, then at least we don't have to say.

• 21:54Annie Elise?

  The cause of death and manner of death, because yeah, she did plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter. So rather than like first degree or something like that, possible. So I don't know, but Jake pleaded guilty to murder. So maybe he is the one that cooperated, who knows? But I mean, these people are just disgusting human beings and his track record too. I've done a full deep dive on this case. You can go back and search it either in the podcast feed or on YouTube. But when his past, I don't even know what you want to say. Not allegations, because they were convictions, what he did to his other child when that all came out. It was like, okay, the writing is on the wall of what happened here.

• 22:31Speaker 04

  It was from day one. So that's why I'm saying you just wasted so much time and resources.

• 22:36Annie Elise?

  I know. Um, you have an update in a case that we just talked about last week, right?

• 22:40Speaker 04

  A few weeks ago, yeah.

• 22:41Annie Elise?

  Last week or the week before?

• 22:42Speaker 04

  Yeah, the week before, I think.

• 22:42Annie Elise?

  Okay, yeah.

• 22:43Speaker 04

  So yeah, there's an update in the Melissa Cassius case. Because after almost a year of searching, there's finally been a really big development. And as Annie said, we talked about this case about two weeks ago on headline highlights in a little more detail. But just as a quick recap, Melissa Cassius was a 53 year old woman from Taos, New Mexico, who disappeared on June 26th, 2025. Now that morning, she took her husband to work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where they both worked. Then she went home and told her daughter that she had forgotten her work badge and was going to work from home instead that day. Around noon, Melissa brought lunch to her daughter at work. But then after that, she seemingly just vanished.

• 23:27Speaker 04

  And by 2:00 PM, Melissa's boss had contacted her husband because she had never clocked in to work that day. Then at 2:15 PM, Melissa was seen on surveillance footage, walking southbound along State Road 518 near Taupa. And that would end up being the last confirmed sighting of her. Now, one of the things that has made this case so frustrating was that there never seemed to be any clear answers as to where Melissa went, or what happened after she was last seen walking down that road. But now there has been an update. Last Thursday, May 28th, exactly 11 months and two days after Melissa disappeared, a hiker found human remains in the Carson National Forest about six miles from Melissa's home.

• 24:10Speaker 04

  Authorities say the remains were found next to a handgun, and the Office of the Medical Investigator was able to quickly identify them as belonging to Melissa. Two days later, her family confirmed the news on the Find Melissa Mondragon Cassius Facebook page, saying, "We confirm that the remains found in Rio Chiquita are Melissa. There will be more information to come, but what we can tell you now is she was located in an area previously searched. This is a lot to process, our hearts are heavy, and we fully intend to continue to pursue answers for justice." So Melissa has finally been found, but investigators still don't have all the answers. The Office of the Medical Investigator is still working to determine both her cause and manner of death,

• 24:52Speaker 04

  and Melissa's family is still trying to piece together what exactly happened before she died. So there's still a lot of unanswered questions here, and we'll obviously keep following it and give you those updates as they come up. But one question I have is if this was indeed self-inflicted, was she running from something? Was she afraid? Was there, you know, any type of clues leading up to why this might have happened?

• 25:18Annie Elise?

  I mean, there's so many conspiracies about the missing and killed scientist and everything that's been going on, which another shout out to Stephanie Harlow. She has been doing so many deep dives into all of that. When I first saw that Melissa was found, the fact that there was a firearm next to her, I was like, okay, this appears to be probably self-inflicted. She was also only six miles from her home, where so it's not like she was out on her own for a long time, and then like succumbed to the elements or anything like that. But- I think it's interesting because we know she factory reset her phone before she left. She lied about her not having her badge and going to the lab that day like it's as if she was trying to shut her life down a little bit, whether that's because she was in trouble and hiding

• 26:00Annie Elise?

  from someone or hiding something. I don't know if that's really clear, but what I do think is interested is how in the official statement, they say more information to come. What we can tell you now is that she was located in an area that was previously searched, which I get it. Sometimes it's difficult to find remains after months and months and who knows like the state of every decomposition and what the terrain is like and all of that. But I mean, Occam's razor would suggest that there was probably something she was fleeing from. She went off grid, went to like some deserted little area and took her own life. So it wasn't in her family home, but I know there's so much more going on right now with different conspiracies and things like that, that maybe there was blackmail involved. Maybe there was something

• 26:44Annie Elise?

  else. Maybe she was running from someone and wanted to protect her family. Like, I don't know. I think there will be a lot more to come.

• 26:49Speaker 04

  This is obviously big speculation on my part.

• 26:52Annie Elise?

  Okay.

• 26:53Speaker 04

  But I just feel like my gut is telling me that she was afraid or being threatened or something of the sort to push her to do that only because it seemed like she liked her life, only from the sense of like, it's your last day. This was obviously planned and you drove your husband to work. You wanted to take your daughter lunch and like that, who knows? This is totally just an assumption.

• 27:20Annie Elise?

  Her way of saying goodbye.

• 27:21Speaker 04

  That's what I mean.

• 27:22Annie Elise?

  But is.

• 27:23Speaker 04

  Yeah. And I, I don't know. I just.

• 27:25Annie Elise?

  It's sad.

• 27:26Speaker 04

  It is really sad.

• 27:27Annie Elise?

  So it'll be interesting once cause of death and manner of death are released, which at the time of this recording, they have not been, but maybe they will be at the time of release. Uh, there also have been some updates in the Anna Kepner case and there's a pretty significant update in this and we have a pretty good look into what prosecutors believe happened the night that Anna was killed, which as a recap, 18 year old Anna was on a cruise ship with her family in early November 2025. She was sharing a room with her 16 year old. Stepbrother Timothy and another sibling of hers. And on the morning of November 8th, a housekeeper who went into the cabin room made a horrifying discovery.

• 28:08Annie Elise?

  Anna was under the bed, wrapped in blankets, covered in life jackets, and deceased, also had been sexually assaulted. The medical examiner later determined that she had died from mechanical asphyxiation, meaning that she had been strangled, and they believe more specifically with a bar hold, meaning like the forearm against someone's neck. So almost immediately, people had started questioning whether her stepbrother Timothy could have been involved, especially because there were reports that Anna felt really uncomfortable around him, that he had previously harassed her, she had confided in someone she was seeing, that he would make uncomfortable gestures and comments and different things like that. So obviously, everybody kind of looked at him, especially since he was sharing the room with her.

• 28:52Annie Elise?

  After the ship returned to Miami, Timothy ended up being hospitalized for a psychiatric evaluation, while the FBI then began investigating what happened. Then, about three months later, he was arrested, and he was charged as a juvenile in connection with Anna's death. Now, at that point, most of the court records were sealed because he was being prosecuted as a minor at the time. However, that all changed in April of 2026, when a federal grand jury indicted Timothy as an adult, and he was indicted on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse. Prosecutors allege that Timothy sexually assaulted Anna inside that cabin before then murdering her and attempting to hide her body underneath the bed.

• 29:35Annie Elise?

  But here's where it gets even more disturbing and where we're getting some more information as to what really went down, because we now have new court documents from a hearing that took place on May 27th, and these details are pretty disturbing. According to prosecutors, surveillance footage shows both Timothy and Anna entering the cabin that they shared shortly after 7:30 PM on November 7th. Prosecutors believe that Anna was still alive at 8:14 PM that evening. She reportedly sent a Snapchat to somebody. But then, at 10:13 PM, so about two hours later, Timothy allegedly is seen back on that surveillance footage, opening the door from the cabin, sticking his head out into the hallway,

• 30:18Annie Elise?

  looking up and down the hallway as if he was checking if anyone was around, and then leaving the room. However, Anna never left the room. Prosecutors also say that Wi-Fi routers on the ship showed that Timothy then carried Anna's phone all the way away from the cabin, onto another deck, and disposed of it. Investigators believe he threw it into a trash can rather than overboard because the phone was later recovered from a trash collection bin by a cruise ship employee, which I have to say, like, error number one, why wouldn't you throw it overboard into the sea? Why would you dispose of it on a moving ship? Like, you're taking the crime scene with you, my man. But then there's also the DNA evidence. And here's where it gets a little tricky

• 30:59Annie Elise?

  and where we're not sure exactly what went on during that vacation. According to some newly unsealed documents, investigators found DNA inside Anna's body. And this DNA was determined to have a high probability of belonging to her stepbrother Timothy. However, prosecutors also revealed that there was another minor who had sexual contact with Anna during the cruise. He was identified and also tested. So his DNA was compared against the DNA that was found inside Anna, and the investigators determined that it was not his. And then that's when they looked and they determined it was Timothy's. The documents also revealed some new details from Anna's autopsy. Prosecutors say that Timothy allegedly had strangled Anna

• 31:43Annie Elise?

  so hard with so much force that her eardrum ruptured. The medical examiner had already determined that Anna had died from asphyxiation, which we talked about. However, this is the first time that we're hearing directly from prosecutors where they're describing the injuries in this kind of level of detail. Which, again, with a bar hold, that much force to where your eardrum literally explodes, that is an incredible amount of, not only force, but adrenaline, impact. And we've done the demonstration on here in past cases. I'm not going to do it right now. But like where you set a timer for how long it takes someone to suffocate to death, it's a long time. And for someone to have that close, personal contact on top of you, looking you in the eyes,

• 32:27Annie Elise?

  and letting that timer run and realizing just how long it is, it's incredibly personal with so much.

• 32:36Annie Elise?

  Hatred, I would imagine, or like

• 32:37Speaker 04

  Passion.

• 32:38Annie Elise?

  Passion. I hate using the word passion because I feel like passion is usually affiliated with like love, which he was obsessed, obviously.

• 32:44Speaker 04

  Jealousy, rage.

• 32:45Annie Elise?

  Yeah, but rage. That's a perfect example. And so it's disgusting. Now, before I get into what's going on with Timothy and why people are enraged because he's not being held right now, I want to talk about the other minor. It hasn't been disclosed who this other minor is. We know that they have been identified and that they were tested and that they had sex with Anna. My question, we have heard the allegations that Timothy was obsessed with her, that he harassed her, that he was infatuated with her. Could she have met someone on that cruise ship hooked up with him? Timothy gets pissed off, enraged, to your point, jealous, and that's what happened, that he almost felt like you belong to me, or you're mine, or we're on this cruise together.

• 33:30Speaker 04

  Or you denied me, but you'll let this guy, or whatever.

• 33:33Annie Elise?

  And when did that take place? Did, is that why Anna went back to the room early when she was complaining about her braces? Like, yeah, I think obviously all of this will come out in the trial, but

• 33:44Speaker 04

  It's shocking that we haven't heard from anybody that witnessed the two of, like, her with somebody else.

• 33:50Annie Elise?

  I know.

• 33:50Speaker 04

  Because you think like as teenagers, you're like, you know, you, you meet someone, it's like a fling, you're like running around the cruise ship, like, making out or whatever. I don't know.

• 33:58Annie Elise?

  But they, and this was only what, three days in, I believe, into the cruise, right?

• 34:01Speaker 04

  It was early on.

• 34:02Annie Elise?

  It was very early on. So, I don't know, a lot more to come, but here's what a lot of people are talking about and what has a lot of people enraged. As I mentioned, Timothy is not currently being held in jail. Despite all of these allegations, despite the DNA evidence, despite everything, he's been living with family members while awaiting trial. And prosecutors have asked the court multiple times to detain him, saying, he poses a danger to the community, you need to hold him until trial. But during last week's hearing, the judge finally said that he's considering the request, but that he wants more information from the US Marshal Service about possible juvenile detention facilities that Timothy may be held at while the case moves forward.

• 34:45Annie Elise?

  Here's the problem with that. I get that you're finally like evaluating the request. It's been months, okay? Months and months and months. So much so too, you see that this case and these charges are so severe that they're being upgraded from juvenile to adult. This guy is a sexual predator. He's going to prey on his own family member. I get it. Step, not by blood, but still, his own family member, and he is young, his imp- he doesn't have impulse control. He maybe doesn't even recognize consequences and what things truly mean. He had to go into psychiatric facility for evaluation. Like, clearly, this is a dangerous and unsettling person to just be out there in the community, especially now that he knows he's going to be tried as an adult. He probably has nothing to lose at

• 35:27Annie Elise?

  this point, not to mention that he would maybe possibly flee, but also that maybe do whatever you want to do before you're incarcerated and your whole life is ripped away from you. Like, this is the exact definition, in my opinion, of a case and a situation where somebody should be remanded without bail and until trial. Like, I don't understand the decision here at all. And that's been one of the most frustrating parts for a lot of people who are following this case, because the prosecutors are laying out exactly what they believe happened, yet he's still out in the public, living life as if nothing happened, with, you know, maybe a few restrictions, but nothing major. Now, the defense's position has basically been that Timothy will continue to comply with the court orders, that he

• 36:09Annie Elise?

  will show up for the hearings, and that he will not pose a danger while he's out on release, which, great, but that's also all lip service. How do you know he won't pose a danger? I'm sure that Anna's family didn't think he posed a danger when they went on this family cruise. Like, what do you mean? They also have said absolutely nothing about the alleged details of the crime. However, another more shocking detail came out from a different hearing that happened back in February. According to newly unsealed testimony from an FBI agent who was working on the case, investigators interviewed Anna's ex-boyfriend during the investigation, and he allegedly described a, quote, "strange incident that happened while he was on FaceTime with Anna one night." Now, we've heard little bits

• 36:52Annie Elise?

  of this throughout the last few months, but we've never gotten actual Clarity because all the documents had been sealed. But according to this testimony, Anna had fallen asleep during this FaceTime call with her ex. He was doing some work in his garage. And then he heard a noise coming from Anna's phone and so he looked back at the screen. And when he looked, he said that he allegedly saw her stepbrother Timothy trying to climb into bed with Anna while she was asleep. So obviously you have a history here, right? You have a pattern. So the ex-boyfriend said he was so shocked by seeing this, he immediately started yelling at Timothy through the phone like, "Get the hell off of her. What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Because he probably didn't realize that Anna was on FaceTime. He thought she was just asleep, which thank God they were still on FaceTime. Can you imagine had they not been?

• 37:36Annie Elise?

  And if nobody had heard that and been able to scare him off? So Timothy then ran out of the room. Oh, well, Anna, I guess, slept through the entire thing. The next day, though, the ex-boyfriend told Anna what had happened and what he saw. According to the FBI agent, Anna then told her ex-boyfriend that she was very hesitant to tell her father about it. She said that Timothy was, yeah, you know, a little bit weird, that he owned a lot of knives and that she was afraid of him. But she was nervous to tell her dad about it. Which that detail has really stood out to a lot of people throughout this case. Because family members have described Anna and Timothy as being extremely close. Anna's stepmother previously even said that Anna, Timothy, and Anna's younger half-brother were like the three amigos, that they were best friends.

• 38:22Annie Elise?

  We also heard that early on too. I think it was the grandmother who had said like, "They were thick, you know, thick as thieves. They were best friends." Where it's like, I get that maybe that was the perception and Anna maybe didn't want to rock the family dynamic and break up this blended family and that's why she was scared to tell her dad. But obviously there was something way more sinister going on here. So now with these newly unsealed documents, the prosecution is painting a very different picture about the relationship between Anna and Timothy than what family members and other people originally believed. Meanwhile, Timothy has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. The case is still moving forward toward a trial. And that was originally set to, I believe, start June 1st, but it has now been moved to September 8th,

• 39:06Annie Elise?

  which I believe we plan on covering it. It will be, if I'm remembering correctly, it's going to be a federal trial. Given that it happened on the water and that there's a minor involved. But, so there may not be cameras in the courtroom, but we do plan on sending someone and covering that trial. So, stay tuned.

• 39:23Speaker 04

  I mean, I think when you painted the picture of, and we now know the intensity of how he killed her, I think, well allegedly, I think that could speak to why he had that psychotic episode getting off the, I mean, if he had to watch her stuff, you know?

• 39:40Annie Elise?

  Yeah. And it's, it's not that any murder is easy, but again, strangulation, it's so personal and it is so, I mean, not, uh, it, it's like, it's drawn out. It's a long period and there, you're, I'm not going to go into details, but your body goes through so many reactions to that as the victim, that watching those reactions.

• 40:00Speaker 04

  As a minor, who isn't fully developed to even comprehend that.

• 40:03Annie Elise?

  Right.

• 40:04Speaker 04

  I can't, yeah.

• 40:04Annie Elise?

  It probably does, which good, it should weigh heavily on you, you fucking creep.

• 40:07Speaker 04

  But like, and also after hearing more detail about that previous FaceTime situation, more evidence of why this person is a risk, it's, he felt entitled or comfy enough to do this again.

• 40:22Annie Elise?

  Yep.

• 40:22Speaker 04

  And it's like, no, put this guy away. That's where he deserves to be. He shouldn't be around any of his siblings, any other.

• 40:29Annie Elise?

  Agreed.

• 40:30Speaker 04

  Potential victims.

• 40:31Annie Elise?

  Agreed. Alright, I feel like we need to just have an honest conversation here in the circle of trust. Can we talk about how literally everything seems to be getting more expensive? Groceries, gas, rent, you name it. And apparently, your wireless bill wants to join in on that party too. But here's the thing, it doesn't have to. Mint Mobile is making it so much easier to stop overpaying for wireless with plans starting at just 15 bucks a month. And you're not sacrificing quality either. All plans include high-speed data, unlimited talk and text, and access to the nation's largest 5G network. You can also use your current phone and your current phone number. You just sign up online and you are good to go. Now, I changed carriers probably a year and a half ago at this point

• 41:15Annie Elise?

  to Mint Mobile. And when I tell you, not only was it the best decision of my life, I now have like service in places my husband doesn't even have service, but it was so easy. It took me 15 minutes, kept my phone, kept my phone number. It was the best. So for a new wireless plan starting at 15 bucks a month, go to mintmobile.com/ae. That's mintmobile.com/ae. $45 upfront payment required, equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.

• 41:46Speaker 04

  All right, this next case has been one that's getting a lot of attention online because people are now asking whether there could potentially be a serial killer in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Now, to be clear, authorities have not said that there is a serial killer. In fact, they're saying that there's not one, but we're going to circle back to that. So the reason people are talking about it so much is because three women were found dead in Puerto Vallarta in a span of less than two weeks in mid-May, and some of the details have raised a lot of questions. The first woman was found on May 10th near a viewpoint called Rancho El Pirulí. Authorities say she died from injuries caused by a sharp

• 42:26Speaker 04

  object and her wrists had been cut. Investigators believe she was around 30 years old, but she hasn't been officially identified yet. Then, just five days later, on May 15th, a second woman was found at a roadside stop along a highway. She may have suffered a blow to the head and may have had signs of poisoning. Investigators estimate that she was between 35 and 40 years old, but like the first victim, she has not yet been identified. And then on May 21st, a third woman was discovered on a dirt road in the Parque Las Palmas neighborhood. Authorities say she showed signs of asphyxiation along with signs of violence and bruising to her face. However, unlike the first two women, this

• 43:09Speaker 04

  victim was later identified as 25-year-old Elizabeth Galindo, who had been reported missing in Mexico on April 29th. So as investigators started looking more closely at the cases, they noticed some similarities. What stood out right away is that all three women had multiple tattoos and seemed to be close in age. But where things started looking a little strange was when they looked more closely at the first two women and the way in which they were found. According to authorities, both women were found in a similar state of partial undress, with their shirts nearly pulled off. They were also both discovered in somewhat isolated or less traveled areas of Puerto Vallarta.

• 43:51Speaker 04

  And because of those similarities, authorities began looking into whether the cases could be Connected. And that's when the rumors really started taking off online with headlines suggesting that there could be a serial killer in the area. Puerto Vallarta Police reviewed evidence, surveillance footage, and investigative reports. They also explored the possibility that the woman may have been killed somewhere else and then brought to Puerto Vallarta and dumped. But after all of that, the Jalisco State Prosecutor's Office made a public statement pushing back on the serial killer theory, saying that investigators are still trying to determine whether these deaths were even murders at all. And if they were, they needed to figure out if they were committed by the same person. But everyone is not convinced.

• 44:35Speaker 04

  One of the legislators representing Puerto Vallarta's 5th District has publicly said that she believes there might be more to these cases than the officials are saying. She pointed to what she sees as a disturbing pattern and suggested that authorities might be downplaying this because Puerto Vallarta is one of the most desired tourist destinations in Mexico. Especially with the World Cup coming to Guadalajara, this could certainly hurt the reputation of the area. She said, "Let me tell you why I think they did it. Because sadly, this news is making international headlines. It is leaving our port city in a very bad light. I do believe this is something that puts us very much on alert, something that compels women to be far more cautious and sadly, to live in fear."

• 45:19Speaker 04

  And another part of this that's getting a lot of attention is that in Puerto Vallarta, five women were murdered during the first five months of 2026 alone. And in comparison, there were only three murders of women reported there in all of 2025. So right now, there are still a lot more questions than answers. Authorities haven't confirmed if these cases are connected, haven't identified any suspects, and they haven't said if any of these deaths are even homicides, even though it might seem obvious from the outside looking in that they are. But I'm sure there will be more on this and we'll keep an eye out for updates. I know for us, we go to Mexico all the time, or we used to, because it's so close. And I've always heard that Puerto Vallarta was a little Dangerous.

• 46:04Speaker 04

  More dangerous than some of the other areas.

• 46:06Annie Elise?

  First, it doesn't surprise me if they're trying to like skirt around the possibility of a serial killer. I feel like we see have seen that in Texas. We've seen that everywhere because they don't want the community to be fearful. But also, yes, it's a huge tourist destination. World Cup is coming nearby. I feel like um just recently, what was it? The all of the cartel stuff that happened in Puerto Vallarta.

• 46:26Speaker 04

  Were there fires or something? Because I remember people being um.

• 46:30Annie Elise?

  It wasn't the fires. It was like the cartel uproar and like they were lighting gas stations on fire. They were robbing people and it was like scary and a lot of people were trapped there because the airport was even like shut down for a minute and people couldn't get home. And so I do think that.

• 46:43Speaker 04

  This is just one more thing.

• 46:45Annie Elise?

  It's right off the heels of that. And so it's like they're probably trying to contain it as much as possible, but doesn't look good.

• 46:51Speaker 04

  No, especially I mean, that's a big spring break destination.

• 46:55Annie Elise?

  Yeah. And I'll tell you one thing, it doesn't make me want to go to Mexico anytime soon. Or Hawaii, you would think Hawaii, but there's just a serial killer in Hawaii.

• 47:04Speaker 04

  Well, and I read last night that um an American citizen was killed in Cabo. Several innocent bystanders caught in um gunshot. They were shot because there was some sort of a feud and it was in Cabo and.

• 47:19Annie Elise?

  Gosh. Um, all right. Well, I want to talk about Mackenzie Shirilla again and like, I know, I know. But you know what? I'm really hopeful that this is like the last week or the last two weeks. But we FOIA'd Mackenzie. We've already have been sitting on so many documents, but we have been, they've been like kind of tight lipped to give a lot of like the digital stuff. And what I mean by that is like photos, videos, all the jail calls, things like that. And we have like terabytes and terabytes worth of data now. And I'll talk about more of that in a minute here, but I what I really want to talk about right now is something going on with her dad, because ever since this documentary, things just keep piling up and getting worse and worse. Now, as a quick recap, just in case you've been sleeping under a

• 48:04Annie Elise?

  rock, Mackenzie Shirilla is the Ohio girl who was convicted of murdering her boyfriend Dominic and their friend Davion after prosecutors said that she intentionally drove her car nearly 100 miles per hour into a brick. Building back in July of 2022. She was convicted in 2023 and then she was sentenced to two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life in prison. Now, one of the biggest things that people are talking about this week is a recent interview that Mackenzie's dad, Steve Shirilla, gave, and he gave this interview on a podcast called True Crime This Week. During this interview, Steve talks a lot about, quote, "the facts of the case that the prosecution didn't present," how this case should have gone a lot differently, and that the documentary

• 48:45Annie Elise?

  should have also gone differently. But more notably, he says that Mackenzie did not intentionally kill Dom or Davion. He was even talking about Mackenzie being remorseful at one point and said that if she had truly planned to kill Dom, it wouldn't make sense that Davion was in the car also, specifically saying that Davion, quote, "would have never been in that car if that had been her intention." Take a listen.

• 49:09Speaker 05

  This has nothing to do with the boys. It's, again, tragic that those boys died, and she has some responsibility to it, but what that is, nobody is ever gonna know. And, because nobody was in that car, and there's no evidence, and there's no story, there's no paper, there's no note, there's no video. My daughter and the remorse, that's another thing that's huge. I sat with my daughter for three months in that room right there, three months,

• 49:38Speaker 05

  watching her watch every video, every song, every picture about that boy. He had, there was a shrine to him in that room, a shrine. Cried herself to sleep every night. I know the trolls are gonna go, "God, she should cry herself to sleep." She has remorse. She was upset. If you would have heard her when she found out that Dom died, if you would have heard the sound that came out of her, it would have crushed you. She's seven, she was 17. She's a dumb kid. She wasn't breaking up. She didn't do it on purpose. And I've asked her, "Did you do this on purpose?" And she's going, "No." And I would think if my daughter was that mad,

• 50:20Speaker 05

  that mad at that boy to want to kill him that way.

• 50:26Speaker 05

  Davion would have never been in the car.

• 50:27Speaker 06

  Right.

• 50:28Annie Elise?

  Now, not for nothing, but we know that Mackenzie is selfish, entitled, and only cares about herself. So I don't think it would have mattered at all who else was in that car. I think she had a laser focused vision on what she was planning to do. And it didn't matter if it was Davion in the car. It wouldn't have mattered if it was Rosie in the car. It wouldn't have mattered anybody else was in the car. Just my opinion. But he also talks a little bit about how he was put on administrative leave after the documentary came out. Which, if you don't know, he's an art teacher at a Catholic school. And he said that the school apparently had a problem with some of the things that he said about drugs. Which I kind of agree with, okay? Because I don't know what he thought when he went on a literal Netflix documentary and said he doesn't care if his child smokes dope or smokes weed.

• 51:12Annie Elise?

  And that he thinks that that's better than other drugs. Obviously, if you're supposed to be setting an example for children, maybe you don't give them a pass on drugs. If they're minors, like, or at all. It just makes no sense to me. So now he's saying, like, he kind of wants to play the whole poor me card, saying he doesn't have a job. My daughter's innocent, she's remorseful, even though, you know, your daughter caused something incredibly horrific and devastating and life ending with THC in her system. And yet your hot take is that you don't care if she smoked weed. It just obviously did not land right for anyone. But then he went on to double down what he said. And he tried to explain why he was okay with it. And said that she needed to do it to learn for herself. Which, take a listen.

• 51:56Speaker 06

  I know you, you come from an art background, graphic design.

• 52:00Speaker 05

  Yep, graphic design, yep.

• 52:01Speaker 06

  And then you were teaching art.

• 52:03Speaker 05

  Yes, yes.

• 52:04Speaker 06

  Now, what's happened since the documentary came out?

• 52:08Speaker 05

  Well, apparently, the diocese had a problem with something I said in there. Along with, um...

• 52:16Speaker 06

  Did people contact?

• 52:17Speaker 05

  Yes, that's my understanding. There's a, there was a website out of Parma, Parma something. And, and they, I guess they just called in and made all kind of stupid, baseless accusations. And then the diocese has an obligation to protect the kids, which I understand. But the problem I have with the diocese doing how they did it is they didn't talk to me. They just... Acted. When I just, here it is, boom.

• 52:43Speaker 06

  So you were teaching for like a Catholic school?

• 52:45Speaker 05

  Catholic school, yes.

• 52:46Speaker 06

  Yeah. Um, and the, they're saying that, that, uh, you know, because of the, the drugs or something?

• 52:52Speaker 05

  Something, I mean, in the, in the documentary, we were talking, uh, we were talking about her-

• 52:57Speaker 06

  So you didn't have a problem with her?

• 52:58Speaker 05

  I don't have, I didn't, I didn't. As, as, you know, as a parent, I, I pick my battles, you know? Um, I, I, I'm sorry if I find marijuana not that dangerous as I find alcohol or cocaine or whatever, you know, I, I, she, my daughter, beyond what everybody else seems to think or wants to interpret or glean, she seemed mature enough to handle it. I didn't see an issue. It wasn't, it wasn't causing her to be late for this or not do this or, or get in an exit, get in an exit. You know what I'm saying? There was, there wasn't anything that was, and I just, I had other battles I wanted to fight with her. And I taught

• 53:43Speaker 05

  her, uh, right along, I said, "Look, you can't be driving with it, blah, blah, blah. Watch with, you know, you can't, be careful with, with Dominic, you know, if you get caught, he gets caught, you get caught." You know, all I can do is teach her and try to, try to make her learn. She's a lot like me. Um, when I was little, I needed to do it, experience it to learn it, you know, and don't touch the stove. Steve, don't touch the stove. And I go touch the stove and it got burned, you know, it's, it, it's who she is, you know, she has to learn for herself and make her own choices. And that's what I was doing. And she was getting older and, and she was, they were, her and Dom are making a life together now.

• 54:18Annie Elise?

  So then there was another thing that also came out this week. Another phone call was released that has sparked a lot of backlash online. In this phone call, Mackenzie is talking with her mom about her future, saying that she wants to become a life coach and that that's her plan if she's ever released from prison. Which during this call, her mom, who we know is like not only enabling, but also just as fucking delusional, in my opinion, she says, "You're going to be able to help so many more people than you already were. You know what I mean? Just because of your experiences." And Mackenzie says, "I'm going to be a life coach and stuff. I'm just, I'm going to be everything. I'm going to do everything." Take a listen.

• 54:55Speaker 07

  What'd you say? All the things you have been experiencing, it's so much. So many highs and lows and ups and downs.

• 55:08Speaker 07

  A pillar of strength, my love. Yes, like, man, I'll come home and just like.

• 55:17Speaker 07

  I already know.

• 55:20Speaker 07

  Pillar of strength. You're gonna be able to help so many more people than you already were. You know what I mean? Just because of your experiences. I'm gonna be like a life coach and stuff and like. Yeah. I'm just gonna be everything. I'm gonna do everything. I like, I wanna do.

• 55:34Annie Elise?

  Now, look, I'm all for being aspirational and maybe wanting to like better things, but like, the last person in the world that I would take life coaching advice from would be Mackenzie Shirilla. I would sooner take life coaching advice from Casey Anthony, like, which says a lot.

• 55:50Speaker 04

  That's a bold statement.

• 55:51Annie Elise?

  I know, but truly, because. Let me walk that back a little bit.

• 55:56Speaker 04

  I was like.

• 55:57Annie Elise?

  Let me find it. I mean. Here, well, here's where I'm saying, at least she was smart enough to get out of, we all know what she did. But at least she was like smart enough and intelligent enough to lie enough to get out of it. It's like, there's at least some sort of skill set there, being deceitful and being bad. Mackenzie is just this entitled, selfish, little creep loser who only cares about her slutty Halloween costumes, ripping the bong in the car, selling feet pics and jerking people off with her feet, like.

• 56:27Speaker 04

  See, I almost not prefer, but I prefer someone who's.

• 56:31Annie Elise?

  Just doesn't care.

• 56:31Speaker 04

  Like who's openly who they are and like, I'm a, I'm a nightmare person, but this is what I do, like, I'm just gonna be out there, whereas Casey Anthony was trying to like be this professional universal who was working and like this worried mom. Where Mckell's, Mackenzie's kinda like, fuck that, I'm jealous, I'm the coolest girl in school and I can smoke weed and drive and like this badass. So the writing's on the wall, obviously we hate her, but at least she was who she was. Casey was trying to like be this person that she was not even close to being.

• 57:03Annie Elise?

  I'm gonna sign you, I'm gonna reach out to Mackenzie and tell her you wanna sign up for her course. And it's gonna be a pyramid scheme and you're gonna go broke and you're gonna take all the life.

• 57:12Annie Elise?

  Merry Christmas.

• 57:13Speaker 04

  What kills me is how many people talk about her accent in jail and that it just like came out of nowhere and that she's trying to be a badass.

• 57:21Annie Elise?

  I know. I can't with her. So you know what? I take it all back. I don't want life coaching from any of them. I want life coaching from Mike King at Profiling Evil.

• 57:29Speaker 04

  Love that.

• 57:30Annie Elise?

  We love Mike King. I was so happy to get, get like see him again this weekend and oh, we love him. Okay. So anyway, the comments obviously quickly spread online with a lot of people questioning whether she has even fully accepted responsibility for what happened at this point, which like I said it last week, I'm not so sure that she has. And then there's the response from Dom's family about all of this. Dom's sister Christine has recently spoken out after the release of the documentary and she did not hold back. In an interview, Christine says that Mackenzie's parents are continuing to defend her instead of acknowledging the findings of the court. She said that Steve and Natalie quote, "created a monster" and that they have never shown enough remorse for the deaths of Dom and Davion, specifically saying, "it's all for show." She also criticized the documentary itself, saying that she believes

• 58:15Annie Elise?

  that it left out important evidence and has forced the victims' families to relive the case all over again, which amen. There also has been a major legal development. Mackenzie's attorneys are now asking the Ohio Supreme Court to review her case after one of her post-conviction appeals was rejected because it was filed one day late. Court records show that the issue with the filing was based on a deadline calculation involving the 2024 leap year. So her attorneys are arguing that that filing shouldn't have been dismissed over what they are calling a calendaring error, which fair argument, kind of. I get where it's like, you can't really argue if you're one day late normally because then you have to make exceptions for everyone. But if there was something with the calendar

• 58:58Annie Elise?

  year or like still it's your job, you should have been paying attention to it. But like, I get where maybe they're now trying to squeeze a little bit more out of that argument because of the leap year, like. And trying to do whatever they can do. Now, as of this recording, the Ohio Supreme Court Hasn't decided whether it will hear the appeal, which is most likely based around, you know, The apparent medical evidence that was never heard in court about Mackenzie's pots, also About the texts with Davion, who really even knows. So we'll keep watching for those Updates, because if the Supreme Court does decide to hear her case, that is going to Be, you know, a whole other new ordeal. And let me say this too, I talked about it a

• 59:37Annie Elise?

  Little bit. We have collected so many terabytes of media data, calls, everything, that I have Two bonus episodes coming out this week. Okay. One came out yesterday, and it was Six phone calls between Mackenzie and her friends while she's been in jail, which in My opinion, she shows no remorse. They're talking about relationships. They're talking About fun things. She drops the R word, literally dozens of times. It's unbelievable how that's Just in her vocabulary. But we, I listened to, we've got hours and hours and hours worth Of calls, and we pulled out the most important ones. So that episode is live right now on YouTube. And then tomorrow, also releasing another one. There were over, gosh, I don't

• 1:00:22Annie Elise?

  Know, tons of calls between her and her mom, pulled out the top 16 crazy batshit unhinged Calls between the two of them. That is releasing tomorrow. Other than that, we also, fun little News, at CrimeCon, whenever I was not at the booth, we had a phone there, like a cute Little pink phone, where you could leave a message. So we did like this whole segment Of like, oh, you can either ask for advice, or you can confess to your bestie, like, Everything's anonymous. And so throughout the weekend, people would leave either their Little confessions, or ask a piece of advice for me to answer. So beginning probably next Week, we will start rolling that into the end of headline highlights, where we will Pull from the recordings, either share the confession with you guys, and again, it's

• 1:01:06Annie Elise?

  All anonymous, don't worry, or, well, if it's a real confession, I'm sharing it with The police. And then also, you know, the little advice portion. So that'll be interesting. It'll be fun. It'll be fun, yeah. All right, guys. That is it for this week's headline highlights. Thank you so much for joining us today. And until the next one, be nice, don't kill people.

• 1:01:27Speaker 04

  Don't go to Mexico.

• 1:01:28Annie Elise?

  Don't go to Mexico. Hooray, goodbye.

• 1:01:29Speaker 04

  Hooray.

• 1:01:30Annie Elise?

  All right, bye, guys.