281: Held Hostage & Tortured for 17 Days in Luxury NYC Brownstone

This week on Headline Highlights, a 13-year-old girl was attacked on her way home from school, but this brave teen proved her attacker picked the wrong target. After years on the run, the founder of a Haitian orphanage has finally been sentenced to prison for shocking abuse. A prison escape has everyone talking, not just because he got out, but because of why he was behind bars to begin with. The Kim Kardashian jewelry heist trial has come to a close. A good Samaritan’s kind act turned into a nightmare when he was beaten and robbed. And an upscale New York City apartment became the scene of a horror story where a man was held hostage and tortured for weeks.🔎Join Our True Crime Club & Get Exclusive Content & Perks 🔎 Join The Club: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise🎧 Need More to Binge? Listen to EXTRA deep dive episodes every week on Apple!https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serialously-with-annie-elise/id1519456164🚩Announcements🚩Enter to Win 2 Tickets to CrimeCon! 🎟️🕵️‍♀️https://tinyurl.com/Annie-EliseFollow Annie on Socials 📸 🩷Instagram: @ _annieelise💜TikTok: @_annieelise🗞️ Substack: @annieelise💙Facebook: @10tolifeShop Annie’s Closet & Must-Haves! 👗Poshmark: https://posh.mk/Tdbki6Ae0RbShopMY: https://shopmy.us/annieeliseAmazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/10tolife?ref_=cm_sw_r_apin_aipsfshop_BKN1ZMCMEZHACVFQ2R75&language=en_USDisclaimer ‣ Some links may be affiliate links, they do not cost you anything, but I make a small percentage from the sale. Thank you so much for watching and supporting me.🎙️ Follow the podcast for FREE on all podcast platforms! Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serialously-with-annie-elise/id1519456164Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6HdheEH8WeMTHoe5da34qUAll Other Platforms: https://audioboom.com/channels/5100770-serialously-with-annie-eliseGet Involved or Recommend the Case 💬 About Annie: https://annieelise.com/For Business Inquiries: [email protected] Sources 🔗ABC NewsABC7 Los AngelesAOL.comAP NewsCBS NewsMiami HeraldNBC NewsNew York PostNewsweekNPRPeople.comPIX11The New York TimesU. S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs*Sources used to collect this information include various public news sites, interviews, court documents, FB groups dedicated to the case, and various news channel segments. When quoting statements made by others, they are strictly alleged until confirmed otherwise. Please remember my videos are my independent opinion and to always do your own research. ••••••••••••••••••Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this video are personal and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the creator(s). These views are subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time and are not to be held in perpetuity. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information on this video and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts.

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

• 0:00Annie Elise?

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• 0:42Annie Elise?

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• 1:07Speaker 01

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• 1:32Annie Elise?

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

• 1:56Annie Elise?

  Hey, everybody. Welcome back to an all-new episode of Serial Assley. I'm your host, Annie Elise, and I am here to break down everything going on this week in the true crime world. Now, for those of you who are brand-new to this podcast, have never Listen before never watched it over on YouTube before. First of all, welcome. Happy to have you. Let me break down what it is we do here. Every Monday I do a case deep dive where I'm going into all the nitty gritty details of a case, the reddits, the social media posts, the old relationships. I mean, no stone left unturned. So we do full case deep dives every single Monday. And then on Thursday, we do headline highlights where we talk about everything that's happening this week in true crime. New cases, brand new breaking cases, updates to cases that we've previously covered.

• 2:41Annie Elise?

  And then sometimes in between I'll put other episodes out that are outside of that release schedule. Because you know, it warrants them. For example, last week I put out two additional episodes. One where I recapped everything that was happening last week in the Diddy trial. Some of the biggest testimonies, allegations and you know, big bombshells that came out of that. And then also on Friday, I released a Karen Reed trial recap because I was in the courtroom in Boston last week. I was watching, you know, the jury's expressions, the case presented, figuring out what people were kind of thinking, what was really the overall vibe in the courtroom. So I put that recap out too. So if you want to make sure that you don't miss any of the episodes, whether it is a scheduled release on Monday or Thursday,

• 3:24Annie Elise?

  or an additional extra release outside of the schedule, then make sure you follow the podcast. Just take a quick second, whatever phone you listen on, whatever device you listen on, just go to your podcast app and hit follow podcast and then you will not miss any of them. Now, before we get into today's cases, I do have a very, very exciting announcement. I am going to CrimeCon again this year. If you remember, we went last year, it was in Nashville. There were about 6,000 people who went and I know this year it's expected to, I believe, be even bigger than that. It's going to be in Denver, Colorado this year. And the dates are September 5th through the 7th. So I've already shared with you previously that I'm going to be there. I'm going to be doing a live episode from CrimeCon as well.

• 4:08Annie Elise?

  And for those of you who don't know what CrimeCon is, let me just explain it because I know it's a little bit of a funny word. But it's basically this massive three day convention where true crime fans, content creators,

• 4:20Annie Elise?

  Experts, podcasters, victims' families, guest speakers, everybody from all over the true crime universe, just come together, hang out, educate on red flags, bringing awareness, on advocacy, different panels are out there, different speakers, I mean, you name it, like, last year, there was Dateline there, Nancy Grace there, the Petito family, John Bennett's father, it's just this really large-scale convention. So, I will be there this September, again, I'll be doing a live episode from there as well, I'll have a booth, you can come by, you can say hello, you can shop merch, you could do whatever you want to do, but my point in saying all of that, is I am giving away some free tickets, I'm partnering with them to hook you guys up with

• 5:01Annie Elise?

  some free passes. So, keep listening, because later in today's episode, I will give you the details on how you can get those free passes. But if you already know that you want to go, and you're not trying to win passes, you just want to buy your passes before they sell out, head over to CrimeCon, use my code AnnieELease, and you will get 10% off your passes. So, stay tuned, because I'm going to tell you later in this episode, again, how you can win those two passes. So, let's get right into today's cases, and the first one I want to talk about is very inspiring, and also kind of like, goes to everything we've talked about, right? We always say, if somebody is going to try to abduct you, if somebody approaches you, never be complicit, and just think that if you appease them, and if you cooperate and go along with it, that

• 5:44Annie Elise?

  they'll release you, or that they won't inflict such horror on you. The rule of thumb is always, do not let them get you to a second location. Kick, fight, scream, yell, bite, do whatever you have to do, but don't go to a second location, because the likelihood of coming out of that second location, it just unfortunately is much slimmer, of course, than if you scare them off and you do not get taken. So, this is a case that is coming out of California. Just last week, in Carmel, California, a 13-year-old little girl was on her way home from school, and during this walk home, this girl saw a creepy man, just kind of standing there between two cars, like, sort of trying to hide between the two cars, and just kind of like lurking, she could tell that he was-

• 6:30Annie Elise?

  Acting unusual, maybe he was under the influence, maybe he was just distressed, maybe there was poor mental health. Not really sure, but she could tell like something was just off about this guy. And sure enough, her instincts were right because all of a sudden this man just jumped out and he ambushed this 13 year old little girl. Now, after he jumped out at her, he actually punched her in the face, but this girl fought back and she fought back hard. I mean, without hesitation, she punched this man right back in the face. And she didn't stop there. She put him in a headlock, she kneed him multiple times. And she even literally like put him in a headlock, spun him around and threw him to the ground. It was almost like a Mission Impossible kind of movie, like this girl had superhuman strength.

• 7:15Annie Elise?

  At some point, she also stepped on his foot and then when he hit the ground, he broke his ankle, which she like clearly dominated this guy. Go her. I mean, that is so intense to not only be that young and have that kind of physical strength, but also to be that young and have such quick thinking in that moment where somebody's ambushing you. And you just react and you just basically like kick their ass and fight back. I mean, that's pretty remarkable. And as it turns out, she had been taking jiu jitsu lessons for the last three years at the local youth center. Which jiu jitsu is a form of martial arts and this clearly paid off. I mean, if this isn't a direct signal to get your kids involved in classes like this, I don't know what is because

• 7:57Annie Elise?

  three years of lessons and she basically like dominated this guy. So after she gets him to the ground, she immediately sprinted away and she made it home safely. Thank goodness. Now, although it's a huge blessing, he wasn't able to abduct her and get her. Because she sprinted away, which that she did the right thing, don't get me wrong, he was able to get away. And unfortunately, he is still on the loose. According to the police, they don't have any solid leads so far, but they do have a description of the attacker and they have released a sketch of what he looks like. The suspect is said to be about six feet tall, also muscular, and now of course, because of her, has an injured left foot. Now, the girl's family has of course asked that her identity remain a secret, especially because not only is she a minor, but

• 8:40Annie Elise?

  This creep is still on the loose. So if her identity is out there, who's to say he's not going to try and find her again to shut her up and to retaliate since she has now seen him at this point, right? But even though they're trying to keep her identity a secret, they're definitely not shying away from sharing her story. And they're doing everything that they possibly can do to bring this person to justice. And this is a story that is a little bit different than the ones we usually talk about on headline highlights. But the reason that I wanted to highlight it is because I think for a few reasons. One being, let's talk about it. Let's generate awareness. Hopefully, the more people hear about this, the less likely it is that this creep will get away with it. And hopefully, he will be found. I mean, Carmel is traditionally a pretty sleepy, safe town. So is he from the area? Did he just like infiltrate

• 9:24Annie Elise?

  himself into the area? Hopefully, the more people are aware about what's going on, hopefully, he won't get away with it. But also, I think it's important to highlight the strength and the courage of this 13-year-old girl. And hopefully, her story will inspire other women and young girls to also learn self-defense. Skills that will ultimately keep them safe, God forbid, they're ever in a dangerous and scary situation like this. I know for me, it definitely has. I feel like I'm strong and I know certain protective movements, but it's a reminder that you also never know until you're in that situation and when you're forced to think on your feet. So I hope that this creep is found. And I'm so glad that this girl got away because this story could have had such a horrible and different ending.

• 10:09Annie Elise?

  Now, I want to talk about this next case. It's about a man who had founded an orphanage, and he has now been sentenced to 210 years in prison. And this case is just all around sick. And once again, another example of some sicko freak in power and like using that power to abuse vulnerable young victims. Michael Guilenfield, who is now 73 years old, founded St. Joseph's Home for Boys back in 1985. And the home was meant to house orphaned or impoverished children in Haiti. He owned it, and he ran this home for over two decades. However, in a major turn of events, Michael was arrested in January of 2020.

• 10:50Annie Elise?

  And he was charged with illicit sexual conduct because it turns out this man was not just helping children out of the kindness of his heart, but rather he was taking on victims who were already just as vulnerable as they possibly could be. He reportedly physically and sexually assaulted at least six boys that he was quote unquote "taking care of", but the actual number of victims is thought to be a lot higher. And Michael kept this up for decades. He opened up several different orphanages in Haiti until 2014. And after that, he then also opened one up in the Dominican Republic. He would just fly back and forth from the US to all of these facilities and he would violate, torment, and assault

• 11:34Annie Elise?

  all of the children in his care, or some of the children. One being one too many, right? He would lure them in, promising them just this better life, full of education, full of opportunities, but instead, he would take advantage of them. And it was almost like he was kind of building his own little private kingdom for himself, just this kingdom to sexually exploit and assault children. It's absolutely deranged and vile and disgusting. At one point, Michael was even jailed in Haiti on sex assault allegations, but he was able to escape back to the US with the help of the US Embassy. And he evaded consequences for his actions for years, until finally, the FBI got involved and they started taking

• 12:16Annie Elise?

  a closer look at him. So after his arrest in January, he was flown to Miami where he there was denied bond, and then his trial was set to begin in February. The trial lasted three weeks, and in that trial, he also came face to face with some of his victims. And there were accusations that dated back all the way to the 1980s. Six victims who were children, now are adults, all testified about the abuse. The horrific conditions and behavior that they had suffered because of Michael when they were just children living in his facility. They testified that they were assaulted physically, mentally, and emotionally. Each victim talked about how this happened, yes, a very, very long time ago, but how they still experienced pain and

• 13:00Annie Elise?

  nightmares and even suicidal thoughts. They referred to Michael as quote, "a diabolical psychopath." Somebody who continuously used his money and his status to get out of trouble. Over the years, his victims also have tried to get help, but Michael apparently made sure that nobody would ever listen to them or take them seriously. One of the victims even said, "We've been telling our story for years and nobody believed us." The children had been turned away by other adults, radio hosts, even police officers. And here's an interview with Daniel, one of Michael's victims, and this was done after the trial, but take a listen.

• 13:36Speaker 02

  I said it, I say it again.

• 13:40Speaker 02

  Personally, me, I grew up in the street. I don't know my family, mom or dad. I grew up in one of the biggest orphanages in Haiti, which is the Sundak Educafo. After this was destroyed, a Bien Social took me to this monster house, right? And then, things started happening, okay? We went to people, to the, I mean, to the police station. Everywhere we go, they said, "No, we lying, we lying, we lying." Nobody believed us because these guys controlled the whole, the whole thing. He's like, he's like, he's like a mafia boss. It's not only him, they got priests, pastors, doctors out there, they're still out there doing the same thing, okay?

• 14:22Speaker 02

  And then what happened is those people, when they said, "No, we lying, we need money, we this, we that." That's him, that, that's the picture he paints, he paint the wall, like. And, and the outside, he's like a smooth guy, but in the inside, he's a devil. So that's why he tell people, "They need papers, you know, they need paper, they wanna say to United States, they, they need money, that this, that, that." No, and he's like 200 kids cannot come to lie to the same guys. And then you been to there in Haiti, and then you went to the Dominican Republic, do it again. You went to Mexico, you left Mother Teresa, and all that. So I want people to understand when your kid tells you something, just pay attention to it. Pay attention to it. Don't just say, oh, you lying, and you need money. This guy is a white guy. He got money now.

• 15:05Speaker 02

  You know, don't do that. Just listen to your kids. Listen to every kid.

• 15:09Annie Elise?

  Even more victims testified at the trial, but the lawyers said that Michael was only charged for six of the victims. After the three-week trial concluded, the jury found him guilty of traveling to a foreign place to engage in illicit sexual conduct. They also found him guilty of six counts of engaging in illicit conduct in a foreign place. And just this past week, Michael finally received his sentence. He was sentenced to 210 years in federal prison. And when this sentence was announced, the entire courtroom actually stood up and started applauding. Just a very, very powerful moment. Which, if I was there, I probably would have done the exact same thing. I also probably would have lost my mind and started like cheering,

• 15:53Annie Elise?

  because this man deserves to rot in prison, like, under the ground, buried in the sewer, just in the rot of the moldy sewage system. Frickin' filthy, disgusting creep. So while it might have taken a very long time to get to this point and get justice, I'm happy that the families and the victims finally are getting justice. Now, we're gonna switch gears again here, but, once again, talk about another person in a position of power who used that power to prey on other people. So this case is about 56-year-old Grant Harden. He's been held in prison since 2017, serving a very lengthy sentence in Calico Rock, Arkansas. Now, I'm talking about him for a couple of reasons, okay?

• 16:36Annie Elise?

  First, Grant actually used to be a police chief in a small town in Arkansas. But all of that changed on February 23rd, 2017. Because on that day, while a man named James Appleton was just sitting in his car, talking on the phone with his brother, Grant just walked up to his car out of nowhere, and he shot him directly through the head through the car window. And this was while he was still the police chief. Not after, but like while he was still in a position of power. James's body was found in his car and he was pronounced dead at the scene. However, what's strange is that a motive was never revealed. So Grant was arrested and he pleaded guilty to first degree murder and he ultimately ended up being sentenced to 30 years in prison.

• 17:20Annie Elise?

  But the shocking part is, this wasn't even Grant's first major crime. After he was found guilty of murder, investigators were also then able to connect Grant's DNA to a different unsolved case. See, back in 1997, an elementary school teacher had been raped and this case was never solved. The rape victim said that a very large man pointed a gun directly at her and then raped her after she exited the school bathroom. So investigators were able to use DNA that had been collected from that victim's clothing to then match it to Grant's DNA. So now while serving his 30-year sentence, Grant also pleaded guilty to the rape. And he was sentenced to an additional 50 years.

• 18:00Annie Elise?

  However, on Sunday, May 25th, the public was very shocked and very unsettled to hear that Grant had actually escaped prison. It was around 3:40 PM and the prison released an official statement saying that Grant was able to escape by making some sort of makeshift police officer uniform. Other than that, though, they didn't really release any additional details, nothing about his getaway plan, how exactly he escaped, none of that. But they said he had a makeshift police officer uniform and he escaped. The statement also said that Grant should be considered, quote, "extremely dangerous" and "he should definitely not be approached." As of now, details on where he could be, it's still unknown. Nobody really knows. They have not found him as of this recording.

• 18:44Annie Elise?

  Grant is white, about six feet tall, 259 pounds, and he is 56 years old. So law enforcement is telling the public that if they see Grant, do not approach him, do not say anything to him, do not even try to engage him, but just immediately call 911. And I can't help but wonder, was he able to successfully escape because he knows the inner workings of the prison system, given his backstory, given what he did for a living? Or did he possibly have help from the inside? I don't know, but I'm curious to know what you guys think.

• 19:22Annie Elise?

  All right, 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 to Mint Mobile.

• 20:07Annie Elise?

  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.

• 20:46Annie Elise?

  All right, guys, so as promised, now is the time where I am going to give you all the details of how you can win those two free passes to CrimeCon for the full weekend of CrimeCon. And it's very, very simple. All you have to do is go to the show notes, there is a link, you click that link, and you can enter to win the two free passes. Just click the link and it'll take you directly to a form where you answer a couple of short questions and bam, you are entered to win. We will announce the winner on here and over on my community page on YouTube in one week. So let me just pull up the date. We will announce the winner on... June 5th. And I will also announce the winner in the Headline Highlights episode on June 5th. So you'll be able to find out if you're the winner either on Headline Highlights...

• 21:30Annie Elise?

  On community page or in the show notes and of course, we will also contact you directly. So good luck and I'm looking forward to seeing you guys all at CrimeCon. Okay, so this next case is one that I'm sure all of you guys are familiar with, but it finally came to a close. So I wanted to give you a little bit of an update. It definitely is a high profile case because it's about none other than Kim Kardashian. Her infamous jewelry heist, the trial has now finally come to an end and eight out of the 10 defendants were found guilty. Now, the robbery happened almost a decade ago now, which I can't believe it's been that long. It feels like it was way more recent, right? But let me give you a quick recap of what happened. Back in 2016 during Paris Fashion Week, while Kim was there attending all of the events,

• 22:15Annie Elise?

  somebody had broken into her house or the home that she was staying at, rather. And she was bound with zip ties and held at gunpoint. She was robbed of over millions of dollars worth of jewelry and in total 10 people ended up being arrested and charged, either for committing the robbery or for assisting in it. And in all honesty, the job, it was pretty sloppy. One robber's getaway bike even got a flat tire and his bag of jewels kind of like ripped open on the street. Felt like it was out of a movie. The gang also left DNA all over the scene of the crime. They had used tape and Velcro to restrain Kim. They had done all sorts of things where they left kind of a sloppy mess behind. And ultimately, all of them were caught within the first four months. So the group of robbers earned themselves the nickname, the Grandpa Robbers,

• 23:00Annie Elise?

  because they're a group of hardened criminals who are mostly now in their 60s and 70s. However, the prosecution said, nobody should be fooled by, you know, their quote reassuring wrinkles. That was the word and term they used. They said that these were all hardened criminals and they felt no remorse for Kim during this robbery. She was terrified. She was scared. She was being held at gunpoint and they just could not care less. So Kim wasn't at the final hearing, but she did testify earlier this month saying that she did fear for her life during that robbery. As I said, in the end, eight out of the 10 people involved, seven men and one woman were found guilty. But their sentence, in my opinion, was kind of light. They were All sentenced to either three to eight years in prison.

• 23:43Annie Elise?

  And not only were the sentences much less than what the prosecution was going for, but all of the sentences got suspended due to the time that the defendants had already served in jail. The defense argued that it was cruel to put the defendants back in prison since a lot of them now at this point had serious health conditions because of their age. Health conditions such as cancers, Parkinson's disease, things like that, saying that there's no threat that they're going to continue committing crimes or ever commit crimes again because of their condition and because of time served, because of their age, they should just, you know, be released. Which a lot of people have different opinions on that. Kim Kardashian's lawyer released a statement on her behalf after the ruling saying, quote, "I am deeply grateful to the French authorities for pursuing justice in this case.

• 24:27Annie Elise?

  The crime was the most terrifying experience of my life, leaving a lasting impact on me and my family. While I'll never forget what happened, I believe in the power of growth and accountability, and I pray for healing for all." She also released a statement on Instagram to her millions and millions of followers saying, "I believe in second chances." So, can't believe this happened almost 10 years ago. Take of it what you will, tell me what you think, but wanted to at least give you, you know, the final resolution of that case. Now we are moving back over to New York because, shockingly, once again, we have crime on a New York City subway, which it's like, man, man oh man, these subway systems are just getting more and more dangerous by the day.

• 25:12Annie Elise?

  So, it was a southbound F train, and at around 9:15 PM, an argument broke out between two riders on the train. They started yelling at each other when all of a sudden, a 61-year-old good Samaritan tried to step in between this argument and kind of like de-escalate the situation, cool things off. But almost immediately after this man tried to step in, one of the men who was arguing turned to him and began punching him and kicking him in the face until he was unconscious. Then after knocking this man out, the attacker went through his pockets, stole a few items, and then took off, just ran away. He was caught on camera and he was described to be around six feet tall and wearing- A black vest over a yellow hoodie.

• 25:52Annie Elise?

  And as if that wasn't enough, while this guy was still knocked out, another, a second pickpocketer came up to him and stole more cash out of his wallet or his pocket. I don't know exactly, you know, where it was. The second pickpocketer was described as heavyset and last seen wearing a black jacket, a black cap with a Nike logo, and also carrying a black backpack. The victim was rushed to the hospital and he was listed in critical but stable condition. However, the attacker and the pickpocketers are still on the loose, which, I mean, this is just honestly so sad. This man literally tried to step in, be a good Samaritan, deescalate this situation, but in return, he gets beat up and then robbed twice. It's horrible, right? What kind of people do these things?

• 26:35Annie Elise?

  So I hope this man is able to recover and get some sort of justice for whatever happened to him. Now, next up, I want to talk about a case that has gone absolutely viral, and you may have heard of it, you may have seen it somewhere on your social media, but it's about the Italian tourist who was held captive and tortured in New York City, all by a crypto investor. So it's an insane one, and like I said, you might have seen it on the news already. So a man named John Woltz was renting an apartment in a really trendy neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, and nobody really suspected anything. It was just, he was renting this apartment, no big deal. But then, when an Italian tourist, who was clearly beaten and bruised, ran out of this apartment screaming for help, everyone, and I mean everybody, was shocked by this.

• 27:19Annie Elise?

  Which, let me go back to the beginning. So it was May 6th, and a 28-year-old Italian man flew to New York to meet with his two business partners. One of these business partners was 37-year-old John Woltz. Now, these three men have reportedly been in business together for years. Once the Italian businessman got to New York, John, along with his business partner, took him back to that apartment in Lower Manhattan on Prince Street, and that apparently is when everything started to go sideways. The two men allegedly kidnapped him, took his electronics and his passport, and then tortured him for weeks. John and the partner allegedly also tried to get this guy to give them the password to his Bitcoin account, so that they could

• 27:59Annie Elise?

  could steal money from him. However, the man refused. So in return, as retaliation or trying to persuade him to give them the password, they beat him. They also shocked him with electric wires and they hit him in the head with a gun. And the torture just gets worse from here because the two men allegedly pointed a gun at his head multiple times. They even cut his leg with a chainsaw and they threatened to kill him if he didn't reveal his password. They also threatened to have his entire family killed. The victim also said that his wrists had been bound, so he was unable to move for weeks. He was also allegedly held down and forced to smoke crack cocaine by this pipe that was just like shoved inside his mouth, like

• 28:41Annie Elise?

  forcing him to get high, which we've seen that in a lot of different like trafficking cases. So I don't know if that's to make them more pliable, to make them more like they'll pass out, they'll be so high that they'll go along with it. Maybe they'll talk, things like that. But he says that he was forced to smoke drugs. He also said that these two men urinated on him and also put an Apple AirTag around his neck to make sure that he was unable to escape. Which an Apple AirTag is like a little coin tracking device. It kind of is like the size of a quarter. So he said they put that around his neck so that he was unable to escape. But finally, after 17 days of being held hostage, the victim finally got a chance to escape.

• 29:21Annie Elise?

  This was last Friday morning. And the way he did this is he told John that he would give him his Bitcoin password, but that his password was on his computer and his computer was being held in another room. So when John turned his back and walked into the other room, the victim made a run for it, a break for it. He ran down the stairs and just booked it out of the apartment. Luckily, he was able to find a traffic officer and this officer helped him. They called the police and he was able to file a report. The victim was covered in cuts and bruises and he was rushed to the hospital where he was listed in stable condition. Authorities then got to the apartment and they arrested John that very same day. However, John's business partner has not been found, hasn't even been identified yet.

• 30:03Annie Elise?

  Now, it really did feel like a movie or some sort of even a Lifetime movie because when John was Arrested, he was barefoot and he was wearing this like white fluffy bathrobe just tied around him. And as he's being arrested, you can see in the footage, he's like being marched out of his beautiful brownstone upscale Manhattan building in this bathrobe, just like being taken into custody. It was truly a bizarre sight to see. And this is what some of the people who witnessed the arrest had to say.

• 30:31Speaker 03

  I saw like a sort of SWAT team going with the shields. And then shortly after that, I saw a guy in a white robe in handcuffs come out.

• 30:42Speaker 02

  The guy comes out in a white, in a white bat robe, barefoot, hands cuffed behind his back, got into a police car. He didn't look concerned, you know? He didn't look, he didn't look worried or anything like that.

• 30:57Annie Elise?

  When law enforcement searched John's home, they found a lot of evidence that confirmed the story from the victim. There was alcohol and stripper poles all over this six-story home. There were Polaroid pictures found of the victim being tied up and being tortured. And the investigators also found items that were used for the torture. They even found the drugs that were allegedly forced upon the victim and, you know, that he was forced to take against his will. And they also found a gun, along with blood, in various different parts of the residence. And this blood belonged to the victim. Now, one of the most shocking parts of this whole thing is that John's neighbors had absolutely no clue that this was going on. A woman who lives just across the street from John said, quote, "I just

• 31:38Annie Elise?

  stood and froze. A lot goes on here in New York. You can imagine. I've seen a lot. But this is the most unusual thing that I have seen in 30 years in this neighborhood. I mean, that's just beyond what you can even describe or imagine," end quote. And this is an interview with a vendor who sells her art in SoHo, right across the street from John's home.

• 31:58Speaker 04

  We're working every weekend here and everybody are very happy passing by and having coffee, ice cream, pretty handy now. Then across the street, the guy was suffering. We really don't know that.

• 32:12Annie Elise?

  Everyone is just confused as to why someone as rich and successful as John would even commit this type of crime. The guy was worth around a hundred million dollars and his apartment that he was renting had a monthly cost of thirty to forty thousand dollars, which, I don't know, I guess that shows money doesn't solve all your problems. You can still just be sick in the head and twisted, but why you're kidnapping and torturing somebody for money when you have a hundred mil in the bank? I mean, it's beyond me. So John was arraigned last Saturday and he was charged with second degree assault, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, and criminal possession of a firearm. After John's arraignment, police announced that a 24-year-old woman was also

• 32:54Annie Elise?

  taken into custody and was charged as a suspect. Now, I don't know if that is the business partner, or if maybe that's a girlfriend and she was involved in this. I don't really know. They didn't provide any information about her relationship to John or her possible role in the crimes. However, after further investigation, they ultimately ended up not charging her. So the specific details about John's accomplice are still unknown. John is being held in custody until his next court date, and he was required to surrender his passport as well. If convicted on the top charge, he faces a minimum sentence of 15 years to life, and he faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life. There were also two butlers who worked in the residence who are also being interviewed. And like I said, details

• 33:37Annie Elise?

  on John's accomplice and business partner are still being investigated. But the whole case is just, I don't know, absolutely insane. I mean, some sources say that these three business partners had some sort of falling out, so that's why the Italian man moved back to Italy. Then he was coming back to New York to work out some sort of agreement with them, but ended up being kidnapped instead. I don't know what all the details are. The investigation is still ongoing, but I just can't wrap my head around the torture that this man was forced to go through. And the fact that not one of the neighbors or any of the tens of thousands of people walking in this neighborhood had any idea what was going on. I mean, I know New York's busy and people are very hyper-focused on themselves, but it's kind of surprising, right? I don't know. Lots going on. I will

• 34:22Annie Elise?

  definitely follow that case and keep you updated because it for sure is a wild one. Now, other than that, like I said, more Diddy updates. came out this week. I also posted two episodes last week outside of the normal ones. A Karen Reed recap, another ditty one. And then this last Monday, if you didn't check out the deep dive, you definitely should go listen to it. It's about this like obsessive Tinder date that turned psychotic and mutilated and cut out her tongue. And it's a very scary stomach turning one, but I think very important to hear because as we know, online dating is just getting scarier and scarier. Now, aside from all those episodes, we still do put out an extra deep dive every single Friday that is accessible to our Apple Podcast subscribers

• 35:06Annie Elise?

  and our Patreon subscribers. This week's case is actually really fresh. It just went down this last February. It's about this couple who had this picture perfect life. He worked for SpaceX. They traveled all over the world. They traveled on this 50 foot yacht. They were young, had their entire lives ahead of them. But then all of a sudden, this past winter, the woman was found naked and dead in a driveway. It's a very interesting one. So I'm breaking it all down for you tomorrow. But there are about 100 of those deep dives that you can unlock right now. If you need more content to binge. I think right now we actually have a promo going on. So it's like 40% off on Apple than if you normally would subscribe. So that's for like the annual. So check it out. Again, you can get access

• 35:48Annie Elise?

  on either Apple Podcasts on that app or directly on Patreon, patreon.com/AnnieElise. All right, guys. Thank you so much. Don't forget to enter the Crime Con giveaway and I will be back with you very, very soon. I mean, hello, I'm going to be back with you tomorrow, but I'll also be back with you Monday with an all new deep dive into a case. Until then, guys, be nice. Don't kill people. Don't go to any freak offs. Don't hang out at the Waterfall Grill in Canton. Just be a good human and watch your back and don't go on Tinder. Or if you do, take a friend with you. I don't know. All right, guys. Thanks so much. Bye.

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