338: Bryan Kohberger Back to Trial, Murder Pact Gone Wrong, Man Kills GF With a Chainsaw

This week on Headline Highlights: a major update in Bryan Kohberger’s restitution hearing, an important development in the Sandra Birchmore case, and Brian Walshe’s trial officially kicks off. A retired Ohio State professor is caught in a sextortion scheme. A woman is accused of attempting to kill her husband and son as part of a disturbing pact. And a man allegedly kills his girlfriend with a chainsaw after claiming she was possessed.. 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 . Evil Mastermind or Complete Moron? Brian Walshe & Ana Walshehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4yswRzJAqU&t=805s.🔎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 ABC6 On Your Side | AZCentral | AZFamily | ClickOnDetroit | Court TV | Idaho Statesman | Law & Crime | New York Post | People | WFTV | WINK News | WSFA••••••••••••••••••🚨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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• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:25Annie Elise?

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

• 1:48Annie Elise?

  Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to an all-new episode of Serial Lously. With me, your true crime bestie, Annie E. Lice. And we have got headlines to talk about today. A lot of new cases, actually, but there are a couple of updates that I want to go over with you guys first. And I want to start with what's going on in Idaho right now. And I didn't think that I was gonna have to utter this piece of crap's name again, but there is some new information happening with Brian Kohberger. And some of it has been talked about for the last week, but I kind of want to break down for you what it really means. So basically, we know that part of his plea agreement was that he was going to be ordered to pay restitution to the victims' families.

• 2:32Annie Elise?

  Well, now the defense is arguing that, saying that he shouldn't have to pay for their travel expenses, their lodging expenses, all of those things, to which, under Idaho state law, technically, they don't need to pay for those parts of the expenses. But here's where it's gonna get tricky as to how this could potentially lead to Brian Kohberger going back to trial. Let me first break down what the expenses are, what the judge ordered and everything like that. So the judge did order that he has to pay $3,000 to cover Maddie and Kaylee's earns, which I don't understand how that like equates to the going rate of murdering four kids is $3,000 for the earns. I think it should be far more, but there is that additional expense of the earns.

• 3:17Annie Elise?

  We also know that over the last several months, Brian has raked in about $30,000 in his commissary fund. This is coming from people who are choosing to donate to him, whether they are a self-proclaimed pro burger and think he's truly innocent, whether they're some sort of, I don't know, celebrity fanfare and they're obsessed with him like people are obsessed with Chris Watts. For whatever reason, he now is nearly sitting on 30 grand in his commissary account. Yet, he's arguing that he can't pay restitution, or that he doesn't want to. Actually, he's arguing both. He's saying, "I can't because I don't have a job, and I don't want to because under the law, I don't need to cover these specific line items."

• 4:02Annie Elise?

  So they've been having different hearings. It's been going back and forth. But here's where it's getting interesting. And I was actually, I recorded on Nancy Grace's show earlier this week to talk about this. But, and she breaks it down really great over there. She has a whole panel of experts and legal experts who break down what I'm gonna- Try to regurgitate to you. But basically, what this could potentially mean is he's going back now on what was in his agreement in the signed contract where he agreed to pay the victim's family's restitution. And I believe there was a number that was about a quarter of a million dollars in total, something to that effect, to where then it would be divvied out. You know, I don't know if it was at their discretion or whatever.

• 4:42Annie Elise?

  Anyways, my point being, the fact that now he and his team are pushing back on that, it could completely just negate the contract. And the judge could say, you know what, if you're not going to pay restitution, then you're basically reneging on the deal. So we are now going back to court. We are going to trial. Do I think that is going to happen? Probably not. I think that if push came to shove, I think that he would just pay the restitution to avoid going to trial. However, one of the panel guests on Nancy's show earlier this week did make a great point. And they had said that because so much of the evidence has now been released, the recent 2,500 page document dump, the

• 5:25Annie Elise?

  crime scene photos, the phone calls, all of these things now are out in the public arena, not everything, but a good chunk of it. It could potentially work to the defense's favor. It's going to be very difficult now to find a jury pool that is not tainted. It would be able to argue all sorts of different things to either bring new witnesses in, keep witnesses out. So could it be strategy? I don't know. Maybe. I don't know if Brian Kohberger is smart enough for that or his team, but possibly. But the judge was pretty pissed off in this. And you can actually hear it in the recorded hearing because he asked Brian straight up why he even agreed to this deal in the first place, if he never

• 6:07Annie Elise?

  intended to pay or knew that he couldn't pay any of this restitution. And so it's going to be interesting to see where this shakes out. I don't know if I've mentioned it here on my show, but it is something I did talk about when I was doing the live tour. Another thing that has been going on in the background with Kohberger these last few months, we all know that His team back in, gosh, early spring of 2025, tried to argue that the death penalty should be taken off the table due to an autism diagnosis that Brian had, right? The judge ultimately declined it back in, I think it was April, said the death penalty is absolutely going to stick. But then, as we know, when the trial was supposed to start in the summer is when the plea deal happened.

• 6:50Annie Elise?

  However, they have in the last few months been resurfacing the paperwork about Brian's diagnosis. And not only the autism diagnosis, but three others. There is a prescription for a thyroid condition. There was, what was the other one? It was avoidant food intake disorder. And then, gosh, there was one other, I can't think of it right now, but four diagnoses in total that they were now like resurfacing in a way to potentially, they haven't announced that they're going to do it yet, but to potentially argue that when he accepted the plea deal, he didn't fully understand the deal. And let me break that down a little bit more because I know I'm kind of scattering around a bit here.

• 7:34Annie Elise?

  When he accepted the plea deal, there was no room for appeal. However, a lot of people, including some of the family members, were very upset about that because if you look deeply into the law, you know that there's never just a black and white, you can never appeal. There are always loopholes, always different ways you can appeal, whether it's a new trial because new evidence has been found, ineffective counsel, or because you didn't fully understand the plea when you accepted it and put it into the court. So by them resurfacing these diagnoses, saying that he was diagnosed before he agreed and accepted this plea deal. A lot of people over the last several weeks, about six weeks I'd say now, have been saying that it looks like the defense is potentially trying to lay the foundation and the groundwork for an appeal,

• 8:19Annie Elise?

  for him not fully understanding his rights, all of these things. I want to be very clear here, they have not announced anything that way and they have not made any filings indicating that that is what they plan to do. But by resurfacing the diagnoses and the paperwork, it appears that that's the direction that they might be going. So now with this restitution thing in play as well, it begs the question, are they throwing all sorts of different wrenches in what was a plea deal to only go back to trial, but now with?

• 8:51Annie Elise?

  A tainted jury pool, new evidence being out there. I don't think it would ever work to his advantage. I truly don't. I think if Brian Kohberger were to stand trial tomorrow, he would face the firing squad. That's my personal opinion. But regardless where it ends up, and if he stays in prison, pays the restitution, if it does go back to trial, it's like, these families have been put through enough. I think we can all agree on that. It's been over three years now. It's time to like, just let this guy disintegrate into like, the scum gutter of the prison system. But we'll see what goes on with this. The restitution and him refusing could result in the entire contract being voided. So TBD on that. I'm gonna watch it closely. But again, for more insights on that, you can watch Nancy's show from earlier

• 9:36Annie Elise?

  this week. I believe it aired on Tuesday. But don't quote me on that. You can go check. And yeah, she breaks it down in detail, as well as, we talk a lot about the new Lifetime movie that is coming out, how pissed off Kaylee's family is about that. I've actually spoken personally with Kaylee's sister very briefly about that, and how upset they are because not only were they not consulted about anything going on with the film, but the actors who are in this film are literally going into their trailer between takes and doing TikTok dances, while still in full wardrobe of the students. It's just very tactless, in my opinion. It just is disgusting.

• 10:17Annie Elise?

  So, we talk about a lot of that as well. And I don't think that anybody's surprised Lifetime is making a movie. And there's nothing, there's nothing inherently wrong with that. Whether it's Lifetime, whether it's NBC, ABC, whoever it is, people are always going to make recreations and movies about true crime cases. Unfortunately, that's just how it works. It's more so the handling of this that has the families so upset. So, more to come on Everything Kohberger, which I was hoping we could just leave him back in 2025, but it looks like this like, skeezy rodent is gonna be coming with us into 2026 a little bit too. But more to come on that. Another update, Sandra Birchmore. We have talked about this case for, I believe, the last two years.

• 11:00Annie Elise?

  She was the young woman from Massachusetts who had joined the Police Cadet Academy when she was just 13 years old. It was called the Young Explorers Program and was groomed by a lot of the law enforcement guys, like the older ones. There was also a lot of different layers involved and it became a big point of conversation because some of the same people involved in Sandra's case and the handling of her case were also involved in the infamous Karen Reed case. And we all know the disaster that happened within that case and had the mishandling of things and the cover-ups and all of that. But any, and that's regardless if you think Karen is innocent or guilty. I mean, the case was handled like

• 11:40Annie Elise?

  shit, complete shit. So anyway, Sandra Birchmore, she started in the Explorers Program when she was 13. She was coerced and groomed into these relationships with these officers. And then she ended up getting pregnant. She was found inside her apartment with a fabric or rope, I can't remember exactly the material, attached to the doorknob and it looked as though she had taken her own life. Come to find out, she thought she was pregnant by one of these officers that she had been having a sexual relationship with. He also went to her apartment that day and didn't want her to have the baby. He had another child born with his wife, literally moments earlier. And so he ended up being arrested and charged

• 12:24Annie Elise?

  with Sandra's murder and staging the crime scene. And that it was all, you know, the thought was, okay, the motive was he wanted to cover up that she was pregnant with this child. Come to find out, after DNA testing, it wasn't his child. So it's like you killed this girl and covered up the crime scene, made it look like something else because you were so scared that you were going to be caught. It wasn't even your kid, like a disaster. But anyway, there have been some updates in that case and we actually just did a full deep dive this week on 10 to Life. So you can get fully caught up with that case, all of the updates, the whole backstory. It is a wild one. It really, really is. So if you're watching this on YouTube, it's right here on YouTube. But if you are listening to the audio version of this episode, what you're going to want to do is open up your podcast app, search the podcast

• 13:10Annie Elise?

  Ten to life and you'll see the episode there. Just a friendly reminder, new episodes come out every single Tuesday over there. So you have new episodes every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and every other Friday between the two podcasts. So Sandra Birchmore is over there, released this week. And the other update that I wanted to just briefly touch on before we get into today's cases is that the Brian Walsh trial is starting this week. And they finished up some hearings at the beginning of the week and they were going into jury selection. But Brian Walsh is accused of murdering his wife, Anna Walsh. And this case, we covered as well. I will link the deep dive for you so that you can get fully caught up before the trial is like fully, you know, you know, in the throes of everything. But this guy's a moron.

• 13:54Annie Elise?

  I mean, first of all, he looks like, who's that character from Family Guy with the really square head? Quagmire. He looks like him and he is a total moron. He like Googled all sorts of crazy things when she went missing. Things like how to dispose of a human body. What's the best way to like, you know, basically a playbook playbook for a murderer? And they found all of his Google searches. And it's kind of been a wild ride since he's been in jail awaiting trial too. So the trial is finally starting. We will cover it. I either will put the updates in headline highlights at the top of the episodes and bake them in. Or if you feel like you just want an additional recap episode each week for this trial, since it is set to be a big one, let me know, we can definitely look into doing that.

• 14:39Annie Elise?

  But I will link the deep dive to that case so that you can get fully caught up. That will be in the show notes. That was a lot of updates. I didn't mean to be talking to you for 13 minutes and 50 seconds, but there was a lot to go over. So now let's start getting into the new cases of this week. And I have a friendly face and a friendly voice who is back joining me to help cover these cases. Let's give a round of applause for Amy.

• 15:05Speaker 04

  Oh my gosh.

• 15:07Annie Elise?

  Hi.

• 15:07Speaker 04

  Hi.

• 15:08Annie Elise?

  Welcome back.

• 15:09Speaker 04

  Good morning.

• 15:09Annie Elise?

  Good morning. We have a lot to go over. First of all, I could see you rolling your eyes a little bit with the Brian stuff. I mean,

• 15:16Speaker 04

  He's the worst.

• 15:16Annie Elise?

  Literally the worst.

• 15:18Speaker 04

  Well, and of course, you want a plea deal, but then you can't pay what you're responsible for paying for.

• 15:23Annie Elise?

  No, exactly. And that's actually what I brought up on Nancy's show. I was like, he basically wanted this cushy plea deal. He did. He was too much of a chicken shit to face the firing squad and go to trial. But now it's been a problem from day one. He's complaining about the prisoners that he can overhear in the vents, talking about how they're gonna hurt him. He's such a pussy. Like, he is such a pussy. And so it's like, oh, God, get a grip. Anyway, enough about Kohberger. Let's go into this next case. Cause this case is about a former professor who has been caught in a sextortion scheme. So I'm gonna just start with what police say happened in the very first moments of this case, because it is one of the wildest inciting incidents that I have heard in a long time.

• 16:06Annie Elise?

  So James Hill, a 76-year-old retired Ohio State professor, walks up behind his wife while she's working in their home office at the desk. Almost like he's about to give her a shoulder massage, just like kind of be a husband, like, you know, creeping over a little bit, rubbing her shoulders. He starts doing that. She even tells him, oh, like, that feels good. But then, out of nowhere, he takes a kitchen knife and he stabs her once, straight in the chest. And according to court documents, he even apologized while he was doing it. So that's the moment that everything really started to unravel. And when the investigators dug into why this happened, the story that he told them, it's almost unbelievable, which let me back up a little bit.

• 16:48Annie Elise?

  So James told the police that he had been trapped in a sextortion scheme, which, for those who are unfamiliar, that's basically like extortion, but with the added element of sex, whether it's nude photos, compromising photos, bad text messages, cheating, whatever it is, just the sexual element to it. So he had said that he had met a woman on a dating site behind his wife Mary's back. Then, after chatting for a little bit, he sent her nude photos as, I guess, one day. Does. I will just say dick pics, no thank you. Not, not a fan of them. Now, almost immediately, she totally flipped the script on this guy and she demanded $15,000 in return, threatening to leak the images if he didn't pay. And I will say, extortion scams are unfortunately pretty common,

• 17:33Annie Elise?

  but the way that James reacted to all of this, that part is certainly not common. According to court documents, James told officers that he felt so ashamed and so concerned that he genuinely believed he only had one way out. And that his one way out wasn't calling the police, it wasn't confiding in a friend, it wasn't telling his wife the truth and coming clean to her. The only escape that he saw in his mind was to kill his wife and then take his own life. Which that brings us back over to the morning of November 9th in Upper Arlington, Ohio. Police responded to a dropped 911 call at the family's home. Inside, they found 64-year-old Mary Hill dead. She had died from that single stab wound to the chest.

• 18:18Annie Elise?

  James, her husband, was nearby and he had self-inflicted injuries, but he was still alive. And the details that he gave to these first responders and investigators, they're very disturbing. After attacking Mary, he allegedly tried to stab the family dog. Luckily, the dog survived, but then he stabbed himself. And while he was bleeding, police say that he sat down at his computer and he just started deleting photos before finally then making the 911 call. But here's the kicker in all of this. Every single bit of this, he blamed on the online threat. Which honestly, I would be shocked if this person he sent these nudes to was a real woman and not some like, middle-aged guy sitting in a basement in like, the middle of the country, just running a scam.

• 19:03Annie Elise?

  Because, get this, she also said, "Oh yeah, pay me the $15,000, but I want payment in Apple gift cards." Which, what is somebody using 15 grand in Apple gift cards for? I guess, now that I think about that, you could buy like, a laptop, a computer, and then resell it, but, and get the cash for it that way and it's less traceable, maybe? But every gift card also has a code? I don't know. Whatever. I don't work at the genius bar. But my point being, that- It was probably not even like a legitimate scam. This is also a warning for anybody listening. Do not ever click any links that are sent to you via text message or via email, even if it looks like it's from your utility company or your cellphone provider. Always look at the email address first, like open it and see the full address because they are getting very crafty. But anyway, I digress.

• 19:48Annie Elise?

  So James told the investigators that this woman demanded this money in gift cards and that he panicked so badly that he was convinced that murder was the only way to stop his secret from coming out. Reportedly, he said that his wife Mary had hidden their gun a couple of years ago, which that's why he opted to grab the kitchen knife instead of a gun. Which let me pause really quick because this next part is very important here. Whether this extortion setup was real, exaggerated, a complete catfish, none of that changes what actually happened. Mary had absolutely nothing to do with these messages. She had nothing to do with the threats or any of James' choices sending these dick pics over the internet.

• 20:28Annie Elise?

  But she unfortunately became the person who ultimately had to pay the price for his skeezy actions. So the investigators are still diving into the digital side of everything, checking the messages, trying to confirm who this "woman" actually was, if she's even a woman, and sorting out what's real versus what James might be just using and saying as an excuse and lying about. But what we do know for sure is that the fear and the shame that he claims to have had is what really spiraled him into murdering his wife. And I think that's why this case has really taken over the headlines because it's not just about extortion or a scam, which yes, don't get me wrong, are very serious, but it's about how someone made this terrible mistake, then tried to hide it,

• 21:12Annie Elise?

  started panicking and turned all of that fear inward until it truly just exploded outward and ended in murder. And not to mention at his wife, the person who trusted him the most, she literally thought she was getting a shoulder rub. And she said to him, "Oh, that's nice. That feels good." And he stabbed her in the chest. I mean, Mary deserved so much more than to become collateral damage in her husband's sick... Gross secret, but he's now being charged with aggravated murder. He's also still hospitalized under guard protection and he will be transferred to jail once the doctors clear him. The prosecutors, they're saying this was planned, it was deliberate, and it was absolutely

• 21:53Annie Elise?

  not some sort of like heat of the moment panic situation like he's trying to claim. So when this heads to trial, we will see what happens. Once they do the full digital dump on all of his devices, we will see what happens and see who this woman is and how many Apple cards she's gotten over the years. How much has she bought at Apple?

• 22:14Speaker 04

  I mean, probably a hot take, but when I was listening to it, I kind of felt bad for him a little bit.

• 22:19Annie Elise?

  Okay.

• 22:20Speaker 04

  Well, no, okay, I'm thinking, is he a senior that was like targeted and this is like a scammer and he's like a lonely guy and he's getting attention from some, I understand, it doesn't

• 22:29Annie Elise?

  Fair.

• 22:30Speaker 04

  Like excuse cheating and like also, and I know you'll probably agree with this, but like assuming his wife was roughly same age.

• 22:40Annie Elise?

  She was 64.

• 22:41Speaker 04

  Okay, 64, so like if you were married that long and your husband's like, I sent some naked photos, you'd probably be like, that's

• 22:49Annie Elise?

  First of all, I was like laughing and I'd be like, nobody wants to see a 76 year old weiner.

• 22:53Speaker 04

  Like, I feel like you'd probably be like, cool, you wanna get lunch? Or like, I don't know, I don't think it'd be like requiring murdering me, like I wouldn't be that upset over it.

• 23:02Annie Elise?

  But you're right, to your point, it's probably somebody who knew that she could scam somebody older.

• 23:06Speaker 04

  Yeah, so part of me feels badly because then he, because also like too, again, I'm making a lot of assumptions here, but as someone like our age, if you were threatened by a nude or something at this point, it's like everyone's kind of threatened, threatened with nude, so yes, you would be upset over it and depending on the level to which the threat was, but also you may not feel like your only out is

• 23:31Annie Elise?

  No.

• 23:31Speaker 04

  Killing your significant other, whereas an older person who is certainly not well versed in any of this, this probably never even comes across their radar, this just probably felt like the worst thing in the world.

• 23:44Annie Elise?

  Totally, but like so bad that you can't just tell your wife the truth and you're gonna not only kill her, but then take your own life, which kind of makes me wonder, based on him still being alive at the scene and him deleting photos before he even called 911, I would be curious, are any of his injuries superficial? Did he really try?

• 24:04Speaker 04

  And is he really remorseful, which again, it doesn't excuse anything and this poor, poor woman, totally betrayed by her husband, especially in a vulnerable moment. So, but I just, the whole thing is so sad.

• 24:16Annie Elise?

  It is sad. It is sad. And I wonder who this basement freak is and if we'll ever figure it out. There's so many.

• 24:22Speaker 04

  There, I feel like it's more and more common.

• 24:25Annie Elise?

  Well, I know. That's why I said like, do not click on anything. There was actually one the other day where Pete, they're changing like the L into a capital I in the email address. So like if it's AT&T or something, for example, it will look like AT&T is emailing you, but that's why I said you have to click into the name to see the full thing because that's where you can usually tell if like they've somehow tricked it. But yeah, the phishing schemes are getting very elite.

• 24:52Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 24:53Annie Elise?

  All right. What do you got for me? Hit me.

• 24:55Speaker 04

  All right. This next one is coming from Florida and it's heavy, as they all usually are. This one, we're talking about a family in Lehigh Acres where an alleged pact to take their own lives spiraled into this brutal planned attack that left three family members severely injured and the two parents that were involved facing major felony charges. So here's the situation. Deputies in the Lee County Sheriff's Office responded to a 911 call on November 3rd. And when they walked into the home, they found 59-year-old Barbara Bates, her husband's 64-year-old Neil Bates, and their adult son who has developmental disabilities. They were all bleeding. They were all severely injured, but they were all

• 25:40Speaker 04

  still alive. And the details of what Barbara told detectives were absolutely chilling. And according to the arrest reports, Barbara had told authorities that their family had been struggling with eviction, financial issues, and that The caregiving of their son had just become overwhelming. In fact, she said that they had recently received an eviction notice and she believed that their family was going to be homeless with just in a few days. She also claimed that her husband had lost their job and that just the overall responsibilities of caring for their son had just become overwhelming. And allegedly she and Neil had been talking about taking their lives for months. Investigators say she described planning their last night, watching a movie, giving her husband a nice dinner, telling her son that the next day would even be fun,

• 26:25Speaker 04

  and trying to reframe the whole thing as peaceful. And once everyone is home, they reportedly watched the horror movie The Long Walk, which Barbara told detectives was supposed to set the mood somehow. She also told officers she made steak as their final meal. And that's when Barbara allegedly took a kitchen knife, slit her husband's throat first, then her son's, then her own. The son later told police his mother came up to him and quote, "cut his neck without warning." The son told detectives that he had panicked and he no longer wanted to go through with this plan, but by then the attack had already happened. And according to the sheriff's office, Barbara waited roughly forty minutes before calling 911. And when she did, she flat out told the dispatcher, quote, "I slit their throats."

• 27:10Speaker 04

  Which, I just want to take a moment here because when I was reading this, I feel like it's becoming more and more common in the stories that we're covering here that a family member is committing these well-intentioned acts of violence and then calling the authorities on themselves. So, for me, it's just very shocking and I'm just wondering like, what is going on because we're seeing this more and more? In this case thankfully, all three survived, but barely. Doctors told deputies that the son's injuries were life-threatening and required emergency surgery. Neil's wound was described as, quote, "deep and forceful", while Barbara's appeared to be more superficial, which raised more and more questions about the intent behind this.

• 27:54Speaker 04

  And that's when investigators started digging into more of these conflicting stories. Barbara had said that the pact was mutual. Neil claimed that their son had suggested it. But regardless of who came up with the idea, detectives say all the evidence pointed to Barbara initiating this attack. And while Neil tried to say that his son has suggested it, due to his disability, police say he couldn't have meaningfully consented even if he tried to. Court documents make it clear that the son functions cognitively at a much younger level and would not have understood the consequences of a "pact like this" anyway. So now Barbara is facing two counts of attempted felony murder and one count of aggravated abuse of a disabled adult.

• 28:35Speaker 04

  And Neil is facing charges of aggravated abuse of a disabled adult and attempted criminal activity. And both have pled not guilty. What makes this case so heartbreaking to me is that the son was the one hurt most by this whole decision that his parents made, one that he couldn't fully even understand, let alone agree to. So it'll be interesting to see if there really was another motive here. If Barbara was this mastermind behind it all, if the son was somewhat clued in and kind of went along with some sort of a plan that she proposed, if they all three were initially involved. Um, who knows, but thankfully they're all okay and that poor son.

• 29:15Annie Elise?

  Well, for him to tell the investigators too, that he panicked and he didn't want to go through with it anymore. I do wonder what he knew about it because to your point too, and I know the police mentioned it. If he was developmentally delayed, he couldn't come up with a plan like that, consent to a plan like that. They could have talked him into it, I guess perhaps. And he probably trusted his parents that whatever they were suggesting, they knew best. And then when push came to shove, he got frightened and scared and didn't want to go through with it.

• 29:43Speaker 04

  Well, she said she was framing it as the next day would be really fun. So maybe it's like after this is over, like whatever picture she painted for him. But then of course, when like seeing how this was all going down, I'm sure there was some sort of energy too. Like their last night, they're getting this special dinner. I've never seen that, but I, that's what I said, like set the mood. That's why I'm like, did he, was this this movie that they had watched together? I don't know.

• 30:09Annie Elise?

  I don't even know what that movie is about.

• 30:11Speaker 04

  I don't, can't watch horror movies.

• 30:13Annie Elise?

  No, like this is so weird. And here's what like makes me sad is the mom is gonna probably serve some time, maybe even the dad. So who's gonna now take care of this son? It's so freaking senseless.

• 30:26Speaker 04

  And again, like I feel badly, you know, me, I always have the hot take, but I just feel badly. Did she also feel like she was in this corner of like, she has this adult son that she has to care for?

• 30:36Annie Elise?

  There's other options.

• 30:37Speaker 04

  No, of course. But I mean, is this this like, they're gonna be homeless in a few days, this desperate attempt? And I just, I always just feel bad for everyone involved. And I don't know. You know me.

• 30:47Annie Elise?

  We don't want you on a jury.

• 30:50Speaker 04

  No, of course. No, what she did is awful. There are other options out there. Be nice. Don't kill people.

• 30:57Annie Elise?

  There we go. There we go. That's the spirit.

• 31:00Speaker 04

  Don't send nudes.

• 31:02Annie Elise?

  Yes, exactly.

• 31:10Annie 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.

• 31:54Annie 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.

• 32:32Annie Elise?

  Alright guys, so I need you to brace yourselves for this next case. Because the way that this case begins is already one of the most chilling things that you will ever hear. At 3:40 in the morning, a man calls 911 and he tells dispatchers, "I had to kill her because she was possessed." That is the exact quote. And that single sentence alone is what sent Phoenix police racing over to a home over on the west side, knowing immediately that whatever they were about to walk into, it was gonna be very bad. And sure enough, what they found inside, it was beyond anything that they expected. This is the murder of 31-year-old Paxton Wallace, a woman that her family described as just pure sunshine.

• 33:16Annie Elise?

  And the man accused of killing her in one of the most horrifying ways imaginable, was her own boyfriend, 47-year-old Jeffrey Rail. Now here's how the nightmare unfolded. When the officers got inside the home, Paxton was found, quote, "chopped up", with catastrophic injuries that had been caused by a chainsaw. The reports say that she was so severely injured that she was completely unrecognizable. She also had what investigators described as, quote, "cutting type injuries", all over her body. And Jeffrey, he was standing right there. He was holding a hammer and a cross, almost like he was in the middle of some kind of like, exorcism, or ritual, or sacrifice, like, very, very eerie.

• 34:01Annie Elise?

  Meanwhile, this blood-soaked chainsaw just sat there in the kitchen, just a few feet away. So police obviously arrested him on the spot. He was later booked into the county jail, and he's currently being held on a $1 million bond for the charge of first-degree murder. But before I go any further, I do want to talk about Paxton for a moment. Because she obviously deserves way more than to be defined by what happened to her. But let's talk about Paxton. As I mentioned, she was just 31 years old. And she was deeply rooted in her faith. She also loved her two dogs. She was the person who never missed Sunday breakfast with her And as cliche as it sounds, her family says that she lit up every room that she walked into.

• 34:44Annie Elise?

  So this entire situation, as you can imagine, has left them absolutely stunned. I mean, the brutality of it, the senselessness of it, the sheer disconnect between who she was and what she endured in those final moments, it has just shaken everyone who has heard about it.

• 35:00Speaker 05

  She was really strong. She did everything with grace and humility.

• 35:05Speaker 06

  She wasn't old. She wasn't sick. Somebody chose to end her life. Somebody chose to take her from us.

• 35:14Annie Elise?

  Paxton Wallace was just 31 years old when she was brutally murdered in her home. According to Phoenix police, her longtime boyfriend, 47-year-old Jeffrey Real, confessed to the crime.

• 35:28Speaker 05

  Just wild. I mean, we've spent holidays with him. We've shared our home with him for multiple years.

• 35:34Annie Elise?

  Paxton's sister, Alita, and her Aunt Tiffany say they never saw this coming.

• 35:40Speaker 06

  This will just be generational pain that you can't soothe.

• 35:45Annie Elise?

  Now, as the investigators kept digging, they learned something that made this whole thing even more heartbreaking, if you can imagine. Paxton had been trying to get out of this relationship. Her sister Tiffany told reporters, quote, "She was trying to get out. She was trying to reach for help. No one wants to admit someone who says 'I love you' is actually hurting them." Which that last line, I think it will hit hard for a lot of people who are listening because it is something that so many victims struggle with. You never do want to admit somebody who tells you that they love you is the one person who's hurting you. But Tiffany also had said that Paxton had reached out to different domestic services, but unfortunately, the wait lists were all too long. So she was trying to get help.

• 36:29Annie Elise?

  She was trying to leave this situation. She knew that it was dangerous, and she was doing everything that survivors are told they should do. Yet she still did not get the protection that she needed in time. Court documents also revealed more of what Jeffrey had told dispatchers that night. He claimed that Paxton was, quote, "in demon mode." And that killing her was the only way to stop it. Those again were his exact words. Now, the scene of the crime, I know I described it and it was a bloodbath, but it was so violent that the officer said that they needed confirmation before they could even identify Paxton. And there's also something that reporters had pointed out that really does matter in the bigger picture of everything. While violent crime overall has been trending down in the Phoenix area,

• 37:14Annie Elise?

  domestic-related cases have been rising. And Paxton's murder, it really does fit into that growing troubling pattern of domestic disputes turning violent and it being on the rise. Paxton's family has been very clear about one thing during all of this. They want people to recognize the signs. They want them to take those signs seriously. And they want people to understand just how quickly things can turn when someone is trying to get out of an unsafe situation. They've said it over and over and over again. Paxton was trying. She was reaching out. She was asking for help. She deserved safety. She wanted safety and she deserved protection. I mean, she deserved so much more than the way that her life was taken.

• 37:57Annie Elise?

  And it's so sad when you think about it because I can't think of the statistic exactly when it comes to mind. I know it's, I think on average, it takes eight times to successfully leave somebody. But there's another very alarming statistic of how many times somebody actively leaving results in death. And I don't know if that's what was happening in this moment. If she, if her being in quote demon mode was her actually attempting to leave or if she was just pushing back about something or what was happening. But regardless, she was taking active steps to remove herself from the relationship and the situation. But meanwhile, this monster, and I'm sure the argument when it goes to trial will be something regarding mental health.

• 38:40Annie Elise?

  But this monster thinks it's his prerogative and his right to take a chainsaw and quote chop her up. It's disgusting, just 31 years old. It's. Awful.

• 38:52Speaker 04

  Well, they say that like the crime of passion is usually like most violent. So my, I'm gonna say probably hunch is that she was probably leaving or like putting up a boundary or saying something and he felt like he lost control.

• 39:06Annie Elise?

  And called her a demon.

• 39:07Speaker 04

  Went to the extreme. Yeah, exactly.

• 39:09Annie Elise?

  That she's against him.

• 39:10Speaker 04

  But I'm sure or hopefully that when they see all this history of her telling her family and the resources that she's researched that they'll recognize quickly, this isn't some sort of a.

• 39:21Annie Elise?

  Mental health.

• 39:22Speaker 04

  Yeah, exactly.

• 39:23Annie Elise?

  It's just sad because it's like anytime we talk about a case like this, it's like, I don't want to say it's always too late, but it's like most of the time.

• 39:31Speaker 04

  Warning signs are there.

• 39:32Annie Elise?

  Yeah. And it's like they're actively trying to get help. So it's like, at what point is there gonna not be this flaw or break in the system to where people can get out safely? And I don't know if there is even an answer for that or a solution, which makes it so sad. And to hear, I mean, the devastation of losing a family member is hard enough, especially I would imagine her parents, her sister Tiffany, hearing and getting that phone call that everybody dreads and that's your worst nightmare, that your family member is deceased and worse that somebody took their life. But then to take it even a step further in the manner of which she was killed and how there was just no regard for her life.

• 40:09Speaker 04

  Horrible.

• 40:10Annie Elise?

  It's so horrible and it's an image that you never will, it'll never escape your mind.

• 40:14Speaker 04

  No.

• 40:15Annie Elise?

  It's awful.

• 40:16Speaker 04

  Oh.

• 40:16Annie Elise?

  I know. Well, thank you guys so much for tuning in to this week's episode of Headline Highlights. I know we covered a lot today. I also want to give you a quick little update. Thanksgiving is coming up. I'm thankful. Are you thankful?

• 40:29Speaker 04

  I'm thankful.

• 40:29Annie Elise?

  I hate when people like go around the table and say what you're thankful for, but let's put you on the spot. What are you thankful for?

• 40:34Speaker 04

  I'm thankful for you. Actually, I'm especially thankful for you and Jay this week, thinking about that.

• 40:40Annie Elise?

  Yeah, it's our dad's one year anniversary.

• 40:41Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 40:42Annie Elise?

  Yeah. Well, I'm thankful for you and I'm thankful.

• 40:46Speaker 04

  Well, it sounds like you're copying me.

• 40:47Annie Elise?

  No, no.

• 40:48Speaker 04

  Wow, that sounded really sincere and heartfelt.

• 40:51Annie Elise?

  I'm thankful for you and I'm also thankful that I haven't been getting any disgusting dick pics.

• 40:58Speaker 04

  Oh, well, yeah.

• 40:59Annie Elise?

  But have you?

• 41:00Speaker 04

  Not lately. The dating year old is wild.

• 41:03Annie Elise?

  Yours was almost seventy-six. No, I'm just kidding.

• 41:05Speaker 04

  Honestly.

• 41:06Annie Elise?

  Let's shade his ass. Let's drag him.

• 41:09Annie Elise?

  No, um, no, but my point being that we decided to do.

• 41:14Speaker 04

  Dying.

• 41:14Annie Elise?

  I hope he's listening. Um, we're going to be doing a Black Friday special on Patreon. So if you've been deciding, should you pull the trigger? Do you want to join Patreon? Now would be the time, beginning next week, and I'll give you another reminder in next week's episode. But first of all, Patreon is where you're going to get every episode completely ad-free. You're going to get bonus episodes. You're going to get giveaways. You're going to get access to our 24/7 group chat. You're going to get access to projects and things we're working on before the general public. It's basically like our true crime bestie club. So if you've been deciding if it's something you want or not, now would be the time to do it because we are going to be offering like huge slash intro prices, annual prices. What else? I mean.

• 41:57Speaker 04

  Extra goodies.

• 41:58Annie Elise?

  Extra, oh, a lot of extra goodies, a lot of fun surprises, a lot of fun giveaways. Sometimes Amy, so let me just tell you guys right now, Amy spearheads the giveaway process. And sometimes she gets a little crazy to where I'm like reel it in, let's look at the budget, let's look at the budget.

• 42:13Speaker 04

  What budget?

• 42:14Annie Elise?

  Exactly. So now would be the time to join, but I'll give you guys that reminder again next week. When are we starting it?

• 42:21Speaker 04

  Uh, we're starting on Monday.

• 42:22Annie Elise?

  On Monday before Thanksgiving?

• 42:24Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 42:24Annie Elise?

  So this upcoming Monday, wow, I can't believe Thanksgiving's already here.

• 42:29Speaker 04

  Well, it's hard because you've been in Christmas mode for the last few weeks, so I forget Thanksgiving even exists.

• 42:35Annie Elise?

  No, honestly, okay, first of all, I set up Christmas usually September 30th, which people are like, chill, what about Halloween? What about Thanksgiving? I was actually very good this year and I set up Christmas on Halloween. But I will say, now that my kids are getting older, there's confusion because I did take them to see Santa over the weekend to bake cookies with him. But because the tree has been up, Emmy keeps saying, tomorrow's Christmas.

• 43:01Speaker 04

  No, I know, it's confusing in between now our brother has a baby. So I get pictures all day long of all your kids with Santa or in their Christmas pajamas. So yeah, for me, Thanksgiving happened a long time ago.

• 43:13Annie Elise?

  No, honestly, I know she'll, she'll think Christmas is tomorrow. I'm like, well, no, we still have to go through Thanksgiving. What's Thanksgiving? You're right. You're right. Like, give me that hand, put it on construction paper, we'll make a little turkey and we'll call it a day. Um, I just like Christmas. I want to set it up because I want to feel the coziness and like.

• 43:28Speaker 04

  I hear you. My tree's up.

• 43:30Annie Elise?

  Yeah, okay. So I'm thankful for the honesty here and the self-awareness. No, because let's be honest, would you rather sit in a cozy house with a fire on and a Christmas tree and twinkling lights? Or would you rather sit in a house that's covered in orange and turkeys and harvest?

• 43:48Speaker 04

  Exactly.

• 43:49Annie Elise?

  Thank you. Say less. And with that, we are gonna have to get off now.

• 43:53Speaker 04

  We're thankful for all of you.

• 43:54Annie Elise?

  We are thankful for all of you, but don't worry, there will be an actual Thanksgiving episode. But like everything else in my life, I like to do things early. So that's why we've been talking about Thanksgiving. Um, thank you guys so much for tuning in. Until the next one, be nice, don't kill people. Don't send nudes. Don't, don't be a Brian Kohberger in a world in which you can be literally anything else.

• 44:18Speaker 04

  Watch for red flags.

• 44:19Annie Elise?

  Watch for red flags. All right. Bye.

• 44:37Speaker 07

  Oh, look, you just got added to a meeting about coordinating another meeting to prepare for the pre-meeting ahead of the follow-up meeting, which will, of course, require a recap meeting.

• 44:54Speaker 07

  And then, another meeting. It's your booking point. Book with Southwest and enter airplane mode. Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. When you use Angie for your home projects, you know all your jobs will be done well. Roof repair? Done well. Kitchen sink install? Done well. Deck upgrades? Done well. Electrical upgrades? Done well. Angie's been connecting homeowners with skilled pros for nearly 30 years, so we know the difference between done and done well. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find a pro for your project at angie.com.